Tag Archives: Astrophotography

FYI – Recent Emails To CNYO For Your Consideration

Greetings fellow astrophiles,

The CNYO contact email receives a number of messages each day about space events, outreach opportunities, and freely-available or commercial items of interest. In light of many of us enjoying our extended stays at home with either freezing/cloudy conditions outside, I thought it worth sharing a few items that came in recently for your reviewing pleasure.

Edward Givens – “Constellations”

https://soundcloud.com/edwardgivens/sets/constellations

My name is Edward Givens. I’m a composer from Portland, Oregon. I just completed a new album entitled “Constellations”, which I am releasing for free.

Each piece is named after a constellation, and each composition is based on an asterism for its central motif or melodic riff. For example you could express the Big Dipper as the musical notes BBAGEDG. Of course you could express it in other ways too! – this is art not science. However, it does make for a wonderful way to initiate the creative process, and produce music that echoes an appreciation of the celestial realm.

Above, below, around
The circling systems formed
A wilderness of harmony

– Percy Bysshe Shelley

I am making the album free for the foreseeable future. To listen, or to download a copy, please go here – https://edwardgivens.bandcamp.com/album/constellations

To listen online – just click the play button. To download it, click where it says: “Buy Digital Album name your price – and simply enter 0 for the price!”

Or if you prefer, you may go to my Soundcloud page instead (and see soundcloud embed above).

Anyone is welcome to include the music in their presentations, videos or slideshows etc. especially educators. However please contact me first.

Lastly, at the time I write this – many of us are more or less confined at home. I intend this, and indeed all my music to act as an escape into the world of the imagination, to somewhere serene and restful and evocative of natural beauty. So let your mind wander among the stars for a few moments – with soundtrack!

Sincerely
Edward Givens

Dark Sky New Mexico – Remote Telescope And Imaging Hosting Company

Hello Fellow Astronomers:

Greetings from Dark Sky New Mexico. We certainly hope that you are staying healthy during these difficult times, and we send our deep concerns for anyone in your communities that may be suffering.

As you may know, if you have visited our website, we are a highly sophisticated, full service Astronomical Observatory facility located in Animas, New Mexico. We are blessed with the darkest skies and the most clear nights of almost anywhere in the world.

We wanted to let you know that we at Dark Sky New Mexico are open for business and ready to meet your remote astrophotography and/or stargazing needs!!

We have piers available in our new building, and we can have you up and running without your having to leave your home or facility! We have done many installations for astronomers who sent us their equipment, and we did the rest-we can even supply you with a telescope!

So enjoy viewing the skies, even while being in lock-down and following Social Distancing guidelines. And of course when all this passes over, you are welcome to visit our state-of-the-art facility.

Please send an email to info@darkskynewmexico.com, or call us at 508-735-1105 so we can answer all your questions. We look forward to hearing from you and telling you all about becoming a member of our community.

Thank you.

When DSNM hosts your telescope, you can look forward to:

  • Dark Skies
  • 300 Clear Nights per Year
  • Reliable Electrical Power
  • Fiber-Optic Based Communication
  • On-Site Accommodations
  • Virtually No Light, Air, or Noise Pollution
  • Modestly priced piers
  • Flexibility to share a pier with a friend or an entire astronomy club
  • 24/7 Support Services

DSNM, located near Animas, New Mexico, is among the darkest skies in the nation and has the high speed Internet services needed for remote astrophotography. With 300+ viewing nights, it is home for some of the most accomplished astrophotographers in the world. The DSNM website, www.darkskynewmexico.com features the phenomenal images taken by this group.

Ursa Major – Night Sky Star Stencils

Website: www.ursamajorstencils.com/products/night-sky

I am Dick Shimmin with Bridgeway Inc. in Galesburg, Illinois. Bridgeway is a not-for-profit agency that provides a variety of services to our veterans as well as to persons with disabilities. The sale of our American-made products helps fund those programs.

The attached information explains how our Night Sky Star Stencils decorate anyone’s home who is attracted to the night time sky, particularly those who are with the Central New York Observers.

The Night Sky Star Stencils create accurate displays of the sky at night in most any darkened room with glow-in-the-dark paint that is included. They are produced in 2 sizes featuring either the winter or summer night skies over the Northern Hemisphere. Our newest Night Sky Star Stencil displays a view over the Southern Hemisphere. Full kits include a star map, star & planet locator, paint, brush and reusable adhesive.

Retail purchases can be made directly through ursamajorstencils.com, where we do offer a $6.99 flat rate shipping fee per every retail order sent to a single address.

Please contact me should your organization be tax exempt or wish to be considered for our wholesale program.

I realize that you may receive numerous, similar requests. However, our primary objective of helping veterans and persons with disabilities may prompt you to give greater consideration to help promote our product.

Thank you

Celestron CGEM DX Mount For Sale In CNY

Greetings, fellow astrophiles!

This in from CNYO email list member and local astrophotographer extraordinaire (and “regular” photographer extraordinaire at Revette Studio) Brad Loperfido. Link to the model (and pic – not the actual one being sold) below – and feel free to contact Brad directly about the mount.

celestron.com/products/cgem-dx-mount-tripod-computerized-telescope

Anyone interested in buying a CGEM DX mount? I’ve had it for 6 years now and plan on upgrading.  Tracks well and can support 50 lb load. I used it exclusively for astrophotography and it has served me well. I have two counter weights for it a 25lb and 10 lb for smaller loads.

I have pics on request.

Brad Loperfido
Revette Studio
315-463-4499
brad@revette.com
http://www.revette.com/

Space Still Available – Adirondack Sky Center Fourth Annual Astrophotography Conference, 11-14 October

Greetings, fellow astrophiles!

Another just in from our friends at the Adirondack Sky Center (still formerly the Adirondack Public Observatory) up in Tupper Lake, NY.

Fourth Annual Astrophotography Conference

Thursday, October 11, 2018 (All day) to Sunday, October 14, 2018 (All day)

Register: adirondackpublicobservatory.org/Fourth-Annual-Astrophotography-Conference

An opportunity to meet, trade secrets and perform astrophotography under the darkest skies in the Eastern USA.

Who should attend?

Simply put: Everyone. Very few astrophotographers, regardless of their level, have access to dark skies. We invite you to take advantage of our location to capture images at your own level. Avoid light pollution with us. Come with your own equipment or use ours to shine with your best images.

The registration fee for the four-day Astrophotography Conference 2018 is $150.00 per participant, with a 10% discount for APO Members.

Events will occur from October 11 – 14, and will be held at the Roll Off Roof Observatory (178 Big Wolf Rd., Tupper Lake).

Visit www.TupperLake.com for lodging and dining information.

The registration fee can be paid using the PayPal links below (PayPal also accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover cards for payment). After making your payment, you will be directed to a registration page to enter your contact information. Please call the APO office at (518) 359-3538 or at info@adirondackpublicobservatory.org if you have any questions, or need further information about the workshop.

Popular Astronomy, Fall 2017 – New/Reboot Magazine Available For Free Download

The announcement of the rebooted Popular Astronomy was made on 15 July 2017 but has only recently made its way to my inbox thanks to postings on the ASRAS email list (and Dave Mormuth’s post to the SAS website). Having signed up for the free subscription service, we’ll keep track of this magazine’s availability as we do the bi-monthly Free Astronomy Magazine posts.

From the site announcement post:

Magazine PDF link (direct download button in upper-left corner):

issuu.com/technica_curiosa/docs/popular_astronomy-fall2017-v1n1?e=30247351/50903469

Issue Highlights

* Dava Sobel’s original new essay inspired by her best-selling book, “The Glass Universe.”

* Dr. Michael Summers on exoplanets and “Diamond Worlds.”

* Dr. Jeffrey Bennett brings a cosmic perspective to the study of exoplanets.

* Best-selling author John Read delivers the perfect orientation to telescope selection —and astrophotography.

* Geoff Cottrell gives us a tour of the next big telescopes.

* Martin Griffiths takes us deep inside the nebulae.

* The legendary Wil Tirion guides us through the history of celestial cartography.

* Peter Pesic provides a fascinating historical perspective on music and the making of modern science.

* Astrophysicist Neil Comins brings the concept— and experience—of space tourism into focus.

* John Fossett shows us how to create an astronomy club through your local library.

* Jeff Bennett returns with a complete guide to Eclipse 2017.

* John Schroeter on the history of radio telescopes and the detection of mysterious fast radio bursts.

* George Musser’s “Einstein’s Castle in the Air” questions the essence of space and time.

* A special Popular Astronomy eBook recounting the history of Mars exploration – popularastronomy.technicacuriosa.com/history-future-mars-exploration/

And don’t forget to register for your FREE subscription!

And for a little about the publisher (the site contains a number of space and technical posts – worth checking out!).

“The home of Popular Electronics, Mechanix Illustrated, and Popular Astronomy”

Technica Curiosa is the new and exciting hub of a highly-connected family of iconic media brands—brands endowed with rich legacies of world-changing, decades-spanning influence. As such, they are among the world’s most recognized, respected, shared, and deeply read titles. By consistently and creatively tapping into readers’ innate curiosity, imagination, and inventiveness, our brands have in turn inspired the creation of entire industries. No question, the road to innovation is quite literally paved with the content published in these exceptional titles.

For Sale In CNY – Meade Instruments 8″ LX90 EMC – $1000 or Best Offer

Greetings, fellow astrophiles!

This in from the CNYO Classifieds section. To provide a level of privacy to the seller, please send me an email directly to info@cnyo.org and I’ll make the connecting email to the seller in a reply email.

The Meade 8″ LX90 is the first full capability, computer-controlled 8″ Schmidt-Cassegrain ever offered in its price range. The LX90 Schmidt-Cassegrain is not only a high-resolution visual observing instrument but also is fully qualified for the more advanced areas of astronomy, including long-exposure CCD-imaging and astrophotography.

Special features of the 8″ LX90 include: (a) a die-cast-aluminum double-tine fork mount that rigidly supports the optical tube in all sky orientations; (b) worm gears of 4.9″-diameter on both telescope axes that permit smooth sidereal-rate tracking of celestial objects as well as precise guiding corrections during longexposure imaging; (c) a chromed-steel variable-height tripod that provides all the rigidity required in sensitive field applications — in fact, the same tripod as provided with the Meade 8″ LX200GPS.

Autostar Computer Controller: The LX90’s standard-equipment Autostar controller connects to the telescope’s control panel and permits an incredible array of telescope options:

• Automatic GO TO capability at 6.5°/sec on both axes, simultaneously, to 30,223 database objects, including: 13,235 deep-sky objects sorted by named objects; galaxies; diffuse nebulae; planetary nebulae; star clusters; including the complete Messier, Caldwell, IC, and NGC catalogs; 16,800 stars sorted by name, SAO catalog numbers, double and variable stars; the centroids of the 88 constellations; plus 200 memory locations for user-defined objects. 50 objects in the solar system: 8 major planets from Mercury to Pluto; the Moon; 26 asteroids; 15 comets; 50 Earth satellites, including the International Space Station and Hubble telescope

• Automatic GO TO capability to any object of known RA and Declination. Nine selectable slew speeds: 6.5°/sec, 3°/sec, and 1.5°/sec, plus 128x, 64x, 16x, 8x, 2x, and 1x sidereal. • Control of the telescope through your personal computer, using the RS-232 serial interface. (Requires optional #505 Connector Cable Set.)*

• Fast alignment of the telescope in either equatorial or altazimuth modes using any of three alignment functions, including the Meade-proprietary Easy Align.

• Unlike the hand controllers included with competing 5″ and 8″ SCT’s (and which require disassembly of the telescope electronics for memory upgrade), Autostar is fully upgradeable over the Internet: add the positions of new comets, update the positions of Earth satellites,even add new software as it becomes available.