New Pitch Lap!

Back at it again. This will be a good winter project to complete, finally. I am almost complete with the 6" mirror grinding, in the final stages of polishing, and then a dose of figuring and off to get the coating (no, I have no interest in constructing a vacuum chamber to coat this thing) and we'll be ready to complete the rest of the scope.







So last night I made the new pitch lap, with Gugolz 55 instead of the old Burgundy Pitch Lap that was not working quite as well as I wanted, due to the extreme cold temperatures in my basement during the winter. The new lap looks a little rough, in addition to the vast visual change in color from a light brown to jet black, which will be strange at first, but looks don't matter, only performance, so time will tell.




The process is pretty sketchy. There's a lot of "hurry up" time involved, after an hour of slow cooking the brick of pitch to melt it. Then after poured you have to rapidly peel the tape wall off the tool and smash the mirror into it to set the shape, then cut a few channels for drainage, and repress for perfect shape. All that while the pitch is rapidly cooling. As soft as it is (very taffy-like) it shatters extremely easy. I unintentionally chipped a few areas off that I wish wouldn't have happened, but hopefully the rest of the lap will perform well.

- Bill Mitchell 11/3/09

6" Mirror Grinding

Hey guys, I'm back again. This time I'm picking up a project that I started over six years ago (the last one I picked up and finished recently was only three years old :^), and am bound and determined this time (mostly) to finish it!

Yes, my first mirror. I started off with a simple 6" f/8, which is the "easiest" to do, since there is no parabolizing, I figured this would be a great choice to cut my teeth with, if I found it enjoyable I'd move on to bigger mirrors, but this way I wouldn't be out an arm and a leg for an 18" blank and accompanying consumables if I failed. They say that even if you want to make your very own large mirror, say 18"+, that you will be able to do it much quicker by actually grinding first a 6", then a 12", then the 18" as opposed to starting out of the gate with an 18". Although I am not complete yet with the 6", I most whole heartedly agree with that sentiment :-)



Well, I'm through polishing and am at the point of testing for spherical, which is all that is needed for an f/8. Well, by gum, when I turned my back (must have been when I let Billy push a few "wets") I went and overshot the f/8 part, by more than just a little. I realized it at about 600 grit or so, so from then on I mainly stroked tool on top (TOT) to try to flatten the focal length out. Well, being very pleased with the new luster the surface was taking on I found it too irresistible to back up a few grades of grit to correct the curvature, so I kept going. I mean what's really the big deal? So it will be less optimized for planetary and lunar and more toward wide-field, a nice balance I think at f/6.91. So, I'm ok with that, I couldn't decide whether I wanted an f/8 or an f/4 anyway! Besides, it's much more sexy to tell someone that you have an f/6.91 focal length mirror rather than the bland "f/8", or "f/6". They would most certainly think "by God that guy knows his #$%, he even has it down to the hundredths!" It's truly amazing how quickly you can knock 6 1/2" off the focal length in a matter of a few mind-numbing hours of pushing glass. I'd just like to have it done so I can finish the rest of the scope for my son while he's still living at home. I still have a few years, but they are flying by let me tell you!

Right now I've been told that the surface is that of an oblate spheroid. Ouch. That sounds downright painful! "Hey Bob how are you doing?"... "Well Frank, last Friday the Doctor told me I've got an Oblate Spheroid in my rectum, how do you think I feel?! This thing HURTS!" (ouch, sorry I asked).



So, it could be worse, but not by much. The good news is that it's only a 6" mirror and fairly slow one at that, so the parabolizing that will need done is relatively minor. That and corrections will by very quick, only a few minutes to notice a real difference on such a small mirror (remember the talk about starting with a small mirror? You were paying attention weren't you?)

Anyway, I will post updates here regularly (hopefully), and am eagerly awaiting the day I can ship it off to be coated.
-Bill Mitchell
October 1, 2009

Dew Buster project is DONE!

Yes it is true,
last night I officially finished the three year dew buster upgrade (cowers in fear). A fun project, learned a lot, thanks to John Flamini for the use of his awesomely constructed resistor ladder-block which enabled quick soldering, sweatshop fashion! Installed a cigarette socket for the dew buster near my control panel, I just couldn't bring myself to cut that (albeit fat and ugly) cigarette plug off the new dew buster. Plus it is fused, so I wanted to keep that feature. Which reminds me to add 'fuse all electronic lines this winter' to my todo list.

I built three heat wraps, one for each end of the optical finder, and one for the eyepiece, large enough to handle the 31mm hand grenade. All tested out perfectly last night, which makes me very happy, now I actually have time to think about what I need to pack before BFSP for a change.

Here's a shot of the complete system last night, the cigarette socket isn't quite visible, but the dew buster and rats nest of wires are. I'd like to clean that up somehow, another winter project!

Quick viewing from my light-polluted location, daughter Kelly and I whipped around to the following:

ET Cluster

carbon star in Cass

albireo

M27

coathanger

and Jupiter through the trees. 4 moons and 2 bands is all, but not bad for shooting through the trees.

September 14, 2009 2100-2200 UT
Millcreek, PA

Great evening was had by all, successful project, all prepared now for BFSP '09 baby!

See y'all there!
Bill

Observing Report April 1, 2009

It was just me, Tom and my friend Missy, but the skies were fantastic even with the moon. I even got my first real good split on Gamma Leonis! Anyways the items we observed were:

Saturn and 4 of it's moons

our own moon

Eta Persei, Gamma Andromedae, Tau Canis Major cluster, the "winter Albireo" just above former, Gamma Leonis and previously stated, Cor Caroli, and I think it was Castor that we looked at in Gemini - for stars

globular clusters were - M53, M3, M13, M68 and M5

open clusters were - M103, M34, M37, M44, M48, M93, M41, M50, M46, M47, NGC 2423, the double open in Perseus, NGC 2169 in Orion and Stargate and the Arrow in Virgo (if they're considered opens).

galaxies - M81/82, M108, M109, M106, M101, M51, M64, M65/66, M84/86, M49 and M104.

and also the following nebulae - M97, M42/43, NGC 2392 Eskimo, NGC 3242 the Ghost of Jupiter, and NGC 4361 in Corvus.

Those are the ones I can remember but there were probably more. Did I forget anything, Tom?

Is was a beautiful night and we stayed out until about midnight before coming in to hang out around the table for an hour of friendly chit chat. Thanks to both Tom and Missy for coming out!

Tom and Tracey's Messier Observing Report March 22, 2009

At Tracey's place, we had a super-clear night, but very cold so I only lasted
until around midnight. The comet has really faded down to just a fuzzball with
a very faint tail, in Gemini.
So we started kind of a mini-Messier marathon, hitting the western sky early
after Venus (picture enclosed that Tracey took with her cell phone thru the
18 inch)....it's slightly fuzzy due to all the atmosphere.

Hit Messiers 77, the Andromeda group, 45, 34, 76 52 and 103, 35 early.....
Then Tracey using her 13 inch hit all those in the south, 93, 50, 46, 47. 41, 79.....
we both hit 42, 43 combination. (forgot 78).....and Saturn of course.
Then after a warming break, we walked thru the 16 Virgo Supercluster galaxies
plus M 3 and 53. At which time I had to quit because of the cold temperatures,
well below freezing.
So Tracey will have to finish the report.................

At the end of the night Zachary and I viewed all but 10 of the Messier's. Five of them just because I did not feel like dragging the scope around the other side of the house at the end, (could kick myself now). We had already moved it three times thru the night and the sun just came up too quickly. So in addition to Tom's list I can add:
M33 - almost positvie I saw it, twice
78
1
37, 36, 38
48
44, 67
95, 96, 105, 65, 66
81, 82
97, 108
109
40 - and a very nice fuzzball in the same field, NGC 4195
106, 94, 63
51
101
53, 64
3
68
83
104
5
13 - along with the galaxy NGC 6207 in same field
92
57, 56
29, 39
27
71
107, 12, 10, 14, 9, 19, 62
4, 80
6, 7
11, 26
16
17, 18, 24, 25, 23
21, 20
8
28, 22
15


So the only missed ones were 74 in Pisces, 54, 55, 69, 70, 75 in Sagittarius, 2, 72, 73 in Aquarius and M30. Jupiter and the crescent moon put on a spectacular showing just before sunrise as well. Next time I will get more!! The skies turned out beaitful as the night wore on.

Randy Cox Observing Report - 03/21/09

All,

I also enjoyed our trip to The Starshine Observatory (Hap’s Farm). Hap has a very nice gentleman’s farms, with lots of land and very dark skies. Larry, Jim and I arrived at Hap’s shortly after 6:00 PM. We scouted the locale for a good spot and we were set-up by sundown.

The sky cleared shortly after our arrival and we were blessed to have average to above average seeing and transparency (as predicted by the Clear Sky Clock). I had a very difficult time predicting the weather for Saturday evening. In the end, the combination of visible satellite observations, several different weather prediction models and the clear sky clock, all came together.

We have decided to monetarily reward Mr. Danko, the creator of the Clear Sky Clock. His model, which uses data from the Canadian Meteorological Center, is almost always correct (more accurate than our local boys). Each time that we use the Clear Sky Clock to predict a clear evening, and the model predicts and s an accurate astronomical forecast, we (Larry, Jim and I) will each donate a dollar to the Clear Sky Clock fund. At the end of the year, we will forward our collected funds to Mr. Danko.

Larry had a great list of objects that was published in Starry Night. In addition to Larry’s list, I generated the following list of targets:

M53, M64 Black Eye Galaxy, Sleeping Beauty Galaxy, M106, M3, M51 Whirlpool Galaxy, Question Mark Galaxy, M63 Sunflower Galaxy, M94 Croc's Eye Galaxy, M102 Spindle Galaxy, M13 Hercules Globular Cluster, Great Hercules Cluster, M92, M65, M66, M95, M96, M50 Heart-shaped Cluster, M42 Orion Nebula, NGC884, M93, M101 Pinwheel Galaxy, M81 Bode's Galaxy, M82 Cigar Galaxy, Ursa Major A, M93, M104 Sombrero Galaxy, M49, M60, M61 Swelling Spiral and Saturn.

Around midnight, the good Doctor began working at a feverish pace. In the remaining three hours, Larry observed many of the viewable Messier items.

We had a wonderful evening! Special thanks goes to our host, Hap, thank you for your hospitality. I look forward to visiting Starshine Observatory in the near future.

Randy Cox

Larry Kuklinski Observing Report - 03/21/09

Yesterday was a crowning jewel of a night for myself, Randy Cox, Jim Kalvota and Hap.
The former three of us met at Hap's farm near Cochranton.
The night sky as predicted by Randy was near perfect until about 02:00 when weather moved in from the north. Hap is a club member with a burning interest in the night sky. In conversation, he is interested in expanding his passion with educational programs for the schools as well as establishing a permanent observation post on his beautiful, unobstructed land situated east of Meadville.

Randy had his 12" RCX up and running before twilight while I had issues with my Obsession. Before long the sky tuned dark and we were up in running.

The British magazine Sky at Night featured an Observing Challenge in their March issue. They presented a list of some 40 stunning sights to see in 8 hours. Because of the clouds we were able to view for nearly six hours. We missed several of the late sites because they had not risen: Summer Triangle, Epsilon Lyrae, Albereo, M27 and M29. Had the sky cooperated we would have completed the entire list.

Well what did we see? Early on we kicked off with the Orion Nebula and The Running Man Nebula just above the former. Other easy targets included the Pleiades, Saturn and its moon Titan, Aldebaran and the Hyades Open Cluster. The variable star Algol was on the list and the magazine asks us to reobserve it on March 25th and compare notes. In Andromeda we caught NGC752 before setting. M76 or the Little Dumbell Nebua was our next challenge and unfortunately we were unable to visit its brighter namesake M27.Staying in Perseus we moved over to M34 an open cluster. Over in the northwest we glimpsed the stunning Double Cluster. Rounding out the early sky was M38 in Auriga.

The March Observing Challenge was divided into four sessions of ten objects spaced apart in time. The sessions were: 20:10; 22:10; 00:00 and 03:30.

The second session included: M36, M37, M35 the Rosette Nebula (with an O3 filter), NGC2264 (The Christmas Tree Cluster), M48, M44, the twin star Castor and finally The Eskimo Nebula. We spent a lot of time on NGC2392. It was the battle of the scopes. My image of the Eskimo was brighter, but Randy's showed better resolution. Another planetary nebula, not on the list was The Ghosts of Jupiter. A most beautiful site in both scopes.

Next session included beautiful M13 and of course M92 and M5. Following the list we continued on to M95, M96, M66, M65 and M64, the Black Eye Galaxy. Last for this session was Alcor and Mizar.

The final session was scheduled for 03:30, but was cut short around 02:00 because of cloud cover rolling in from the north. The last object was spotted by Randy and it was the beautiful Ring Nebula.

The night was my best observing session. Besides the Observing Challenge numerous other objects were spotted and for completeness sake I will list some of them: M106, M104, "M40 the double star", M51, M97, numerous galaxies in the "Virgo Coma Cluster"-WOW.

In all it was a great night sky, no dew, no frost just some great fellow observers.
It is these attempted near all night sessions that kindle the flames of interest in Astronomy.

Hap, thank you for your hospitality.

Sincerely,

Larry Kuklinski

Observing report - March 15, 2009

So I decided to step out back last night and observe to get away from that light and to "practice" for the Messier Marathon. I figure if I freshen up last night and tonight, then Tuesday night I'm going to give it a try. It looks like I will have great weather so far. Except the moon, but it won't clear my trees until 3:30 or so and then it's just the last quarter. I'm going to do it just in case we don't have any clear skies when the moon's new. So anyway this is what I looked at last night, mostly off the top of my head. Tonight I will "plan" a little to pick up the ones that I missed or aren't real familiar with (Virgo), and the ones missed due to the moon.

M1
M13
M31/32
M33
M34
M35
M36
M37
M38
M41
M42
M43
M44
M45
M46
M47
M48
M50
M51
M52
M63
M67
M76
M78
M79
M80
M81
M94
M97
M101
M103
M106
M108
M109
M110

I also looked at NGC's

7789 - open cluster
457 - ET cluster
2392 - Eskimo
3877 - galaxy in UMaj
4565 - galaxy in Coma
3190 - Leo
2903 - Leo
3242 - Ghost of Jupiter