Steak Deburgo + M81 & M82 / Plantains Fosters = perfection in decadence2.
Posted by admin | Filed under Food, Messier Catalog
This last weekend was a great one. Mandy went to Des Moines to help her mom pack for a big move north and I had a visit from a good friend. We had planned to make our annual Iowa Spring favorite. Steak DeBurgo with Morels. Another passion of mine is hunting morel mushrooms every spring. They pop for about two to three weeks every year. Much like Deep Space Objects (hmmm.. DFOs? Deep Forest Objects) they are a blast to hunt down and are very rewarding when found. Steak DeBurgo is a famous Des Moines dish made by taking filet mignon and cooking/simmering it in butter and an assortment of italian spices. Topped with Morels and fresh asparagus, this is a dish that is hard to beat. The epitome of decadence and savory excess in one meal.
I am lucky that my visitor is just as curious as I am about the things that make life possible in the universe. I am aware of how annoying it can be for someone to be rambling on about an interest that is alien to everyone else. He was excited to see what the scope could do which in turn made me more excited about breaking it out. We finished our meals and got the Z8 set up. We were flighting clouds a little but things were beginning to break up so that was encouraging.
When the clouds finally broke we ran through the eyepieces looking at Saturn from lowest to highest magnification. First a broad 30mm view, then a barlowed 30mm, then 12.5 then barlowed 12.5 and finally the 9mm and barlowed 9mm. All views were amazing. He had no words except. “Oh..WOW..oh….my…WOW”. It was great. There are no good words for these views except “oh” and “wow”. It’s really fun to observe these objects but almost as fun to show them to someone else who has never had access to a decent telescope. I look forward to memorizing the location of many of the most accessible objects so I can provide a little “tour” of the night skies.
We decided we needed to warm up a bit (35 degrees in may! yikes.) and have a few more drinks and libations before we moved the scope to the backyard in order to hunt down some deep space gems. Once situated and after consulting StarMap Pro on the Ipod Touch we decided that M81 would be a good target. After a few minutes of hunting M81’s stellar neighborhood I was scanning around with the 30mm Wide Field and **BOOYA!!!** two galaxies M81 & M82 in the same field of view!! Wonderful!! I adjusted the focus a little and let my friend take a look. Guess what? “WOW!!”. I couldn’t agree more. Being a novice I expected to find one faint galaxy so you can imagine my delight when two popped in to the same field of view.
Below is a similar image to that shown through my telescope, although not quite as bright.
We observed these objects for a little while experimenting with different magnifications until we were cold and packed the scope up for the night.
All of this skywatching made us a little hungry again for something cooked in butter. I knew I had Plantains, Brown Sugar, Butter, and Ice Cream, and Dark Rum. I rattled off these ingredient and before I knew it my friend was making us some late night Plantains Fosters.
We almost caught the house on fire but got things under control in time to enjoy our desert.
Post Galactic Plantains Fosters by Jared.
One thing that I have learned that is crucial is organization. It’s so important when fumbling around in the dark with expensive eyepieces. I think I misplace an eyepiece cover every time I go out. I found an old camera lens case that is lined with foam for keeping my eyepieces safe and organized. I also picked up a cheap red light headlamp at walmart so I can see what I am doing in the dark. I expect to be learning a lot of these lessons during each session. This is important stuff to a back yard astronomer. We want to spend our precious time looking up at the sky, not on all fours on the ground looking for lost or misplaced equipment. Hopefully things go smoother as I gain experience. But yes, organization is key.
Z8 Assembly and First Light
Posted by admin | Filed under Messier Catalog, Z8
The Z8 finally arrived yesterday morning. I quickly unpacked to inspect. Everything was in good condition and I began assembly. There were no instructions included but I did manage to find a decent version online for the Z series from Zhumell.
The Z8 comes with a laser collimator from Zhumell. I followed the instructions from a video on youtube to laser collimate a reflector. I think I got it fairly close but I am sure a higher quality collimator would do a much better job. I got the scope as close as possible with the equipment I had to work with. I was anxious about this process but it was very easy and I have confidence I could do this in the field now with no trouble whatsoever. One complaint I have is that collimator quickly lost battery power. I don’t know if it was bumped in shipping and had been on but the battery died soon after my first collimation.
9pm could not get here fast enough. I already had the scope outside and set up so when it became dark I would be ready.
Once dark, I went outside and aimed my finderscope right at Saturn. I looked through the eyepiece and adjusted the focus and was so amazed. With a 30mm eyepiece Saturn was a beautiful bright sphere and the rings were edge on extending outward like a crystal clear and bright line. I could also see three brightly lit moons huddling close to Saturn in orbit. I was astounded. This was my first time seeing the rings on Saturn with my eyes.
I quickly Barlowed the 30mm Wide Field lens for a better shot, then the 12.5 by itself, then the 12.5 Barlowed. With each increasing eyepiece, Saturn became more defined and more contrasted. At 133x magnification, (focal length / Eyepiece diameter or 1200mm / 9mm) Saturn showed us a gradient of colors and wonderful detail. I am too hard on Planetary Observing. After seeing Saturn for the first time I can say that I could observe Saturn all night without getting bored. It’s just a great object to track across the sky. Right now, Saturn’s rings are edge on. This body will be a little more interesting when Saturn tilts and shows us more of her rings. At any rate, it was just plain awesome.
Not my image just a similar view.
I should mention this all took place on the 5th of May. We invited some friends over for a Cinco De Mayo feast. Mandy made us some wonderful salsas, and Chimis. We also got to test out our friend’s fancy Margarita maker. It worked!! 
After a few margaritas and a brilliant mexican feast we put the scope to the test.
After Saturn we pointed the scope in direction of Ursa Major (The Big Dipper). Being the first night out I wanted to see if there was a small chance of tracking down a galaxy and I knew the handle of Big Dipper was littered with at least a few. This was going to be a challenge and my expectations in my own ability to find my first “faint fuzzy” were low. I changed eyepieces to the Wide Field 30mm and began scanning around the handle of the Big Dipper, not quite knowing exactly what to expect.
I was using StarMap on my Ipod Touch to help me locate M51. This is a GREAT app and a useful tool for the Backyard Astronomer.
The 2″ 30mm 68 degree Wide Field is like looking through a porthole in a space ship. As a novice I could just put this eyepiece in and be satisfied all night just randomly scanning the cosmos with it. As I scanned the stellar neighborhood of M51 I glanced some meteors streaking past in my field of view. Very cool. I continued to hunt for M51 and finally caught sight of two faint discs converging. One large and one small. No doubt I had located my first DSO & Galaxy: M51. This is actually two galaxies. One large and one about a quarter of the size of the larger body. They are interactive and about 500 to 600 billion years ago the smaller companion passed through the larger Whirlpool Galaxy. This is a fascinating object to observe. One day (about 5 billion years from now) our own Milky Way will converge with our larger companion, Andromeda. I was very proud and satisfied with my new telescope after finding M51. Apparently this can be a pretty elusive object.
Since I do not have imaging capabilities I will do my best to find images that are as close to the views I get through my telescope. Below is an image similar to that offered by my 8″ dobsonian.
I packed the scope up a fully satisfied customer. I had located my first planetary object and first deep space object. The resounding “ooooh” and “ahhhs” from our friends and Mandy were reassuring. I had no delusions of seeing hubble type views. I knew when I ordered this telescope that I would be seeking out objects and finding grayscale fuzzies. The fact that I can detect spiral arms and gas lanes is enough to keep my adrenaline pumping all night.
Before I packed up I decided to try to locate one more DSO. I pointed my scope southward to the Serpens Constellation in search of M5, a brilliant globular cluster just 7.5 thousand parsecs (a short jog to the corner store in cosmic distances) away. This was my first globular cluster and it was really cool! I thought I would be more interested in galaxies but these little beauties are a sight to behold, each containing hundreds and thousands of stars. This particular cluster has an apparent magnitude of 6.5 (the moon is a -12.5, your average visible star is about +1.5), providing a good resolve through a telescope but almost impossible to see with the naked eye.
M5 as it appears in my 8" Dobsonian.
M5 in the context of Serpens
The First Light was a complete success and I look forward to a summer of hunting down and observing these gems.
In the beginning…
Posted by admin | Filed under Z8
Ever since I was a child I have marveled at the cosmos. I have always wanted to get closer and understand more. I grew up in right in the middle of Iowa where mostly dark skies are easily found with very little driving. I grew up camping with my family and laying out under the stars for family meteor shower parties. I sat around camp fires for a good portion of my early life. It was just the way it was. We talked about everything around that fire. Topics ranged from religion to politics to science. I would ask impossible questions and my father would do his best to answer them. I believe it was in these early years that the prospect of a telescope became interesting to me.
Now I am grown up and have kids of my own and my oldest daughter is beginning to ask me the same questions. Why is the sky blue? How hot is the sun? How many stars are there? Why does the moon follow us? (I like that one)
“Dad tell me about space.” She says.
“Well Mary, what do you want to know?” I respond.
“Everything you know…All of it…” She replies.
As I tried to formulate a 7 year old sized answer for an infinite sized question I quickly realized I didn’t know too much! These conversations sparked something inside of me that made me voraciously curious about the cosmos and eventually led me to buy my first telescope.
I spent nearly one year deliberating the decision to purchase a telescope. How much could I realistically spend? What size scope will provide the views I am after? Finder scopes, eyepieces, aperture, focal length, collimation, Goto or manual, Equatorial or Altazimuth? etc.. There is so much to learn about astronomy before you ever point your scope at the stars.
I began my research and sought advice from an astronomer friend and the cloudynight.com forums. I consumed information until I felt I could make the right consumer choice. I knew I didn’t want to overwhelm myself with technology and hardware. I just wanted to look at the sky. Equatorial mounts were quickly ruled out for my *first* scope. Astrophotography will eventually be something I will want to dabble with but I’ve learned that astronomy and astrophotography while related, are completely different ball games in terms of gear, technology and money. This leaves one obvious mount style. The Dobsonian.
The dobsonian mount is stupidly simple. Beautifully simple. It’s the one type of scope mount that if left on a sidewalk, a 5 year old could approach the instrument and immediately begin using it without any instruction. It is a optical tube mounted on an north/south axis and the axis is mounted on a “lazy susan” style base. Just point and shoot. Another reason this is a good fit is because of the height of my daughters who will be using this scope as much as anyone. It doesn’t stand tall on a complicated tripod. It sits on the ground and spins and tilts.
For aperture there are typically a few sizes offered by most telescope manufacturers. 6″, 8″, 10″ and 12″. There are bigger sized but these are the most common. I knew I wanted something I could spot DSO (Deep Space Objects) with. That was a must. I wanted to hunt down nebula, novas, galaxies, and star clusters. Planetary observation is great, don’t get me wrong, but the thrill of the hunt for DSOs is my cup of tea. From all my research I knew I needed at least an 8″ optical tube for this. I considered the 10″ but portability is also crucial for me. I need to be a mobile astronomer. I have access to dark skies and quiet private sites. These sites are all within 5 to 10 minutes from my house in Anamosa. Since I knew I needed a scope I could fit in my accord and easily handle by myself. I wanted something I could grow into and I didn’t want the scope to be a huge pain to move around. I decided the 8″ dobsonian/Newtonian reflector telescope was a perfect fit for me.
After a year of shopping, waiting and self deliberation I finally took the plunge and purchased an 8″ Zhumell Z8 Dobsonian telescope. It was between this and the Orion XT8 classic. Both great scopes and both great companies, but in the end the Zhumell came with a few more accessories and eyepieces. Plus a moon filter, laser collimator, and nice right angle corrected image finder scope. I am sure I would have been happy with the Orion XT8, but for my budget, the Zhumell Z8 was a better deal.
I ordered the scope along with:
- Zhumell 2″ 2x Barlow Lens
- 1 Telrad Finder
- 1 12.5mm Celestron X-Cel Eyepiece
Included items in the scope were:
- 1.25″eyepiece adapter
- 2″ 30mm Wide Field Zhumell Eyepiece
- 1.25″ 9mm Plossl eyepiece
- Moon Filter
- Cooling fan for condensation on the mirror on humid nights and scope temp changes.
- Laser Collimator
- 8X50 RACI (right angle correct image) Finder Scope
With this line up of equipment I was confident I would have enough to chew on for hunting down DSOs.
I would recommend the Barlow lens to anyone looking to maximize their collection of eyepieces. The Barlow technology effectively doubles the power of every eyepiece in your case. You slip the Barlow in your scope and follow the Barlow with any eyepiece. So for example when I Barlow my 12.5 eyepiece I have just basically inserted a 6.5mm eyepiece into my scope. The 9mm becomes a 4.mm, 30mm becomes a 15mm.. and so on. Barlows double your eyepiece collection so they are a great tool to have in your bag of tricks. Especially if you are on a budget.
Another accessory I wanted right out of the gate was a Telrad Finder. Using heads-up technology the Telrad projects a set of three 1x laser target rings in the sky when you look through the Telrad. These can be crucial for getting your field of view in the “right neighborhood” to find objects you cannot see with your naked eye. For example, you know that a certain galaxy can be found 5° eastward from a visible star. You point your telrad at this star and use the circles that are projected to calculate the distance in degrees to the object in question. There are Telrad charts that I do want to eventually use but for now the Telrad has helped get me in the right neighborhoods.
So this is the beginning. The beginning of my days as a backyard astronomer. I have modest goals and high hopes for this telescope. Most of all I look forward to sharing many hours under a dark sky with my daughters, hunting down deep space gems and pondering the greatest mysteries in the universe. I don’t expect to answer a lot of questions but hopefully I can help ask more important ones.
The main purpose of this blog is to chart our adventures and to help keep track of the objects we have found and chase down the ones that elude us. My primary objective is to start making my way through the Messier Catalog (110 objects) and go from there. This blog will provide a great way to log our findings and share them with anyone else out there who might be interested.
Clear Skies!
