Walter's LogBook
	December 2003

Overview

It has been an unusually warm (and wet) December, but still with lots of clear skies. Problems with the USB-to-serial converters continue, though I did get one run of 150 galaxies in before they stopped working. Lots of variables were imaged, plus I was able to get a bunch of pretty pictures during the last three sessions using the newly-installed SXV-H9.

The MX916 is the imaging camera, with exposures for variable stars of 30 seconds at 2x2 binning (unguided). This month's session notes are below the overview section.

Session Notes

Wed/Thu, December 3/4, 2003

The sky was clear at sunset, so I did dark frames for 20 minutes and starting imaging variables during twilight. Just as I started a sequence on V503 Cyg, the sky clouded over. Session was from 17:00 to 18:15.

In ECU, I noticed that the moon had occulted XY Psc just before dark! So even if it hadn't clouded over, I'd still have had to skip XY again tonight due to the proximity of the moon.

The Moon & XY Psc

Simulation by ECU.

Fri/Sat, December 5/6, 2003

A quick session tonight as clouds gathered in the west and moved in in the early evening. One advantage of an on-house dome is the ability to take advantage of short sessions! Tonight was Winchester's Parade of Lights, so I went out a couple of times to inspect the festivities while the observatory operated on its own. Session was from 16:45 to 19:45.

Below is a movie I made out of my DI UMa images of the last month.

DI UMa: The Movie

Scope: 10" f/6.3 LX200 Camera: MX916 binned 2x2.

Tue/Wed, December 9/10, 2003

Session was from 17:15 to 22:30.

Sat/Sun, December 13/14, 2003

Session was from 17:00 to 04:00.

Thu/Fri, December 18/19, 2003

It cleared in mid-evening, so after a short nap I had a nice session from 23:00 to 02:40. Tonight's session gives me 48 sessions for 2003 which matches what I had in 2001 (something of a high-water mark in CCD for me).

This afternoon, I successfully ran the SXV-H9 through 15m of USB2 cable using two powered USB2 hubs! Now I just have to pull these cables from the control room through to the observatory and the SXV will be ready for remote operation!

Mon/Tue, December 20/21, 2003

Session from 19:15 to 01:00.

Fri/Sat, December 26/27, 2003

Session was from 17:25 to 06:40. After doing a whack of varstars, I switched over to the SXV-H9 shortly before 06:00 and took a few test shots. The USB2 hardware worked perfectly.

NGC 3478*	20 minutes (10 x 120s)
NGC 4096*	8 minutes (4 x 120s)

*opens in new window.

Sat/Sun, December 27/28, 2003

I did all deep sky imaging tonight with the SXV-H9, including a number of short automated runs (total 131 objects) with ACP & PinPoint! Session from 17:00 to 05:15.

NGC 1514*	26 minutes (26 x 60s)
PAL 2*	30 minutes (30 x 60s)
M 1*	18 minutes (36 x 30s)
IC 2574*	61 minutes (61 x 60s)

*opens in new window.

Sun/Mon, December 28/29, 2003

I ran a few more automated image sets with the SXV-H9 and ACP (about 150 galaxies) before my USB-to-serial adaptors gave up the ghost (they locked the machine and I was unable to get them up & running again without locking the machine). It was nice while it lasted!

M 43*	5 minutes (10 x 30s)
NGC 147*	14½ minutes (29 x 30s)
NGC 185*	10 minutes (20 x 30s)

*opens in new window.