Cloverfield

I love a good monster flick. Rarely, a good combination of action, thrills, concept, special and sound effects and a reasonable storyline comes along and blows me away. I saw Cloverfield last night after following the hype on the Blogosphere about it. It did exceed my expectations, because a) I went in with low expectations based on my experiences with other similar films that have come out in recent years and b) I actually avoided a lot of the hype and speculation surrounding the film during its ramp-up to release.

It's quite a good film. The special effects were very good. The monster was obviously CG, but the carnage it created (and jeez there was some carnage!) appeared seamless next to the live action stuff, somewhat reminiscent of the way you saw the alien tripods interacting with the "real world" in Speilberg's "War of the Worlds". There were some visual references to scenes we saw in new York during the 9/11 crisis, but they weren't overplayed and added to the realism. The sound effects were fantastic (no music soundtrack, didn't need it). The handicam perspective throughout the film was a good effect, it essentially put you right there where it was all happening and did work in that regard. it made the film more of an experience. It didn't make me feel dizzy or nauseous, and that's after eating a big burger!

There were some elements that I questioned or laughed at but the film gave you enough info overall to help you suspend disbelief. You never really find out where the protagonist originated from (someone says you see a satellite falling out of the sky at one point but I missed that), and the closure of the film is, well, questionable. The creature also takes a fair beating but no real sign of damage to it throughout the film (but that's okay, maybe it's just tough!) But seeing as though you're experiencing the devastation and the ordeal through ordinary folks who themselves are going through it, you don't really need all the answers and it's a bit of fun to speculate anyway. Heck, even with scifi or monster movies that DO give you a ton of background info, the fans still leave the theaters speculating!

In all, a fun, thrilling 80 minute film that lets you escape for a little while!

William Optics Binoviewers: First Light

When I got the Lightbridge, I also ordered a set of the William Optics binoviewers. The set included the binoviewers themselves, two 20mm wide angle eyepieces and a 1.6 barlow. When I had the Lightbridge out last weekend I tried the binoviewers on it and could not reach focus at all. Further research indicated that they simply wouldn't work on the big Dob unless I shortened the truss tubes. Well, no thanks!

So, last night I took them out with the Lx200 to see how they would do, having read that they work great with SCTs. They look pretty cool on the LX200 itself (click on the picture to the above for the bug photo). Their construction is first class and look rather fancy. Very solid, with smooth movement on both the eye width adjustment and the individual eyepiece adjustment. Without the eyepieces, the William Optics website indicates that they weigh 520 grams. This did not seem to be too heavy and did not affect slewing and goto on the LX200. Still, to save battery power in the future I think I'll slew without them and then re-insert when ready to view.

The view through them in the LX200 was brilliant. I targeted the Moon first. It was a very full gibbous, probably about 85% full. With the supplied 20mm eyepieces, the moon filled the field of view in an amazing display of "3-D-sharpness". Quite staggering, actually. I put them behind a 2X barlow and looked at the Aristarchus region, a favorite of mine that depicts a myriad of lunar features. The view was amazing, the main crater itself was filled with detail, and the Vallis Schroten was nice and sharp. A very pleasing image indeed.

Because of the big moon, deep sky sites were pretty much off limits. M42 looked quite nice, despite the moonlight I could still make out a lot of the nebula with relatively good detail. The binoviewers offered a really nice view, the nebula appeared to sit in front it the trapezium set of stars: quite cool! I also looked at the Double Cluster, and the stars seemed to appear sharp, contrasty and some appeared to be in front of others.

So, initial impressions are that these binoviewers are pretty nifty. I think I'll keep them rather than send them back and just use them on the LX200. I need to be careful not to want to go nuts and buy more sets of double eyepieces - I think the supplied 20mm set with the barlow will do just fine.

In two weeks I am hoping to take both the Lightbridge and the LX200 out to the Canyon of the Eagles for a bit of a shootout between the two. Apart from doing that, I hope to give the binoviewers a good run for their money on DSOs.

Google Earth does Clouds!

As indicated in a previous post, I love Google Earth. It's educational, it's easy to use, it's just fun!

So, I was checking it out on my lunch break today and I noticed a weather section in the "Layers" toolbar on the right-hand side. One of the options is to be able to view cloud coverage. Look under Primary Database\Weather\Clouds. Select the option, and you will receive a current cloud situation as well as the ability to animate the image.

Here's the scoop from the Google Earth help file:

"Since the 1960s, the capability to view Earth's cloud patterns from space has been made possible from two main types of environmental satellites, geostationary Earth-orbiting and low Earth-orbiting satellites. At least five geostationary satellites positioned around the equator are capable of providing depictions of global weather patterns, updated every hour. From their vantage point 36,000 km above the equator, the sensors onboard geostationary satellites can't quite 'see'the very high latitudes near the north and south poles. Since their orbit flies over the high latitude regions over the north and south poles typically every 90 minutes, low Earth-orbiting satellite imagery is well-suited to complement the geostationary imagery and thereby provide total global coverage. Even so, such satellite data merging is complicated by the fact that each individual satellite observation represents a single 'snapshot' of the cloud patterns, each taken at slightly different times, whereas the underlying clouds themselves are constantly moving and evolving.

In this depiction of global clouds, these satellite data are processed to discriminate clear (transparent) and cloudy areas. For cloudy areas, the brightness is approximated based upon the cloud top temperature relative to the surface temperature, as a proxy for the height of each cloud pixel. Due their location near the Earth's surface, low level clouds such as stratocumulus and stratus (fog) clouds may be poorly represented. For more information, visit the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Marine Meteorology Division."

The image that is produced is quite interesting and useful. Check out the example to the left (click on it for full scale image). As you would expect, you get a close-to-real-time view of cloud activity over the selected area. At quick glance, it looks like you get coverage over most of the globe, although the animated feature is a bit quirky and seems to only work for the USA (?).

Anyway, this could be a useful tool for planning your astronomical observing sessions, coupled perhaps with local weather forecasts and the Skyclock website.

Observing Session - 1/10/08

Last night we had decent clear skies. Seeing was only 2/5-3/5, but transparency was 4/5 and the sky dazzled with stars. We could also make out the Milky Way fairly well. I took my Lightbridge 12" up to the local observing spot, joined by Scott and his Astrophysics (AP) Traveler and Celestron C6.

Again, setup of the Lightbridge was a snap. I had the scope constructed and collimated in under 15 minutes (would have taken less time if I wasn't yapping my head off). I also used the Astrozap light shroud that I purchased with the scope, which helped get some extra contrast. I had several specific targets to hunt for last night, trying out my star-hopping technique and also trying to get used to the red dot finder that came with the scope.

I found all of my desired targets relatively easily. Notes below:

Comet Tuttle: Currently at about magnitude 5.9, the comet was located near the constellation of Cetus. I haven't learned Cetus yet (Goto scopes can make you lazy) but quickly determined its location and structure and was able to find the comet. A small fuzzball, not quite as bright as Comet Holmes but it had similar structure. I could see the nucleus and surrounding coma quite easily.

M81 & M82: This took me the most time to find. These two galaxies sit in a remote part of the sky so it can be like finding a needle in a haystack. I used the "pointers" in Ursa Major and Polaris to figure out approximately where they were, and after about ten minutes of hunting was able to find them. The view was very nice indeed. With the 22mm Panoptic, I was able to see both in the same field of view. M81 looked fine, but M82 (the side-on galaxy) was quite bright through the Lightbridge and rather striking. The nice contrast of this scope really helped.

M79: This is a small globular cluster near the constellation Lepus (yet another constellation I needed to learn last night!). Quite small but prominent, despite the fact it was low in the sky. I could barely see some individual stars within it, but pretty nonetheless.

M44: The Beehive Cluster. Very nice in the scope at very low power using the 1RPD 30mm (63X) eyepiece.

I also visited a few old friends that I typically visit during the winter; M42 (amazing last night, beautiful detail in the nebula and I could easily make out stars E and F within the Trapezium), M37, M31, M32, M110 and the Double Cluster.

I really need to get this scope out to the Canyon of the Eagles, where I think it will do wonders. Hopefully next month...

Equally impressive were the views through Scott's scopes. The C6 really packs a lot of punch for such a portable package. It revealed great detail in M42, and the Double Cluster and M37 looked fabulous as well. His AP Traveler (forget the size) also provided fantastic views of various objects. Talk about pinpoint sharp images! That scope would be an amazing choice for astrophotography.

One slight disappointment lately has been my purchase of the William Optics binoviewers. I bought them with the Lightbridge, hoping they would be compatible. However, I do not have enough back focus to bring images to focus with them. I also tried them out on my XT6 Dob, but to no avail. We tried them last night on the AP Traveler and wow, what a view! M42 was amazing, very 3D-like (the nebulosity seemed to appear in front of the stars in the nebula). So, I need to try and see if they will work with my LX200 soon, otherwise I'll need to send them back.

A great viewing experience last night!

Meade 12" Lightbridge: First Impressions

My new 12" Lightbridge turned up yesterday morning via Fedex ground delivery. Talk about an exciting day! I raced home at lunchtime to inspect the contents of the two boxes and make sure that the primary and secondary mirrors were okay and intact (I had read about bad experiences in this regard). The mirrors were actually okay, and the scope was very well packed.

While I was supposed to only inspect the boxes during my lunch break, I decided to go ahead and build the base before heading back to the office. This really didn't take long at all, as I had built two Dobsonian bases before (once for my Dad's 10", the other time for my Orion 6".). I was done in about half-an-hour or so. The plywood constructions seemed just fine, and because this Lightbridge was the "Deluxe" model, I had to insert some steel roller bearings on the azimuth bearing, which was really a no-brainer. Having put the base together I quickly assembled the truss tube which again was easy and straightforward. I looked at the beauty of it before having to head back to work. Overall, it was a slick-looking scope. Movements on both axes seemed very smooth, and the scope didn't try and run away from me at all.

Unlike most astronomers who buy new toys, I was blessed with clear skies last night. When I got home I packed the car and headed to the local popular observing spot. I was joined by a good mate of mine, Scott, who brought along one of his high-end refractors and goto EQ mount. It took me no longer that 10 minutes to put the scope together in the field, which includes putting the mirror cell ring into Dob mount, attaching the truss tubes and then attaching the top ring which includes the diagonal and focuser. I had some trouble collimating, but that's because it had been a while. Luckily, Scott was able to help me out and had an excellent alignment configured in about five minutes or so.

For an out-of-the-box experience, the scope performed wonderfully. Movements on both axes were very smooth. I had read the scope was a bit top-heavy, and that when users placed heavier 2" eyepieces into the focuser, the scope would tend to sink a little bit. Meade has apparently gotten around this by adding a tension adjuster to one of the altitude bearings. This worked just fine for me, and I put it on a real test using a 35mm Nagler. The scope pretty much stayed where I wanted it to with each object I viewed. I was also able to nudge the scope carefully when tracking objects with ease, although at times there was just a little stiffness on the altitude axis but I attribute that to an overtightened tension adjustment. So, as far as mechanics go, the scope was great.

Optically, the scope exceeded my expectations last night. I found the crayford focuser to be very smooth indeed. A dual-speed focuser would be nice (I believe this options comes with the 16" model) but the supplied standard crayford fits the bill just right. The sky conditions were about a 3/5, with occasional high level, wispy clouds rolling over from time to time. The first object I went to was M42, the Great Nebula in Orion. It was the best image I have ever seen of the nebula, with the scope clearly showing very detailed nebulosity and clearly depicting the inner trapezium group of stars. Very nice! I then moved onto Mars. For some reason I didn't expect a good view, but with my 10mm Radian (giving me 152X magnification), Mars was big, bright, and had a very nice level of detail. I could easily see some surface features and barely make out the ice cap. The color was also very, very good, giving me a nice orangy-red, sharply-defined disc. I then "surfed" around various Messier objects including M31, M35, M37, M38. All were very clear and sharp. The Double Cluster was exceptional, with pin-point stars and a nice wide field with my 22mm Panoptic. In all, the scope gave me lovely bright and contrasty images, which is exactly what I was looking for in a big light bucket such as this. I did not use the light shroud that I purchased last night, but I think it would help create more contrast when in use. I'll try it next time.

Many people like to modify their scopes. I don't really see much to modify at this point. I would like to replace the standard collimation screws with a Bob's Knobs-type setup which I believe one can purchase for around $50.00 or so. I also wasn't too fond of the included illuminated reticle finder. I much prefer an optical finder, so I'll probably just use the 8*50 right-angle finder I use for my 6" Dob moving forward. There's also the potential to add some digital setting circles but I am in no rush for that. I want to be able to find objects myself for a little while and get to know the sky a little better. Other than that, the scope is perfect as is.

My initial impression is that the Lightbridge is a well constructed, easy-to-use scope that offers wonderful views of the heavens. I was really impressed with the images through it last night, and can't wait to get it out to a dark sky site for some more intense deep sky object viewing. For the current sale price ($850.00) I don't think you go wrong with this 12" monster!

! Feel free to check out my more recent blog posts about performance of and modifications to this scope by clicking this link!