Getting Into Space, One Way Or Another

EccentricAnomaly writes: "David Cash has some interesting pictures of the International Space Station made with a Celestron telescope and webcam. This makes me want to get back into amateur astronomy ... in part, as a fun way to learn image processing." The resolution Cash achieved with consumer-grade equipment (Celestron Ultima 9.25 telescope and Philips Vesta Pro camera) is amazing. Demanding a slightly more visceral approach to space is "Rocket Guy" Brian Walker, who plans in the near future to launch himself to around 30 miles up in a home-brewed rocket. An unnamed reader points out the current feature on Walker over at space.com.

Comments

Indeed.

[torpor]

It would indeed be an incredible feat.

Not to mention the possibility that, having successfully pulled it off, he gets swamped with cash from other space investors who want him to build private rockets just like this for those crazy enough to follow in his footsteps.

If he pulls it off, it's the beginning of a new space race, mark my words. The 'racetrack' this time: our own backyards...

I hope he makes it. I really, really hope he does.

Wow...

[Moonshadow]

Demanding a slightly more visceral approach to space is "Rocket Guy" Brian Walker, who plans in the near future to launch himself to around 30 miles up in a home-brewed rocket.

All I can think is that this guy is setting himself up the bomb...

Slashdot's getting to me.

Re:How much to get into this?

[ghostlibrary]

A Celestron "Celestar 8" with fork mount and computer s/w to help with tracking starts at around $1100. Figure $1500 to get the telescope, a good eyepiece, and software. The 9 1-4 (used in the article) is around $1500, again add a few hundred for an excellent eyepiece and for software and you still come in around $2000.

The author just used a pretty standard webcam, so we're talking $100 here, plus $50 in mounting gear. Note that if you mount the camera in place of the eyepiece, you can skip my recommendation of getting a really good eyepiece and let the camera serve.

You can also use any 35mm camera with a telescope, using a simple t-adapter ($40) to attach it. If you spend, oh, $500 you could get a digital SLR and then have fun using that.

But ultimately, I say go with a C-8 and good webcam and do it for under $2000. I like the C-8s because they are highly portable, easy to set up, and fun!

Pick up an issue of "Sky and Telescope" for prices before you start shopping, of course.

Re:Another site / What's stacking?

[technos]

You take ten or twenty pictures right in a row, assign them all a translucency value (20 images, each is only 5% opaque) and stick them on top of each other, lining up some specific feature or by simple edge detection. Minimizes atmospheric effects and effects from the CCD camera.

Re:faa

[John Carmack]

The FAA regs (FAR 101) used for model/high power rocketry specifically refer to "unmanned rockets", not "unpiloted rockets", so it isn't at all clear how something like this is regulated.

I have sent a query to the FAA about getting waivers for the manned rockets my team is working on, but it got booted up to Washington a couple weeks ago, and I haven't heard back yet.

John Carmack

Grind Your Own Telescope Mirror, I did

[goingware]

When I was in junior high and high school I ground, polished and figured several telescope mirrors. I did a 6 inch, then a 10 inch, and finally an 8 inch.

The 6 inch had a decent figure but I didn't know I could send it away to be vacuum aluminized, so I chemically deposited silver on it using chemicals I bought at the University of Idaho chemistry stockroom. Take my advice, it's much better to get a mirror aluminized.

I hurried a bit too much on fine grinding the 10 inch and wasn't happy with it, so I tried again with my 8 inch and was much more patient, and got excellent results from it (1/10 wave according to Chabot Amateur Telescope Maker's Workshop's Paul Zurakowski).

Grinding telescopes and being a sciency kind of guy led me to study astronomy at CalTech where I assisted CalTech astronomer Jeremy Mould in observing the the Palomar 60 inch and 200 inch telescopes - the experience of a lifetime for an amateur astronomer.

It's been about 18 years since I last worked any glass but I just bought an 8 inch plate glass kit from Dan Cassaro. You can buy Pyrex kits and optical glass (suitable for lenses) from Newport Glass.

I'm starting to write about the telescope I'm about to work on here.

If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area check out the Eastbay Astronomical Society's Chabot Amateur Telescope Maker's Workshop (there's an observatory there too, it's in Oakland), Fremont Peak Observatory, which has a 30 inch reflector that's open to the public, with regular gatherings of amateurs who bring their telescopes up there, and the San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers - the Sidewalk Astronomers set up telescopes on city sidewalks and introduce people to astronomy by inviting them to look through their scopes.

You can get books on astronomy, and importantly, the specifics of how to actually grind and polish a telescope from Willman-Bell and Newport Glass.

Check out this guy who made a ribbed mirror blank by cutting out a pattern from one disk of glass with a water jet and fusing it to a solid sheet in a furnace.

Visit Google's index of Amateur Telescope Making, particularly http://www.atmpage.com.

If you want to get into amateur telescope making, take advantage of an immensely valuable resource that wasn't available to me when I was a kid - subscribe to the ATM List - here's the FAQ.

Mike