Author: Andrew

An electrical engineer, amateur astronomer, and diver, living and working on the island of Hawaiʻi.

A Media Symposium

A substantial portion of my life is now online. In addition to my writing and photography here, I read a number of other blogs. Indeed, much of my view of the world comes from the wide variety of information sources I consume.

The era of a few authoritative news sources (newspapers, network TV, etc.) serving large segments of the public is gone. Perhaps, while this may still be true for the generations of folks who grew up with this arrangement, it is certainly not true for younger generations who have become accustom to the wide variety of information sources available today. We select our news and information sources from a bewildering array of choices. Who we are is reflected in what sources we choose.

In addition to utilizing these new services, an increasing number of people choose to contribute to the dialog. Through removing the traditional barriers, technology allows anyone to begin publishing. Websites and blogs, social networks and video services, permit any voice to be heard, widely distributed and shared with a worldwide audience.

Many news organizations are struggling to come to grips with this new model of information. This was the theme of today’s symposium. A day of seminars and discussions into this new world of journalism.

Panel Discussion
A panel discussion taking place at the UH Media Symposium, with Ian Lind, Andy Parx and John Temple
Assembled by the journalism department at the University of Hawai’i at Hilo, the symposium brought together journalists and bloggers from across the state. An impressive array of names, with many of the most notable figures in Hawaiian media. Together in the same room to discuss a wide variety of issues facing the news business today.

Along with the discussions there were a number of seminars on media basics. A welcome opportunity for a rank amateur such as myself. Unfortunately these were all too brief, as we hurried from room to room through a day packed with events.

A number of the presenters brought their personal experience of living through the tumult of this transition. Folks who had pursued careers in traditional journalism, now finding themselves having to adapt to new media, and new business models. Lives upended by change, stories of loss, and how they are coping, or even taking advantage of the new opportunities. More importantly, as they enter into this new era they have attempted to bring with them the core values of traditional media, of integrity and pursuit of the story.

I may be a mere blogger, but there is always something to learn. Particularly when offered an opportunity like this symposium. I spent today learning. Learning about the business of journalism. Exploring the issues involved with providing an indispensable public service. And seeing, if dimly, where we may be going as a society. A society defined by information and what we do with that information.

(My thanks to Tiffany, who spearheaded this event. She was everywhere and kept everything moving. Well done!)

Supernova 2011fe in M101

I have been watching the supernova nearly since it erupted around 23 Aug. We first viewed the supernova on 26 Aug using Cliff’s 24″ scope in the schoolyard of Waikoloa Elementary. I have since seen it about half a dozen times, as it brightened and peaked at around 10th magnitude in mid September. The supernova has since dimmed somewhat, now about 11.5 magnitude, but still quite easy to find with a small telescope. It is brighter than the host galaxy, M101.

Not a great picture. The galaxy was setting and I was shooting as it slid behind the shoulder of the mountain. All I could manage was a quick sequence of a dozen 30sec images. Still, you can actually see the galaxy and supernova. The image is much as it appears in a larger telescope around 14-20″ of aperture under a dark sky.

SN2011fe in M101
Type Ia supernova, SN2011fe, in the galaxy M101

Postcard from the Universe – Jupiter and Moons

A nice image of Jupiter with the moons (left to right) Europa, Ganymede and Io. Taken early Sunday morning from Hale Pohaku. Conditions were quite nice, both for photography and simply observing by eyeball through the telescopes set up.

The telescope used is not mine, but belongs to fellow club member, Maureen. We had just collimated the ‘scope, aligning the optics for optimum performance. I wondered just how good the performance might be. The answer? Pretty good!

I used the Canon 60D to shoot the video. The ‘scope was a Celestron 9.25″SCT operating at f/10. The camera has a 640×420 cropped video mode that is ideal for this sort of use. Shooting at 60fps it generates very high quality video.

The frame is a stack of 900 frames selected from well over 1500 frames in the source video. The result is quite pleasing, particularly the moons. Three of the four large Jovian moons are visible. They appear as disks, with the larger Ganymede notably bigger than the smaller Io. The disk of Jupiter shows good color and cloud formations. Overall the result is excellent and shows the promise of using the DSLR to shoot planetary video. I will be experimenting with this method and expect even better results in the future.

Jove
Jupiter and the moons Europa, Ganymede and Callisto (left-right)

Shooting in the Dark

A supernova, a comet, a new camera and a dark night.

I have had the Canon 60D for a while now. Since April in fact. It was my main carry camera in Alaska this summer. This was the camera used to produce the laser shots and videos that were published far and wide. But I have never used the camera on a telescope. A new Moon observing weekend is an opportunity to change that.

Astrophoto Setup
The NexStar 11″, the TV76mm and a Canon 60D setup for astrophotography at the MKVIS
I have recently re-assembled my astrophotography rig in the garage. But that rig has some technical issues that need to be solved before it is ready to use. Instead I packed up the NexStar 11″ scope, a scope usually used for public observing, but also a nice photographic platform. Piggyback the TeleVue 76mm atop the larger scope, attach the 60D and I am ready to shoot. Well? Maybe a bit more work than that. With alignments, focusing and more it was an hour before the first exposure.

While my camera was busy shooting sequences, I wandered around and visited with the other folks enjoying the night. A few peeks through other scopes at favorite objects was about all the visual observing I did. There were a couple groups using cameras without telescopes to shoot stars capes under the dark sky. We traded hints as multiple cameras worked the night.

An orange glow in the clouds betrayed new lava flows on Kilauea. Even thirty miles away we could make out bits of a channelized a’a flow. The pair of binoculars I had brought became one of the most popular optical instruments around.

I was using the rig without any autoguiding, as a result guiding errors spoiled a number of exposures. I kept the exposures short, and shot bright objects. I have sequences to process of a lot of old favorites… M31, M42, a few open clusters like M11 and M38, the Pleiades and more. Just before dawn I even shot a sequence of the Tarantula Nebula skimming the slope of Mauna Loa. Two 8Gb SD cards filled and part of a third. I will be some time processing the many images taken through the night. There is even some video of Jupiter and Mars to process into high resolution planetary images.

There were three telescopes still operating when dawn appeared. Maureen, Cliff and myself watched as the sky grew bright and a thin crescent Moon rose above the slopes. Even then we spent a little time observing and photographing the Moon or Mars as the stars disappeared. We were still breaking down gear as sunlight swept the hillsides around us. Tired and yet elated we greeted the Sun.

The usual suspects setting up gear for a great night of observing on Mauna Kea...

Laser Susan

The old saying “Necessity is the mother of invention” has a certain truth to it.

In this case the necessity is created by the conditions. Sub-freezing temperatures, bone chilling wind, and the need to be outside under these conditions. The summit of Mauna Kea can be downright miserable for mere human beings. Yet, in order to operate the laser, someone has to watch and insure we do not illuminate some passenger aircraft on the way to Australia.

Thus we have laser spotters, a hardy crew indeed. Braving the conditions, spending hours watching the sky to insure we operate safely. We are attempting to introduce technological solutions to the problem. The FAA however is an extraordinarily conservative organization, rightly so when hundreds of lives are at risk on any given flight. It takes time, many years, to approve another method of insuring safe laser operation.

It is a cold job. I have done it for a few hours, just enough to instill a real respect for the guys who do it all night. You bundle up in many layers of insulation and attempt to get comfortable in a position that allows observation of the area of sky around the beam. Given the heavy clothing it is a pain to simply sweep the sky, and completely reposition each time the telescope changes target.

Given the problem, Doug Macilroy, one of our intrepid Keck crew, saw a solution. It took time, and a number of prototypes to get it right. But he now has a neat way to stay comfortable and warm while scanning the sky. Now we have the “Laser Susan”!

YouTube video for the Laser Susan

Postcard from the Reef – Fellows Nudibranch

I have seen and photographed these fellows a few times. Endemic to the Central Pacific, the species is commonly seen in dives on the west coast of Hawai’i. The surprise this time was what I found nearby. A flash of bright white is quickly spotted in the beam of my light as I explore the cave. Two spots appeared on the cave roof. The first is the nudibranch, quickly recognized as a Fellows Nudibranch.

I take a couple photos, even though I have seen this species often enough before. I do not immediately notice that the second spot, somewhat hidden in a crevice, is not the same. Upon another look it turns out to be an egg mass, bright white like the slug that laid it. A neat spiral of white eggs against the algae covered rock.

Fellows Nudibranch
A Fellows Nudibranch (Hiatodoris fellowsi) on a cave roof at about 40ft, Malae Point, Kohala, and egg mass was about 6″ away
FFellows Nudibranch Egg Mass
An egg mass from a Fellows Nudibranch (Hiatodoris fellowsi) on a cave roof at about 40ft, Malae Point, Kohala, an adult was about 6″ away

A Last Look at UARS

Just watched UARS go overhead. Possibly the last chance before it reenters the atmosphere tomorrow. Pretty too, I was outside Waimea and the satellite went right over Mauna Kea. The bright satellite was skimming through high cirrus lit by the last rosy glow of sunset. Notably brighter than the predicted -1 magnitude, I would say at least another mag brighter, with a couple flashes near -3 or -4.

Pits in the Ice

You know it is cold when the very air starts to freeze.

This is what happens in a Martian winter when no sunlight reaches the polar region. It grows so cold that the atmosphere, mostly carbon dioxide, begins to freeze and fall to the ground as snow. Frozen carbon dioxide, dry ice, accumulates into a permanent polar cap. While the extent of this polar cap waxes and wanes with the Martian seasons, there is always some ice.

The image below, taken by the HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows of a section of the southern permanent polar cap. Late summer has caused much of the polar cap to sublimate (convert back to gas), exposing some of the rock under the ice.

Here much of the terrain is shaped by the annual freeze and thaw cycles. These pits are probably the result of these cycles and are about 60m (200ft) across. Soon the region will return to the darkness of winter and the pits will be re-buried in the ice.

Pits in the Polar Cap
Pits in the southern Martian polar cap exposed by late summer sunlight, image taken July 29th 2011, credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Neptune and Triton

Mike Brown did more than give a lecture while in Hawai’i. He just finished a four day observing run using Keck 2 with AO and OSIRIS, as well as gathering data with NIRSPEC. The target? Among other things Mike and his team observed Neptune and the large moon Triton. Triton is thought to be a captured KBO (Kuiper Belt Object). These objects, including well known Pluto, and lesser known, but just as large objects like Eris, Haumea, Makemake and Quaoar, are Mike’s area of expertise.

It is always nice to see a system I help maintain operating well and producing images like this…

Triton and Neptune
A Keck AO / OSIRIS photo of Neptune and the large moon Triton, credit Mike Brown/CalTech