Jerry Foote
(click on images for enlarged view)
Images 1 through 5 were taken June 2, 2000 with a 10" f/5.6 newtonian telescope with a Spectra Source HPC-1 CCD camera (1536 x 1024 pixels 9 um). Exposures were 8 minutes, unguided.
001
M-101
002
M-51
003
NGC4565
004
NGC4594, The Sombrero Galaxy
005
Virgo Cluster of galaxies
006 12 March 2000
Jerry's "backyard" near Kanab, UT (possible private star party
site). Stakes indicate location of Jerry's future observatory.
007 26 October 2000
Looking to the south horizon. Also note in this picture the mast
attached to the shop that supports the antenna of my wireless DSL internet
connection.
008 26 October 2000
Looking north and showing the 8 main observatory piers that will
support the floor as well as the 4 piers up the hill that will support
the roll-off portion of the observatory. In the middle are the three
tall piers that will support the telescope. Also note the two conduits
coming up in front of the south telescope pier - one for power and one
for data. These conduits lead to the shop where the telescope control
will be. Each of the support piers have adjustable brackets so that
I can precisely level the observatory and thus the roll-off portion.
The observatory will be 12' in the N/S direction and 7' E/W.
009 17 November 2000
Sheeting on the stub walls with the external track supports covered
with tin and the track attached. The track is 1 1/2" angle iron and
is held down every 16" with long sheet rock screws into the track support
beams.
010 06 December 2000
"One door open" Observatory ready for paint and roofing.
One of the doors open with Jerry in the picture.
011 06 December 2000
"Looking North West" Roof rolled back looking to the north-west.
012 06 December 2000
"Ready to roll back" Both doors open and ready to roll back the
roof section.
013 06 December 2000
"Observatory floor" Looking at the observatory floor. Toward
the back are the three piers for the 24" telescope. In front of the
nearest pier are the two conduits from the house: one for power and the
other for data.
014 17 March 2001
Horsehead Nebula: 1 minute un-guided exposure with an ST-8e
CCD from the 24" f/3 Vermillion Cliffs Observatory telescope.
015 17 March 2001
NGC2024: 3 minute un-guided exposure with an ST-8e CCD from
the 24" f/3 Vermillion Cliffs Observatory telescope.
016 17 March 2001
Sombrero Galaxy: 20 second un-guided exposure with an ST-8e
CCD from the 24" f/3 Vermillion Cliffs Observatory telescope.
017 24 April 2001
Comet Skiff (C1999J2) taken with the 24" f/3 Vermillion Cliffs
Observatory telescope. Image is 8 minutes on an ST-8 CCD.
018 MOSAIC
CALCULATOR
A tool that Ed Sheridan asked me to make for him and I think it
might be useful for other people that are trying to
recover a minor planet and don't have an accurate ephemeris for.
What it does is allow the user to put in a center coordinate (Ra in hours
and minutes with two decimals, and DEC in degrees and minutes with one
decimal), the size of the imager (in arc minutes for each direction) and
the size of the overlap (in arc minutes in each direction). It then
calculates the coordinates for images that form a mosaic around that center
coordinate. It is an Excel spread sheet and handles all of the problems
of wrapping over 24 hours in RA and going through negative DEC. The
formula area is protected so that when working feverishly to set up the
nights observing run an inadvertent push of a button doesn't wipe out the
tool.
019 17 June 2001
Telescope looking to the northeast.
020 17 June 2001
Telescope looking to the northwest.
021 17 June 2001
Telescope looking to the southwest.
022
This image is of V795 Her, a cataclysmic variable of the DQ Herculis type. I have been monitoring this variable for 6 nights and
have taken on average 460 images per night. This study is part of a
Center for Backyard Astrophysics campaign directed by Dr. Joe Patterson of
Columbia University, NY. Myself and others situated around the globe
have been monitoring the behavior of this star system. Our data is sent to
a common collection point and then analyzed for specific activity.
This image is the first of the nights series that started on June 27,
2001. Overall 462 images were taken, each of 30 seconds duration with
a cycle time of 50 seconds. The telescope is the Vermillion Cliffs
Obs. 24" f/3.5 system with an ST-8e camera at prime focus.
023
This graph is the light curve for V795 Her and a check star.
The measurement technique is to first dark subtract each image, flat
field each image and then measure three stars in the field. The
first star (V795Her) is the variable star. The second star is the comparison
star and the third is a check star. The intensity of each star
is measured and the background sky subtracted from them. Finally the
difference in magnitude between the variable and the comparison star is determined
and the difference in magnitude between the check star and the comparison star is determined. A graph of these two differences forms
the light
curves. The upper curve (check-comp) is essentially flat
verifying that the comparison star is not varying. The real science is the
variable-comparison curve. This curve shows that V795 Her has a base period as well as a faster period superimposed on this base period.
The base period is about 0.108 days and the faster period (called super humps) shows the rotation of the accretion disk around the white
dwarf star.
Images 24 to 26: The telescope is a 24" f/3.2 with an ST-8e CCD camera. All images are unguided and have been dark subtracted and flat fielded.
024
Abell 1656 galaxy cluster: 60 second exposure taken on May 9, 2002.
025
NGC 6047 cluster in Hercules: 4 minute exposure taken on May 6,
2002.
026
Meteor in the area of V442 Oph during a CBA campaign on this star.
V442 is down and to the left of the "hit" star. 60 second exposure.
027
I imaged the collision of Tempel 1 and the Deep Impact space craft.
I took multiple time series images of Tempel 1 before and after the collision.
I average combined two pre-impact images (1.5 min. pre & 2.0 min. pre) and two post-impact images ( 9.5 min. & 10 min. post)
I then subtracted the pre-impact image set from the post impact image set to give the attached image.
All images are 30 second integrations using the ST-8 camera on the Vermillion Cliffs 24" f/3.5 telescope.
The noise is fairly high in the image due to the subtraction, however, the impact plume is very clear.
The slight halo around other field stars is due to differential refraction as Tempel 1 was very low in the sky.
This differential refraction cause a slight non linearity in the image scale across each image.
