Acquiring Thor’s Helmet

February 18th was my first night out where I began gathering image data of Thor’s Helmet. Around this time I had a fairly dominant moon high in the sky that was 74% full, but with this challenge I decided to undertake a new method of getting my detailed data, rather than waiting for moonless nights which would have been at least a 2 week wait.

On this night I used my dual narrowband filter, the Optolong L-Extreme. While this filter is primarily designed for one shot color cameras, I figure I could use this data as my detail layer of the overall image. On the first night I shot for 3hrs, and managed to get about 2hrs 30min usable data. The second clear night the weather gave to me wasn’t until the 27th and by this time the moon was full. My dark site was so lit up, it felt like there was a street light on.

While this may look like a sun rise, this is actually a full moon rising!

The second night I was shooting for a goal of 2hrs when I ran into trouble. At some point during the night I believe the mirrors in my telescope shifted, and despite seeing good guide tracking stats from my equipment, everything in every photo was streaked at least a quarter inch as if the telescope was tracking too slowly. I had to cut the night short and managed only 1hr 30min instead, of which not all of it was usable.

After that night we had several days of clouds, several days of poor seeing conditions and we even had snow complicate things for a day. However finally the weekend of March 9th cleared up for a really amazing night with great conditions. I set out to get 3hrs of work done, giving me 1hr of each color so that I could attempt a final image of Thor’s Helmet.

The final night of imaging, collecting RGB of Thor’s helmet.

As far as equipment performance goes, everything about this night went right, the mirrors were aligned very well and maintained this for the entire night. Once I had finished, I felt guilty breaking down all the equipment for the night because of how well it was all performing, which doesn’t happen too often for me.

Thank you for reading my latest blog, and feel free to check out my latest image, Thor’s Helmet!

The Astro Cat

It all began with a typical night setting up with other imaging members of the Astronomical Society. Members setting their equipment up for the night, the usual chatter over what our target is for the night and other random topics about our equipment. We’re quite the lively bunch so we can get a bit loud out there in the middle of no where.

Once it was dark it wasn’t before long until we suddenly had a visitor. Which was remarked by, “oh it’s just a cat!” after it had brushed up against one of the member’s legs in the pure darkness. All of our confusion was met with instant enthusiasm as we made our way over to the excitement as we’ve never had an animal friend come visit us at the astro park before.

One of our member’s Troy giving the furry fella some love.

The night continued as normal but now with our furry friend, eager and happy to spend time with all of us as he went from one pad to the next throughout the entire night for attention.

At this point in time I was working to get all of my color RGB data for the Orion Nebula so I could finish up that project, having started it late due to weather complications. Funny enough when the cat came to visit me for a bit, I was inside the car with the door open while observing my computer when he decided to hop in and join me!

Astro cat getting very comfy in the driver seat, purring away.

As the night was late, people started to finish up and pack their equipment one by one. By this time I had let him out of my car and he proceeded to harass each member for attention as they tried to pack, and also tried hopping into their cars which was adorably funny.

Once it came time for me to pack up and finish, there was only a couple of us left and Astro Cat decided he needed to try to stow away in my car in the back seat. I felt terrible having to vacate him as it had gotten quite cold and by this time I’m sure he just wanted a warm place to stay. Naturally I just wanted to take him home, but our current cat wouldn’t like that and I am sure Astro Cat belongs to the farmer that borders the astro park property, perhaps as a barn cat.

All in all the night was a success and I was able to finish my image of the Orion Nebula. Since that day, members in our discord channel have posted all kinds of “astro cat” content that has kept the “Astro Cat” saga alive. I love it.

My telescope with a star field and Jupiter in the background, illuminated by light pollution from a city over 40 miles away.