Astronomy: The night was a bust, well almost!

Posted on by AstroPilotDad

After two months, there was a clear night in the Pacific NorthWest. Naturally, I decided to set up my telescope and get some pictures. I wanted to capture some real data to process and publish so did not tinker with my setup. Since it is galaxy season right now and between the mirrorless and CCD camera, the CCD set up was tried and tested, so I decided to use it. After putting my son to sleep, at around 8pm, I set up my camera, polar aligned it and got the imaging camera in focus. Problem started when I was looking to get my guide camera in focus. The camera wasn’t taking a picture and returning this error: [ERROR] GetQHYCCDSingleFrame error (-1)

I tried rebooting my Raspberry Pi and switching the USB ports but still the same error. I had recalled that earlier i had to download the latest SDK to make my QHY camera work. I tried that as well but with no luck. At that point I decided that instead of trying to debug the issue, I would rather capture some data. Without autoguiding, I couldn’t expect to get pinpoint stars with more than 30 second exposure but that would mean I wouldn’t get any sort of details of the galaxy arms. Even so, I just wanted to be able to capture some deep sky object. The target was M51 (Whirlpool Galaxy) and plate solving (which I had a bit of trouble getting remote solver to get going) placed smack in the middle of my frame. I started shooting 30 second subs and luckily there was no trailing. I could have bumped up the sub duration but I did not want to try it then. I took around 60 subs plate solving every 10 or so subs to make sure the object was in the center of my frame. I could have continued taking more pictures but I prefer at least 3 minute subs so checked the weather for the following night – “mostly clear” and decided that I will debug the problem during the day and set up the following night and hopefully get some useful data. I took around 10 darks and called it a night around midnight. I’m still figuring out the issue with the QHY camera and will write about it in a subsequent post but for now, here is what I captured:

M51 Whirlpool Galaxy. 60 30 second subs 10 30 second darks and no auto guiding.

This is a stack of 60 30 second subs and 10 30 second darks with just some stretching and no post processing. I still have a long way to go for getting a great print worthy astrophotograph but I think the night was not a total bust. One thing astrophotography will teach you is to be patient :). I have been at it for more than a year now but don’t think I have one photography that I can call great. I have, however, learnt a whole lot in this past one year and hoping that my efforts at documenting my journey will be helpful to folks who are just taking this hobby up.

[Edit]: Here is a post processed version of the image. After the initial stretching, I tried to get rid of some light pollution. I still have a long way to go in terms of learning how to post process but for such a short integration time, I don’t think the image is half as bad. What do you think?

Personal : Subtle Nudge?

Posted on by AstroPilotDad

Pacific North West skies have been dark and gray for the past two months ruling out any astro-photography and since I don’t plan to fly with an instructor at least till April, flying is out of question as well. I don’t want to talk about work as that will make this post a rant 🙂 . What remains is personal life which is what this post will focus on.

My child’s nursery some how turned out to be space themed. Not sure what happened or what influenced my decision to do that 🙂 . In addition, my wife got him these books which I religiously read to him every day. Those books are really good. While I think he is too young to understand any of it yet, the books do a good job of elucidating complex physics topics. So I think my son is growing a keen interest in Physics and Astronomy /s.

In all seriousness though, I am not going to dictate what my son pursues as his career and I don’t want to influence him at this young age through subtle and not so subtle nudges. I will, however, also not shy away from sharing my hobbies and passions with him. I think they will inculcate in him the importance of hobbies and passions and hopefully over time help him find and pursue what he likes. I also want my son to exhibit scientific curiosity, think critically and question everything. I think all of that is possible by learning the scientific method and having a basic understanding of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields. The physics series of books for babies is a great start but I think there is a whole slew of them by the author Chris Ferrie and there are versions for cell biology, organic chemistry, neural networks and more by other authors. I think it is a good way for younglings to get introduced to STEM fields. Ultimately, all we can do is nurture our kids to be curious and critical thinkers and trust that those qualities will help them navigate the world and find their purpose and passion in life.

Personal: First Snow

Posted on by AstroPilotDad

Today our son experienced his first snow. Well, sort of. It doesn’t snow as much in the pacific northwest but when it does, everything shuts down. For the last couple of winters there has been snow atleast once during the season and adds up to atleast half a foot if not more.

Our son experienced snow in the sense that he witnessed snowfall through the window and then I dressed him up in warm clothes and took him outside. I say sort of, because we did not spend enough time making snowman or playing around in the snow. I think he is too young for that .. Instead we did what Gen X or whatever the younger generation now is called :). We took a bunch of pictures for memory and to check the box for social media posts. Here is a picture of us hanging out in the snow for a bit.

Good thing about Seattle is that it doesn’t snow all winter and the snow doesn’t last throughout the winter. I still remember spending 3 (or was it 4) winters in the Midwest. You always enjoy the first snow and then it becomes a drag when you have to scrape ice off your windshield every morning or bear the -20 wind chill while waiting for your bus to arrive. I don’t miss that part of my life now but I do miss the snow days and the grad school life. Looking forward to when my son is a bit grown up so that we can actually spend time playing in the snow!

Private Pilot: COVID-19 stalls IFR plans

Posted on by AstroPilotDad

This is going to be a short post where I vent at the darn COVID virus. As I had talked about in my previous post, I had completed most of my IFR training requirement and the only thing pending was 50 hour cross country time as PIC and long IFR cross country. Since the pandemic hit, my training has virtually come to a standstill. I was only spending time on my PIC cross country time because I was being extra careful and flying alone. With the new born and unknowns related to COVID, I did not/do not want to take any risks. I haven’t flown with my instructor for almost a year now and my IFR training is getting rusty. In addition, my aviation school has a policy requiring private pilots fly with a CFI once a year for an annual before they can rent planes. In Jan of this year that annual expired for me 😦 meaning I can no longer rent a plane without flying with a CFI first. Right now, I am very hesitant in doing so given the mutating, and ever more contagious, strains of the virus. I’m hoping that we get vaccines soon and things get better for me to start flying again. If not, I’m hoping for my son to be a bit older (at least a year) before I can brave wearing an N95 mask to share a cockpit with my CFI.

Personal: 2020 Reflections

Posted on by AstroPilotDad

Reflections on a year gone by is an exercise that quite a few folks undertake. Especially for a year like 2020, which has been challenging for most of the world due to COVID-19 pandemic. I thought I’d try to do the same this year but rather than just reflect, I wanted to list out the things that I’m thankful for this year. This year has been incredibly hard for almost everyone around the world but it has been much harder for some more than others. People have lost ,their dear ones, their jobs, their homes, their life savings and more. Relative to those people, I have had, what I can only call a wonderful year. This exercise, trust me, is not easy for me. I am not good at reflecting on life experiences or reflecting on things I am thankful for. It’s just that I wanted to put some effort and time going through this exercise which doesn’t come naturally to me. So here goes nothing.

First off, after struggling for more than three years, we were lucky enough to welcome a baby boy into this world and our lives. I’m very very thankful for this!

With the pandemic, the early days of managing the baby were tough, but I am thankful for the wonderful friends that I have who provided us with prepared meals for the first two months of the baby’s life.

I’m also thankful for having a job that allows me to pursue my hobbies of flying and astronomy. Although, I haven’t been able to spend much time this year on the former because of the baby and the pandemic.

I’m thankful for my wonderful wife who keeps up with my tantrums and allows me to pursue my hobbies. Most days she is primarily taking care of the baby and instead of taking a break during weekends, she encourages me to go pursue my hobbies. I think I can do more to support her and help her out more in taking care of our son.

Finally, I’m thankful for my health. I have had struggles with health in my early twenties that continued on for about a decade. For more than a decade now, I have been lucky enough to have my condition under control allowing me to pursue my hobbies, live a normal life and now take care of my son. I’m very thankful for that.

Despite all these good things in my life, 2020 has been a bit of a struggle. Our parents and my brother haven’t had a chance to visit or meet with our son. I absolutely abhor the isolation. I usually enjoy the company of people but we have practically been in quarantine since April 2020. I switched teams in my current job twice. The first time because I did not see a growth path in my old team and the second time because, even though the role was good and had a growth trajectory, my boss was a micromanager. Don’t get me wrong, my boss is a nice man, but I cannot work for someone who 1) upward manages creating churn on the people who work for him making them work late nights and weekends for no good reason except that he cannot push back to his seniors on unnecessary, redundant work 2) micro-manages sitting with team members 2-3 layers below him doing grunt work because he does not trust them. I got out of that team as soon as I could. I am now in another team that I don’t think I like. COVID makes it harder to concentrate at work and get anything done. It’s even hard with managing a 8 month old when both my wife and I work.

Overall, If I reflect on 2020, I think the huge positives out weigh the negatives but the everyday drag that the year had been made it hard to enjoy the positives. Even though the vaccines are now available, I think most of 2021 will be spent in isolation. However, I’m hoping to spend more time in 2021 reflecting and enjoying the positives so that the day to day becomes easier to tolerate. Here’s to life getting back to normal in 2021 again. Happy New Year!