What are the advantages of remote observing?

•Altitude

•Latitude

•Longitude

•Avoiding light pollution

•Technical support

•Taking on new astronomical challenges

•Wide range of telescopes and filters to chose from

Altitude

Latitude and longitude

The five telescopes in the RAS Observatory are sited an elevation of 2225 metres in the high desert - close to

Apache Point Observatory – and well above most atmospheric pollution.

Location: 31 miles east of the town of Alamogordo, New Mexico USA

Latitude: 32° 54' 14" Longitude: W 105° 31' 44”

Time Zone: GMT -7:00 New Mexico.

Latitude and longitude - continued

HORIZON

RAS Observatory view – 32N My home town – 52N

Just compare the view of the southern sky!

Light pollution

• Alamogordo, the nearest large town to the observatory, has one of the strictest light pollution ordinances in the United States. If you fly over Alamogordo at night, it is almost invisible, so effective is its battle against light pollution. The State of New Mexico takes light pollution seriously too and in 1999 Governor Gary Johnson signed the nation's strictest state anti-light pollution legislation.

Technical Support

New Challenges

• Most observers have little interest or aptitude for “tinkering”

• If something breaks they want/need/would like somebody else to mend it! This is exactly what happen at the RAS Observatory.

• Members wanted the chance to do a far greater variety of astronomical activities than were possible with their current equipment.

Five telescopes to chose from!

                                                                                                                                       

4 versions of M20 – each taken through a different telescope in the RAS Observatory

The types of projects members have done

• Using standard (RGB) and exotic (H Alpha, SII and OIII) filters to image both well known and less well known objects.

Rosette Nebula - Monoceros

Veil Nebula - NGC 6992

20 minutes in H Alpha, RED

20 minutes in OIII, GREEN

20 minutes in SII, BLUE

Crescent Nebula – NGC 6888

in Cygnus

Magnitude: 10.0 - Size: 18.0'x13.0'

40 minutes in H Alpha

Hydrogen Alpha S II

O III

M42 and M43

These well known objects looks very different at three different wavelengths. In each case the

exposure was 40 minutes.

Red = Ha, Green = SII, Blue =OIII Red = Ha, Green = OIII, Blue =SII