seth buckley dot com » Astronomy

Too much light!

Seth Buckley — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 19:07:29 +0000

In Raleigh, it seems that about 95% of the time during the summer that it is either too cloudy or bright during the night to see anything. Of course, this is only a problem if you want to do some stargazing as most people are inside watching TV and other things during the evening. Pretty soon, however, politicians in Washington may get the opportunity to extend daylight for another two months. Somehow they believe that this will save energy, when in fact peak energy usage is always during working hours.

If they actually want to save energy, they should increase the CAFE to something like 40mpg instead of the current average of 21mpg. An even better idea would be to shorten full-time working hours from 40 to 32, since pretty much everyone would be for that. Or we could give 10 billion dollars of tax money to the energy cartels to … well … just for fun.

Pictures of Comet Machholz (C/2004 Q2)

Seth Buckley — Mon, 10 Jan 2005 00:00:47 +0000

Tonight I took these pictures of Comet Machholtz. I was using a narrowband filter, so everything is green. If I didn’t have that on, I probably couldn’t see anything due to all the retarded lights that need to be burning in the city.

Imaging M8 and M20

Seth Buckley — Mon, 14 Jun 2004 20:24:25 +0000

Sunday morning from between 1-2 am I managed to somewhat get a break in the clouds long enough to image the Milky Way, M8 and M20. I am still waiting on my wedge and adapters, so I shot these using the SLR piggybacked on the LX90. Since this is film I have no idea how it looks until that roll is developed, but I’m thinking they will look pretty bad as this is the first time I’ve done this!

If they are any good, eventually I’ll have them on my gallery. Eventually.

Venus Transit – No Show

Seth Buckley — Tue, 08 Jun 2004 12:50:13 +0000

I had planned on shooting some pictures of the transit with my LX90/G5 using an Identiview solar filter, but naturally the weather gods decided to cover the area in a thick sheet of fog. If the sky clears up after work, I’m going to see if I can view the reflection of Venus from the sun, but I’m not sure that will happen.

Update: Still cloudy, so no chance of the above happening.

SOHO Hot Shot: The 2004 Venus Transit (it’s here!)

Seth Buckley — Mon, 07 Jun 2004 14:30:11 +0000

Venus Transit pictures from the
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory.

Nikon FE SLR

Seth Buckley — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 02:09:57 +0000

I have borrowed Dad’s SLR and have only taken some star tail and moon shots. All my stuff for the LX90 is on backorder — wedge, Nikon T-Ring and Meade T-Adapter. Tomorrow I do get my piggyback adapter and a ton of film, so I can try that when the weather decides to cooperate and give me a clear sky! Now the only problem is waiting for film to be developed!

Preparing for Venus transit on June 8

Seth Buckley — Fri, 28 May 2004 13:11:22 +0000

This morning I checked where the Sun was rising so that I would know if I could see it from home and not be blocked by houses, since I don’t want to cart the scope any great distance. I can see it from my front yard at around 7:00, so I will be alright. I usually leave for work at around 7:10, so I will definitely go in later that day.

Astrophotography with the Meade LX-90

Seth Buckley — Wed, 26 May 2004 18:57:15 +0000

A few weeks ago I got a Meade LX-90 telescope. I have tried taking a few pictures with it using afocal projection with my Canon G5, but that isn’t too satisfying. I was able to get Dad’s old Nikon SLR and will now attempt to use it in equatorial mode for long exposure pictures.