Astro Nut

Make sure you stop by Astro Links, its my new project “Astronomy Link List”

I can use your help in adding links to it!
If you have any ASTRO related links please add them to the list!

I would love to hear from you!!
Please leave your comments!

Andromeda Naked Eye
The The Andromeda Galaxy is one of my favorite objects in the night sky
it is also the most distant object you can see with your naked eyes, two million light years away.
M 31 the Andromeda Galaxy is very east to find once you know the landmarks.

To use Cassiopeia
Look for the W shape of Cassiopeia. With the two V shapes that make up the W, use the V shape on the right. Imagine the V as an arrow, pointing into the constellation Andromeda. The arrow of Cassiopeia does not point precisely to Andromeda: You will have to look a bit to the right to find the galaxy M31.

From Pegasus
Start by first findinf Alpheratz. Next calculate two bright stars to the left, and after that two fainter stars upwards. Andromeda Galaxy, M31, is right above the second fainter star
See the The full size picture for the charts

The full size picture

I did not like having to drag my laptop back and forth from the Astro Hut.

So we went looking on E-Bay for a computer and found a
Gateway Model E4600, Pentium4 1.3GHz processor, 512MB RAM, 37GB HD, 250MB Zip, DVD-ROM. 10/100 Ethernet card included!! for 40$.
While its not a top of the line, it is more then what I need!

I dropped in a:

spare 60 GB hard drive
a wireless card
USB card

and am a happy camper!

Now comes the battle of installing all of the astro software from all of the computers…
I have to say that this is going to be one of the better upgrades to the Astro Hut I have done.

Sagittarius will soon be making his appearance.
So I have put together my target list for the year.
I just hope the weather will be kind.

M 8 Bright Nebula – Lagoon Nebula is one of the finest and brightest star-forming regions in the sky
M 17 Bright Nebula – Omega, Swan, Horseshoe, or Lobster Nebula
M 18 Open Cluster – 20 members?
M 20 Bright Nebula – Trifid Nebula, Starforming Nebula
M 21 Open Cluster
M 22 Globular Cluster – one of the brightest and remarkable clusters in the sky
M 23 Open Cluster – 129 probable cluster members
M 24 Star Cloud
M 25 Open Cluster – one of the more remarkable open clusters in constellation Sagittarius
M 28 Globular Cluster
M 54 Globular Cluster
M 55 Globular Cluster
M 69 Globular Cluster
M 70 Globular Cluster
M 75 Globular Cluster – one of the apparently fainter globular clusters in Messier’s catalog
NGC 6440 Globular Cluster
NGC 6507 Open Cluster
NGC 6520 Open Cluster
NGC 6528 Globular Cluster
NGC 6544 Globular Cluster
NGC 6553 Globular Cluster
NGC 6568 Open Cluster
NGC 6595 Emission Nebula
NGC 6624 Globular Cluster
NGC 6645 Open Cluster
NGC 6716 Open Cluster – faint, small, diffuse patch of light
NGC 6723 Globular Cluster – a small, moderately bright globular cluster
NGC 6818 Planetary – Nebula Little Gem
NGC 6822 Galaxy (Barnard’s Galaxy)

SAGITTARIUS, The Archer, represents a centaur – half-man, half-horse, descended from Ixion, the man who dared to lust after Hera, wife of Zeus. Realizing Ixion’s intentions, Zeus sent a cloud, disguised as Hera, to trick him. The offspring of this union was Kentauros, who was shunned by gods and mankind alike. He moved to Thessaly and bred with the mares there, and so centaurs were born. Some, like Chiron, the wise and kindly centaur who befriended Hercules and who is represented by CENTAURUS, were considerate and friendly to men, but many were aggressive. SAGITTARIUS is one of the latter, a fierce hunter with his bow and arrow always aimed at Scorpius.

Where have I been?
For the last 3 month we have had nothing but CLOUDS and snow!
Its enough to drive me NUTS!
And with all of the snow we have had its hard to believe that WINTER is still a couple of days away.

And to make matters worse I was working on this site and I dropped the Data Base
( ALL OF THE CONTENT )
And of course I did not have a back up.
I had to use a Google Cached copy to get all of the info back.
What a pain that was….

My CG5GT was getting to be a MESS with all of the cables coming and going.

I have come close to tripping and ripping some of the cables out. THAT would have been BAD VERY VERY BAD!

I have 4 cables
2 are for the cameras,
the Orion LPI and the Meade DSI C
2 are for guiding
GPUSB guide port interface and
the Hand Controler.

So I got a couple of 4 port USB hubs
Now I have to spend some time routing all of them out of the way!

The best bit of advice I can give you about purchasing new equipment is to
try before you buy!
My Astro Hut is full of stuff I wish had never bought.
Eyepieces, worthless filters and bits and pieces of hardware.
Most of the equipment in this hobby such a personal choice.
Your choice of equipment all depends on how and what you’re going to do with it.

So before you go and shell out your hard-earned money, visit your local astronomy club.
Go to one of the local star parties.
Or visit one of the plethora of online forums.
GET INFORMED!