Richard P. Nixon's Blog

This is just a test.

Last night I brought out the telescope because Mars is close to opposition, and it’s very close to Earth, too. So if skies are clear, conditions are right for some excellent views of the red planet.

While I did take some pics of Mars last night, the video was blown out so the planet looked like a blob of white. However, the moon was not far away so I took some stills and then switched the camera, a Nikon D5100, to movie mode and shot some video. I took the result into Pinnacle Studio to chop, and then imported that result into a program called Registax (http://www.astronomie.be/registax/).

While the stills looked pretty good, the lower-resolution video (1920×1080 FHD versus 4928×3264 NEF) stacked came out better, I think. See for yourself!

My work area has been more a gathering place for clutter than anything else. So I decided to do something about it. With a piece of Melamine, a new circular saw, and some determination, I created a new work surface that I’ve already put to good use. Fortunately, there are no small parts so I’ll not need the new “helping hands” – though the light did come in handy.  I’ll be painting shortly, I think.

Second project is off to the right. 😉

In writing an article for my memoir, I suddenly am wondering when, exactly, did I first step foot in Portora Royal? My older brother, Roger, went to Dungannon Royal for a short time in 1970, but somewhere along the line we visited Portora, in Enniskillen. Was it before going to Portugal, after coming back, or some other time? I don’t know, but  do I remember the headmaster asking Roger what he thought of his fine school and him being brutally honest and saying he thought it was a load of…well, no need to go into details. The headmaster then called him a liar and my mom swore we’d never set foot in Portora ever again.

I ended up spending 1977-1981 at Portora.

The other day I talked about how sometimes it’s best to start anew rather than keep beating the old hoping for a different result. I did just that when I took two telescopes and my computerized mount up to Forest Lakes, AZ, and the results were pretty good, all things considered. Yet from my images of M42 – the Orion Nebula – one thing stood out by its absence; extended detail. I had expected much more nebulosity given the clear air and lack of urban sky glow, and I began to think that perhaps my Panasonic just really wasn’t up to the task.

When I returned home I decided to try my wife’s old Nikon D40, the one that couldn’t be used as a regular camera since hitting the ground, literally, in San Diego last year. Unfortunately, the results were only slightly better than what my Panasonic GH1 delivered, muddying the waters. Then, while researching cameras and looking for tips on taking better pictures in urban conditions, I came upon a simple technique for removing background glow and, well, you can see how it turned out. It’s probably the best result I’ve achieved, and I could have done what inspirationalists suggest and accepted it as good enough, but it’s a long way from being the best result I know I can get. 

Harry Anderson once said, “Every fool knows you can’t touch the stars, but that doesn’t stop the wise man from trying.” Hammer, nail, head! 

Sometimes you find the best clarity and beauty in the darkness. It’s not about light but the kind of light, and what you do with it. All too often what matters most gets lost in the background, and at some point we have to decide – do we spin in an infinite loop trying to filter out the noise, or do we remove ourselves from the noise and start over?

This picture is dedicated to James, who speaks often and authoritatively about signal, and noise, though he rarely, if ever, will admit there’s a difference between the two. 😉

M42 shot in Forest Lakes, AZ – 3/19/14 “Through a gap in the trees – literally!”

I have the autoguider working. I had to disassemble my mount and retune the DEC axis to smooth it out and remove “backlash” in the gears, but that was not a big deal. The big challenge I’m facing now is the fact that my camera is limited to taking 4:16 minute exposures, even in so-called “bulb” mode. That’s probably okay because from my light-polluted suburban backyard, taking long exposures is pointless if there’s any hint of a moon.

Below is the guide pulse output for my rig. The flatter the plots the better the results, though the flatness depends on a number of factors including quality of initial alignment and the smoothness of the mount. And, of course, the clarity of the skies! If a cloud comes by and blocks out the “guide” star, well, the whole thing gets kinda lost. If it’s only for a moment, and your mount is tracking well, then you likely can recover. But if you just kinda threw things together without taking the time to do the proper setup, then all bets are off. You might get lucky, but chances are you’ll actually get screwed. Of course there are times when you do everything right and things still get screwed, but that’s just the way things are; in astronomy, in writing.

In life.

PHD (Push Here Dummy) Guiding

I’ve long been fascinated with the night sky, the planets, the galaxies, the possibility of alien worlds out there. And, yes, I confess, I also have an interest in the possibility that UFO’s do exist. Oh, I’m not a tin-foil hat wearing enthusiast, but I do love the idea that we are not alone. So it makes sense that I’ve also long been fascinated with telescopes and amateur astronomy.

From my heavily light-polluted suburban back yard I can use my computerized telescope mounts to GOTO just about any object in the sky, but because of that light pollution there sometimes isn’t much to see, and much of what is left isn’t all that impressive to the naked eye. To really bring out the detail one needs to take a photo, or two, or several hundred and “stack” them on top of each other to build up an image. For this to work, though, requires precise tracking because, well you know, the earth spins and so objects in the sky are constantly moving, and if you take a picture for longer than, say, ten seconds, you’ll see that movement, and it sucks! But the computerized mounts have alignment routines built into them which are supposed to compensate for the earth’s rotation, right? Well, yes in theory, not so much in practice.

I cleaned and tuned my mount to make it as smooth as possible. And I’ve been very careful about balancing because that’s crucial to success. I bought and use a reticle eyepiece so I know when a star is exactly centered. And to really make sure of things, I added an autoguider – a camera that works with the computer and mount to keep the telescope locked onto its target. The result? Not bad, but could be better. But I was out beyond the extent of my knowledge. What to do? Ask!

Fortunately, the amateur astronomy community is both supportive and helpful and filled with some extremely knowledgeable folks. Almost immediately I got suggestions on tweaking my control software that seemed to have made all the difference in the world and now, for the first time, I have really round stars meaning no drift. I am ready to move on to the next step – long-duration astrophotography (well, as long as my camera allows for – 4 minutes and 16 seconds!). I am giddy with excitement and tingling with enthusiasm, and I am extremely thankful to the good folks at Cloudynights.com for their support. Life is too damned short for fumbling one’s way along.

M81 – total exposure time approx. 2 hours (Panasonic GH1 @ISO400, Celestron C8 @f6.3), full moon. Point was to check star shape – they seem very round to me!

Someone told me once to never let on that you’re in trouble. Always smile no matter the pain, no matter the challenge. That, supposedly, sends a message of confidence and strength to others, and they will rally around you and be there when you truly need them.

My trainer thinks my smiling means add more weight and more reps, but I just keep on smiling. I trust that she knows what my limits are, and she pushes me to focus on the end-goal rather than the short term. I don’t need her to hold my hand; I just need to build confidence so I don’t feel weird on those days I go to work out on my own.

Fear of being out in public, all those people staring at me, scrutinizing me, judging me – it’s something I’ve lived with for a very long time. What do I do? Swallow hard, smile, and carry on.