Matthew B. K. Ota's Blog

Comet C2010 X1 Elanin to pass almost in front of the Pleiades 22 Nov 2011

matthewota — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 17:39:09 +0000

My astronomy Software of choice, TheSky 6 Pro, has the ability to display transient astronomical phenomenon, such as comets. By loading the latest elements for Comet Elanin, I have discovered that on the evening of November 22, 2011, the comet will pass nearly in front of the famous Pleiades star cluster. This may be an opportunity for some excellent astroimaging. Please click on the image to read the particulars.

One Hour of Solar Astronomy on a Sunday

matthewota — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 00:33:01 +0000

Set up the ol’ TIE Coronado Helios H-alpha Solar Telescope on a cheapo EQ-2 German Equitorial Mount on Sunday to let a fellow amateur astronomer see the Sun’s chromosphere for the firs time. We got to see at least three prominences. Not bad for a telescope with 8 angstrom bandwith…

Still looking for work

matthewota — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 18:22:26 +0000

All of my astronomy is on hiatus as I am still looking for a job. I have a promising interview this Thursday for a job as a telescope operator.

Space news

matthewota — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:54:05 +0000

Blogs are great for personal opinions on news events. As a lifelong “space buff” I have taken interest in the 2011 NASA budget, which has finally passed through both houses of Congress and awaits the President’s signature. Although I do not like the direction that we are going now, at least there is some direction in which to go.
The previous administration directed NASA to go back to the Moon and them Mars, but never gave them the adequate money to do it.
Now the Project Constellation is canceled, after billions of taxpayers money has been spent on it. An entire Mobile Launch Platform was recently finished for the now canceled Ares-1 launcher, which is now defunct and abandoned.

It will be interesting to see if the new direction will be fully implemented, or if the next administration will again change the program again, after billions of more dollars are spent.

NASA has lacked a clear long term commitment for its programs in recent years. Only during the Apollo days did NASA get the congressional and executive support it needed to complete a ten year project. Now everything goes in four or one year cycles, far too short for technologically challenging projects.

This has caused a loss of optimism on my part for the future of NASA and government run space programs. I am more impressed with commercial space activities, specifically Ellon Musk and his SpaceX company. His recent success with his Falcon 9 launcher is paving the way for cheap access to orbit. I will be watching his company closely as their Dragon spacecraft approaches its first flight later this year.

No Astronomy

matthewota — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 10:20:56 +0000

I am on a sabbatical from observational astronomy as my equipment is in storage until further notice

About my header photo

matthewota — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 16:01:44 +0000

The first photo on my header was taken by an Associated Press photographer working for the Los Angeles Times in August of 2003 when Mars had it very close approach. The next photo is of the Moon during a 2007 Lunar Eclipse taken with the 16 inch telescope at Mt Wilson Observatory. The other three photos were all taken with my amateur 10 inch telescope and show the best images I have been able to take of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

Moving back to Los Angeles

matthewota — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:29:06 +0000

I am moving back to Los Angeles at the end of the year. I got a job offer that was quite lucrative, plus the employer is paying to fly me there. I will leave most of my possessions behind to be moved at a later date. This includes all of my astronomy equipment and my library.

M11 Wild Duck Cluster

matthewota — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:45:42 +0000

M11 Wild Duck Cluster
Canon Powershot A620 Digital Camera, connected to a Scopetronix adapter to a Scopetronix 40mm 2 inch eyepiece, which was inserted into a Williams Optics Dielectric diagonal installed onto a 10 inch Meade LX250GPS Frankenscope. The camera was controlled via Canon RemoteCapture software via USB cable from my notebook PC.
Exposure settings:

13 second shutter speed
F2.8
7.3mm Focal Length
Manual white balance

Image histogram compressed in PhotoShop CS1

June 11, 2009, another potential client

matthewota — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 19:43:59 +0000

A sign company in California, Bay Signs, is interested in freelance work. Hopefully I will get some work to do from them next week.

That makes two clients now. I hope to get more…

June 10, 2009 Sign Co. In Londonderry

matthewota — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:12:27 +0000

Looks like I got a new job, sort of. A sign company in Londonderry, New Hampshire needs a designer and I fit the bill. I will probably draw for them over the internet for now and if things work out I will relocate to the town, which is located is SE New Hampshire. It seems to me that the majority of the population of this state lives in this area. Most of the sign companies are down there, too.

I am still trying to restore my computer, which crashed last week. I am having to reinstall a lot of software, which means I have to find all of the disks….