HOW TO WATCH THE 2012 LYRIDS METEOR SHOWER

This is a quick field guide to watching the THE LYRIDS METEOR SHOWER
You can download the PDF by clicking on the image... print it off and take it into the field with you.

DOWNLOAD PDF FILE
DOWNLOAD IMAGE FILE

ABOUT THE SHOWER

Shower activity will occur  starting April 16th through 25th. The shower will climb to a fairly sharp peak on the the nights of April 21 and 22.  With a New Moon on the 21st, observers should typically see about 20 meteors per hour, although rates have been seen as high as 90 per hour.


BEST TIME TO VIEW
Best time to watch the shower will start as soon as the sky is dark in your Northern Hemisphere location.  Look low along the North East horizon on the 21st as the radiant sweeps up to an almost overhead position on the morning of the 22nd.  This will repeat again on the evening of the 22nd throught the morning of the 23rd.


OBSERVING
You'll want to be in a spot where the sky is DARK, so if you live in a city head to a rural northern location that is away from most light pollution.  Setup a lawn chair and lie back into a warm sleeping bag with your toes pointing towards the showers radiant giving your head a wide rage of visibility.  The meteors will generally be all over the sky, but mostly concentrated and moving outward from the radiant.

THINGS TO HAVE
I like to keep a log book, my smart phone, thermos of hot coco and a good pair of binoculars while I watch for meteors.

ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY
If you plan on photographing the event, make sure you watch my video on how to TIME LAPSE this meteor shower.  http://youtu.be/Wjcp5YEGQnU

Hope this is a help to you... I love hear the comments and suggestions so pore them on.
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PLANE CROSSES THE SUN - 2012-03-11

I was out filming the sun setting and I caught this plane crossing the face of the Sun. Look closely and you can see a bird cross just before the plane does.

Equipment:
Orion Deluxe 100mm Refractor
CGEM mount
Nikon D7000


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EYESKIES & THE NEW FACEBOOK LOOK

Facebook reviled the new look for "Pages" today and we just went live with our new Profile.

Most of you have already made the change on your personal page. To turn on your preview for the new Pages design, you will need to go to Facebook's "INTRODUCING NEW PAGES" page and click on the green button at the top. Facebook automatically make your page upgraded on March 30, 2012.

Facebook has a "Learn About Facebook Pages" interactive course, and a great "PAGES OVERVIEW PDF" that gives you a good rundown of the new look and how you can use it best.

If your interested in making a cool top image for your account or for your other "PAGES" you will need to create an image that is 851x315 pixels with an image processing program like GIMP (open source and FREE)  or PHOTOSHOP.  I used Photoshop CS5 to create this one and your welcome to use my template.

DOWNLOAD MY THE TEMPLATE HERE >

Hope this is a help to you and keep checking out EyeSkies Facebook page for more updates.
Please leave your comments, questions and suggestions.

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M42 ORION

Just a few photos from the other night...  All the following are single images (not stacked) on my CGEM 8 unguided with the Reducer - Corrector and D7000.  Click on each image to see its full size... Feel free to use them just reference me.
  

This one is a 20s exposure at 1600 ISO.  Cropped in CS5 just a bit.  

This one is a 10s exposure at 1600 ISO.  A car drove by to produce the lens flair at the bottom right.

This one is a 5s exposure at 1600 ISO.  Lots of clouds & light pollution!!!

This one is a 15s exposure at 1600 ISO.  More car light flairs!

It was a cloudy night and I had some Alignment issues so you can see some drift in the stars.  I have posted the full image on at this link...


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Orion EQ-1 Equatorial Telescope Mount - Review

This is my quick video review...



I purchased this mount so I could get outside, quickly setup and view with my Orion Deluxe 100mm scope without having to drag out the CGEM and all the setup that goes with it.  My other hope was to find a mount that was stable enough to do some basic astrophotography on short notice.  I quickly found this not to be the case.

Couple of  pros and cons:

PROS:
1 - Its an Equatorial Telescope Mount... the only kind to get!
2 - Lightweight and portable, coming in at 11.9 lbs.
3 - Easy to setup! Level the mount, find Polaris, line it up and your good to go.

CONS:
1 - Not stable enough for astrophotography
2 - Motion controls are wobbly, do not secure tight and are not fluid enough.
3 - Some sort of sticky tacky lubricant coming out of mount head joints.
4 - Bubble level is glaringly absent.
5 - Will need to purchase other accessories to mount your scope.
6 - R.A. and Dec. Lock screws are torture to your fingers.

In conclusion:  I'm trying to stay positive with this one... It's defiantly worth the $100 I spent on it.  Having said that, I would NOT recommend this for anything but casual viewing!  Taking Images is defiantly out of the question and you should do your research on what to purchase in order to get your scope to hook up to this thing.

Product Link: Orion EQ-1 Equatorial Telescope Mount

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JUPITER - MOON - VENUS

We have a beautiful conjunction tonight tonight.... Click on the images to see a larger version!

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MY FIRST COLD NIGHT OUT

I know I have been complaining about the cold and how its hard for me to get out and observe... Well it was a beautiful night and although it ended when it got down to -12.222° C (10° F), everything seamed to fall into place for taking the scope out for a good run.
 
I set everything up in my driveway around 4:30 pm, leveled the mount and tripod, attached the 8" SC, did a quick balance and went in to fix dinner and hang with the family.  After sunset, we had some friends come over and visit for a small star party.

I first did a quick polar alignment with the CGEM's Polar Finder Scope.  Then I did a quick two star alignment with the Orion 12.5mm Plossl illuminated retical eyepiece. After the alignment was satisfactory, I attached the 32mm eyepiece.

Venus was about to set so I slewed over for a quick view,  wow it was bright and not very interesting.  We could tell it was working it way through its gibbous phase.

Next, over to the Sister Moon in her Waxing Crescent Phase... The kids where in AWE!!!  I love looking at the Moon because it always gets people going and it's a great place to make sure your focused in.

Over to Jupiter and it's moons... I could tell the atmosphere was turbulent because things where moving around real good. I switched over to the 13mm eyepiece, did a quick focus test with my Bahtinov focus mask (must have tool), and was able to pick out the bands of clouds. Io was getting close to it's transit.

The next logical object was M42 and The Great Orion Nebula...  Defiantly the highlight of the evening.  Seeing the gas clouds back-lit with the stellar nursery leaves one speechless.

After everyone went in, I decided to stay out & take some photos.  I first removed the visual back and attached the Celestron Reducer / Corrector & SC T-Adapter  with T-Ring and hooked up the Nikon D7000.  After using the Bahtinov focus mask, I set the camera to the following:

ISO = 1000, White Balance = K @ 4760k, Shutter = BULB

Conditions:  -12.222° C (10° F) and 75% humidity (things where getting frosty to say the least)

I took a single 30 second image with my Vello Shutterboss to avoid any shaking.

This is the resulting image, defiantly my best yet... Click to see the bigger version.

M42 - The Orion Nebula on January 27, 2012  From Liberty, Utah

I'm glad I was able to overcome the cold and get out of the cabin fever... Defiantly worth it!

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