DeepskyWim

During the week from November 21, 2021 to November 28, I went to La Palma to upgrade the Mercator Observatory Control System (MOCS) to a new version.  Because the Cumbre Vieja volcano was still eruption, the trip to La Palma was a real adventure!  We departed Brussels around noon on November 21, but when we arrived in Madrid, there were no flights to La Palma anymore, because the airport was closed.  After spending a few hours waiting, we were put on the waiting list for the first flight to Tenerife on Monday.  As there were a lot of people on the waiting list, we could not get on the plane, so we had to rethink our plans again.  They wanted to put us on the waiting list for the next flight to Tenerife, but as we could not be sure that we could get on the flight, we asked to rebook us to Gran Canaria.  From Gran Canaria, we took a Binter Canarias flight to Tenerife and on Tenerife, we took a bus from Tenerife Norte to Los Cristianos.  There we could take the boat to La Palma.  We arriv

During the weekend of November 5, 2021 to November 7, 2021, VVS Capella organized an observing weekend in Grandpré , France.  The weather prospects were not very good, but when I was driving towards France, more and more gaps in the clouds became visible.  When I arrived, the weather was good enough to set up my Obsession telescope.  Because of the bad weather prospects, a few people cancelled their trip, so we were in a small, but nice company.   In the beginning of the night, the sky was clear, so I started observing NGC 6543, the Cat's Eye Nebula.  VVS Capella could use a 17mm Televue Ethos eyepiece, and I was very eager to test this.  The view through this eyepiece was really nice.  In the Obsession, the field of view of the Ethos was larger than the field of view of 20mm Nagler, but with a higher magnification.  Before I could move to higher power eyepieces, the clouds started to come in and we had to stop the observations...  The timelapse shows nicely the clouds rolling in.

During the holidays around All Saints Day, we went on a short holiday to the Volcanic Eifel in Germany.  The main aim of the holiday was to spot some volcanic remnants and to do a lot of hiking.  We did find some time to spot some interesting astronomical sites.  During a walk around the Dauner Maaren, we could spot the  Hoher List  observatory. The observatory hosts a nice collection of telescopes.  We did not have the time to visit the observatory, but we will do so in the future. When we were driving home, we made a detour to watch the  Radio Telescope in Effelsberg .  This radio telescope is really impressive!  The diameter of the telescope is 100m, so everything is really impressive! From the parking spot for the cars a nice planet path can be followed to the telescope.  It is possible to come really close to the telescope, an impressive sight! Radio telescope Effelsberg Radio telescope Effelsberg Hoher List

On November 17, 2021, we went running in the forest.  During the run, we could see some nice halo and sundog displays.  Luckily, when we arrived at home, we could still see a nice display with two very bright sundogs, just in time to make a picture.  Two bright sundogs and a part of the halo  

After I ordered the Nexus DSC Pro , the weather was of course too bad to do some real observing.  Luckily, it is perfectly possible to do some daylight testing of the combination Nexus DSC Pro / Obsession.  The Nexus DSC Pro has a standard configuration to communicate with the ServoCAT and uses 10000 steps encoders as a standard, so for my configuration, I did not need to change anything.  I did some tests from inside the garage and everything seemed to work perfectly.  The only problem I had was that the GoTo commands are not automatically executed, so I still need to push the 'Goto' button on the ServoCAT handpad.  Apparently, there is a small bug in the firmware, but Serge from Astro Devices promised me to send a corrected version of the firmware as soon as possible.   After setting up the Wifi, I could also connect without problems from SkySafari to the Nexus DSC and SkySafari to see where the telescope is pointed at and to goto other objects.   Luckily, during the family w

From October 8 to 10, we had our family-weekend.  This time, we went to Devantave, a small town not too far away from La Roche-en-Ardenne.  According to  lightpollutionmap.info , the SQM value should be 21.4.  It promised to be clear and it was around new moon, so I took my Obsession to the weekend to show my family some spectacular objects.   When we arrived on October 8, the clear looked very clear, so I immediately set up the telescope.  Once it was dark enough, I started showing the constellations.  The sky is indeed good here, and the detail in the Milky Way was really impressive! I showed M 13, M 27, and M 31, but the highlight of the evening was Saturn!  I really enjoyed all the 'Oh's and 'Waw's.  As it was already very late, especially for the smaller children, we stopped observing around 22:00.    The next day, I did not set up the telescope anymore, but we could enjoy a nice conjunction of Venus and the Moon. Conjunction of Venus and the Moon, with the Canon E

On October 5, the students of the University organised an observing evening for the the mental health awareness week in Leuven.  The weather was not ideal, but at least it stayed dry during most of the evening.  We had set up two telescopes: the Meade 12 inch telescope and the William Optics Zenithstar 110 TMB APO.   As there were a lot of clouds, we started explaining the different types of telescopes, how to see the difference between stars and planets, ...  Luckily, parts of the sky cleared out, so we could show some constellations and even point the telescopes to Jupiter and Saturn for a little while.   There were around 50 students and they really were interested.  It started raining, so we hurried to break down the telescopes and ended this nice event! Students ready to observe

After my Argo Navis broke down during my last observing session,  I investigated what to do to replace my Argo Navis.  I contacted Gary of Wildcard Innovations , but the problem was so severe that it was not easy to repair the unit.  It was also not so easy to send the Argo Navis back to Australia to have it checked.  As the unit was already 15 years old, I think it was the correct time to replace it.   I investigated the digital settings circle options that are available nowadays and found that besides the Argo Navis , the Nexus DSC Pro is another very good option.  I was always very happy with my Argo Navis, but the Nexus DSC Pro has some extra advantages, like a much larger database, an integrated GPS, an integrated Wifi module, it is very easy to upgrade the firmware of the device, easy to update the comets database, easy to add observing lists, ...  Due to these advantages, I opted to order a Nexus DSC Pro.  The order was placed on Thursday September 9, 2021, and sent on Friday

The beginning of September finally brought some very nice weather.  After I tested the Williams Optics Zenithstar 110 TMB APO , it was time to do some observations with my 18'' Obsession .   On September 5, I set up the telescope.  There was a high humidity, and the transparency was not so good, but the seeing was looking good.   When starting everything up, I got a strange error message on my Argo Navis .  The error message was something like ' SW Encoder Error'.  After restarting the Argo Navis, the same error appeared.  I tried restarting again, but the Argo Navis did not show anything anymore on the screen.  I could see that all LEDs were on, but nothing was visible.  After some investigations, it appears that there is a problem with the RAM of the Argo Navis.  It will not be easy to repair the Argo Navis and as my Argo Navis is already 15 years old, I will probably buy a new one or replace the Argo Navis with a Nexus DSC Pro .  Of course, this meant that I could no

At work, we received a telescope from a colleague from the faculty of science.  The nice telescope is a Williams Optics Zenitstar 110 TMB APO on a SkyWatcher HEQ5 mount.  The telescope came with Baader Hyperion Universal Zoom 8-24mm , Baader Hyperion 5mm and a Baader Hyperion 3.7mm eyepiece. I first took the telescope home to do some tests.  In the beginning of August, I could use a Baader Herschel-wedge from a friend of VVS Capella to do some solar observing.  The view was nice, but the sun was not really cooperating...  The first day I observed the sun, there was only one very small sunspot visible.  At the next opportunity, there were no sunspots at all. The William Optics Zenithstar 110 TMB APO with the Baader Herschel wedge to do some solar observing. I took the telescope on holidays to Austria, but I could not find the time (and the good weather) to do some observing.  Luckily, on  September 3, 2021, the weather at home was really nice.  Even in the evening, I could observe i

Before we started our holidays, I bought a new zoom lens: the EF 70-300 F4-5.6L IS .  The plan is to use this lens mainly for nature and bird photography, and the lens performs exceptionally well.  I already could make some very nice pictures of the European honey buzzard and the common kestrel.  During our holidays in Italy, I also tried to make some pictures of the moon, without a tripod, just shooting from my hands and I was really amazed by the amount of details that were visible.  I used the Canon EOS 80D, which transforms the lens in a 480mm lens.   Enjoy the pictures!  The moon on July 17, 2021 in Piedimulera, Italy The moon on July 19, 2021 in Piedimulera, Italy The moon on July 20, 2021 in Piedimulera, Italy  

During our holidays, we stayed one week in the beautiful Obergruberhof in Latzfons, Italy.  On holidays, I tried to make quite some timelapse movies.  This time, I tried to make some holy grail timelapses.  A holy grail timelapse is the smooth transition from day to night.  This is not so easy to do, because the difference in light during the day and at night is enormous.  I made the timelapses using my Canon EOS R.  As intervalometer, I used the LRTimelapse Pro 2.5 timer .  The settings of the camera were adapted automatically using the Android app qDslrDashboard .  This app calculates the brightness of the images taken and adapts the camera settings to make this more or less constant.   The two camera's shooting the pictures for a timelapse movie The editing and rendering of the timelapses was done using  LRTimelapse .  I'm happy with the results, certainly because it was my first attempt to make a holy grail timelapse.  It is a bit pity that the clouds were building up duri

During our holidays in Austria, we could spot a nice halo during one of our walks.  The rainbow-colored arc at the left side of the picture is a lens artifact.   Halo in Gaschurn on July 3, picture taken by Canon EOS 80D and Sigma 10mm f/2.8 EX DC

For Father's day, I got the field edition of the  Interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas .  In the past, I always used the first edition of Uranometria 2000.0 by Will Tirion, which was published in 1987!  I was always very happy with the Uranometria and I always preferred the first edition over the second edition.  I never took the book outside, but I made a copy of every page which I put in a sheet protector.  I took the pages in a big folder outside to starhop through the skies.    The Interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas comes in a nice sturdy slipcase. The last years, I mostly observed from home (Bortle 5), so I mostly observe bright objects.  Since last year, I added a SkyFI 3  to my Argo Navis / ServoCat so I can use SkySafari to always have a map on my phone or my tablet.  However, a real star atlas has a nicer overview, which is very useful when observing.  Under dark skies, a good star atlas is really needed to find the faintest objects. A nice card with the legend of the atlas The nice t

On June 10, 2021, an annular solar eclipse was visible in Canada, Greenland and Russia.  In Belgium, we could enjoy a partial eclipse of 15%.  This is not very much, but nonetheless very nice to enjoy and to be in the shadow of the moon again for the first time since the total solar eclipse of 2019 in Chile . The sun around maximum eclipse Today, it was the first time I could use my new zoom lens for a solar eclipse.  I recently bought the Canon EF70-300mm F4-5.6L IS USM .  Attached to the Canon EOS 80D, this lens gives a real focal length of 480mm.   Around first contact The pictures were made automatically using Solar Eclipse Maestro .  A script was created to take three pictures around the time of first and last contact and every 1% of the eclipse (which was around every 2 minutes and 30 seconds).  Because I don't have a motorized mount, I had to center the pictures from time to time in the field of view of the camera.   Around last contact Most of the time, the weather was real

After a long time with no observing opportunities, summer finally came to Belgium.  The moon was still almost full, but only rose very late above the horizon, so some observing could be done.  Due to the summer time, it only gets dark very late, so I could only start aligning my Argo Navis around 23:30.  I stopped the observations at 1:00.  I must have made a mistake during the alignment process because the pointing of the telescope was very bad...  The weather was very nice, with temperatures declining from 13.3 to 12.3 degrees Celsius, while the humidity rose from to 79% to 83%.  There was no wind at all.   I mainly observed globular clusters.  I started with M 13 which is a really spectacular sight.  Also M 92 was very impressive.  M 56 however was much fainter.  I ended the observing session with a look at M 57.   I planned to observe the next night, but I felt so tired that I decided not to do so.   The observations are described in detail in DeepskyLog . Observing some Deep-Sky o

For my birthday, I got the R-Sky Hooded Observing Vest as a present from my fantastic wife.  The weather has been very bad for observing since my birthday, so I could try out the vest only once.  I have to say that I'm very happy with the vest.  There are a lot of very large pockets where even heavy eyepieces (like the Televue 31mm Nagler) can be stored.  There is more than enough space for my eyepieces and extra accessories, like my red flashlight, pencils and the SQM-meter.  The size of the vest is large enough to put the vest over a winter jacket or my very old red ski suit (for the people who ever went observing together with me: yes, I still have that same old ski vest and I still use it for observing). The R-sky Hooded Observing Vest: Side view However, the most interesting part about the vest is the hood.  It is possible to hide deep inside the hood, removing al the background light from the surroundings (and from my backyard, there really is a lot of disturbing light).  Th

Step 1: The focuser I changed the focuser on my 18" Obsession last year from the standard JMI NGF-DX3 focuser to a Starlight Instrument Feather Touch focuser.  I never really checked if the focuser was mounted correctly, so this was the first thing I did. Remove the secondary mirror holder from the upper cage. Put the Howie Glatter laser collimator (with the standard aperture stop) in the focuser. Use a steel square to measure the distance from the bottom of the upper cage to the laser beam (close to the laser). Make sure the distance at the overlying side of the upper cage is the same, by adjusting the base of the focuser. Make sure the distance from the bottom of the upper cage to the laser beam at the overlying side does not change when turning the focuser in and out. Insert the secondary mirror holder again in the upper cage. Measuring the distance from the bottom of the upper cage to the laser beam. I checked everything and I could see that my focuser was perfectly aligned.

The weather is very unstable the last (and probably also the coming) week.  This results in heavy rain, followed by a nice sunny periods.  The ideal weather to spot some rainbows.  To be able to see a rainbow, the sun must be lower than 42°. During this time of the year, the best time to spot a rainbow is in the mornings or in the evenings.  A nice rainbow could be seen this afternoon.

 Another nice halo display today, before the clouds were too thick and the sun disappeared altogether.

 This morning, a nice halo was visible before the weather turned bad.  

There were a lot of clouds and there was even some rain during the whole day.  However, all weather sites predicted a clear evening.  And indeed, in the evening, the clouds parted and it became clear.  I started observing around 23:30 and I stopped at 0:50.  The temperature dropped from 2.6 (82%) to 0.7 (89%).  The SQM value was quite good for our garden and varied between 20.07 and 20.15.  My hands were really cold! I observed using my 18" Obsession, but I had some new stuff to test this evening: - I could use my Howie Glatter laser collimator for the first time.  It is very easy to do the collimation myself now, thanks to the TuBLUG.   - For my birthday, I got a R-Sky Hooded Observing Vest.  The vest itself is very useful with a lot of pockets.  Very easy to put some eyepieces (and the SQM-meter) there.  The hood itself is also very nice.  It is possible to remove all the background light.  This was very relaxing and helped me to see the faintest details in the objects. I mainl

Today, I received the Howie Glatter laser collimator I ordered in the US on the 10th of March.  I ordered the 635nm 2" Laser Collimator, with the square grid pattern and a TuBlug to be able to collimate using the barlowed laser technique  as described by Nils Olof Carlson. The 2" Howie Glatter Laser Collimator The 635nm laser is better visible at day-time than the 650nm laser.  This makes it possible to start collimation already when it is not dark yet.  The Howie Glatter laser itself is very precisely aligned to 15 arc-seconds, so I can be sure that the collimation using this tool will be the best collimation that is possible.  The Howie Glatter laser collimator is also very sturdy.  Apparently you can drop the laser from a ladder and everything will still be perfectly aligned.  Good to know, but I'm not planning to test this in real life.  The TuBlug The TuBlug can be inserted into the focuser and the laser collimator can be inserted in the TuBlug.  Inside the TuBlug i