Spectacular Pleiades

On fall and winter evenings, the northern sky's most spectacular open cluster rides high in the constellation Taurus the Bull. The 70-million-year-old cluster contains some 100 stars in an area 14 light years in diameter with ten stars brighter than 6th magnitude. Photographs show the entire area surrounded by ice-blue nebulosity that reflects the light of the hot, young stars. Debate continues whether the nebulosity is associated with the stars or whether the cluster is just moving through an area of nebulosity. Either way, the cluster/nebulosity combination makes for a magnificent wide-field photograph. Here is a reduced version of the Pleiades:

(Click image to view larger version)

A map of the Pleiades rotated to match all images is shown below:

(Click image to view larger version)

The brightest area of nebulosity surrounds the star Merope (23 Taurii) and is known as the Merope Nebula (IC349). Just to the south of Merope (left) is another area of nebulosity cataloged as NGC 1435 and also known as Tempel's Nebula. A close-up image of the area around Merope is shown below:

(Click image to view larger version)

Another bright area of nebulosity surrounds the Maia (20 Taurii) and is known as the Maia Nebula (NGC 1432). A close-up image of the area around Maia is shown below:

(Click image to view larger version)

Note 1: East is toward top and North is toward right side for all images. Complete image details are available by clicking here.

Note 2: [Source: O'Meara, Stephen James. "The Messier Objects". Cambridge: University of Cambridge and Sky Publishing, 1998. Print.]

NGC 663 and Companions

Among the many open cluster in the region where the Milky Way cuts through Cassiopeia is a tight grouping of three clusters dominated by NGC 663. With a diameter of 15 arc-minutes and a magnitude of 7.1, NGC 663 is also cataloged as Caldwell 10 and is often described as the 'The Horseshoe Cluster'. Here is a close-up image of NGC 663:

(Click image to view larger version)

About one-half degree to the southwest of NGC 663 is another fainter and smaller cluster cataloged as NGC 659. This cluster is about 6 arcmin in diameter and shines at magnitude 7.9. Here is a close-up image of NGC 659:

(Click image to view larger version)

Also in the same field of view, about 43 arc-minutes to the northwest of NGC 663 is still another small cluster designated as NGC 654. This cluster is also about 6 arc-minutes in diameter but slightly brighter than NGC 659 at magnitude 6.5. Here is a close-up image of NGC 654:

(Click image to view larger version)

The complete field-of-view containing the three clusters (labeled) is shown in the following image. Note: The bright blue-white star to the southwest (below and left) of NGC 659 is the multiple star 44 CAS. This 5.8 magnitude star has a magnitude 9.6 companion 66 arc-seconds away and a 9.2 magnitude companion 140 arc-seconds away.

(Click image to view larger, unlabeled version)

Note: East is toward top and North is toward right side for all images. Also, complete image details are available by clicking here.

Comet Garradd - Sept. 29, 2011

Comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd) is a fairly bright and very well placed object for North American astronomers from now through Spring of 2012. As comets go it is a large object but never comes closer to the Sun than Mars' average distance. Thus it will be visible for an unusually long time but will never sport much of a tail. Below is an image of Garradd taken on the evening of September 29, 2011 from the Chiefland Astronomy Village in Chiefland, Florida. It is composed of multiple 2-minute exposures through LRGB filters.

(Click image to view larger version)

Here is also a very short video of the motion of Garradd over the 90-minute period that I spent imaging the object (10 frames, each frame approximately ten minutes apart).

Sending Text Messages with Python

One of the neat things I like to do with my Astro-Imaging scripts is to have the ability to send periodic status messages to my cell phone. With this capability, if I am away from my imaging computer, I can always know how imaging is progressing. Also, I can have my script send any error messages that crop up so that I may immediately return to my imaging setup if needed.

The key to sending text messages is contained in this List of SMS Gateways that contains e-mail addresses for each of the major cell phone carriers. Basically, all you need to do is send an e-mail message to the domain that applies to your cell phone carrier with your phone's ten-digit number as the address. As the Wikipedia page explains, you can only send simple text messages to the SMS gateway. The following Python code listing shows how to send the e-mail message programmatically. Obviously, you will need to know the outgoing e-mail domain, your user name and password for accessing your personal e-mail service provider to make the code work.

The listing shown below is coded for my particular service carrier (AT&T Wireless). To personalize the code for your particular setup, just modify the five constants defined prior to the class declaration. The source file corresponding to this listing can be downloaded from cTexting.zip.

from smtplib import SMTP
import datetime
import socket
import traceback

SMTP_DOMAIN = r'<OUTGOING EMAIL DOMAIN>'
SMTP_USER   = r'<USER NAME>'
SMTP_PASS   = r'<PASSWORD>'
FROM_ADDR   = r'AstroPhoto Update <anyone@gmail.com>'
TO_ADDR     = r'<TEN-DIGIT CELL NUMBER>@txt.att.net'

socket.setdefaulttimeout(10)

##--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
## Class: cTextMsg
##------------------------------------------------------------------------------
class cTextMsg:
    __objectName = ''

    def __init__(self):
        pass
        
    def set_objectName(self, value):
        self.__objectName = value
        return
    
    def get_objectName(self):
        return self.__objectName

    def sendSMSMessage(self,message):
        smtp = SMTP()
        smtp.set_debuglevel(0)
        
        subject = self.get_objectName()
        date = datetime.datetime.now().strftime('%d/%m/%Y %H:%M')

        msg = 'From: %s\nTo: %s\nSubject: %s\nDate: %s\n\n%s' % \
                (FROM_ADDR,TO_ADDR,subject,date,message)
        
        try:
            smtp.connect(SMTP_DOMAIN,0)
            smtp.login(SMTP_USER,SMTP_PASS)
            smtp.sendmail(FROM_ADDR,TO_ADDR,msg)
            print "SMS Message Sent Successfully"
            smtp.quit()
        except socket.timeout:
            print "ERROR: Timeout sending SMS Message"
        except:
            print "ERROR: Unable to send SMS Message"
            print '!'*60
            print traceback.format_exc()
        
##
##    END OF 'cTextMsg' Class
##

if __name__ == '__main__':
    
    email_msg = cTextMsg()
    email_msg.set_objectName('M31')
    print 'Object Name: ' + email_msg.get_objectName()
    email_msg.sendSMSMessage('This is a sample message from an imaging session.')

Vertical Antenna Tilt Mount

For the past 10+ years (which covers almost the entire span of my amateur radio career) my main antenna has been a GAP Titan DX 8-band vertical antenna. This versatile antenna weighs in at around 25 lbs. and has a height of about 25 feet. For most of this time the antenna has been mounted on one corner of a second floor wooden deck and was very difficult to raise and lower. In fact, the antenna was only lowered once, in September 2004, when our area was hit by two hurricanes in a three-week period. Consequently, I have not been able to easily check the condition of the antenna and perform some needed periodic maintenance.

Due to the obvious deterioration of the antenna from lack of maintenance and from this area's highly corrosive seaside location, I've decided to remove the antenna from its second floor mount and to re-mount it in a more convenient location in my back yard. A main requirement of the this new mount was to provide a means to easily raise and lower the antenna when needed for maintenance and when adverse weather conditions threaten. Below is a photo of the new tilt ground-mount base for the GAP antenna that I've come up with.

The base is made up of two 8-foot long treated 2"x4"s that are sunk 3 feet into the ground. A 42" deep by 18" diameter hole was dug out, filled with 6" of rock then poured with concrete around the 2"x4"s. Three sets of 6" long carriage bolts were installed between the 2"x4"s below ground level to give the concrete something to grab onto other than the treated wood.

Above the ground, the 2"x4" were joined with a 4-foot piece of treated 2"x6". A 6-foot piece of schedule-40 1" galvanized water pipe (1.32" OD) is mounted inside the channel formed by the 2"x4"s and 2"x6" (backside of photo on the left).

The pivot-point for the tilt mechanism is drilled through the galvanized pipe near the top end of the pipe. The pipe swings on a piece of 3/32" stainless steel threaded rod secured with two nuts of the outside of the 2"x4"s. Another set of nuts is installed on either side of the pipe to prevent the pipe from wobbling when it swings in and out of the channel between the 2"x4"s. Refer to the photo to the right.

In the normal, upright position, the galvanized pipe is secured to the base mount using 3 stainless steel 1/4" U-bolts pushed through holes in the 2"x6". Two of the three U-bolts are visible in the photo to the left.

For the antenna to be lowered, the three U-bolts are removed and the antenna will be either walked or winched down to a horizontal position. (I'm considering installation of a hand-winching mechanism.) The top of the 2"x6" will prevent the antenna from swinging lower than a nearly-horizontal position. Refer to the photo of the unloaded swing pipe in the photo to the right.




The antenna will be mounted onto the top portion of the 1" galvanized pipe using a stainless steel mounting plate and U-bolts provided with the GAP antenna. The 5'x5' wire hoop at the base of the antenna will be installed after the antenna is raised into its vertical position. Likewise, the hoop will have to be removed prior to lowering the antenna into its horizontal position. By elevating the base of the antenna about 6' off the ground, the hoop will be positioned approximately 8' off the the ground and well above the heads of anyone walking in the yard.