Comet Tuttle is displaying a lawn-sprinkler shape as our vantage point is just right to see it face on, much like a spiral galaxy. It is difficult to see in normal images. The image on the right was derived by taking the difference of two images that were taken a couple of hours apart.

Image showing Tuttle's rotation

December 18, 2007

00:38:31 Animated GIF 852Kb

00:38:31 2 frames, 3 fields, bright

Confirmed! 01:08:41 1 1 frame, 2 fields, very dim Image

02:13:47 1 1 frame, 2 fields, suspect cosmic ray due to antialiasing of even video field

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I was shooting sucker holes and LunarScan coughed up this event. Both Odd and Even video fields are about the same brightness. It looks sketchy at best and the conditions were really awful. Worth reporting though... ]]> Sun, 16 Dec 2007 10:00:00 GMT http://www.gvarros.com/dec07.htm Image of Comet Tuttle Dec 09, 2007

This image was made using a StellaCam II with a 8" f/5 Celestron reflector and focal reducer and is comprised of 20 8.53 second images (< 3 minutes total) compiled using Registax.

This Image is comprised of 94 x 8.53 second images. There appears to be brightening in PA 315 through PA 0

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My mount's sickness has been corrected using PHD Guiding, a piece of free-ware written by Graig Stark of Stark Labs.

Image of PHD Guiding Tests

Image of Comet Holmes Nov 30, 2007
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Holmes Nov 30, 2007 Larger Montage Image

Image of Comet Tuttle Nov 30, 2007 Larger Image

This image was made using a StellaCam II with a 8" f/5 Celestron reflector and focal reducer and is comprised of 252 8.53 second images (35 minutes) compiled using Registax.

This image was made using a StellaCam II with a 8" f/5 Celestron reflector and focal reducer and is comprised of 86 8.53 second images compiled using Registax.

This image was made using a StellaCam II with a 8" f/5 Celestron reflector and focal reducer and is comprised of 96 8.53 second images compiled using Registax. ]]> Wed, 28 Nov 2007 10:00:00 GMT http://www.gvarros.com/nov07.htm Image of Comet 17/P Holmes November 23, 2007 during full moon Larger Image

This image was made using a StellaCam II at prime focus of an 8" f/5 Celestron reflector and is comprised of 223 4 second images compiled using Registax.

This image was made using a StellaCam II and 25mm c-mount lens and is comprised of six 2 second images compiled using Registax. ]]> Fri, 23 Nov 2007 10:00:00 GMT http://www.gvarros.com/nov07.htm Comet 17/P Holmes November 14, 2007 (00:30UT)

Holy crap! Comet Holmes' coma is at least the size of the moon's disk as seen in this overlaid image of the two...

Embossed image showing plasma tail-like structure.

28.5 minute exposure
200 images @ 8.55 seconds each; Dark subtracted; Stacked using Registax

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November 4, 2007 (00:30UT)

Larger Image - The jet activity seems significant making for some interesting shots. The jury is still out as to what may have caused this explosion. Comet Holmes is turning out to be quite spectacular.

Larger Image More jets Another look And another look

]]> Sun, 04 Nov 2007 10:00:00 GMT http://www.gvarros.com/nov07.htm

November 2, 2007 ~00:08 - 00:12 UT

Larger Image I have a crappy digital camera.

]]> Fri, 02 Nov 2007 10:00:00 GMT http://www.gvarros.com/oct07.htm

The image above was obtained using a Celestron 8" F/5 with Stellacam II at prime focus, and color filter wheel and is comprised of:

L 50 4.2 second Broadband filtered images;
R 50 4.2 second red filtered images;
G 50 8.55 second red filtered images;
B 50 2 second blue filtered images;
L 50 2 second Visible light unfiltered images...

All images dark subtracted then stacked in Registax and LRGB'd using Adobe. Color levels were tweaked so that the result closely matched what I visually observed using a 8" F/6 @ 48X

Comet 17/P Holmes October 28, 2007 Larger Image

This image is a combination of a few hundred dark subtracted half and one second images, shot with a StellaCam II at prime focus of a Celestron 8" f/5 reflector. ]]> Sun, 28 Oct 2007 10:00:00 GMT http://www.gvarros.com/oct07.htm

Shooting the Orionids proved to be difficult due to a polar alignment problem that I could not resolve. The scope kept slewing to the south and required declination adjustments about every 30 seconds or minute. I realigned the scope 4 times to no avail but this could have been because I was tracking at a lunar rate and the calculations made by the mount may have caused the problem. I did not test tracking a star. My polar finder scope might need to be aligned.

Orionid impact candidates:

Orionids - 10/20/2007
23:17:03UT #a21 - duration = 4 video fields Image Animated GIF 694Kb
23:23:48UT #b4  duration = 2 video fields, very dim Image
23:43:14UT #d3  duration = 3 video fields Image Animated GIF 708Kb

Orionids - 10/21/2007
00:47:53UT #e58 duration = 4 video fields Image Animated GIF 855Kb
01:03:05UT #f37 duration = 2 video fields Image
02:52:46UT #h(2) duration = 2 video fields Image
03:41:23UT #i(2) one video field only
03:48:12UT #i3 duration = 2 video fields Image

The data looks promising!

October 7, 2007 - Meteor tracker


08:01:54 UT Larger image



09:41:30 UT Larger image

There was severe dew. I ran a small 155 watt heater below a shroud which kept the mirrors warm and dew free. Dew has presented problems in the past that this little heater will solve.

I also recently got a Prius. I tested laying down inside it with the seats down and it happens that the rear window is perfectly situated for looking up at the night sky! It also has a wide field back-up camera that I'll at some point hook an image intensifier up to, just to see...

I'm interested in some of the Prius hacks that will come out...

October 7, 2007 Venus, Moon and Saturn Images of Venus and the Moon, Saturn and Regulus. Venus is at the upper right, Saturn to the lower left. Regulus is directly above the moon. A lens flare shaped like a crescent appears in the wider field image. Venus was dazzelingly bright. I could seemingly almost hear it. With Orion, Taurus and Mars to the west, the red of Mars, Betelgeuse and Aldebaran all conspired to make for a wonderfully stunning view. Sirius was nearly free from Scintillation!

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]]> Sun, 7 Oct 2007 10:00:00 GMT http://www.gvarros.com/sep07.htm Larger image

Sept 9, a fairly good meteor picked up by the meteor tracker's high-rez camera...
1.2 Mb MPG video

  Aurigid Trip Blog      George's Home Page

20 Aurigid meteors (video 8.8Mb Mpg) - This video contains some 20 Aurigids imaged between 10:53 and 11:45 UT. Notice how the light from several meteors gets reflected by the airplane wing in the lower right corner of the field of view.

Some preliminary 10 minute counts from the wide field camera starting 10:53 UTC ending 11:53 UTC. FOV=50 degrees wide by 25 degrees high. Times are possibly inaccurate and need to be shifted slightly ahead or back.

10 minute period UTC	Count	Count brighter or equal to Mag 0
10:53:37 - 11:03:37	8	1
11:03:37 - 11:13:37	17	10
11:13:37 - 11:23:37	20	7
11:23:37 - 11:33:37	13	7
11:33:37 - 11:43:37	12	3
11:43:37 - 11:53:37	6	3

Overall: 10:53:37 to 11:53:37UTC

- 76 meteors total 31 brighter or equal to m1=0

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Several Aurigids; I'm building a video time exposure 20 Aurigid meteors (video 8.8Mb Mpg)

4 Bright Aurigids in 2 minutes 25 seconds 4 Bright Aurigids  2.7Mb MPG Video Two simultaneous Aurigids (536 Kb MPG)

September 1, 2007 Aurigid MAC images The Aurigid outburst; What an adventure and a confirmation of the meteor stream model and predicted accurately by Dr. Jeremie Vaubaillon of Caltech and Dr. Peter Jenniskens (PI Aurigid MAC campaign)! (Predicted Aurigid outburst) More to come...

Pictures!

Dr. Peter Jenniskens, Aurigid MAC PI Jeremie Vaubaillon of Caltech Group Photo Lining up for a group shot... The confident Jeremie Vaubaillon Mission briefing Happy after the mission!

Hanger One Crepuscular Tarmac Rays Moon image 1 Moon image 2 Moon image 3 Moon Image 4

Well, here is a brief account of the Aurigid MAC mission. I will add more to this including pictures as the next few days go by. Thursday afternoon, August 30, after flying in to San Jose airport from Baltimore Maryland and arriving at the SETI institute, I unwrapped the meteor tracker instrument and video gear that I had shipped via FedEx. Everything arrived intact except the clear plastic bin that held the video gear. The tub was shattered but fortunately, the equipment survived in tact. All was well. I mounted the mirrors, checked the alignment and started mating the spectrograph to the tracker mount. we then attended a general meeting about the flight, took a look at sky maps, flight paths, and got an idea as to the details of the mission. Seeing the various experiments people were preparing was very interesting and it was great to see people I'd met before, and also those that I hadn't. The English and French traded various jokes about each other, they are quite clever and amusing! Later in the afternoon, we headed to AMES Research Center flight line to set up instruments in the airplanes which were both Gulfstream G5s. We later received a safety inspection of sorts and then the plane I was on, went on a two hour test flight to ensure things were indeed up and running with no power issues, glitches or unforeseen anomalies. During the flight, there were several small thunderstorms below which were impressive in the image intensified screens. Fortunately we didn't roast anything. Shortly after landing we all headed to the hotel to sleep for the rest of the night. Friday waking up, came really late for me. I was up by 7:00 am California time (10 AM EST) and shattered long duration record or something. I met with a few others that were up early but we were all not really able to (or supposed to) do anything until 7:00 pm at which time we headed back out to the airplanes at AMES, for the event! The agenda was to rest up of the day. We arrived at the AMES flight line just before 7:00 pm and Geoff calibrated his spectrograph with his helper outside the airplane standing on a ladder holding some calibration lights. It was difficult to do this because of all the millions of lights in the background field of view. We took off and shortly after crossing 10,00 ft, started setting up. All gear had to be stowed for takeoff and landing, not only the seat backs. To stow and unpack, we formed somewhat of a human chain to pass the gear forward from the aft storage compartment. It worked well and saved time. After setup and some initial calibrations and tweaking, we took a couple of hours of data surrounding the expected time of the peak. The meteor tracker tracked several meteors with four bright events in one little specific area of the sky in a short period of time. It was exciting to see it on the screen as I never really monitor it in real time; the meteor tracker is automatic and hands off. I do not know if Geoff was able to obtain spectra though. I was unfamiliar with it so had little clue as to what I was seeing in his video screen. I have not yet completed a timed count of the wide field video but hope to do so soon. Basically, the AMI-IT meteor tracker was used for data that I did not record. I did record only my wide field camera. I certainly hope all came out well and do not know how long it will take for the results of Geoff's experiment. I thank the American Meteor Society for helping me to participate in this event.

]]> Sat, 8 Sep 2007 10:00:00 GMT http://www.gvarros.com/george_rss_aurigids.xml    Aurigid Trip Blog   George's Home Page

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]]> Sat, 11 Aug 2007 10:00:00 GMT http://www.gvarros.com/aug07.htm August 28 Lunar Eclipse - Imaged with a Nikon P2 camera.
Larger Image taken just before entering umbra. Here the moon is in the penumbra and is just slightly less bright than if not inside the penumbra. Regardless, the clouds moved in obscuring the view.



A much larger version of the offending clouds.



Sort of an umbra shot between the clouds...

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]]> Tue, 28 Aug 2007 10:00:00 GMT http://www.gvarros.com/aug07.htm Perseid Meteors - Imaged on August 13, 2007 with the AIM-IT Meteor Tracker
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]]> Mon, 13 Aug 2007 10:00:00 GMT http://www.gvarros.com/aug07.htm Perseid Meteors - Imaged on August 12, 2007 with the AIM-IT Meteor Tracker
Click here for larger image

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]]> Mon, 13 Aug 2007 10:00:00 GMT http://www.gvarros.com/may07.htm Moon and Venus - Imaged on May 19, 2007
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]]> Sun, 20 May 2007 10:00:00 GMT http://www.gvarros.com/may07.htm Comet Lovejoy - Imaged on May 9, 2007 01:00:00 UT with an 8" Celestron and StellaCam II at prime focus.
Click here for larger image   50 X 8.5 second integration


This is a composite of 6 integrations, each of which is made up of a few to several integrations of 8.5 seconds each. Click here for larger image

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]]> Thu, 10 May 2007 10:00:00 GMT http://www.gvarros.com/may07.htm Comet Lovejoy - Imaged on May 7, 2007 01:00:00 UT with an 8" Celestron and StellaCam II at prime focus.
Click here for larger image

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]]> Mon, 7 May 2007 10:00:00 GMT http://www.gvarros.com/apr07.htm Unconfirmed probable Lunar Impact - maybe a Lyrid; Imaged on April 23, 2007 01:17:35 UT with an 8" Celestron and StellaCam II at prime focus. This event fell outside the FOV of MSFC's equipment and thus can not be confirmed.
Click here for larger image    Animation

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]]> Tue, 1 May 2007 10:00:00 GMT http://www.gvarros.com/apr07.htm Lunar Impact possibly a Lyrid - Imaged on April 22, 2007 03:12:24UT with an 8" Celestron and StellaCam II at prime focus. Bill Cooke and company at the NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at MSFC also picked up the flash on their instruments thus confirming the event.
Click here for larger image   Animation

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]]> Tue, 1 May 2007 22:00:00 GMT http://www.gvarros.com/jan07.htm Moon and Venus - Imaged on January 20, 2007 Nikon CP4300
Click here for larger image

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]]> Wed, 10 Jan 2007 12:00:00 GMT http://www.gvarros.com/jan07.htm Comet McNaught - Imaged on January 10, 2007 with an 80mm f/5 refractor, 25mm eyepiece and .5x focal reducer 1/4 second images
Click here for larger image    Image 2    Image 3

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