August 16th, 2010 by Hersey
Date: 8/14/2010
Time: 9:45 PM – 01:30 AM EDT
Scope: Astro-Tech AT66ED
Guide Scope: Celestron C6-SGT
Mount: Celestron Advance CG5 GOTO
Location: Backyard, Suffolk, VA
Weather: Warm, clear, light breeze. A few thin clouds after midnight.
Transparency: 7
Moon: Waxing Crescent that set early
Cameras: Orion Starshoot DSI II, Orion Starshoot Autoguider
Software: Maxim DL Essentials, PHD Guiding
Alignment stars: Arcturus, Antares
Calibration stars: Deneb, Albireo
Very nice clear night. Still a bit warm, even late, but better than it has been. After the two star align I did the polar align routine using Antares. The mount GOTO was right on and tracking well. PHD guiding was doing a great job making minor adjustments. I probably could have gone for longer exposure times but I think the shots below turned out pretty well. I still need a bit more practice and information on processing the shots after stacking them. (Anyone know of a good book or resource?)
Messier 17 (M17) – The Swan Nebula or the Omega Nebula
This was my first target. It was very easy to find in the dark sky. The image is a stack of 20 1 minute exposures. The mount guided great for over 30 minutes. I also got a small set of 120 second exposures but I have not stacked/processed them yet.
Messier 27 (M27) – The Dumbbell Nebula
The Dumbbell Nebula was almost directly overhead and I had a hard time keeping the mount guided. I think my balance may have been off a bit with the way the scope was pointing almost straight up. I had to refocus since I forgot to set the lock screw and the weight of the camera caused the focuser to slip when the scope was pointing straight up. The image below is a stack of 7 1 minute exposures.
Messier 8 (M8) – The Lagoon Nebula
The Lagoon Nebula was also very easy to find. It is in the same area of the sky as M17 – this area was nice and dark. Again the mount guided well for this set of images. The image below is a stack of 20 1 minute exposures.
I forgot to take the dark frames for the night. I was going to, I even set the camera and scope up for it, but then I started looking at Jupiter and forgot all about them.
All of these images have also been posted to my Flickr page here.
July 6th, 2010 by Hersey
Finally got the chance to try out the new to me Orion StarShoot Color Deep Sky Imager (DSI) II I picked up on Astromart Classifieds a while back. Saturday and Sunday night were both nice. Clear skies and cooler than it has been. A few clouds rolled by later on Sunday night, but still a great night.
For all images I used PHD for guiding, MaxIm DL Essentials for imaging with the DSI, and Deep Sky Stacker to stack the exposures.
On Saturday (7/3/2010) I set up to image through the Celestron 6″ SCT with a f/6.3 focal reducer while using the Astro-Tech 66ED to guide.
Early in the evening I used Venus to get the two scopes aligned and to test focus of the imaging camera and the guide camera.
After doing the two star alignment on the mount I used the polar align routine on the hand controller to make sure I had my alignment down. Not bad, had to make a few minor adjustments.
I then redid the two star alignment using Spica and Arcturus for my alignment stars and Antares, Deneb, Albireo, and Vega for my calibration stars.
The first target for the camera was the globular cluster Messier 4 (M4). It took some work to get the globular in focus, and I think I am still a little off – something I am going to have to work on a bit. The first set of images were over exposed, I changed the screen stretch to MaxVal and that fixed that. I ended up with 10 60 second exposures.
I then moved on the Messier (M80). I forced calibration in PHD after moving to each new object. I ended up with 10 decent 60 seconds exposures and stacked them to get the image below.
Messier 22 (M22) is a great globular cluster to observe visually and I think if I can increase my exposure times a bit it will be a great one to photograph as well. The image below is 12 60 seconds exposures stacked.
This one was not on my plan, but Mary Shannon had seen M57 at the SkyWatch on Friday night and wanted me to try to get a photo of it. Messier 57 (M57), also known as the Ring Nebula, turned out to be my favorite image of the night. My guiding was off, I think I have an issue with balance, but the 7 30 second exposures look pretty good stacked.
Sunday (7/4/2010) night was a bit warmer with a light breeze. I decided to image through the Astro-Tech 66ED with an Orion Skylight filter and use the Celestron 6″ SCT to guide. I just wanted to get a feel for the difference in imaging between the two scopes.
I went through the same alignment process as the night before. Again using Spica and Arcturus to align and Antares, Deneb, Albireo, and Vega for calibration. I did not do the polar alignment routine, the GOTOs to the calibration stars were pretty much dead on so I figured it was probably still in good alignment.
The first target was Messier 10 (M10). Here are 16 60 second exposures stacked.
Then on to one of my new favorites to observe Messier 20 (M20) the Trifid Nebula. It was hard to find in the camera at first, the nebula does not show up until you increase the exposures to 10 seconds or more, because of this it took some work to get it close to center. I ended up with 21 60 second exposures and I think it turned out great.
I still had a problem with guiding. It wanted to drift south and the guider could not keep up. Not sure if it is a polar alignment problem or a problem with balance. Going to have to look at this a bit more. The PHD test moves the mount fine E & W RA and N & S DEC so I think the guide pulses are being sent. Going to have to research this a bit more to figure it out.
Both the 6″ SCT and the AT66ED produced decent images with DSI. With the wider field it was easier to locate and center images in the AT66ED. I still need to work on fine tuning my focus but I am pretty happy with how the images turned out. I learned a lot about the camera, the scopes, and the process plus I really enjoyed taking them (that’s what really matters).
March 27th, 2010 by Hersey
3/27/2010 – Suffolk, VA
The Sun
Sunspots 1059 and 1057
Camera: Nikon D60 Prime Focus – ISO400
Scope: C8 SCT
Focal Length: 2032mm
Exposure: 1/200
Guided: No
Cropped with Gimp
Using my DIY solar filter – www.suffolksky.com/2008/11/home-built-solar-filter-for-my…
I was setting the scope up for tonight and decided to take a quick look at the sun. You can easily see sunspot 1057, the large spot near the top center. Sunspot 1059 is a little harder to find but can just be seen to the far left. Click on the image above to go to the flickr page where I tagged the spots.
January 10th, 2010 by Hersey
It was very, very, cold on Saturday night, but it was also very clear. I have been wanting to take some time to try out my new StarShoot Autoguider that I got for Christmas, and it is pretty cool. I still have somethings to learn about it but these are the first 5 minute exposures I have been able to take.
Since a few weeks ago I got my first views of the Flame Nebula (NGC 2024) and the Horsehead Nebula (IC 434) I decide to try and get an image of this area through my AT66ED using my Nikon D60 at Prime focus and here is what I ended up with:
Flame Nebula and Horsehead Nebula - 7 x 5 minutes, ISO800
1/9/2010 – Suffolk, VA
Flame Nebula – NGC 2024
Horsehead Nebula – IC 434
Camera: Nikon D60 Prime Focus – ISO800
Scope: AT66ED
Focal Length: 400mm
Exposure: 7 x 5 minutes
Guided:
PHD Guiding
Stacked with
DeepSky Stacker 3.3.2
The flickr page for this image can be found here.
I think it turned out pretty good. You can still see some movement in the stars but compared to previous unguided exposures I think they look awesome. I took nine 5 minute exposures and 7 of them were good enough to stack, unguided I usually end up with about half of even my 2 minute exposures no good for stacking. I am looking forward to learning more about the guiding software and getting even longer exposures.
Tonight is suppose to be cool and clear also so I hope to get out and have another look around.
