Leyland Observatory Len Adam ( lenadam@sky.com ) Len Adam's Website Home Astro Blog Link Library Techniques Resources Wildlife Photography Astro Blog Index Astronomy Topics Wildlife Journal Index Moon and Jupiter Thursday, November 29, 2012 at 7:19AM The Moon and Jupiter were very close last night with Jupiter being very bright even in such close proximity to the Moon. The night was freezing and I welcomed only having to go out briefly to open the dome and rotate the slit a couple of times. I used M76 the Little Dumbbell Nebula to focus the telescope (from my laptop in the warm kitchen) and them moved on to image 60 galaxies in Cassiopeia. M76 THE LITTLE DUMBBELL NEBULA (See October 2012 Observing Log for image details.) [Your Name Here] | Comments Off | Share Article SN 2012fg Monday, November 12, 2012 at 8:07AM The supernova in NGC 2857 was imaged using the Sierra Stars 24" Cassegrain telescope. [Your Name Here] | Comments Off | Share Article Minor Planet Interamnia Sunday, November 11, 2012 at 7:11AM Three images of Interamnia taken an hour apart using the MicroObservatory Telescope. [Your Name Here] | Comments Off | Share Article Supernova 2012fm Thursday, November 8, 2012 at 10:29PM [Your Name Here] | Comments Off | Share Article Hampstead Observatory Thursday, November 1, 2012 at 8:56PM [Your Name Here] | Comments Off | Share Article Hergenrother Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at 5:51PM Click on image [Your Name Here] | Comments Off | Share Article Comet C_2010_S1_Linear Friday, October 19, 2012 at 12:42PM [Your Name Here] | Comments Off | Share Article NGC 6946 Monday, October 15, 2012 at 4:41PM NGC 6946 was the first galaxy imaged on Saturday 13th October 2012. 30 second exposure 14.76' X 14.76' I imaged this galaxy again last night using the Sierra Stars 24 inch Cassegrain telescope in California. 2 minute exposure 21' X 21' Field of View. OK its a lot better but it is 10 inches bigger and took 2 minutes as opposed to 30 seconds on my C14 That means I can image more potential supernovae galaxies using a shorter exposure. [Your Name Here] | Comments Off | Share Article Cloudy Skies...but then it cleared! Saturday, October 13, 2012 at 9:10PM Cloudy at first but then cleared. Opened up dome and managed to image the comet I imaged from New Mexico. I then opened an Orchestrate file to image the 51 Galaxies in Cygnus that I have selected with recession velocities that would allow SN with typical absolute magnitudes to be visible. Object Name,Magnitude,Major Axis NGC 6946, 9.75, 11.5 NGC 6764, 12.78, 2.5 PGC 63311, 12.94, 1.7 NGC 6824, 12.95, 1.9 PGC 63766, 14.18, 1.4 NGC 6798, 14.33, 1.8 IC 4867, 14.33, 1.4 NGC 6801, 14.50, 1.3 PGC 63664, 15.09, 1.4 PGC 63880, 15.14, 1.1 NGC 6916, 15.15, 1.6 PGC 64026, 15.44, 1.8 PGC 67832, 15.32, 1.1 PGC 63552, 13.53, 1.5 PGC 63440, 13.98, 1.3 PGC 63424, 14.14, 1.2 PGC 63629, 14.46, 1.5 IC 1301, 14.75, 1.1 PGC 67712, 14.96, 1.5 PGC 67265, 14.99, 1.2 PGC 67235, 15.09, 1.2 PGC 66592, 15.28, 1.4 PGC 66867, 15.29, 1.2 PGC 67728, 15.53, 1.9 PGC 90392, 15.86, 1.2 PGC 68121, 12.81, 2.2 NGC 7250, 13.19, 2.1 PGC 68482, 13.34, 3.0 NGC 7248, 13.59, 1.7 NGC 7223, 13.63, 1.4 NGC 7231, 13.85, 1.7 PGC 68029, 14.18, 2.0 PGC 67985, 14.30, 1.2 NGC 7197, 14.35, 1.6 PGC 68169, 15.09, 1.2 PGC 67946, 15.26, 3.3 PGC 68381, 15.77, 1.8 IC 1303, 14.81, 1.2 IC 1392, 12.94, 1.5 PGC 67025, 14.47, 1.0 PGC 66831, 15.24, 1.0 PGC 67049, 13.64, 1.4 PGC 68689, 13.69, 1.2 PGC 68178, 14.47, 1.0 NGC 7264, 14.52, 2.0 PGC 67977, 14.70, 1.1 PGC 69439, 13.46, 1.8 PGC 69101, 14.84, 1.9 NGC 7013, 12.37, 4.2 NGC 7116, 14.27, 1.2 PGC 90392, 15.86, 1.2 [Your Name Here] | Comments Off | Share Article 268P/Hergenrother Saturday, October 13, 2012 at 5:40PM I have added reference magnitude data to the second image taken this morning at 06:43 UT to allow an estimate of the comet's magnitude - around mag 9. [Your Name Here] | Comments Off | Share Article Comet Hergenrother Saturday, October 13, 2012 at 8:19AM This faint comet (15th magnitude) was imaged using the itelescope.net network of worldwide telescopes from New Mexico just over an hour ago (Image 1)and then again half an hour ago(Image 2). You can see the movement clearly during that time. The second image shows the comet close to a star. (Detailed times and locations to follow) Both exposures were 5 minutes using a Takahashi 6 inch refractor. Image 1 Image 2 [Your Name Here] | Comments Off | Share Article Setting up a new 0.8X Focal Reducer /Flattener Tuesday, September 25, 2012 at 1:18PM In an attempt to improve the quality of the images using my SBIG camera I have obtained a 0.8X Focal Reducer from TS Optics in Germany. The advantage of this particular reducer is that it actually slides fully into my TCF-Si Focuser. Hopefully this will reduce the level of vignetting and coma that I get compared to the f/6.3 Meade FR that I usually use. Of course there will be a smaller field and a subsequent requirement for more accurate pointing. I have also acquired The SkyX from Software Bisque which is very good for generating databases from imported data - particularly its ability to import Supernovae lists in a simple cut and paste operation. However I am still using The Sky6 to refine pointing with T-Point for Windows as I would need to buy the T-Point add on for Sky X! I can't see any advantages in paying for the add on at the moment! The positioning of the 0.8X focal reducer is critical and the base of the male thread on the camera side needs to be exactly 9.75 cm from the plane of the CCD chip. To achieve this I am using a variable length extension tube so that a precise distance can be achieved. (More to follow including diagrams) [Your Name Here] | Comments Off | Share Article Tom Boles discovers his 150th Supernova Saturday, September 15, 2012 at 10:33PM [Your Name Here] | Comments Off | Share Article Latest 20 officially listed SN Discoveries of 2012 Friday, August 31, 2012 at 1:30PM I have arranged these in SN name order. This does not match the discovery date order as designations take variable amounts of time to be applied. The discovery date is in column 2. Discoveries since SN 2012ec have been made but are not yet listed at CBAT. Derived from data on the CBAT website [Your Name Here] | Comments Off | Share Article Supernova 2012ej discovered by David Grennan (Dublin) in IC 2166 imaged last night using the 32" Mt Lemmon telescope in Arizona. Friday, August 31, 2012 at 12:35AM I used the above telescope remotely to take a 2 minute image of this supernova last night. [Your Name Here] | Comments Off | Share Article The Minor Planet 7 Iris Friday, May 18, 2012 at 8:07AM Iris is a main belt asteroid that was discovered on the 13th August 1847 by John Russell Hind and was the seventh minor planet to be found. [Your Name Here] | Comments Off | Share Article Black Hole in Cygnus Wednesday, May 16, 2012 at 7:55AM Yesterday morning I used the Harvard MicroObservatory Telescope in Arizona to image Cygnus X1 a strong X-Ray source in the Constellation of Cygnus near Eta Cygni. The Black Hole and its binary companion HD 226868 (a 9th mag supergiant ) are believed to have a rotation period of 5.6 days. Of course you cannot see the black hole only the companion. The radius of the Black Hole's event horizon is in the region of 28 km and the object lies at a distance of 8100 Light Years. There is considerable interstellar dust in this region which you can see as dark patchy regions in this image - in fact the companion star to Cygnus X1 has been reduced by 3.5 magnitudes by this dust. Details of the image are given here: The position of Eta Cygni is shown below [Your Name Here] | Comments Off | Share Article The 20 most recent numbered Supernova Discoveries Thursday, May 10, 2012 at 11:28AM I used the CBAT SNe Discovery website to extract the data for this list. [Your Name Here] | Comments Off | Share Article Back in the UK Tuesday, May 1, 2012 at 8:20AM I have been back in the UK for a month now but still have not set up my equipment. I usually have a pair of old tube rings to hold my C14 to the Paramount but have been waiting for a Dovetail Bar to arrive which came yesterday. Hopefully this will ensure that the OTA is parallel with the mount to improve pointing ability. I managed to fit the bar to the OTA and temporarily fit it to the ME. [Your Name Here] | Comments Off | Share Article What a difference a day makes! - M95 Supernova Saturday, March 31, 2012 at 10:17PM Below is my image of M95 taken on 15th March 2012 at 22:42 UT. This was the 72nd image taken that night out of a total set of 401 galaxies. I checked this image on 16th March and found no supernova. I suspect it is there but just too faint to show on my 30 second image! Can you see anything? Shortly after my observation a supernova exploded in the galaxy and was detected on the evening following my image being taken at 16.849. (16th March|). Details of the discovery are here The actual discovery image is here I imaged the new supernova on the 22nd March - see image below. Here is an animation blinking between the two images above. [Your Name Here] | Comments Off | Share Article Page 1 2 3 4 5 ... 7 Next 20 Entries » Copyright © 2012, Leyland Observatory All rights reserved.Please note that Standard English spelling is used throughout the website. 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