Astro 9A/B/C – Fall ’07

Schedule

As always, keep a close eye on the astro 9 webpage and links for the latest information. Below, I've got some suggestions on photo subjects that would be special for that particular night. But these are just suggestions, not commands. Note that on nights with a large moon, it'll be pretty much impossible to take wide field or even medium field images of deep sky objects - the sky will be too bright.

Sep 5 – Opening class. Get oriented, materials. Lecture on camera operation. Discuss overnight trip ideas.

Sept 12: 2%+ cresent moon sets at 7:49pm.

Clear: Excellent night for summer Milky Way photography. Mercury in conjunction with cresent moon. Jupiter in Scorpio is a good bright wide-angle subject for camera alone

Cloudy: lecture: photo ideas, theory of composition, digital imaging basics

Sept 19: 55% first quarter moon in Sagittarius, sets after class ends

Clear: Let's try some lunar photography through the telescopes. Moon + Scorpio + Sagittarius good wide-angle subject

Cloudy: Learning B&W developing in photolab. Theory of CCD imaging + quiz.

Sept 26: Full moon

Clear: pretty tough to do much tonight. Full moon's blot out everything else.

Cloudy: Developing , introduce printing techniques in photo lab. Lecture: using Registax to stack digital images.

Oct 3: 42%- waning cresent moon. Does not rise till after class.

Clear: Dark skies for deep sky projects of all kinds

Cloudy: Developing, printing. Lecture: Lowering noise in digital images.

Oct 10: new moon. Dark all night

clear: dark sky projects

cloudy: film: develop and printing practice. Digital: laptop work on your images. Photoshop help.

Oct 13 Saturday night 13% waxing cresent in the head of Scorpio. Best opportunity for dark-sky overnight trip. All night-er if you want. This will be your absolute BEST opportunity to get the pictures you've been wanting. Here's the plan...

Astro 9 Optional Dark Sky Adventure - Oct 13, 2007, 7:30-> ??pm

We're still "on" for going to Bonny Doon Airfield on Saturday, joining the Santa Cruz Astronomy Club for their bi-monthly star party. Meet at 7:30pm. Weather forecast is for a break between storms. It's possible there still may be lingering clouds in the mountains, so check back here LAST THING before you start your engines! Cancellation at the last minute is not unheard of! As of 6:00pm, weather forecasts call for the lingering convection clouds to clear away at sunset. We're still "go". I'm bringing the 8" f/4 + ST2000XCM digital camera, and also a polar mount which will allow students to get guided shots using their film cameras. We will not have the capability of doing through-the-telescope deep sky film photography on these field trips, only the digital ST2000XCM can do that.

Directions: Drive up High Street towards UCSC and go right on past, it's now called Empire Grade. Drive up the mountain, eventually passing the fire station on the right at Felton-Empire Road. Continue on for a few more miles, till you see "Sunlit Ln" on your left. It's a standard road corner sign so look closely. Stay on Empire Grade for 1/2 mile more, looking for a row of big wooden posts on your left, and an ornate gate entrance with a home on the right. Yes, it's actually an airfield! Drive in and you'll see cars parked on the edge of the field. I will be setting up on the far left near the edge of the parking area. Purple RAV4.

Here's a link to the topographic map of the site and here's the link to SCAC's directions page

Post Trip... our night was a big success, despite a limited turnout. Here's the download

Oct 17: 38%+ waxing moon sets at 10:45pm in Sagittarius

Clear: Brighter sky projects all are fair game; galaxies, star clusters. Not nebulae, not summer Milky Way center.

Cloudy: Developing, printing. Lecture: Getting both faint and bright areas by using "high dynamic range" command.

Oct 24: 98+ full moon, rises before sunset and up all night

Clear: not much can be done tonight. Best to stay in the lab

Cloudy: mounting procedures for B&W film projects. Specialized help on your digital projects in Photoshop. "Astronomy Tools" photoshop actions

Oct 31: 51- last quarter moon rises at 11:45pm, after class

Clear: All dark sky projects are fair game.

Cloudy: developing, printing, mounting, digital, at the photo lab.

Nov 7: 2%- waning cresent moon. Dark all night

Clear: All dark sky projects are fair game.

Cloudy: photolab developing, printing. Digital.

Nov 10 Saturday night - New moon. Final dark sky astrophotography trip.

Nov 14: 23%+ moon in Sagittarius sets at 9:30pm

Clear: Fairly dark sky all class. Moon pix can also be done, or any project not in Sagittarius

Cloudy: You should be ready to be mounting photos by now. Printing color digital photos using local commercial printers.

Nov 21: 91%+ gibbous moon up all night,in pisces.

Clear or cloudy: Moon's too big to allow most projects. Work on completing your projects in the lab

Nov 28: 73%- waning gibbous moon rises at 10:25pm

Clear: Observatory projects are all fair game.

Cloudy: video "The Man Who Colors Stars" in class.

Dec 5: waning cresent moon. Dark all night.

Clear: Absolute last chance to get any images at the observatory, but anything you shoot now will have to be processed, mounted during the week as next week is our last class day. There will be no time for finishing projects at the End-of-Semester Party next week.

Cloudy: last day to finish your mounting and annotating prints

Dec 12

End-of-Semester Party in the Photolab. We’ll put up our photos around the room and praise them and hold a mock auction. Bring pot-luck goodies to share!