We had some clearing last night, but it wasn't anything too exciting, so I took the chance and sp
end a few hours trying to tweak the scope mount for better polar alignment. I found some software that makes drift alignment almost painless to do - once you figure out how the software works. Drift alignment is what you do with a polar aligned scope to align it when you don't have a clear shot of Polaris. It's a pain (although people say it's easy) since you have to watch a star in the east and south to see if it drifts up or down in the view. That will tell you if you need to twist the RA left/right and move the DEC up/down. It's confusing to do - at least for me!
So, I found this "
WCS - WebCamScheinern" software that makes it fairly simple. There is a 30 day trail, and I have 15 days left. I'll just say it works, and I'll send Wolfgang my 21 EUR for registration.
Before, I would slew across the sky, and totally miss my object. After a few hours of tweaking (not as much cussing as usual) I find that now I can slew across the sky and the next object is still inside the view of a
26mm eyepiece. HUGE improvment! Also, did some testing of the autguiding and my errors are now much smaller. I've been putting up with a mis-aligned mess for about 4 years now?
Here are some quick samples I took last night to test out the autoguiding. M27 The Dumbbell nebula - focus isn't great, but the stars are only slightly "Twinkie" shaped. M57 Ring nebula - I've always had guiding problems in this par of the sky for some reason, stars would always trail. Now it looks better than ever.
I now wait again for a clear night to test this out more....
Here is a new site that I just heard about on Universetoday.com. "Portal to the Universe", basically it has all cool sites in one place, APOD, Heavens-Above, NASA image of the day, Lunar picture of the day....etc.
If you like that Saturn V, you must check out this site. This model was made from a Gi-Joe toy Mercury capsule (you can still find these on Ebay - we have 2 in our living room!). They built a rocket to fit the model and launched it with cameras all over the rocket. My favorite view was the spacecraft view showing Joe bravely commanding his ship during the launch.
t the launch to the Hubble was delayed until May. So one more (and probably last time ever) there are two shuttles on the pads. No, this isn't going to be a Bruce Willis "Armageddon" launch, but just a second shuttle in case there is trouble.
vour is parked on the other pad ready to go rescue the crew with a few day's notice. STS-400 is the mission - and one that hopefully won't fly. If Endeavour flies, it's going up to rescue the crew of STS-125, and that is probably an early end to the shuttle program since the disabled shuttle will be dropped into the ocean.
is beast was built by Steve Eves starting in May 2007. The rocket is 36 feet long (the real thing is 363 feet, so it's a perfect 1:10 scale) and weighs about 1,600 lbs. It will be powered by a cluster of 9 engines which will put out 8,000 lbs of thrust and cost $13,000 alone. A center P size surrounded b 8 N motors for a total weight of 210 lbs for the propellant alone.
up, break up into many pieces or just fly perfectly. Any of those results would be pretty exciting I think. Imagine the noise this would make too. I'm sure this will be on the evening news and all over the internet. Good luck to Steve on the launch!
onday night I stayed out late on a work night and played past my bedtime. When is bedtime for a Seattle astronomer on a rare clear night anyway?
end a few hours trying to tweak the scope mount for better polar alignment. I found some software that makes drift alignment almost painless to do - once you figure out how the software works. Drift alignment is what you do with a polar aligned scope to align it when you don't have a clear shot of Polaris. It's a pain (although people say it's easy) since you have to watch a star in the east and south to see if it drifts up or down in the view. That will tell you if you need to twist the RA left/right and move the DEC up/down. It's confusing to do - at least for me!
26mm eyepiece. HUGE improvment! Also, did some testing of the autguiding and my errors are now much smaller. I've been putting up with a mis-aligned mess for about 4 years now?
Diagram showing the event, notice Seattle is smack in the middle of the moon!
...and what we'll see on Wednesday.
