October 28th, 2009
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…
Posted in Deep Sky, Sky Events, Software, Stars | 2 Comments »
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…
Posted in Cameras, Deep Sky, Equipment, Imaging | Comments Off
September 19th, 2009
Hello all! You have seen the nice image of Jupiter that we obtained with the telescope. On Saturday night, 7PM on October 10th, I am planning to do the talk specifically on Jupiter. It will make use of many of the great images from the Hubble as well as the many probes that have been sent to study Jupiter and its moons. Hope you can join us that night for some amazing images!
Posted in PAC News | Comments Off
September 13th, 2009
On Thursday night, 9/10/09, Mike Paquette and Randy Buchwald tried some webcam imaging of Jupiter using the Harken 12” scope.
A webcam is the same thing that you might have attached to your PC for Skype video contacts. While it is not as sensitive to light as the other cameras at the observatory but it is capable of continuously streaming frames to an AVI file on the computer. At 30 fps, those 2700 images may be grabbed in just a minute and a half. Jupiter is plenty bright to show up well using a webcam. Continue Reading…
Posted in Imaging, PAC News, Solar System | 2 Comments »
September 9th, 2009
Check out the following link for the post-servicing mission pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. These pictures showcase some of the new capabilities installed during the last servicing mission in May. I think they are amazing and speak for themselves
Enjoy!
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/multimedia/ero/index.html
Posted in General | 1 Comment »
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…
Posted in Equipment, Imaging, Telescope | Comments Off
January 31st, 2009
Welcome to blog page for the Pewaukee Astronomy Club. We operate the equipment at the Harken Observatory perched atop the Pewaukee Public Library. Please feel free to join in and comment on any articles or discussions. You will need to register to post comments — this is to help reduce spam and allows the moderators to keep the site family friendly.
Posted in PAC News | 2 Comments »
