Shootin' From The High Ground!

I took a break from the restful holiday weekend at home to go up to "A" Mountain this afternoon for some imaging through the Tec 140 telescope.  I've posted many times from the location, mostly because it is easy to get to, and with a reasonable elevation above the desert, gives a good view of the area.

Today was also the last home game of the UA football season - the game against arch-nemesis Arizona State University for the chance to play in the PAC-12 championship game next weekend (We won!).  It was a sellout, and I thought the stadium 3+ miles away might be a good target for imaging through the scope.  And it was indeed!  Above is a 3-frame mosaic (3 vertical frames combined to form a horizontal image) showing the sold-out stadium.  Since it was a "red out", with AZ fans asked to wear red, the ASU fans wearing yellow are easy to spot. The image shown is 1600 pixels wide, the widest allowed on blogger...

Here is the above image shown at full-camera resolution.  You can't quite resolve the letters on people's shirts, but you can certainly see the security personnel at each exit, and the signs listing the bowl appearances of the team is easily seen.  Compare today's image, which I thought had excellent seeing, with one taken a couple weeks ago at the last home game, where the seeing was quite mediocre.  At right is a frame comparison of the left image with the right side from the earlier game.  Besides noting that the stadium was a lot emptier, the images were quite fuzzier too.  The day didn't seem a lot different, but the sun was higher, the wind a little worse, and the poor seeing version taken an hour or two earlier in the day...

With the good conditions today, I took a shot of Window Rock high in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson.  This local landmark intrigues me as its visibility varies across Tucson, many places it is occluded by the front range of the mountains.  From "A" Mountain, I figure it is about 20 miles away.  I know it is a strenuous hike, and there are only a few pictures on the Interwebs.  Part of the problem taking images while there is that it is a sheer cliff on the south-facing side of the window.  Anyway, I may have to enjoy it from the desert floor rather than making the 12+ mile hike...  Someday soon I'm hoping to do a time-lapse of the window from Midtown through late afternoon into evening.

It was great fun getting out on such a nice day, high pushing 80F the day after Thanksgiving!  I've got to think of good subjects and viewpoints suitable for a 1,000mm telephoto lens!

Current Status of the Backyard Observatory

My last post brought you up to date in mid-April when the telescope pier was poured.  With the heat of summer, it seemed prudent not to schedule any work in the yard, so I waited for cooler weather.  As shown at left, the pier was pretty much unchanged for 7 months until Fall arrived.  With the astronomy Expo a couple weeks back, the idea got kicked to the front of my thinking and the evening we spent at Starizona I asked Dean Koenig about a contractor he recommended for observatory construction. 










The following Monday I called his recommendation John Vermette, we visited the observatory in his back yard the next day (Veteran's Day), and 6 days later he was in my yard building concrete forms!  Originally I was thinking of a 12 X 12 foot floor, but with it laid out, it just seemed so huge - taking up so much space in the yard that I cut it back to 10X10.  The interior will be cozy, but most of the time I'll likely be by myself there, so should work out ok. 

John is willing to let me jump in and help him, hopefully saving him some time and me some money, and I do some things on my own.  For instance, while he built the forms for the slab at left, I put in the trenching and ran conduit for the electrical line that will get buried underground and under the slab for power, shown at right.  He called me later in the day on 17 November - the concrete was coming Wednesday morning!

So I had a few more tasks to do before then.  I needed to clear, or at least move my "storage pile" against the fence as I would need to remove a section so the cement truck could directly access the yard.  After pouring the pier in April, I couldn't see doing a slab in small batches, so ordering a truck seemed the best route to go.  John ordered 2 cubic yards for the lil' slab I needed...  At left you can see my effort in removing the fence for access, and the layer of foam around the pier base to isolate the slab from the telescope.  John is watering down the ground so the dry dirt doesn't pull the water out of the concrete too fast.  At right, the truck has arrived, and he and the assistant he hired to help an hour or two were working hard on the pour.

I also invited our buddy Frank, who had helped me with the mixing and pouring of the pier in April.  Realizing the truck would likely have extra, in the space of a few minutes, he rigged up some forms from old 2X4s to pour some "stepping stones" to lead up to the entrance of the observatory door.  At left, as the slab form is filled and the guys were working on that, Frank is in the back, ready to pour the sidewalk sections.  After pouring and letting it set up a bit, he worked on finishing these sections.  Once cured, they'll be separated from the forms, and bedded in a base of sand for a permanent path...

Meanwhile John was taking care of business on the slab.  While I've seldom worked with concrete since leaving the farm back in the '70s, it was fascinating to watch someone who knew what they were doing with the right tools.  I suspect the flat-screened tool at left serves a similar purpose to the vibrator I used on the pier.  By jiggling the tool, it works the bubbles to the surface to make a stronger slab.  At right, he puts a groove into the slab so that if it cracks, it will crack in a controlled manner along it.  You can also spot the "J-bolts" installed around the periphery of the slab, which will hold down the walls of the building securely.

Over the next couple hours as the concrete set up he continued working the surface, smoothing out the top and filling in what looked like little cracks, believing that the dry air was causing it to dry too quickly.  I think he was a little paranoid, as a few days later, it looks fine, though still looks far from fully cured and dried.  I followed his directions and hosed it down occasionally. to keep it from curing too fast... 

On pour day, he also brought the supplies that he'll use for building the observatory.  At right, the current status of the observatory is shown.  The slab, siding at left against the now-replaced fence, a pile of 2X6s, the metal door at center leaning against the far fence, and at right is the blue equatorial mount, with a wooden cover over it to keep weather out the last couple years.

Progress will be made quickly as John is coming Monday to frame up the walls and the door will go in by Tuesday.  The roof, following my fold-down design, will take longer, but he'll build it in place and we'll work on my plan together as his schedule permits.  Meanwhile I'm thinking I've got to get the mount installed before the walls go up - tomorrow is installation day!

Update on a Backyard Observatory!

Some of you with good memories might recall a post I made last February about my backyard observatory project.  Since our yard is rather small, I envisioned a design I'd not seen before, even making a small working scale model, shown at left.  It has the advantage of not requiring permanent space devoted to poles and rails to support the roof while removed.  I had also obtained a decent-sized telescope a few years back from the estate of Lloyd Horton - a beefy 12.5" telescope he made back in the 60's .  It needed an equally beefy pier, but was perfect for an in-town observatory for observing the moon and planets. 

Things have taken a big jump forward in the last couple weeks with my locating a building contractor willing to take a risk with my design.  And since he is also an amateur astronomer, he finds working on my little observatory more fun than his remodeling projects, so bumped me up in the schedule!

But first, I realized I'd not posted on the progress made way last Spring!  In April, just before it got ungodly hot in Tucson, work was started on the observatory over a LONG weekend by deciding on the exact location and installing a pier for the mount and telescope.  It has a pretty good-sized footprint, so needed a 24" diameter pier sunk into the ground, to be isolated from the observatory building.  From my reading, such a large amount of concrete needed some steel rebar, so I visited my local concrete supply place for cardboard sonotube, rebar and rounds for proper strengthening.  Starting with straight 1/2" rebar (#4) and a hefty piece of pipe, L-shaped pieces were made and wired together.  The round pieces were placed closer together at the bottom and top of the pier for added strength there.  The cross pieces of the structure shown at right helped keep it centered in the 24" sonotube form. 

The hole had been started before, but was deepened and enlarged to accept the form and rebar.  It was then leveled so that it was exactly vertical in the hole.  I also added some conduit so that electrical power could be run under the building slab up into the center of the pier to get power to the scope without cords to trip over...

In addition, before pouring the concrete, I borrowed a transit from work to take a sighting on Polaris, the north star, to establish a north-south line with which to align the pier and mount.  With Polaris at upper culmination, ie above the pole, but exactly north, I made a mark on the air conditioner and outer fence to stretch a N-S string when the time came...

The next day (Sunday, 13 April), Frank Koch came by to help with the concrete work.  He is the husband of a friend and work mate of Melinda's and he is quite the friend to have, volunteering to help with pouring over a ton of cement on a hot Spring day!  The one advantage of casting the pier was that the mixer could be parked in one place and just dumped into the pier location.  His mixer was a beefy gas-powered model, which hadn't been used in a while...  After spending the better part of an hour rebuilding the carburetor, it finally ran great and we got mixing.  Frank hoisted the 90 pound bags of concrete (26 of them!) into the spinning mixer and I added water to get the correct consistency. 


Of course, I had the easier job there, but I also used a vibrator (visible in the wide shot at left) that I'd rented for the occasion to make sure there were no air bubbles down around the rebar that would weaken the structure.  So between Frank's hoisting bags, and my adding water and vibrating the form, we were a well-oiled machine!  It seemed to take no time at all before we neared completion.

Of course, Melinda took most of these pictures, and got just the last couple batches of concrete mix to go into the form.  At left, Frank is dumping the mix, and at right, the last little bit goes in and we start work in smoothing the top surface and cleaning up.

After working the surface and allowing it to set up a little, it was time to insert the J-bolts that will fasten to the mount.  They had been installed on a plywood square pre-drilled with the correct bolt pattern.  In addition, lines were drawn on the square so that the bolts could be aligned N-S along the line laid out with the transit aligned to Polaris.  While a little nervous if I did it all right, in a day or two, the plywood was removed and the mounting adaptor slipped right into place - just like it was supposed to!

So that brings you up to date to April!  Like I said, lots has happened the last week, but that will have to wait for another post...

A Fork In The Road To Recovery...

Update-  Melinda's platelet count was too low for chemo today, so is pushed back to Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  Hopefully counts will be up enough to get it in then...

I get in trouble when I go too long without posting about Melinda's cancer treatments.  Her Facebook friends know all the details of her diagnosis and treatments before we leave the cancer center!  Those of you who depend on news from me sometimes have to remind me to let you know how she is doing. 

Fifteen months (!) into her treatments for small-cell lung cancer and she is doing ok.  That's about the news in a nutshell.  She has endured 7 cycles of chemo last Fall and Winter, radiation therapy that put her in the hospital twice last Spring, and when more spots showed up in her PET scans this Summer, is in the middle of  yet more chemo now.  She lost her hair in the first chemo, again in the radiation, and is at least thankful for a little now as we again cycle into cooler weather (see right!).  The PET scan last week showed the better news has slowed.  Of the 3 spots in lymph nodes in her abdomen, only 1 showed improvement even in the midst of chemo treatments, so the oncologist has called for a shakeup in strategy.  Because these remaining spots are near her intestines, they don't feel radiation is a good option.  We were told early on that the cancer might develop an "immunity" to the same chemo over the long run, and that appears to be happening with the Cisplatin.  So she is switching to another of the ones she got early on - Etoposide.  She is suspecting that she'll lose her hair again from this one, but remains committed to as aggressive a treatment as the oncologist is willing to go...  She seems a lot less bothered by the nausea than I am, and that would likely be easier to tolerate if it wasn't for the fall she took when she passed out the day after Labor Day.  Her back has been bothering her since and the pain of that injury is likely bothering her the most. 

But she soldiers on, enjoying her thick, curly dark hair even as it is likely to leave us like the autumn leaves...  But it will grow back someday.  So that's the story - you are now up to date as she starts the Etoposide tomorrow if her platelet count is high enough.  Any questions now?

The Place To Be On A Saturday Night!

If you find yourself in Tucson on a Friday or Saturday evening with time on your hands and thinking you would like to take in some stars of the celestial type, where else would you want to go than Starizona, the only astronomy-themed store I know that has regular hours at night!  They've cut back a few years ago from 4 nights a week to just weekends, but it is a great place to go to sneak a peak at the moon or planet that might be out.  Located adjacent to one of the busiest streets in Tucson, Oracle road serves as testament you don't need perfect skies to do a little observing.  And while deep sky objects are a little beyond the limit there, the real purpose for the evening hours are for customers.  For those who want some experience with their scope or new camera or new attachment they've purchased, there is no need to go at it alone.  Just set up your equipment in the Starizona parking lot and Dean Koenig or one of his able staff will be glad to take you through the details of setting up the scope, showing you how to use it, and how to tweak the performance of your new gear.  In these pictures Dean, in the dark shirt, is demonstrating the adjustment and using of a Hyperstar attachment, what the red camera is attached to on the front of the telescope.  Most any time photos are being taken there (amazing enough given the cars and skies), a crowd soon follows.  There were a good 4 or 5 telescopes of different types set up, at least 3 of which were being used by new owners.

The ulterior motive for our visit last night was that our friends Dick and Nancy had arranged having a new telescope set up from Lunt Solar Systems, a local manufacturer of solar scopes.  They have partnered with another company to offer stellar telescopes and binoculars in their product line, and Dick, a local optical designer, was interested in a new 6" doublet refractor model. 

If you know Dick, he always has a camera at the ready, and he was out taking flash pictures - at a star party!  Who does that!?  Anyway, in my single use of flash at left, I shot from the hip and got a pic of Dick behind his camera as he took a group shot.  At right, his S.O. Nancy is at left, and Dean Koenig's wife Donna joined Melinda to catch up on news and gossip, illuminated by the gentle lights of the store with the 2 second exposure.

As a result of Dean's customer service, he gets nearly all of my astronomical business, down to the DSLR cameras I use, ordered through him. Even with his vital local status, as a loyal customer, he usually cuts me a discount, as if I need a reason to go anywhere else...  I know my buddies up in Phoenix come the 250 mile round-trip to see him, and just knowing that he is there to help his customers get started, I've never hesitated in sending someone to him when they ask where they should get a telescope.  Normally I tell folks to join the astronomy club to use different scopes to see what they like best, then go to Starizona to see Dean for sales and service and talking shop under the stars.  We should all have a local business like his for our needs!

Just Another Sunset...

Last weekend during the astronomy expo we had some pesky clouds, just bad enough to play havoc with the solar viewing at the convention center.  As seems to be standard in the south-central part of the state, particularly during the long-past Summer monsoon season, the clouds don't extend very far west.  As a result, we get another "chamber of commerce" sunset with the setting sun illuminating the clouds from below.

I suspect it is the clarity of the skies that provides such pure colors as typically the sun hanging on the horizon is still too bright to look at directly.  So a few minutes later when it sinks below the viewer's  horizon, it still brilliantly illuminates the cloud bottoms with oranges and reds. 

I was in the process of doing evening cat chores, feeding our various feline populations when I was inspired to grab the camera and head out to the cul-de-sac to document it.  I often miss them during the few minutes they are on display, but I was glad to get this one.  These were taken about a minute apart, the one on the right zoomed in about the maximum amount on the 17-85mm lens, the left version nearly zoomed out the full amount.  May we all enjoy such colorful introductions to the evening!

Astronomy Expo Weekend!

Well the 2014 edition of the Arizona Science and Astronomy Expo is in the books!  I made it for a least a little of both weekend days, making 5 days in a row including the 3 days of the  SouthWest Astro-Photography Seminar (SWAP).  All told, it was a lot of fun - lots of vendors, lots of friends, lots of information to glean about new products, projects and techniques.  At left is shown a 2-frame mosaic looking down into the exhibition hall about noon on Saturday.  This was after the likely attendance peak as folks started scattering for lunch, solar telescope displays, and the hall where the speakers were located.  If you are into astronomy and couldn't find anything that interested you, you might need to re-evaluate your interests!

Starlight Instrument focusers

I'm working on a 14" telescope, so need to research a focuser and there were a couple vendors that could satisfy me.  There were a multitude of telescope manufacturers there, from the highly commercial to the local niche markets.  I'm not currently in the market for a digital imaging camera - my DSLR is still keeping me happy, but there were at least 6-8 specialty vendors selling cameras, making me very confused about which might be considered the "best" for my potential needs.  I hope when the time comes to upgrade to an astronomy camera the decision is easier!  There was also an aisle of local groups involved in public outreach, including our very own Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association, Lunar and Planetary Labs, the OSIRIS-REx space mission and others.

Scott Tucker at right

As mentioned above, the local boys were there too.  Frank Lopez of Stellarvision was there with an backyard observatory setup, and Dean Koenig of Starizona was there as well with their 12" and 16" Hyperion telescopes on display.  At left, Hyperion designer Scott Tucker talks to a visitor about some of the features of the telescope, and at right is the pair of telescopes they had on display.

Phil Plait - The Bad Astronomer

Edward Gibson - now and then

The talks I attended were great!  Unfortunately, I was having so much fun in the vendor area that I only made it to two of them.  Of course, I couldn't miss astronomy blogger Phil Plait, The Bad Astronomer!  He is one of the must-read blogs I read every day, and after corresponding with him a few times and getting at least a couple mentions on his blog, I had to hear him speak in person for the first time.  He talked about the Curiosity mission on Mars and gave a rousing and very interesting and entertaining presentation.  He talks with his hands a lot, and I happened to get a pair of photos that seemed to be shouting to be mounted together.  When explaining about the size of the universe, speaking with your hands is very useful!

The other talk I saw today was with Edward Gibson, an astronaut on the Skylab 4 mission in 1974.  He talked about foresight and leadership in the "golden days" of NASA from the Apollo missions through the Skylab days to his retirement from the astronaut corps exactly 40 years ago.  He showed a picture of a fresh-faced mission scientist undergoing training in the "olden" days and a picture of the 78 year old presenter today is matched with it at right.

Peter, Deb, Roger

But the best part of these large amateur events is seeing friends old and new.  Again, from the "olden days", Peter Ceravolo, wife Debra, and local telescope maker Roger Ceragioli gathered for a photo today.  Peter and I go back a couple decades to various amateur astronomy conventions.  We "worked" together when he came to Arizona in 1996 to image Comet Hyakutake, taking some of the first high-temporal resolution images of comet structures!  He used my van for the couple weeks of his stay and was surprised to see that I'm still using it every day...  At right are buddies Tom and Jennifer Polakis from Phoenix.  They are taking a "selfie" in the reflection of an 18" telescope!

I'm a bit numb after 5 days, but it was a blast!  Fingers crossed that vendors and attendees are all happy and that it will happen again next year. It is nice being in the astronomical center of the Universe for a few days!