365 Days of Astronomy From Bronte Observatory

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BRONTE OBSERVATORY

hobsonaw@aol.com

TRANSCRIPT

APRIL 5, 2009:

Welcome to 365 Days of Astronomy and the podcast for April 5th 2009. I am your host for this episode, Alexander Hobson, an amateur astronomy enthusiast from Oakville Ontario Canada, and I’ll be talking about Canada’s roll in astronomy. Past, present and future.

Today, Canada has taken a leading roll in astronomy, space work and studies, with dedicated people who participate in, and work on cutting edge research and technology.

We have a great tradition in Astronomy starting with thousands of years of indigenous people of the far North and Southern regions of Canada, using the stars to navigate and for monitoring the passage of time and seasons.

European Astronomy was brought to Canada when explorers were trying to find the North West Passage to India from Europe. They would bring, telescopes, astronomical knowledge, and of course, astronomers to Canada. Among some of these explorers were Jesuit missionaries who would spend many years in the country and introduce Astronomy among other sciences to the early settlers.

Famous explorers like John Cabot, Samuel de Champlain and Jacques Cartier recorded astronomical events for us including Cartier re-finding the mouth of the St Lawrence river during the Persied Meteor shower of 1535.

However, it wasn’t until 1618, that the first record of significant astronomical observations were recorded in Canada by Jesuits who sent their reports back to Rome about comets and eclipses.

Then in 1634, Jean Bourdon, the Engineer-in-Chief and Land Surveyor for the New France colony in Quebec, was given the task of studying the astronomy of the area. The function of astronomy during the time of the early settlers was to draw up accurate geographic maps and to tell time precisely. He became a wealthy land owner and was noted officially as the first Canadian to own a telescope, a gift from the Jesuits in 1646, and is the first officially recognized person in Canada to teach astronomy, in his hydrography courses at the College of Quebec in the 1630’s.

It’s hard to pinpoint the first observatory in Canada, because there are several records of astronomical teaching in Canada as mentioned earlier, in Quebec and also at the Fortress of Louisburg (Loosburg) in Cape Breton, but no official records of an actual observatory can be found, though we do know through records that teachers were using equipment to survey the sky and presumably, they would have set up observatories. It wasn’t until 1765, when official records indicate an observatory was built at Castle Frederick, at Falmouth, (Falmith) Nova Scotia.

By the mid 1800’s, many more observatories were being established at universities across the country, including some which survive to this day.

So, how did Canada become a modern leader in astronomical teaching and research? Well it started with members of the Royal Astronomical Society which originated as the Astronomical and Physical Society of Toronto. One important leader in the club was Professor Clarence Augustus Chant who established a separate astronomy department at the University of Toronto in 1904.

At roughly the same time, Dr. William F. King, Canada’s first Chief Astronomer was also persuading the federal government to establish the Dominion Observatory in Ottawa which became Canada’s first centre of astrophysical research and was equipped with a 15 inch refractor. Unfortunately by 1910 they realized to further any research, they would need a bigger scope and a better area of seeing. This prompted one of the astronomers, Dr. John Stanley Plaskett, to rally for a larger telescope at a better location and through his efforts, the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory was opened near Victoria, B.C. with a 1.8 m telescope in 1918. It became one of the largest research instruments anywhere for several decades and Dr. Plaskett's work on our Galaxy rotation brought world-wide recognition.

Meanwhile, Dr. Chant was instrumental in seeing a major observatory established at the University of Toronto. The David Dunlap Observatory opened in 1935 and housed the second-largest telescope in the world at the time, at 1.88 meters with one of the first Pyrex telescope mirrors. Among other firsts, in 1972, Charles Thomas Bolton, one of the observatory’s astronomers, used the Dunlap telescope to discover Cygnus X-1, the first black hole ever identified. Spectroscopy and photometry were extensively carried out there, until the sale of the property in 2008.

So, we had observatories spread out across the country from East to West and universities specializing in Astronomy and Astrophysics. This set the stage for future studies, research, observations and exploration.

Let’s not forget the other astronomy though, radio astronomy. At end of the Second World War surplus radar equipment became available. In Ottawa, Arthur E. Covington studied solar radio emissions on equipment he put together from this surplus, thus starting radio astronomy in Canada. Later, 2 radio observatories were established in Algonquin Park, Ontario and at The Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory in Penticton, B.C. . They were eventually linked to perform the first continent-wide long baseline radio interferometry. One of their significant accomplishments was to measure the size of quasars.

The old Dominion Observatory in Ottawa was eventually closed and government astronomy became the responsibility of the National Research Council, carried out at the new Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics located near Victoria British Columbia, and named for Nobel laureate Dr. Gerhard Herzberg.

With funding cuts in the late 1970’s and early 80’s, it became too expensive for many institutions to keep up financially with cutting edge technologies, especially large telescopes. Most institutions started to cooperate in shared ventures. There are several international observatories which Canada shares in. Three of these are located on Mauna Kea, in Hawaii. They are the Canada-France-Hawaii observatory, opened in 1979 with it’s 3.6 meter telescope. The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, with an antenna diameter of 15 meters, operating in the sub millimeter wavelength region of the spectrum, and the Gemini North Observatory with it’s giant 8 meter mirror.

In Chili, South America, there is the Gemini South telescope at an even larger 8.1 meters and the Cosmic Background imager which is a special-purpose radio telescope designed to study the cosmic microwave background radiation from the early universe.

The Astronomy Technology Research Group in Victoria British Columbia have installed instruments and software for some of these major telescopes around the world, including the Gemini North and South Telescopes, the Canada- France- Hawaii Telescope and the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. They have also recently helped in the design and manufacturing of very high frequency receivers for the array antennae of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array Radio Telescope Project, and work on the Thirty Meter Telescope Project, both of which will operate in several years time.

Two other international collaborative efforts are the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics in Toronto, established in 1982 and the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory with its new Snolab at a depth of 2,070 meters below the surface in a mine near Sudbury, Ontario.

Canada has also contributed knowledge and resources to exciting space based studies and craft. One collaborative project includes a space based radio telescope with Russia called Radioastron, which is scheduled to launch near the end of this year.

We have our own microsatellite called, MOST, which studies variable stars from space and we’ve gone to Mars with the Canadian built meteorological station on the Phoenix lander. We also have plans to send an exclusively Canadian mission to Mars called the Northern Light mission. We’ve worked on many other space craft, including the Canadarm on the shuttles and space station!

The European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory, scheduled to launch this year, will fly with 2 Canadian made instruments, SPIRE a bolometer "camera", and HIFI , a high resolution spectrometer. We will also have the NEOSSat, a small Canadian satellite, scheduled to launch early in 2010, which will find and track near earth objects which approach the Earth from orbits close to the sun.

As part of an international team of astronomers, some of our recent discoveries include capturing the first images of another solar system. Our long-range plans for the future include participation in the Next Generation Space Telescope, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array and the Square Kilometer Array for radio astronomy.

Amateurs have also contributed much to astronomy in Canada and are serious about promoting astronomy while also having fun. Nothing shows this more than the Star parties listed across the country with one of the largest being Starfest presented by the North York Astronomical Association near Mount Forest, Ontario. This event attracts upwards of 1,000 or more people every year.

There are hundreds of Canadian Astronomical websites including local clubs, astronomy information and teaching. We even have our own magazine called Sky News, edited by Terence Dickinson who’s ‘Night Watch’ book, now in it’s third printing. It’s one of the most recognized guides to amateur astronomy ever written. There are also many other newsletters for professionals and amateurs available on the internet.

For more information about Canadian Astronomy, The National Research Council of Canada has excellent information on their website. Also check out The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada which supports tens of thousands of students, post doctoral fellows and universities undertaking cutting edge research. For our space programs check out the Canadian Space agency on the net.

It’s not all Mounties, maple syrup and igloo’s up here in the true North, so the next time you think of Canadian Astronomy, put away your toques eh, and think about our wonderful history, dedicated people and world class facilities involved in cutting edge astronomy.

For Canada and the international year of astronomy podcast, I’m Alexander Hobson wishing you clear skies and great seeing!

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Special thanks to Judy Sampson for editing the script and to

Slacker Dr. Doug Welch for his kind direction.

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Podcast: For April 5, 2009. Astronomy in Canada, Past, Present and Future

The Podcast is entitled, Astronomy in Canada, Past, Present and Future, and dives into the early history of astronomy in Canada from the early indigenous people using astronomy to our modern day teaching and Canadian built astronomical space craft.

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Bio:

Alexander W. Hobson:

I am a 49 year old manager, I work for a radio and television company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and have a recording studio at home to work from. I am married and have twin 13 year old boys who love the night sky.

I have been interested in astronomy since the age of 10. I own a small telescope and imaging equipment, read astronomy related books, and listen to astronomy podcasts on a regular basis including Astronomy Cast, Slacker Astronomy and of course 365 Days of Astronomy.

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Links:

The National Research Council of Canada: http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/

The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada: http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/index_eng.asp

Canadian Space agency: http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/default.asp

Royal Astronomical Society of Canada: http://www.rasc.ca/

David Dunlap Observatory: http://www.astro.utoronto.ca/DDO/

The Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory: http://www.hia-iha.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/drao/index_e.html

Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics: http://www.hia-iha.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/main_e.html

Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope: http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/

James Clerk Maxwell Telescope: http://www.jach.hawaii.edu/JCMT/

Gemini North and South Telescopes: http://www.gemini.edu/

Cosmic Background imager: http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~tjp/CBI/

The Astronomy Technology Research Group: http://www.hia-iha.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/atrgv/main_e.html

Atacama Large Millimeter Array: http://www.alma.nrao.edu/

Thirty Meter Telescope: http://www.tmt.org/

Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics: http://www.cita.utoronto.ca/

Sudbury Neutrino Observatory: http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/

Radioastron: http://www.asc.rssi.ru/radioastron/

MOST: http://www.astro.ubc.ca/MOST/

Northern Light Mission: http://www.marsrocks.ca/

Herschel Space Observatory: http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=16

NEOSSat: http://www.neossat.ca/

Next Generation Space Telescope: http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/

Square Kilometer Array: http://www.ras.ucalgary.ca/SKA/

Starfest: http://www.nyaa.ca/index.php?page=starfest

Sky News: http://www.skynews.ca/

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Podcast: For April 5, 2009. Astronomy in Canada, Past, Present and Future

By: Alexander W. Hobson:

Podcast: For May 3, 2009. Webcam Astrophotography

In this podcast, Alexander Hobson talks about webcam astrophotography and how easy it is to get started imaging with a simple webcam, some free software and a Goto telescope.

By: Alexander W. Hobson:

Transcript: Welcome to this podcast for 365 days of Astronomy, I’m Alexander Hobson , an astronomy enthusiast from Oakville Ontario Canada . Today I’ll be talking about Webcam Astrophotography.

No doubt many of you listening to these podcasts have leafed through astronomy related magazines and marveled at the amateur photos. You may have even looked at articles about astrophotography on websites, but never thought you could do this type of imaging.

Most of these photos and much of this work can be attributed to the introduction of relatively inexpensive webcams and photo stacking and processing software, much of which is available free on the internet. This, coupled with the introduction of inexpensive Goto or automated telescopes started the amateur revolution in webcam astrophotography.

If you’ve already purchased a telescope, and are familiar with its operation, then you should get ready to take the next step with astrophotography. In addition to your scope, all it takes is a webcam, some software, and a computer. A laptop is best, but if need be, a computer cable leading out to your scope should do the trick.

Just about any webcam can be converted into a camera for astrophotography. Whatever webcam you use, you must remove the existing lens. Most just unscrew. The telescope then becomes the lens. All you need to do, is somehow attach the camera to the end of your telescope where your eye piece should go, and you can get started. Several companies make adapters specifically for webcams. They consist of a metal tube which threads onto your webcam, allowing it to be attached in place of an eyepiece. Adapters are available on the internet if you’re not a ‘do it yourselfer’, simply search the net for ‘astrophotography webcam adapter’.

If you want to save money, and are a ‘do it yourselfer’, make your own tube and epoxy it onto the webcam. Of course this would void the webcam’s warranty, so unless you are using gaffers or duct tape to attach your adapter, you’re going to have to dedicate this unit to your astro work.

Many people use an old 35mm film canister and cut the bottom off, then they use 5 minute epoxy to attach it onto the webcam. In most cases, this is the correct size to put into the eyepiece holder, but try it on your scope to make sure it fits, otherwise, find something the correct diameter to allow you to insert it carefully into your telescope and connect it to your webcam.

Once you have your webcam and some sort of adaptor, you might want to also get a focusing ring for the eye piece you are going to use to do rough searching and focusing with. You can purchase these rings from your local astronomy shop, called parfocal rings or again do it yourself by putting tape or some sort of mark on the shaft of the eyepiece so you can focus and direct the scope with both the eyepiece and the camera every time. I’ll come back to this in a minute, but first…

Many of the computer programs which come with goto telescopes also have camera controls. If not, you’ll want to download camera software on your computer. Go to the net and download a program like Astrosnap or something similar. You’ll also need some processing software. There’s a great free program called Registacks which allows you to stack multiple image frames one on top of another to build up the image. More about that once we get things ready….

Once your telescope is set up, aligned and working, which is best to do during the daytime, of course making sure not to point the scope at the sun as blindness can occur instantly, we want to put your webcam in your scope, and start your image capture software. You’ll see a live image to start fine focusing. Once the software is on and something is appearing on the computer screen, you’ll need to move the focus knob in and out until the image becomes clear. Try focusing on something as far away as possible. A tree or building in the far distance would be good because you get good contrast between the sky and the object. If you can’t achieve focus, you may have to move the webcam tube in and out of the opening a little and try focusing again. This is why it’s best to try this process during the day, so you can see what you are doing and move things around without groping in the dark.

Once you’ve achieved focus with the camera, mark the place on the tube where you inserted it in your scope so you can use the same position every time. Now comes the eyepiece. Put your eyepiece into the eyepiece holder of your scope with the parfocal ring around it. If you don’t have a ring, don’t worry, we can use something else to mark the tube later. Move the eyepiece in and out without touching the focusing knob, until the image is in focus. Once you have the position, tighten the screw to hold the eyepiece in that place and either tighten your parfocal ring or mark the tube with a marker or tape so you can put the eyepiece in that exact position every time.

Now you know where your camera and eyepiece are in focus at exactly the same place. This helps when you want to quickly locate an object to image. Simply insert your eyepiece, move to the location looking through the eyepiece, once you are there, slip out the eyepiece and insert the webcam , a little tweaking of the focus might be needed and you are ready to start shooting!

OK, so lets’ say you are set to go and the sky is getting dark and we are ready to start imaging. Slew over to the moon to start, and get things in focus. Once it is in focus, start your telescope auto slewing and hit the record button on the camera.

The camera will store the frames for you as a movie, made up of tens or hundreds of individual frames, depending on what it’s set for, like a motion picture camera does. These frames will be manipulated later with a program, or if you have software for capturing and processing at the same time, all the better. Basically what will happen is that you’ll get many images per second of recording, some of which will be sharp and some of which will be blurry because of the atmosphere.

The atmosphere is not friendly to astrophotography. It boils away up there and causes the light coming from objects to move around and distort, sort of like a desert mirage. Moving causes blurring in photos as most of us remember from taking pictures with film cameras, where someone moves and the image comes out blurry. Not all the frames will be blurry though. Some will be sharp. It’s those frames we’re looking for. We’ll use those sharp frames to build up the brightness, contrast, and sharpness of the final image we are going to create.

There are several programs to stack these good clear image frames, some do the work for you of sorting out which images are sharp and which are blurry and some programs allow you to do this manually. Either way, you can start stacking the frames to create a single clear image. If you have photoshop or a similar image processing software, you can further enhance the image, or add many images to form a sharp mosaic of a larger area of the sky or object.

Here are some tips for you…If you put in your webcam and can’t seem to get it to focus or the screen stays unclear, most times it’s because the gain setting is too low in the software, try turning that up first. Other times the image may be out of focus or out of frame. Just try refocusing and moving the scope around a bit and eventually you’ll find things get clear.

Be forewarned though, webcam astrophotography is very addictive and after the first night or two you may never sleep on a clear night again.

OK, so now you’re simi-hooked and want more. It’s on to planets! To really make this work though you should have a high quality 2X converter or greater. Some scopes come with one but if not, purchasing a converter will allow you to use it with your visual observing as well. The converter is installed before the lens or webcam, and magnifies the image by the amount indicated. Then you follow the camera setup in the same way as before. Just remember, the larger the converter the greater the magnification and the better your scope’s tracking capabilities has to be. It’s also harder to keep the frames aligned in the view screen.

The only limiting thing about a webcam is heat from long exposures when you start trying to image things which are really dim. Once you start dealing with very faint deep sky objects, you start to need long exposures. Long exposures cause the camera chip itself to heat up, which creates thermal noise on the chip. The chip thinks this heat is photons and eventually the heat from the chip itself overpowers the heat from the distant photons and you get a snowy screen. Unless you start cooling the camera manually or with a cooling chip, you are going to get snow, which makes it almost impossible to focus and locate objects.

Once you are at the limits of what you can do with your un-cooled webcam, you may want to modify it with a fan or some type of cooling or move on to Cooled CCD cameras. They get rid of most of the noise problem, but then you have to start spending some significant dollars, and that’s the subject of a whole other podcast!

There are lots of great websites and books to walk you through the webcam astrophotography process, just search the net for ‘webcam astrophotography’ to get started. Do it today!

For the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast, I’m Alexander Hobson , wishing you clear skies and snow free imaging!

End of podcast:

365 Days of Astronomy

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The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the New Media Working Group of the International Year of Astronomy 2009. Audio post-production by Preston Gibson. Bandwidth donated by libsyn.com and wizzard media. Web design by Clockwork Active Media Systems. You may reproduce and distribute this audio for non-commercial purposes. Please consider supporting the podcast with a few dollars (or Euros!). Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org. Until tomorrow...goodbye.

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Links: Astrosnap: http://www.astrosnap.com/

Registax: http://www.astronomie.be/registax/

K3 CCD Tools: http://www.pk3.org/Astro/

Mogg Adapters: http://moggadapters.com/astro/adapter.asp

Webcam Astroimaging on DVD: http://www.webcamimaging.com

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