Re: [Utah-astronomy] Wow!!! (SLAS Maui imaging session)
Ditto. Many thanks to Bob Moore for hosting and Rodger Fry for acting as event coordinator and "mc" and Dave Bernson for being Dave. Even as a spectator, witnessing a 2-meter research grade instrument in operation was one of the most memorable astronomy nights that I've had. I also wanted to thank the U of Hawaii research - I believe the name I heard is J.D. Armstrong - who has graciously arranged to give the club access to Faulkes North - and of course Dill Faulkes himself. If I understand Armstrong's backstory, he has connections to Utah but went on to a professional astronomy career that ended in a major research center in Hawaii. Perhaps I'm reading too much into this, but I assume that some years ago he had some exposure to SLAS. The detail in the raw imagery equals the many images I seen over the years from David Malin. For my own part, assuming there is another session, I'll make the committment to prepare and pre-post a sky chart and list of potential targets online, so participants can easily review and better decide on the best targets before the night of the session. The gallery site we were using to preview potential target images was http://server6.sky-map.org/ . To better justify this amazing access to this resource, I propose for the next session that we also check the Supernova web page and take a purely photometric image of current supernova. http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/supernova.html Another justification support activity might be to keep an eye on the Fermilab Gamma Ray Burst alert list - http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/fermi_grbs.html - so if there is a trigger during a session, we can swing over and make an image. Finally, the imaging experience on the 2 meter Faulkes raises the issue of whether the 1 meter Grimm should be fitted out to also support astrophotography.
And speaking of the raw data (the FIT files) you can find those and some low quality JPGs here: http://tinyurl.com/yd8nxpg
Patrick, I didn't see any access points to the raw FITS files on the cited link. Thanks again to SLAS management for arranging a truely memorable evening. Clear Skies, Kurt
"...Dave Bernson for being Dave." Good one Kurt, I enjoyed that. :) As for the links to the FIT files, they are there but you have to drill down to them. Here's an example for finding the FIT file for the one Hydrogen Beta image we made: 1) Go to http://tinyurl.com/yd8nxpg . 2) Click on the "Further details and Data" link for the Hydrogen Beta image. 3) Use the "Single Filter" link to download the image. Note that if you just click on the link you'll probably just get a screen full of gibberish. Instead you'll probably need to use your browser's "Download Linked File" feature. Not sure what that is on non-Mac machines but on Macs you hold down the Control key and then click on the link. Note that each FIT file is a bit over 2 MB. patrick On 16 Jan 2010, at 22:03, Canopus56 wrote:
Ditto. Many thanks to Bob Moore for hosting and Rodger Fry for acting as event coordinator and "mc" and Dave Bernson for being Dave.
Even as a spectator, witnessing a 2-meter research grade instrument in operation was one of the most memorable astronomy nights that I've had. I also wanted to thank the U of Hawaii research - I believe the name I heard is J.D. Armstrong - who has graciously arranged to give the club access to Faulkes North - and of course Dill Faulkes himself. If I understand Armstrong's backstory, he has connections to Utah but went on to a professional astronomy career that ended in a major research center in Hawaii. Perhaps I'm reading too much into this, but I assume that some years ago he had some exposure to SLAS. The detail in the raw imagery equals the many images I seen over the years from David Malin.
For my own part, assuming there is another session, I'll make the committment to prepare and pre-post a sky chart and list of potential targets online, so participants can easily review and better decide on the best targets before the night of the session. The gallery site we were using to preview potential target images was http://server6.sky-map.org/ .
To better justify this amazing access to this resource, I propose for the next session that we also check the Supernova web page and take a purely photometric image of current supernova.
http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/supernova.html
Another justification support activity might be to keep an eye on the Fermilab Gamma Ray Burst alert list - http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/fermi_grbs.html - so if there is a trigger during a session, we can swing over and make an image.
Finally, the imaging experience on the 2 meter Faulkes raises the issue of whether the 1 meter Grimm should be fitted out to also support astrophotography.
And speaking of the raw data (the FIT files) you can find those and some low quality JPGs here: http://tinyurl.com/yd8nxpg
Patrick, I didn't see any access points to the raw FITS files on the cited link.
Thanks again to SLAS management for arranging a truely memorable evening.
Clear Skies, Kurt
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Patrick Wiggins