13, Perseids and Jupiter

Posted on 23/08/2021 by Jaap

Conditions were not very favorable but we managed to see a number of Perseids on the night of August 11/12. When cirrus took over we had a look at Jupiter and Saturn with the Celestron C14. Although very low in the sky (max. 25°) both planets looked awesome. Took a 30s movie with a Canon EOS R dslr. The best 20% of frames was used for the image below.

The following night (12/13) conditions were better and we saw more meteors than the previous night. However, no fireballs were seen. Comparing the number of meteors to last year, we found the activity disappointing. A few days later (14/8, between 06-09UT) an outburst was seen in the USA and Canada with a ZHR of 130 ±20.

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NLC outbreak

Posted on 19/06/2021 by Jaap

Following some fierce thunderstorms, the skies cleared and a nice NLC display became visible. Silvery clouds from west to north-east up to a height of 60 degrees.

2021-06-18, Canon EOS R and Sigma 24mm ART @F2.5, ISO400, 08.sec.

Rosette nebula from the balcony

Posted on 13/02/2021 by Jaap

Still in lockdown and not allowed to go out at night (curfew). My balcony has only limited views to the south, so there’s not much choice in objects to image. And with unusual amounts of snow on the ground the skies are even worse than the usual Bortle 8/9, but the Optolong L-eXtreme filter is a powerful tool.

Canon EOS Ra, William Optics Star 71mm, f=348mm, Optolong l-eXtreme dual narrow band filter, 38x2min, ISO1600. Rainbow Astro RST-135 mount on Gitzo GT4553S, guiding and polar alignment with Staraid Revolution autoguider.

2020-07-06, comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE)

Posted on 06/07/2020 by Jaap

Despite brutal conditions (strong wind and rain), I was successful in imaging comet NEOWISE. A 5 minute gap in the clouds was sufficient to take 27 exposures (1s at ISO800) with a 135mm mounted on a tripod.

20200706, 01.49UT, Canon EOS R, Sigma ART 135mm @2.8, 27x1s, ISO800, fov: 5x3gr

2020-04, comets from city center.

Posted on 03/05/2020 by Jaap

Tried to image a couple of comets from my parents’ backyard, a 5 minute walk from my own apartment. With over 200,000 inhabitants the light pollution in the city of Almere is huge. Naked eye limit is approximately magnitude +4, so visual observations are limited to the moon and planets. Nevertheless I was succesvol in imaging the currently visible comets: C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS), C/2019 Y1 (ATLAS) and C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS). Equipment used was a William Optics Star 71 telescope (71mm, f=348mm) and EOS R camera mounted on a Rainbow Astro RST-135 mount. Also tried the new software for the Staraid autoguider with the new option guiding on objects like comets. For the last images I installed my good old IDAS Light Pollution Suppression filter inside the telescope.

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2019-May, Tivoli, Namibia.

Posted on 08/05/2019 by Jaap

Another visit to Tivoli Southern Guest farm. This year I decided to go for the New Moon period of april/may coinciding with the maximum of the Eta Aquarid meteor shower.

My friend Hendrik joined me for a week and brought along his newly developed standalone guiding camera Staraid Revolution. This guide camera does not require a laptop or pc, but can be controlled via a smartphone or tablet. It starts up and calibrates in seconds, tracks up to twenty stars multiple times per second and is very accurate and foolproof. Besides guiding, this camera also contains a simple to use polar alignment procedure and does plate solving. Very impressed with this little camera!

I also got the opportunity to test and use a new ASA 10″ F=900mm Hypergraph with 3″ Wynne corrector. It came equipped with a Canon EF adapter, so I used my Canon 6D mark for a number of nights. The focuser is Ascom compliant but I used the simple focus program ASA provided, side-by-side with the live view utility of Canon. However, focus remained very stable during the night, even with a temperature drop of 10 degrees.

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Perseids, 2015, August 12/13

Posted on 13/08/2015 by Jaap

Observed the Perseids from public observatory Bussloo with Mark-Jaap and Piet. It was not a perfect cloud free night, but the Perseids put on a nice show and we saw some bright meteors and pretty fireballs.

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Tivoli 2012 – photos.

Posted on 29/07/2012 by Jaap

Most of the images from my stay at the Tivoli Southern Sky Guest Farm in Nambia have been sorted, stacked and processed. Enjoy!

Mirror cleansing

Posted on 15/05/2011 by Jaap

After a number of years of use, the mirror of the observatory’s 30 cm (12″) telescope was in need of a thorough cleansing. We used distilled water to soak the surface of the mirror and to get rid of insects, pollen and other dirt. More water was used for a final rinse. The central hole of the mirror shows signs of wear and oxidation, so we probably need to have it recoated in the near future. With a brush we wiped the inside of the tube clean, after which the original matt finish re-appeared.

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