Self portrait minutes after I saw the Delta II launch

I’ve always wanted to see the shuttle lift off in Florida, but that will probably never happen.  So this year I’ve been trying to spot a rocket launch here in California.

As you may know Vandenberg AFB is home to NASA’s west coast launch pad. And according to Brian Webb’s website www.spacearchive.info we should be able to see the rocket launches during the twilight and nighttime hours here in Southern California.

Well today I saw it and it was very cool! This was my third attempt at trying to see some artifact from the launch while at home here  in Lake Forest Orange County. There was a big difference this time: the launch was at dawn. All the other times were in the daylight, or at some other ungodly hour. I was not yet committed enough to this quest to justify going out in the middle of night to see something, since I did not even know if it was possible. The last time I tried was during the day, and I saw nothing. However somebody reported that they saw something up in the mountains in Big Bear California.

It was fairly clear with some fog/haze towards the horizon this morning. I started looking right around launch time (6:09 a.m.) and saw nothing as expected. Three  minutes went by and I looked around again and I noticed a faint helicopter looking light flying low from the Northwest area. I almost dismissed it, but I picked up my 10X50 binoculars just in case and pointed them that way. That’s when I saw the FIRE coming out of the ROCKET. Holy smokes it’s the rocket! No I did not see much detail, but I saw a small object with fire shooting out of the back of it. I was shocked. In fact I was not expecting to see that at all. I thought I would only see cool smoke plumes or something like that.

The rocket continued on a low fly by and all of a sudden the smoke plum started to show. The rocket was growing fainter as the smoke plum grew and became brighter. The smoke was totally visible to the naked eye at this time. It looked like a regular cloud as far as brightness, but in shape it was long and swirly. A few seconds later the smoke stopped and I could not really see the fire anymore, the rocket just looked like a satellite at this point. The smoke appeared to stop and then reappeared as another stage of the engine went off. I did not see fire, but saw more smoke. It then faded fast as it got lower to the SouthWest Horizon. It was at that time that I took out my camera and tripod and fired some shots of the smoke (click image below).

Ahhh that was a cool moment: to actually be able to see something lifting off to outer space!  I think what helped inspire me was a few months ago the shuttle was going to land here in the West. I heard or read somewhere that you might be able to hear the sonic boom. I set my watch and went outside. I told my neighboors that if they hear a loud boom that it was the shuttle crossing the sound barrier. They gave me some weird looks, but a few minutes later we all heard the boom and we all were excited.

So get out your binoculars, cameras and ears and do some astronomy. With just my eyes I have (and you can too) see the space station, the shuttle, a rocket launch, and Iridium Flares. Here are some resources that will guide the way:

http://www.spacearchive.info/index.htm

http://www.heavens-above.com/

Smoke from the Delta II launch 12-14-09

The dirt/sand surfaces found in many remote locations can make leveling an impossible task, or worse yet could cause your rig to slowly settle as you’re imaging regardless of if you walk close by or not.  To prevent such a thing from happening, you’re going to have to set your tripod legs on some sort of load spreading accessory.  Many companies make anti-vibration pads that would do the job but they can cost upwards of $100.  If you don’t want to spend money buying pre-made pads, your choices are to either deal with the sand, make your own pads or find some sort of suitable alternative.

This author decided that the easiest thing to do was to find some sort of suitable alternative.  A quick field trip to the local home improvement store proved to be the right choice.  It only took walking up and down a couple of aisles to find the perfect solution, banister rail caps.  They were the right size, light weight and the right price, $2.99 a piece x 3.

They came in handy during the last MBS astro trip out to Joshua Tree where it was sandy.  The tripod stayed in place without any slippage or sinkage and resulted in two successful nights of imaging.  Setting up was a lot easier this time around than the last trip to this same site.  This hobby, like many others tends to get quite expensive so any opportunity to save money is beneficial.  Sometimes it just requires a little bit of creativity!

Each subsequent frame started to slowly degrade from the edges in.  Nebulosity started showing where it shouldn’t be and stars were starting to diffract every which way just like the unprocessed shot to the left.

Since this was something I had never seen before, I kept taking a couple more shots until the last shot clearly showed the culprit…FROST!  It was like looking through a window in the dead of winter with the center of the frame still fairly clear but with crystal like spider veins on the edge of the frame.

M42 Frost, -5C

Well, for frost to form, two things need to be present.  A surface at or below freezing, and moisture.  Now, what could I do about the moisture?  Nothing at all.  I could do something with the temperature level of the CCD Chips though.  I was running at -5 degrees Celsius, so I decided to raise it to 0 degrees Celsius.  I know what you’re gonna ask, 0 degrees is still freezing so why not go to 5 degrees?  Well, the chip itself is at 0 degrees at the back surface but the front surface is just slightly warmer due to it being exposed to the air inside the camera body.

After letting it warm up for about 30 minutes, I started taking shots again and could clearly see a difference.  Most of the frost had melted and is evident in the stars at the left, bottom and right edges.  M42 itself is a bit sharper and the nebulosity isn’t artificially enhanced.  What is also evident is the amount of noise from the increase in temperature.  Eventually all of the frost disappeared and the rest of the shots I got that night were usable.

M42 Less Frost, 0C

After I got home, I immediately read over the manual and followed the direction on how to recharge the built in desiccant.  Fortunately SBIG’s design of the ST2000-XCM desiccant plug is very simple.  It simply screws out of the body, replace it with a dummy plug to prevent anything from getting in the camera and recharge it following the recommended procedure.

This happened almost after a year of use and in the fall, right after our monsoon season which makes sense since it was so humid.  So here are a few tips to follow to minimize the chance of your CCD Chip frosting over.

1. Store your camera in a cool, dry place
2. Throw a pack of silica gel or other type of desiccant inside your camera case when not in use
3. Recharge your desiccant plug (if applicable) on recommended intervals or before big imaging trips
4. If frost forms during an imaging session, set the temperature regulation to 0 degrees C or above

SBIG Desiccant Plug

Dummy Plug

The Julian Starfest is a major Southern California astronomy event, featuring a free public star party on Saturday, tours of the Palomar Observatory, astronomy supplies and vendors, astronomy guest speakers and presentations, a giant raffle with $7,000 worth of give-aways and four days of camping and astronomy.

Camping area at the Menghini Winerty, Julian Starfest

With plenty of room at the winery to spread out we had enough space to accommodate all four of our imaging rigs, complete with computers, workbenches and Fat Maxes (our super efficient, ultra compact tool chests). Our compound was flanked by the travel trailer on one side and two tents (for the adventurous) on the other. Plenty of room for our gravity chairs and binocular sky tours in the center, while our rigs were up and imaging all night.

Julian Pie Company

We pulled in Thursday just after 3:00 pm when camping registration opened. We picked our spot and got set up. The first night was perfect with clear skies that got pretty dark. Friday was overcast all day and it never let up, the night was clouded over, even raining on us a bit throughout the night. And good thing we stuck it out because Saturday night was again perfectly clear and dark (though very damp and dewy). I’m not a good judge of what is dark or not (and we’ve had much debate about Anza vs. GMARS, etc.) and Jamie didn’t think Julian was as dark as GMARS – and I disagreed. We were tempted to get a dark sky quality meter to start taking regular measurements of our locations – this tool would be a helpful tool to aid in our ongoing debate. All-in-all, we had two great nights of astronomy.

Craig Stark speaking at the Julian Starfest

Craig Stark from StarkLabs (author of Nebulocity, PHD Guiding and DSLR Shutter) gave a great talk on SNR (signal to noise ratio), similar to his series on Cloudy Nights, and detailed the differences between cameras for astro-photography. He also spend a few minutes with us discussing, and helping solve an ongoing debate about ISO settings and its impact on SNR. Look for more MBS stories discussing some of the Stark topics like increased aperture and its affect on SNR, and how single-shot color cameras differ from monochrome cameras.

We’re all good friends with Keith, Chris and Craig at OPT (Oceanside Photo and Telescope) so its always fun when we get to spend time out in the field with these guys. Check out Chris’ newest images on his website. OPT is one of the big sponsors of the Julian Starfest and they have a giant booth in the vendor village. In fact, this has become quite an event for all of us to do some “shopping.” This year Harvey bought his new CCD camera (Orion Starshoot Pro) and was like a proud poppa when he unpacked the box. Ippei was close to making his final decision on a new imaging OTA, but the OPT guys sold the last one in stock – right from under his nose. Jamie finally got his wide field imaging rig completed when he attached his camera ball head adapter (manfrotto 486) to his Celestron CG-4 mount, complete with hand-crafted, hardwood dovetail. This ended up being used by everyone for wide field imaging right off the camera – it’s awesome! And don’t worry, if they don’t have what you need at the OPT Booth – they call the store and have someone bring it up, THAT is customer service at its best! I finally got a new HoTech centering 2″ camera dapter, deliverd to Julian from the store (did I mention OPT is awesome!)

With all of our new gear, the great food, the heated debates (360º capabilities, dark skies, Gaysted, breathing in the particles once you can smell them, etc.), the apple (and berry) pie, the ice cream lady, Bridgette, Ippei’s new truck (really a big help packing in all of our gear), Sea Breeze and the Millionaire Mile – We even got the chance to meet a few guys from the SoCalAstroPhoto group, and chat a bit – The Julian Starfest 2009 was a huge success!

Look for updated images from everyone under the MEMBERS tab.

We loaded all four of our Stanley Fat Max gear boxes into Ippei's truck.

Planning our strategy over breakfast in Orange County before heading out to Julian, CA

We stopped for pie at the famous Julian Pie Company

Setting up our campsite - astro-imaging center - and saloon. Four telescopes, four computers.

Our first feast of many - BBQ steak sandwiches.

Santa Ysabel Casino, just a few miles from Julian, CA - we went for the $4.95 Prime Rib Dinner! And some of us like horseradish more than others.

Jamie, testing his new personal dark adapted eye protection system. Now he can use the bright light from his computer monitor to light his work area - and still protect his own eyes - Patent Pending.

Harvey studying the manual for his new Orion Starshoot Pro - just picked up from OPT booth in Vendor Village.

Ippei and John conducting highly technical binocular comparison testing ... complete with vodka drinks.

All you can eat chicken quesadilla Mexican breakfast - note: three is too many.

Brian and Jamie posing for a quick portrait in town - Julian, CA

Harvey won this great piece of framed art in the raffle.

Nightfall at the Julian Starfest 2009. The milky way is setting over our campground.

That direct quote is from an email forwarded to me today. The sender was asking me if it was true.  I noticed in the email that it was also sent to about two dozen other people. These were all mostly business associates, so these are edjucated people, but the fact is that most people will not take the time to research stuff.

So sorry to disappoint, but Mars will not appear as big as the moon to us. A simple logic test would be to go outside and look at the moon and Mars right now. Is Mars half the size of the moon , now that August 27th is only a few weeks away? Can you even find Mars in the sky right now?

This hoax gets circulated each year, and each year I am asked by my peers if this will happen.  I usually ask them what do they think and why, and am always entertained at their excitement about the event, but lack of fact finding or preparation for such a great celestial event.

According to Snopes.com and Wikipedia this hoax started off in August 2003 when Mars did come to its closet point to Earth in 60,000 years. But Mars comes pretty close to this distance every 15 years.

So for your entertainment and reference here is the famous email hoax below.

HISTORY IN THE MAKING!!!

Every year, Team MBS participates in a couple dozen outreaches in the Southern Orange County area but this was the first ever joint venture outreach with members from the Orange County Astronomers, Riverside Astronomical Society and the Big Bear Valley Astronomical Society.  Fortunately, this was neutral territory so no OCA/RAS/BBVAS gang wars ensued with the use of our green pointing lasers.  Leading the way was John Day from the BBVAS, who brought along his home made Dobsonian.  John won an award at RTMC for this scope (the white one) which can be seen in the picture to the left.  He also kicked off each viewing session with an exciting presentation!

Each week there was a new group of 90 excited kids waiting to check out the night sky.  Saturn was a big hit, along with globular clusters and double stars.  We were able to see a lot of constellations with the naked eye, as well as the milky way and even some meteors which drew a lot of oohs and ahhs.  The International Space Station flew over us on the 6th towards the end of the viewing session.

July 20th was the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 landing on the moon.  In addition to the scopes, there was a meteorite presentation and exhibit, and even some prizes were given away for those that stuck around to learn more about astronomy.  Usually, most groups get excited when binoculars are given away as prizes but this group (both kids and adults alike) went absolutely wild for the half eaten bag of frosted animal crackers…maybe it was the thin air.

Wow, if you are out for the new moon in June, you are in for a treat on the morning of June 21, 2009. At 4:00 a.m. you will be able to see a sliver of the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Uranus, Jupiter, and Neptune.

That’s 6 Planets, and if you look straight down at that time you’ll see another planet. Get out your widefields and see what you can grab!

Camping at Afton Canyon Campground was great (April 26, 2009). It’s about 30 miles northeast of Barstow right off the 15 freeway.  It was super easy to find and get to. You pretty much take one turn off of the 15 and drive about 15 minutes and run right into the campground.

Afton has been called California’s Grand Canyon. That’s a pretty bold statement, but it was interesting and nice too see so much variety in a Southern Californian landscape.

Unique to this area is the Mojave river that flows above ground right next to the campground.  You can see the river’s power as it slowly carved its way into the the surrounding hillsides.  A wonderfull sight is to see is the lone headlight of a Southern Pacific Railroad train speeding through the  dessert darkness. Just as soon as it lights up the bridge it will disappear back into the horizon from where it came. It reminds you how Jedediah Smith once crossed these same lands.

Astronomy-wise it was darker than Joshua Tree and the Riverside GMARS site. There were small light domes to the North from Las Vegas and to the Southeast from Barstow, but they were  small and not bothersome at all. It was pretty windy in the day as it was everywhere else the week we stayed there, but we were treated to great weather on our second night as the winds came to a stand still at midnight.

We lucked out and picked the first spot as you enter the campsite. This was a long thought out decision. We figured most campers would want to go deep into the campsite so we stayed on the outside. We were correct since the campsite became about 80% full and our side was the furthest away from campfire lights. There were a couple of campfires, but our site sat a little lower and there were some surrounding bushes (probably a scorpion lair) that protected us from the stray light. Playing 80’s rap music also helped keep people from venturing too close to our site.

Overall it was a great site and we had lots of fun. There were some mishaps, but those all count towards having an advenuture!

*we had to walk back a belligerent drunk to his campsite. Once again proof that not everybody can party like us . . .

Fueling up at the Flying J in Barstow

Getting Close

Afton Road Exit

Going the right way

Looking back towards civilization (the freeway)

The road in

Arrival

The campsite

The traditional drink upon arrival

The bridge over the Mojave River

Getting Dark

Campfires light the Canyon

A nighttime train passes by

Daytime adventure. This road . . .

or this road. This looks safe let's do it!

The end of the road, and begining of our peril.

Cave in the distance

The last thing we looked at before digging out our car for 3 hours!

Image from the trip - M13 Hercules Globular Cluster

Yes it may be super windy, but we will hope for the best as we usually do.  At worst we can work on videos for the website and test out gear. We also plan on going on several photo expeditions during our stay.

If  interested reply to on the comments section and we will contact you.

M57 Ring Nebula

Saturday night we did an outreach for a couple of Girl Scout troops at Caspers Park in Orange County, CA. The girls were excited to view, but we had to explain it needed to get dark before we could show them anything exciting. Most volunteers were still setting up when lines began to form in front of their scopes.