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On Fri, Apr 3, 2020, 9:43 AM David Bentz < velcro@...> wrote: Hi All,
I have never had the privilege of attending the NEAF or NEAIC events hosted by the Rockland Astronomy Club, but they are apparently exceptional.? Looks like no one will be attending this year for obvious reasons.? However, while the primary event has been rescheduled, they are doing a virtual event on Saturday April 4th.? Since cancellation, very little has been available as far as schedule, but I expect there will still be various presentations, equipment introductions, etc.? It might be worth taking a peek, and it is a freebie.
Stay safe,
Dave Bentz
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Our own Jerry Hubbell of Explore Scientific will be one of the presenters! Myron
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On Apr 3, 2020, at 10:27 AM, Glenn Holliday < holliday@...> wrote: On Fri, Apr 3, 2020, 9:43 AM David Bentz < velcro@...> wrote: Hi All,
I have never had the privilege of attending the NEAF or NEAIC events hosted by the Rockland Astronomy Club, but they are apparently exceptional.? Looks like no one will be attending this year for obvious reasons.? However, while the primary event has been rescheduled, they are doing a virtual event on Saturday April 4th.? Since cancellation, very little has been available as far as schedule, but I expect there will still be various presentations, equipment introductions, etc.? It might be worth taking a peek, and it is a freebie.
Stay safe,
Dave Bentz
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RACers,
This is the first full frame processed image of C/2019 Y4 (Atlas) taken remotely from Belmont Observatory via Mark Slade Remote Observatory #3 (MSRO 3). ?I was the lead observer with remote telescope control with on-line assistance by Myron Wasiuta.
Total images were 100 frames at 70s each (TT 1.94 hours). ?This image was frames 2 thru 11 for a total acquisition time of ~11.6 minutes. ?Even though I had 100 frames to work with, a 10 frame stack accommodated the movement of the comet and the telescope drift. ?Any more frames and drift and comet movement would be come apparent. ?Even though this was only 10 frames, comet movement is still apparent. ?BTW, if you were to enlarge the image, you would see just off and slightly above to the right the comet’s short tail, an edge on galaxy oriented vertically. ?Maybe Myron can plate-solve to determine what galaxy it is.?
Image frames were aligned and stack using DeepSkyStacker (DSS) v.4.2.1 and processing was completed with PS 2020 CC. ?As I get time, I’ll create several iterations of 10 frame stacks to assemble into a GIF so we can see the movement of the comet over time.
In the meantime, enjoy. ?Myron feel free to add anything regarding the effort and result.
Scott Busby Belmont Observatory Spotsylvania, Virginia @BelmontObs
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Re: Comet C/2019 Y4 (Atlas)
From my analysis, the galaxy near the path of C/2019 Y4 at the time I took the first image may be PGC 2717024. ?This matches a spiral located in Camelpardalis @ Vm15.89. ?It is the right orientation taking into account the reversed image of MSRO# with a diagonal between the camera and telescope and the relation between the comet’s path. ?It is certainly in the right position at UTC: Fri Apr 3, 2020 01:42:14 (Fri Apr 2, 9:42:14 EST). ?This is based on the time of frame 07 @ 9:42 EST. ?(Frame 2 ended @ 9:36 PM and frame 11 ended at 9:47 PM)
Scott Busby Belmont Observatory Spotsylvania, Virginia @BelmontObs
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RACers,
This is the first full frame processed image of C/2019 Y4 (Atlas) taken remotely from Belmont Observatory via Mark Slade Remote Observatory #3 (MSRO 3). ?I was the lead observer with remote telescope control with on-line assistance by Myron Wasiuta.
Total images were 100 frames at 70s each (TT 1.94 hours). ?This image was frames 2 thru 11 for a total acquisition time of ~11.6 minutes. ?Even though I had 100 frames to work with, a 10 frame stack accommodated the movement of the comet and the telescope drift. ?Any more frames and drift and comet movement would be come apparent. ?Even though this was only 10 frames, comet movement is still apparent. ?BTW, if you were to enlarge the image, you would see just off and slightly above to the right the comet’s short tail, an edge on galaxy oriented vertically. ?Maybe Myron can plate-solve to determine what galaxy it is.?
Image frames were aligned and stack using DeepSkyStacker (DSS) v.4.2.1 and processing was completed with PS 2020 CC. ?As I get time, I’ll create several iterations of 10 frame stacks to assemble into a GIF so we can see the movement of the comet over time.
In the meantime, enjoy. ?Myron feel free to add anything regarding the effort and result.
Scott Busby Belmont Observatory Spotsylvania, Virginia @BelmontObs <20190402_C2019Y4_F2 thru 11_sm.jpg>
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Animation of C/2019 Y4 (Atlas)
This is an animated GIF consisting of 20(5x70s frames)=1.96 hours of acquisition time. ?Telescope/mount tracking error is obvious, but you can plainly see the comet tracking across the star field. ?I’ve reduced the size of the file, but it is still quite large. ?The GIF should loop automatically once it completely downloads. ?So, give a couple minutes.
Scott Busby Belmont Observatory Spotsylvania, Virginia @BelmontObs
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Re: Animation of C/2019 Y4 (Atlas)
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On Apr 3, 2020, at 10:36 PM, RAC Equipment Manager via groups.io <BelmontObservatory@...> wrote:
? This is an animated GIF consisting of 20(5x70s frames)=1.96 hours of acquisition time. ?Telescope/mount tracking error is obvious, but you can plainly see the comet tracking across the star field. ?I’ve reduced the size of the file, but it is still quite large. ?The GIF should loop automatically once it completely downloads. ?So, give a couple minutes.
Scott Busby Belmont Observatory Spotsylvania, Virginia @BelmontObs <20200403_C2019_Y4_Atlas_MSRO3.gif>
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Re: Animation of C/2019 Y4 (Atlas)
On 4/3/2020 10:35 PM, RAC Equipment Manager via groups.io wrote: This is an animated GIF consisting of 20(5x70s frames)=1.96 hours of acquisition time. ?Telescope/mount tracking error is obvious, but you can plainly see the comet tracking across the star field. ?I’ve reduced Nice, Scott. Thanks. -- Glenn Holliday holliday@...
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April and May Star Parties Cancelled
Due to Executive Order 55, Star Parties at Caledon State Park and Belmont Observatory are cancelled through June 10.
Glenn D. Faini Chemical and Environmental Engineer, Retired President, Rappahannock Astronomy Club
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Live Streaming events from MSRO
Dear RAC,
In the coming weeks we are going to try streaming live views through the MSRO telescopes to our YouTube Channel. When we have these events scheduled, I will post announcements here and on the Mark Slade Remote Observatory FaceBook page. A couple nights ago we had a test streaming event which went pretty well. I have enclosed some images we obtained during the event. the lunar images were taken using a Celestron 8 telescope at F/10. The comet image was taken by Scott Busby of Belmont Observatory who logged in remotely and operated the Station 3 telescope. I acted as a Docent during the session. Station 3 is open and available for RAC members and is very easy to use. Email me if you would like to observe with it.
Myron
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Re: Live Streaming events from MSRO
Nice images.
Tim Plunkett? 540-846-5472 cell
Dear RAC,
In the coming weeks we are going to try streaming live views through the MSRO telescopes to our YouTube Channel. When we have these events scheduled, I will post announcements here and on the Mark Slade Remote Observatory FaceBook page. A couple nights ago we had a test streaming event which went pretty well. I have enclosed some images we obtained during the event. the lunar images were taken using a Celestron 8 telescope at F/10. The comet image was taken by Scott Busby of Belmont Observatory who logged in remotely and operated the Station 3 telescope. I acted as a Docent during the session. Station 3 is open and available for RAC members and is very easy to use. Email me if you would like to observe with it.
Myron
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MSRO live stream test on April 02, 2020
Dear RAC,
Here is the link to the YouTube post showing Scott and myself operating the MSRO telescopes and Shannon switching between two MSRO stations while we observe the moon and Comet Atlas 2019 Y4. It long and unedited, and rough in spots. If you want to see where we actually locate the comet-just fast forward to 34 minutes. There are some nice segments before then showing the moon in color using the C8 and our new QHY 290C camera. The first few minutes have no audio as we were figuring things out.
Myron
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Comet passing M45/Venus on Friday night, April 3???
Hi All,?
This is my first post.? Ever.? Please forgive me if I make a mistake.?
I was shooting a picture of Venus near M45 for my grand kids on Friday evening.? Didn't get to look at the images till today.? There seems to be fuzzy green comet moving thru two images taken roughly 2 minutes apart.?? Just wondered which one it was.?? I checked In-the-sky.org for comets and their viewing charts. Didn't find anything near the RA and Decl of M45.
Also looked at Weekly Information about Bright Comets (2020 Apr 4 North), reviewed the coordinates,? also did not find anything.? Movement seems to be similar in speed to? C/2019? Y4 in the YouTube video posted earlier.?? That was amazing by the way, thanks.
Probably something well known and I got the coordinates wrong but just curious what it was.
Thanks for your time.
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Re: Comet passing M45/Venus on Friday night, April 3???
Can you post your image so we can take a look?
Scott Busby Belmont Observatory Spotsylvania, Virginia @BelmontObs
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Hi All,?
This is my first post.? Ever.? Please forgive me if I make a mistake.?
I was shooting a picture of Venus near M45 for my grand kids on Friday evening.? Didn't get to look at the images till today.? There seems to be fuzzy green comet moving thru two images taken roughly 2 minutes apart.?? Just wondered which one it was.?? I checked for comets and their viewing charts. Didn't find anything near the RA and Decl of M45.
Also looked at Weekly Information about Bright Comets (2020 Apr 4 North), reviewed the coordinates,? also did not find anything.? Movement seems to be similar in speed to? C/2019? Y4 in the YouTube video posted earlier.?? That was amazing by the way, thanks.
Probably something well known and I got the coordinates wrong but just curious what it was.
Thanks for your time.
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Comet Atlas night of April 4, 2020
Dear RAC,
I have attached an image of Comet Atlas taken last night.
Stay safe,
Myron
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Re: Comet Atlas night of April 4, 2020
Very nice Myron.
Scott Busby Belmont Observatory Spotsylvania, Virginia @BelmontObs
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Dear RAC,
I have attached an image of Comet Atlas taken last night.
Stay safe,
Myron
<2020-04-05 ?0145-0323UT.jpg>
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Re: Comet Atlas night of April 4, 2020
Thanks Scott. I am calibrating the images we took the other night which should produce an even better result.?
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On Apr 5, 2020, at 7:49 PM, RAC Equipment Manager via < BelmontObservatory@...> wrote: Very nice Myron.
Scott Busby Belmont Observatory Spotsylvania, Virginia @BelmontObs
Dear RAC,
I have attached an image of Comet Atlas taken last night.
Stay safe,
Myron
<2020-04-05 ?0145-0323UT.jpg>
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M101 Re-Processed from Feb 22 2020
Combined Luminance and RGB frames as mono. ?Total integration time: 3 hr 49 mn 39 s. Used multiple layers with separate adjustments each to produce the final image. ?Further reduced the image size for email. ?
Scott Busby Belmont Observatory Spotsylvania, Virginia @BelmontObs
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Re: Comet Atlas night of April 4, 2020
Well done, Myron!
-Sent from my phone
Dear RAC,
I have attached an image of Comet Atlas taken last night.
Stay safe,
Myron
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Re: M101 Re-Processed from Feb 22 2020
Awesome,? as usual.? Glenn D. Faini, GDF Photography
Chemical and Environmental Engineer, Retired
President, Rappahannock Astronomy Club
Board of Directors,? MSRO Science, Inc.
Please Like me on Facebook or follow me on Flickr
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S7 Android Smartphone. On Sun, Apr 5, 2020, 8:09 PM RAC Equipment Manager via <BelmontObservatory= [email protected]> wrote:
Combined Luminance and RGB frames as mono.? Total integration time: 3 hr 49 mn 39 s. Used multiple layers with separate adjustments each to produce the final image.? Further reduced the image size for email. ?
Scott Busby Belmont Observatory Spotsylvania, Virginia @BelmontObs
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Re: M101 Re-Processed from Feb 22 2020
Very nice, Scott.? Did you also photograph M101 in color recently?
-Sent from my phone
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Combined Luminance and RGB frames as mono. ?Total integration time: 3 hr 49 mn 39 s.Used multiple layers with separate adjustments each to produce the final image. ?Further reduced the image size for email. ?
Scott Busby Belmont Observatory Spotsylvania, Virginia @BelmontObs
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Myron Wasiuta
Scott Busby
Glenn D. Faini