Northern Skies Observatory
Having always been interested in Astronomy, Cosmology, and Physics, I jumped at an opportunity last week to attend a "Mars Party" at the Northern Skies Observatory in Peacham, Vermont. The observatory is operated by the Northeast Kingdom Astronomy Foundation. We started off on smaller telescopes set up outside, viewing Venus, Mars, Saturn, and their moons.
Once it got darker, we moved into the observatory to see how the telescope worked. The astronomer told us about a rare class of bizarre stars called Wolf Rayet, and talked about a particular one named WR136. This star is near the center of the Crescent Nebula in constellation Cygnus, 5000 light years from Earth. WR136 is about 3 times the radius of our sun and 15 times its mass, yet it is an incredible 250,000 times brighter than our sun. A photo was then taken. It was interesting to note that all photos taken by telescopes such as this one, and even the Hubble, are inherently black and white, getting their colors solely from filters.
The telescope itself is robotically controlled and has a 17 inch diameter mirror, the second largest in Vermont. The software that operates the telescope is quite sophisticated. A person can simply type in the name of an object to be viewed or photographed, and the telescope will be robotically moved to the correct position. This coordinates with the software for the 14.5 foot dome, so that the door at the top opens (if closed) and rotates to the position associated with the telescope. The telescope then continues to track the object so that multiple photos can be taken and stacked. Additionally, this can all run in an unattended mode, where a list of objects to be photographed has been provided, and the software will work to take photos of those objects. To accomplish this, the software determines when those objects will be in the field of view, and checks that sky conditions are right for photos (e.g. it is dark enough, and the sky is clear).
The above photo was taken facing North (more precisely, NNE), so the galactic core of the Milky Way is not visible here. You may be able to see the spiral galaxy Andromeda, about half way up the sky on the right. The photo was taken 2 days before the Perseid meter showers are at peak, but it will be overcast on those days at this location. However, we did still see a few meteors that night, and I managed to capture one in the photo.
The observatory is open to the public for scheduled events. See their website or Facebook page for more info.
Website: www.nkaf.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/nkaf.org
Updates:
- I received an e-mail from William Vinton, President of the Northeast Kingdom Astronomy Foundation, indicating that the two bright, closely spaced objects near the center are the famous "Double Cluster" in constellation Perseus, two open star clusters, each of which contains about 300 to 400 stars. The clusters are about 7000 light years distant and only a few hundred light years apart. For comparison, the Andromeda Galaxy is 2.5 million light years distant.
- The telescope is a PlaneWave f/6.8 17 inch CDK.
- The camera is an Apogee Alta F16M Monochrome CCD with a Kodak 52 mm full frame sensor.
- The observatory is one of about 20 on the Skynet Robotic Telescope Network, whose major purpose is to record, image, and study gamma-ray bursts.
- See this photo of the Triangulum galaxy taken with the telescope at this observatory and processed with FITS: www.flickr.com/photos/davetrono/48687865046
- Photo of a full Milky Way panorama over the observatory:
Northern Skies Observatory
Having always been interested in Astronomy, Cosmology, and Physics, I jumped at an opportunity last week to attend a "Mars Party" at the Northern Skies Observatory in Peacham, Vermont. The observatory is operated by the Northeast Kingdom Astronomy Foundation. We started off on smaller telescopes set up outside, viewing Venus, Mars, Saturn, and their moons.
Once it got darker, we moved into the observatory to see how the telescope worked. The astronomer told us about a rare class of bizarre stars called Wolf Rayet, and talked about a particular one named WR136. This star is near the center of the Crescent Nebula in constellation Cygnus, 5000 light years from Earth. WR136 is about 3 times the radius of our sun and 15 times its mass, yet it is an incredible 250,000 times brighter than our sun. A photo was then taken. It was interesting to note that all photos taken by telescopes such as this one, and even the Hubble, are inherently black and white, getting their colors solely from filters.
The telescope itself is robotically controlled and has a 17 inch diameter mirror, the second largest in Vermont. The software that operates the telescope is quite sophisticated. A person can simply type in the name of an object to be viewed or photographed, and the telescope will be robotically moved to the correct position. This coordinates with the software for the 14.5 foot dome, so that the door at the top opens (if closed) and rotates to the position associated with the telescope. The telescope then continues to track the object so that multiple photos can be taken and stacked. Additionally, this can all run in an unattended mode, where a list of objects to be photographed has been provided, and the software will work to take photos of those objects. To accomplish this, the software determines when those objects will be in the field of view, and checks that sky conditions are right for photos (e.g. it is dark enough, and the sky is clear).
The above photo was taken facing North (more precisely, NNE), so the galactic core of the Milky Way is not visible here. You may be able to see the spiral galaxy Andromeda, about half way up the sky on the right. The photo was taken 2 days before the Perseid meter showers are at peak, but it will be overcast on those days at this location. However, we did still see a few meteors that night, and I managed to capture one in the photo.
The observatory is open to the public for scheduled events. See their website or Facebook page for more info.
Website: www.nkaf.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/nkaf.org
Updates:
- I received an e-mail from William Vinton, President of the Northeast Kingdom Astronomy Foundation, indicating that the two bright, closely spaced objects near the center are the famous "Double Cluster" in constellation Perseus, two open star clusters, each of which contains about 300 to 400 stars. The clusters are about 7000 light years distant and only a few hundred light years apart. For comparison, the Andromeda Galaxy is 2.5 million light years distant.
- The telescope is a PlaneWave f/6.8 17 inch CDK.
- The camera is an Apogee Alta F16M Monochrome CCD with a Kodak 52 mm full frame sensor.
- The observatory is one of about 20 on the Skynet Robotic Telescope Network, whose major purpose is to record, image, and study gamma-ray bursts.
- See this photo of the Triangulum galaxy taken with the telescope at this observatory and processed with FITS: www.flickr.com/photos/davetrono/48687865046
- Photo of a full Milky Way panorama over the observatory: