iTelescope Newsletter: SSO Open Day!

StarFest is a weekend event hosted at Siding Spring Observatory each year. This year Siding Spring is celebrating it's 50 year anniversary at StarFest, so it is going to be an exciting event!

It includes a variety of special events, including the Bok Lecture, Science in the Pub, and Open Day!

As part of the Siding Spring Community, iTelescope will be taking part in all of the events, and our staff members will be on site during Open Day to speak directly to the public and our attending members.

Open Day this year will be held on October 4th, from 9:30 AM until 4:00 PM and anyone that wishes to attend will be able to meet and speak to iTelescope Staff, as well as take part in these activities:

Tour the Telescopes
Hear talks by world famous astronomers in the AAT Dome
Talks designed for children in the Exploratory
Science displays around the Observatory
Eat at the newly refurbished Exploratory cafe, or grab a sausage sizzle on the way round
And much more!

To give you an idea of some of what you may see while there, please enjoy this video created by Peter Verwayen of the ANU RSAA, Angel Lopez-Sanchez of the AAO MQ and our own Observatory Manager, Aussie Pete.

iTelescope.Net System Updates!

Over the next week or so we will begin the first phase of our system stability updates. These updates are mostly on the back end of the systems, and will not affect members outside of making the systems more reliable, however one of the changes will affect how the systems focus, and will impact image runs.

The new focusing system has been in testing on T24, T27 and T21 from some time now, so users of those systems will be somewhat familiar with it, but for those that have not used it, this is what will change:

The telescopes will no longer always have a focus run at the beginning of a run.
The new focus system will focus on demand as it is required and is based on a number of factors including a temperature compensation system developed in house
The system will always push to focus in between user plans, but will focus during a plan if conditions change during the plan

What does this mean for our members?

Once the system goes live, you will notice that imaging runs begin quicker - the initial pointing run will only take 2-3 minutes, instead of the 7-10 it takes now.

You will notice that systems will sometimes show, "Focusing" on the Launchpad. This indicates that the adaptive focus system is completing a focus run in between member runs.

You will notice a higher degree of accuracy with the focus, and a smaller number of software crashes leading to run failures (these are currently the number one cause of reservation failure).

Image Along Side Don "Astrodon" Goldman!

Don Goldman is one of the worlds most known Astrophotographers, and he is looking for a partner. Beginning his professional life with a Ph.D in spectroscopy from Caltech, Don first came in contact with the "stars" by analyzing mineralogy of lunar rocks returned from Apollo 17. From there he became an inventor and eventually went back to school at the University of Washington to earn his M.B.A.

It was not until 2001, after running his own corporation (Optical Solutions in Sacramento) for eight years, that he found his "hobby" in the stars. Over the next few years, Don worked his way up from a small telescope with no motorized mount to a 8" Meade LX90 with a GoTo mount and an SBIG ST-7 CCD, and began to learn the ins and outs of telescope and camera operations.

This hobby eventually led to an understanding of a general problem with color images in light polluted skies. A problem that resulted in Astrodon Imaging and Don's "Tru-Balance" filters. At his heart though, Don continued to be an Astrophotograper.

Over the last six years outside of creating the well known Astrodon "Tru-Balance" filters, Don Goldman has produced an astounding 26 APOD winning images. His astrophotography has been published in numerous magazines. He has written multiple articles for Sky and Telescope, and is the recipient of the Clyde Tombaugh Award of Excellence for 2009 from RTMC (Riverside Telescope Makers Conference). He has produced some fantastic Tutorials about CCD stacking and Processing through Photoshop and has created more then 200 Astrophotographic images.

His love of the skies eventually brought him to creating the AIC with Ken Crawford and Steve Mandel, where he was on the Board of Directors for the next three years. Through his work at the AIC, Don saw the development of Remote-Controlled Telescopes, eventually leading him to us and your chance to partner with him.

Don Goldman is looking for a partner to share the hosting fees on his Planewave 20" CDK. This will be hosted at our Siding Spring Observatory Site and will be off the standard network. You would be splitting the telescope time 50-50 with Don, and would be able to avoid the entrance cost of such a powerful system! This is an amazing opportunity for anyone working on a large project with hundreds of hours of exposure time. If you are interested, please contact me at hosting@itelescope.net for all the details!

System Specifications

Planewave 20" CDK
Ascension 200HR
SBIG 16803 CCD
10 Position Filter Wheel with
Astrodon LRGB, 3nm Ha, SII, OIII, NII, and Red Continuum.

Piggyback Telescope

Takahashi TOA130BNF
TAK super-reducer making it an
f/5.7 760 mm focal length with a 5" aperture.
Apogee U16M CCD
Astrodon LRGB and 3nm Ha, OIII, SII

Guider

SBIG ST-i guide camera on an
Astrodon Monster/MOAG off-axis guider.

Images courtesy of Don Goldman

Nicole's Universe

Nicole Morillaro is an experienced and valued member of the iTelescope community.

Here she writes about her experiences with iTelescope as well as general astronomy observations. Nicole lives in a not-so-dark-sky site north of Toronto, Canada.

Nicole's Universe is available on the iTelescope.Net website and was introduced in the newsletter a few months back. We would now like to catch up on some of the past stories she shared and will be including her new articles as they become available.

This month we take a look at Stacking Software:

A conversation with Damian Peach

If you're like me, you're in awe of the images that Damian Peach has produced. Many of his images have appeared as APODs, but he is able to take even the seemingly simplest targets and produce stunning detail.

1. When did you start imaging?

I first started imaging back in 1997-98, but have actually been observing since the age of 10. I first became interested in astronomy when I started reading books on the subject in primary school.

2. What equipment did you start off with?

My very first optical instrument was a pair of 8x30 binoculars I got at around the age of 10 or 11. I vividly remember watching the nightly motions of the Jovian moons with them. Soon after I got my first telescope –- a small 50mm refractor. I still have this telescope today.

3. What was your first target?

I’d always been fascinated by the planets. My first target for my first ever telescope was Venus. I clearly remember this first view: it was high up in the evening sky at exactly half phase. I remember being really amazed at this small white globe serenely hanging there in the eyepiece that looked like a miniature moon. Jupiter was also a firm favourite.

4. Can you tell us about your processing technique?

For all of the images taken using iTelescope I use Maxim DL, Photoshop, and Pixinsight. These three packages do just about everything you could want when it comes to image processing. I have all manner of different routines for various objects. A lot of my work with iTelescope involves comets, especially producing high quality colour images of them.

5. What are your successes?

With iTelescope I think my biggest success has been my image of Comet ISON from November 15, 2013. This image has been published all over the world and has probably been my most published and successful image ever. I’ve also had numerous APOD’s using the iTelescope systems, mostly related to comets, but also some deep sky work.

In my career as a planetary observer I've had many high points and successes that are too numerous to list, but I think the one stand-out is becoming good friends with my astronomical hero Sir Patrick Moore during the last decade of his life and appearing on his Sky at Night show with him numerous times. The parties and gatherings at his home over the years I shall remember for the rest of my days.

6. What object was the most challenging?

Colour comet imaging can be very challenging and quite often a lot of thought and planning is required. I often plan these runs in advance using Guide 9. The processing can also be complex and lengthy, as with fast-moving comets you must create and merge two images –- one processed to keep the star field still, the other to keep the comet still, and then merge them together.

7. What’s your favourite object that you’ve imaged?

That’s a tough one. I think it has to be Comet Lovejoy in recent times. That has been a really wonderful object and I've managed to capture many high-quality images of it. It’s been a great “consolation prize” with ISON having disintegrated.

8. Why did you join iTelescope?

I’ve always had a keen interest in comets and deep-sky work, but where I live the light pollution and near- permanent high humidity is not at all conducive to producing high-quality images of these kinds of objects. Spending money on a home set-up would be a waste of time, really. A good friend had often used iTelescope (and GRAS before that) for imaging, and that’s what really tempted me to try it out. It has really helped re-ignite my interest in other areas of astronomy, and my now extensive gallery of comet images is a testament to this!

9. What words of advice do you have for those beginning to image?

Take your time with it. Don’t expect top quality results straight away. It takes a lot of practice and experimenting to learn and develop routines that work well. Don’t be afraid to ask others for advice -– there are many people out there ready to offer help. The iTelescope Facebook Member's group is a good place to ask for advice from those just starting out.

10. If you could have an observatory anywhere, where would it be?

I think it would have to be on the mountain side at Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Sub arc-second seeing conditions and extremely dark skies are common place here, not to mention some wonderful natural scenery as you are far above the clouds. The neighbouring island of La Palma is much the same, and both islands are already home to professional telescopes.

Thanks Damian..

Special iTelescoe.Net Promotion!

In celebration of StarFest and Siding Spring's 50th anniversary this month, we will be running a special promotion on Telescope 27, Telescope 24, and Telescope 21.

This promotion will be active beginning on Monday, September 15th, 2014 and running until October 31st, 2014.

iTelescope Members do not need to enter any special promotion codes to take advantage of this promotion. Instead, the promotion will be a flat 30% to 40% reduction in cost per imaging hour for the listed telescopes.

We hope members will use this opportunity to help us celebrate StarFest and the 50th Anniversary of Siding Spring, as well as seeing the amazing data and images that can be collected from these systems.

Member Showcase

The member showcase was created to give iTelescope.Net staff a chance to share members images with the entire community. The purpose is to show all members just what can be done with the robotic telescope systems and we absolutely love sharing the images our members posted on the iTelescope.Net Member's Club our Facebook group page. We hope you enjoy this edition of the Member Showcase!

In celebration of this month's StarFest and the 50th Anniversary at Siding Spring Observatory, this month's theme is Comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring, which was discovered by Robert McNaught on Siding Spring's 20 inch Uppsala Southern Schmidt Telescope.

This comet will be making some big news in October as it will be passing within 132,000 km of Mars, which is equivalent to only 1/3 of the distance from the Earth to the Moon. A very close near miss and an exciting event for the Southern Skies!

Our first image this month comes from long time member and supporter, Rolando Ligustri!

Rolando took this Asronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) winning image of C/2013 A1 Siding Spring on Telescope 12 as it glides towards its encounter with Mars in October. Rolando's expert eye framed the gorgeous comet with some beautiful deep sky objects in the southern celestial sky, including the Small Magellanic Cloud (center and left), globular star cluster 47 Tuscanae (right) and NGC 362 (upper left).

Our next image of Comet Siding Spring comes from Damian Peach. This shot of the comet was taken earlier in the month while it was passing NGC 1291, a peculiar ring galaxy with an unusual inner bar and outer ring structure. Another great shot by Damian Peach!

Our final image this month comes from a new member by the name of Sebastian Voltmer. This fantastic shot was taken soon after Rolando's image and shows a closer field of view of 47 Tuscanae and C/2013 A1 Siding Spring. This one was also captured on Telescope 12 and we are extremely happy to share it with you. If you want to see more by Sebastian Voltmer, check out his site here.

We hope you enjoyed these fantastic images taken on iTelescopes. If you would like to see more of our Member Showcase winners, please take a look at our Member Showcase Image Gallery!

Next Months Showcase

Each month we hold a contest to show off our members amazing images! To take part in the contest, all you need to do is join the iTelescope.Net Member's Club, our Members Only Facebook Group, and post your images there. Please include which telescope, the number of exposures, filters used during exposures, how long each exposure lasted and the tools used to process the image. The deadline for submissions is 30th of September, 2014.

iTelescope Staff will then pick winners from submissions near the 30th of September and showcase them in the next newsletter. The winning submission will be awarded 100 iTelescope Points and have their image highlighted on our web page and newsletter. Backup winners will be chosen if the winners do not claim their prize when notified by email from aron@itelescope.net.