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Showing posts with label telescopes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label telescopes. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

The Art of Electronics #5 Paul Horowitz on SETI (and lots of other radio stuff)


In 2016 Paul Horowitz  talked about SETI at Google. Fascinating stuff.  Paul did an especially good job of weaving in a lot of radio/electronic and computer info.  

-- I was pleased to learn that one of the early radio astronomy antennas used plywood covered with copper.  I hope it was copper tape! 

-- I didn't know that the Fast Fourier Transform was something developed in the 1960s. 

-- Parkes Telescope!  Yea! 

-- Paul's "chirping" of receivers to screen out targets that are NOT doppler shifting (i.e. terrestrial signals). 

-- Paul tells the group that "amateur" does not mean unprofessional -- it means that the person is doing it for the love of doing it.  Amen. 

-- SETI at Home. 

-- Tube op-amps!  (was that two 12AX7s?)  

--  A variometer!  Wow!  I have two here -- one in the ET-2 regen receiver  (a gift from Pericles HI8P), and another that I homebrewed using a 35mm film can.  

Great stuff from Paul. 

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

The James Webb Space Telescope -- Background Video and Update Article


The Scientific American video (above) has some really interesting info on how they built the JWST and what its capabilities are.  For example, they tell us that it could detect the heat from a single bumble bee at the distance of the surface of the moon.  How the mirror was made, and how it is adjusted in space is really amazing. 

The Scientific American article provides a good, balanced view of how the initial results from JWST are calling into question the basic models of cosmology: 

Wednesday, July 13, 2022

James Webb Telescope's Deep Field -- What Would Be Behind A Grain of Sand Held at Arms Length. Click on the Picture


 NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has produced the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date. Known as Webb’s First Deep Field, this image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is overflowing with detail.

Thousands of galaxies – including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared – have appeared in Webb’s view for the first time. This slice of the vast universe is approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length by someone on the ground.

Wednesday, January 26, 2022

Image of James Webb Space Telescope In Position at L2




A very nice shot of the James Webb Space Telescope, nearly 1 million miles away, taken from Rome. 

Tuesday, October 19, 2021

Homebrew Tiny Space Telescopes from the Netherlands


It is good every once in a while to step back from our electronic work benches and take a look at what other kinds of builders are making.   Hack-A-Day led me to this wonderful video from Holland.  There is great background information on telescopes, but the really great part is the interview with the Dutch fellow who is actually making -- in his home workshop -- these tiny telescopes.  Icing on the cake:  One of them will be used in a student Cube-Sat project in Oregon.  

Be sure to stay to the end for an intriguing presentation by Dr. Liam Fullersheit. 

Monday, December 21, 2020

Observations from the Mars 2020 Opposition

 

These are some of the drawings that I made during the Mars 2020 opposition. I would go out to my back porch with my 6 inch Dobsonian Newtonian telescope.  I would look closely at Mars, making mental note of what I was seeing. Then I would go to the shack and immediately draw what I'd seen. I would then look for relatively recent images of Mars made by people with more experience and better equipment, and I'd compare my drawings with their images -- this enabled me to understand what I was seeing.  Also useful was the Mars Profiler of Sky and Telescope magazine -- you just plug in the date and time and it displays the part of Mars that is facing us. 

I was especially pleased with the drawing and image above because I'd been reading a lot about the Hellas impact crater in Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy.   (SCP should be SPC = Southern Polar Cap.)  



I came to think of this as the "M of Mars."  I think it is just Mare Cimmerium, Mare Hesperia, and Mare Tyrrhenum. 


bcastropics.com made this illustration of how Mars's apparent size has changed

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Mars is BACK! 2020 Opposition! Don't Miss it!

2004 
Sometimes waking up a bit earlier when the sunrise is coming later leads you to some interesting things.  

It was quite humid in Northern Virginia on the morning of 25 August 2020, but the skies were surprisingly clear.  I stepped outside at about 0500 local time, coffee cup in hand.  Venus was blazing in the east.  Then I saw this big very bright red thing high in the southern sky.   It seemed almost too bright and too high in the sky to be Mars.  But a quick check with Stellarium showed that it was in fact the Red Planet.  I pulled out my six inch Dobsonian reflector telescope and soon had Mars in the eyepiece.  

For the first time in many years I could see surface features:  It is springtime in the southern hemisphere of Mars, but the Southern Polar Cap (which recedes in the summer) was still very prominent (in my eyepiece it was near the top, as in the GIF above) .  I could also see an albedo (dark on light) feature below the icecap.

I went out again on the morning of 26 August 2020.  Again the Southern Polar Cap was very visible.  Below it, near the center of the disc,  I could make out a large albedo feature.  I am pretty sure that is Mare Erythraeum.  


Above is what Stellarium presented as Mars as viewed from Earth this morning. The Southern Polar Cap is much more prominent in my telescope (you can see it in the upper right in the image above).  The large dark thing near the center of the disc is Erythraeum.  In the Stellarium image you can see the enormous Vallis Marinaris canyon shooting off to the lower right (sadly I could not see this in my telescope). 

The GIF at the top of this post gives a much better view than I get with my little six inch telescope.  The GIF gives a good idea of what the albedo features and the ice cap look like.  

This was a great time for me to see these things.  I'm almost done with the second book in Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy -- much of the story takes place in sanctuaries carved under the Southern ice cap, and in Hellas (which Robinson's colonists are filling with water).  During the 2018 Earth-Mars opposition a big dust storm made it impossible for me  to see anything on Mars; a similar storm takes place during book one of Robinson's Trilogy. And right now the Perseverance rover is on its way to Mars.  

This 2020 opposition will be the best one until 2033.  So don't miss it. 



Here is a good article on observing Mars during the current opposition: 
https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/skills/how-to-observe-mars/

Here are technical details on the 2020 opposition: 
http://www.alpo-astronomy.org/jbeish/2020_MARS.htm

To see what side of Mars is facing us at any time, use Sky and Telescope's Mars Profiler: 
https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/interactive-sky-watching-tools/mars-which-side-is-visible/#

Here is a very informative video about the 2020 opposition: 



And remember:  The Elser-Mathes Cup has still not been won.  

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Transit of Mercury, 11 November 2019, and a Transit of Venus and Some Sunspots from 2012


Above:  Transit of Mercury, November 11, 2019 as I saw it from Northern Virginia using a 4.5 inch reflector with image projected onto a white paper.  Elisa took the picture with her I-phone.  Arrow shows Mercury.  I almost missed it -- Billy texted from college to remind me of the big event. 


Above:  Transit of Venus June 6, 2012 as seen from Northern Virginia.  Billy (age 13) took the picture with his I-phone 4.  Venus is much bigger, much closer and much easier to see.  Near the bottom edge of the solar disc. 
  

Above;  Billy on November 12, 2011 with the 4.5 inch Tasco Reflector that was used on BOTH the Venus and Mercury transits (we projected the image on paper). On this day we were using our newfound solar photography expertise to take a picture of sunspots (our picture below). 


Ah, those were the days!  Many spots back then.  None now. 


Friday, June 29, 2018

Two Videos from Other Kinds of Workshops -- Dobson Makes a Telescope, Peter Builds an Airplane


Above you can watch a video showing the legendary John Dobson making a big telescope. Born in Beijing, Dobson is the former Hindu monk who left the monastery to show people how to make big telescopes out of shipping tubes and port-hole glass.  Think of it as the BITX of amateur astronomy.  Dobson is the founder of the "sidewalk astronomy" movement -- that's when you set up your 'scope on an urban sidewalk and show the wonders of the universe (or at least the solar system) to passers-by.  We did this in London with Saturn.  (Some of the cynical Londoners couldn't believe it was real -- they thought I had a transparency in the scope tube.) Dobson developed a very simple and popular method of mounting telescope tubes -- the "Dobsonian" method.   

More on Dobson here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dobson_(amateur_astronomer)

Below you can see a short update on Peter's homebrew airplane. 

Monday, June 25, 2018

Dust Storm on Mars


Damn.  Just as Mars gets close enough for me to see something with my 6 inch reflector telescope, a massive dust storm hits.  I was out there this morning at 0430 local.   Mars was bright and red in the southern sky, but when I got it in the telescope's field of view it was like looking at a red version of Venus -- just the disk, with no surface features visible.  The before-and-after pictures above (taken with far better equipment than mine) shows the extent to which the dust has obscured things on Mars. 

But Sky and Telescope reports that the Martian skies may soon be clearing.  Hooray!  


Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Fast Radio Bursts and the Molonglo Radio Telescope (with video)



7,744 circular dipoles on 843 MHz  feeding 176 preamplifiers and 88 IF amplifiers!

Read about how the Molonglo Radio Telescope has recently been used to study the mysterious Fast Radio Bursts:
http://www.sciencealert.com/confirmed-mysterious-radio-bursts-detected-by-astronomers-really-are-coming-from-outer-space

There is a Grote Reber connection:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molonglo_Observatory_Synthesis_Telescope

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

A Signal for SETI? HD 164595


That's the Russian radio-telescope that picked up what was thought to be a possible signal from an extraterrestrial civilization.   This article from the SETI Institute has some interesting tech info on antennas and power levels.  Definitely not QRP!


Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Mars Star Party from La Palma (video)



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Wednesday, January 8, 2014

First Light


Preston:  Your use of the term "First Light" is especially appropriate.  I got the concept from a wonderful book of that title by the author Richard PRESTON.  I pulled it off the shelf this morning, and, as my coffee was brewing, read this on the dust cover:

"First Light won the American Institute of Physics award in science writing. An asteroid has been named "Preston" in honor of First Light. It is likely someday to collide with Mars or the earth."

The book's glossary defines first light as: "A technical term from astronomy signifying the moment when starlight is allowed to fall on a new mirror for the first time."  The first light experience must, I think, be similar to the feelings we get when we first allow RF to fall on the front end of a new homebrew receiver.

Congrats on the S-107 OM.

73  Bill N2CQR
------------------------------------------

From Preston Douglas WJ2V:

I am happy to report that my little novice rig (well it's not so little if you weigh it) consisting of my restored circa 1960 Hallicrafters S-107 and circa 1959 KnightKit T-50 (with V-44) made our first QSO with a guy 20 miles away on Staten Island.  This was Saturday afternoon, in full daylight, on 40 meters.  He was also running vintage equipment (Heath) but running an SB-200 Heath linear.  I have no idea why he needed a linear on 40 meter CW, but he seemed happy with it.  I could easily hear his signal via leakage through my Daiwa cavity switch, so it was a pretty powerful signal.  The T-50 puts out maybe 20-25 watts full bore, but it certainly works fine, and got a 569 signal report.  The 9 part was obviously the important one.
 
I had just turned on the equipment, so the S-107 needed to be adjusted a bit during the QSO to allow for a bit of warm up drift.  It stabilizes ten or fifteen minutes after warmup.  I had to use a straight key as I have not yet built the little kit that interfaces solid state keyers with old rigs.  I'll get to it on a slow afternoon this winter perhaps.  But for now, a straight key is about the right speed for this setup.  T/R requires switching the antenna, the VFO to transmit, and the receiver to standby for transmitting.  Not exactly QSK. Since there are so many switches, it may not pay to add an antenna relay switch to this setup.  Besides, switching is part of the fun.  

I did not get set up in time for New Years, so missed the chance to operate SKN.

I learned about first light from Bill Meara's podcasts.  It refers to the first time a telescope is used, but, as he says, it applies just as well to a new (old) rig.

All of this was caused by a local ham offering a Hallicrafters S-107 for ten bucks. Even with the few bucks needed to put it right, I sure got my money's worth.  

Regards guys and Happy New Year,

Preston WJ2V
----------------------------------------
 
Earlier from Preston:
 
I am pleased to report my S-107 is restored to full function.  Based on the build up of filth on it before cleaning, it is also cleaner than it has been for many years.  The greasy dirt (I shudder to think what it was made of) in between the flutes of the control knobs has succumbed to a toothbrush and detergent.  Who'd have thought what a difference clean controls would make in the overall appeal of a radio?

The S-107 was purchased without negotiation from a local and fellow member of the Long Island Mobile Radio Club for ten bucks.  I cheerfully handed over a ten spot and drove home with this rig.  

On the bench, the tubes lit, and I could hear a couple of AM stations, but it made an awful racket with 60/120 cycle hum.  New electrolytic caps cured that.  The chassis felt "hot" to the touch.  Resistance checks on the HV-to-AC sides of the transformer confirmed that, thankfully, there were no shorts.  On advice of some pros on this list and elsewhere, I removed a cap and resistor from the AC line to the chassis that Hallicrafters thought was a good idea.  With a new three wire grounded plug, the chassis was now cold.  

Alignment was done with an old Conar signal generator (my $1 victory from an old hamfest) and trusty Tek 465 with frequency counter connected to its rear connector.  The double IF transformers peaked up, and so did the front end compression caps on all bands.  And now, the radio really receives CW and SSB!  With a simple dipole (my beam seems to have gotten sick from Irene and Sandy) I get good signals on 80, 40, and 20.  Maybe next weekend I will have time to try the upper bands during daylight hours.  But, the signal generator suggests they should be fine.

The ten buck receiver needed ten bucks worth of electrolytics.  And I needed to buy a little 20 buck kit of Bristol Splined wrenches.  (Nobody I thought to ask had a set to lend.)  They were needed because: Another Hallicrafters bit of wonderment is that the setscrews in the control knobs need to be turned with these unusual wrenches that look like, but aren't, hex keys.  Well, I suppose I can say I have the wrenches if I decide to restore another Hallicrafters.  I hear Collins has them too.

I think I mentioned that I had to restring both the band spread and main tuning with real dial cord.  Another three bucks, perhaps.  So, my ten buck receiver is still a bargain at around 40 bucks in all.  And, I had a lot more than 40 bucks worth of fun.  I spent part of the afternoon just listening to the receiver, it sounded so good.  You know how it is when you first listen to a new receiver.

Now, next thing will be to see how it does making contacts with a Knight T-50.  I know the T-50 is not quite QRP.  I probably puts out about 25 or 30 watts.  

This will be about as close to my novice station as I am willing to fall.  The original station had the T-50, but no VFO (which came with the T-50 I have now); but the receiver was an S-38E, which was, (collectors notwithstanding) a piece of crap.  And it's dangerous since it is really one of those transformerless AM radios in shortwave clothing.  No wonder I only made a handful of contacts with it as a novice.  I have no nostalgia for my old Hallicrafters S-38E.  I hear folks recommend operating it with an isolation transformer.  I have a better idea.  Don't plug it in.

I had so much fun with the S-107, though, I am starting to think about restoring an S-108 or an SX-110.

Preston Douglas WJ2V

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Saturday, November 2, 2013

Arecibo Birthday


Thanks to Bob Crane for this birthday alert:

The Arecibo Observatory opened on this date in 1963. At a diameter of a thousand feet, it's the largest single-aperture telescope ever built. It's also got the largest focusing dish in the world, which gathers electromagnetic waves from space. Located near the city of Arecibo in Puerto Rico, it's close to the equator, which enables it to "see" (via radio waves) all the planets in the solar system; within six months of its opening, it enabled scientists to study the rotation rate of Mercury and determine that it rotated every 59 days, rather than 88 as was previously thought. It's also been used for military purposes like locating Soviet radar installations by tracking their signals as they were reflected off the moon. It's provided the first full imaging of an asteroid and also led to the first discovery of planets outside our solar system.

In 1999, it began collecting data for the SETI Institute; SETI stands for "search for extraterrestrial intelligence," and the organization looks for deliberate radio or optical signals from other planets. The Arecibo Observatory also sends data over broadband to the home and office computers of 250,000 volunteers, who, through the Einstein@Home program, donate their computers to be used for data analysis during periods when they would otherwise be idle. A year ago, three such volunteers in Iowa and Germany discovered a previously unknown pulsar, 17,000 light years from Earth.

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Monday, October 28, 2013

Book Review: "Bunch of Amateurs" by Jack Hitt

The title held a lot of promise, but the subtitle ("A Search for the American Character") hinted at the main problem that I had with the book:  the author (perhaps driven by his editor) seemed to be struggling to prove that there is some uniquely American elements to amateur science and technology.  Early on, Mr. Hitt, makes the preposterous claim that "the rest of the world doesn't have amateurs."  He goes on to write that "In Europe and on other continents, the word hints at class warfare... Amateurs may be taken seriously, but, almost by the power of the word, are kept in their place: isolated outside some pre-existing professional class, some long-standing nobility.  In America, amateurs don't stay in their place or keep to themselves."   

What a load of rubbish!  This claim directly contradicts what many of us have been finding out in the quintessentially amateur world of amateur radio:  as we travel around the world (in person, or via the ionosphere) we find, all around the globe,  guys who have followed shockingly similar paths to ham radio.  From Sudan to Switzerland, from India to Indiana, the story is much the same.  And I'll bet you'll find similar similarities in just about every serious sci-tech hobby (astronomy, photography, etc.).  To claim that there is something fundamentally exceptional about amateurism in the U.S. is, I think, ridiculous.  Mr. Hitt should have spent some time looking at the amazingly diverse and vibrant world of British amateur science and technology.  That alone would have prevented him from straying into these silly claims of American amateur exceptionalism. 

But, all that aside, there is a lot of interesting material in the book.  I liked his description of John Dobson and the amateur telescope builders.  And, somewhat surprisingly, Hitt's description of the DIY Biology movement (these guys are playing with genetics and cooking up new organisms) seemed to capture very well the creative joy and satisfaction that amateurs find when working (just for fun) on their projects.  I was kind of surprised when I found myself identifying with the DIY Biology folks. Their basement labs sounded a lot like our radio shacks.   

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20
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