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On Mar 9, 2025, at 21:45, Myron Wasiuta via groups.io <myrnteryx4@...> wrote:
? Dear RAC,
MSRO user Marshall Faintich requested time on the MSRO 2 telescope recently to image M 95 in Leo. Enclosed is an "LRGB" image made using the photometric RB and V bands to simulate red, blue and green channels in the color composite. The luminance band was made by exposing with no filter in place. This image is about 3.5 hours of exposure time. Marshall pointed out to me the distant quasar J104335.9+115129 not far from the galaxy. This quasar is over 6.8 billion light years away! This has to be one of the farthest objects images at MSRO. Quasars are the intensely bright nuclei of very distant galaxies and on exposures with large telescopes look like fuzzy bluish stars. Careful inspection shows the bluish color in this image.
Myron <M 95 LRGB croppedannotated quasar.jpg>
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On Mar 9, 2025, at 9:45?PM, Myron Wasiuta via groups.io <myrnteryx4@...> wrote:
? Dear RAC,
MSRO user Marshall Faintich requested time on the MSRO 2 telescope recently to image M 95 in Leo. Enclosed is an "LRGB" image made using the photometric RB and V bands to simulate red, blue and green channels in the color composite. The luminance band was made by exposing with no filter in place. This image is about 3.5 hours of exposure time. Marshall pointed out to me the distant quasar J104335.9+115129 not far from the galaxy. This quasar is over 6.8 billion light years away! This has to be one of the farthest objects images at MSRO. Quasars are the intensely bright nuclei of very distant galaxies and on exposures with large telescopes look like fuzzy bluish stars. Careful inspection shows the bluish color in this image.
Myron <M 95 LRGB croppedannotated quasar.jpg>
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Dear RAC,
MSRO user Marshall Faintich requested time on the MSRO 2 telescope recently to image M 95 in Leo. Enclosed is an "LRGB" image made using the photometric RB and V bands to simulate red, blue and green channels in the color composite. The luminance band was made by exposing with no filter in place. This image is about 3.5 hours of exposure time. Marshall pointed out to me the distant quasar J104335.9+115129 not far from the galaxy. This quasar is over 6.8 billion light years away! This has to be one of the farthest objects images at MSRO. Quasars are the intensely bright nuclei of very distant galaxies and on exposures with large telescopes look like fuzzy bluish stars. Careful inspection shows the bluish color in this image.
Myron
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Shout out to Troy for building me this base! Backnin business baby!
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I wonder if they would do group cruises? ?That looks like it would be a lot of fun.?
M95 with unknown asteroid
Dear RAC, Perhaps someone can help ID the asteroid in the upper left part of the image. This may be 2270 Yazhi (16th mag), but my software places in outside the field of view. I have annotated the image with date and time in case anyone wants to take a stab at ID this object. the trail orientation is exactly what one would expect from a main belt asteroid.
Myron
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Astronomical League Live this Friday, March 7 at 7 pm EST
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-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Astronomical League Live this Friday, March 7 at 7 pm EST
Date: 2025-03-05 14:07
From: <dknabb01@...>
To: "Don 01 account" <dknabb01@...>
Greetings MERAL Presidents, ALCors, editors, officers, and others,
I will attach a graphic announcing the upcoming Astronomical League Live
show this Friday, March 7 at 7 pm EST.
You can tune in using a link from the AL Facebook page
or at Explore Scientific at
.
The show features Bob King, also known as Astro Bob. I'll be on for a
short presentation on the upcoming night sky highlights.
Please share this information with your club members and post the
graphic on your website and social media.
Clear skies,
Don Knabb
MERAL Chair
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Something for Myron to try
Here is a link to one of the 2023 Photo Contest winners I ran across going over some old issues of Optics & Photonics News. It was even done with a 10-inch Ritchy-Chretien and a Star Analyzer!
Bart
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Staunton River Star Party registration is open
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-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Staunton River Star Party registration is open
Date: 2025-03-03 20:04
From: <dknabb01@...>
To: "Don 01 account" <dknabb01@...>
Greetings MERAL Presidents, ALCors, officers, editors, and others,
Jim Browder of the Richmond Astronomical Society has asked me to share
the information below about the Staunton River Star Party. This is the
first regional event in the MERAL region for 2025 and it sounds like a
wonderful gathering of amateur astronomers.
Clear skies,
Don Knabb
MERAL Chair
From Jim Brower:
Registration is now open for the Staunton River Star Party!
Staunton River State Park has dark skies, a beautiful setting, along
with an extremely helpful and welcoming park staff. Electrical power is
available in the observing field and food service (really good food
service) is available onsite at the park.
Astronomers are welcome to camp on the observing field with their
telescope equipment. If you don't like camping, the park is only about
20 minutes from South Boston where you can find hotel lodging.
Registration and more information available at this link:
[1]
[2]
Links:
------
[1] ;h=AT0pk8E65PfYxnijVzV5xA3WRuqcOYjpGx4ufHFh-aGEvaWJt792RfnnWDEI34f3b-ySHDLj9bChlHuS2xC3KrVysGAs-cfO6nrH9V_FRqqiexBZeXHUI9ws4fq2ezvslEyq2Q
[2]
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That's cool man, the other night, Friday night I went out with my 8-in dobsonian and had quite a group!
Hello all,
The weather was much worse than forrecast tonight, but we had 17 people
at our Rappahannock Astronomy Club star party at Caledon. I talked with
one family moving into the area and looking for a local astronomy club.
Most were looking for the planetary alignment. The western horizon was
cloudy at sunset. We did not see Saturn before it set, and caught only a
single glimpse of Mercury through the clouds. The 2 day old Moon was
beautiful, and frequently going in and out of the clouds with Venus. We
later had some times with Jupiter and Mars in the clear.
Because of the high wind I brought binoculars rather than telescope. We
looked at constellations and asterisms. By 7:30 most people were cold
and departing. This might be the earliest I've ever been finished with a
star party.
At about 7:45 we suddenly saw a straight line of about 20 satellites,
about magnitude 1, vertical at about 310 degrees azimuth, from the
horizon to about 40 degrees altitude. The display only lasted about 2
minutes and then they went dark. That normally is from a launch
releasing a cluster of Starlinks together, but I don't find a report of
a launch today. Would the line of Starlinks launched on the 26th still
be that organized and turn bright and then dark again so crisply?
Of course, after I was all packed up, the entire western sky turned
clear. I had planned to look for Uranus as a binocular target, but my
fingers were cold enough that I didn't unpack the binoculars again. By
the time I reached home the west was cloudy again.
Thanks to Caledon. Hope everybody saw something pretty.
--
Glenn Holliday holliday@...
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Hi Everyone!
Spent some time last night re-imaging NGC 2276 using MSRO 2 (thanks Myron!) under somewhat more favorable conditions than my?last attempt.? The main issue last night was strong wind gusts.??
I think I see ten galaxies in this stacked?image, eight of them quite clearly.? I find NGC2276 to be an absolutely fascinating target with its asymmetry.
Thanks!
Pete Laky??
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Hello all,
The weather was much worse than forrecast tonight, but we had 17 people at our Rappahannock Astronomy Club star party at Caledon. I talked with one family moving into the area and looking for a local astronomy club.
Most were looking for the planetary alignment. The western horizon was cloudy at sunset. We did not see Saturn before it set, and caught only a single glimpse of Mercury through the clouds. The 2 day old Moon was beautiful, and frequently going in and out of the clouds with Venus. We later had some times with Jupiter and Mars in the clear.
Because of the high wind I brought binoculars rather than telescope. We looked at constellations and asterisms. By 7:30 most people were cold and departing. This might be the earliest I've ever been finished with a star party.
At about 7:45 we suddenly saw a straight line of about 20 satellites, about magnitude 1, vertical at about 310 degrees azimuth, from the horizon to about 40 degrees altitude. The display only lasted about 2 minutes and then they went dark. That normally is from a launch releasing a cluster of Starlinks together, but I don't find a report of a launch today. Would the line of Starlinks launched on the 26th still be that organized and turn bright and then dark again so crisply?
Of course, after I was all packed up, the entire western sky turned clear. I had planned to look for Uranus as a binocular target, but my fingers were cold enough that I didn't unpack the binoculars again. By the time I reached home the west was cloudy again.
Thanks to Caledon. Hope everybody saw something pretty.
--
Glenn Holliday holliday@...
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Re: Star party ON tonight at Caledon
I was going to head down but it’s seriously windy and really cloudy here in Spotsylvainia.?
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On Mar 1, 2025, at 5:28?PM, Glenn Holliday via groups.io <holliday@...> wrote:
? I'm at Caledon. The wind is increasing, so I brought binoculars and not a long optical tube.
Good morning everybody!
All the forecasts call for a clear evening to see the planetary
alignment with a crescent Moon.
The temperature will decrease from the 40s to freezing, so please dress
to stay warm. Wind gusts will increase to 40mph, so telescopes might
become less usable as the wind increases.
Directions to Caledon State Park are at
.
Sunset will be 6:00pm. I expect to see folks there to set up while there
is still light by 5:30pm. Full dark approximately 7:00pm.
The event is on Caledon’s calendar at
Note that the park says the usual parking fee does apply.
See you there.
--
Glenn Holliday holliday@...
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Re: Star party ON tonight at Caledon
I'm at Caledon. The wind is increasing, so I brought binoculars and not a long optical tube.
Good morning everybody!
All the forecasts call for a clear evening to see the planetary
alignment with a crescent Moon.
The temperature will decrease from the 40s to freezing, so please dress
to stay warm. Wind gusts will increase to 40mph, so telescopes might
become less usable as the wind increases.
Directions to Caledon State Park are at
.
Sunset will be 6:00pm. I expect to see folks there to set up while there
is still light by 5:30pm. Full dark approximately 7:00pm.
The event is on Caledon’s calendar at
Note that the park says the usual parking fee does apply.
See you there.
--
Glenn Holliday holliday@...
|
Star party ON tonight at Caledon
Good morning everybody!
All the forecasts call for a clear evening to see the planetary alignment with a crescent Moon.
The temperature will decrease from the 40s to freezing, so please dress to stay warm. Wind gusts will increase to 40mph, so telescopes might become less usable as the wind increases.
Directions to Caledon State Park are at .
Sunset will be 6:00pm. I expect to see folks there to set up while there is still light by 5:30pm. Full dark approximately 7:00pm.
The event is on Caledon’s calendar at
Note that the park says the usual parking fee does apply.
See you there.
--
Glenn Holliday holliday@...
|
There’s a pull off across the road from Todd’s tavern market. Good wide open sight all the way to the horizon looking west. Its in Spotsylvainia though on rt 630
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On Feb 28, 2025, at 6:25?PM, Bruce Bixby via groups.io <brucefdwc@...> wrote:
? Good evening, all,
Random question, what is the best place to get unobstructed views of the horizon? ?In Fredericksburg and Stafford, East and west? ?
Particularly to the west tonight for the planet parade. ?
Thanks,
Bruce
On Feb 25, 2025, at 9:23?AM, Myron Wasiuta via groups.io <myrnteryx4@...> wrote:
? Brian,
While photography filters can be used- they do nit have the defined, known light transmission profile used by professionals who may want the data. You can still due photometry however in the “ open” position. There are people who do this all the time and just specify the filter as “ visual”, or “ no filter” . ?
The light curves I generate are from numerous 30-60 second subs. Sometimes I have hundreds of images by morning. I use Maxim DL for constructing the curves. It has a “ photometry” feature which is very useful. I’m sure there are other programs out there that can do this as well, and I believe there is even one that the AAVSO has that can be used if you have an account with them. I know you can submit data to them without being a member, but I’m not sure if you have access to that photometry program unless you are a member.?
I know you have expressed an interest in learning to use the MSRO/ RAC telescope. Either myself or Pete Laky can help you with training. You could use that telescope for photometry with the UBVRI filters!?
Myron On Feb 25, 2025, at 8:23?AM, Brian Barbre via groups.io <brianwbarbre@...> wrote:
? Myron,?
?
A few questions. The filters that you use for this type of work, can photography filters be used in a similar way to examine curves and magnitudes? What is the software that you use to analyze the incoming data? Are you getting these data points from a video capture, as it seems continuous, or is it the compilation of lots of subs??
?
Regards,?
Brian
--
WO GT81 20th anniversary edition
SVB 50mm guide
Mount, ES EXOS2 PMC8
ASI 533MC Pro/ASI 533MM Pro
ASI 120 MM Mini
ZWO EFW7 1.25”
Pegasus Focus Cube?
Stellarmate Pro 64gb, Kstars & Ekos
Astro Pixel Processor, StarNet++, Affinity Photo
|
Good evening, all,
Random question, what is the best place to get unobstructed views of the horizon? ?In Fredericksburg and Stafford, East and west? ?
Particularly to the west tonight for the planet parade. ?
Thanks,
Bruce
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On Feb 25, 2025, at 9:23?AM, Myron Wasiuta via groups.io <myrnteryx4@...> wrote:
? Brian,
While photography filters can be used- they do nit have the defined, known light transmission profile used by professionals who may want the data. You can still due photometry however in the “ open” position. There are people who do this all the time and just specify the filter as “ visual”, or “ no filter” . ?
The light curves I generate are from numerous 30-60 second subs. Sometimes I have hundreds of images by morning. I use Maxim DL for constructing the curves. It has a “ photometry” feature which is very useful. I’m sure there are other programs out there that can do this as well, and I believe there is even one that the AAVSO has that can be used if you have an account with them. I know you can submit data to them without being a member, but I’m not sure if you have access to that photometry program unless you are a member.?
I know you have expressed an interest in learning to use the MSRO/ RAC telescope. Either myself or Pete Laky can help you with training. You could use that telescope for photometry with the UBVRI filters!?
Myron On Feb 25, 2025, at 8:23?AM, Brian Barbre via groups.io <brianwbarbre@...> wrote:
? Myron,?
?
A few questions. The filters that you use for this type of work, can photography filters be used in a similar way to examine curves and magnitudes? What is the software that you use to analyze the incoming data? Are you getting these data points from a video capture, as it seems continuous, or is it the compilation of lots of subs??
?
Regards,?
Brian
--
WO GT81 20th anniversary edition
SVB 50mm guide
Mount, ES EXOS2 PMC8
ASI 533MC Pro/ASI 533MM Pro
ASI 120 MM Mini
ZWO EFW7 1.25”
Pegasus Focus Cube?
Stellarmate Pro 64gb, Kstars & Ekos
Astro Pixel Processor, StarNet++, Affinity Photo
|
Brian,
While photography filters can be used- they do nit have the defined, known light transmission profile used by professionals who may want the data. You can still due photometry however in the “ open” position. There are people who do this all the time and just specify the filter as “ visual”, or “ no filter” . ?
The light curves I generate are from numerous 30-60 second subs. Sometimes I have hundreds of images by morning. I use Maxim DL for constructing the curves. It has a “ photometry” feature which is very useful. I’m sure there are other programs out there that can do this as well, and I believe there is even one that the AAVSO has that can be used if you have an account with them. I know you can submit data to them without being a member, but I’m not sure if you have access to that photometry program unless you are a member.?
I know you have expressed an interest in learning to use the MSRO/ RAC telescope. Either myself or Pete Laky can help you with training. You could use that telescope for photometry with the UBVRI filters!?
Myron
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On Feb 25, 2025, at 8:23?AM, Brian Barbre via groups.io <brianwbarbre@...> wrote:
? Myron,?
?
A few questions. The filters that you use for this type of work, can photography filters be used in a similar way to examine curves and magnitudes? What is the software that you use to analyze the incoming data? Are you getting these data points from a video capture, as it seems continuous, or is it the compilation of lots of subs??
?
Regards,?
Brian
--
WO GT81 20th anniversary edition
SVB 50mm guide
Mount, ES EXOS2 PMC8
ASI 533MC Pro/ASI 533MM Pro
ASI 120 MM Mini
ZWO EFW7 1.25”
Pegasus Focus Cube?
Stellarmate Pro 64gb, Kstars & Ekos
Astro Pixel Processor, StarNet++, Affinity Photo
|
? ? ? Brian, I have ground several 6 and 8 inch mirrors and have made multiple wooden truss tube dobsonians( 2 of which I still have and use) in the 12 and 16”apertures. These use commercial optics but have somewhat sophisticated mirror floatation cells. I have numerous books on mirror making and telescope construction I’d be happy to let you borrow. Give me a call some evening and we can talk more!?
Myron 540-388-8209
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On Feb 25, 2025, at 8:39?AM, Brian Barbre via groups.io <brianwbarbre@...> wrote:
? RAC,?
It seems that I am headed down the Amature telescope making path. Has anyone in the group gotten their hands dirty with this? I’ve been reading lots of forums and blogs of other peoples projects with reflectors & refractors. My craftsman skills are mostly wood working related with some tangential metal working but I’m intrigued by the Schupmann design of scope. I think it makes sense to start with a small refractor though. I’m wondering if anyone has any experience in this area and has any advice or sage wisdom as far as things to avoid, common pitfalls, design considerations. Ideally i’d like to build scopes that can be for visual and photography which is why the Schupmann design is incredibly intriguing. I feel I should start with already purchased lenses for a short refractor and work my way into grinding my own for a Schupmann down the road. SC’s and RC’s are also tantalizing to attempt as well. I’ve been getting lost in YouTube rabbit holes on lens and mirror grinding and building testing equipment. Hope all are well and praying for some clear skies!
?
BWB?
--
WO GT81 20th anniversary edition
SVB 50mm guide
Mount, ES EXOS2 PMC8
ASI 533MC Pro/ASI 533MM Pro
ASI 120 MM Mini
ZWO EFW7 1.25”
Pegasus Focus Cube?
Stellarmate Pro 64gb, Kstars & Ekos
Astro Pixel Processor, StarNet++, Affinity Photo
|
RAC,?
It seems that I am headed down the Amature telescope making path. Has anyone in the group gotten their hands dirty with this? I’ve been reading lots of forums and blogs of other peoples projects with reflectors & refractors. My craftsman skills are mostly wood working related with some tangential metal working but I’m intrigued by the Schupmann design of scope. I think it makes sense to start with a small refractor though. I’m wondering if anyone has any experience in this area and has any advice or sage wisdom as far as things to avoid, common pitfalls, design considerations. Ideally i’d like to build scopes that can be for visual and photography which is why the Schupmann design is incredibly intriguing. I feel I should start with already purchased lenses for a short refractor and work my way into grinding my own for a Schupmann down the road. SC’s and RC’s are also tantalizing to attempt as well. I’ve been getting lost in YouTube rabbit holes on lens and mirror grinding and building testing equipment. Hope all are well and praying for some clear skies!
?
BWB?
--
WO GT81 20th anniversary edition
SVB 50mm guide
Mount, ES EXOS2 PMC8
ASI 533MC Pro/ASI 533MM Pro
ASI 120 MM Mini
ZWO EFW7 1.25”
Pegasus Focus Cube?
Stellarmate Pro 64gb, Kstars & Ekos
Astro Pixel Processor, StarNet++, Affinity Photo
|
Myron Wasiuta
Peter Laky
Brian Barbre