Don Pullen observed from home Thursday night. He writes:

I read the Observers log each day and saw that a few people got out to Binbrook last night. Usually week nights are a problem for me, but I try. And I see Tim H is back up at Tobermory. I did go out on the deck to check the conditions and noticed how clear the sky was from central east Hamilton. I could make out 5 stars of Ursa Minor – normally I can only see Polaris. To the south I had a great view of Scorpius. How I regretted not being able to head out to a good location. If conditions were this good in my backyard, then the sky must have been great at Binbrook.

Hamilton Amateur Astronomers.. great club, great observing site!

I thought I’d try some wide field images last night – I shot the following using my Digital SLR mounted prime focus on my 50mm finder scope – it was just the right field of view to capture all 3 – Saturn, Mars, and the Beehive Cluster. Focusing was a bit tricky as the finder scope doesn’t actually have a focuser – and probably wasn’t intended for mounting a camera on.

Six images shot at ISO 200 for 1 sec ea. then stacked in RegiStax. The planets are somewhat over exposed – but it was nescessary to bring out some of the Beehive. As the two planets get closer together I’ll switch to one of my main scopes and get some more detailed shots.

3 x 30sec images at ISO1600 – approx. 10:25pm Sunday.

A MARVELOUS NIGHT FOR ASTRONOMY!

Thanks to the many members who shared their equipment and enthusiasm, Astronomy Night at Bayfront was a true community party. Clear skies, a perfect Moon, showpiece planets, and even a bright meteor or two made for an entertaining show as did the wide variety of paraphernalia and free handouts (particularly the mini-scopes).
The group support was top-notch, and the public response very gratifying. Throughout the night I heard many intelligent questions, excellent answers, and plenty of laughter. Way to go HAA!

I went out again last night (Saturday), but there was a heavy mist in the sky – everywhere I aimed the scope – nebulosity! But not the kind I was looking for. I did catch a glimpse of comet 73P before packing up though. All in all it was a good weekend for observing.

It was another beautiful night up in Tobermory last night. Sounds like it turned out well at Binbrook too.

I spent most of the night imaging a couple of galaxies again – this time the Whirlpool Galaxy and the Pinwheel Galaxy. These were a little tricky, as they wouldn’t start to show in the camera until after a minute or so of exposure – so it took some time to focus and center them. I will post them to my gallery as I get them processed.

This is a 5 minute exposure @ ISO 1600 out across the lake from the vantage point of the telescope. The bright light on the island is a beacon 5km away – the closer smeared bright lights are stars reflecting off the water. The sky was amazingly bright with stars.

These are reduced images – I will post the full images to my gallery on Sunday.

It was a cold night – but clear and well worth going out for some observing. I don’t think I could have asked for a better weekend to have taken off to my Dad’s in Tobermory. For those that don’t know where that is – it ‘s on the tip of the Bruce Pennisula – surrounded on 3 sides by Great Lakes and only a narrow path of light polluted civilization leading to it.

I took the opportunity to try a few new items – my new guide scope and illuminated guiding eyepiece (purchased from Mike), and my new dew shield (no dew or frost problems with the main scope last night). I concentrated on Bode’s Galaxy and the Cigar Galaxy – and took 5 minute manually guided images (this was my first attempt at guided images). I have stacked and processed the Bode’s Galaxy (M81) sequence and will have others later. The weather is calling for similar conditions all weekend, so I will try different objects over the next few days.

A note on viewing ANY astrophoto’s on an LCD monitor – make sure your viewing angle is at least straight on or above or nebulosity will be drastically diminished (or possibly not visible at all). I actually had one person swear I sent them the wrong photo as they couldn’t see the object I was describing anywhere on the image – they were correct – their monitor was tilted on an angle that caused poor visibility – when viewed from an angle below the LCD monitor’s mid-point an entire galaxy had disappeared! (so fix the angle on your LCD monitors – you don’t want to be responsible for wiping out an entire galaxy!)

These are reduced images – I will post the full images to my gallery on Sunday.