binary stars by magnitude, separation, latitude, season, telescope aperture

I am working on some new tables of stars which are likely accessible for telescopes of a given aperture at a given latitude in a given 2-month period.

The app will allow you to plan ahead for a given location and a given date to have a suitable star to split to test collimation, "seeing", a new lens or for the pleasure.

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Aboriginal remote astronomy projects

For aboriginal remote astronomy projects the key is partnering : when occasional cloud obscures a site near Ramah NM it would be best to have at least two alternates available in Montana and central Saskatchewan south of 50° Lat.

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Double Stars

I have added a page of multiple stars at http://astro.aule-browser.com/stars/binary.html

It is basically the txt file  ftp://nic.funet.fi/pub/astro/dbases/stars/multistr.txt  but with some improved encoding.  This is just a first pass: they intended the file to be pulled into a database.

There are also a number of relevant links on the page.

Note: the list is for the northern hemisphere and is sorted by constellation.

More useful might be a page to extract a list of binaries whose DEC is within 10 degrees of your latitude for viewing near azimuth - not to mention selection by within 2 hour angles.

The simple Rebol 278 code used to extract the file is given at the bottom of the web page.

Polaris Arcturus

Red-on-black astronomy page for spring: aule-browser.com

Arcturus
   14h 16m +19 11
Polaris
   02h 32m +89 16

Rough settings for manual alignment or eq or fork mount.

Messier Constellations

Over at http://astro.aule-browser.com/messier-cons.html I have placed the SEDS Messier list into a page with a black background and red text.  There is also a link for a black page area (large bottom of the page area) which works well in combination with the web browser F11 key.


The constellation links are to SEDS map pages on black backgrounds ( I have not yet eliminated some white borders and some silver areas.)


The Messier object icons still open onto seds.org pages with blinding white backgrounds.


I have set the Windows default window background on my own PC to a dull green, but it is still too bright.


More updates to follow ...

Star Occultation

Here is an example of a recent event which had limited visibility: delta Ophiuchi.

More dramatic cases are usually solar eclipses or either of Mecury or Venus in a solar transit (a rare Venus transit is coming.)

Remote viewing from a clear dark sky site with "good seeing" at the time of the event is an opportunity for internet-based observations and measurements.

aboriginal remote-contolled internet astronomy

We are moving forward with our remote-controlled telescope project hosted at aule-browser.com as http://remastr.aule-browser.com pending a suitable host site.

This project is focussed on practical skills for under-employed indigenous or aboriginal persons and quality service for those internet astronomers who do not have the access to dark skies which their observations require.

Skill areas include basic robotic controls, internet protocols, business basics, scheduling for users and maintenance, calibration, web development, marketing, grant annd funding submissions, human resources, industrial design, light precision manufacturing, tourism, ecologically unobtrusive small business, global aboriginal communications.

Current available sites are North Dakota (1), New Mexico (3), Saskatchewan (pending), South Dakota (pending) and Minnesota (pending.)  Sites still pending are all on aboriginal lands. Sites of interest are aboriginal lands in southern Mexico, Chile, Borneo, Australia.

If you have a suggestion for a remote site, please contact robert @ logiquewerks.com (no spaces in actual email address.)  If you are a member of a tribe or other aboriginal community with an interest in this subject, I would love to hear from you.  If you have ideas for robust remote internet telescope installations for 200cm to 750cm apertures, please drop us a line.