US Postal James Webb Space Telescope Stamps

Today I received 20 stamps from the US Postal service. With the release of this vibrant stamp, the U.S. Postal Service celebrates NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope as it continues its epic mission to reveal the cosmos as never seen before.

“When anyone who uses these stamps looks at this telescope, I want them to see what I see — its incredible potential to reveal new and unexpected discoveries that help us understand the origins of the universe, and our place in it,” Robert D. Cabana, NASA associate administrator and former astronaut said. “This telescope is the largest international space science program in U.S. history, and I can’t wait to see the scientific breakthroughs it will enable in astronomy.”

Stamp Artwork

The image on the stamp is an artist’s digitally created depiction of the telescope against a dazzling starscape. Its 18 gold-coated mirror segments — hexagons that combine to form its 21-foot-wide primary mirror—can pick up faint heat waves representing the universe’s first accessible starlight from billions of light-years away. Opposite, supported by three struts, is the secondary mirror. Below are the telescope’s solar shield, computers, control machinery, and the solar array that provides power.

The words “Webb Space Telescope” appear in white along the bottom edge of the stamp. “USA/FOREVER” runs vertically up the left-hand edge. In the selvage, at top, “James Webb Space Telescope” is printed in gold against the darkness of space, with an image of a star in a gap between the title’s last two words. Additional stars and galaxies appear in the background. This image was taken to confirm the perfect alignment of the telescope’s mirrors.

Art director Derry Noyes was the designer for the stamp project using existing art by James Vaughan and an image provided by NASA and the Space Telescope Science Institute.

Mars with UV-IR blocker and bandpass filter IR742

 

Imaging Mars on Friday, November 25, 2022. My first time use of an UV-IR blocker together with my ASI224MC color camera. The white polar cap is now good visible, which was not the case during my previous imaging sessions. This could confirm that I was imaging in IR and polluting it with visual light. 

Next to this, I used also my new bandpass filter IR742 for the first time. The result is an mono picture with some great details. 

Setting: TAL200K f/8.5, ASI224MC, Barlow x2, ADC
Filters: IR/UV blocker and IR742nm

Software: SharpCap 4, AS3!, CS4, DeNoise AI

BlueWalker 3 - Estimate Magnitude 1

Observing satellite BlueWalker together with SeaSat1. Estimating magnitute around 1. 

Satelliet BlueWalker 3 is a prototype satellite for AST & Science's SpaceMobile mobile communications constellation. The satellite will be to test AST & Science's patented technologies for connecting to cellphones in a space environment for their planned SpaceMobile constellation. The 1.5 ton satellite will deploy a 10 m diameter phased array antenna with 64 m2 area consisting of numerous identical sub-antenna modules to connect directly to standard mobile phones.
It is a prototype for the larger operational BlueBird satellites. The first five BlueBird satellites will be similar to BlueWalker 3, while the remaining will be larger.

Mars and Infrared

 

My picture of Mars, earlier this week, is made using my ASI224MC camera. The ASI224MC, is a color camera with some good respons in the near infrared. As I did not use an IR/UV blocker  the picture is an IR picture polluted with visual light -see also article "why you should use an IR cut filter with a  color camera". The color of my Mars picture is reddish/pink which is not a realistic color. I saw different pictures of Mars from other amateurs which are using an IR/UV blocking filter. Threrofor I ordered an IR/UV blocker  with the following properties.

On top of this I will purchase two IR bandpass filters: 642 and 742nm IR bandpass filters. Below is a graph showing the IR bandpass and the sensitivity of the ASI224MC camera.

RGB lines represent the sensitivity of ASI224MC
642, 742 and 807 are graphs of the IR bandpass filter.

The vertical lines are emission lines as a reference eg. H-alpha, OIII, Na, Hg

The grey line in the back is a typical curve of an astrosensor.

Mars Reworked - R,G,B split with PIPP and WinJupos

It had been a while since I photographed Mars. On Sunday, November 13, the conditions were favorable with a completely open sky. As a setting I had my TAL200K with ASI224MC camera. Furthermore an ADC and barlow x2. The polar alignment went flawlessly with an “excellent” result and only 8 arcseconds deviation! In total I have been outside for 3 hours and I have made 8 shots of 3000 frames (145fps). The recordings were made via SharpCap 4 and saved in SER format. 

On Monday morning I have the SER files with AS3! stacked and edited in CS4. Personally, I didn't think it was bad and could compare the details with the Mars Mapper. However, I received feedback from Johan R and Walter about: where the polar cap was and why the picture looked so red. In the meantime I had also sent my photo through the VVS maillisting where I received the same feedback from Geert VDB and Luc DS. So back to the drawing board. Most planetary photographers shoot with mono cameras and RGB filters. Few do it with a color camera and that's where the problem is. The colors of a color camera do not always correspond with reality, so with the ASI224MC. The white balance must be adjusted to R52(R58) and B99(B99). Since the recordings had already been made, I got the tip from Walter to split the SER files into R, G, and B images. This was done with PIPP software. Then stacking with AS3! (25% retention of the frames). Using WinJupos I then merged the obtained R,G,B photos where the gamma of Blue is 2x higher than R and G. This way I get an RGBB image. This image was edited in CS4 and in DeNoise AI. 

The result is a beautifully detailed Mars image with a more realistic color and a visible polar cap. A satisfied amateur astronomer 😊

Mars - November 13, 2022 - Compared with Mars Mapper

Picture of Mars from November 13, 2022, UT22h58 with fair to good seeing conditions.

Setting: TAL200K f/8.5, ASI224MC with ADC and Barlowx2

Software: SharpCap 4, AS3!, CS4, DeNoise AI

Picture is compared with Mars view from Mars Mapper - see this link. Details are matching well.

Mars - My first picture 2022

My first close-up picture from Mars this year. The red planet is currently 0,57 AE away from Earth and is 97% illuminated. The angular diameter is about 16,4".

Setting: TAL200K f/8.5 with ASI224MC and ADC, Barlow x2

Software : SharpCap 4, AS3! (25% stacked), CS4 and DeNoise AI