June 10, 2007
Sunspot 960
Second time looking at sunspots, first time trying to image them. This was taken with my NexStar 8 GPS, full aperture solar film, Meade LPI, 500 frame AVI, processed in Registax.
June 6, 2007
Wedge arrives!
Finally got my scope on a wedge (thanks to MartinB @ SGL for the “try before you possibly buy”)
Now all I need is a clear night or two to practise polar aligning this beast…. according to the weather forecasts, it doesnt look like that will be happening any time soon 🙁
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on Wedge arrives!
June 3, 2007
Celestron NexStar 8 GPS, f/10
Canon 350D (unmodded)
Unguided AltAz
20 second subs (varying from 20 to 40 shots depending)
DeepSkyStacker, Photoshop CS
M13 (again)
M3
M92
M57
Also, this attempt:
A very poor M51 (Mostly due to accidently taking it on jpegs, not raw, and no dark frames, and the sky was starting to lighten at 3.15am!!)
May 30, 2007
M13 on a DSLR
Last night, after an appalling 10 days or so of rain and cloud, the skies cleared (and all the rain had taken the haze/dust out of the atmosphere). It was time to test the Canon 350D for the first time. Well, OK, not really the first time, but shooting images across the room to get used to DSLRFocus doesnt count 🙂
I`m mightly impressed with this image.
– Taken on an AltAz platform (20 second subs max… 25 second shows star trails)
– Celestron 8 GPS, Canon 350D (unmodded), unguided
– 20 x 20sec subs, f/10, ISO1600, dark frame removal in camera
– Stacked with Deep Sky Stacker
– Tweaked in Photoshop CS (curves, gamma, Noel’s Actions)
A few things I learned from last night:
Now compare it with the image below, taken with the same OTA, but using a Meade DSI-C.
No contest!
May 22, 2007
Saturn/Moon Occultation
The clouds rolled in just before 8pm BST, so I didnt bother getting the scope out for this event, but geppetto @ SGL managed to image it before and afterwards. The clouds cleared for me just a few minutes before Saturn reappeared, so I viewed that through my binos.
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on Saturn/Moon Occultation
May 21, 2007
Jupiter – 19th May 2007
Early last Saturday morning, Jupiter appeared past next door’s wall, so I fired up K3CCD tools for the first time ever, and started shooting a few AVIs with my Meade LPI. With Jupiter being so low in the sky here in the UK, the results looked less than stunning in the raw sequence
Today, I just thought I would load the AVIs into Registax and see what I could squeeze out of it. The results amazed me (yet again)
Using AVIs for image sequences seems so much easier than vast numbers of TIF or FITs files.
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on Jupiter – 19th May 2007
May 20, 2007
M13 – processed
After posting my animated M13 image (and the raw image sequence files) on the SGL forums, it has been processed by MartinB and Captain Chaos (aka Kaptain Klevtsov). I`m just blown away at what they managed to extract 🙂
MartinB’s version
And CC/KK’s version
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on M13 – processed
May 19, 2007
Moon and Venus
Just snapped these images of the Moon and Venus this evening, using my Canon 350D on a desktop tripod.
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on Moon and Venus
May 19, 2007
My first imaged DSO
After three and a bit weeks of the moss frustrating weather (OK during most days, clouds over night), the skies cleared yesterday and stayed clear. So I park the OTA outside the back to cool for an hour or so, then set up, aligned,and away I went.
Now, I now that taking long exposure image sequences require a EQ mount, and that using an AltAz mount (like onmy NS8GPS) will cause image rotation. I was under no illusion about that, it will cause problems for imaging (but fine for visual work). But the chance was too good to miss, so I pointed my scope at M13, an easily found globular cluster in Hercules, and started taking images with my Meade DSI Color.
Despite this being my first imaged DSO, and the images will look terrible to the experts out there, I was pleased that I actually managed to get the shots. Stacking the sequece just causes image rotation blurs (as expected), but what did suprise me was just how much the sky does rotate when imaging on an AltAz platform. Want to see? Just take look at the animation below.
30 x 20sec images, Meade DSI-C, unguided, and because its AltAz, no PEC training has ever been done on this scope. Oh, and it was VERY windy too 🙂
Thats effectively 20 seconds between each frame, and 10 minutes total.
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on My first imaged DSO
May 17, 2007
Kelling Heath Star Party, September 2007 (Cont.)
The nice people at Kelling Heath have confirmed that I am now moved into the block of pitches reserved for SGL members (Steve @ FLO – thanks for the tip off). Should be a merry band in that area 🙂
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on Kelling Heath Star Party, September 2007 (Cont.)
