Astromart

February 10, 2012 09:09 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

130m telescope!?!

Thanks for pointing that out, Maurice. Pretty cool that they've pushed interferometry into the visual spectrum--we should see some interesting stuff soon, I'll bet. They claim 50 milliarcsec resolution, within an order of mag of conventional VLBI. But in the last few years VLBI has been pushed down to about 1mm wavelengths, yielding resolution on the order of 10 microarcsec (which blows my mind!); the central black hole in M87 has a size around 4 microarcsec, so pushing VLBI into the submillimeter region would reveal a lot about the structure/formation of the jet. Doelemann's 2008 article in Nature is a good read.

May 25, 2012 08:24 AM Forum: Solar System Observing

Eclipse Sequence

Posted By George Golitzin

Thanks for the great photo Tyler. We had good weather here in Petaluma, CA., just south of the annular path. Our view was something like your second sun from the top, so to speak. I had my little 80mm refractor with a mylar filter, and I also set up a simple projection with 60mm binocs and some white cardboard. (I was impressed at how nicely that projection worked--I'd never done that before--it was almost as good as the view through the 80mm.) My wife and 3 girls came out to watch most of the eclipse--I don't usually get that much participation! A good time was had by all.

September 28, 2012 07:50 AM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

NGC 7139

Posted By George Golitzin

Thanks for bringing this one to my attention Rod. It's on my to-do list now. Always happy to hear of another promising target.

-geo

October 22, 2012 09:06 PM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

Another Stephan's Quintet?

Posted By George Golitzin

I saw these from a very dark site (http://cleardarksky.com/c/HympmCAkey.html?1) in August, 2007, with a 16-inch. I found 6962, 6964, and 6967 relatively easy, whereas 6959 and 6961 were extra faint, AV only.

They make a poor comparison to Stephan's quintet, in my opinion: they are not nearly as tightly grouped, with 6959 a good 7 arcminutes from the main spiral, 6962. Also, in Stephan's, three of the galaxies are similarly sized, whereas 6962 clearly dominates its group. Perhaps a better comparison to Stephan's can be made with the NGC 68 group, which puts 7 galaxies, four of them similarly sized, within a 3 or 4 arcminute circle. Here's a nice link for it: http://www.kopernik.org/images/archive/n68.htm These are not as bright as Stephan's, but well within the reach of a 16-inch, and probably smaller scope.

-george

January 9, 2013 07:39 AM Forum: Telescope Making

re-make of 10" dobsonian

Posted By George Golitzin

Hi Joe,

It's been a while since I've checked these forums, else I would have spoken up earlier...that is one awesome scope. Inspired thinking outside the box. So what are those thin struts on the top side--bamboo? Old golf club? And let's see, maybe a hacksaw spider? I love it. And I thought I was good at scrounging--this one takes the prize.

-george

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Posts Made By: George Golitzin

130m telescope!?!

Eclipse Sequence

NGC 7139

Another Stephan's Quintet?

re-make of 10" dobsonian

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