Summer back log part 3 - Messier 13

I mistakenly had the cooling on the ccd shut off and forgot to turn it back on, as such I didn't have any matching darks to kill the hot pixels.  However, you can see that even 32x30s (16min) are enough to bring out well over 2,000 stars and many more that DSS couldn't count.  I was happy with the framing only AFTER I found NGC 6207.  Even still, I now see PGC2085077 at mag 16.15 and even fainter ones, 3501406 and 4507623 at mag 19++

Full field

Full res (no resizing)

DSS star count

Summer back log part 2

M9 in my 14" f/4.5 (1600mm FL)

Today's image is one I had shot before and was potentially one of my earliest Deep Sky images using a narrow field of view planetary camera and an 8" at f/10

OLD image

I think I like the redo better, but the higher resolution of the 8" at 2032mm FL

neither image is of polished time and quality subframes but it's always nice to reflect on your images past and present.

This recent M9 doesn't help advance my Messier collection but it was a good time killer between others this clear night!

Summer back log part 1

Needed for the Messier list that is in the final throws, here's M107, a loose globular cluster shot in lum only at varying exposures because of no guiding and an untrusty mount.

My 1st real HaLRGB image - Crescent Nebula

1st my weak previous attempt...

over 2hours with a smaller scope and a DSLR doesn't hold a candle to the power of Hydrogen Alpha and a CCD.

Here's 36minutes of total Ha+Lum+RGB:

Ha = 4 x 300 = 1200s (1x1)
L = 2 x 300 = 600s (1x1)
RGB = 2@ x 60 = 360s (2x2)
Total Time = 0.6 hours

Limited darks and flats applied, guiding is going well and i have a good, solid 3 camera approach to finding, guiding and imaging and am really ready for a clear Sunday for the +Virtual Star Party

Pluto starter image for 2013

Only a day  and four hours after the full moon made a near miss of occultation for me in NC, I got a low quality shot of Pluto.  Occultation was 20130721-1917EDT - 20130722-2301EDT time of shot.  I had very poor transparency and as such set out to make some darks, do some PEC training and find a good fitting with all my gear under the stars.  I snuck some shots of some objects including a blind shot at Pluto via a solid precise goto.  Here in the close up animation you'll see iffy collimation and poor focus, but the fact that it was only 3x60s in luminosity shows the capabilities of this setup quite well!  The animation shows an overlaid chart from skycharts/CdC and then a highlighted red circle.

Here's the full view

M20 Trifid Nebula in LRGB, climbing the learning curve ladder

I had a nice night last night and after some learning curves on the new equipment I did a trial of some LRGB imaging on M20.  It's too short of a total integration time but it was late and the last thing I did so I was rushed.  I didn't find a guide star so amazingly I used 30sec for Lum and 60sec for the color RGB.  I am pretty happy with the result!  Not bad for only 11minutes total!  I can guide now but didn't set it up for this blind shot.  Flats and Darks are next to add, for now I'm grabbing clear skies as they come!

Previous attempt a LIFETIME ago!

Acquired in Main Sequence Pro Software

Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker

Assembled and Processed in Photoshop

I also got a needed Messier object, M6 for the collection: http://maphilli14.webs.com/mikesdeepskyphotos.htm

Thanks for looking!

1st North American Nebula (Hydrogen Alpha) - 2nd light in SBIG

I had intended to setup for my 1st +Virtual Star Party in over a month or two, but the weather had other designs.  I did manage to solve 2 big hurdles this night.  First, I got the SBIG CCD closer to the Coma Corrector with some shorter spacers which got rid of the comet shaped stars from the 1st light of the camera.  Second I got the OAG and guide cam focused and found some guide stars in the hazy clouds that kept all but magnitude 2 stars visible by eye.  I setup and took images not expecting much, but after 6x300s of Ha I found something I've never seen before in all my attempts with various scopes and cameras!!!

Annotated image

Yay!  Not too shabby for no darks, flats or any other calibs.  Merely 30min on a rather large nebula that has always eluded me!