About Astrojohn

I am a science geek! Interests Astronomy, Skiing, Philosophy, basically any form of technology including writing automation software for my observatory. I will also share this with others using the same EQMOD/Astroart tool set.

Categories

Binary System HS0705+6700 Plot

Nice plot of the light curve for HS0705+6700, 2.3hr, post-common envelope eclipsing binary system. Spectroscopy and light curve analysis indicated that the secondary companion was a low mass red dwarf star with mass and radius of 0.13M0 and 0.19R0

Paper on objects round eclipsing binary stars.

The paper is now on the archive of scientific papers:

https://arxiv.org/abs/1911.00125

Quite a significant amount of new data from our group. Some interesting departures from early expectations. It will clearly take some ongoing research to identify the mechanisms that are producing some of the effects.

Seems to be getting some interest!

Someone asked “Isn’t there an easier way than building an Observatory”

Yes, I did it once while I was building a new observatory. It took me just 3 hours to build!!

Roll Off Shed
Roll off shed design.

Thick marine ply base with 6 castors to help keep it from flexing, cut out for scope pier. Even put in a dehumidifier. Mine was a bit messy as it was only temporary. Cheap though! And… Fast to start up. I really liked this solution. Mrs also thought it was ok in the garden.

This would be ideal for small gardens or even one of Patrick Moores concrete observatory bases.

New light curve for binary NSVS14256825.

New light curve for NSVS14256825 binary.

Standard plot of mag against time.

Check plot to look at a check star

Getting a bit low (30deg at end)

Want to get started in astronomy on a budget?

Thanks for writing this handy guide.. Now in the LINKS page.

New Data on NSVS 01286630 a close binary star system.

Binary star measurement.

Using the time variations of the eclipses we are able to calculate the orbit of possible companion objects big enough to have an effect on the orbital period of the binary pair.

The picture below is the plot of light magnitude from the binary pair. The timing of this minima is then corrected for our orbit round the sun and further corrections to give the precise time of the eclipse.

many of these are measured to find orbital variation caused by third objects.

Light curve for NSVS 01286630

HAT-P-12

A star 465 Light years away from earth. Has a planet around it that was first confirmed in 2012. So I thought I would use my observatory to look at the transit of that planet. A very small dip in the light from the star.

HAT-P-12b planet

Unfortunately I could not get the entry into eclipse due to cloud and this makes the plot a bit distorted. This is at the exit from transit at 22:00 UTC on the 25-4-2019.

Veil Nebula in Cygnus

The Veil Nebula is a cloud of heated and ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus.
A supernova remnant, many portions of which have acquired their own individual names and catalogue identifiers. The source supernova was a star 20 times more massive than the Sun, which exploded around 8,000 years ago. The distance to the nebula is not precisely known, but data supports a distance of about 1,470 light-years.

Just taken with R,G,B Filters a stack of 3 x 400sec images for each filter. Darks and Flats from the current library. Taken from Selsey with the RC Astrograph and Starlight Xpress H694 camera at -12c.

Latest Spectra of bright star Phad in Plough

This is an easy one as it is an A0 spectral type.

Type Ao with SA200 grating

It is 2017 and to start the New Year– Orion Nebular!

I just love this nebular.  Star forming area of dust and gas. This is a better image than before Xmas.
Two sets of exposures to get the core and the dust areas.

Techy bit:  3 x 100sec per RGB and 4 X 130sec L  merged with 3X 60sec per RGB and 4 X 60sec Luminance. Taken with 8inch RC astrograph with a Trius H694 camera running ar -12C. Filter system is StarlightXpress Mount is AzEq6 pro.

Orion Nebular

Orion Nebular