WEBVTT 00:00:01.260 --> 00:00:03.260 I'd been there, done that. 00:00:03.460 --> 00:00:09.460 Okay, uh, we'll go ahead and let me…. Figure out how to get out of full screen here real quick. 00:00:04.990 --> 00:00:06.990 There we go. 00:00:14.880 --> 00:00:19.880 Okay, because I want to be able to see the…. Script, obviously. 00:00:20.520 --> 00:00:26.520 Okay, here we go. In 3…. 2… 1…. 00:00:26.340 --> 00:00:32.340 Welcome to the StarCast for the week of June 22nd, 2025. 00:00:32.360 --> 00:00:36.360 I'm your host, Jay Schaefer, and with me is my co-host. 00:00:40.860 --> 00:00:42.860 Mike Lewinsky. Welcome, Mike. 00:00:41.890 --> 00:00:49.890 Let's take a look at some space weather from SpaceWeather.com. So, Mike, what's happening with the sun over the next couple days? 00:00:43.740 --> 00:00:45.740 Thanks for having me, Jay. 00:00:51.260 --> 00:00:58.260 Well, we have a low…. Chance of X-class flares, uh, just about 10%. 00:00:58.370 --> 00:01:04.370 Uh, with a slightly greater chance of M-class flares at around 55%. 00:01:04.340 --> 00:01:09.340 That's for the next 48 hours. As far as geomagnetic storms. 00:01:09.590 --> 00:01:15.590 Uh, there is a 15% chance of active. Conditions over the next 48 hours. 00:01:15.780 --> 00:01:21.780 Uh, 25 to 30% chance of a minor geomagnetic storm in the next 48 hours, and. 00:01:22.190 --> 00:01:29.190 Uh, 25 to 40% chance of a severe geomagnetic storm. So, some of the recent. 00:01:29.780 --> 00:01:38.780 Activity, especially on the solstice, uh, may have triggered. A bit of disruption, and we might see that in the nights to come. 00:01:39.620 --> 00:01:45.620 So why is it that we can only, uh, basically make a forecast for about 48 hours in advance? 00:01:46.620 --> 00:01:53.620 Well, I think that's, uh, mostly due to, um. You know, a combination of, uh…. 00:01:54.010 --> 00:02:01.010 The limits of technology, but also, you know, we're looking at, you know, activity on the sun now to extrapolate. 00:02:01.020 --> 00:02:07.020 Uh, what's… what's coming our way, and uh…. You know, the… the X…. 00:02:06.410 --> 00:02:12.410 Flares and other flares themselves are traveling at the speed of light, so we…. 00:02:12.410 --> 00:02:17.410 We get that, uh, effect, and the radio blackouts that it causes within. 00:02:17.660 --> 00:02:20.660 You know, 8 to 10 minutes at the speed of light. 00:02:21.220 --> 00:02:26.220 Uh, but, uh, geomagnetic storms are…. More, uh, charged. 00:02:27.060 --> 00:02:30.060 Particles, and they're not traveling at the speed of light, so…. 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:39.240 Okay, so it's about, uh, you know, one to two days, 24 to 48 hours before they actually get here. 00:02:33.660 --> 00:02:36.660 Uh, we have a delay before they reach the Earth. 00:02:39.880 --> 00:02:46.880 Exactly. And some… then some of the forecast is, well, what… what are the sunspots that are turning toward us? 00:02:46.510 --> 00:02:53.510 And how active do they appear to be? And so, you know, we may have an inkling that. 00:02:53.480 --> 00:02:58.480 Something could let off. But until it actually happens, we're just guessing. 00:02:59.740 --> 00:03:08.740 Okay. So, uh…. What else is happening this week is the moon is pretty interesting this week, uh, going from the sun to the Moon. 00:03:08.340 --> 00:03:16.340 So, uh, early tomorrow morning, uh, uh, the, the…. Morning of the 23rd. 00:03:16.420 --> 00:03:24.420 Uh, with the, um…. Moonwill, uh, the crescent moon will, uh, pass by the Pleiades star cluster. 00:03:25.060 --> 00:03:33.060 And so, uh, it's not quite an occultation like we had back in April 1st, but it's always interesting to see. 00:03:32.910 --> 00:03:37.910 A kind of a dark moon passed right by the Pleiades, which is…. 00:03:37.970 --> 00:03:50.970 Very recognizable and fairly bright star cluster. And the moon will reach its perigee, or which is called the closest point to us in its elliptical orbit around Earth. 00:03:52.170 --> 00:04:00.170 On about, uh, 5 UTC…. On June 23rd, uh, 2025. Again, tomorrow, basically. 00:04:00.350 --> 00:04:07.350 Um. And then, uh, the new moon will fall on, uh. 00:04:07.790 --> 00:04:20.790 To be precise, uh, 10232 UTC on, uh, June 25th. And so when we say, uh, UTC, of course, we're talking about. 00:04:20.510 --> 00:04:33.510 Universal time constant, which is basically greenish mean time. And so… and that's probably about a 7-hour difference from our particular time zone, which is the, uh. 00:04:33.440 --> 00:04:41.440 A Rocky Mountain time zone in the United States. That's kind of the main events for the night sky this week. 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:47.360 And in space news…. There was a surprise Nova this week. 00:04:48.270 --> 00:04:52.270 Um, it was per…. Yeah, it was pretty exciting news on…. 00:04:51.840 --> 00:04:53.840 Yeah, really exciting. 00:04:53.060 --> 00:04:58.060 June 12th, uh, the, uh. All Sky Automated Survey for Supernova. 00:04:57.520 --> 00:05:11.520 Uh, which is a basically…. Something that scans the night sky, uh, tries to scan it all the time overnight to see if there's any newer supernova occurring. 00:05:12.060 --> 00:05:19.060 And there's a difference between a supernova and a nova. So, like, a supernova. 00:05:18.990 --> 00:05:28.990 Is a huge star explosion that we can see in…. Actually faraway galaxies. It's that massive and huge. 00:05:28.310 --> 00:05:35.310 Whereas regular novas, or, you know, even though they are pretty violent event, um. 00:05:35.690 --> 00:05:43.690 It is a star exploding. Those are often more from… actually, we see those that are in our Milky Way galaxy. 00:05:44.050 --> 00:05:52.050 And so, this, um…. This planet, the sun that Novaed this week. 00:05:51.790 --> 00:05:59.790 Was, uh, formerly named, uh, V462 Lepi. And it was a, uh…. 00:05:59.490 --> 00:06:09.490 Hardly even, uh, you know, a notable star. It was previously at magnitude 22 that wouldn't even appear on most star charts. 00:06:10.120 --> 00:06:18.120 And so, when it first appeared, it started shining around, uh, magnitude 8.5, and then continued to brighten. 00:06:19.090 --> 00:06:24.090 Till last night, it was a magnitude of 5.6, which is. 00:06:24.690 --> 00:06:38.690 Quite bright, and you can actually…. Uh, that would be visible to the naked eye in a dark sky. And, uh, of course, you could… and it would be easily seen with binoculars, and actually, I got out there last night with the binoculars, and. 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:52.040 Was able to kind of pick it out. And so. You know, it's basically… there was… where there was nothing, uh, you know, a few nights ago, there's a bright star now, so…. 00:06:52.550 --> 00:06:59.550 And so, uh, in other news, uh, can you tell us a little bit about the Rubin telescope there, Mike? 00:07:00.540 --> 00:07:06.540 Yeah, this week we're gonna get our first look at images created out of the Rubin Observatory. 00:07:06.270 --> 00:07:16.270 Using the world's largest digital camera. Uh, and the Rubin Observatory is going to create the ultimate time lapse of the night sky. 00:07:16.990 --> 00:07:22.990 Repeatedly scanning the sky and creating an ultra-wide, ultra-high definition time-lapse record of our universe. 00:07:24.060 --> 00:07:33.060 That observatory is named for Dr. Vera Rubin, an astronomer who is also honored on a new U.S. Coin, so I am really looking forward to seeing. 00:07:33.820 --> 00:07:45.820 Those images as they are released. And we'll include a link to that… include a link to that, uh, observatory's website so that, uh, listeners can, uh. 00:07:41.770 --> 00:07:43.770 Yeah, and so that's…. 00:07:46.120 --> 00:07:52.120 Keep an eye out, and uh…. Watch those images, uh, press conference is gonna happen on, uh. 00:07:55.740 --> 00:07:58.740 Tomorrow at 11 a.m. Eastern Time. 00:07:56.160 --> 00:08:01.160 Oh, great, that's really exciting when we get a new observatory online, and so…. 00:08:01.020 --> 00:08:06.020 And it's also… I'm really happy that it's honoring Dr. Vera Rubin, who's. 00:08:06.100 --> 00:08:12.100 Where, uh, a prominent female astronomer that's done a lot of really important work. 00:08:12.400 --> 00:08:18.400 Uh, so then this week's discussion, we're gonna talk about astronomy on the cheap. 00:08:18.850 --> 00:08:24.850 Uh, and I'm… I'm not a rich man, and I don't think that you are either, Mike, and so…. 00:08:25.310 --> 00:08:36.310 Uh, so we don't, uh, I don't have a…. I've probably spent too much on astronomy stuff, but uh… but there's ways to do that on the cheap. 00:08:27.850 --> 00:08:29.850 No. 00:08:37.470 --> 00:08:46.470 That's right. I'll tell you, I got my, uh, first. Real, uh, dedicated observing around a campfire. 00:08:46.570 --> 00:08:51.570 I mean, as a kid, you know, I…. I wasn't attempting. 00:08:53.370 --> 00:08:58.370 Or, you know, it was just… I was just looking in awe and wonder. 00:08:58.400 --> 00:09:04.400 Which is a great way to do that. Um, and then, as a young adult, I started camping. 00:09:04.690 --> 00:09:10.690 And a friend had made, uh, some… he was an astronomer in grad school, and he'd made some. 00:09:11.190 --> 00:09:21.190 Star charts that he photocopied and gave to me. And what I discovered was really wonderful about these is that they only had printing on one side of the page. 00:09:21.700 --> 00:09:28.700 And I could stand over a campfire. And use the star chart to…. 00:09:30.090 --> 00:09:37.090 First of all, block the light of the campfire. So that, uh, my eyes could stay dark adjusted, mostly. 00:09:37.060 --> 00:09:41.060 And second of all, to illuminate the star chart from underneath. 00:09:40.670 --> 00:09:46.670 So that, uh, and this was well before the era of cell phones, so there were no apps to turn to. 00:09:46.670 --> 00:09:50.670 But I still have these, uh, star charts that my friend Larry made for me. 00:09:51.140 --> 00:09:55.140 And, uh, they're… they were incredibly useful to be able to stand there and…. 00:09:54.420 --> 00:10:04.420 You know, find one constellation, start with the Big Dipper. And, uh, you know, start to learn those… the names of those stars, and then find. 00:10:04.870 --> 00:10:15.870 You know, the next constellation, the Little Dipper, and to go on from there. And, uh, of course, the Summer Triangle. So I got really good at the Summer Sky, just. 00:10:15.390 --> 00:10:23.390 Just by, uh, hopping from constellation to constellation using these. One-sided, uh, star charts. 00:10:23.700 --> 00:10:27.700 And we do have a link of some downloadable sky maps. 00:10:27.620 --> 00:10:32.620 That, when printed, would be. Um, single page, so…. 00:10:27.720 --> 00:10:29.720 Okay. 00:10:35.550 --> 00:10:43.550 Oh, well, yeah, and of course, a step up from that is what they call a printed planosphere. 00:10:36.270 --> 00:10:39.270 You can do the same thing if you want. 00:10:43.970 --> 00:10:48.970 And I have a little one, I think it cost me less than $10, that…. 00:10:48.750 --> 00:10:57.750 That glows in the dark, and it's basically a, uh…. Cardboard, um, device that allows you to rotate. 00:10:58.020 --> 00:11:07.020 The night sky chart around to the night that you're looking at, and then you… and then it actually has glow-in-the-dark ink on it, and…. 00:11:06.890 --> 00:11:12.890 And, uh, I can just sit out there in a lawn chair, uh, in the dark sky. 00:11:12.540 --> 00:11:17.540 And, uh, you know, basically be able to pick out those stars. So…. 00:11:17.470 --> 00:11:23.470 To me, the cheapest way that you can do astronomy is just to have a comfortable, uh. 00:11:23.340 --> 00:11:38.340 Uh, outdoor chair, and a planisphere or a star chart. And then, um, practically everybody out there has a pair of binoculars, or you can get a super cheap pair of binoculars. 00:11:42.390 --> 00:11:45.390 And I would call that the next step up. 00:11:43.020 --> 00:11:49.020 That's right, and uh… some binoculars will support tripod mount, and so…. 00:11:48.340 --> 00:11:55.340 If you are going to invest. I recommend… I've got a pair of Pentax, uh. 00:11:55.890 --> 00:11:59.890 They're 10x50. Uh, vocals, and uh…. 00:12:00.500 --> 00:12:04.500 I am able to screw that onto a tripod mount, and…. 00:12:04.770 --> 00:12:10.770 Uh, then I can…. Find my target, and I don't have to, uh, suffer. 00:12:10.840 --> 00:12:16.840 The jitter of holding it by hand, I get a nicer, clearer view. 00:12:15.100 --> 00:12:21.100 Mm-hmm. Yeah. 00:12:17.870 --> 00:12:22.870 Um, and uh…. Yeah. 00:12:21.390 --> 00:12:27.390 Yeah, and they also, you know, when we say, uh, when you said, uh, 10… 10 by 50. 00:12:27.270 --> 00:12:32.270 Uh, that means that it's 10x magnification by, uh, 50 millimeter. 00:12:32.920 --> 00:12:38.920 Objective lens, and so, you know, and then… so if you can get, uh, so binoculars are kind of…. 00:12:38.860 --> 00:12:44.860 In that realm, and so if you have a 10x, uh, you know, 50 or a 10x70. 00:12:45.270 --> 00:12:58.270 Uh, those are sufficient binoculars that you can see. A lot of night sky objects, down to magnitude, you know, 7, some, some, you know, if you're in dark skies. 00:12:59.250 --> 00:13:03.250 And like you said, having a tripod mount, it really helps that out. 00:13:03.870 --> 00:13:10.870 And in addition to binoculars, there's also little spotting scopes, and so they're basically half a binocular. 00:13:10.900 --> 00:13:17.900 And those are fairly inexpensive as well. And so, those also work fairly well. 00:13:19.040 --> 00:13:26.040 I recently inherited a. Botting scope with, uh, and this is a very old…. 00:13:26.120 --> 00:13:31.120 Uh, it's a Swift brand, and it's kind of got this marine green. 00:13:31.360 --> 00:13:38.360 Uh, finish. I would estimate that this thing was probably manufactured. 00:13:38.650 --> 00:13:46.650 Uh, and this is full… it advertises as fully coded. This thing has got to have been made in the 40s or 50s. 00:13:50.090 --> 00:13:58.090 That's right. Came with a set of 5 eyepieces. So, um, designed for astronomy, came with a star map, and…. 00:13:51.870 --> 00:13:54.870 And you can still see stars through it, right? 00:14:02.470 --> 00:14:07.470 Well, that's… and what did that set you back? 00:14:03.990 --> 00:14:11.990 Well, it was, uh, actually given to me by a friend who inherited it from her father. She said, well, I didn't know that I was going to have a use for it, but you might, so…. 00:14:11.870 --> 00:14:17.870 I was grateful to add. An antique to my collection that certainly still has use. 00:14:17.670 --> 00:14:25.670 Yeah, and for me, actually, I… because of the way my eyes are offset, is I actually, uh…. 00:14:25.490 --> 00:14:32.490 Can look through a spotting scope, uh. Easier and better than I can, uh, binoculars, so…. 00:14:33.090 --> 00:14:41.090 That's one of the… you know, when I go camping or backpacking or something, and I don't want to haul anything that's too heavy. 00:14:40.340 --> 00:14:45.340 Is, uh, I usually just have this little, uh, spotting scope that. 00:14:46.190 --> 00:14:52.190 Works pretty well. And so, also, nowadays, of course, we've all got phones, and um…. 00:14:52.460 --> 00:15:03.460 You know, and we can… and some of these newer phones, uh, particularly from Samsung and iPhones, are getting to where they're really, uh, sensitive to dark, uh. 00:15:04.190 --> 00:15:10.190 Can do some night sky imaging. And, of course, the most important piece of equipment for this would be…. 00:15:09.820 --> 00:15:19.820 Having a tripod, and I can't overemphasize, you know, what an investment a tripod is. Like you said, for binoculars or for a spotting scope. 00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:26.840 And especially if you can get a phone mount, and you can mount your phone on a tripod, you can do some pretty cool night sky stuff. 00:15:28.420 --> 00:15:36.420 That's right, and I use the apps Skyview for Android and Stellarium for Android, and. 00:15:37.110 --> 00:15:42.110 Sure, there's the Stellarium for iPhone. Out there, um, just to help me navigate. 00:15:42.140 --> 00:15:46.140 Uh, but I have used my phone to do long exposures. 00:15:46.260 --> 00:15:51.260 And, uh, can capture the Milky Way, can capture, uh, Aurora. 00:15:51.390 --> 00:15:55.390 If it's bright enough. And, uh, so that takes getting into the…. 00:15:56.070 --> 00:16:01.070 You know, manual mode, and adjusting exposure times to being, you know, somewhere between. 00:16:01.640 --> 00:16:09.640 15 and 30 seconds, maybe setting a high ISO. And, uh, setting, uh, manual focus, of course. 00:16:10.090 --> 00:16:19.090 Yeah, and uh… you can actually, yeah, there's, uh, one app that I think is both Android and iPhone is called Nightcap. 00:16:18.910 --> 00:16:24.910 That, uh, that I use, and it uses long exposure and stacking. 00:16:24.220 --> 00:16:29.220 To, uh, to do imagery, and again, if it's mounted on a tripod. 00:16:30.070 --> 00:16:36.070 You can get, uh, you know, good Milky Way and stuff like that. And then another thing that you can do with your, uh, um. 00:16:35.510 --> 00:16:42.510 Your phone is something called digiscoping. And, uh, yeah, you're aware of that, Mike? 00:16:44.060 --> 00:16:48.060 I have just a little bit. I've not tried it myself, but I know people who do. 00:16:47.420 --> 00:17:00.420 Okay, so, uh, digiscoping is you can get a little adapter that can, uh, that basically holds your phone, uh, close to the eyepiece of a spotting scope or binoculars. 00:16:53.820 --> 00:16:54.820 So…. 00:17:00.470 --> 00:17:08.470 Or inexpensive telescope, and allows you to use your phone, uh, use the telescope or the, um. 00:17:09.210 --> 00:17:17.210 Or the spotting scope to, uh, to do the magnification. And then your phone does the actual capture. 00:17:16.860 --> 00:17:21.860 And so I've… I had really, really good luck with that. In particular, like. 00:17:21.480 --> 00:17:32.480 Things like lunar eclipses, um…. You know, where you can actually run a time lapse on your phone, mount it to a scope, and so that was one of the…. 00:17:33.140 --> 00:17:41.140 Things that… and it's also very portable, like you said, camping and backpacking is that you just, you just need the, uh, the little adapter clip that. 00:17:40.410 --> 00:17:46.410 Clips onto your spotting scope. A tripod and your phone, and you can actually do some. 00:17:47.180 --> 00:18:00.180 Pretty decent star imaging. So, you… both you and I, uh, do a lot of time lapses, and so, uh, we use digital cameras, so, uh. 00:17:59.710 --> 00:18:05.710 Can you tell us a little bit about your entry into using digital cameras for night sky imaging? 00:18:06.420 --> 00:18:12.420 Sure, I started out, uh, in…. Probably about 2011. 00:18:12.580 --> 00:18:18.580 When the Sony mirrorless cameras became affordable enough. It was always, for me. 00:18:18.770 --> 00:18:26.770 Matter of, uh…. Well, let me back up. I had a… I had a Mead 8-inch Dobsonian, uh. 00:18:26.820 --> 00:18:34.820 In the mid-90s, late 90s, and I did buy a…. Usb eyepiece. 00:18:35.060 --> 00:18:40.060 So it had a little camera built in with a…. Usb cable, and…. 00:18:39.620 --> 00:18:46.620 I… I took that and hooked it up to my computer, which I then hooked up to a projector. 00:18:46.410 --> 00:18:54.410 And I projected a, you know, probably an 8…. 10-foot-high, uh, live image of the moon on my bedroom wall. 00:18:54.810 --> 00:19:00.810 So that… that was kind of fun. Um…. And… but, you know, it was pretty low resolution, low quality. 00:19:00.390 --> 00:19:06.390 Um, it wasn't until, say, 2010 that. Sony mirrorless cameras became. 00:19:06.850 --> 00:19:16.850 Inexpensive enough to actually. Uh, you know, buy and start doing more serious, uh, time lapse and astrophotography. 00:19:17.420 --> 00:19:21.420 And, uh, it was the next 5 series that got me started. 00:19:21.690 --> 00:19:29.690 And, um…. You know, for $600, $700, I was able to, uh, get a camera that could. 00:19:29.890 --> 00:19:35.890 Take long exposures. Uh, with a wide-angle lens, and uh…. 00:19:35.300 --> 00:19:41.300 You know, looking for around 18 millimeters, sort of at the starting point of the kit lens. 00:19:41.440 --> 00:19:49.440 Uh, is fine, and uh…. I used… I went through quite a few Sony NEX 5s, uh, between. 00:19:49.740 --> 00:19:53.740 2011, and say. Uh, 2000…. 00:19:53.660 --> 00:20:00.660 16, 2017. Uh, mostly just burning up the shutters by taking millions of pictures every year. 00:20:01.180 --> 00:20:13.180 And I'm now using a Sony a6300. And a Sony a7R3, which is, you know, on the higher end, full frame. 00:20:14.210 --> 00:20:18.210 And they're both excellent cameras. I've kind of just stuck with Sony because of. 00:20:18.540 --> 00:20:25.540 The investment of lenses that I have. Um, and they've just served me very well in the more recent models. 00:20:25.510 --> 00:20:31.510 Have a silent shutter feature, so that instead of actuating the shutter. 00:20:31.990 --> 00:20:36.990 Um, they…. There's no mechanical movement for a shot. 00:20:36.490 --> 00:20:42.490 So these cameras have been more durable and have endured, you know. 00:20:42.960 --> 00:20:49.960 Sub-zero minus 10 degree temperatures. Up to, you know, 100 degree in the daytime. 00:20:49.310 --> 00:20:58.310 For hours in the sun, hours in the freezing, uh. Getting, you know, rhyme and… or, you know. 00:20:58.290 --> 00:21:03.290 Frost, uh, all over the camera. They've been just remarkably resilient. 00:21:06.730 --> 00:21:14.730 Yeah, we could both be accused of camera abuse. There's probably no better way to abuse a camera. 00:21:07.510 --> 00:21:10.510 And, uh, provided me with years of enjoyment. 00:21:14.590 --> 00:21:22.590 Than to shoot nighttime sky lapses year-round. Um, so I've got. 00:21:23.240 --> 00:21:30.240 My investment is in Panasonic Lumix cameras. Uh, which are also mirrorless cameras. 00:21:30.590 --> 00:21:35.590 And, again, primarily due to the fact that that was where my LINDS investment was. 00:21:35.310 --> 00:21:40.310 Before I started doing a lot of the night sky and, um…. 00:21:40.460 --> 00:21:49.460 And time lapses, and that sort of thing. But there's not only time lapses, you know, time lapses are very gratifying and, uh, you know, especially for. 00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:57.240 The Milky Way, and looking for meteors, and that sort of thing. But you can also use just a, you. 00:21:57.460 --> 00:22:11.460 A fairly inexpensive digital camera, and uh…. On a tripod, and do imaging of, say, the moon, or, you know, with a proper filter, you can do the sun and get sun spots. 00:22:12.190 --> 00:22:19.190 And then, uh, if we talk about. Deep sky photography, or deep sky observing. 00:22:19.530 --> 00:22:25.530 Then we get into, uh, where we want to actually track, uh, these…. 00:22:25.810 --> 00:22:31.810 Deep sky objects, so that we can, uh, kind of follow along with them as the Earth rotates, and so…. 00:22:31.660 --> 00:22:40.660 I know that you've got a Star Tracker, and how does that… and what does that cost, and how does that work for you, Mike? 00:22:41.880 --> 00:22:48.880 Yeah, it's the, uh, Skywatcher Star Adventurer. And I got the photography package. 00:22:48.350 --> 00:22:54.350 So, it's… it's on the lower end as far as trackers go, but uh…. 00:22:54.810 --> 00:23:00.810 Obviously, uh…. Useful, uh, enough for a lightweight telescope. 00:23:00.740 --> 00:23:05.740 Or a, um…. You know, we're talking about $500, which…. 00:23:06.180 --> 00:23:12.180 You know, compared to amount for a larger optical assembly would be several thousand dollars, so…. 00:23:12.730 --> 00:23:25.730 I have to set my, uh, latitude. On a dial, and I have to pull or align it, and that's probably the most difficult part. 00:23:26.330 --> 00:23:32.330 It has a small built-in reticule, uh, with an illuminator so that I can. 00:23:32.930 --> 00:23:37.930 Align it with the North Star, and then I have to account for the particular time. 00:23:38.030 --> 00:23:44.030 And it takes a bit of effort, you know, sometimes 20 minutes to get it well aligned. 00:23:43.910 --> 00:23:47.910 The amount has to be, uh, leveled, the tripod has to be leveled. 00:23:47.440 --> 00:23:55.440 The amount has to be aligned, polar aligned. And then I have to select the correct, uh, tracking setting, because if. 00:23:55.830 --> 00:23:59.830 I'm tracking the moon, which I use this most frequently for lunar eclipses. 00:23:59.450 --> 00:24:04.450 Uh, there's one setting, because of the distance of the Moon to the Earth, and. 00:24:04.830 --> 00:24:13.830 It's, uh, uh…. Orbital period is going to be different from the apparent motion of the stars with the Earth's rotation. 00:24:14.140 --> 00:24:20.140 So, different settings. This also does a time-lapse mode, where I can just set it. 00:24:19.960 --> 00:24:22.960 And tell it to just turn at a constant rate, and…. 00:24:22.290 --> 00:24:28.290 Have some, uh, motion of the…. Time lapse instead of having a fixed view. 00:24:28.530 --> 00:24:33.530 So it's been a… it's been a great, uh, investment for me, and I've… I've been using this for. 00:24:33.410 --> 00:24:38.410 About 6 years now. The only drawback, like I say, is the need to polar align it. 00:24:38.580 --> 00:24:45.580 And I've… I've been out. For a lunar eclipse, and oh, it's cloudy in the north, and. 00:24:46.090 --> 00:24:50.090 Maybe it's going to clear up later, I would really like to have it aligned before the eclipse starts. 00:24:50.750 --> 00:24:54.750 And sometimes that's just not possible. I have to do kind of my best guess at. 00:24:54.330 --> 00:25:02.330 What's north. And I've had okay results when I've had to guess, but it's obviously more accurate if I can. 00:25:02.810 --> 00:25:09.810 Truly find Polaris and have it correctly aligned. And balance. That's the other… that's the other thing, is that there's a balancing. 00:25:09.940 --> 00:25:19.940 A counterweight, and that needs to be adjusted based on. What kind of lens or tube I'm mounting, and the weight of the camera. 00:25:19.830 --> 00:25:24.830 So, that's gonna vary from, uh. Setup to setup. 00:25:25.580 --> 00:25:32.580 Yeah, so those are basically… and there's another brand of one of those, it's from a company called Mouche. 00:25:32.930 --> 00:25:43.930 Shoot, move, uh, and they're… they're kind of… their advantage is their portability is that you can throw them in a backpack if you're going out camping or rafting, or kayaking, or whatever. 00:25:44.330 --> 00:25:51.330 And then you can just mount your DSLR camera again on a tripod, and the star tracker, and uh…. 00:25:51.580 --> 00:25:58.580 And, you know, it can add a lot of detail to your Milky Way photography, if you're actually, you know. 00:25:58.840 --> 00:26:03.840 Tracking those Milky Way stars, so you can do shorter exposures, so you get less star trailing. 00:26:03.980 --> 00:26:10.980 And so, uh, so those are kind of a nice economical alternative, and, um. 00:26:10.350 --> 00:26:21.350 And I just wanted, you know, talk about, like, you know, what the traditional astrophotography investment was, and so it…. 00:26:21.360 --> 00:26:30.360 You know, up until a couple years ago. If you wanted to do a really good, uh, you know, deep sky, uh, photography. 00:26:30.910 --> 00:26:43.910 And capture Nebula. And that sort of thing, you had to have pretty significant investment. You had to have a telescope mount that was a tracking mount, and, you know, it might have been, uh. 00:26:43.360 --> 00:26:55.360 Uh, you know, go-to mount, which is something that would, you know, you could basically tell it, uh, where there were 3 stars to align to, and it would actually tell the telescope where to go. 00:26:55.560 --> 00:26:58.560 And then you'd have to have the investment of the telescope. 00:26:58.240 --> 00:27:04.240 And then a camera for the telescope, and then sometimes they have a, uh…. 00:27:04.240 --> 00:27:15.240 Tracking camera that keeps the telescope on target. And they would have an automated focuser, and before long, you could get into an investment of, you know. 00:27:15.490 --> 00:27:25.490 Getting close to $10,000 in a decent setup to do. You know, any, uh, you know, deep sky photography, and so…. 00:27:25.580 --> 00:27:33.580 Uh, and that all changed a couple years ago, um, and with the introduction of what they call smart telescopes. 00:27:34.130 --> 00:27:42.130 And so, um…. Were you aware of that when we, you know, when that… when that happened, Mike? 00:27:43.860 --> 00:27:48.860 Yeah, I mean, you were actually the one that I think, turned me on to the, um, Seastar. 00:27:48.880 --> 00:27:56.880 I have another friend who bought a, uh…. Dwarf. So, I've seen that in action as well. 00:27:58.040 --> 00:28:04.040 And, uh, I went and bought a Seastar for my use during the solar eclipse of, uh. 00:28:03.940 --> 00:28:09.940 April 2024, and was really very, very pleased with the performance of that, just as a…. 00:28:09.690 --> 00:28:14.690 As a solar telescope, and I use it probably half the time I use it, is for. 00:28:17.910 --> 00:28:23.910 So, yeah, so we're talking about… there's a couple brands out there, uh, that…. 00:28:18.950 --> 00:28:20.950 Uh, capturing sunspots. 00:28:23.890 --> 00:28:29.890 Or in the sub-$500 range. Um, and so…. 00:28:30.280 --> 00:28:36.280 There were some smart telescopes that were kind of introduced, you know, about 5 years ago that were. 00:28:37.090 --> 00:28:44.090 You know, kind of on the high end, where they were, you know, in the, you know, $5,000 range, you know, the $2,000 to $5,000 range. 00:28:43.330 --> 00:28:48.330 And, you know, that was beyond my budget and interest in, um…. 00:28:48.880 --> 00:28:58.880 And doing, you know. Astronomy, but when these smart telescopes came out, there are a couple of them. One is called the Dwarf II, or Dwarf 1, Dwarf 2. 00:28:59.140 --> 00:29:08.140 And then, uh, from a…. Brand called ZWO is… there's two telescopes that they have out, smart telescopes. 00:29:08.030 --> 00:29:13.030 Seastar S50. Which is a 50mm objective lens. 00:29:12.580 --> 00:29:21.580 And the Seastar S30, which is obviously a 30mm. Objective lands. And so these…. 00:29:22.080 --> 00:29:26.080 Basically, we're game changers. I mean, I… the first time I…. 00:29:25.330 --> 00:29:32.330 Got that, uh, out in, um. Did some night sky imaging. It was like…. 00:29:32.360 --> 00:29:42.360 Wow, this is not difficult, number one. You know, like you said with the Star Tracker, having to deal with polar alignment. 00:29:43.260 --> 00:29:51.260 You know, knowing what your latitude is, what time it was, you know, and by the time you get everything set up in a traditional telescope. 00:29:50.680 --> 00:29:58.680 Or StarTracker, you know, you've pretty much lost interest, or the weather's changed, or it's, you know, especially if it's cold out. 00:29:58.260 --> 00:30:02.260 Uh, it's just not a pleasurable experience, but if you can…. 00:30:02.500 --> 00:30:08.500 Grab one of these smart telescopes, and literally, the S50 is that you…. 00:30:08.980 --> 00:30:13.980 Go out, plop it out on its tripod. Turn on the app and say. 00:30:14.590 --> 00:30:21.590 Go image Orion. And, uh, and it goes to it, and it starts taking pictures, and uh…. 00:30:21.290 --> 00:30:29.290 And it does all these things that, um…. The expensive astrophotography rigs used to do. 00:30:29.660 --> 00:30:36.660 Where, you know, it has the camera, it has the autofocuser, it has a filter for the, um. 00:30:37.160 --> 00:30:46.160 You know, for light pollution. And it does internal stacking, where it takes these short exposures of images and stacks them together to make a. 00:30:45.410 --> 00:30:58.410 Uh, large exposure. And then, at the end of the night, it spits out a JPEG for you, or it can spit out a more sophisticated file format, a FITS format. 00:30:58.460 --> 00:31:04.460 Um, uh, file that you can process, uh, in post on your computer. 00:31:04.480 --> 00:31:14.480 And you can do some really, uh, fantastic deep-sky imaging. And so, you know, and that wasn't a big interest of mine. 00:31:14.960 --> 00:31:24.960 Before, because, you know, there's so many people with the more expensive rigs that did deep space stuff, that it wasn't, you know, it wasn't at. 00:31:28.530 --> 00:31:31.530 Economically viable for me to do that. 00:31:30.130 --> 00:31:38.130 Same, same. It's, uh, it's really exciting to kind of watch as the image develops, as it stacks image after image, and you start with. 00:31:39.210 --> 00:31:48.210 Maybe the faintest of smudge that shows up in the. Cell phone, uh, view, and then suddenly you get a little bit more definition with every. 00:31:49.080 --> 00:31:54.080 Subsequent image that's stacked on top, so it's like…. We're trading some of the…. 00:31:54.140 --> 00:32:01.140 Uh…. Nice aperture you get on a big telescope for just time. 00:32:00.590 --> 00:32:06.590 May not be able to grab as many photons with any given image. 00:32:06.990 --> 00:32:12.990 But we can extend the amount of time to. Grab many photons anyway. 00:32:13.700 --> 00:32:21.700 Yeah, and I think that, to me, the biggest thing is that this really democratizes the, um. 00:32:21.630 --> 00:32:35.630 The hobby, as it were. You know, we always had a saying that, you know, these gifted, uh, whenever you get that gift of the telescope, you know, the 4-5 inch reflector telescope. 00:32:35.940 --> 00:32:40.940 That, uh, somebody gets you for a Christmas present. We call those hobby killers. 00:32:40.330 --> 00:32:49.330 Because, uh, people would, you know. Get… go… try to go through the hassle of setting them up and looking through the telescope, and…. 00:32:49.410 --> 00:32:55.410 Not getting really, um, you know, satisfying results, and so a lot of people lost image. 00:32:55.830 --> 00:33:00.830 Interest in the, you know, hobby of a strong amateur astronomy, just because of. 00:33:04.580 --> 00:33:08.580 The telescopes were so difficult to operate. 00:33:06.960 --> 00:33:11.960 That's right, and there's just such a nice range of costs. 00:33:13.090 --> 00:33:18.090 Um, out there, you know, starting with the Seastar S30 at about $400. 00:33:19.140 --> 00:33:25.140 And the S50 being a little bit more, another 150 or so, so 550, 600. 00:33:25.640 --> 00:33:33.640 Uh, the dwarf is comparable to that. Uh, there's. Vespera and Vespera Pro, which are gonna jump up to, you know. 00:33:33.760 --> 00:33:40.760 $2,000 to $3,000, and then from there on up into the Celestron, say, Astrograph. 00:33:41.540 --> 00:33:50.540 Series, you know, running from 3,000 to…. You know, $6,000 or $8,000, depending on the size of scope that you want, but…. 00:33:50.400 --> 00:33:54.400 All kind of, you know, based around some of the same concepts of…. 00:33:55.190 --> 00:34:05.190 Let's… let's stack images, and…. Capture light over time, which of course is something that our eyes just can't do by themselves. 00:34:06.560 --> 00:34:11.560 Uh-huh. And then, um…. And of course, before these smart telescopes. 00:34:11.330 --> 00:34:17.330 What I would do for, um…. Right, uh, for Deep Sky Photography. 00:34:17.510 --> 00:34:23.510 Is rather than me make the investment in these, uh, you know, sophisticated telescope setups. 00:34:23.270 --> 00:34:32.270 Is you can rent observatory time. And so, you can, uh, there's several of these observatories out there. 00:34:33.280 --> 00:34:41.280 Where you can actually just basically rent time on an observatory that has a sophisticated telescope, and. 00:34:41.380 --> 00:34:52.380 Sophisticated imaging equipment, and they… you can tell them to, uh, say, uh, I would like to have you point this at, you know, this nebula. 00:34:52.940 --> 00:34:57.940 And, uh, you know, for on a clear sky night, and they, uh, you…. 00:34:57.810 --> 00:35:02.810 Pay them money, and they send you images that you can post-process, and…. 00:35:02.460 --> 00:35:09.460 Turn into some really, you know, world-class, uh, you know, deep space, uh. 00:35:09.660 --> 00:35:21.660 Object photography. And so, and so I've, you know. Told people in the past, if you want to, you know, if you really want to get into deep sky imaging, um. 00:35:21.530 --> 00:35:34.530 Is don't necessarily make that investment on your own. You know, invest the money in, you know, just getting the images made by a professional observatory. 00:35:34.580 --> 00:35:39.580 And, you know, sent to you that you can process and make your own. 00:35:39.640 --> 00:35:50.640 Um. And so, I will include a couple links to, uh, you know, one observatory in particular, it's called the Insight Observatory. 00:35:50.430 --> 00:35:58.430 And they have, uh, actually 3 or 4. Different observatory locations that you can, uh, order images from. 00:35:58.640 --> 00:36:06.640 Yeah. And hey, Jay, there's another, uh, thing that's not on your list, uh, that I think we should talk about, and that's, uh, star parties. You know, people can. 00:36:06.260 --> 00:36:13.260 Uh, look for local. Amateur astronomy groups, and get out and have the benefit of. 00:36:14.030 --> 00:36:20.030 Um, their neighbors' telescopes, who…. Enjoy sharing and giving tours of the night sky. 00:36:21.190 --> 00:36:24.190 That's something we do here in Crestone, Colorado, where I live. 00:36:25.160 --> 00:36:29.160 We've hosted two star parties this year, and we have plans for. 00:36:29.580 --> 00:36:38.580 At least 3 more, including our big annual celebration on. August 30th and 31st at the Colorado College Baca campus. 00:36:38.580 --> 00:36:44.580 We've got some exciting…. Presenters lined up this year, including a. 00:36:44.640 --> 00:36:49.640 A physics professor who will be giving a presentation on archaeoastronomy. 00:36:51.260 --> 00:36:58.260 Yeah, and these are usually free, too, and so I'm a member of the El Vallier Astronomy Club here. 00:36:57.460 --> 00:37:07.460 In Taos area, and we just… actually, last night, we…. Canceled our star party due to clouds, or postponed it until next week. 00:37:07.390 --> 00:37:22.390 But again, yeah, these public star parties, uh, is, you know, you can get out there, you can talk to people that are even more expert than you and I, and look through their telescopes, and, you know, and take advantage of that. 00:37:22.810 --> 00:37:28.810 In addition to that is there's also a public observatories. So. 00:37:29.780 --> 00:37:46.780 Um, I know in, uh, Colorado, uh, we… there was, uh, a couple, uh, public observatories where they would just basically… you could go to these observ… observatories on certain nights of the week and look through their telescopes for visual observing. 00:37:46.780 --> 00:37:51.780 And so… and again, it was hosted by an expert, and they're gonna point the telescope for you. 00:37:51.440 --> 00:37:56.440 And you can look at, you know, look through these super expensive, uh. 00:37:56.360 --> 00:38:04.360 You know, telescopes were often owned by colleges or universities. Um, you know, one of the…. 00:38:04.250 --> 00:38:09.250 Big ones was the DU refractor in, uh, in Denver, Colorado. 00:38:09.590 --> 00:38:17.590 And we're actually, uh…. Uh, in the process of building a… the largest, um. 00:38:17.340 --> 00:38:27.340 Public telescope, uh. In the southwest United States, here in Taos. So we're on a, uh, kind of a. 00:38:28.010 --> 00:38:34.010 3-year ramp up, uh, to, uh, add a new, uh, 36-inch. 00:38:34.330 --> 00:38:44.330 Dobsonian telescope that was donated to the. University of New Mexico at Taos, and so they're basically building a, what they call a roll-off rooftop. 00:38:45.160 --> 00:38:49.160 Observatory that will be open to the public so they can look through the telescopes that way. 00:38:54.010 --> 00:39:03.010 So, yeah, these are some of the ways, so you can, you know, you don't have to throw a lot of money at the hobby of astronomy, and in fact, you know. 00:38:55.360 --> 00:38:57.360 Awesome. That's great. 00:39:03.280 --> 00:39:15.280 You know, just being able to know where to look, and, um, you know, keep your eye out for star parties, and some of the more inexpensive equipment. Uh, you can get a very enjoyable experience, so…. 00:39:15.480 --> 00:39:20.480 Uh, you know, we tell… that's how we do astronomy on the cheap. 00:39:21.800 --> 00:39:28.800 So I'm gonna go ahead and wrap that up, and we'll thank all our listeners for checking out this podcast. 00:39:29.280 --> 00:39:37.280 Be sure to, uh, comment, like, subscribe, and…. Let us know what you'd like to hear more about, or less about. 00:39:37.530 --> 00:39:44.530 And you can also check out our respective websites. Mike's is wildernessVagabonds.com. 00:39:45.190 --> 00:39:54.190 And mine is Skylapser.com. And our intro music is fanfare for Space by…. 00:39:53.730 --> 00:40:05.730 Kevin McCloud from the YouTube Audio Library. From the deep space… Deep Sage 9 Observatory, this is G. Schaefer. 00:40:05.480 --> 00:40:10.480 And Mike Lewinsky, wishing you all. Clear skies.