The Mars Recon Orbiter has been circling Mars taking high resolution photos.

 Some REALLY fantastic photos located at these web site. Unbelievable resolution!

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/11/martian_landscapes.html

http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/

During the next few months, the Lunar Recon Orbiter will take this same type of high resolution photos mapping the moon's surface in great detail.

Clear Skies!

Joe is a member of the Texas Astronomical Society. Visit our web site at  www.texasastro.org 

Usually on the 4th Friday of every month, (except Nov-December) the Texas Astronomical Society holds an open General Meeting at the University of Texas Dallas, in Richardson, Texas.

The general public is welcome to attend this free monthly meeting. 

Where- UTD Richardson, Texas;  Founders North Building on campus

When: 7:30pm, on Friday evening once per month

Park in Lot H and walk through campus to the building marked "FN" on this map:

http://www.utdallas.edu/maps/

We usually have a speaker and also The Constellation of the Month presentation. The speaker is shown on the main web site page at  www.texasastro.org

If you look under the TAB -- Features, you can read past issues of our monthly newsletter "The Spectrum". All of the articles in the newsletter are written by members of TAS.

Come on out and join us for a free evening of Astronomy discussion and learning every month on the University of Texas Dallas campus. TAS campus activities are  sponsored by the Physics Department at UTD.Check the Calendar link at the top of the main web site page for the exact date of the General Meeting.

Clear Skies!

Joe Lalumia, TAS Treasurer

info@texasastro.org

This is a 4th in a series of blogs about telescopes, their types, and how they work. This blog will be about telescope ACCESSORIES; or tell me again what extra STUFF do I need to buy!

Dew Shield

One of your first purchases if you own a scope like my LX90 will be a Dew Shield. These can be made for almost nothing by using black poster-board and some stick on Velcro. Roll up the poster board into a tube around the front of the telescope,  and trim it leaving about 1 inch overlapping. Apply stick on Velcro to the two leading edge and place this "tube" over the end of the telescope.

The dew shield does two things. First it helps keep the dew off of the glass at the front of the telescope; plus it prevents light entry from the sides increasing contrast. You can purchase these for about $30 which is what I did with my LX90 and ETX90 telescopes.

Picture below- 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/boatman1/2145341118/   You can see the dew shields stuck on the front of both telescopes.

Red Flash Light

Either purchase a flashlight with a red lense, or buy a roll of red taillight repair tape at an auto supply store. Place two or three layers of the red tape over the white light flashlight and trim off the excess. WHY? For the same reason that submarines use red interior lights at night. Red light does not affect your night vision. If you show up at a star party with a regular white light flashlight your Astronomy buddies will probably SHOOT YOU! 

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/qa/nightvision.htm

A Good Star Chart- or Field Manual

Just like a road map for finding your way around a large city, a star chart is a map of the sky and will help you find thousands of objects to look at with your new telescope. Here are several good star charts- and field manuals:

http://www.amazon.com/Objects-Heavens-Peter-Birren/dp/155369662X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255814439&sr=8-1

http://www.skymaps.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Sky-Telescopes-Star-Wheel-North/dp/1931559112/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255814484&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Observers-Sky-Atlas-Charts-Covering/dp/0387485376/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255814484&sr=8-8

http://www.amazon.com/Star-Maps-Beginners-50th-Anniversary/dp/0671791877/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255814484&sr=8-14

A small Table

You should buy a small easy to carry table to setup and use to hold the star charts that you just bought. Wal Mart sells a small fold-up light weight table for about $20. Here is another one:

http://www.amazon.com/Table-Bag-A2716-Aluminum-Portable/dp/B001V70WEA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1255814627&sr=8-2

An Observing Chair

You mean I cannot just STANDUP! Well you can but after several hours of standing and bending over you will wish you had an adjustable height chair. Here are several very good observing chairs:

http://handsonoptics.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_81&products_id=813

http://www.astro-observer.com/basic/chairs.html

And here is one you can make if you are handy with common tools: The Denver Chair- also a review of other types of observing chairs:

http://www.catseyecollimation.com/jfrazier.html

Diagonals

Certain types of telescopes will need a diagonal. Just buy a dielectric coated 1.25 inch diagonal. The coating reflects 99% of the light and it's very durable:

http://www.astronomics.com/main/Astronomy-Technologies-1.25-Reflectivity-Dielectric-Mirror-Diagonal.asp/catalog_name/Astronomics/category_name/9SN077GJ5E4N8K3P1NDHS1AME4/product_id/AT1D

Balance Weights

If you have a tracking style telescope or an equitorial mount the scope will need to be BALANCED in both axis. An unbalanced scope will not track the sky properly, and can wear out the internal gears or place excessive stress on the gears.

These are available from a variety of internet Astronomy shops. Mine came from  www.scopestuff.com  right here in Texas. If you look at the Dew Shield picture above, you can see two weights hanging below the large LX90 telescope. The weights are mounted on a RAIL so they can be moved forward or backward to balance the scope. Also notice they stick-out away from the telescope in what's called a 3D arrangement. 3D weights are almost required for German Equitorial Style telescope mounts. The LX90 in the picture is an alt az mount and I am balancing the smaller 80mm telescope mounted on the top of the larger tube.

See the picture above under Dew Shield.

12Volt Power Supply

How do you POWER a laptop and cameras and the telescope when you are out in the middle of a FIELD! I own two 12 volt power packs JUST IN CASE!

http://www.amazon.com/Celestron-18774-Power-Tank/dp/B00008Y0U5/ref=pd_bxgy_p_img_c

They come in various AMP HOUR ratings. Buy the most powerful one you can afford. You can also use one of those "car Starter" power packs that Wal Mart sells. Make sure it has at least two 12 volt cigarette lighter style plug-in receptacles.

A Planetarium Program for your computer or cell phone:

Here is a good free one for your computer. Several Iphone applications are available at the Iphone store.

http://www.stellarium.org

OK, I probably overwhelmed you so I will stop for right now. Remember you don't have to buy these all at one time. But eventually if you stick with the amateur Astronomy hobby, you will own all of the above accessories!

Clear Skies!

Joe Lalumia is a member of the Texas Astronomical Society. Visit our web site at www.texasastro.org to learn about the club's Astronomy activities.

Serving the Dallas Area for over 50 Years!

WOW! talk about a crowded schedule of public observing events for October and November. Just take a look at the TAS Calendar for these two months.

http://calendar.yahoo.com/joelalumia@sbcglobal.net

Our members will be scattered all over the Dallas metroplex showing the night sky to the general public. The Texas Astronomical Society has a 50 year history of public outreach and volunteer work by our generous members. 

Our second Astronomy Day for 2009 will be held on October 24th at the University of Texas Arlington Planetarium on campus. We will have a free raffles for the kids with two telescopes as the grand prize! We distribute free tickets to anyone high school age or younger, and the raffles take place hourly during the day with the Grand Prizes awarded about 7PM.

By the way NASA will impact a probe(LCROSS) on the moon on Friday, October 9th at about 6:15am Eastern Time. You can watch the impact on NASA TV on your computer. NASA is looking for water on the moon and will use spectrograph analysis of the impact to determine the presence of water.

http://lcross.arc.nasa.gov/    NASA LCROSS Web Site

The impact may be visible in a medium sized amateur telescope of 10 inches or greater of aperture. However you will need to be up rather early to see it happen.

Clear Skies!

Joe Lalumia is a member of the Texas Astronomical Society. Visit our web site at  www.texasastro.org  to learn about the club's Astronomy activities.

On Saturday, October 24th, the Texas Astronomical Society & UTA Planetarium will celebrate Astronomy Day at the University of Texas Arlington Planetarium,

This is a wonderful modern planetarium located on the campus of UTA.

Astronomy Day begins at 2pm and runs through 10pm, with many activities planned during the day. These include displays of our member's hand-made telescopes, and practical lectures about Astronomy as a hobby. This year's theme is “Galileo- 400 years of discovery”. The UTA planetarium will have FREE shows during the afternoon and evening.  Weather permitting, members of the Texas Astronomical Society will have their telescopes outside the planetarium pointed at interesting objects in the sky.

Lecture Hall & Planetarium
Two Astronomy related lectures during the afternoon

Free Planetarium Shows

Mirror grinding demonstration

Outside Activities
2 pm until Sunset- Solar Observing using special filters and solar telescopes

Build a Solar System to Scale- outside lecture.

The .25 cent Astronomy Course - outside lecture.

Sunset- 10pm- Public Star Party and Astro-Photography demonstration. Come look through our member's telescopes!

Other Activities

International Dark Sky Light Pollution Display

Displays of our member's hand-built telescopes

Astronomy related raffles held during the day

The UTA Planetarium is very easy to find, on the UTA campus. The all day event is free and open to the general public. FUN for the entire family including grandpa and grandma! Visit the Texas Astronomical Society web site to learn about the club's Astronomy activities; and check the Calendar link at the top of the main page for other free public observing events sponsored by the club's members.

Contact David Culp, TAS Public Observing Coordinator for details:  tasobserving@gmail.com

http://www.uta.edu/planetarium/   UTA Planetarium Web Site & map  http://www.uta.edu/planetarium/about/directions-and-parking.php

The Texas Astronomical Society-

serving the Dallas area for over 50 years!

www.texasastro.org

We had a wonderful evening at The Shores Park on Sunday evening, for this month's Rockwall Star Party. Perfect weather, and a large crowd of about 50 folks. Members of the Texas Astronomical Society fielded about 8 telescopes for the event.

At 8:07 PM we were treated to an overhead pass by the International Space station. VERY bright and moving along really fast! The club members were able to show the crowd of visitors many different objects in the night sky. Some of these were: Jupiter, the moon, the Andromeda Galaxy, Albireo binary star system, Mizar binary star system, M11 and M13 globular clusters, the Lagoon Nebula, and many other objects.

Our next star party is scheduled for October 25th in the Shores Park, Rockwall, TX. A special thank you to the TAS club members who came to the event and assisted with the crowd. 

Clear Skies!

Joe Lalumia is a member of the Texas Astronomical Society. Visit our web site at   www.texasastro.org  to learn about the club's public outreach Astronomy events. Check the CALENDAR link at the top of the main page.

Members of the Texas Astronomical Society will have their telescopes setup in the park at sunset. The public is invited to attend and look through our telescopes. Jupiter is up right now and you can see the cloud bands and several moons.

When: Sunday, September 27th at sunset

Where: The Shores Park, 2358 Shores Blvd., Rockwall, Texas

See the TAS Calendar at  http://calendar.yahoo.com/joelalumia@sbcglobal.net  for September 27th for details about this free Astronomy event. We post a GO or NO GO on the Calendar by about 4:30pm on Sunday. Visit our web site  at www.texasastro.org  to learn about the club's public outreach activities. Serving the Dallas metroplex for over 50 years!

Clear Skies 

This is the third in a series of blogs about telescopes. In this edition we will discuss the telescope MOUNT.

Now that you bought a telescope I hope you considered the MOUNT that usually comes with the telescope. Cheap "department store" telescopes have shaky weak mounts that will FRUSTRATE the beginner amateur astronomer. Here are the various types of mounts:

1. Alt-AZ- a very simple mounting system that allows the telescope to go UP and DOWN, and LEFT and RIGHT. These can be very good if they are constructed properly. A slight amount of "play" in the up down left right movement is BAD. The small object in the sky will move out of the field of view if the mount is not stable.

Here are two examples of good ALT AZ mounts:

http://www.televue.com/engine/page.asp?ID=336

http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=792

http://www.opticsplanet.net/bushnell-voyager-sky-tour-700-60-refractor-telescope-789960.html   An example of a BAD ALT AZ telescope, what we call a "department store" toy telescope.

The next type of mount is an equatorial mount usually abbreviated as "GEM" which stands for German equatorial mount. Many low cost cheap telescopes come on GEM mounts. The problem is the mount is too small to carry the weight of the tube and is flimsy and shaky. You will need to spend $400 or more to get a reasonably stable equatorial mount.

I do not recommend these mounts for beginners. They must be polar aligned on the star Polaris before they will work properly. This introduces an additional level of frustration to the new user. Here are several pictures of good equatorial mounts and also one BAD equatorial mount. Good mounts of this type are expensive, but REQUIRED for serious astro-photography work.

http://www.telescope.com/control/product/~category_id=mounts_and_tripods/~product_id=24338

http://www.losmandy.com/g-11.html

Here is a picture of the BAD equatorial mount usually included with cheap telescopes on Ebay or Craigslist notice how small the mount happens to be,  supporting the telescope. We see lots of people who buy these and it quickly winds-up on Craigslist for sale or in a closet, never to be used again.

http://www.telescope.com/control/product/~category_id=reflectors/~pcategory=telescopes/~product_id=09149?id=cadf   BAD equitorial mount too shaky and poorly made. We see lots of these being bought by beginners. DON'T BUY THEM! The telescope is just fine; the flimsey mount makes it almost unusable!

The final type is the ALT AZ Fork Mount usually seen on computer goto scopes. These can be good for visual observation, and with the addition of a WEDGE for astro-photography.

http://www.meade.com/lx90/index.html

http://www.celestron.com/c3/category.php?CatID=9

Here is an instructional manual for a WEDGE:  http://www.meade.com/manuals/lx200/apxa.html

There is one final ALT AZ mount that we usually recommend as the FIRST telescope for a beginner. It is the Dobsonian alt az mount invented by John Dobson. It is now in wide circulation and production by various telescope manufacturers. Here is a picture of a Dobsonian mounted reflector. Again this is an ALT AZ mount- up down--- left right. Easy to use very stable, and highly recommended. They can in various MIRROR sizes which we call APERTURE:

http://www.telescope.com/control/category/~category_id=dobsonians

http://www.obsessiontelescopes.com/

Well that's about it for the TYPES of telescope mounts. The MOUNT is just as important as the telescope. Be sure you test out the mount before you buy! In the next edition (#4) we will discuss several GOOD beginner telescope.

Clear Skies!

Joe Lalumia is a member of the Texas Astronomical Society www.texasastro.org  .

Visit our web site to learn about the club's Astronomy activities. Membership is open to the general public. Serving the Dallas area for over 50 years!

On my previous blog we talked a little about the three main types of telescopes, and tried to explain a DIAGONAL, and a barlow, which is a small accessory that can double the number of eyepieces you own (2x barlow).

In this article we will talk a little about EYEPIECES. 

When you buy a new telescope it usually comes with one or two low cost  eyepieces. A low powered eyepiece and a higher power eyepiece.(see the picture above) The numbers written on the eyepiece tell you how much magnification that particular eyepiece can  generate in your telescope.

First, note the focal length of the telescope. This is usually written somewhere on the telescope or in the manual that came with the scope. My LX90 is 1200mm. The number is written around the front lens.

Just divide the the number written on the eyepiece into the focal length of the telescope to get the magnification. For example my 20mm eyepiece gives:

1200 divided  20 = 60 power magnification

My 10mm eyepiece gives:

1200 divided by 10 = 120 power magnification

The next thing to remember is that the SLOWER the telescope the LESS you need to spend on eyepieces to achieve "good" resolution and sharp viewing.

Again my LX90 is an F10 telescope which is considered SLOW (the F10 is also written on the telescope). However my Orion 10 inch Dobsonian reflector scope is an F4.7 which is considered FAST. For you OLD timer film camera folks, this "F" number is similar to the old style "F" numbers written on a camera lens. The lower the number the FASTER the camera lens! On a practical level the slow LX90 can user cheaper lower cost eyepieces than the F4.7 Orion. Here are two example:

Excellent eyepieces for SLOW scopes-  http://www.optcorp.com/ProductList.aspx?uid=30-718-1044-1046   1.25 inch eyepieces

http://www.astronomics.com/main/Televue_Plossl_Eyepieces.asp/catalog_name/astronomics/category_name/FFC4TDMDE6FN9GCBLSG0GD9JK0/Page/1

Excellent eyepieces for a FAST scope- http://www.optcorp.com/ProductList.aspx?uid=105-30-718-68-71  WOW! 2 inch eyepieces. GET OUT THE MORTGAGE PAPERS!

http://www.scopecity.com/buy/telescope-eyepieces/Pentax-eyepieces.cfm?pn=Pentax+telescope+eyepieces 

Eyepiece Reviews:

http://www.scopereviews.com/page2.html

http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=319    Review on some really good eyepieces

Notice the $100 to $200 or more difference between the FAST and the SLOW telescope eyepieces. Now, nothing prevents you from using the lower cost eyepiece in the FAST telescope, however the stars will be "slightly" fuzzy on the edge of the field of view; while the Televue Nagler will be sharper and have a "flatter" view across the entire eyepiece field of view.

All of the eyepieces listed above would work just fine in the SLOWER LX90 telescope at F10.

Televue, Baader Hyperions, Meade 5000 series, and Pentax all make EXCELLENT eyepieces that will work just great in almost any telescope. Your first upgrade should be to buy a few of these eyepieces, and a good quality Televue 2x barlow to double your eyepieces. 

Several good quality eyepieces in 32mm, 22mm, and 9 mm, along with a 2 x barlow will give you; 32mm, 22mm, 16mm, 11mm, 9mm, and 4.5mm. The 32mm should be wide field of at least 60-70 degree field of view. If you wear glasses look for eyepieces with at least a 20mm eye relief so you can keep your glasses on and still see through the eyepiece.

Hope that helps you "PUT that thing together!". Our next blog will be about other telescope accessories you might want to own. This is similar to filling up the tackle box with different hooks, lures, and string, and then finally owning FOUR different tackle boxes, 200 lures, and SIX different rods and reels! 

Come on out to our next star party in Rockwall, Texas, in The Shores Park, on Sunday, September 27th, and we will be happy to show you the view through several different brands of eyepieces.

By the way I left out the BEST eyepiece in the entire universe! The Televue Ethos line of eyepieces. You WILL have sticker shock when you look at these, but they are considered to be the absolute best on the market.

https://www.skiesunlimited.net/index.php?CategoryID=299  STICKER SHOCK!

Clear Skies!

Joe Lalumia is a member of the Texas Astronomical Society  www.texasastro.org 

Visit our web site to learn about the club's Astronomy outreach activities.

I get a kick out of getting emails from beginning amateur astronomers asking me, "I just bought this telescope. How do I put it together!". Of course they usually never give the brand or type of telescope.

There are basically 3 kinds of telescopes. A refractor, a reflector, and a catadioptric. A refractor is what everyone thinks of when I say the word -- TELESCOPE. It's a long tube with a glass lens in the front and a hole in the back where you insert first a "diagonal" and then the eyepiece. It looks like this:

http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/telescopes/refractor-telescope/

A reflector style has a big mirror in the bottom and a smaller mirror near the top at an angle that directs the image out the side. The eyepiece is inserted into the focuser in the side of the telescope. It looks like this:

http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/telescopes/reflector-telescope/

A catadioptric style telescope is a combination of BOTH of the above. It has a correcting lens in the front and a mirror in the back with a smaller mirror that sends the light back to the rear through a small tube inside the telescope. Again a diagonal is inserted into the back and then an eyepiece. It looks like this:

http://www.astronomics.com/main/category.asp/catalog_name/Astronomics/category_name/Why%20buy%20a%20catadioptric?/Page/1

OK, I know, your next question is "What is a DIAGONAL?" It's just an "L" shaped accessory with a small mirror inside that deflects the light (image) UP so you don't have to bend over to look through the tube. It is NOT used in most reflector style telescopes, because you already can look easily into the side of the tube. Here is what a diagonal looks like:

http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Telescope-Warehouse__W0QQ_armrsZ1QQ_fsubZ9

I usually recommend a dielectric coated diagonal with 99% reflectivity off the mirror. The special coating also makes the small mirror inside more durable.  Like these from William Optics:

http://www.williamoptics.com/diagonalPrism/diaPrism_dielectric.php

That's about it for the basic styles of telescopes. We will expand on this topic during the next few blogs.

Clear Skies!

Joe Lalumia is a member is the Texas Astronomical Society. Visit our web site  www.texasastro.org   to learn about the club's Astronomy outreach activities.