DeepskyWim

I received the Premium edition of the  Interstellarum Deep Sky Guide as a gift for Christmas.  This guide is a very nice addition to the Interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas , that I got in 2021.  The guide is not the typical guide that most observers expect.  It is full of pictures (from the DSS) and drawings (made by the authors) of the most interesting Deep Sky objects that are visible.  There is no extra information, for I don't think that this information is needed.  If you need to know more about the objects, it is easy to find more information on the internet.  The information on the objects is anyway not known perfectly and is still changing.  So, adding this information would make this book out of date in a few years time.  The drawings and the pictures will be relevant for ever!  The drawings are real masterpieces and of very high quality.  The book itself is in German, but there is hardly any written text in the book, so this is not a problem at all.  There is a bit of informa

When looking at the weather the last week, I did not expect a clear night anymore in 2022. I was really surprised when I saw a message of an observer-friend to ask if I was interested in observing at our local observing location.  I quickly checked the weather apps, and indeed, a nice night was predicted.  The temperature was 3.1°, with a humidity of 88%.  The humidity rose to 92% at the end of the session, and the temperature to 3.6° (with a minimum of 2.8°).  There was quite some wind, which could sometimes be seen through the eyepiece. I only arrived at the site around 21:15, when already 6 other observers were enjoying the clear night.  After installing my 18'' Obsession , I could start observing.  I tested the eFinder , which I have built the last months.  I'll described the eFinder in more detail in an upcoming blog post.  I started with a detailed look of M 42.  It is always amazing how much details can be seen in the Orion nebula.  Using the 13mm Tele Vue Ethos eye

This year, after the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, I went to the USA to work on the commissioning of the MIRI instrument of JWST .  Some of my colleagues were also in the States later in the year.  In June, I had the last chance to order something from a webshop in the USA, so I finally decided to order the 21mm Tele Vue Ethos eyepiece.  I ordered the eyepiece on June 7, 2022 and already received it before the end of June.   The impressive 21mm Tele Vue Ethos eyepiece I could test the 21mm Ethos the first time during the observing session of the end of July - beginning of August .  The views are really impressive, with a lot of contrast and perfectly correctly all over the very impressive field of view.  In the picture below, you can see the size of the 21mm Ethos compared to the 31mm Nagler eyepiece.  We always called the 31mm Nagler the hand grenade, but the 21mm Ethos is even larger (but a bit less thick).  I guess I also need to find a name for the 21mm Eth

Since I installed the ServoCAT on my 18" Obsession ,  there were loose cables all around the telescope.  Luckily,  Markless Astronomics  builds the DSC Stalk II , which removes the cable clutter and adds a small table to the telescope to put the Nexus DSC Pro (there is also an option to put an Argo Navis there). I ordered the DSC Stalk II on August 9.  Charles promised me to have the Stalk ready in 6 weeks time, but he managed to get the package ready by August 23.  A very nice surprise!  The not so nice surprise was that it took Belgian customs a few weeks before they released the package on September 21.  I was impressed by the way everything was packaged.  There was for sure no risk of damaging the package during transport!  The installation process is very easy and all cables are nicely hidden.  A bumper block is part of the DSC Stalk II package and helps in stabilizing the rocker in the rocker box.  This will certainly make the pointing using the Nexus DSC Pro more accurate

For father's day, on June 12, I got the Berlebach Nix II observer's chair  as a very nice gift.  This is a very comfortable chair, with the possibility to move the seat and the foot rest at different positions.  This makes it possible to observe while sitting down for objects all over the sky.  Even for objects very close to the horizon, it is possible to sit down.  Only for observing near the zenith with my 18" telescope, the foot rest must be used as a small step, and sitting down is not possible.   The Berlebach Nix II observer's chair I could already test the observer's chair during some  observations during the end of July and the beginning of August , and during some telescope tests on November 13.  Certainly when looking at Saturn, which is still very low above the horizon in Belgium, it was very nice to be able to sit down while observing.  The feeling is that I can observe much more relaxed than without the chair.  This makes it possible to con

The International Space Station (ISS) transited the moon in the evening of May 14, 2022 at home.  I made some pictures to create a timelapse, but I could only do the composition of the timelapse today.  In the picture, you can see the small 'star', which is the ISS.  The timelapse shows the path the ISS took over the moon.  The transit went very fast, in one second, the ISS was already at the other side of the moon. The timelapse:

July 29 - 30 The evening of July 29, the sky looked clear, but sadly, clouds were expected during the night.  It looked good enough to do some observing, but when I started around midnight, I already saw that the clouds were coming.  I did still have some time to observe M 13 and M 27.   This was the first time I could test the Berlebach Nix II Observing chair .  During the observation of M 13, I used the chair as a step, as M 13 was almost in the zenith.  For M 27, I could use the chair as a high chair.  It was nice to be able to sit down and enjoy the pretty view of M 27.  I still need a longer observing run to really test out the chair.  I could also try the new Tele Vue 21mm Ethos eyepiece.  The eyepiece provided very nice views, and I preferred the view over the Tele Vue 31mm Nagler, but the field of view is of course a bit smaller.  The (also very recently bought) Tele Vue 13 mm Ethos and the Tele Vue 8mm Ethos also provided very nice views.   I already had to stop observing at 0

During the weekend of June 18 and 19, 2022, I organized an astronomical weekend for VVS Capella and Murzim to the Eifel in Germany.  It was a lot of fun to enjoy a trip with our friends in the very nice weather. Geysir Andernach Our first stop was at the cold-water geyser in Andernach, the highest cold-water geyser in the world.  We first received a small introduction, and could visit the very nice and modern museum for about one hour.  We then stepped to the boat for a small trip on the Rhine before we arrived at the geyser.  Just after we arrived, we could witness a nice geyser eruption of at least 50 meters high.  Very spectacular!  After the eruption, we could walk right to the foot of the geyser, and just when we were returning to the boat, we were surprised by a second, smaller eruption.   Eruption of the Andernach Geysir Eruption of the Andernach Geyser Wallender Born Brubbel After a nice meal in the center of Andernach, we drove to Wallendorf, to see the Wallender Born Brubbe

As the humidity in Belgium is very high most of the time, I finally decided to buy a dew controller and a heater for the eyepieces, secondary mirror and the filter slide.   Installing the Dew Controller The Dew Controller I ordered is the Quad Channel Digital Dew Controller from Dew Control . The 2m long cable of the dew controller was too short to connect directly from the ServoCat power bar.  To fix this, a connector from the front of the lower cage to the power bar was installed on the telescope.   The connector on the front of the lower cage. The attached cable to the connector on the lower cage. The installed Dew Controller on the upper cage. From the upper cage, I can easily attach the heater strip to the eyepieces.   The dew controller and the heater strip on the eyepiece. The heater strip on the eyepiece. Installing the filter slide with the Omega Dew Terminator For the filters, I ordered a new filter slide, with the  Astrocrumb Omega Dew Ter

The weather in Belgium was again very nice, with no clouds at all in the week of March 21.  I installed the Obsession 18" telescope in the garden on Tuesday, March 22.  The moon was just past full, but on Tuesday, there was already a few hours of observing time without the moon and that improved during the rest of the week. Tuesday, March 22: Bad transparency and first tests with the dew controller Last weekend, the connector from the front of the lower cage to the power bar was installed on the telescope.  Thanks to this change, the 2m long cable is long enough to install the  Dew Controller  on the upper cage (I apparently didn't need the extension cable I bought).  From the upper cage, I can easily attach the heater strip to the eyepieces.  Everything worked as expected and I didn't encounter a lot of problems with dew this night (but the humidity was not that high for Belgium). The SQM readings were really bad, but the seeing was remarkably better than during the obse

I was already fascinated a long time by the Tele Vue Ethos eyepieces.  During the observing weekend in Grandpré in the beginning of November last year, I could use the Televue 17mm Ethos during the few moments when the sky was clear in the beginning of the night.  The view was really nice, and I finally made the step and I upgraded my Tele Vue 13mm Nagler to a Tele Vue 13mm Ethos and my Tele Vue 8mm Radian to a Tele Vue 8mm Ethos during my  work trip to the USA .   The Ethos eyepieces are much larger than the old eyepieces, as can be seen in the picture. The old 13mm and 8mm eyepieces and the new Ethos eyepieces. The Ethos eyepieces can be used both in a 2" focuser and in a 1.25" focuser.  Combined with the paracorr, the 13mm Ethos is used in the 2" version, and the 8mm Ethos in the 1.25" version (as the 2" version can not be focussed correctly). I could already test the two new eyepieces during the clear nights at the end of February and the begi

Yesterday evening, just when we wanted to go to bed, we saw a very bright moon halo.  I took some time to take some pictures with my Canon EOS 80D and Sigma 10mm lens.

The weather is exceptionally nice the last weeks, so I took the time to go observing another time during the new moon period.  VVS Capella  has a new observing site in Honsem, and I decided to go there on Saturday evening, March 5.  It is a very nice location, with a model of a Renard R31 aircraft that was used by the Belgian air force around the second World War.   Observing the Orion Nebula (M 42) from Honsem Joost joined me.  He made some pictures, and observed together with me through the Obsession telescope. We observed M 42, M 43, NGC 2022, M 51, M 81, and M 82, but did not note anything down. The seeing was not very good, but better than during the previous observing session . I started observing at 21:45, with a SQM of 20.05 and ended around midnight, with an SQM of 20.20.  At the beginning of the session, the temperature was 2.5°, dropping to -1.4° at the end of the session.  The humidity increased from 72% to 89%. On good nights, the SQM value can be around 20.50 (or 20.60)

The winter was extremely bad to do astronomical observations.  We had a lot of storms, rain, clouds, and only a few clear nights, but mostly at moments when the moon was too bright to observe. But for the last weekend of February, all weather prediction sites prognosed nice clear nights around the new moon.  I could observe on Friday and Sunday evening.  There were some high clouds on Saturday before midnight, so I did not observe.  On Monday evening, the sky was only good for 2 hours before the clouds covered the whole sky.  As some rain was predicted during the second part of the night, I moved the telescope inside and did not observe. Friday 25: Family stargazing, testing new stuff, C/2019 L3 ATLAS and NGC 1501 It was still raining in the afternoon, but as predicted, the  sky cleared out totally and it was a very clear night.   After collimating the Obsession telescope, around 20:00, Lotte and Sara joined me to see some spectacular objects. We looked at the following objects: M 45,

An impressive sunspot was visible today.  In the middle of the disk, AR 2936 can easily been seen.  More to the right, also AR 2934 is visible.  Luckily, it was sunny, for the first time in a while, so I could take some pictures with my Canon EOS 80D and 70-300mm zoomlens.

For work (helping with the commissioning of the MIRI instrument on the James Webb Space Telescope), I had to be in Baltimore for a bit more than two weeks.  I flew to (and from) the Washington DC (Dulles) airport.  Very close by the airport, I visited the Udvar-Hazy Center, an air and space museum.  The most impressive spacecraft to see is the Space Shuttle Discovery.  The planes that are displayed are also really impressive: The concorde, Enola Gay, the Blackbird, ...  A very nice museum to spend some time before boarding the flight back to Europe! Space Shuttle Discovery Gemini 4 Mercury 6 Space Shuttle Discovery Space Shuttle Discovery