November 30, 2007
Just cant seem to get a good long clear spell recently… oh well
What was due to be a 6 hour imaging session before the clouds rolled in turned into a 2 hour session and early clouds. The plan was to get 2 x 3 hours and make it into a mosaic, but it appears I`ll have to go back for the other target. As the session was due to run into moon/sky glow issues later, I thought I`d sidestep the whole background colour matching problems of a mosaic by doing this in Ha again.
OTA: William Optics ZenithStar 66 SD + 0.8 FR/FF
Guiding: NS8GPS @ f/10 + DSI-C + PHD
Imaging: QHY8 + MaximDL, 8 x 900s, Astronomik Ha 13nm
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Post Process: ImagesPlus + PSCS2 + Noel Carboni’s AstroTools
(Click on image for larger version)
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on IC1805 interupted (again!)
November 24, 2007
Well, what can I say… great sky last night, apart from that bl__dy great moon. I didnt quite realise just how bright is was goingt o be until I went outside, so I had to quickly change targets and process. The only way to image last night was to use narrowband filters, something I have never had to use before. There are a few targets that are rapidly disappering into the west for this year, so I chose to start with something big and bright…. but was a bit wary because one shot colour CCDs have a reputation for not being so great for narrow band imaging. Both images are a little noisey… partly due to the moon, but also due to the short sequence runs and low sub count.
As a side note, it was incredibly cold last night. In fact, as I was standing on the patio, looking up at the sky, I didnt notice I was actually standing in a puddle from rain earlier in the day. I must have stood there for 10 minutes or so, totally stationary…. when I tried to move, I discovered to my surprise that the puddle had frozen solid, with my boots still in it! Well, it made me laugh 🙂
(Note: These images have been updated since I first posted this article)
NGC7000 North American Nebula + IC5076 Pelican Nebula
OTA: William Optics ZenithStar 66 SD + 0.8 FR/FF
Guiding: NS8GPS @ f/10 + DSI-C + PHD
Imaging: QHY8 + MaximDL, 6 x 900s
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Post Process: ImagesPlus + PSCS2 + Noel Carboni’s AstroTools
(Had to stop the sequence as it slipped slowly behind the rooftop of a nearby house)
(Click on image for larger version)
OTA: William Optics ZenithStar 66 SD + 0.8 FR/FF
Guiding: NS8GPS @ f/10 + DSI-C + PHD
Imaging: QHY8 + MaximDL, 8 x 900s
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Post Process: ImagesPlus + PSCS2 + Noel Carboni’s AstroTools
(Thin whispy clouds stopped play)
Published in Practical Astronomer, January 2008
(Click on image for larger version)
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on Moon? What Moon? (Ha NGC7000 + IC5076, Ha NGC2244 Rosette Nebula)
November 16, 2007
It was well below freezing for most of last night, with the dew shield and heater tapes working overtime to keep the frost off the corrector plate
And then after an hour or so, the fog/murk decended to ruin the seeing. As such, this is a shortened imaging session, and its something I will be returning to as soon as I can
OTA: William Optics ZenithStar 66 SD
Guiding: NS8GPS @ f/10 + DSI-C + PHD
Imaging: QHY8 + MaximDL, 3 x 900s
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Post Process: ImagesPlus + PSCS2 + Noel Carboni’s AstroTools
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments (1)
November 13, 2007
Not overly happy with this image, I trained the autoguiding in PHD while it was a bit blustery, and I think the scope/mount was getting moved a bit by the wind. As such, during the imaging session, I had some real North/South guiding issues, which show up as slightly elongated stars. This also means that the finer detail in the nebula has been lost, and no amount of post processing wll get that back. I`ll be back again for this target one night, and make sure the guiding is working correctly before I start myimaging sessions.
OTA: Celestron NexStar 8 GPS @ f/7.(something)
Camera: QHY8 OSC
Guiding: William Optics ZenithStar 66 SD + DSI-C + PHD
Imaging: MaximDL/CCD, 16 x 900s, CLS Filter
Processing: DeepSkyStacker, ImagesPlus, Photoshop CS2 + Noel Carboni’s Astro Tools
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on IC1396A Elephant Trunk Nebula
November 12, 2007
Bl__dy freezing, but clear all night. So clear in fact that I left the kit outside imaging for 4 hours while I went to get some sleep, so i`m not as sleep deprived as usual today.
First up,
OTA: Celestron NexStar 8 GPS @ f/7.(something)
Camera: QHY8 OSC Guiding: William Optics ZenithStar 66 SD + DSI-C + PHD
Imaging: MaximDL/CCD, 16 x 900s, CLS Filter
Processing: DeepSkyStacker, ImagesPlus, Photoshop CS2 + Noel Carboni’s Astro Tools
Followed by
NGC2024, the flame nebula
OTA: Celestron NexStar 8 GPS @ f/7.(something)
Camera: QHY8 OSC
Guiding: William Optics ZenithStar 66 SD + DSI-C + PHD
Imaging: MaximDL/CCD, 7 x 600s (the sky started turning blue), CLS Filter
Processing: DeepSkyStacker, ImagesPlus, Photoshop CS2 + Noel Carboni’s Astro Tools
Note: The image is somewhat ruined by the reflection doughnut at the lower right, and a fainter one top left
I also have an IC1396A that i`m not overly happy with (so I wont post it), and a red blob against a blue sky thats suppsoed to be Mars… I think I`ll stick to Deep Sky stuff for now 🙂
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on M78 and NGC2024 Flame Nebula
November 7, 2007
Just had a quick go at reprocessing my M31 image from earlier in the year.
OTA: WO ZS 66 SD
Guiding: NS8GPS @ f/10 + DSI-C + PHD
Imaging: QHY8 + MaximDL, 12 x 300s
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Post Process: ImagesPlus + PSCS2
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments Off on M31 reprocess from September
November 6, 2007
Just realised that I dont have any pictures of the current kit setup on here… so here goes
This is the basic setup, with my NexStar 8 GPS sitting atop my wedge, and a William Optics ZenithStar 66 SD piggybacked on top with ADM rings
And this is the borg-like imaging monster it transforms into under clear dark skies.
Posted by Steve under Astro | Comments (1)
