LOG Sunday May 8 2022

LOG Sunday May 8 2022

Nexstar Observatory
We have now collected a total of 29 recycled distilled water bottles to be used for making the back side extension of the indoor/outdoor platform extension. The distilled water bottle is ten times the strength of a regular water bottle. Further design indicates ten per row are needed with 4 rows for a total of 40 bottles required to complete the project. The cache increases at one per day and we will have enough by the end of eleven days. "You will be in the green world."

Orion CT80

House of telescopes! After a period of about 2 years, the Orion CT80 was stored in the shipping box, and was a situation of basically not knowing how to mount it. Today, I've become so familiar with mountings, it was a piece of cake establishing how to mount the OTA onto a tripod and also how to attach a finderscope. The CT80 comes without the finderscope, without the mount, and with no accessories like EPs or focal extensions so added eyepieces will come into focus.

Left: the Orion CT80 came with only the OTA tube. This weekend, a finderscope, finderscope ring mount, dovetail shoe, and HF-3110 tripod were added for standalone functionality. A future order will include a 90-degree diagonal with 99% transmission.

Tripod HF-3110

Free tripod! There's an interesting story around this tripod. About six years ago I had the need to mount my camera on a tripod and visited the night market to find one. I chose the best and largest available at that time. A local friend bartered with the merchants to get the price down so it was a very good deal. The tripod has four long extensions so it can raise a camera or telescope a good distance off the ground, and the best features are low cost, small size and ultra lightweight. It has its own bag and is ideal for portability. So this tripod is excellent for initial use with the small Orion CT80 OTA and the upcoming Acuter Maksutov.

Acuter Maksutov Telescope

The minuscule mak! Monday is the big day! Coming soon is a new Acuter Maksutov 60mm small light blue telescope (Maksy), tentatively to be ordered on Monday, May 8, 2022.

Left: the minuscule maksutov will be ordered without the matching blue finderscope. It will however, contain the very high quality sun filter,  sun finder, and AMICI prism in the 90-degree diagonal for upright and correct orientation views.

While the Orion CT80 OTA white metal tube is 14.7-inches long and 3.25 lbs, the Acuter Maksy is only a third of that weight and its plastic tube is only 8-inches long. It should work better with the HF-3110 tripod due to lighter weight and it also will mount alongside the Celestron main observatory telescope OTA, putting less stress on the mount and motors in the Nexstar 6SE. The popularity of the small high resolution Maksy with exceptional optics is spreading like wildfire and is now sold out at most places. One key feature is the accessory roster, which lists a solar filter claimed to be comprised of high quality Baader film and mounted with its own solar finder. With the right techniques and accessories (CMOS astro imaging camera, processing computers), computer processing software power, additional h-alpha and spectroscopic filters, solar results could be spectacular for the minuscule Mak. Plus, when attached to the main observatory telescope, the telescopes will share guiding, tracking and all the advanced resources provided by the Celestron Nexstar GOTO mount.

New Observatory Naming

It does seem that Nexstar Observatory has caught on for a new name. The previous name of NTO Nexstar Telescope Observatory is retained but not being used in its entirety at this time. The nice thing about NO or NTO is it can be reconfigured for many additional applications, indoor, outdoor, through glass, no glass (lunar, planetary, deep sky, solar, nature & conservation).

Green Gem Laser Finder

The green gem laser finder on the Nexstar was removed and decommissioned for safety and legal issues.

INDEX

* Nexstar Observatory

* Orion CT80

* Tripod HF-3110

* Acuter Maksutov

* New Observatory Naming

* Green Gem Laserfinder

Laser Light & Window Glass

Laser Light & Window Glass
Will green laser light penetrate glass?

This is an important question when operating an indoor telescope observing through window glass with a green laser finderscope. Will glass stop or significantly modify the beam rendering it useless as a nighttime finderscope to find celestial objects.

Introduction

There are many heated and optical physics, optronics,  and electro dynamic technical discussions that reach varying conclusions. The indoor observatory at HSO decided to test the laser beam at night and the results would speak for themselves and elicit the final say, conclusion and response. To the right of the telescope, the green gemstone laser was activated and a series of photos were take with the handheld iphone Xs Max. Would the light beam make it through the window glass and if it did, would it remain a coherent straight line? Would the laser light be significantly diminished and become unusable? Will powerful laser light reflect backwards and blind the observer?

Results

In the photo, the green line represent the laser pulse of light. At the bottom of the photo, the line begins inside the observatory room. About half way, a bright large circle of diffusion results where the beam strikes the single window glass pane first surface and enters the glass, and light scattering appears to take place. Then the beam penetrates the glass back side to exit to the outdoors and the straight line reaches skyward on the same straight and true intended path. The light is not noticeably dimmed in the process. There was no dangerous visible backtracking of the laser light and the safety of the observer was maintained by laser light continually moving in the forward direction.

Conclusion

Therefore an indoor laser can shine through window glass and be used as a finder to point to the location of celestial objects and to show where the telescope is pointing, safely by following the basic precautions. The light appears to continue moving in the forward direction. The only noticed different between the indoor and outdoor use is that indoors results in a large circle of diffusion appearing embedded in the glass or at the point of lasering entrance/exit - a bright green scattering of light - a round area of light where the laser beam enters the glass. As the laser is on only momentarily to locate an object, it won't interfere with astro imaging.

AMPING UP THE NEW ASTRO IMAGING LABORATORY
Today is a good day for revamping the entire astro imaging laboratory, taking advantage of a rare good health day and some remarkable weather inside one of the 20M slots.

We are deploying three telescopes simultaneously for departmentalized work. Mountains 25 miles away are crystal clear and it's now possible to collimate our new lasers by beaming directly into the mountain.

When MB Mountain Beaming is complete, the Moon is next. Apollo astronauts left a moon reflector plate on the moon for laser experiments, to our benefit. Current work is on a new sequential tunneling penetratory imaging project.

In regard to multi-purposing, work progresses on  ground penetrating electrodynamic imaging for moons and planets as the precursor to our colonization and the search for underground resources or the penetration of lunar and planetary atmospheres.

Laser Calibrating the Orion StarBlast Telescope

Laser Calibrating the Orion StarBlast Telescope using the Svbony Next Generation Adjustable Deluxe Laser Collimator

First make a mount to hold, test and calibrate the laser collimator using some everyday common household items. Supplies and tools include a bag of aquarium gravel, peanut butter jar, extra peanut butter jar lid, duct tape, scissors, wire cutters, emory stick, and the wrench for the laser collimator. 

Left: the laser collimator is set on top of the homemade mount as shown. Turn on the laser and point it to the opposing wall about 3 meters or 12-feet away. Slowly rotate the collimator and observe the red dot. If it stays in the same position, the collimator is ready for use.

Fill the peanut butter jar with aquarium gravel to give it weight. Cut two opposing V notches in the extra jar lid. Sand smooth with the emory stick. Duct tape the lids together as shown. On the collimator, remove the threaded collar to expose the adjustment set screw. Turn on the collimator and point to the opposing wall about 9 meters or 12 feet away. Rotate the collimator and observe the red dot. If the dot remains in the same location, the laser is collimated. If not, use the allen wrench and adjust the set screw until the dot remains centered. The laser collimator is now ready to adjust the StarBlast telescope and other Newtonian telescopes.

Left: the Svbony collimator includes the adjusting allen wrench, a 2-inch adapter, a preinstalled battery and
instruction manual.