I just posted (in the JohnO folder) two photos from my first night
out with the new camera.  I have more than LOTS to learn - I have
EVERYTHING to learn about how to do this.  These were taken with a
general purpose digital camera (Nikon Coolpix 4500) using an eyepiece
adapter on a Meade 10" LX-200.

John,
Considering the focal length you're at, not to mention the mount
being alt-az, those images are impressive.  In addition to that
they're color!  I hope these first successes give you the desire to
stay with it.  By the way, I know what you mean about "LOTS to
learn".  I'm at the point that I don't know what to do, but I am
learning a lot about what not to do. :)
Nick

--- In amarilloastronomyclub@yahoogroups.com, "J. O'Brien
<astro7810@h...>" <astro7810@h...> wrote:
> I just posted (in the JohnO folder) two photos from my first night
> out with the new camera.  I have more than LOTS to learn - I have
> EVERYTHING to learn about how to do this.  These were taken with a
> general purpose digital camera (Nikon Coolpix 4500) using an
eyepiece
> adapter on a Meade 10" LX-200.

Good photos John.  As we talked earlier, I am very interested in
sticking your camera on my barn door tracker and also in my telescope
to see what kind of results we can achieve with a short exposure.
Keep up the good work and keep us posted as to your progress and
achievements.  Hope to see you out viewing again this weekend if the
weather permits.

The viewing Friday and Saturday night a Claude was "to die for".  The
viewing was exceptional....the cassinni division on Saturn was so
sharp that the edges looked like they had been cut with a razor
blade.  The wind was not blowing...and it was not that cold.
Excellent evening for viewing.  We even had a few local landowner
visitors show up to view the sky with us.  For those who did not make
it Friday and Saturday, I hope to see you out in the future.

John, Those pictures look good. What exposure length were the
individual pictures? What program did you use to stack them and what
other processing did you do?

M31 was two frames at 60 seconds each, and M42 was five frames of 8
seconds each.  Stacking was done with Registax (which I really
haven't taken time to learn how to use yet).  The photos were
originally 4 megapixel, so I had to downsample to accommodate
Registax's limit of 1024x1024.  No other processing was done.

--- In amarilloastronomyclub@yahoogroups.com, "Jim Fitch <jf@a...>"
<jf@a...> wrote:
> John, Those pictures look good. What exposure length were the
> individual pictures? What program did you use to stack them and
what
> other processing did you do?

I'll be out of town that evening looking at new planetarium equipment in Salt
Lake City. I'll make sure someone is here to open the doors.

It's time we start thinking about Astronomy Day. The official Astronomy Day is
on May 10 but I think it would be better if we do it on either April 19 or 26.

Aaron Guzman
Planetarium Director
Don Harrington Discovery Center
Amarillo, TX


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Not sure how the weather is going to be tonight but thought that I
would be available to go viewing sometime about 8:00 pm after
dinner.  It is not one of our regularly scheduded group viewing
nights, but I thought I would just check the interest of others in
the club who might be interesting in viewing, whether it be in town
or from Claude.

Terry Zimmerman
tzimmermn@...

Hi,

I had planned to post some webcam images to the site,Been trying for
almost a week. I can't even get into the photo section to look at the
stuff that is already there. So waaaahh! I finally got some fair
saturn and moon images to post but the yahoo force field is too much
for me. See y'all at the meeting.

@#%&^ technology

Gene

Over the past couple of days I've added and edited 43 pics to my LXD-
500 Yahoo Group page.  I had some ownership issues with the pics in
my folders in this group, so I deleted the folders and created a new
folder, and it wont let me add any.  It gives me the same error mssg
that I got about a month ago that I told Bob about.

Carey




--- In amarilloastronomyclub@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Storlie
<gstorlie@w...>" <gstorlie@w...> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I had planned to post some webcam images to the site,Been trying
for
> almost a week. I can't even get into the photo section to look at
the
> stuff that is already there. So waaaahh! I finally got some fair
> saturn and moon images to post but the yahoo force field is too
much
> for me. See y'all at the meeting.
>
> @#%&^ technology
>
> Gene

Finally got some images downloaded today.
Pretty rough but its a start.

Gene

It's about time!  Those shots of Saturn are fantastic and I really
like the lunar shot showing the processed area.  Keep them coming.
Nick

--- In amarilloastronomyclub@yahoogroups.com, "Gene Storlie
<gstorlie@w...>" <gstorlie@w...> wrote:
> Finally got some images downloaded today.
> Pretty rough but its a start.
>
> Gene

I was up this morning watching Fox News and one of the guys excitedly
let people know that people from California to Florida would be
able to see the Plasma trail of the Space Shuttle re-entry as it
comes in for landing in Florida.  I had seen on Spaceweather.com that
there were a couple of days in a row that the Spaceshuttle would be
visible passing over North America.  This morning hearing the guy on
Fox reminded me of that so I went online and found the NASA Human
Spaceflight site with groundtrack maps at
http://www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/groundtracs/.  I sent Joy an
e-mail to let her know that she might be able to see it to the south
in Amarillo.
The Map on the NASA sight was pretty cool.  It updated automatically
to show where the spaceshuttle was and had a circle to show where it
would be visible from.  The map was showing that it was just passing
Dallas and the guy on Fox was talking about going to switch to
Florida for the landing but first they had video just in from an
affiliate in Dallas of it passing over.  Meanwhile the groundtrack
map had the shuttle passing over Florida and crossing the Atlantic,
obviously the algorithms in the program couldn't show the shuttle
slowing down during re-entry.  As they were showing that they were
showing mission control and they were saying that they had lost
contact.  About the same time you could see on the video from Dallas
the multiple trails of the space shuttle and it was apparent that
something was not right.  Mission control was standing by for the
shuttle to be coming in and it wasn't until 8:16 CST when Mission
Control realized that it was not coming.  Meanwhile we had been
watching the breakup on TV since shortly after 8:00.  I started
switching between FOX and CNN.  They guy on CNN showed the weather
radar from Shreveport, LA of a streak on the radar that was the
debris from the shuttle.  I was able to pull that up on the NEXRAD on
Intellicast.  On the loop the debris streaked from just east of
Dallas to halfway across Louisiana and continued for over 2 hours.
The President Made a very eloquent speech...
"...The cause in which they died will continue. Mankind is led into
the darkness beyond our world by the inspiration of discovery and the
longing to understand. Our journey into space will go on.
In the skies today we saw destruction and tragedy. Yet farther than
we can see there is comfort and hope. In the words of the prophet
Isaiah, "Lift your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all
these? He who brings out the starry hosts one by one and calls them
each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one
of them is missing."
The same creator who names the stars also knows the names of the
seven souls we mourn today. The crew of the shuttle Columbia did not
return safely to Earth; yet we can pray that all are safely home.
May God bless the grieving families, and may God continue to bless
America."

Hi,

Just stumbled upon your Group and thought I'd say hello. Looks like
you guys (and gals) have a good time at your events and observing
sessions. I build scopes too bud don't have much of a chance for
observing experiences but will one of these days!

Right now I am building a 26.5 inch Cass that will be permanently
mounted and I'm also starting to put together a 24 inch Aluminizing
chamber, at least I will if the weather ever warms up enough for me
to get back to work out in the garage.

That brings me to the point of this eMail... I currently live in
Central Illinois where on a clear day I can see the bottom of the
clouds! I'm looking foranother place to call home with a better
climate. Someplace where it's warm enough to work in the garage in
the winter (without having to build a huge fire). A place to live,
then retire at when the time comes in 8 or 9 years.

What are the conditions like in/near Amarillo for observing? I see
that you have a site South of Claude (SP?) but wonder about the light
dome above the city... Is it very pronounced? What are the typical
skies like? I'm used to having clear dark skies all the time (worked
for Kitt Peak National Observatory in Tucson for years) and I am from
the desert South West. Is Amarillo likely to satisfy or disappoint me
from the observing standpoint? Would you recommend Amarillo or should
I keep on looking?

Anyway, Hello again, thanks for the help and if you have the time,
check out my Groups too!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/atm_free/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VacuumX/

Maybe see ya later?

Ken Hunter

Hi,

Well I added a few more images, don't laugh too hard. These are the
first taken with the LX200. I still want to tweak collimation but the
mirror slop / image shift issues are gone. Might even be a little
better than my 8in LX50.

Gene

I added one I did this last Monday night of M42/3. Scope used was my
Orion ST-80 (80mm f/5) piggybacked on the Intes MK67. The Intes was
the guide scope. Sirius Optics MV1 stacked with Orion Skyglow LPR
filters. 12 - 20 sec images stacked. Processed w/ darks and bias
frame. Minor Histogram adjustment in Maxim and de-speckled in Picture
Publisher Pro.

The shot of M-42 is great shot Bob!!.  I interested to see more.

Terry

Your new web cam shots are really great!!  I am not sure what you
were complaining about.  I think they are excellent.  I still can't
believe you can get these shots with a webcam.  Keep them coming.

Hi Ken. When you come to Amarillo to check out the job, be sure to
let us know and we will take you out to the observing site. Hopefully
it will be a good night, so you get an idea of our observing
conditions. What portable scopes are you using now?

--- In amarilloastronomyclub@yahoogroups.com, "Jim Fitch <jf@a...>"
<jf@a...> wrote:
> Hi Ken. When you come to Amarillo to check out the job, be sure to
> let us know and we will take you out to the observing site.
Hopefully
> it will be a good night, so you get an idea of our observing
> conditions. What portable scopes are you using now?

Hi Jim,

I have a 6 inch Celestron that I purchased 2-1/2 years ago which will
eventually become the finder of the 26.5 inch Cass. It has never been
outside yet. The sky conditions have just not been such that it would
have been worth the trouble... As I type this it's below zero and
we're in whiteout conditions expecting 8-10 inches of snow.

I am not much of an observer as I alluded to in the last message. I
prefer to make things to high tolerances and then move on to bigger
and better. I would enjoy a visit to the observing site but I doubt
that I will be making a "visit" beforehand. I work for the National
Weather Service and will be applying for a NWS position there in
Amarillo. Typically you apply, get to do an interview if you are one
of the referred candidates and if you are chosen they give you a
report date. I thought I was going to get a position in San Angelo,TX
a few months ago but lost the coin toss...

Keep your fingers crossed.

Ken Hunter

I wanted to let you guys know about something I've stumbled into.  As
most of you know Comet X5 was visible on SOHO images from 20030125
15:54 to 20030131 15:54 at http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime-
images.html on the LASCO C3 instrument.  I was saving these images
and viewing them using ViewPrintPro much like Jim displayed the club
images at the Christmas Party.  VuePrint was also what I used for the
slide shows for the 2 presentations I did for the club.  Knowing that
Comet V1 would be visible in these same images weeks after X5
departed I started saving images to fill in the space of time between
comets.  Instead of saving every image which is updated about every
30 minutes, I would save an image every 3 hours.  Every so often I
would connected the background stars using the line tool in Adobe
Photoshop to show the constellations.  While toggling through some of
the images, to compare stars to other frames, because there is a lot
of space junk that look like stars but aren't in the image before or
after the one I might be working on, I noticed a star that was
steadily moving like comet X5 did.  Comet X5 came in the top right
and over 6 days moved to the lower right.  Comet V1 will take the
same route.  This object came in from the left and headed strait for
the Sun.  It was visible in images 20030208_0942 thru 20030209_1818.
You could see it grow a tail as it got closer to the Sun.  I
excitedly sent an e-mail to cbat@... Central Bureau for
Astronomical Telegrams.  I tried to see if anyone else had reported
this comet and I found comets-ml@yahoogroups.com they referred me to
sohohunter@yahoogroups.com they referred me to
http://sungrazer.nascom.nasa.gov/  and told me SOHO discoveries
probably should not be sent to CBAT.  At Sungrazer I saw that reports
were made in x,y pixel coordinates.  I did not know how to do this
but got help from both Groups.  In Adobe Photoshop the x,y
coordinates are displayed if you select Show Info under Window.
Someone else turned me onto a program, XnView http://www.xnview.com/
that can be used as a slide show to go through the images to make
SOHO discoveries and will display the x,y pixel coordinates if you
select View, Display Color Information.  I also found out that
someone else had reported that comet to Sungrazer a day before I
reported it to CBAT.  Also that the comet was a Kruetz.
This is from popastro.com: SOHO is a spacecraft in solar orbit, about
a million miles from the earth. It constantly monitors the solar
region and has taught us a great deal about the sun. SOHO's comets
are very bright and are often part of the Kruetz sungrazer family.
Most of the SOHO comets are seen entering, but not exiting, the solar
region. It is believed that they disintegrate as they pass near the
sun.
Yep, that's what I saw.  So even if the comet was named after me, no-
one would ever see it again. Sob.
But obviously there are geeks who sit around and analyze these images
looking for comets.  Anyone else want to join me?

Carey

Hello Ken,
I certainly hope things work for your moving to Amarillo.  We have a
great group of folks in the club and would love to see you join us.
Since you work for the NWS you should find the weather in this area
pretty interesting.  Weather wise we get a little bit of everything;
sometimes in the same day! <G> Keep us posted.
Nick

--- In amarilloastronomyclub@yahoogroups.com, "Ken Hunter
<atm_ken_hunter@y...>" <atm_ken_hunter@y...> wrote:
> --- In amarilloastronomyclub@yahoogroups.com, "Jim Fitch <jf@a...>"
> <jf@a...> wrote:
> > Hi Ken. When you come to Amarillo to check out the job, be sure
to
> > let us know and we will take you out to the observing site.
> Hopefully
> > it will be a good night, so you get an idea of our observing
> > conditions. What portable scopes are you using now?
>
> Hi Jim,
>
> I have a 6 inch Celestron that I purchased 2-1/2 years ago which
will
> eventually become the finder of the 26.5 inch Cass. It has never
been
> outside yet. The sky conditions have just not been such that it
would
> have been worth the trouble... As I type this it's below zero and
> we're in whiteout conditions expecting 8-10 inches of snow.
>
> I am not much of an observer as I alluded to in the last message. I
> prefer to make things to high tolerances and then move on to bigger
> and better. I would enjoy a visit to the observing site but I doubt
> that I will be making a "visit" beforehand. I work for the National
> Weather Service and will be applying for a NWS position there in
> Amarillo. Typically you apply, get to do an interview if you are
one
> of the referred candidates and if you are chosen they give you a
> report date. I thought I was going to get a position in San
Angelo,TX
> a few months ago but lost the coin toss...
>
> Keep your fingers crossed.
>
> Ken Hunter

Carey,
That's a pretty neat discovery that you've made.  Even if it was post-
mortem (speaking of the comet) it's still an accomplishment that few
amateurs will ever make.  It's good to hear from you.  Patrick saw
his ship, the U.S.S. Gonzales, for the first time.  He's pretty
excited.  Keep in touch.
Nick



   --- In amarilloastronomyclub@yahoogroups.com, quarkcsj
<no_reply@y...> wrote:
> I wanted to let you guys know about something I've stumbled into.
As
> most of you know Comet X5 was visible on SOHO images from 20030125
> 15:54 to 20030131 15:54 at
http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime-
> images.html on the LASCO C3 instrument.  I was saving these images
> and viewing them using ViewPrintPro much like Jim displayed the
club
> images at the Christmas Party.  VuePrint was also what I used for
the
> slide shows for the 2 presentations I did for the club.  Knowing
that
> Comet V1 would be visible in these same images weeks after X5
> departed I started saving images to fill in the space of time
between
> comets.  Instead of saving every image which is updated about every
> 30 minutes, I would save an image every 3 hours.  Every so often I
> would connected the background stars using the line tool in Adobe
> Photoshop to show the constellations.  While toggling through some
of
> the images, to compare stars to other frames, because there is a
lot
> of space junk that look like stars but aren't in the image before
or
> after the one I might be working on, I noticed a star that was
> steadily moving like comet X5 did.  Comet X5 came in the top right
> and over 6 days moved to the lower right.  Comet V1 will take the
> same route.  This object came in from the left and headed strait
for
> the Sun.  It was visible in images 20030208_0942 thru
20030209_1818.
> You could see it grow a tail as it got closer to the Sun.  I
> excitedly sent an e-mail to cbat@c... Central Bureau for
> Astronomical Telegrams.  I tried to see if anyone else had reported
> this comet and I found comets-ml@yahoogroups.com they referred me
to
> sohohunter@yahoogroups.com they referred me to
> http://sungrazer.nascom.nasa.gov/  and told me SOHO discoveries
> probably should not be sent to CBAT.  At Sungrazer I saw that
reports
> were made in x,y pixel coordinates.  I did not know how to do this
> but got help from both Groups.  In Adobe Photoshop the x,y
> coordinates are displayed if you select Show Info under Window.
> Someone else turned me onto a program, XnView
http://www.xnview.com/
> that can be used as a slide show to go through the images to make
> SOHO discoveries and will display the x,y pixel coordinates if you
> select View, Display Color Information.  I also found out that
> someone else had reported that comet to Sungrazer a day before I
> reported it to CBAT.  Also that the comet was a Kruetz.
> This is from popastro.com: SOHO is a spacecraft in solar orbit,
about
> a million miles from the earth. It constantly monitors the solar
> region and has taught us a great deal about the sun. SOHO's comets
> are very bright and are often part of the Kruetz sungrazer family.
> Most of the SOHO comets are seen entering, but not exiting, the
solar
> region. It is believed that they disintegrate as they pass near the
> sun.
> Yep, that's what I saw.  So even if the comet was named after me,
no-
> one would ever see it again. Sob.
> But obviously there are geeks who sit around and analyze these
images
> looking for comets.  Anyone else want to join me?
>
> Carey

There is talk about possibly being able to observe Comet V1 during
daylight.  It's been reported around Mag. 0 and will possibly
brighten to Mag. -2.  I'm sure you guys have clearer skies than I
do.  Since I've been here in Washington State there has only been
about 3 or 4 viewable days.  On days when it is clear though it gets
cold at night and Fog develops.  It feels much colder too with the
humidity.  I'm on an island in the Puget Sound.  We have frost most
mornings.  The Fog burns off about 2:00PM and rolls back in at
5:00PM.  Now you can see why I'm observing comets on the internet.

Carey

Gerald Johnson, once a member of the Amarillo Astronomy Club, passed
away Monday morning.  AAC was one of his central activities for the
decade or so that he lived in Hereford.

Funeral services will be held at 4:30 p.m., Saturday, February 22, at:
Summers Funeral Home
3629 E. Ustick Road
Meridian,ID  83642

If you have any questions, please contact me at scj@.... I will
not be checking Jerry's email accounts.

Thank you,

Steve Johnson

Reply directly to me by clicking on the link below:
scj@...

We finally got some clear night here in Washington.  The past two
nights I've observed Comet Y1 out the window of my barracks room.
The 50 degree temerature difference between outside and inside plus
the wall heater under the window made the see not very good, but it
was easy to find.  Didn't look like much though.  As it has been
described elsewhere, a big smudge.  I also got to observe Comet X5
twice before it's perihelion.  First night with the 8" the second
night with binoculars.  After that we haven't had clear nights.  When
we do have clear days, it fogs up at night.  So I didn't get a single
look at Comet V1.

Carey

Hi Guys...

It's official. I was informed yesterday that I will be the NEW
Electronics Systems Analyst at the National Weather Service Office in
Amarillo... Yeah!

This is a MAJOR step for me and I am looking forward to the move and
the challenges of the position as well as meeting the Amarillo
Astronomy Club members.

My report date is 4 May but I believe my wife Rose and I will be
there a few days early to get a look around and to make some sort of
living arangements. Hopefully we will be able to meet some or all of
you in the near future.

Sometime this summer I hope to have everything unpacked and be able
to get back to working on the optics and my vacuum chamber but that
will have to be a secondary priority for the near future.

Amarillo, here we come!

Ken Hunter

Ken,

That's great news! I look forward to your arrival. Keep us posted.

Very deiniately looking forward to meeting you. Just watch out for Mr.
Fitch, he is already trying to figure out how he can "volunteer" a
small corner of his lot to install a 24" cassegrain. ;-)

deiniately

I definitely need to learn how to type definitly.

>
> I definitely need to learn how to type definitly.

I think that I'll quit while I am behind.