Tarantula in HOO

A year and a half ago, a plan was made to send two setups under very dark skies to Namibia. After countless conversations, tinkering, planning, purchases, drilling, printing, assembling, connecting and testing, finally the first of the setups arrived at Hakos farm and was commissioned.

For me, the choice of target for first light was obvious — Tarantula. It is an object I had the chance to observe many years ago through a huge 70 cm telescope in the Atacama Desert in Chile.

Borówka South

One of the major issues with practicing astronomy in Poland is the weather. It is generally poor with maybe 60 observational nights per year, with the cloud cover being primary problem factor. Another concern is the unpredictability. While we typically have good weather in the spring and summer and sometimes in the winter, if it’s cold, but in recent years it wasn’t. This is particularly bad for certain types of observing activity that requires long series of observations, preferably multi-night, in particular asteroid tracking and search and variable stars observing.

Since the beginning of 2025 I have been working on a new wide-field setup — a new telescope, mount, camera, tilter, filters. Thanks to the invaluable help of Kamil Fiedosiuk I managed to resolve a multitude of problems. There are still quite a few issues left to solve, but the equipment finally works!

I assembled my first image — the Elephant’s Trunk in a wide shot. This dark nebula is located in the constellation Cepheus and lies 2400 light years from Earth. The nebula is surrounded by a much more diffuse region of ionized gas. The photo was taken through Antlia Highspeed Ha, OIII and SII narrowband filters, all 2" in diameter with a 3 nm bandwidth. An interesting fact is that in fast optical systems light enters at a steep angle, causing narrowband filters to lose efficiency due to the transmission band shift, known as bandpass shift. The filters used are the highspeed version, designed for optical systems from F/2.6 to F/3.6, which compensates for bandpass shift effects by shifting the filter passband.

M42 - the Orion Nebula

The famous Orion Nebula, M42, NGC1976 or simply the Orion Nebula is the brightest diffuse nebula in the sky.

It is located 1344 light years from Earth and is the closest known star-forming region to us. Because it is so bright (visible to the naked eye), it has several records to its name, e.g., it is the first photographed nebula (Henry Draper, 1880). Thanks to its studies, many details of the process of star and planet formation have been learned.

Messier 27

Messier 27, also known as the Dumbbell Nebula or NGC 6853, is a planetary nebula in the constellation Vulpecula. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764—it was the first known nebula of this type. Despite the name, it has nothing to do with planets; in the past, through weak telescopes, it resembled a blurred planetary disk, which is where the name came from, and it has persisted to this day. The distance from us is 1227 light-years, and its age is estimated at 9800–14,600 years, depending on the measurement method.

Eagle Nebula

Full resolution on flickr.

The Eagle Nebula (cataloged as Messier 16 or NGC 6611) is one of the most iconic objects in our night sky. Located approximately 7,000 light-years away in the constellation Serpens, this spectacular formation is an active star-forming region that spans roughly 70 by 55 light-years.

The nebula contains several distinct features that have captured the imagination of astronomers and the public alike:

• The Pillars of Creation: These famous columnar structures, immortalized by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995, are massive clouds of cold molecular hydrogen gas and dust that are in the process of creating new stars. Two of these pillars are clearly visible in this image, with a third being faintly discernible.
• Young Star Cluster: At the heart of the nebula lies a very young open star cluster, only about 10 million years old. These hot, young stars are responsible for illuminating the surrounding gas, causing it to glow through a process called ionization.
• Active Star Formation: The nebula is a stellar nursery where new stars are constantly being born. The intense ultraviolet light from young stars is gradually eroding the pillars, revealing newly formed stars in the process.

The Eagle Nebula is classified as an HII region, meaning it contains large amounts of ionized hydrogen gas. The name “Eagle” comes from its shape, which some observers say resembles a bird with outstretched wings.

The Needle Galaxy (NGC 4565): A Cosmic Edge-On Marvel

Full resolution on flickr.

Scientific Classification Designation: NGC 4565, Caldwell 38 Type: Spiral Galaxy Location: Coma Berenices constellation Distance: Approximately 30-50 million light-years from Earth

Astronomical Significance

NGC 4565 provides astronomers with a unique perspective of galactic structure due to its edge-on orientation relative to Earth. This positioning allows scientists to study:

• The vertical distribution of galactic matter
• The structure of galactic bulges and disks
• Interstellar dust distribution in spiral galaxies
• Dark matter halos through rotational dynamics

Technical Imaging Details

Total Integration: 29.83 hours (107,400 seconds) Subframes: 387 individual exposures combined Equipment:

Eta Carinae: A Remarkable Stellar Laboratory

Full resolution on flickr.

Eta Carinae represents one of the most fascinating stellar systems in modern astronomy, situated approximately 7,500 light-years from Earth in the Carina constellation. This binary system consists of two massive stars, with the primary component being particularly noteworthy for several reasons: Physical Characteristics:

• Primary star mass: Estimated 100-200 times the mass of our Sun
• Energy output: Approximately 4 million times greater than our Sun’s luminosity
• Classification: Luminous Blue Variable (LBV)

Historical Significance

The system has demonstrated remarkable variability in its apparent brightness, ranging from magnitude 8 to an extraordinary magnitude -1. This dramatic increase made it temporarily the second-brightest star visible in Earth’s night sky during the 19th century, an event known as the “Great Eruption.”

The famous Rho Ophiuchi

Full resolution on flickr.

The Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex represents one of Earth’s most scientifically fascinating molecular cloud regions. Named after the luminous blue star that dominates its western edge, this region serves as an excellent laboratory for studying stellar formation processes.

The complex contains two primary structures of interstellar matter: extensive dust and gas lanes cataloged under multiple designations including Barnard 44, Barnard 45, LDN 1688, and LDN 1689. These dense molecular clouds demonstrate active star formation in progress, where gravitational forces cause interstellar matter to collapse into protostars. When these protostars accumulate sufficient mass and central pressure, nuclear fusion initiates, marking the birth of new stars. Detailed infrared surveys have identified 425 distinct sources within these clouds, predominantly consisting of protostars ranging in age from 100,000 to 1 million years - remarkably young in astronomical terms.

Milky Way Center

Full resolution on flickr.

Finally had some time to process old material from trip to Chile in 2019.

This frame depicts the Sagittarius section of the Milky Way. It’s the bulge of the galaxy and its richest area as seen from Earth. It contains so many objects that it’s next to impossible to list them all. The two bright nebulae almost in the center are Lagoon (M8) and Trifid (M20). The Eagle nebula (M16) is very clearly visible near the bottom right corner, with Omega nebula (M17) is above it. There are many dark nebulae which, are also too numerous to mention all. Tried to count them, but lost count after 270. I have a version with LDN objects annotated if anyone is interested. The great bright spot on the left close to the edge is Jupiter.

No self-respecting astronomical observatory can function without an opening roof. Blueberry uses a sliding roof mechanism known as a ‘roll-off’. As a result of analyses, it was decided to discard the idea of installing a dome due to its significant disadvantage, which is the the inability to use more than one telescope. In addition, the circular design makes it difficult to efficiently place additional equipment such as a desk or a cabinet.

On Thursday of May 9th, a series of five or six solar flares began on the Sun. A flare is a release of huge amounts of energy due to local changes in the magnetic field. The flare itself lasts from a few minutes to an hour and a half, depending on its intensity. In the case of more energetic flares, different phenomena often occur, such as protuberance eruptions or mass ejections. The latter are called coronal mass ejections (CMEs). It is a cloud of plasma, accelerated in the coronal region (the outer part of the sun’s atmosphere) and then ejected into interplanetary space.

I have a fantastic job. Most of the time we work remotely, but once or twice a year we meet in person. This time the venue was going to be New York. Someone threw out an idea - why don’t we move the meeting up a few days and catch the eclipse? I have a nice boss too.

The eclipse trip is a logistical nightmare. The memes about being able to check the eclipse route by checking where hotels and airbnb’s are fully booked are true. Many months before the event itself, we had to decide on a location. We chose Albany, New York, as our home base and booked a coach. Unfortunately, the company demanded that the itinerary be determined 72h before departure. With considerable cloud cover for most of the USA and deteriorating forecasts, this cost us a lot of nerves.

Here it is!

A first light from the observatory! Ok, it’s a bit of a stretch. The photo was taken with Vaonis Vespera that was standing on observation platform in front of the observatory. And it wasn’t the first light of that scope… but I was in the observatory, the roof was open and I was monitoring it all the time.

So here it is, the first image from my own observatory. The exposure time was 1852 frames, each lasting 10 seconds. Done with Vaonis Vespera, a bautifully simple 50mm F/4 apochromat scope, processed in PixInsight. The exposure pose no scientific value and is purely aesthetic. But I’ll get there soon.

Done!

After so many years I finally lived to see it! The base version of the observatory is ready! But let’s take a look at all the steps first.

Floor

Paul has finished the floor extremely quickly. Seemingly a simple thing, but due to the piers the installation of the girders, i.e. the beams on which the floor boards are supported was not trivial at all. The end result looks like this:

Season start

The plan is that 2023 will be the year the observatory achieves what the US Army refers to as IOC - Initial Operational Capability. That’s a fancy way to say lots of stuff still to be done, but the bare bones are there and it’s possible to observe.

Driving system

In my opinion, the most critical part still missing is the roof along with the sliding system. With my ’tackle hardest stuff first’ attitude, that’s what the initial focus should be. Thanks to the help of a local talent mr. Paweł Kulas, it was possible to install the rails on which the roof will move. This was not a trivial task, as each of the 4 rails weighs about 60kg. Together, that’s almost a quarter ton of steel…

Spring

2022 was a special year for me. My daughter turned one year old, and I slowly began to have free time. The construction of the observatory got off the ground, and I was able to continue things that started last year. The condition at the beginning of the season resembled a dump of concrete. A small part of the concrete blocks had been placed in place, but nevertheless the vast majority were scattered in almost random fashion. The situation looked like this:

Another weekend was marked by the continuation of work. This time in addition to Tomek, the senior of the Mrugalski family - Tadeusz - took part in the work. Thanks to his invaluable experience, we managed to solve several problems, significantly pushed forward the construction of the building skeleton. And Tomek learned a few tricks.

Arms and legs, or something about stability.

The built skeleton of the building appears to be stable. When trying to move it by hand, the structure does not bend, not even by millimeters. However, this may be a somewhat illusory impression. During a windstorm, the force generated can be much greater than the capabilities of one man. Here, the not-insignificant force acting from the side, which in the worst case can lead to the deformation of the skeleton into the shape of a parallelogram and ultimately topple the whole building.

Before

The initial state of the contruction was not an optimistic one. Foundation blocks, on which four anchored joists were laid. Plus four corner posts and a few fittings installed. Well, that’s something to start with. Fortunately, this would soon change dramatically. A long weekend was approaching, and I had an ace up my sleeve - my childhood friend Łukasz Kufliński decided to offer me his long weekend and together we would move the construction forward.

The construction finally gotten serious. The excavation is done. Twice. First time using excavator that was doing some heavy ground work on another project. This part was completely unplanned. The excavator operator asked:

Hey Tomek, do you want anything other digging done?

In couple minutes I came up with the location and layout of the observatory. Of course, I thought about this before, but haven’t had anything measured or planned in details. So I eyeballed the whole thing and went with _dig two 1m by 1m by 1m holes here and there". Five minutes later I was a proud owner of two holes in the ground.

After I don’t know how many years, I finally made it. I bought a piece of land. It is in the middle of nowhere, without infrastructure, littered, neglected. Perfect. Years of of constantly setting up the telescope every night from scratch are slowly coming to an end.

On one of my first visits, I took my camera with me and was favored by luck. There was such a visitor flying over my area. This must be a good sign.