M103

M103 (Ngc581) is one of the more remote open clusters in Messier's catalog, at about 8,000 light years distant in one of the most recognised constellations of Cassiopeia the queen. Visible in my binoculars against a rich star field it was the last entry to his original catalogue without him actually observing it. Well Mr Messier I have seen it. and I have ticked it off my list. The bright star also visible at the top is Ruchbah or(δ) Delta Cassiopeiae  Cassiopeiae. See finder chart. To me this star is a little more interesting than the cluster. It is an eclipsing binary star system consisting of a pair of stars that orbit about each other over a period of 759 days.


The primary a white sub giant has a stellar classification of A5III-IV, with the luminosity class of IV indicating that it has exhausted the hydrogen at its core and has begun to evolve through the subgiant phase into a giant star. It has expanded to about 3.9 times the Sun's radius. It is moving through the Galaxy at a speed of 43.9 km/s relative to the Sun.

M39

The last week has been a little traumatic for the whole family, Our eldest daughter has been waiting to find out if she has the grades to get into Uni. A sigh of relief as she is awarded her primary place at Anglia Ruskin. Congratulations Jasmine. The Younger two have been driving us nuts as they are desperate to go on their sunny holiday and bored of being at home from school.

The RA drive on the mount was very tight and needed a strip down and rebuild, All went well until I ran a test on the guiding. What could be the matter here. PHD would not keep the guide star for more than a few seconds. Lets not panic yet I thought so I ran 60 x 30 second test shots. A nightmare. The subject has moved over a degree across the field of view. The only thing I could think of was the polar alignment. I do my polar alignment using the Kochab clock method. Always worked well for me!! As I looked through the finder the illuminated cross moved, damn, the whole finder had been knocked at some point and almost fell out the holder. Not a great deal more I can do tonight. Next day allowed to me to strip it all down and rebuild and align the polar finder. A chimney pot half a mile up the road stayed where it should be as the pole finder was tightened into position.

A new test on Scheat in Andromeda was perfect. 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes was no issue at all.

M39 was the target of choice nearly above my head so I ran 30 x 2 minute guided exposures at 1600 ISO. Processed in Maxim DL & Photoshop.

A new View of Altair

I have been looking at a few different ways of making an effective diffraction grating. Just thought I would post this pic of Altair. Not going to tell you yet what I have used. This is a stack of 3 pics from 30, 90, 150 seconds. Not quite the desired effect but looks good to me nonetheless.