Gateway Remote Telescope

Here is the latest update on AAA’s Texas rig. Author: Stan Honda

Gateway Remote Telescope members have been busy imaging new objects and processing the many files available in our library. On February 26 we had our third lecture/demo and participants chose a new Image of the Month. Check out the Gateway Gallery to see the winners and latest deep sky photos.

An astronomical highlight of the past few months has been the spotting of a supernova in a spiral galaxy in Virgo. SN2024gy in NGC4216 was imaged nicely with the Gateway telescope. See the story by Alfredo Viegas in this issue of Eyepiece for details.

During the Feb. 26 Gateway lecture, Tom Cuccia described his process of selecting, imaging and processing the Dolphin Head nebula, the January Image of the Month. Alfredo Viegas showed an image of the supernova SN2024gy in galaxy NGC 4216 and gave us a fascinating summary of novas.

Since the new year, a few more people have signed up for the various tier levels. There is a total of 42 members in the paid tiers (Telescope Operator, Target Selector and Data Subscriber) plus 27 at the free Observers level. If you’d like to participate, check out the Gateway page on aaa.org and choose a tier level.

We have a global membership, with people from New Mexico, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, London and Brazil. Distance is not a factor to sign up.

In an effort to update the Astro-Tech AT-60 telescope, we have plans to buy a filter wheel and narrow-band filters for use with the ZWO ASI 2600 one shot color camera. Telescope Operator Andrew Warner is generously donating a Radian Triad Ultra Quad-band filter for this scope.

And thanks to two generous AAA members, Bob Marx and Bryanne Hamill, who made individual donations to the Gateway project. Their combined gifts came to $1,500 The donations will go a long way in keeping the project self-sustaining and viable. If you’d like to help, see “Support the Telescope” on the Gateway page.   

The Cone Nebula/Christmas Tree cluster (NGC 2264) processed by Ed Rojas. He used the RGB-Ha (left) and SHO pallets for the color information.

Stan Honda is a member of the AAA Board and longtime member. He chairs the Gateway Remote Telescope committee and helps organize the Astrophotography Google Group. Stan is a professional photographer based in New York City. He photographs the night sky even from New York.