The PlaneWave CDK 17 and AP 1600 Mount has been installed!Astronomers Bob, Debbie, and Robin were there and made the final connections to make the attachment complete on March 30th, 2013.

Blue Snowball NebulaCoordinates: Sky map 23 25 54, +42° 32′ 6″. NGC 7662 aka the Blue Snowball Nebula, Snowball Nebula or Caldwell 22 is a planetary nebula.

(NGC7009) The Saturn NebulaThe Saturn Nebula (also known as NGC 7009 or Caldwell 55) is a planetary nebula in the constellation Aquarius.

It was discovered by William Herschel on September 7, 1782, using a telescope of his own design.

NGC40NGC 40 (also known as the Bow-Tie Nebula and Caldwell 2) is a planetary nebula discovered by W.F.Herschel Nov 25 1788, and is composed of hot gas around a dying star.

Our Next Show isCosmic Obsession Observatory will host a live broadcast on October 20, 2012. Join us on

NSN (click)

MarsMars is the place to be if you live on Mars or are an astronomer researching Mars from here on Earth.

Check out our new Mars tab for inside information on up-coming research.

NGC6543The Cat's Eye Nebula (NGC 6543, Caldwell 6) is a planetary nebula in the constellation of Draco. Structurally, it is one of the most complex nebulae known, with high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope observations revealing remarkable structures such as knots, jets, bubbles and sinewy arc-like features.

Our Next Show isCosmic Obsession Observatory will host a live broadcast on the next, clear night, weather permitting. Join us on

NSN (click)

Annular Eclipse of 2012The research dome was equipped with a Takahashi TOA 130 NB telescope and white light solar filter. The Mallincam is now ready to image both the day AND the night sky.

Read what we saw and did in the Blog

<--END details-->
Play Pause

Featured Video

The Transit of Venus

Beginning the Transit of Venus. June 5nd, 2012

Today we highlight The Transit of Venus 2012 as seen from Cosmic Obsession Observatory. It was an should be the highlight of any amateur astronomer to research and endeavor to capture important events occuring outside the atmosphere of Earth. This video is one of four that were captured that afternoon and evening. It was a remarkable show and event, but the teamwork involved in preparing for, and accomplishing the goals we set out to achieve were all worth the effort. We highlight and honor the efforts of all amateur and professional researchers who search for truth. This video was made from a screen capture of the LIVE broadcast being presented on the Night Skies Network. This featured video tab will include more clips as they begin to be stitched together to make up the whole picture of our experience. Feel free to contact Bob, Debbie, or Francis. Each of us have an email address here that starts with our name and ends with @cosmicobsession.com.

This "Featured Video" tab is in honor of our friends at Celestron. We look forward to answering your questions. They have been inquisitive and we do not want to miss our chance to help you. Please ask us about the "Featured View" item and we'll let you know what we're looking at and learning about now.

Transit of Venus 2012 Pre-show

The Beginning of the Transit of Venus 2012

Venus Transit 2012 Pt3

Venus Transit #4

About us

Activities

We are involved in astronomy on multiple levels. First, we are always learning about astronomy. When we are not learning, we think about how to build a better observatory. If we're not learning or building, we are observing space and time through a telescope.

When we observe, we never observe alone. We share a live telescope feed on the Night Skies Network and share what we see in space with our friends.

When we are not learning about astronomy by researching astronomical objects, we are doing astronomical outreach to the community. It's a straight forward use of the facilities and tools at our disposal. Family comes first because we do everything together but we want to share it with you because we know the work is important to more than just us.

Send us your comments and tell us what you think!

Cosmic Obsession is a Texas based permanent observatory

Texas has a new permanent telescope observatory called "Cosmic Obsession".

We are a team of five amateur astronomers working together to bring the excitement of astronomy to the public. We report what we see when we look through our 25-inch Obsession Dobsonian telescope from Dave Kreige and/or from high atop the Cosmic Obsession telescope pier with the Celestron 11" Edge HD. Team effort is the name of the game. Wherever we go we go together and when we look into space, we discover a little more about the universe and something new about ourselves. This is the philosophy of Cosmic Obsession.

This is where you will hear about what we have seen and what we plan to see next. ~ Bob and Debbie Fitzhenry

Telescopes

PlaneWave CDK 17

The CDK17 has dual carbon-fiber truss designing that comes with 3 fans that are able to eject air out the back of the telescope. This adds to the image quality of the design. The CDK (Corrected Dall-Kirkham) Optical Design is innovative solutions for unsurpassing astroimaging quality. The CDK telescope design produces images with large format CCD cameras while remaining superb for visual use. The CDK design exceeded the off-axis performance of almost all commercial telescope designs including Ritchey-Chrétien. This design is so unique that it makes the optical alignment forgiving and collimation very easy. The user has the best possible performance from PlaneWave telescopes because of these reasons. The end result at the image plane of the CDK design is no off-axis coma, no off-axis astigmatism, perfectly flat field (no off-axis defocus). The CDK design will give the Cosmic Obsession Observatory pinpoint stars from the center to the corner of the field of view.

AP 1600 Mount

CGEM 1100 HD from Celestron

Our Celestron 1100 HD with Edge Optics will sit on top a permanent, adjustable telescope pier under an 11-foot dome in the middle of the Cosmic Obsession Observatory Complex. It features a new aplanatic Schmidt telescope design which produces aberration-free images across a wide field of view.

Mirror tension locks hold the primary mirror in place and reduce image shift and Cooling vents allow hot air to be released from behind the primary mirror and imaging from the mirror is accomplished with one of two CCD cameras.

Takahashi TOA-130 NFB

Takahashi America "Tell Fred we sent ya." APC Feature Allows Full Picture Enhancement of Vertical and Horizontal Pixels, Freeze Image Feature, Gamma Selection Feature, High Light Feature (Electronic Coronagraph and Electronic Stellar Coronagraph) for Unsurpassed Lunar Impact Research, Lunar Studies, Solar Observing (with proper solar filter), Planetary Images and a Whole lot more!! New Custom Designed High Precision 1.25" adapter, Class 1 CCD Sensor, Grade 1 Components Throughout, Unique Custom Manufactured High Gain Circuitry Not Found on other Video CCD Cameras.

25-inch f/4 Classic Dob from Dave Kreige of Obsession Telescopes

A 25" mirror can collect remnants of light billions of years old. Our classic Obsession telescope from Dave Kreige was delivered in October of 2010 and is the planetary research tool for the Cosmic Obsession team. The 25" - 635 mm f/3.5 with an OMI, 2-inch thick mirror, is capable of capturing high resolution images of planets using a Mallincam Signature #6 CCD camera. It is easy to set up and can track planets and moons of all sizes and distances.

Mallincam Signature #6

APC Feature Allows Full Picture Enhancement of Vertical and Horizontal Pixels, Freeze Image Feature, Gamma Selection Feature, High Light Feature (Electronic Coronagraph and Electronic Stellar Coronagraph) for Unsurpassed Lunar Impact Research, Lunar Studies, Solar Observing (with proper solar filter), Planetary Images and a Whole lot more!! New Custom Designed High Precision 1.25" adapter, Class 1 CCD Sensor, Grade 1 Components Throughout, Unique Custom Manufactured High Gain Circuitry Not Found on other Video CCD Cameras.

Mallincam EX2 CCD camera

We use two CCD camera to take images and broadcast live. The Mallincam EX2 is an astronomical video camera that takes color CCD images. It has fourth generation "Hyper Circuit" technology that allows a user to vary shutter exposures from 3-seconds to 100-minutes. Check oout the planetary nebulas in our homepage gallery to see how crisp the images can be!

Blog

PlaneWave CDK 17 and AP 1600 Mount Installation and unveiling

A new surprise was unveiled at Cosmic Obsession Observatory this month and it was the introduction of a new, PlaneWave CDK 17 and AP 1600 Mount. This package will be the last set of telescope systems seen atop the new pier pipe extension located directly under the apex of the Cosmic Obsession 11-foot observatory dome here in Tomball, Texas for quite some time. This is the telescope everyone wants.

An order was placed for both the PlaneWave telescope and the AP Mount and they were installed just yesterday, March 30, 2013. Team Fitzhenry was able to secure the technical assistance they needed, and added it to the engineering that was necessary to install this large aperture inside the 11-foot dome with an existing 11-foot pier pipe. The future will bring more updates from Robert Fitzhenry himself on how hard all this work was and how beneficial it will become in the future for the Cosmic Obsession Observatory LIVE broadcasts on NSN (Night Skies Network) and the other servers you can find the feed.

A schedule of broadcast events has NOT been planned for, as the final wiring for the telescope, mount and Mallincam cameras will have to be completed before the "First Light" event can be had. Please keep checking in on the Cosmic Obsession Observatory team here and on Facebook at the Cosmic Obsession Observatory "Like" Page.

"This is the One!"
Bob Fitzhenry

What do you think of our new logo?

44th LPSC 2013

The Marriott Waterway Convention Center in The Woodlands, Texas was home base for over 1,000 planetary and space scientists who were gathered to speek on and about the hot topics in planetary sciences. Francis Walsh, one of the astronomers who trained at Cosmic Obsession, was invited to attend the gatherings and hear what some of the brilliant speakers were talking about. Talking points included the Moon's surface and crater ejecta, Exobiology (aliens), and much more scientific news on Mars, our solar system, and the technical side of using new technology to answer age old questions.

Thank you must go out to the men and women who arrange for this gathering each year. The information that is shared will be used to uncover the next big discovery in our evolution into the future or our trepid dance through the universe on our way there.

"The science was first class"
Francis Walsh
(POV) 44th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference

Feel free to interact with us on the Night Skies Network via chat during our LIVE broadcast to see the George Observatory, what we are seeing through the Takahashi TOA-130 and what everyone thinks about the event!

What do you think of our new logo?

Astronomy Day 2012

The George Observatory is located inside the Brazos Bend State Park in southeast Texas. This year, on October 20th, Astronomy Day is being held at the 'tri-dome' location hosted by the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Cosmic Obsession was granted a place to present itself to the public and now all the amateur astronomers of Cosmic Obsession Observatory will be in attendence. You can join us in person BUT you can also join us through a virtual connection hosted by Cosmic Obsession and presented to the public by us for Astronomy Day 2012 at George Observatory. The event is tomorrow and it is being recorded by our friend DrakenI78 to be hosted on YouTube for those of you who miss the LIVE broadcasts tomorrow.

You can join us via the internet on the Night Skies Network once we have connected to the internet and begun to transmit our images LIVE from the George Observatory during Astronomy Day 2012 on October 20, 2012.

We have to thank all our fellow astronomers for helping us to be a part of this year's event at George Observatory. Nathan Jones was instrumental and we want to thank him particularly. His diligence and your inquisitive minds will drive Cosmic Obsession to do more with and for you, the public. Thanks for being a part of our interest in astronomy and for pushing us to do more with the tools that we have to do it with.

"Astronomy Day and Night 2012!"
Cosmic Obsession

Feel free to interact with us on the Night Skies Network via chat during our LIVE broadcast to see the George Observatory, what we are seeing through the Takahashi TOA-130 and what everyone thinks about the event!

What do you think of our new logo?

Septembers to Remember

At this time we would like to wish our friend, father, and husband a happy day. His efforts and hard work have produced amazing results and it all starts and ends at home and among family and friends. Good luck this weekend and we look forward to seeing what's next in space for Cosmic Obsession, Debbie and Bob, and the natural science of astronomy.

We want to thank the people who share our enthusiasm and time on the Night Skies Network. There are too many friends there to name here individually, but you know who you are and we appreciate your friendship. The astronomical views we have been able to achieve have come not at the expense of our time and effort, but at the pleasure of the friendships we build. Cosmic Obsession Observatory was honored to witness the Transit of venus with so many fine amateurs, professionals, and friends.

"A new night."
From all of us!
Feel free to interact with us on the Night Skies Network via chat during our next LIVE broadcast to let us know what you want to see next!

Transit of Venus 2012 Pre-show

The Beginning of the Transit of Venus 2012

Venus Transit 2012 Pt3

Venus Transit #4

The 4th of July Celebration LIVE

Our latest LIVE broadcast ocurred on July 4, 2012 with a clear night and wonderful friends celebrating Independence with us on the Night Skies Network. These recordings were captured by amateur astronomer Francis Walsh and are not intended to infringe on anyone's good time. The advertisements are used to offset the music being played. We share what we saw looking through the Celestron 11" Aplanatic-Schmidt Cassegrain telescope mounted on the permanent pier mount of Cosmic Obsession. The images were captured by our dependable Mallincam Xtreme CCD camera.

Cosmic Obsession Observatory was honored to share these views with so many fine amateurs, professionals, and friends.

"We had clear skies to celebrate the 4th of July."
Bob and Francis

Feel free to interact with us on the Night Skies Network via chat this coming Saturday night to let us know what you want to see next!

July 4th LIVE Cosmic Obsession Observatory Broadcast

Bubble Nebula and NGC 7635

July 4th with Jimi

M17 and Much, Much More June 23rd, 2012

See inside the control room Our latest LIVE broadcast ocurred on June 23, 2012 with clear nights and wonderful friends joining us on the Night Skies Network. There is more than an hour of recordings to see almost all of the segments of what we were able to see of these objects. We share what we saw looking through the Celestron 11" Aplanatic-Schmidt Cassegrain telescope mounted on the permanent pier mount of Cosmic Obsession. The images were captured by our dependable Mallincam Xtreme CCD camera.

Cosmic Obsession Observatory was honored to share these views with so many fine amateurs, professionals, and friends.

"Francis saw some things he never saw before!"
Bob and Debbie
Feel free to interact with us on the Night Skies Network via chat this coming Saturday night to let us know what you want to see next!

Broadcasting LIVE with Bob on June 23, 2012 -Pre-show

M57, M27 The Ring and the Dumbell

M16 The Eagle Nebula

M17 M20 Nebula

M51 NGC4565

The Transit of Venus 2012

See Video We did get to see the Transit of Venus from the Cosmic Obsession Observatory Tuesday from just after 5PM until sunset on on June 5, 2012. We broadcast what we saw on the Night Skies Network There is an hour of recordings to see almost all of the segments of what we were able to see of this rare alignemnt with Venus and the Sun. We share what we saw looking through the lenses of the NEW Takahashi refractor scope mounted on the permanent pier mount of Cosmic Obsession. The images were captured by our dependable Mallincam Xtreme CCD camera.

We want to thank the people who share our enthusiasm and time on the Night Skies Network. There are too many friends there to name here individually, but you know who you are and we appreciate your friendship. The astronomical views we have been able to achieve have come not at the expense of our time and effort, but at the pleasure of the friendships we build. Cosmic Obsession Observatory was honored to witness the Transit of venus with so many fine amateurs, professionals, and friends.

"Everything was the best part"
Francis
Feel free to interact with us on the Night Skies Network via chat this coming Saturday night to let us know what you want to see next!

Transit of Venus 2012 Pre-show

The Beginning of the Transit of Venus 2012

Venus Transit 2012 Pt3

Venus Transit #4

An Annular Ring of Fire Eclipse of the Sun

See Video We did get to see a partial Annular Eclipse from the Cosmic Obsession Observatory Sunday at sunset on May 20, 2012. We broadcast what we saw on the Night Skies Network from about 30-minutes before the sun set and into the tree-tops. We share what we saw looking through the lenses of the NEW Takahashi refractor scope mounted on the permanent pier mount of Cosmic Obsession. The images were captured by our dependable Mallincam Xtreme CCD camera.

The afternoon had its share of clouds. They shifted from east to west and back again. The Sun was protected for much of the afternoon and our hopes for a shot at the eclipse would come with just a few degrees of clear horizon to spare. Our Texas skies are wide and the Sun could not hang on to enough clouds so far in the west. There were none and those of us viewing from inside and outside the Cosmic Obsession Dome would have to say that the view was fine when it mattered most.

"Our Sun is where all the action is ocurring over the next few weeks."
Bob & Debbie
Feel free to interact with us on the Night Skies Network via chat this coming Saturday night to let us know what you want to see next!

Remember to look out at the sunset on Sunday, May 20th

See Video in the US to get your chance to see a partial or total Annular Eclipse. We will be out with our own telescopes and broadcasting live on Night Skies Network from before the sun sets and into the night looking through the lenses of the NEW Takahashi refractor scope mounted on the permanent pier mount of Cosmic Obsession.

"Our Sun is where all the action is ocurring over the next few weeks."
Bob & Debbie

Feel free to interact with us on the Night Skies Network via chat this coming Saturday night to let us know what you want to see next!

NEW Takahashi TOA-130 NFB at Cosmic Obsession Observatory

TOA-130NFB by Takahashi We will use this to view the Annular eclipse and the transit of Venus on June 5th. Takahashi makes refractor telescopes which are different by construction to the Celestron aplanatic Schmidt-Cassegrain and the reflector mirror of our Dave Kreige, Obsession 25"dobsonian.

We will be out with our own telescopes and broadcasting live on Night Skies Network from before the sun sets and into the night looking through the lenses of the NEW Takahashi refractor scope mounted on the permanent pier mount of Cosmic Obsession.

"Check in regularly to see what is going on. Share your sky with us."
Cosmic Obsession Observatory

Feel free to interact with us on the Night Skies Network via chat this coming Saturday night to let us know what you want to see next!

April 28, 2012 is International Astronomy Day

Join us tomorrow night on Night Skies Network to see live feeds from inside the observatory and through the telescopes we have broadcasting streams of data back to us of images from outside ouratmosphere.

Check in anytime Saturday April 28, 2012 to NSN to see if we're doing a live broadcast.

"Check in regularly to see what is going on. Share your sky with us."
Cosmic Obsession Observatory

Feel free to interact with us on the Night Skies Network via chat to let us know what you want to see next!

The Cosmic Obsession Observatory Blog Archives

Visit the Blog Archives to access all the posts we have created on a daily basis since the inception of the Cosmic Obsession Observatory Complex. You can find insightful information on our research, the observatory, and the people who bring it all to life. Bob, Debbie, Francis, Robin, and Sean.

Links

Cosmic Obsession Observatory is proud to produce LIVE telescope broadcasts on the Night Skies Network. You can watch an archived show here. We want to thank the people who make the Night Skies Network a great place to broadcast our view into space. Being able to share what we are researching, and where we are researching, while we are researching has been one of the unexpected pleasures of creating this astronomy information. It is easy to use the Night Skies Network as a place to see what lies outside our atmosphere. Simply visit the Night Skies Network home page and sign up for a free membership. Then all you have to do is log in and your get instant access to a long list of LIVE telescope feeds. When you go there you will see that many of the links are in white. That means the feed is offline. When a link becomes red, the telescope is broadcasting live.

Please note that the Night Skies Network is an astronomy website that interacts with astronomy clubs from around the globe. Please be kind to the other viewers as there may be a significant number of viewers at one time under a single username. The site is a teaching site that takes astronomy to the people through the use of CCD cameras from Mallincam and they adhere to a code of behavior during their broadcasting sessions. If you love astronomy like they love astronomy, then you can understand why they like their stars unadulturated.

NSN is an astronomy site that offers you a connection to live telescope feeds from amateur and professional astronomers. The astronomers bring their pictures to the public through the use of CCD camera technology and the network's broadcasting tools. This website allows you access broadcasts from space every night after you register for free with the website. The Night Skies Network is a group of broadcasters and viewers who observe space together and chat about what they see using the live feed viewer and chat room that is inside each broadcasters' room. There is a group of astronomers within the network that provide new broadcasts on a daily basis. Cosmic Obsession has been broadcasting on the Night Skies network since December of 2010. Look for updates about our next broadcast in the Blog section of our website. Our broadcast schedule is determined by weather and can be staggered and irregular at times. Click on the blue link to go register now with the Night Skies Network.

Join us on our Facebook page so you can see what you might be missing here. There is so much astronomy going on that it is impossible to contain within the pages of just one internet location. All of us here at Cosmic Obsession use Facebook as a way to stay connected to our friends. Please like the Cosmic Obsession facebook page> and then you can connect with the amateur astronomers too!

Amateur Astronomer Francis Walsh uses facebook to keep his friends informed on the next cosmic event and where it may come from. He uses a large network of amateur astronomers to stay ahead of the disinformation and false reporting that can become prevalent during important celestial events. Now you can get a quick review and interpretation from active amateur astronomers like Mr. Walsh who are willing to speak about whatever you think is important in space. Astronomy is the name of the game when everything is fine and dandy but it quickly becomes science when there's something at stake.

Mars

The Planet Mars

Welcome to the planet Mars. This planet is fourth from the Sun and has been the focus of many astronomical missions and experiments since man first began looking for our planetary neighbors. Inside these links you will find in-depth information on Mars. There will be geologic, geographic, and scientific analysis of past and current Mars space missions as well as a look at what makes Mars so interesting to space agencies from around the globe of Earth. This first tab will inform you on the planet itself. Other tabs will take you through the research that has been done to date, and what is on the horizon for our neighboring planet.

Mars Time-line

Mars Environment

Missions to Mars

The Mars Science mission launched by NASA over the long holiday weekend has raised the hopes of new discoveries eminating from the Martian Surface in late 2012. The previous missions have had there failures and their successes. The team at Cosmic Obsession plans on revisiting the old missions to Mars and being ready for any new discoveries to come from the latest launch. Besides doing planetary research, the team of amateur astronomers here at Cosmic Obsession will be following and observing NEO objects.Here is a link to the table with all the listed NEO (Near Earth Objects) Close Approach Tables Cosmic Obsession Observatory

The Mars Science Mission successfully launched on November 26th. We will be following the mission and learning about previous missions in the future.

Life on Mars

The Mars Science Mission successfully launched on November 26th. We will be following the mission to discover what life may be present on Mars.

Controversy on Mars

There are thousands of images to scan over. Millions of data points to view. There have been many photographs that have raised eyebrows and some have even launched careers. The controversy will be discussed here soon.

Venus

The Planet Venus

Welcome to the planet Venus. This planet will be discussed in detail in 2012.

Venus Time-line

Venus Environment

Missions to Venus

The team at Cosmic Obsession plans on revisiting the old missions to Venus and being ready for any new discoveries to come from the transit of Venus on Jun 5th and 6th. Besides doing planetary research, the team of amateur astronomers here at Cosmic Obsession will be following and observing NEO objects.Here is a link to the table with all the listed NEO (Near Earth Objects) Close Approach Tables Cosmic Obsession Observatory

Life on Venus

You will learn what type of life can live on Venus and if there was life on Venus before Earth.

Controversy on Venus

There are thousands of images to scan over. Millions of data points to view. There have been many photographs that have raised eyebrows and some have even launched careers. The controversy will be discussed here soon.

Photos and Videos

Contact us

Get Your Answer Now

To send us a message, please complete the form on the right or contact us via details listed above. We'll get back to you asap.

© Copyright 2011 Cosmic Obsession. All rights reserved.

Themes