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M33 (Triangulum Galaxy)

Image Details:

Camera: Canon Digital Rebel (300D)

Mount: Celestron AS-GT

Scope: Celestron C8-N (8" f/5 Newtonian)

Configuration: Prime Focus

Additional Optics: Celestron/Baader Multi Purpose Coma Corrector (MPCC)

Filter: None

Effective Focal Length: 1000mm

Effective Focal Ratio: f/5

Exposure: 19 x 5min @ ISO 400

Total Exposure: 1hrs, 35min

Date: 11/13/2004, ~10:30pm PST (start)

Location: Saratoga, CA, USA

Acquisition: DSLRfocus

Focus: DSLRFocus

Dithering: Manual

Guiding: GuideDog via Philips ToUcam Pro II (840k) through Orion ST80 w/ Celestron 2x "Kit" Barlow

Processing:

• IRIS: Dark subtraction, flat field, registration, normalized Kappa-Sigma stacking, background fit, cropping
• Photoshop: Levels, image size, cropping, JPG conversion

Image Description:

This was the first decent night of weather we've had here in the Bay Area in a long time, so it was nice to get out again and capture this image. The seeing and transparency were good, not great, but far better than they've been in quite some time. M33 is a spiral galaxy, sometimes referred to as the Pinwheel Galaxy, in the constellation of Triangulum -- a constellation which is shaped like ... drum roll please ... a triangle. <grin> This is a crop of the full-size frame. North is to the left.

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NGC 6960 (Cirrus Nebula)

[Hα+R G B]

Mouse-over to see annotations. (Requires Javascript) Click to see high-res version.

Image Details:

Camera: Mofidied Canon Rebel XT (350D): Hutech Type I Filter Replacement

Mount: Celestron AS-GT

Scope: Celestron C8-N (8" f/5 Newtonian)

Configuration: Prime Focus

Additional Optics: Celestron/Baader Multi Purpose Coma Corrector (MPCC)

Filter: Hutech Hα Front Filter (HA-FF)

Effective Focal Length: 1000mm

Effective Focal Ratio: f/5

Exposure: 30 x 8min @ ISO 400 (RGB), 30 x 8min @ ISO 1600 (Hα)

Total Exposure: 8hrs, 0min

Date: 9/17/2006 (RGB); 9/19/2006 (Hα)

Location: Saratoga, CA, USA

Acquisition: DSLRfocus

Focus: DSLRFocus

Dithering: GADFly 1.0.5

Guiding: GuideDog via Philips ToUcam Pro II (840k) through Orion ST80 w/ Celestron 2x "Kit" Barlow

Processing:

• IRIS: Dark subtraction, registration, gradient removal
• JimP: Flat field, Kappa-Sigma Stacking, White balance, HαRGB combination, ASINH stretching
• Photoshop: Levels, cropping, sharpening, JPG conversion
• Neat Image: Noise reduction

Image Description:

This is NGC 6960, aka the Cirrus/Filamentary/Lace-work Nebula and the Western portion of the Veil Nebula, a supernova remnant in the constellation of Cygnus. This image consists of 4hrs of RGB exposure and 4hrs of Hα exposure over two nights.

Unlike my previous Hα+R G B images, in this one I used Hα for Luminance, and the RGB data for color after first blending a smidgeon of Hα into the Red channel. I suppose that makes this technically an Hα:Hα+R:G:B image. Using Hα for Luminance gives a very high contrast result, with added benefit of attenuating the star field which otherwise tends to overwhelm the rather faint nebula. And blending a bit of Hα into the Red channel prevents the salmon-i-zation (salmonella!? <g>) — i.e., the washout — of the red region that results from simple luminance layering in Photoshop. Robert Gendler has an explanation of this technique at his web site. Mousing-over the image shows the RGB stack, without any of the Hα data. Notice how the Veil tends to get lost in the Milky Way star field in that RGB-only image.

A higher-resolution image is also available. North is left.

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IC 4592 (Reflection Nebula)

[Hα+R G B]

Mouse-over to see annotations. (Requires Javascript) Click to see high-res version.

Image Details:

Camera: Mofidied Canon Digital Rebel (300D): Hutech (no filter)

Mount: Celestron AS-GT

Scope: Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM lens

Configuration: Prime Focus

Additional Optics: n/a (Prime)

Filter: None

Effective Focal Length: 200mm

Effective Focal Ratio: f/2.8

Exposure: 30 x 4min @ ISO 400

Total Exposure: 2hrs, 0min

Date: 6/29/2005 10:00:38 PM PDT

Location: Saratoga, CA, USA

Acquisition: DSLRfocus

Focus: DSLRFocus

Dithering: Manual

Guiding: GuideDog via Philips ToUcam Pro II (840k) through Orion ST80 w/ Celestron 2x "Kit" Barlow

Processing:

• IRIS: Dark subtraction, registration, gradient removal
• JimP: Flat field, Kappa-Sigma Stacking, White balance, ASINH stretching
• Photoshop: Levels, image scale, cropping, JPG conversion

Image Description:

This is a Team Saratoga™ image <grin>, using Rich's Modified 300D and my 200mm lens. The large reflection nebula in the middle-right portion of the image is IC 4592 in the constellation of Scorpius, which surrounds the bright star ν Scorpii. Mouse-over the above image to see further annotations. This is the full frame shrunk for display on the web. A higher-resolution image is also available. North is right.

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M65 (Part of the Leo Triplet)

[Hα+R G B]

Image Details:

Camera: Canon Digital Rebel (300D)

Mount: Celestron AS-GT

Scope: Celestron C8-N (8" f/5 Newtonian)

Configuration: Prime Focus

Additional Optics: n/a (Prime)

Filter: None

Effective Focal Length: 100mm

Effective Focal Ratio: f/5

Exposure: ~14min @ ISO 800 and 1600

Total Exposure: 0hrs, 14min

Date: 5/8/2004 11:20:54 PM PDT (start)

Location: Saratoga, CA, USA

Acquisition: Manual

Focus: DSLRFocus

Dithering: None

Guiding: None

Processing:

• IRIS: Dark subtraction, registration, and stacking
• JimP: White balance, ASINH stretching
• Neat Image: noise reduction
• Photoshop: Levels, cropping, scale, JPG conversion

Image Description:

This was an attempt at capturing the Leo Triplet. By confusing my directions I managed to frame this wrong and capture only M65 (right) and M66 (left). NGC 3628, the third in the Triplet, will have to wait for another day. North is up, though I really wish I would have realized this simple fact at the time. D'oh!!!!

Update 3/18/2005: This is a reprocessed stack of a hodgepodge of frames and exposures ranging from 30sec to 2min at ISO 800 and 1600. Amazingly, IRIS was able to scale, translate, and rotate all of these frames in order to align them, even though their intersection was only a tiny fraction of the entire sensor's range. Way to go IRIS! Obviously, this image needs much more exposure to bring out the faint spiral arms of these galaxies. And, since the framing was all messed up, most of the frames were captured in the "severe coma" portion of the field, which is why the stars show significant signs of coma. But as my first DSO image with the 300D, this ain't too shabby!

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NGC 2264 (Cone Nebula/Xmas Tree Cluster)

[Hα+R G B]

Mouse-over to see annotations. (Requires Javascript) Click to see high-res version.

Image Details:

Camera: Mofidied Canon Rebel XT (350D): Hutech Type I Filter Replacement

Mount: Celestron AS-GT

Scope: Orion ED80 (80mm f/7.5 APO Refractor)

Configuration: Focal Reduced

Additional Optics: William Optics 2" APO 0.8x Reducer/Field Flattener

Filter: None

Effective Focal Length: 480mm

Effective Focal Ratio: f/6

Exposure: 32 x 8min @ ISO 1600

Total Exposure: 4hrs, 16min

Date: 2/23/2006 7:40:35 PM PST (start)

Location: Saratoga, CA, USA

Acquisition: DSLRfocus

Focus: DSLRFocus

Dithering: GADFly 1.0.5

Guiding: GuideDog via Philips ToUcam Pro II (840k) through Orion ST80 w/ Celestron 2x "Kit" Barlow

Processing:

• IRIS: Dark subtraction, registration, gradient removal.
• JimP: Flat field, Kappa-Sigma Stacking, White balance, ASINH stretching.
• Photoshop: Levels, cropping, JPG conversion

Image Description:

This is NGC 2264, aka, the Cone Nebula and Christmas Tree Cluster in the constellation of Monoceros. The Christmas Tree Cluster is upside down, and its outline can be seen by mousing-over the image above. (Javascript must be enabled to see the effect.) The Cone Nebula (LDN 1613) is actually the Dark Nebula superimposed on the background emission nebula.

This is another extremely faint nebula, which 4+ hours of exposure barely brings out - at least under light polluted skies. I again used longer exposures (8min) and higher ISO (1600) in order to better resolve the nebula.

A higher-resolution image is also available. North is up.

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B33 (Horsehead Nebula [test shot])   [obsolete]

[Hα+R G B]

Mouse-over to see annotations. (Requires Javascript) Click to see high-res version.

Image Details:

Camera: SBIG ST-2000XM

Mount: Astro-Physics 1200GTO

Scope: TMB 152/1200 APO Refractor

Configuration: Prime Focus

Additional Optics: n/a (Prime)

Filter: Astrodon Hα 6nm Filter

Effective Focal Length: 1200mm

Effective Focal Ratio: f/7.9

Exposure: 2 × 32min @ -30°C (Hα)

Total Exposure: 1hrs, 4min

Date: 12/14/2007 1:43 AM PST (Start)

Location: Saratoga, CA, USA

Acquisition: CCDSoft

Focus: Manual

Dithering: None

Guiding: Self Guided

Processing:

• IRIS: Dark subtraction, registration
• JimP: Stacking, White balance, ASINH stretching
• Photoshop: Dust and Scratches, JPG conversion

Image Description:

This is a test shot of B33, aka, the “Horsehead Nebula”, a dark nebula in the constellation of Orion. This is Second Light for my new TMB 152/1200 APO Refractor and my new Astro-Physics (AP) 1200GTO German Equatorial Mount. I spent all night trying to get PoleAlignMax to work (note to self: make sure cropping is disabled in CCDSoft!), and then managed to get an hour or so of imaging in before I froze. The stars are elongated slightly in this image, and I think that's mostly due to the compression-ring-based extensions and adapters I was using which caused the camera to sag. I recently ordered some all-threaded extensions and adapters to eliminate this problem. This is Hα displayed as a grayscale image. Somewhat of a test shot, but neat enough to post. A higher resolution image is also available. North is left.

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Mars   [obsolete]

[Hα+R G B]

Image Details:

Camera: Nikon D100

Mount: Celestron AS-GT

Scope: Celestron C8-N (8" f/5 Newtonian)

Configuration: Eyepiece Projection

Additional Optics: Celestron "Kit" 4mm Plössl

Filter: None

Effective Focal Length: 16000mm

Effective Focal Ratio: f/80

Exposure: 2 x 1/8 sec + 1 x 1/4 sec @ ISO 200

Date: 8/23/2003, 1:30am PDT

Location: Saratoga, CA, USA

Acquisition: Manual

Focus: Manual

Dithering: None

Guiding: None

Processing:

• IRIS: registration, stacking, wavelet processing, cropping
• Photoshop: rotation, image scale (1/2 x), JPG conversion

Image Description:

Taken within days of Mars' historic rendezvous with Earth in August of 2003, within weeks of getting my C8-NGT, and long before I knew what the heck I was doing. It was rather cool of Jon to let me borrow his D100 to get this shot. Mars' North is up.

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Sunset over the Pacific

[Hα+R G B]

Mouse-over to see annotations. (Requires Javascript) Click to see high-res version.

Image Details:

Camera: Canon 5D

Mount: None

Scope: Canon EF 24-105 mm f/4L IS USM lens

Configuration: Prime Focus

Additional Optics: n/a (Prime)

Filter: None

Effective Focal Length: 105mm

Effective Focal Ratio: f/8

Exposure: 1/41.5 sec

Total Exposure: 0hrs, 0min

Date: 5/6/2008 8:13 PM PDT

Location: Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve

Acquisition: Manual

Focus: Auto

Dithering: None

Guiding: None

Processing:

• Canon Digital Professional Pro: CR2 to TIF conversion
• Photoshop: Shadows/Highlights, Levels, Resizing, sRGB color space conversion, JPG Conversion

Image Description:

This is a hurried but nonetheless pleasing shot of the sun setting over the Pacific. This is shot roughly toward Half Moon Bay, which had clearly been socked in by the Marine Layer along with most of the rest of the San Francisco Bay Area. This was one of the first shots I captured before the “main event,” which was this shot of Mercury and the Moon setting together over the Pacific. See the writeup on that image for more information on the location from which this is shot. A higher resolution image is also available. Celestial North is as indicated on the mouse-over. Sunset was at a compass heading of WNW that evening.

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NGC 6822 (Barnard's Galaxy)

[Hα+R G B]

Mouse-over to see annotations. (Requires Javascript) Click to see high-res version.

Image Details:

Camera: Mofidied Canon Rebel XT (350D): Hutech Type I Filter Replacement

Mount: Celestron AS-GT

Scope: Celestron C8-N (8" f/5 Newtonian)

Configuration: Prime Focus

Additional Optics: Celestron/Baader Multi Purpose Coma Corrector (MPCC)

Filter: Hutech Hα Front Filter (HA-FF)

Effective Focal Length: 1000mm

Effective Focal Ratio: f/5

Exposure: 83 x 4min @ ISO 1600 (RGB), 22 x 8min @ ISO 1600 (Hα)

Total Exposure: 8hrs, 28min

Date: 8/23/2006 and 8/24/2006 (RGB); 8/27/2006 (Hα)

Location: Saratoga, CA, USA

Acquisition: DSLRfocus

Focus: DSLRFocus

Dithering: GADFly 1.0.5

Guiding: GuideDog via Philips ToUcam Pro II (840k) through Orion ST80 w/ Celestron 2x "Kit" Barlow

Processing:

• IRIS: Dark subtraction, registration, gradient removal
• JimP: Flat field, Kappa-Sigma Stacking, White balance, HαRGB combination, ASINH stretching
• Photoshop: Levels, cropping, sharpening, JPG conversion
• Neat Image: Noise reduction

Image Description:

This is NGC 6822, aka Barnard's Galaxy, an irregular (as opposed to spiral or elliptical) galaxy in the constellation of Sagittarius. NGC 6822, a member of the Local Group, is a relatively close neighbor of our own Milky Way galaxy, along with M31 (Andromeda) and others.

This image was collected over three nights: two very dewy nights worth of RGB exposures, and a third night of Hα exposures. The Hα exposures really helped to bring out the star-formation regions at the top (North) of NGC 6822. Yes, that's correct, those emission nebulae are in NGC 6822, not in our own Milky Way!

Mousing-over the image will show the Hubble designations of those regions, and will switch the displayed image to the processed Hα-only image, shown in grayscale (which, trust me, is easier on the eyes than a redscale image). One of these regions, IC 1308 (aka “[H25] X” or “Hubble X”), is rougly 11 times the size of M42 in our own Milky Way.

This image is a do-over of this this old version. (By the way, I have no idea why that old version came out so green—the color in the current version is likely to be far more accurate.) A higher-resolution image is also available. North is up.

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M51 (Whirlpool Galaxy)   [obsolete]

[Hα+R G B]

Click to see high-res version.

Image Details:

Camera: Canon Digital Rebel (300D)

Mount: Celestron AS-GT

Scope: Celestron C8-N (8" f/5 Newtonian)

Configuration: Prime Focus

Additional Optics: Celestron/Baader Multi Purpose Coma Corrector (MPCC)

Filter: None

Effective Focal Length: 1000mm

Effective Focal Ratio: f/5

Exposure: 31 x 4min @ ISO 400

Total Exposure: 2hrs, 4min

Date: 5/11/2005 11:28:24 PM PDT (start)

Location: Saratoga, CA, USA

Acquisition: DSLRfocus

Focus: DSLRFocus

Dithering: Manual

Guiding: GuideDog via Philips ToUcam Pro II (840k) through Orion ST80 w/ Celestron 2x "Kit" Barlow

Processing:

• IRIS: Dark subtraction, registration, gradient removal
• JimP: Flat field, Kappa-Sigma Stacking, White balance, ASINH stretching
• Neat Image: Noise reduction
• Photoshop: Levels, cropping, JPG conversion

Image Description:

One of my favorite galaxies, this is M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy in the constellation of Ursa Major. M51 is the main, large galaxy, which can be seen to be interacting with the smaller NGC 5195 North of it (above it in this photo). This is a crop at 75% of the original image scale. The full size image is also available. North is up.

Compare this new image, with its 2+ hours of exposure, with this previous version with only 16min of exposure, the latter of which was one of my first guided astrophotos. The nearly 8-fold increase in exposure time makes quite an amazing difference.