[AZ-Observing] Weekend Wrapup
- From: ketelsen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2008 13:31:24 -0700 (MST)
Hi All-
A little late with this - still moving a little slowly upon recovering
from some minor surgery. Anyway, I did get out for a good part of a night
saturday - used one of the pulloffs on the Kitt Peak highway and was
battling wind gusts, but a night under the stars is always a good night
out!
First, some old business - I was out of the hospital for a couple days
around 8 March when I shot the Holmes/California Nebula encounter. Since
I had an 8 pound lift limit, this is with a 200m lens from a Byers
Camtrak:
http://alice.as.arizona.edu/~ketelsen/Holmes_N1499sm.jpg
Chris Schur's Zodiacal Light shot from last weekend inspired me to try my
own version, this one with the Canon 10-20mm zoom at 10mm @F/4 for 15
minutes total exposure:
http://alice.as.arizona.edu/~ketelsen/Zodiacal5X3sm.jpg
Note that Comet Holmes is still faintly visible under Auriga, to the upper
left of the California Nebula. Still having a hard time seeing it - here
is another 15 minutes exposure, this time with a Nikon 80mm @F/2.8:
http://alice.as.arizona.edu/~ketelsen/Holmes6X150ssm.jpg
Capella is off the top, but M38 is left, the Flaming Star Nebula to the
lower right of that, and Iota is below center (comet right center). I
couldn't see the comet naked eye, and forgot the binoculars... Note that
if you look at Chris' shot again, the comet is faintly visible about
midway between the Pleiades and Capella:
http://www.schursastrophotography.com/xtiastro/zodlt032908b.html
With some time to spend with wide-angle lenses, I shot the equatorial
band, untracked to look for geosynchronous satellites - man, did I catch a
bunch! This is a combined 12 minutes (3 exposures) of exposure with a
50mm lens. Due south is at about the right edge of the image:
http://alice.as.arizona.edu/~ketelsen/MeridianEast_w_50mm3X4m.jpg
By my count, there are over 25 of the puppies! What is more interesting
is that there is a wealth of other associated space flotsam in similar but
different orbits. If you look at my upper right of the previus frame with
a little stretched contrast:
http://alice.as.arizona.edu/~ketelsen/MeridianEast_w_50mm3X4m_sub.jpg
There are at least 8 others in looping orbits away from the equatorial
plane. Fun stuff - will have to spend a little more time out with a
stationary camera next time out!
-Dean
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