First light (imaged) through my Meade 12" with my new DSI-III astro-imager

[mckitterick]

Can you guess what this is?


No, it's not an astro image.

It's part of the house across the alley, siding and window trim. The Deep Sky Imager is a royal PITA to focus, so it's best to set up the focus during the day on motionless subjects using an eyepiece and locking ring (making them "parfocal") and then finding the camera's focus. My first attempt with the Moon led to frustration, as the camera's focus is about 15mm different than the eyepiece that the manufacturer recommends using to focus an object.

In case you haven't seen it yet, here's the telescope:


And here's the astro-camera (a replacement for the broken one the retailer sent last winter):


Now I'll be able to image astro-things much more simply... hopefully starting tonight! Then you'll get fresh amateur astro-images on a regular basis. Hoo-boy, amateur photos! I bet you're thinking ;-)

Best,
Chris

Comments

[chernobylred.livejournal.com]

Wow, neighbors beware!

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Heh. I worried a bit about this, if she looked outside while I was setting focus using her siding!

[stonetable.livejournal.com]

That looks like a lot of fun. A telescope is high on my list of things to buy, as soon as we move away from the light pollution that is the Chicago suburbs.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

I've only been without a telescope for a few months since I was 12, and during that time I at least owned a binocular. It's essential to who I am that I have access to the hidden mysteries of the sky.

[charmed-art.livejournal.com]

Hey can you bring that thing over? There's a house down the street that needs some peepin'! ;-)

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Hahahaha!

I did worry a bit about what the neighbors thought I was up to.

[kijjohnson.livejournal.com]

Thye painted it that green? Cool.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Actually, no! It's blue, but for some reason the color comes across as this wild shade under high magnification and using a CCD imager. Go figure.

[astein142.livejournal.com]

You know, I was gonna say "really dang bright shade of vinyl siding"... but I peeked at the answer.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

;-)

[normalcyispasse.livejournal.com]

Jealous, I am. Jealous.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

I share!

[normalcyispasse.livejournal.com]

Tell you what, head down to PHX with your 'scope. We'll head out into the high desert for some astrogoofery and when we get back you're welcome to borrow one of the motorbikes. :)

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

That sounds wonderful.

[steve98052.livejournal.com]

Very cool. I look forward to astronomical images from your new toy!

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Good to hear! They won't be as pretty as the professional shots I post, of course, but it's so fun to take one's own shots. When I was a little boy, the first deep-space object I photographed was the Andromeda Galaxy. I developed the film myself. As the galaxy began to appear on a piece of photo-paper, it was like magic. Sure, it was fuzzy and barely recognizable, but I took that shot!

Digital photograph is about a million times simpler. Sort of.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_starlady_/]

I often wondered why you aren't teaching astronomy. Have you ever looked into it?

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

The very first class I ever taught - in high school! - was astronomy. In college, I was the telescope operator for the University of Minnesota astronomy outreach program and assistant director at the observatory and planetarium at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (where I also wrote a weekly astronomy newsletter and graded papers).

But I only formally studied astronomy, astrophysics, and optics for a few years. No degree, not even a completed study program. This is a field where at the very minimum, I'm sure I'd need both an advanced degree (in something) and a completed astronomy program. Don't you think?

Chris