Jupiter with GRS 24-May-2018

Jupiter - GRS Transiting at 9:23pm MST. (SkySafari)
North is up; East to the left.
Image capture at 9:27pm MST.
Temp 75°F at 10:45pm.

Celestron AVX mount; Celestron NexStar 8SE; Baader 2" Clicklock SCT adapter; Televue 2" ext tube;
No Barlow; Celestron NexImage 5 Planetary Imaging Camera. iCap 2.4 image capture, 640x480 unbinned capture; Capture image scale 0.23 arc-seconds/pixel.

Processed in RegiStax 6.1; Adjustments in ThumbsPlus 10; Resized to 50%.

Original video available on YouTube at https://youtu.be/yDx6WVlF9gY

For camera conversion services, i.e., having your DSLR "IR Modded" (IR filter removed), visit Life Pixel Camera Conversion Services here

M42 - The Orion Nebula in HDR 01-Oct-2017

M42 - The Orion Nebula in HDR 01-Oct-2017

High Dynamic Range Orion Nebula at various exposures, HDR combined using Aurora HDR 2018

http://www.pbase.com/wjshaheen/image/166308209/large

Shot between 4:50 and 5:15am. The satellite tracks can be avoided by shooting earlier, or later, depending on the time of year.  At the time the images were taken, M42 was in line with the satellites.

Kinda cool, actually.

The Power of Post Processing

I've been toying with a variety of photo editing programs and in the following image, I really boosted the "clarity" (contrast) of an M31 image I recently posted, as seen here.

Admittedly a bit "grungy", or noisy if you prefer, but notice how much more detail is brought out around the galaxy's core, as well as the dust lanes.

The devil is in the details - and so are the data. :O)

(Adjusted in Topaz Studios /http://www.topazlabs.com/ )

A larger size of the above comparison can be seen here.

And here is a larger version of the new image.

What with Solar Minimum approaching ...

This isn't supposed to be happening - a "plethora" of sunspots.

Screen on left side is from Spaceweather.com.

Solar image taken 03-Sep-2017.





Explore Scientific ES102ED FCD100 with ATR8 focal reducer.
Nikon D5300a

All post processing in ViewNX 2.
Cropped but not downsampled (no binning).

See also http://www.pbase.com/wjshaheen/image/166131800/large

Solar Eclipse 2017 - Eclipse Photos

Solar Eclipse 2017 Eclipse Photos - from Hartsville, Wy.

See http://www.pbase.com/wjshaheen/solar_eclipse_2017_eclipse_photos for further details.

Star chart generated by TheSky Astronomy Software (c) Software Bisque, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

Preparing for Solar Eclipse 2017 - White Balance Check

All digital cameras contain an IR (Infrared) filter in front of the chip, be they CCD or CMOS. By having the IR filter removed, the naturally occurring infrared produced by vegetation emerges. (A custom white balance is required to restore the color balance of non-IR emitting objects, such as the rocks in the background. I'm still working on that.)
Some astronomical objects, such as emission nebulae, also emit Hydrogen Alpha (Ha) and an IR modified camera picks up that signal more so than a standard camera. The photo on the right shows what the plant should look like, appropriately named a Blue Agave. Tequila anyone?

For camera conversion services, i.e., having your DSLR "IR Modded" (IR filter removed), visit Life Pixel Camera Conversion Services here

Preparing for Solar Eclipse 2017 - Sunspot AR2665

While preparing for the upcoming August 21st solar eclipse, Sunspot AR2665 was captured with the Nikon 300mm f/4 ED IF and Sigma 1.4x tele extender. Taken 15-Jul-2017, zenith is up. Reduced to 50% (i.e., 2x2 bin).




DSC_0977-50pct-IPadj.JPG

For camera conversion services, i.e., having your DSLR "IR Modded" (IR filter removed), visit Life Pixel Camera Conversion Services here

Suggested Reading

Suggested readings in astrophotography. I have these books, and more.

Digital SLR Astrophotography
Practical Amateur Astronomy (Michael Covington)
 

The New CCD Astronomy
By the developer of the CCD Calculator (Ron Wodaski)
See also http://www.newastro.com/
 

Astrophotography
Very thorough and in depth, beautifully illustrated (Thierry Legault)

 

For camera conversion services, i.e., having your DSLR "IR Modded" (IR filter removed), visit Life Pixel Camera Conversion Services here

Saturn at Opposition 16-Jun-2017 (and maximum ring tilt)

Taken @ 12:18:52pm MST on 16-Jun-2017 (0718UT on 16-Jun-2017).

Here is Saturn at Opposition 16-Jun-2017. For views of what Saturn has looked like over the course of the last 13 years, see http://www.pbase.com/wjshaheen/saturn_ring_tilt

Best 90 of 1800 frames (5%) taken with the Celestron NexImage5 planetary imaging camera, Celestron 1100 EdgeHD telescope, no barlow, no focal reducer, fl = 2800mm. Image scale 0.16 arc-secs/pixel. Video captured using iCap 2.4, processed in ImagesPlus6.5. Three passes unsharp mask, cropped and contrast boost in ThumbsPlus 10. North is up and east is to the left, as customary.

Original video available at https://youtu.be/QSgeqaykAgw

CVT_20170615_Saturn0005 00-17-07-GRADEAVG-Best5Per-2AP-TPadj-50pct.jpg

For camera conversion services, i.e., having your DSLR "IR Modded" (IR filter removed), visit Life Pixel Camera Conversion Services here

Switching the C11HD to Visual - My Digital Finder

AKA - What's that eyepiece doing in my telescope?

I haven't really enjoyed any visual observing for awhile (couple months) and wanted to catch Jupiter in the 11" EdgeHD. So, I came up with this project. Ordinarily it would be a simple matter of removing the imaging train and installing a diagonal and eyepieces. But, this turned into an expanded project.

For one thing, without the camera on the scope, I would be unable to perform image links when finding objects.

This project resolved that by replacing the finderscope on top of the C11HD with the autoguider (scope and camera) from the AVX platform (WFPIP).
So, I made that transfer yesterday, the 11th. (11-Jun-2017)

Below are my diary notes for the 12th.

06/12/2017
Had a very successful morning converting the C11HD to visual.

I wanted to use the SV50 guidescope with the QHY5L-II autoguider on the C11HD to be used as a finder by image linking in TSXPro.

Found I could easily perform an image link using the QHY5L-II/SV50 autoguider combination, along with the Orion 2x Shorty Barlow.
Image link stats indicated a scale of 3.60 as/p, with the camera binned in the ASCOM set-up.

Used Venus to align this "digital finder".

Later, played with using the SV50 guidescope with QHY5L-II autoguider to autoguide to test the ability to use as a separate autoguider and possibly eliminate the OAG.

That would be nice. But, that's another project for another day.

After aligning the "digital finder"* with the main scope using Venus, I was able to use TSXPro to locate the galaxy by image linking on the autoguider's image by taking an exposure in TSXPro using the autoguider camera (QHY5L-II).

*QHY5L-II/SV50 autoguider combination, along with the Orion 2x Shorty Barlow.
Image link stats indicated a scale of 3.60 as/p, with the camera binned in the ASCOM set-up.

M31 appearing in the PHD2 screen, using 0.5 sec exposures. The QHY5L-IIM was configured to bin 2x2 in the ASCOM setup, yielding a combined pixel size of 7.5um and an image scale of 3.60, with a 2x Barlow.

Plate solution (per TSXPro):
******** ASTROMETRIC SOLUTION RESULTS ********
Center RA (2000.0): 00h 41m 45.34s
Center Dec (2000.0): +40° 39' 29.8"
Scale: 3.60 arcseconds/pixel
Size (pixels): 640 x 480
Angular Size: 0° 38' 25" x 0° 28' 48"
Position Angle: 2° 31' from north through east
Mirror Image: No
RMS: 1.58 (X: 0.92 Y: 1.29)
Number of Stars Used in Solution: 7 (100%)
FWHM: 4.21 pixels, 15.16 arcseconds
***********************************************

Autoguiding with the "digital finder". (Taken 4:31am - getting light out.)





For camera conversion services, i.e., having your DSLR "IR Modded" (IR filter removed), visit Life Pixel Camera Conversion Services here