| Telescope | Celestron C8 | ||
| Mount | |||
| Camera | Skyris 236C | ||
| Exposure | |||
| Software | Registax |
| Telescope | Celestron C8 | ||
| Mount | |||
| Camera | Skyris 236C | ||
| Exposure | |||
| Software | Registax |
Dave Halupowski and Dennis Hausch braved the mostly cloudy skies and setup solar telescopes at the Heritage Museum’s 40th annual “Saturday in the Park” celebration in Valparaiso. Dave set up his ancient and honored Unitron refractor and provided a projection view of the Sun. Dennis set up his white light filtered Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope and his Coronado Hydrogen-Alpha scope. Later in the afternoon club member Professor Tony Russo from NWFSC joined the pair and added his expertise to the group.
 A local Constable examines Dennis’ equipment. |
 Dave waiting for the clouds to clear. |
When the clouds intervened they answered lots of Astronomy questions and handed out the club’s schedule of public star gazes. Photos courtesy of Dave Halupowski and Marietta Hausch
The NWFAA was once again glad to lend our support to Walton County’s Earth Day Festival held at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park. Dave Halupowski and his granddaughter Kennedy were the first to show up. Dave brought a set of binoculars mounted on a parallelogram equipped tripod. Needless to say, the binos were a big hit with the kids and bird watchers that attended the festival. Tom Haugh and Dennis Hausch brought the necessary equipment to safely view Earth’s nearest star; the Sun.
Dave and guest observer discuss his binocular mount.
The steady stream of visitors were able to view a moderately sized solo sunspot in Dennis’ white light filtered Mak-Cass and a small prominence in Tom’s H-alpha scope. We handed out plenty of star gaze handouts and made sure that everyone was aware of our regularly scheduled star gaze at the same spot one week hence. If everyone shows who said they would, we will have a great turnout on the 30th.
Both solar telescopes in use.
The overall image is of the Milky Way centered on the Double Cluster. Additional objects include The Heart Nebula, the Soul Nebula, Pacman Nebula, Sh2-171 and Ced 214.
| Mount | IOptron Skytracker | ||
| Camera | Canon T3i | ||
| Lens | 28mm @ f/2.8 | ||
| Exposure | [CLS:25x30s@ISO 800] | ||
| Software | Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop |
| Mount | Celestron AVX | ||
| Camera | Canon T3i | ||
| Lens | 300mm Sigma @ f/2.8 | ||
| Exposure | [?:20x30s@ISO 1600] | ||
| Software | Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop |
| Telescope | Intes 6″ Maksutov-Cassegrain | ||
| Mount | Celestron AVX | ||
| Eyepiece | 12.5mm uo-orthoscopic |
| Telescope | Intes 6″ Maksutov-Cassegrain | ||
| Mount | Celestron AVX | ||
| Eyepiece | 12.5mm uo-orthoscopic |
| Telescope | Intes 6″ Maksutov-Cassegrain | ||
| Mount | Celestron AVX | ||
| Eyepiece | 12.5mm uo-orthoscopic |
Our first High School star gaze was a qualified success. Throughout the day, 10 different classes totaling 268 students, attended a brief introduction to telescopes in the school auditorium before adjourning outside to view the Sun through Dennis Hausch’s 80mm H-alpha telescope and his white light filtered Maksutov-Cassegrain.
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Tom Haugh added his white light filtered 4.5″ Newtonian reflector. There were a couple of very small sunspot groups visible in the white light view as well as a small looping prominence in H-alpha light. While most of the students were able to take advantage of the scopes, the intermittent clouds did hamper some of the visibility.
Thanks to Marietta Hausch for the photography.
For the past two years the weather defeated our efforts to hold a star gaze for Kenwood Elementary School’s Science night. The morning of the 10th of March looked like another washout. But the satellite imagery showed we were right on the edge of the overcast and the clouds motions were promising. We had planned on making a go/no go decision about 3:00 PM. Just about 2:00 PM the clouds started to break up and by 3:00 there were just a few remnants left so the call was made for a GO.
We chose poorly. By the time Dave Halupowski, Tom Haugh and Chuck Lynch arrived at Kenwood, the skies were solidly overcast. So, just before the event started, we called off the star gaze (once again). By then, club member Ken Leone called in to get an update and was told of the cancellation.
Tom Haugh moved his 8″ Meade into the meeting room with the rest of the science night exhibits and provided views of the wall clock through his scope, answered lots of astronomy questions and handed out many of the club’s 2016 public star gaze schedules. By the time the event was over, it was raining outside.
There’s always next year.