Deep-Sky Targets for New Moon - April 2021

The New Moon is fast approaching! Here are some deep-sky target suggestions for imaging on the Astronomical Telescopes for Educational Outreach (ATEO) remote telescope locations by Insight Observatory's partner, Telescopius.com...

	M4 - Globular Cluster Constellation Scorpius Mag.: 5.40 - Size: 36' RA 16hr 23' 35" DEC -27º 28' 30" ATEO-3 - Deep Sky Chile - altitude 87.1º at 05:29 hrs
	Tr 16 - Open Cluster Constellation Carina Mag.: 5.00 – Size: 10' RA 10hr 45' 06" DEC -60º 16' 59" ATEO-3 - Deep Sky Chile - altitude 87.1º at 05:29 hrs
	M101 - Pinwheel Galaxy Constellation Ursa Major Mag.: 7.90 – Size: 28.8' RA 14hr 03' 12" DEC 54º 20' 58" ATEO-1 - SkyPi Remote Observatory - altitude 70.0º at 02:34 hrs.
	M67 - Open Cluster Constellation Cancer Mag.: 6.90 – Size: 25' RA 08hr 51' 17" DEC 11º 48' 59" ATEO-2A - SkyPi Remote Observatory - altitude 67.5º at 21:22 hrs.
	M8 - Lagoon Nebula Constellation Sagittarius Mag.: 5.00 – Size: 45' RA 18hr 03' 41" DEC -25º 37' 00" ATEO-3 - Deep Sky Chile - altitude 84.9° at 07:09 hrs.
	M3 - Globular Cluster Constellation Canes Venatici Mag.: 6.30 – Size: 18' RA 13hr 42' 11" DEC 28º 22' 34" ATEO-1 - SkyPi Remote Observatory - altitude 84.1º at 02:13 hrs.
	IC 2948 - Bright Nebula Constellation Centaurus Mag.: 7.00 – Size: 1.3º RA 11hr 39' 24" DEC -64º 31' 59" ATEO-3 - Deep Sky Chile - altitude 56.0° at 00:45 hrs.
	HCG 44 - Galaxy Cluster Constellation Leo Mag.: 10.00 – Size: 16.4' RA 10hr 18' 00" DEC 21º 48' 43" ATEO-1 - SkyPi Remote Observatory - altitude 77.5º at 22:49 hrs.
	NGC 3324 - Gabriela Mistral Nebula Constellation Carina Mag.: 6.70 – Size: 16' RA 10hr 37' 18" DEC -59º 19' 59" ATEO-3 - Deep Sky Chile - altitude 60.8° at 23:43 hrs.
	NGC 5033 - Spiral Galaxy Constellation Canes Venatici Mag.: 10.20 – Size: 10.7' RA 13hr 13' 27" DEC 36º 35' 36" ATEO-1 - SkyPi Remote Observatory - altitude 87.7º at 01:44 hrs

Help support Insight Observatory's educational outreach efforts by submitting your deep-sky image requests today on our Personal Image Request (PIR) application or logging in to your ATEO Portal account to request on our Basic or Advanced Image Request forms.

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Complimentary Witch Head Nebula Image Data

In appreciation for all of the recent support, Insight Observatory has received from its users and patrons, nearly 5 hours of LRGB complimentary image data of NGC 1909 (IC 2118) - The Witch Head Nebula has been added free of charge to Starbase, Insight Observatory's image set repository. This image data was acquired on the 16" f/3.75 Dream Aerospace Systems astrograph reflector (ATEO-1) remote telescope hosted at SkyPi Remote Observatory located in the dark skies of New Mexico.

NGC 1909 (IC 2118) - The Witch Head Nebula imaged on Insight Observatory's 16" f/3.7 Dream Aerospace Systems astrograph reflector and processed by Utkarsh Mishra. Complimentary image set available on Insight Observatory's image set repository, Starbase.

Some facts about NGC 1909:

NGC 1909 (IC 2118 - also known as Witch Head Nebula due to its shape) is an extremely faint reflection nebula believed to be a supernova remnant or a gas cloud illuminated by the nearby supergiant star Rigel in the constellation of Orion. It lies in the Orion constellation, about 900 light-years from Earth. The nature of the dust particles, reflecting blue light better than red, is a factor in giving the Witch Head its blue color.

Radio observations show substantial carbon monoxide emission throughout parts of NGC 1909, an indicator of the presence of molecular clouds and star formation in the nebula. In fact, candidates for pre-main-sequence stars and some classic T-Tauri stars have been found deep within the nebula.

ATEO-1: 16" Dream astrograph reflector with an image of M63 - The Sunflower Galaxy, imaged by Utkarsh Mishra and Gamma Observatory that houses ATEO-1 at SkyPi Remote Observatory.

The molecular clouds of NGC 1909 are probably placed closely together to the outer boundaries of the vast Orion-Eridanus bubble, a giant supershell of molecular hydrogen blown by the high-mass stars of the Orion OB1 association. As the supershell expands into the interstellar medium, favorable circumstances for star formation occur. NGC 1909 is located in one such area. The windblown appearance and cometary shape of the bright reflection nebula are highly suggestive of a strong association with the high-mass luminous stars of Orion OB1. The fact that the heads of the cometary clouds of NGC 1909 point northeast towards the association is strong support of that relationship.

Source: Wikipedia

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Starbase Subscription Rates Reduced!

Insight Observatory has significantly reduced its subscription rates for Starbase, Insight Observatory's image set repository. ALL image sets regardless of what imaging system was used are now ONLY $0.05 USD (cents) per imaging minute for Standard subscribers and $0.04 USD (cents) per imaging minute for Educational subscribers.

IC 434 - The Horsehead Nebula in Orion processed with free image data available for download on Insight Observatory's image set repository, Starbase. Imaged on ATEO-1 and processed by Daniel Nobre.

Starbase subscription proceeds go toward funding Insight Observatory's educational outreach efforts. Log into Starbase now with your ATEO Portal credentials and you will be able to download an image set of IC 434, The Horsehead Nebula imaged on Insight Observatory's Astronomical Telescope for Educational Outreach, ATEO-1.

ATEO-1 with processed image data of M81 and M2 Galaxies in Ursa Major processed by Daniel Nobre and M63 - The Sunflower Galaxy in Canes Venatici processed by Utkarsh Mishra.

ATEO-1 is Insight's 16" f/3.75 Dream Aerospace Systems astrograph reflector remote telescope hosted at SkyPi Remote Observatory in the dark skies of New Mexico, USA.

ATEO-2A with processed image data of M17 - The Omega Nebula in Sagittarius, and M33 - The Triangulum Galaxy in Triangulum. Image data processed by Utkarsh Mishra. 

Other image sets available in Starbase were imaged on our affiliate remote systems, ATEO-2A, a 5" f/5.8 Williams Optics APO refractor located in New Mexico along with image sets acquired from ATEO-3, our affiliate remote telescope hosted at Deep Sky Chile located in the Rio Hurtado Valley, Chile.

ATEO-3 with processed image data of NGC 2070 - The Tarantula Nebula in Dorado (Large Magellanic Cloud) processed by Daniel Nobre, and NGC 253 - The Sculptor Galaxy in Sculptor processed by Utkarsh Mishra.

Learn more about Starbase or access Starbase here with your ATEO Portal login credentials to download your free IC 434 - Horsehead Nebula image set. New image sets are added to Starbase monthly and include calibration files.

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ATEO-1 Nightly Rentals Now Available!

Insight Observatory's 16" f/3.7 astrograph reflector remote telescope is now available for full nightly rentals at discounted rates.

Astronomical Telescope for Educational Outreach (ATEO-1) is now available for full nightly rentals.

This 16" f/3.7 astrograph reflector remote telescope, designated the Astronomical Telescope for Educational Outreach (ATEO-1), is hosted at SkyPi Remote Observatory located at an elevation of 7,778 ft in the dark skies of New Mexico. This telescope went online back in August 2017 and is accessible remotely via the internet for students, amateur astronomers, and astrophotographers to conduct astronomical research and deep-sky imaging.

M81 and M82 - Bode's and Cigar Galaxies  (upper left),  M13 - Globular cluster in Hercules (lower left), and M63 - The Sunflower Galaxy in Canes Venatici (right). All image data acquired on ATEO-1 and processed by Utkarsh Mishra.

You may now rent a full night on this remote imaging system to gather image data in addition or as an alternative to purchasing imaging credits. Nightly rental use of the telescope can be for conducting research and deep-sky imaging for a flat discounted rental rate. These rental rates are depended upon the time of year the telescope is reserved. Discounted nightly rental rates cannot be applied with other running discounts and promotions.

If bad weather becomes a factor for your reserved night, you will be contacted either to reschedule or cancel without penalty. If your nightly imaging rental encounters unforeseen weather during the imaging run, we would then continue the imaging run the following night to complete the equivalent of a full nights worth of imaging hours.

Available slots are limited, so please Contact Us today for more information on pricing and details!

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Monsoon Madness!

Get 20% OFF Imaging Credits and Starbase Image Set Subscriptions on Insight Observatory's 16" f/3.75 Dream Aerospace Systems astrograph reflector (ATEO-1)!

Offer valid from June 1, 2020, Thru August 31, 2020.

Now that the summer months are arriving in the southwest, US, they may bring us fewer clear nights. However, when the nights are clear, the deep-sky gems in the summer Milky Way are there for the taking.

Insight Observatory has decided to celebrate the "rainy season" with a summer discount of 20% OFF imaging credits and Starbase image set subscriptions on our fast and wide field of view 16" f/3.75 Dream Aerospace Systems astrograph reflector remote telescope located at nearly 7,800' in the dark skies of New Mexico.

Insight Observatory's 16" f/3.75 Dream Aerospace Systems astrograph reflector (ATEO-1) remote telescope is housed in Gamma Observatory at SkyPi Remote Observatory located at nearly 7,800' in Bortle 1 dark skies of New Mexico.

ATEO-1 Discounted Imaging Rates:

• Standard: $48.00 USD per imaging hour - Savings of $12.00 per imaging hour
• Education: $39.00 USD per imaging hour - Savings of $10.80 per imaging hour

ATEO-1 Starbase Image Set Subscriptions:

• Standard: $0.08 cents per minute of image set exposure time
• Education: $0.06 cents per minute of image set exposure time

Get quality image data acquired from ATEO-1 to process images like these...

M13 - The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules, M16 - The Eagle Nebula, and M63 - The Sunflower Galaxy all imaged on Insight Observatory's 16" f/3.7 Dream astrograph reflector (ATEO-1) remote telescope. M13 and M63 images were processed by Utkarsh Mishra and M16 images were processed by Bubba Daniels.

If you have any questions regarding our "Monsoon Madness" summer discount, please Contact Us.

Sign-up or log in to access your ATEO Portal account to take advantage of this special offer.

Enjoy and Clear Skies!
The Insight Observatory Team

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Telescopius - Astronomy Planning Made Easy

Insight Observatory recently developed a beneficial partnership with Telescopius.com (formerly known as DSO-Browser). Telescopius is a great online tool for astrophotographers who are planning an astrophotography session. The website provides plenty of useful information covering the deep-sky objects visible from your telescope's location and hosts an active community with an image gallery to share your images.

The Insight Observatory Astronomical Telescopes for Educational Outreach (ATEO) locations are listed in the Telescopius Observatory Parameters section.

Since developing and releasing the ATEO Portal, Personal Image Request (PIR), and Educational Image Request (EIR) online applications for accessing Insight Observatory's three remote telescopes, we have always provided a link to Telescopius.com to allow imagers to get some recommendations for deep-sky targets. Our online applications, in text, provided the ATEO remote telescopes' geographic coordinates and locations so the user or student could enter them on Telescopius.com to view and choose targets from our two remote observatory locations. Recommending using Telescopius to our users was very helpful with selecting targets both in the classroom and for personal use.

In late February this year, Insight Observatory and Telescopius partnered up to bring the perfect deep-sky target selection possible with the use of the ATEO remote telescope network. Insight Observatory's two remote telescope locations are now integrated into the website. When a user or student chooses one of our three telescopes to image with, then clicks telescopius.com to look for target recommendations, the location of the telescope and observatory is immediately selected. There is no longer a need to enter in the coordinates and locations manually. If you go directly to telescopius.com and click in the "Observatory Parameters" field, you will see Insight Observatory listed. When clicked on, it displays all three ATEO remote telescope locations. SkyPi Remote Observatory for ATEO-1 and ATEO-2A and Deep Sky Chile for ATEO-3. One of my personal favorite "What's in the Sky Tonight" features is the hourly and monthly altitude graph that displays the rise, transit, and set times of a deep-sky target. That gives the imager information for the best time to capture that object.

Screenshot of Telescopius.com's Telescope Simulator tool demonstrating the field of view of M45, The Pleiades through Insight Observatory's 16" f/3.7 astrograph reflector, ATEO-1.

Telescopius' owner and developer, Sebastian Garcia, went above and beyond in addition to the features he developed previously mentioned. Sebastian also added all three ATEO remote telescopes to the Telescopius Telescope Simulator. This tool allows users and students to select a telescope and deep-sky target to analyze the field of view (FOV). There have been numerous occasions when working in the educational environment when we would receive questions from instructors asking which telescope would be the best to image certain objects. Now users and students can see how the object "fits" in the field of view of the telescope they are choosing. This makes the process of our educational programs more intuitive than they already are.

Insight Observatory would like to thank Sebastian Garcia for his contributions and efforts to our ongoing mission of "Bringing the Universe to Classrooms Around the World!"

Telescopius is a free online application and is funded largely by donations via Patreon and PayPal.

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"On the Moon Again!"

On July 20th, 1969, 600 million people on all the continents followed the first step of a man on the Moon, together with their family or friends, around a radio, and sometimes a television set. Fifty years later, "On the Moon Again" was created to share this enthusiasm for the Moon again in a global, universal movement, transcending all borders.

Insight Observatory and Blake Planetarium collaborated on the evening of July, 12th 2019, by participating in the global event "On the Moon Again".

Scientists worldwide gathered behind "On the Moon Again" and invited Insight Observatory to participate in this unifying event. Their support committee promoted the values of sharing and cooperation. "On the Moon Again" was an initiative of French scientists who coordinated this event with the contribution of thousands of volunteers. Once Insight Observatory was invited to join this global event, we immediately approached the Blake Planetarium located in Plymouth, MA to see if they would have an interest in putting on a joint event with Insight Observatory. The planetarium was very responsive, to say the least. Being that this event was for public outreach, the planetarium was kind enough to offer four showings of the planetarium's program "Earth, Moon, Sun", every half-hour, free of charge to the public. This collaboration with Insight Observatory was highly publicized, and the result was many reserving their spot ahead of time.

Interior view of the Blake Planetarium theater before the evening's event "On the Moon Again".

While the programs were running in the planetarium theater by Blake Planetarium Program Provider, Steven Davies, I represented Insight Observatory's contribution by providing a small Celestron 2.4" refractor telescope set up in the front of the school where the planetarium is located. Using this small instrument would make it easy to pick up and run inside in the event the skies opened up. Although the telescope was small and designed for novice astronomers, it still provided decent views of the moon. There was also a backup plan in case we were completely clouded out in Plymouth, MA. John Evelan, the owner of SkyPi Remote Observatory, had his Insight Observatory affiliate telescope ATEO-2B, the Celestron 11" f/10 planetary telescope, ready to broadcast images of the moon into the planetarium theater. Unfortunately, he was challenged by cloud coverage in western New Mexico and could only provide a few images of the moon.

Yours truly giving a thumbs-up after the clouds gave way to the moon, Dr. Patt Steiner providing views of the moon through her refractor telescope, and a quick shot of the moon through the Celestron refractor using my iPhone.

As folks were arriving and departing the planetarium, I had the waxing gibbous moon in the telescope's eyepiece for all to see. The weather started out unsettled; however, fortunately cleared out for most of the outdoor part of the event. Nearly all of the attendees who stopped by to look through the telescope had never seen the moon up so close before. The groups of adults and children of all ages were amazed by the detailed view of the craters, mountain ranges, and mare (seas) they could see with such a small backyard telescope. It was most rewarding guiding them where to look through the telescope for Mare Tranquillitatis (the Sea of Tranquility), the landing spot of Apollo 11.

Blake Planetarium has many public programs throughout the year. You can see what programs they have to offer by visiting bit.ly/BLAKEPLANET.

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Annual Visit to SkyPi Remote Observatory

Its that time of year again! Insight Observatory Systems Engineer, Muir Evenden and I are onsite at SkyPi Remote Observatory in Pie Town, New Mexico performing annual maintenance and systems upgrades to the Astronomical Telescopes for Educational Outreach (ATEO). Since we installed the 16" f/3.7 astrograph reflector, ATEO-1, exactly two years ago this month, we have been running the remote robotic telescope entirely with a Raspberry Pi. Although the Pi was very dependable to run the entire imaging system, we figured it was time for an upgrade. We successfully installed a Fitlet 2 Mini PC installed with Linux to run the ATEO Portal software that is integrated with The SkyX. With the upgrade in memory to 4GB and the 64GB external USB storage devices, we have noticed a difference in speed performance. The Raspberry Pi will remain in place for redundancy.

Insight Observatory Managing Member / Systems Engineer, Muir Evenden with ATEO-1.

Another priority item on the "to-do" list on our visit is the collimation of the telescope's mirrors. The last time we performed this was on our last visit a year ago. Fortunately, we have found it necessary to only perform collimation only once a year so far. However, if collimation needs to be done again before our next visit in 2020, the reliable staff at SkyPi Remote Observatory is there to perform the task if needed in our absence.

Insight Observatory team members Michael Petrasko and Muir Evenden performing maintenance on ATEO-1.

Another important task to be completed was by installing a new flat field table in the Gamma observatory where the ATEO-1 imaging system is housed. Muir has been successfully acquiring sky flat fields in the past at twilight using a script he wrote, however, although that method was successful, it can be tricky at times. John Evelan, Managing Member of SkyPi Online Observatory, LLC, was gracious enough to install an LCD backlit flat field table on the observatory wall for our use. Other items on the list of tasks for ATEO-1 completed consisted of adjusting the shutter on the Proline 16803 CCD camera, LRGB, V filter inspection, performing a T-Point adjustment in the SkyX, focusing the guide scope and having a tree-topped that obstructed the southern view from the observatory.

Affiliate remote telescopes ATEO-2A and ATEO-2B at twilight during testing with Venus rising (lower left).

After our chores are completed with ATEO-1, we will be moving on to our affiliate remote robotic telescopes, ATEO-2A and ATEO-2B. We will be working with John, who owns the Williams Optics 5" f/7 refractor, ATEO-2A, and the Celestron 11" f/10, ATEO-2B dedicated planetary telescope. John and his staff at SkyPi have a fully modified Omega observatory where both telescopes are tandemly mounted on a Software Bisque GT1100S mount. We will be working on integrating those two imaging systems into the ATEO Portal as well as Insight Observatory's new "Starbase" dataset library that is currently in development to be released in mid-June 2019.

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ATEO-2 Doubles Up!

Insight Observatory's affiliate telescope ATEO-2 (owned by SkyPi Remote Observatory) which was originally set up solely with a Williams Optics 5" f/7 refractor now has a companion. The staff at SkyPi Remote Observatory has installed a Celestron 11" Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope (ATEO-2B) to the same mounting system in the observatory. The 11" SCT is planned to be used primarily for remote planetary imaging. The crew at SkyPi has also been working tirelessly, testing and fine-tuning the mounting system as well as making modifications to the observatory, designated as Omega that houses ATEO-2. The Williams Optics 5" refractor (ATEO-2A) imaging system is now back in operation after it needed to be disassembled to add its companion, the Celestron 11".

ATEO-2 Shown with the Tandem Remote Imaging Sytems inside of SkyPi Remote Observatory's Omega Roll-Off.
 Williams Optics 5" Refractor for Deep-Sky Imaging and Celestron 11" Planetary Imaging Telescope.

The planetary imaging system will be equipped with an Optec Focuser and Celestron Skyris 236C Color CMOS Camera. The timeline for the availability of this imaging setup is planned for February 2019. However, being that the 5" refractor is now available, John Evelan, managing partner at SkyPi Remote Observatory, has thoroughly tested the imaging system from his home in Mesa, Arizona. John acquired some imaging data of M38 and NGC 1907 open clusters in the constellation Auriga on the night of December 5th, 2018. This data was taken with the Starlight Xpress SXVR-M25C color CCD camera that replaced the ATIK 490EX Color camera that was originally installed on the refractor. Although the ATIK performed well, we collectively agreed the wider field of view on the SXVR-M25C would be more impressive.

Open Clusters M38 and NGC 1907 in Auriga. Image Taken by John Evelan and Michael Petrasko on ATEO-2
with the Williams Optics 5" f/7 Refractor Imaging System.

ATEO-2 will be accessible on the ATEO Portal in the near future, however, it is now available via Insight Observatory's Public Image Request Form (PIR) and Educational Image Request Form (EIR) for gathering astronomical images from the classroom.

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Imaging Extragalactic Supernovae

Since the Astronomical Telescope for Educational Outreach (ATEO-1) went online back in May 2017, we have since had the chance to image galaxies and galaxy clusters with a 16" f/3.7 astrograph telescope. Besides using the remote robotic telescope for acquiring "pretty" pictures of deep-sky objects such as galaxies, it can also be used as a tool for gathering data for extragalactic supernovae search.

Professional astronomers distinguish between two main classes of supernovae. The distinctions have to do with the type of explosion occurring, how it is triggered, the resulting light curve, and the atomic elements visible in the spectrum of the supernova. However, for amateur astronomers’ purposes, we can consider two very basic types of a supernova: galactic and extragalactic. Our primary concern is with extragalactic supernovae, as a galactic supernova is far more infrequent an event than even a brilliant comet, solar eclipse, or any of a number of other “rare” astronomical phenomena. In fact, more than a dozen generations have passed without any human witnessing a supernova in our own Milky Way galaxy!

ASASSN-16cs/ SN 2016asf - Image Credit: PanSTARRS-1 Image Access

Imaging supernovae involve imaging galaxies as mentioned above. There are few other considerations than those normally applied to capturing a CCD image of a distant galaxy. Supernovae usually occupy the briefest time span of the three main transient events discussed in this section. Comets are often visible for weeks or even months, and even rapidly-moving near-Earth asteroids stick around for a week or more. Supernovae, on the other hand, may last only a few nights, appearing as a single brilliant star outshining the light of 100 billion companions in its host galaxy.

There is a list published online by the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams that gives the latest discoveries and the name of the host galaxy (or position if the host galaxy is uncataloged). Due to the short time available to image supernovae, subscribing to the IAU Circular is recommended as well. This email circular lists recent astronomical headlines including supernovae, novae, comets, interesting asteroids, and other events. Often the information in the circular is not available immediately through any other source.

Photometric (brightness) measurements can be made of a supernova as it fades. This information tells scientists about the type of explosion and can even lead to information about the distance to the host galaxy of the redshift (recessional velocity) of that galaxy, leading to a better understanding of the universe.

ASASSN-16cs Extragalactic Supernova Confirmation (Right) - Image by Isaac Cruz.

One of our neighbors at SkyPi Remote Observatory, Isaac Cruz, discovered an extragalactic supernova on March 7, 2016. This one was in the constellation of Gemini (The Twins). Isaac received a notification of a transient from the ASASSN system from Ohio State University. Isaac stated, "Luckily I've been given the opportunity to do remote observing from the great folks at SkyPi Remote Observatory in New Mexico so this was the perfect time to do it." Isaac connected to his remote system and pointed the telescope to the given coordinates. He took a 10-second image at 1/3 the resolution (Bin 3) and the supernova was obvious just south of the galaxy. Discovery! Isaac then took a 10-minute image at full resolution and sent it for verification. In a few minutes, he received the confirmation that the new star had been certified and designated ASASSN-16cs and SN 2016asf.

Now that our hosting neighbor at SkyPi Remote Observatory has proven this type of discovery is possible with remote robotic telescopes, it has inspired us to craft an extragalactic supernova search program of our own that would allow students and individual users of the ATEO network to participate in such an endeavor.

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