Friday, October 17, 2008

Jupiter 2008-10-15

Observation logs













Object: Jupiter

Planet
Origin:ObservationManager - SolarSystem Catalog 1.0
ObserverMichael A. Phillips Mr.
SiteHome
Begin2008-10-15 um 19:00:00-05:00
End2008-10-15 um 19:55:00-05:00
Seeing3 (fair)
OpticsC8i
EyepiecePowerMate (V=812.8)
FilterAstronomik LRGB Color
CameraDMK21AF04
Sitzung2008-10-15 um 19:00:00-05:00
Visual impression

  • Seeing was not as good as the previous night. I did spend some time on processing and aligning the moon Io. Make sure you zoom in to check it out, it's a tiny little 1+ arc sec disk!

References

Sessions: 2008-10-15 um 18:45:00-05:00

Begin:2008-10-15 um 18:45:00-05:00
End:2008-10-15 um 23:30:00-05:00
Weather:Forecast called for S 4/5 and T 3/5 Actual S: 4-6 T: 2-3/5
Equipment:I used: Ubuntu 8.04 Linux and custom coriander 8" Celestron C8i SCT DMK 21AF04 2.5x PowerMate Astronomik LRGB filters True Tek Color Filter Wheel with visu diag Since the 3 day stretch of good seeing in early Sept, I have used the T61 Also used WinXP and IC Capture with the TrueTek Hand Controller for > 1sec exposures
Comments:To get Uranus and Neptune I had to move exposures beyond 1 second. Currently the custom coriander 1.0.0 does not support exposures beyond 1 second. Even at 1sec and 3.25fps I was unable to get usable data. As quickly as I could I switched to WinXP and IC Capture for camera control. A reboot and install of drivers burned some time, but a valuable lesson in prepareness. I did try to leverage previous whitebalance exercises on Jupiter for Uranus and Neptune. I found tracking and alignment horrible, but since finding 6-7mag planets isn't easy, I decided not to re-align. More and deeper exposures would have helped the moon shots.
>> Observations <<

Observer: Michael A. Phillips Mr.

>> Observations <<

Site: Home

Longitude:35.682°
Latitude:-78.743°
Timezone:UT-300 min
>> Observations <<

Optics: C8i

Type:SCT
Vendor:Celestron
Aperture:203.0 mm
Focal length:2032.0 mm
>> Observations <<

Eyepiece: PowerMate

Vendor:TeleVue
Focal length:2.5 mm
>> Observations <<

Filter: Astronomik LRGB

Typ:Color
>> Observations <<

CCD Camera: DMK21AF04

Vendor:The Image Source
Pixel:640x480
>> Observations <<
Created: 10/17/2008 23:15:32
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Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Jupiter 2008-10-14

Observation logs












Object: Jupiter

Planet
Origin:ObservationManager - SolarSystem Catalog 1.0
ObserverMichael A. Phillips Mr.
SiteHome
Begin2008-10-14 um 18:50:00-05:00
End2008-10-14 um 20:47:00-05:00
Faintest star3.0 mag
Seeing2 (good)
OpticsC8i
EyepiecePowerMate (V=812.8)
FilterAstronomik LRGB Color
CameraDMK21AF04
Sitzung2008-10-14 um 18:50:00-05:00
Visual impression

  • 3 captures in total, 1st two were best. Last one was horrible. I'm not confident on the settings. Records indicate 1/30s @ 15fps. Gain settings conflict with records as the gain values were low like I had set the exposure to 1/15 (like I tried to). I left the image captions as 1/15.

References

Sessions: 2008-10-14 um 18:50:00-05:00

Begin:2008-10-14 um 18:50:00-05:00
End:2008-10-14 um 20:50:00-05:00
Weather:Forecast yesterday was a near perfect 4/5 for both Seeing and transparency. Today, dropped to S 4/5 and T x or 0 / 5 Actual S: 8/10 T: 1/5 Haze and thin clouds
Equipment:I used: Ubuntu 8.04 Linux and custom coriander 8" Celestron C8i SCT DMK 21AF04 2.5x PowerMate Astronomik LRGB filters True Tek Color Filter Wheel with visu diag
Comments:Good seeing and a full moon had me thinking about Neptue and Uranus. After getting 2 x captures then putting the kids to bed I found the haze and upper level moisture (nicely responsible for the great seeing) was reflecting too much moonlight for getting dimmer planets. So I packed up and called it a night. On the bright side, I'm happy to see these great Jupiter results < 1 hr after packing up!
>> Observations <<

Observer: Michael A. Phillips Mr.

>> Observations <<

Site: Home

Longitude:35.682°
Latitude:-78.743°
Timezone:UT-300 min
>> Observations <<

Optics: C8i

Type:SCT
Vendor:Celestron
Aperture:203.0 mm
Focal length:2032.0 mm
>> Observations <<

Eyepiece: PowerMate

Vendor:TeleVue
Focal length:2.5 mm
>> Observations <<

Filter: Astronomik LRGB

Typ:Color
>> Observations <<

CCD Camera: DMK21AF04

Vendor:The Image Source
Pixel:640x480
>> Observations <<
Created: 10/14/2008 21:30:18
Posted by at 1 comment:

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Jupiter 2008-10-08

Observation logs

















Object: Jupiter

Planet
Origin:ObservationManager - SolarSystem Catalog 1.0
ObserverMichael A. Phillips Mr.
SiteHome
Begin2008-10-07 um 19:50:00-05:00
End2008-10-07 um 20:30:00-05:00
Seeing2 (good)
OpticsC8i
EyepiecePowerMate (V=812.8)
FilterAstronomik LRGB Color
CameraDMK21AF04
Sitzung2008-10-07 um 19:50:00-05:00
Visual impression

  • GRS is setting on the right (West). No transit, but great movement in the animation. Seeing cooperated well too!

References

Sessions: 2008-10-07 um 19:50:00-05:00

Begin:2008-10-07 um 19:50:00-05:00
End:2008-10-07 um 20:40:00-05:00
Weather:Haze and thin clouds S: 8/10 T: 1/5
Equipment:I used: Ubuntu 8.04 Linux and custom coriander 8" Celestron C8i SCT DMK 21AF04 2.5x PowerMate Astronomik LRGB filters True Tek Color Filter Wheel with visu diag
Comments:Not a night I'd normally be going out as a slow moving cold front was moving in and brought a great amount of humidity and haze. Seeing forecast was good so I eyeballed the skies near Jupiter and decided to take a stab at it, especially with an attempt at an Io transit too. (Missed that)
>> Observations <<

Observer: Michael A. Phillips Mr.

>> Observations <<

Site: Home

Longitude:35.682°
Latitude:-78.743°
Timezone:UT-300 min
>> Observations <<

Optics: C8i

Type:SCT
Vendor:Celestron
Aperture:203.0 mm
Focal length:2032.0 mm
>> Observations <<

Eyepiece: PowerMate

Vendor:TeleVue
Focal length:2.5 mm
>> Observations <<

Filter: Astronomik LRGB

Typ:Color
>> Observations <<

CCD Camera: DMK21AF04

Vendor:The Image Source
Pixel:640x480
>> Observations <<
Created: 10/09/2008 22:39:22
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , ,

Thursday, October 2, 2008

2008-09-01 Jupiter

Observation logs


Object: Jupiter

Planet
Origin:ObservationManager - SolarSystem Catalog 1.0
ObserverMichael A. Phillips Mr.
SiteHome
Begin2008-09-01 um 21:00:00-05:00
End2008-09-01 um 21:10:00-05:00
OpticsC8i
EyepiecePowerMate (V=812.8)
FilterAstronomik LRGB Color
CameraDMK21AF04
Sitzung2008-09-01 um 21:00:00-05:00
Visual impression

  • tech error night, new laptop not up to snuff/not configured properly. Then crashed once on software capture error, then human error, accidentally hit sudo halt. :( Got good caps despite extreme drops in temp. Especailly after using the Lymax cat cooler again while recovering from errors. Used old setup and refocused to get pretty good data!


References

Sessions: 2008-09-01 um 21:00:00-05:00

Begin:2008-09-01 um 21:00:00-05:00
End:2008-09-01 um 23:30:00-05:00
Weather:Awesome high pressure in place for next 3 days just before TS Hanna S: 7-8/10 T: 4/5
Equipment:I used: Ubuntu 8.04 Linux and custom coriander 8" Celestron C8i SCT DMK 21AF04 2.5x PowerMate Astronomik LRGB filters True Tek Color Filter Wheel with visu diag
Comments:Tested custom coriander on T61 (Cepheus) with no success this night.
>> Observations <<

Observer: Michael A. Phillips Mr.

>> Observations <<

Site: Home

Longitude:35.682°
Latitude:-78.743°
Timezone:UT-300 min
>> Observations <<

Optics: C8i

Type:SCT
Vendor:Celestron
Aperture:203.0 mm
Focal length:2032.0 mm
>> Observations <<

Eyepiece: PowerMate

Vendor:TeleVue
Focal length:2.5 mm
>> Observations <<

Filter: Astronomik LRGB

Typ:Color
>> Observations <<

CCD Camera: DMK21AF04

Vendor:The Image Source
Pixel:640x480
>> Observations <<
Created: 10/02/2008 22:23:47
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , ,

2008-09-30 Jupiter

Observation logs


Object: Jupiter

Planet
Origin:ObservationManager - SolarSystem Catalog 1.0
ObserverMichael A. Phillips Mr.
SiteHome
Begin2008-09-30 um 20:30:00-05:00
End2008-09-30 um 21:40:00-05:00
Seeing3 (fair)
OpticsC8i
EyepiecePowerMate (V=812.8)
FilterAstronomik LRGB Color
CameraDMK21AF04
Sitzung2008-09-30 um 20:30:00-05:00
Visual impression

  • Transit of Io. Poor seeing, but a good 45min+ time lapse imaging session shows the spot where Io is/should be.

References

Sessions: 2008-09-30 um 20:22:00-05:00

Begin:2008-09-30 um 20:22:00-05:00
End:2008-09-30 um 22:00:00-05:00
Weather:Forecast called for clouds. Surprisingly it cleared near dusk and stayed clear until a line of STRONG T-storms came in at 3am the same night. Seeing was avg or below 4-5/10 T: 3/5
Equipment: I used: Ubuntu 8.04 Linux and custom coriander 8" Celestron C8i SCT DMK 21AF04 2.5x PowerMate Astronomik LRGB filters True Tek Color Filter Wheel with visu diag
>> Observations <<

Observer: Michael A. Phillips Mr.

>> Observations <<

Site: Home

Longitude:35.682°
Latitude:-78.743°
Timezone:UT-300 min
>> Observations <<

Optics: C8i

Type:SCT
Vendor:Celestron
Aperture:203.0 mm
Focal length:2032.0 mm
>> Observations <<

Eyepiece: PowerMate

Vendor:TeleVue
Focal length:2.5 mm
>> Observations <<

Filter: Astronomik LRGB

Typ:Color
>> Observations <<

CCD Camera: DMK21AF04

Vendor:The Image Source
Pixel:640x480
>> Observations <<
Created: 10/02/2008 18:51:20
Posted by at No comments:

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Jupiter in an 8" with Good Seeing


3 nights in a row of great seeing in early August.



My setup:

I use a Celestron C8i SE (orange tube) along with:

Ubuntu 8.04 Linux and custom coriander
DMK 21AF04
2.5x PowerMate
Astronomik LRGB filters
True Tek Color Filter Wheel with visu diag

some shots here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/maphilli14/MichaelAPhillipsAstronomyEquipment#5244213374458800210

http://picasaweb.google.com/maphilli14/MichaelAPhillipsAstronomyEquipment#5244213381800624706

Simple explanation of my v7 Processing routine:

1) Captured data saved as .fit in coriander
2) Sorted &amp; cropped in ninox
3) Drag &amp; Drop into Registax
4) No align, no reference, no optimize just stack and wavelet, save as .tif
5) Load each channel into Iris, adjust visu levels and set mono, adjust wavelets (slight)
6) Iris LRGB (trichro) function to assemble as RGB
7) Iris' unsharp mask
8) Iris resize and or final visu levels - save as .bmp for sending to gimp (anyone know any gimp/iris compatible formats, let me know!) and .jpg for web

Mike
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Astronomy - Deep Sky - Nebula




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