Friday 1 July 2011

The Harp Star.

The Harp Star -Vega
I started out last night with the sole intention of imaging M13..  after a few attempts I became distracted by the beautiful brilliance of Vega.

Vega resides in the constellation of Lyra the Harp, this blue-white star is sometimes called the Harp Star.

In Greek mythology, Lyra the harp is said to have been played by the legendary Greek musician Orpheus. 

And whenever Orpheus started to pluck those strings, nobody it was said could resist listening.

Obviously Orpheus was busy last night, for Vega the Harp Star grabbed my attention.

I attempted imaging using a Nikon D50, connected via prime focus with a x2 Barlow.

I tried a 20 second exposure, and was able to capture the above photo.

Thank You Orpheus.

6 comments:

  1. Hey Pembs - Nice picture! It was pics like this that I saw in astronomy books in the mid 60's that inspired me to want to pursue the astronomical!

    Airy disks, diffraction from the secondary - Oh the bliss!

    Can you do a wide field image showing the Harp Star's much dimmer companions which no one talks about?

    Also RY Lyr is one of my favorite variables - wonderful "metallic copper" color just northwest of the brilliant Vega! Pic?

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  2. Great posting by the way!!!!!!

    I hope more folks discover you as you seem to strike the right cord every time!

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  3. Sorry - XY Lyr!

    OK I am done now.....

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  4. Thank You Geoff.. :0)

    I could quiet happily look at Vega's diffraction spikes for ages with the Tal scope..

    Capturing them on the camera is a bonus... :0)

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  5. Hello SUG, Thank You for your kind words.. :0)

    I remember most of my early astronomy knowledge came from the 60's and 70's astronomy books.

    One in particular I carried with me everywhere as a kid....The Observers book of Astronomy by Patrick Moore....excellent little book..

    No magazines then...It was not until 1980 that I saw my first Sky and Telescope magazine....

    That was the first time that I saw the "orange" schmidt cassegrain....

    No wide field is not possible at the moment. At prime focus,the Tal scope won't come to focus unless I use a X2 barlow...

    Perhaps if I move the primary mirror slightly up the tube I would be able to attempt prime focus without the Barlow...

    I have two Tal1 scopes here, maybe I can convert the second one to allow for wider fields....

    I'll try out different combinations with my various eyepieces and camera adapter,I might get a wider field image. If I do I'll post the results on the blog..

    My knowledge of variables is quiet limited, though since reading Leslie Peltier's "Starlight Night", I'm slowly developing the bug...

    I'll keep a look out for XY Lyra..

    Thanks again for the comments..:0)

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