Walter's LogBook
	March 2006

Overview

Notable items this month include two comets, two webcams (one virtual), and further automation tweaks. I also bought Neat Image for reducing noise in some of my images.

The SXV-H9 is the imaging camera, with exposures for variable stars of 120 seconds at 4x4 binning (unguided). This month's session notes are below the overview section.

Focuser Temperatures, March 2006

Session Notes

Tue/Wed, March 28/29, 2006

In addition to CCD imaging, I also observed with the 17.5" in the backyard for a few hours before dawn. I observed a few deep sky objects, estimated a few variable stars visually, and found both Comets Schwassman-Wachmann 3 and Pojmanski. Pojmanski was tough because it was right at the edge of a tree and I had to roll the 17 up almost against the building to see it! It was a very nice, big, diffuse comet; it reminded me of Comet Austin back in August 1982.

Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3

SXV-H9 binned 3x3, Johnson V filter, 4 x 60 seconds.

Comet C/2006 A1 (Pojmanski)

SXV-H9 binned 3x3, Johnson V filter, 6 x 60 seconds.

Observatory Interior WebCam

I brought an interior webcam (Logitech QuickCam Pro 5000) online at the observatory. It uploads a new picture to the internet every 10 minutes. I also had the first successful test of streaming video (using image push/pull depending on browser type) from the webcam hosted right on my own PC! This streaming technology will be used when the observatory's exterior webcam comes online (hopefully by summer).

Speaking of webcams, my computer was almost destroyed when I installed the drivers for a second webcam (Creative Live! Pro). While the install itself went OK, all my serial ports disappeared (both native and PCI-based) and whenever I tried to log in to the computer it would reboot! I went into safe mode and uninstalled the drivers but the problems persisted. It finally took a system restore to get it back in the pink. It cost me half an hour of imaging -- so the lesson is: don't install new stuff at suppertime if the sky is going to be clear!!!

Live Session Page

I developed a Live Session page so people can watch my imaging sessions live! The page is hosted on my own PC (so limited to 10 simultaneous visitors) and refreshes every 20 seconds. Various AAVSO and RASC members have visited the page so far and the feedback seems positive.

Automation Tweaks

I moved to version "4B" of AcquireImages.vbs. This version adds the following features:

• puts the TCF temperature, object altitude, and object azimuth into the FITS header of each image taken,
• optionally generates JPG versions of images taken for use with the Live Session page (in conjunction with changes I made to AcquireSupport.wsc),
• performs a pre-park slew to azimuth 180, declination +20.

The pre-park slew ensures the LX-200 will always park properly -- there is some kind of bug that prevents the LX-200 from doing this depending on where it is pointing when the park command is issued. This bug is consistent in that whenever it occurs, the scope parks at +45 declination and about -2.5 hours hour angle.

Neat Image

I bought Neat Image which has not only a stand-alone application, but also a plug-in that runs in Corel PhotoPaint! An example of what this software can do is shown below -- the result speaks for itself.

The Trifid Nebula (Messier 20)

MX5-C, 43x30s, 2000 July 4/5, from Oshawa.