Tag Archives: telescope

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Museum of Optics & Mineral Collection

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February 20, 2018 Tuesday – Museum of Optics & Mineral Collection at the University of Arizona, Tucson

2018 Southern Arizona and Astronomy

I go downstairs for breakfast and then check out of the Red Lion Inn. I head down to the University of Arizona, since a friend suggested I see their Optics Museum at the College of Optical Sciences. the University is located downtown, which is on the way to my new hotel on the south side of Tucson. I manage to find pay street parking only a couple of blocks away, and use Google Maps to find the building on campus.

Desert Flower by Christopher Ries 2006 - SHOTT NA glass sculpture - UofA Optics Museum
Desert Flower by Christopher Ries 2006 – SHOTT NA glass sculpture

The Museum of Optics is self-guided, with displays on several floors of the building. After starting in the lobby with several beautiful glass sculptures and some telescopes, the tour starts at the top of the building on the 7th floor. I then work my way down floor-by-floor. They have an extensive collection of eyeglasses, binoculars, monoculars, opera glasses, historic cameras, stereographs, telescopes, and much more. It is all fascinating, and free-of-charge! 

The architecture of the Meinel Optical Sciences Building is quite striking, since it has a segmented glass front, the sides and back are wrapped in dark copper, and there are internal light shafts that go top-to-bottom.

Stibnite from the University of Arizona Mineral Museum
Stibnite from the University of Arizona Mineral Museum

Since I have well over an hour left on the parking meter, I go to the Flandreau Science Center and Planetarium which is across the street from the Meinel Building. I pay the $6 Senior’s admission and spend time taking in what is perhaps the most impressive collection of minerals on public display in the Tucson area. Their amazing collection of meteorites includes some as large as a suitcase! It is a shame the displays aren’t better lit, since it’s hard to appreciate the colours and textures of the minerals when they are in glass cases lit from above with fluorescent lights.

Tesla Model S rental

After leaving the UofA, I check into the Baymont Hotel and Suites. I enquire about the Tesla Destination chargers outside, and am told they charge $2/hour and they will turn it on when I’m ready to charge. I’m pleased the rate is reasonable…this is going to be so much more convenient than staying at a hotel with no electric vehicle support. The Tesla Supercharger east of Tucson is only about a 15 minute drive each way plus charging time), so I have options. I decide to try out their Tesla Destination charger. The front desk clerk is thrilled, since this is new to her, and she has never seen a Tesla up close before. As it turns out, several of the charge points don’t work, but I find one that lights up green on my Tesla’s charge port. It is a 40 amp 209 volt supply, so the charge rate is about the same as I have at home (Level 2 charger). I end up paying for 3.5 hours’ worth of charging at $2/hr.

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Dragoon Mountain Ranch – more astronomy!

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February 17, 2018 Friday – Dragoon Mountain Ranch – astronomy!

2018 Southern Arizona and Astronomy

There is fog on the ranch in the early morning and clouds but no rain today.

RASC Victoria Centre: John McDonald &emdash; Observing with the 25"

One of our group leaves us this morning to pick up her rental car in Tucson, and drive to Sedona to visit with her family. I plan to drive to Sedona tomorrow to stay two nights, so we might connect up there for a visit. I also plan to drive further north to see the Grand Canyon, but we’ll see how the weather cooperates for that adventure, because if there is too much snow, I won’t go!

By sunset, there are only clouds on the horizon – it is clear overhead! Everyone gets their gear together, we open up the observatory, and pull an all-nighter. One of our group is a dedicated visual observer, so she operates the 25” Newtonian, climbing a ladder every few minutes to observe visually, and sketching many celestial objects. I join her to enjoy the wonderful views through this massive telescope, and add many entries to my astronomy observations log book.

The three of us who are photographers are using the 20” Newtonian astrograph this evening. Since my images taken a few days ago on Feb 11th turned out so well, I have some time to take more photos, but after taking two good images, we soon run into problems. I decide to enjoy some visual observing instead, so my buddies use the rest of the night to take some images of objects they are interested in while I observe using a 25″ Newtonian, my binoculars, and unaided-eye visual observing. I only last about an hour in the cold before I have to pack it in and go inside where it is warm.

February 18, 2018 Saturday – Dragoon Mountain Ranch

I am the first up this morning since everyone else stayed up into the early morning hours observing and photographing the night sky.

It isn’t raining today, but there are big clouds drifting overhead constantly. I decide to shoot a time lapse video of the clouds forming and passing over the Dragoon Mountains. I rig up my Canon 6D dSLR on a tripod with an intervalometer and shoot medium-sized JPG files all afternoon until sunset when the battery dies. After dinner, I make it into a one and a half minute video and show it to my friends on the living room TV. I also show them the video I shot of the wildfire on the day we arrived.

The rain returns this evening with a vengeance – we can hear downpours happening outside all evening. I check the forecast for Sedona, and it looks abysmal, with torrential rain, hail and winds! I go online to cancel my arrangements up there, and also for Grand Canyon. My Plan B is to stay in Tucson for the next few days, so I reserve a hotel at the last minute. Thank goodness for online booking systems!

The rest of us are all leaving tomorrow morning, so we all use the down time do some laundry, pack, and cleanup the house.

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Kartchner Caverns & the night sky

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February 24, 2017 Friday – Kartchner Caverns & the night sky at Dragoon Mountain Ranch, Arizona, USA

2017 Southern Arizona & Astronomy

Garry reserved (a few days ago) the Big Room Tour for the Kartchner Caverns for this afternoon. We depart around 1PM so we have time to look around the visitor centre before the tour starts. Unfortunately, photography is not allowed, and they even insist that we leave our cellphones behind in a locker. The tour starts by everyone being taken up the hill in a tram, and then we enter the caverns through a series of doors and air locks. The Big Room is indeed very big, and the history of the caves is interesting, with lots of stalagmites, stalactites, and other cave objects to see. We also learn about the bats who inhabit the cave and use it as a nursery.

On the way back, we go to the Benson Golf Course for dinner. It is a modest place, but the food is good and reasonably priced. This is our last meal together, since we leave tomorrow for home or further travels.

We head back home to do some observing – my last night observing from this special place. We struggle to get focusing working while using the Ha filter, and eventually have to admit defeat. Once the system is restored back to normal settings, I image an object that interests me – NGC 2174, an emission & reflection nebula. I stay inside the house to keep warm while the system takes the images automatically until the series finishes at 2AM. A couple of my astronomy buddies get up at this time to observe Omega Centauri (photo), so I join them to have a look before heading off to bed. My observing report

NGC 2174 emission & reflection nebula
NGC 2174 emission & reflection nebula
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Mirror Lab & Observing

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February 23, 2017 Wednesday – Steward Observatory Mirror Lab, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

2017 Southern Arizona & Astronomy

Both Reg and I drive the group into Tucson to visit the University of Arizona’s Mirror Lab, which is fascinating for all of us. This lab produces many of the world’s largest astronomical mirrors.

The Mirror Lab’s current multi-year project is to make the seven 8.4 metre mirrors for the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), which will be located at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. Combined together, the seven mirrors will form a single parabolic surface some 24.5 metres (80’) across! GMT is scheduled to be operational in 2022 with four mirrors, and will be fully operational in 2024 with all seven mirrors. The first mirror is completed, and the second through fourth mirrors are currently in the process of being made.

After returning to the ranch, we find the weather is wonderfully clear this evening, so my friends and I use the 25” telescope for visual observing from the observatory. My observing report

UofA Mirror Lab
UofA Mirror Lab
9 photos
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Night sky imaging at Dragoon

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Feb 21, 2017 Monday – Dragoon Mountain Ranch, St. David, Arizona

2017 Southern Arizona & Astronomy

Today is a “down day”, meaning we have no daytime activities planned, so the group can relax and do what they want. I catch up with my social media and email, and work on my journal entries. My blog is still behind – the last entry was for Victoria-Seattle – the first days of my travels, but at least I now have the material to write those blog posts.

It is my turn on the imaging telescope this evening, but when we try to take some flat frames before sunset, the sensor ices up. This means the desiccant inside the CCD camera is saturated with moisture, and needs to be baked so it dries out to make it effective again. Dealing with this issue delays my imaging session of M1 the Crab Nebula by an hour and a half, however I am imaging on the 20” Newtonian Astrograph by 9:20PM and wind up my run just after midnight. Without a doubt, this is my best image of the Crab Nebula. The detail within the object is fantastic, and this is the first time I’ve imaged the green fringe around the nebula! My observing report

RASC Victoria Centre: Joe Carr &emdash; M1 Crab Nebula
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Hilo & Mauna Kea, Hawaii

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2014 Hawai’i-French Polynesia cruise

February 23, 2014 – Sunday – Hilo and Mauna Kea, the Big Island of Hawai’i

The ms Statendam arrives early in Hilo, and docks at the pier in the harbour. I have some breakfast and gather up my cold weather gear for my big trip up to the summit of Mauna Kea. I disembark, find the shuttle to Harper’s Car & Truck Rental (no longer in business). and rent a 4×4 Ford Ranger truck, which Harper’s allow on the Mauna Kea access roads.

Hilo-Mauna Kea map
Hilo-Mauna Kea map

Once I’m off in my little truck, I work my way out of Hilo and drive up the Puainko Street Extension, which becomes the H200/H2000 Saddle Road. I stop to pick up some refreshments from a corner store, since I will skip lunch. I’m glad I brought along my vehicle GPS from home, which guides me through several complicated twists and turns until I get out of the city. The first half of the 45-mile drive to the summit takes me along the Saddle Road Highway (2000), a paved 3-lane road all the way to the Mauna Kea Access Road turn-off, and then up to the Visitors Information Station (VIS) on a good (but steep) 2-lane paved road all the way through ranch country.

Gravel access road to Mauna Kea above the VIS
Gravel access road to Mauna Kea above the VIS

I stay at the VIS for 45 minutes in order to acclimatize myself to the elevation change (sea level to 9,000′), and then put the vehicle into 4-wheel drive and start up the gravel road to the summit. The road surface is washboard, so having 4WD is great to keep traction and stability. A few miles before the summit, the road returns to a paved surface, since dust control is a big factor with these expensive observatories.

Canada-France-Hawaii & Gemini North observatories
Canada-France-Hawaii & Gemini North observatories

There is snow on top, and the air is clear and cold. I pull on my winter coat, which I have been dragging around with me on this trip just for today’s adventure. It is wonderful to finally see all these observatories in person, especially the ones Canada is involved with. The Canada-France-Hawaii (CFHT) observatory has a prime location on the end of the north ridge, and is a beautiful, brilliant white structure. The Gemini North observatory is next to CFHT, and is a silver structure with bulging air vents all around the lower part of the dome…again, a very beautiful design.

I drive around to see all the observatories up close, but unfortunately I can’t stay for the VIS’ tours inside some of the facilities. The sky is a deep blue and crystal clear, and the observatories are stark white or silver, so I use the High Dynamic Range feature of my Canon 6D dSLR. This allows me to capture the scenes much more successfully. I shoot lots of photos, since I probably won’t return to Mauna Kea again. I can see the summit of the mountain and the trail leading to it from Gemini North, but I have to be careful to not exert myself too much while at 4,205 metres (13,792′) elevation, since the amount of oxygen available up here is less than half than at sea level.

Looking back from CFHT at all the observatories
Looking back from CFHT at all the observatories

Reluctantly, I have to return to my cruise ship, so I start the drive down the mountain, with my vehicle in low range 4WD and in 2nd gear as well. I barely touch the brakes for the whole way down the mountain until I shift out of 4WD at the VIS before returning to paved roads. The return trip to Hilo and sea level goes without a hitch. I return the vehicle to the rental company, and I’m back on board the ship a couple of hours before departure time.

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La Ensenada Lodge – day 2

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Feb 24, 2009 – Tuesday – La Ensenada “Star” Lodge, Manzanillo, Puntarenas, Costa Rica

2009 Southern Skies Fiesta & Tamarindo Coast

I join the early morning wildlife walk at 6AM since I’m still up from the previous night’s observing. The horses are in the field as the sun rises, and we see a big iguana along with some birds as the Howler monkeys look down on us from the trees. Time for breakfast and a nap.

Roseated Spoonbill in flight

I go on the boat trip to the mangrove swamp, showing up at 2PM down at the dock with my Canon 50D and the 17-85 zoom lens. However after we spot our first birds (Pelicans), I wish I had brought the 70-200 zoom instead. The birds we see are pretty close, but the extra reach of the longer zoom lens would have given me better image scale. We follow a similar route as last year, seeing lots of birds busy catching fish, spoonbills in the trees, and a Pelican colony at close range. It is cooler than I remember the boat trip from last year, and the water isn’t as rough on the return trip. After we return, I have a swim in the pool before going for dinner – very refreshing!

This evening I look at M42 Orion Nebula through a 15” Obsession Dobsonian telescope one of our group has brought with them on the trip. Our astronomy leader Gary thinks this telescope holds the record as the largest aperture telescope brought on the tour so far. All I can say is the views through it are superb. The breathtaking view of M42 reveals the beautiful blue colour of the reflection nebula – a first time for me with any scope I’ve used on this showpiece object. We also have a look at the Sombrero Galaxy, where the dust lane is evident, and Comet Lulin’s spectacular dust tail.

M42 Orion Nebula and belt stars

Later in the evening, I do some astrophotography using my dSLR mounted on an Astrotrac tracking mount on a tripod. It works very well, but my choice of targets: the emission nebulae in Vela turns out to be underwhelming. Later I change targets to a widefield of M42 Orion Nebula, including the Flame Nebula and the Horsehead Nebula, and am rewarded with a breathtaking resultant image.

Comet C/2007 N3 Lulin

After midnight, I turn my camera to Comet Lulin and have yet more success. I take relatively few frames to capture the comet’s tail, but stacking 62 light frames referenced to the comet head shows just how fast this comet is moving through the cosmos indicated by the star trails. I go to bed tired but happy after a busy night of observing and photographing the night sky.

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La Ensenada Lodge – day 1

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Feb 23, 2009 – Monday – La Ensenada “Star” Lodge, Manzanillo, Puntarenas, Costa Rica

2009 Southern Skies Fiesta & Tamarindo Coast

I shoot a time lapse video of the southern sky from 3:30am this morning to sunrise using my digital SLR camera. It turns out pretty well, so I’m pleased with the result. Our astronomy tour leader Gary Seronik alerted us to a conjunction of the thin crescent Moon, Mercury, Jupiter and Mars happening just before sunrise this morning. The clouds reappear in that part of the sky, but I managed to take a photo capturing all three planets with the Moon.

Conjunction of the thin crescent Moon, Mercury, Jupiter, Mars

Today is “at leisure” as they say in the travel industry. Jorge is leading a nature walk this morning at 6am, so I join in since I’m already up from the night before. We only walk about a hundred metres along the Lodge’s driveway and spot so many birds it takes over an hour! I think the new people on the tour are pretty impressed that Costa Rica is such a rich wildlife area. After having breakfast, I go back to my cabin and process the individual frames from my southern sky sequence into a video. It turns out quite well, and after returning to San Jose where there’s faster Internet, I post the video online. I’m pretty tired, so I catch up on some sleep – first in the hammock on the front porch, and then in bed with the ceiling fan on low. After lunch, I go for a swim in the pool, and then go back to bed for an afternoon siesta.

Gary conducts a tour of the night sky this evening at 7pm. Everyone reclines in the lounge chairs by the pool while Gary reviews the sights in the early evening sky. I return to my cabin after, and decide to have a nap before the night’s observing begins. I wake up at 5am – oh well, so much for observing last night!

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San Jose to La Ensenada Lodge

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Feb 22, 2009 – Sunday – Tour bus from San Jose to La Ensenada Lodge, Gulf of Nicoya, Costa Rica

2009 Southern Skies Fiesta & Tamarindo Coast

Our bus driver Walter at Restaurante Caballo Blanco in Costa Rica in 2009
Our bus driver Walter at Restaurante Caballo Blanco

After a sumptuous breakfast at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel, we board the bus and leave for our journey to the Gulf of Nicoya on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Unlike last year, the upgrading to this section of the Pan American Highway appears to be finished, so we make good time to our lunch stop at Restaurante Caballo Blanco (the White Horse restaurant). As we experienced last year, the meal at this restaurant introduces everyone to the wholesome food Costa Ricans typically prepare for their guests at every meal. Lots of fresh fruit juice, a choice of chicken, beef or fish, vegetables, rice and beans, and a nice dessert to finish. The only downside to this part of the trip is when we find out that our new bus is hermetically sealed, so the engine is kept running the whole time we are in the restaurant in order to keep the cabin from overheating. Some of our group find this to be environmentally irresponsible.

Our guide Jorge tells us a bit about Costa Rica and its people, and what to expect for the next few days as we drive toward La Ensenada Lodge. La Ensenada is as I remember it from last year – a working ranch and farm, raising both cattle, a variety of crops, as well as producing salt from ocean water. It is about 40 degrees Celsius in the hot afternoon as we arrive, and the owners and staff are on hand to greet us and to give us some cold drinks to sip as we are assigned to our cabins. We are also greeted with howler monkeys and iguanas, the other local residents!

Howler Monkey eating cashew fruit
Howler Monkey eating cashew fruit

I have a quick dip in the pool and a shower, and then it is time for dinner. The meal routine for the next few days is: breakfast at 8am, lunch at noon, and dinner at 5pm. We are eating dinner earlier than what is normal for Costa Ricans so we have time to setup equipment and get out on the observing field before it gets too dark. As anyone knows who had travelled to the tropics, the sun sets promptly around 6pm, and it gets dark rapidly when there’s no light pollution around.

Clouds cover about half the sky this first night, however a fellow Canadian from Calgary brought down one of the biggest telescopes ever used at this event, so I try out his new 15” Obsession Ultra Compact Dobsonian. The views of M42 Orion Nebula are nothing short of astounding – the blue colour was visible in the reflection nebulae, and the view is very bright with lots of detail. For those who either stay up or wake up around 3am, the clouds mostly disappear by then, giving some of us observing opportunities in the early morning.