M27

Managed to get some time in on Saturday evening. Shot about 40 subexposures of the dumbbell nebula. Managed to use about 12-13 exposures. Check out website under astrophotography/planetary nebula.

Perseid Meteors

We didn't get to view the meteors last night due to clouds. And it looks as though we won't be viewing this evening either.

Saturn's Disappearing Rings, Perseid Meteor Shower

Saturn's rings will seem to disappear today. The tilt of Saturn's rings in relation to the Sun constantly changes over a 15 year period. Today the rings will be tilted edge on to the Sun. Saturn's rings are approx. 170,000 miles wide, but are only about 30 feet thick.

The Perseid meteor shower will peak at 2:00pm on August 12th, eastern standard time.
The perseids should be able to be viewed between August 11 & August 13.
Unfortunately, the moon will pose a problem for best viewing. Look to the northwest.

Bahtinov Mask

Today at work we laser burned bahtinov masks for the 6" reflector and the 8" sct out of .050 thick aluminum. For those unfamiliar with what a bahtinov mask is, it allows you to achieve perfect focus on your astrophotography by providing diffraction lines that can be centered while focusing.



Once the mask is placed on the telescope and your image looks like below your focus is correct.



While ratcheting the focus in and out the middle diffraction line will move up and down. Precise focus is achieved when middle spike falls exactly in the middle.