Pewaukee Astronomy Club

News and Information About the Pewaukee Astronomy Club and the Harken Observatory

Archive for the ‘Equipment’ Category

Nova in Sagittarius

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

Nova_Sgr_10282009_0011UT_annotated

Image of the nova – a star that was not visible there before.

A little while back, I subscribed to the special notice bulletins from the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO). I thought that it might be interesting to hear about unusal variable stars, novas and perhaps even a supernova should one of those appear. One of these notices arrived in my inbox on Monday. There was a newly discovered nova in the constellation of Sagittarius. I wondered, could we observe this at the Harken Observatory?

Since I had never tried to do this before, I could not resist trying! The weather map showed Continue Reading…

Long Time Exposures for Deep Space

Monday, September 21st, 2009

The CCD cameras at the observatory are very light sensitive but have a smaller number of “megapixels” as compared to the digital camera that you may be using at home. The CCD chip in many digital cameras today might also be physically larger in area which corresponds to a wider view of the sky. I have been Continue Reading…

Balancing the telescope

Monday, September 7th, 2009

Balancing the telescope tube is essential to good slewing and tracking.  Putting the guide scope on top of the tube messes with the balance in two axes.  Both axes must be brought back into balance by moving the counterweight under the tube.  Use the following method to do this:

First, point the tube straight level south Continue Reading…

Bad Behavior has blocked 5 access attempts in the last 7 days.

Pewaukee Astronomy Club is Digg proof thanks to caching by WP Super Cache