Welcome to
Young's Photo Gallery

Astronomical - 1

Outside of the various camera equipment owned by the author over the years,
many of the astronomical pictures were taken with additional equipment, such
as telescopes, tracking devices, and Schmidt style cameras.  As you scroll down
the image section, many will indicate which additional equipment was used. 
They are as follows:

This is an 'Ed Byers' CAM-TRAK, used specifically at Cerro Tololo Observatory
(click the link to the Cerro Tololo images) in Chile in June, 2000.  This very small
portable tracker was modified to hold a co-aligned finder telescope for locating the
south celestial pole (SCP), seen here with the red cap over its eyepiece.  In this
image, the Contarex and 250mm f/4 telephoto lens is ready for imaging the night
sky, starting June 1, while the author was running the 2MASS telescope for the
IR sky survey for the University of Massachusetts and Caltech.  The author owns
the CAM-TRAK, but the camera and lens are owned by JPL.

Click here to view the CAM-TRAK images in Chile Cerro Tololo

The 16-inch f/20 reflector at Table Mountain Observatory, circa 1962-1966.
This was a manually operated telescope, with a weight driven clock-drive.  Both
RA and Dec axes were adjusted with hand controls.

The 24-inch reflector at Table Mountain Observatory, circa 1966 - present date.
This was a motor-driven analog instrument when set up in 1966, and had clutches
and brakes to control slew, set, guide, and track motions for both RA and Dec axes.
It is currently a computer controlled telescope with extremely accurate pointing and
tracking capabilities.

This is the 10-inch Schmidt Camera developed and built by Floyd Day of Palomar
and Mt Wilson Observatories as a proto type for the 48-inch Schmidt still in use
at Mt Palomar today.  The 10-inch was loaned to Table Mountain Observatory from
 its then owner, Ted Haberman, in 1985.  It was subsequently purchased from Mr
Haberman, and used specifically to image Halley's Comet during 1986.

This 8-inch Celestron camera was purchased by JPL for Table Mountain Observatory
in 1985 for additional comet photography.  Seen here in the field for tests conducted
by the author at Grandview Campground in the White Mountains of California.

This is the author's 10-inch home-brew reflector, with a G-8 Losmandy mounting
on a modified heavy duty tripod for field operations.  It is pictured here at the
Grandview Campground in the White Mountains of California.  Polar alignment is
extremely easy with Losmandy 'polar axis' finder.  This current telscope and
mounting are housed in the author's home observatory located in Wrightwood,
California.  The author's wife, Karen, uses this instrument to make asteroid
occultation observations for IOTA, as well as variable star measurements for
the AAVSO.  This telescope, used since 2002, is easily transported for field
operations from its normal home location.

Images

The Orion Nebula, taken with a 10-inch reflector at Grandview Campground
in the White Mountains of California, on August 10, 2007


The Lagoon and Trifid nebulae, taken on August 10, 2007 from Grandview
Campground in the White Mountains of California

The Orion Nebula taken with the 24-inch reflector at Table Mountain Observatory,
November 6, 2007


Look closely!  These are geostationary satellites, all 17!  10 show quite well, but
the other 6 are hard to see at this resolution.  This image was taken at Table
Mountain Observatory, September 3, 2008


M13, the famous globular cluster in the constellation, HERCULES, taken at Table
Mountain Observatory, February 19, 2009

The thin crescent moon setting over Palmdale, California, June 23, 2009 from
Table Mountain Road near Wrightwood, California


Two 'Iridium' satellite flares, from Wrightwood, California, on June 23, 2009

The full moon, taken November 2, 2009, from Wrightwood, California


On February 14, 2010, Jim and Karen went to Chiricahua National Monument,
about 46 miles north of Douglas, Arizona.  At an elevation of nearly 7000 feet,
the skies were clear by nightfall for astrophotography using Canon cameras and
lenses, along with two separate tracking instruments.  The sky was exceptional
dark, with a bright zodiacal band after sunset, and later, the gegenschein was
also seen visually and photographically.


The zodiacal light looking southwest after sunset, with the lights of Fort Huachuca
(right) and Bisbee (left) on the horizon.


The constellation ORION with the Orion Nebula in the lower center and Betelgeuse
in the upper left and Rigel in the lower right.  The fainter Horsehead Nebula is
above and to the left of the Orion Nebula.


A close-up of the Orion Nebula in the lower right, and the Horsehead Nebula in
the upper left.


The Pleiades star cluster with faint nebulosity.


The Rosette Nebula in the constellation of Monoceros.


The gegenschein, an extremely faint oval patch of light directly opposite the sun,
is seen in this enhanced picture, with Saturn at the extreme lower left, and much
brighter Mars in the upper right.  Mars is just above the 'beehive' cluster in the
 constellation CANCER.  The star Regulus, in the constellation LEO, is in the center
of this image, with the gegenschein just to the right.  The gegenschein is the result
of sunlight falling onto millions of small particles in the plane of the ecliptic, which
can be seen because of the 'opposition' effect (opposite the sun).  This image was
taken by K. Young.


Another picture of 'geostationary' satellites, but in this case over 20 were seen.


M81 and M82, two galaxies in the constellation URSA MAJOR.


The rising Milky Way, some 30 minutes before twilight.


The Rho OPHIUCHI cloud complex, is a dark nebula of gas and dust.
The red star, Antares (lower left) is in the constellation SCORPIUS,
with the bright globular star cluster, M4, seen in the lower right.