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Posts Made By: Matthew Gauthier

July 15, 2004 01:53 AM Forum: Home Observatories

Deer Run Observatory

Posted By Matthew Gauthier

Greetings from rual Georgia. Nice to see lots of ideas here. It's the information that I got from places like this that finally got me modivated to build my observatory.

I've got a 10'x12' roll off roof. Walls are 7' high, high enough to block wind and not block any of the sky. Inside is a 14"LX200, it was a big move up from my 10" sct I had for about 10 years, but well worth it.

I'm also lucky enough to have some really dark skies. 'My' milky way goes all the way to the southern horizon and about 30-35 degrees to the northern one.

The building is located about 300 feet from my house in an open area of a few acres. I had a hard time getting my wireless network out that far but Linksys came up with a repeater which really does a great job.

I've got construction images etc on my webpage at
http://www.deerrunobservatory.com/

Clear Skies!

Matthew

July 18, 2004 12:42 AM Forum: A Day in the Life of the Administrator

Chat

Posted By Matthew Gauthier

With the number of people "online" here all the time can we get a chat room? Might be nice to be able to talk about astronomy in real time!

Deerrunobservatory.com

July 22, 2004 11:54 AM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

Superb night

Posted By Matthew Gauthier

Monday was a great night here. I took the temp around 2230 and it was down to 67. Seeing was probably 8/10. I played around with the LPI for the first hour or so. Still no luck being able to capture a deep sky object, my pointing is right on but I just don't get the settings right I guess, imagine is all new to me.

Conditions were good enough I decided to take on the central star in M57. Seeing was good and I was able to go up to about 400x and not lose much quality in the image. Sky conditions where good enough that instead of the 'ring' you easily see at low power, I could very clearly see the tendrils that extend out on each side, which make me wonder why it's not called 'the oblong nebula' since a ring
shaped like that would be really hard to wear. I observed the object for about 30 minutes and with averted vision there it was. The sky was very steady, but even then it faded in and out but there were times that I know i was seeing it and not imagining it. Pretty cool. Dark skies, you have to love them.

Then I decided to move over to M51. Oh my, there it is, nice night, look at those spiral arms. WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT? 8O I'm blinded! Did a bolide just flash across my FOV? I see spots in my right eye but look up to see what I'm sure will be the entry trail of a massive bolide... nothing. Figures! I miss the best meteor of the night. Oh
well, back to observing. THERE IT IS AGAIN! What gives? So I look on the corrector plate and low and behold Mr Firefly has decided to flashbulb me while he rest there. Not very nice of him but pretty amusing.

One thing I have got to start doing is keep a log. I just never have. I know if i could go back and count all the hours I've got watching Jupiter it would be in the thousands. Plenty of nights I'd spend the entire evening just watching that great striped monster. I know, shame on me. 10+ years of no log keeping. Where I used to live in Florida though any paper would usually turn to mush from the high humidity.

Tonights clear sky clock looks decent, hopefully it'll be another good night with fewer fireflies.

Matthew
http://www.deerrunobservatory.com/

July 22, 2004 04:40 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Astromart Astronomy Chat Room!!

Posted By Matthew Gauthier

We need a chat room! As many people are online here all the time. It'd be great! I know, not really equipment, but as good as any place to post about it...

Matthew
http://www.deerrunobservatory.com/

July 22, 2004 04:40 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Astromart Astronomy Chat Room!!

Posted By Matthew Gauthier

We need a chat room! As many people are online here all the time. It'd be great! I know, not really equipment, but as good as any place to post about it...

Matthew
http://www.deerrunobservatory.com/

July 29, 2004 11:58 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Columbus Georgia Area Yahoo Group

Posted By Matthew Gauthier

If you live in the Columbus Georgia area and are looking for others to share the night sky with please consider joining this new yahoo group.

I have a dark sky site but have not had any luck finding other amateurs in the area. It'd be nice to get enough interest to start a club.

Columbus Georgia Area Astronomers
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Columbusgaaa/

Thanks, and clear skies!

Matthew
http://www.deerrunobservatory.com/

August 3, 2004 01:53 PM Forum: Solar System Observing

best satellite observation

Posted By Matthew Gauthier

I love looking at satellites as they pass over and I thought I'd share my best story/observation with you. Hopefully some of you have other good stories to share, I'd like to hear them.

It was July 4th, 1995. I had set up my 10"SCT in the driveway, which I often did to show neighbors whatever was in the sky at the time. It was early, the sky wasn't anywhere near dark yet, I don't recall the exact time.

I looked up and saw three satellites traveling across the sky together. 2 very bright, one very dim but very close to one of the brighter ones. Then it hit me what it was.

It was the first space shuttle mission to the Mir. The shuttle had undocked that morning and the Russians had left the Mir in their Soyuz capsule to record the event, and to come home if the worst occurred. First bright dot was the shuttle. Second bright dot was the Mir, the dimmest of the three was the Soyuz. All traveling in an area of about 15 degrees.

I pointed it out to the small group I had around the telescope, explained what it was, and said "there are 10 people right there on those lights". It got very quiet and we all watched in wonder.

Still gives me chills, guess I'm officially a nerd.

Anyone else got any good stories?

Matthew
http://www.deerrunobservatory.com/

August 27, 2004 11:38 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

How far will you go for dark skies?

Posted By Matthew Gauthier

I was just curious as to how far most of you are willing to drive to dark skies. I have the luxury of my home being my dark site. There's a club an hour and a half away who's dark site is like being out in the full moon 8O compared to my home. Despite repeated offers both in person, in email, and in group postings, nobody has come out to enjoy my dark sky.

I used to have to drive 2 hours to a dark site that wasn't nearly as dark as I have now, and I never gave it a second thought. Just curious as to what most of you have to travel to get to a dark site.

As a reference, my site is the big cross hair in the middle of this link. The club in questions dark site is the small cross about an inch and a quarter to the right of my location (54 miles actually). http://cleardarksky.com/lp/DrrRnObGAlp.html

Clear Dark Skies!

Matthew
http://www.deerrunobservatory.com/

September 23, 2004 07:54 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

AC Dew Heaters

Posted By Matthew Gauthier

Does anyone use or know of an AC Dew Heater system? Everyone that I have found has is DC. Even the kendrick systems I've seen run on DC only. I have a plug right by the pier in my observatory, so I don't want to have to put a battery in the building just to run a dew heater.

Matthew
http://www.deerrunobservatory.com/

December 2, 2004 10:28 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Low Light Cameras

Posted By Matthew Gauthier

Anyone have an experience using a low light camera from a company like x10 to get live images of the night sky? I was wondering if they'd be any good for setting up something like an all-sky cam.

Matthew
http://www.deerrunobservatory.com/