Saturday, 24 January 2015

HAT-P-37 b

HAT-P-37 is a star far far away (over 400 parsecs) and has got at least one planet orbiting it. HAT-P-37 b is "hot Jupiter" very near it's host star with an orbiting period under three days only.

MaximDL astrometry measured RA 18h 57m 11s and DEC +51° 16' 09"


The Sky X and EQASCOM were not so precise with the position:


Baader UBVRI-filters for photometric measurements:


Wednesday, 31 December 2014

Just for fun

Purchased this jewel as new just for fun. 150mm f/2.8 is quite suitable for certain wide field objects. Will try it with D7100 body and CCD-cameras.



Tuesday, 30 December 2014

Binning 2x2

When binning 2x2 you get your data four times faster. In other words for example a single 2x2 binned 5 minutes exposure equals unbinned 20 minutes exposure. Here is an example taken with SX-814 CCD-camera (only 30 five minutes 2x2 binned exposures were taken using 3nm ultra narrowband H-alfa, O-III and S-II filters):


Friday, 24 October 2014

New CCD-Camera

I bought Trius SX-814 combo package and as a bonus got second Lodestar and third SX mini filter wheel added into my astro gear collection. The camera inside the case is Trius SX-694 which is having vacation right now.



Monday, 13 October 2014

Imaging Setup #2 closer look

Estimated backfocus from left to right (without those thin T2-spacers seen in pictures) is 20+15+15+55 = 105mm which is just about right for the EdgeHD 800 0.7x reducer.







Monday, 29 September 2014

Faster than light?

Not quite but enough for me. This was measured during prime hours. At the night time it is easy to reach nominal top d/l speed of 250 Mbps. Connection has been working like a charm over three years now: No breaks, no traffic jams, nothing whatsoever.


Two other measurements in the middle of the day:



Monday, 22 September 2014

Imaging setups

This autumn I will be using setup #1 and will switch into setup #2 later during next year. Third setup has been reserved for occasional outdoor trips.

Setup #1:

  • Takahashi FSQ-106ED w. Reducer QE 0.73x
  • Starlight Xpress Trius SX-814 (3.69um 3388 x 2712 pixels in a 12.5 x 10mm array)
  • USB_Focus focuser
  • Starlight Xpress Filter Wheel 7x1.25" w. Astrodon 3nm Ha/O3/S2 + LRGB
  • SX-OAG w. Lodestar

Setup #2:

  • Celestron EdgeHD 8" w. Celestron 0.7 Reducer
  • Starlight Xpress Trius SX-694 (4.54um 2750 x 2200 pixels in a 12.5 x 10mm array)
  • FLI PDF focuser
  • 1st Starlight Xpress Mini Filter Wheel 5x1.25" w. Astronomik LRGB + Ha
  • 2nd Starlight Xpress Mini Filter Wheel 5x1.25" w. Baader Ha/O3/S2/Hb + Astronomik CLS
  • SX Lodestar

Setup #3:

  • TS Triplet 102/714mm f/7
  • Starlight Xpress Trius SX-694
  • Starlight Xpress Filter Wheel 5x2" w. Baader Ha/O3/S2/Hb + Astronomik CLS
  • Optec TCF-S focuser
  • SX-OAG w. Lodestar

As you may notice here I have invested some pennies into filter wheels (five of them) and filter sets (2xLRGB and 3xNB).