April 13th Research Group Meeting "Mining the Kepler Mission Database"

NJAA Research Group Meeting

Friday April 13th 8 PM

"Mining the Kepler Mission Database"

Kevin Alton Presenting

The Kepler space satellite is best known in the lay press for reporting the possible detection of Earth-like worlds circling far-off suns, yet by comparison to this primary objective, the Kepler Mission will most assuredly lead to the discovery of far more traditionally defined intrinsic or extrinsic variable stars. Started in 2009, the Kepler Mission will continue for at least 3.5 years and perhaps as long as 6 years. New data are generally made public on a quarterly basis so that there is a veritable warehouse of lightcurves available for analysis. If you only have time at night to take astro-images suitable for framing, but still are interested in the scientific aspects of variable stars, then the Kepler database could probably keep you busy for the rest of your life. Fortunately, there are a large number of freely available software tools and applications that can assist in finding, retrieving, downloading and analyzing lightcurves gathered by the Kepler space satellite and stored in the Kepler Archives. Join me on April 13th at the NJAA Research Group Meeting and I will walk you through the process of potentially discovering something new about a variable star in the Kepler field-of-view that has never been seen before.
Kevin Alton

Please check out Kevin Alton's website at :
http://www.underoakobservatory.com/

I highly recommend Kevin's Journal #3 which contains information pertaining to the talk:
http://www.underoakobservatory.com/UnderOak_Issue3_Final.pdf

Please join us this Friday as expert variable star observer Kevin Alton presents. 
Refreshments will be served.

Saturn, Jupiter, and Martian Volcanoes.

Saturn, Jupiter, and Martian Volcanoes

Displayed are some of the images taken thru March of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars.  

The first two images were taken by Vladimir Alexandrov and Mitchell Revalski of the NJAA Research Group.  These images were captured the night after Wayne Jaeschke’s presentation on lunar/planetary imaging.  We learned a lot from Wayne and everyone was excited to image.  The last two images of Mars were taken by yours truly a week later.  

Saturn 3/11/12 by

Vladimir Alexandrov

12” RCX 400, @ F20

DMK21AU04,  2X Telvue Barlow

Schirra Observatory

Saturn

Saturn is considered the most beautiful planet in the solar system.    Saturn is also one of the most difficult planets to image!  Unfortunately, Saturn is not as bright as one would expect.  This creates a host of problems as we try to capture the detail on the planet.  To obtain this image, NJAA Research Group member Vladimir Alexandrov stayed out till 5 am in the morning.   By 4:30 am the planet was high enough for a good image to be obtained.  Vlad had to increase the gain on the DMK21AU4 CCD imaging camera due to the planets low magnitude.   The exposure time was much longer than typically used for Mars and Jupiter at f20.   Still, Vlad’s hard work paid off with an excellent image of the ringed planet that shows a wealth of detail.   Close scrutiny of Vlad’s image shows 8 belts/zones along with the A,B, and C rings.  The Cassini division is evident along with a hint of the Enke Minima.

Jupiter 3/10/12 by

Mitchell Revalski

12” RCX 400, @ F20

DMK21AU04,  2X Telvue Barlow

Schirra Observatory

Jupiter

Imaging Jupiter was no easy task.  The low altitude and smaller size of the planet make it more difficult to image than a few months ago.  After imaging Mercury and Venus, Mitchell Revalksi turned the 12” RCX on Jupiter.  Three images were obtained with the DMK21AU04 CCD camera, and later processed with Autostakkert 2.  The separate R, G, B filtered images were than compiled in Photoshop CS2.   This image is important considering that it clearly shows the thinning of the Northern Equatorial Belt (NEB).

If the observer looks at the two main belts of Jupiter they will note that the NEB is going thru a dramatic change.  Many of the drawings by Steve Gale clearly show the thinning NEB too. 

Mars 3/23/12   1:46 UT

  

Mars

Mars is changing with the seasons.  As noted before, the planet is currently going thru summer as the Northern Polar Cap (NPC) shrinks.  Clouds have been seen on the Red planet just about every day.  On the night of March 23, I was able to image the planet at two different times, three hours apart.   This was after the discovery of a strange high altitude cloud by lunar/planetary imager, Wayne Jaeschke.  

(More information about the strange Martian cloud can be found here:

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/30/10945735-mars-mystery-cloud-explained)

   I was not able to image the cloud feature observed by Wayne.  But the 8” SCT used for imaging did not disappoint!  The image taken at 1:46 UT shows three dark circles that correspond to the location of volcanoes on the Martian surface.  The large Nix Olympia can also be seen to the right of the three smaller volcanoes.  Nix Olympia contains a dark surrounding area coupled with a cloud formation over the volcanoes peak area and to the north of it. 

     Mars 3/23/12   3:35 UT

    Three hours later, at 3:35 UT, the planet was imaged again.  By this time, the previous volcanoes had rotated to the side with Nix Olympia dead center.  A tiny cloud can be viewed over its peak coupled with a larger cloud on its western side (left side in image).

These images were sent to the British Astronomical Association Mars Director, Richard Mckrim.

Richard, remarked that the detail was excellent for an 8” scope and that the Martian volcanoes do become darker at this point in the Martian season.  (the dark circles in the 1:46 UT image).   This was a relief as I originally could not match the appearence of the surface markings in the 1:46 UT image with the expected view from the Mars Previewer II software.   A follow up with a Mars iphone app, showed that volcanoes were located exactly where the three dark patch circles were located in the 1:46 UT image.

Conclusion

Hopefully the weather will cooperate and many more images of the planets will follow.

I am very pleased with our success and Wayne Jaeschke’s advice has really paid off.   I am extremely thankful for all the hardwork done by the members of the NJAA Research Group.  To top it off, we have had excellent support from the NJAA board members.  One of the board members (Al Witzgal) even donated a rare Telvue 2.5X barlow for imaging. 

As for the planets, Saturn will be nearing opposition in the coming weeks.   Mars is going to start shrinking in size (as viewed from Earth).  Hence the detail on the planet will be more difficult to image.   Still, now is an excellent time to keep an eye on Mars planet as other observers stop following it.  

William Anthony
NJAA Research Director

Planetary Submissions

I just sent out my 50th submission!  Steve

Mars on March 27th

Was anyone else observing Mars last night? In the past I've had to really concentrate on what I was seeing, do two or maybe three sketches to test myself. I do the finished drawing when the sketches all look about the same. But last night I took a look and BAM! There was everything right there. The usual 10 or 15 minutes to get enough info for a finished drawing was more like a minute and change. The features along the top and through the middle were the darkest I'd ever seen - by a lot. It was the very first time I had no question as to what exactly I was drawing.

My first shadow on Jupiter!

Maybe I've seen them before but didn't realize. Thing is this was do different. The spot of dark was more extreme than anything I'd seen on the planet before, trying to make sense of it is when the shadow theory dawned on me. Wayne Jaeschke released an image the next day that corroborated that, in fact he identified the shadow as coming from Europa.

Mars: In Living Color

Its finally Summer!  Oh, not on Earth, for that we still have to wait, but on Mars, Summer is in full bloom.

We were able to image Mars on two different dates at NJAA using the new Image Source DMK21AU ccd video camera.  This was coupled with an Orion Telescope filter wheel manually controlled.  Both the large NJAA 26” scope and the 12” Meade RCX were employed for imaging.  The resulting images produced scientifically useful data along with a pretty pictures of the Red planet.

Imaging Mars thru different filters can target specific features.  A red filter will help attenuate the dark maria surface markings of Mars.The red filter can also help display dust clouds and help determine if a Martian dust storm is brewing.  Blue filters in turn will show the haze and cloud features.

A green filter will show both the surface aldebo markings and the atmospheric features.

NJAA's 12" Meade RCX with DMK21AU camera

 and Orion filter wheel attached

Once images are obtained of the planet thru a red, green, and blue filter, we can produce an RGB color image.  While not as scientifically useful, the RGB color image does produce a pretty picture of the Red planet.  This might sound like a long drawn out process, and to be honest, it is!  Luckily the process is becoming faster as we gain practice. 

Here is a quick run down for how these images were acquired and image processed. 

Video of the planet thru the telescope was captured using NJAA’s Image Source DMK21AU camera.  The manual filter wheel was employed to capture 2 minute video of the planet thru a red, green, and blue filter.   Then each video was run thru AutoStakkert 2, where 1000 frames were aligned and composted using 3X drizzle.  Once completed, each final image was brought into Adobe Photoshop.  From there, the Astra Image plug-in for Photoshop was used for a tad of wavelet sharpening (40 each) and lucy-richardson deconvolution (7 iterations of 5.7 PSF).   Then, each image was placed in its appropriate channel (R, G, and B channel).  Finally the combined RGB channels gave us a nice color image of the planet.  This was after adjusting the levels and curves for each channel.  But for scientific reasons, each channel is displayed too.  For example, the blue image from March 11^th shows the cloud features over the planet on that date.   Hopefully the process will be come much faster with practice. 

So, what did we capture you might ask??

Mars 3/11/12 thru

NJAA 26" Reflector

The images thru the NJAA 26” on March 11^th show clouds over Elysium Mons (the white spot on the left side of the planet).  This is quite obvious in the blue filtered image of the planet.  We can also see haze on both sides of Mars.  We can also determine how small the polar cap has become too.  While difficult to detect, the red filtered image shows the shrinkage of the northern polar cap.  Certain features that were previously covered in ice are now visible.  The large Syritis Major is quite prominent in the middle of the image too.

Mars 2/27/12 thru the

NJAA 12" Meade RCX

Shot a few days before, the images thru the NJAA 12” RCX show a haze/cloud feature on the setting western side of the planet on February 26th  (27th in UT time).  This feature is quite obvious in the red and green filtered images too.  The red filter also shows very good detail around the Northern Polar region of Mars.  This again reinforces the notion that the ice has melted making features once covered, visible.

A few of the major surface features are present in this image.  The dark arm looking feature on the left side of the planet is Sinus Meridiani.   To the right of this is Aurorae Sinus.  This feature looks similiar to an upside down hand with the thumb and pinky raised.  (What a scientific description!).  Below this coming up across the bottum right side of the image is Mare Acidalium.  The clear area between these two is Chyrse.

    

Special thanks to Wayne Jaeschke for his advice and tips.  In 3 hrs, Wayne dispelled quite a bit of information and invigorated everyone to image and or draws the planets!!! 

Check out Wayne’s website at http://www.exosky.net/ for some truly amazing planetary images.

Also, a big thanks to all the members of the NJAA Research Group.  Their hard work and dedication is greatly appreciated.   I would also like to note that each image will be submitted to ALPO USA and ALPO Japan.

William Anthony

NJAA Research Director.

Research Session #3: Imaging Mercury, Venus, & Jupiter

Research Session #3

March 10, 2012

Mitchell D. Revalski

I arrived at the NJAA around 4PM EST. Vlad, Bruce, and I opened both the 26” and RCX domes. We moved swiftly as the sun set to catch elusive Mercury. We managed to get it in the RCX just before sunset. It is always surprising just how small Mercury appears even with high magnification. Both Vlad and I got video recordings with the DMK Camera just after sunset. Unfortunately, the combination of low altitude, and looking through the heat stack coming from the rear vent of the NJAA, made imaging difficult. Despite this we both obtained an “image” showing the partially illuminated nature of Mercury.

Next we moved on and imaged Jupiter and Venus. Using some tips from Wayne Jaeschke’s talk just the night before we got some good, and more scientifically useful results shooting through both the IR and RGB filters. I obtained the images below for Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter. I chose not to submit the Mercury image due to the overall low quality. It was still an excellent learning experience.

Primary lessons learned consist of the following. For Jupiter, as I did not intend to make a RGB color composite, the duration between color filters is less important. As such I would like to double the capture time for each color to get a cleaner stacked image. Furthermore, it seems adjusting the exposure settings while keeping the gain as low as feasible should produce cleaner images with less noise.

ALPO Image Database Link: http://www.alpo.arksky.org/alpoimg/Ven1767D4BA.jpg

ALPO Image Database Link: http://www.alpo.arksky.org/alpoimg/Jup1767D2F9.jpg

This image was not submitted to ALPO.

Image Comments: Note some images were processed using Registax 6 while others were done with AutoStakkert 2 per Wayne Jaeschke’s recommendation. This program is much simpler, but still has some bugs being worked out by the creator for the newly released second version.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions about the images above regarding the capture or processing procedure. Direct questions and comments to mitchellrevalski@gmail.com

In addition, Vlad and I tried using the 26” on Mars with a 2X Barlow shooting at an incredible 16,000mm focal length. The image on the screen, while huge, was also surprisingly clear! Unfortunately, due to the high magnification, the light was so dim that after stacking a poor image was produced. However, using the 26” telescope without a barlow will likely produce much better images rivaling that of the RCX perhaps. The Research Committee will experiment further with this in the coming months.

Furthermore, Steve Gale stopped in later in the evening with drawings he had just produced; it was fun and interesting to compare the camera pictures with good old pencil and paper. We noted a number of similarities in the banding characteristics of Jupiter.

William Anthony, director of the Research Committee, was also present for the majority of the evening and provided good guiding tips on producing better images by utilizing the histogram feature of the capture software as well as doing astrophotography of his own. Bill also changed the filter wheel setup per Wayne Jaeschke’s recommendation, putting the IR filter in front of the wheel to stop any “IR leaks” the color filters may have. Thus now all images are through solely the IR or IR and RGB combinations.

On an unrelated note we had several curious visitors come to our front door. While it was not actually a public night Vlad and I showed half a dozen people objects through the RCX telescope. All left with smiles.

Toward the end of the night I decided to forego waiting another hour or two for Saturn, which was also very close to the moon, in favor or waiting a month or so when it will be better placed during opposition.

Overall, a very successful night with some good images produced and many lessons learned for the future.

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End of Report

March 10, 2012