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Contact information
website
http://home.tiscali.de/heutz_st
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Locator
Map
http://www.frappr.com/apppublic
Level of accuracy: country of Germany
Biography
My
interest in astronomy dates back to the Shoemaker-Levy-9-crash on Jupiter
in 1994. I had read books about astronomy before and already owned a small
refractor telescope, but watching the impact on the gas giant enforced my
desire for a “real” telescope. I decided to buy a Celestron C 8 which I
used for almost nine years. This scope really opened a new world to me.
During the
first years of my astronomical activities I more or less focused on visual
observations, occasionally trying color film photography with little
success. The main obstacle for visual as well as for photographic
observations is the severe light pollution in my area. The limiting
magnitude barely reaches 4.5 mag. in a good night. In 2003 I thus decided
to upgrade my equipment to seriously get into CCD astrophotography – the
only way to keep up astronomical work under bright skies. I bought a C 11
Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope on a New Atlux mount and a CCD camera and
started to take digital images. Thanks to the hints of other
astrophotographers I was able to improve my imaging and processing skills
with each processed image and learned how to achieve aesthetically
pleasing photos. In 2003 I was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical
Society, London, which means a great honor to me. What I am now aiming at
is to achieve both aesthetical and scientifically usable results.
Despite my
fascination in astronomy I decided to study law. I think the combination
of two very different areas of interest is of considerable value,
especially in order to avoid a restricted view on our world. Astronomy
provides a perfect compensation for my daytime job as it reminds me that
there are fascinating things beyond the everyday life. Besides, it
provides an opportunity to relax. Through my photos I try to share my
fascination in the wonders of the universe with other people all over the
world.
Areas of interest
My primary interest is CCD
astrophotography. I especially love to image deep sky objects though I am
also keen on planetary, lunar, and solar imaging.
Astrophotography publications
Magazines
Sterne und Weltraum,
Interstellarum
various national and international magazines
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.Internet
NASA APOD
Universe Today
Observing site
My imaging site is located about 5
miles northwest of a city with some 250,000 inhabitants. The city itself
is located northwest of the “Ruhrgebiet” area, one of those most severely
light polluted areas on our planet. So, I usually have a limiting
magnitude of 4.5 mag. on a good night. Yet, the seeing is quite well with
down to occasional 1.7 arcsecs in moments of steady air and averages
around 2.3-2.5 arcsecs. I do not have a permanent setup by now, so I use
to carry the 70 kilos out every night I image. Usually, there are no more
than 30-40 usable nights in a year.
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Remote Site
I do not really run a remote
observatory, but I sometimes work in cooperation with the Austrian
astronomer Wolfgang Ries (http://members.infodat.at/Sternwarte_Seng).
He lives under pretty dark skies and runs an 18”-Newtonian.
Astronomical Equipment
Telescopes
Celestron 11” f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain
telescope
4” f/10 Maksutov-Cassegrain
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Mount
Vixen New Atlux mount
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CCD
Camera
Starlight Xpress SXV-H9 CCD camera
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