The Backyard Stargazer

Jellyfish Nebula, originally uploaded by david parmet.

The Boy Genius and I were visiting my neighbor Doug Baum the other night. Doug is the inventor of the BIPH – aka the Binocular Photon Machine – a light amplification device that brings jaw-dropping views to even the most mundane telescopes.

Doug, his own Boy Genius, my Boy Genius and I retired to Doug’s observatory to do some astrophotography. Doug’s got a Takahashi FSQ-106 set up purely for CCD astronomy. You can see some of his photos here.

The above image was created by my little guy with some encouragement from Doug and his guy. It’s a five minute exposure with some refinement and polishing post-processing. The Jellyfish – IC 443 – is 2,000 light years from Earth.

One of the true revolutionary trends in amateur astronomy is the availability of inexpensive and high-quality CCD cameras – leading to pictures that rival those created by the professional astronomers of only a few decades ago. Just compare the above image to the one on the Wikipedia entry (link above). Imagine what we could have done if we had a half hour.

Now that I’m using an LX-200, I can understand the logic of setting up a semi-permanent (or permanent) structure to house a telescope and accessories. It’s certainly easier on the back.

This here puppy arrived last month. A neighbor of ours bought it on a whim several years ago. He never figured out how to get it working and so here it is, currently living in my office but making frequent trips to the back deck. The electronics are shot but even using it manually is a pleasure.

The scope is rated at f10; looking through it with anything smaller than a 12mm eyepiece is like looking through a straw. My 32mm gives me fantastic views of the Moon, Saturn and Mars and many DSOs.  I’m still figuring this big baby out but having a great time doing it.

Taken at NEAF