Getting ready for the eclipse and testing one of the imaging setups today. Took a single DSLR shot of a couple sunspots. Sun spot 2648 is on the left, 2645 is the most prominent group closer to center, with 2644 on the right.
4/2/2017: AP130EDT, Canon 6D, Atlas EQ-G, Kendrick White Light solar filter (film)
NGC 206 is the brightest star cloud in the arms of the Andromeda Galaxy visible to us here on Earth. You often see M31 imaged wide field but there is a wealth of detail to be found in the star clouds and dust lanes that start to pop out with a little more focal length. Taken late last year from my back yard.
NGC 206 in Andromeda
SVQ100, Atlas EQ-G, Apogee A694 CCD
We’re in Galaxy Season and without the 10″ RC I’ve instead focused on the 5″ refractor with a small pixel size camera to squeeze out some detail. Imaged from the backyard observatory in ~20.5 mag/arcsec^2 skies.
M81 – Bodes Nebula ~8 hours of exposure time. LRGB with AP130GTX, AP1200GTO, Apogee Ascent A694, Baader LRGB Filters, SX-OAG, Lodestar Guider.
M82 – The Cigar Approximately 7.5 Hours of exposure time. AP130GTX, AP1200GTO, Apogee Ascent A694, Baader LRGB, SX-OAG, Lodestar Audoguider
Cloudy winter nights have inspired a second look back at some fun summer targets. Here’s NGC 6871 in Cygnus.
NGC 6871 Baader 7nm H-alpha 13x20min exposure AP900GTO Mount FSQ-106ED Apogee U16M CCD FS
Just getting around to publishing some pictures from the 2016 Black Forest Star Party at Cherry Springs State Park in Pennsylvania. What a great stretch of weather for PA! The nights weren’t the darkest or most transparent (SQM 21.4-21.5) nights I’ve had at CSSP but clear and a little murky was way better than the alternative after driving up from Knoxville TN. Had a great time with some old friends and good to see some old club members too.
Had a few imaging problems related to dithering and settle time / settle criteria that made me lose a fair number of shots but I got two images which, I have to be honest, I’m not real pleased with. They are however, more challenging objects, but would have come out better had the sky conditions been closer to the SQM 21.8 that I’ve seen before at CSSP. But, we take whatever quality of clear sky we can get during a pre-planned star party!
Reflection Nebula NGC 7129 Stellarvue SVQ100, Apogee A694 CCD, Atlas EQ-G Mount, Baader LRGB Filters Lum 9x10min: 1.5 hours RGB each 8x10min: 4 hours Total Time 5.5 hours
SH2-115 Atlas Eq-G Mount, Stellarvue SVQ100, Apogee Ascent A694 CCD, Baader narrowband filters Ha: 8x20min, O[III]: 10x20min, S[II]: 13x20min Total Exposure: 10.3 hours
The dome isn’t far off now!
Moved the 68″ tall pier to the observatory deck this afternoon. Progress!
I didn’t get the pier into place until after dark so no pictures. It was a chore moving the thing since it’s quite heavy and I didn’t have any help but with the tractor I was able to drag it around and lower it onto the bolts after an hour….
The site has been cleared, I think I dug out 70+ stumps with the backhoe, 700 feet of electric cable buried, and almost 4,000 lbs of concrete dry mix poured for footers and the telescope pier. The deck is starting to go up and hopefully the 8″ Exploradome will be in place before the new year. After two years it’s hard to believe that I’m starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel!
A couple months ago I was playing around with a green laser, typically used by amateur astronomers to point out celestial objects to others, and decided to photograph it in use to see how it would show in a photograph. Honestly, this wasn’t high on my list of things to do but I was clouded out so thought I’d have some fun. This is a typical untracked exposure length of 15 seconds at f/4 with a 40mm focal length. I aimed the green laser at Rigel and tried to hold it steady for the duration of the 15 second exposure. So, this is worst case scenario for the laser being continuously on and pointed at a single object for the duration of the exposure. That’s not to belittle the impact that green lasers have on us imagers; a quick pass through our image might not be obvious in the final image but lingering on an object for a while might be the difference between a good 20 minute exposure and one that’s going in the trash. I’ve been lucky enough that I haven’t had an image that was obviously ruined by a laser but then again it’s hard to tell; I’ve had bad glare that may have resulted from errant green lasers playing over my equipment….
Green laser aimed at Rigel
Site clearing is now well underway with a backhoe rental. Most of the site is now cleared and a new, more drive-able, road is in place to get to the site. Lots of clean up and grading to do but we’re getting there.
