Super Moon

I had so much fun last night trying out my new solar system imaging camera.  There is a lot to learn, but I couldn't help but set everything up for the Super Moon.  I hope you got a good look, too!

Photo Details

December 30, 2017

Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount

NexImage10 Camera

Moonglow Filter

Image Acquisition iCap2.3

Top Image
Y800 Codec @ 2048x1536
400 Frames @ 3 frames/sec

Image Stacking in AutoStakkert2
Wavelet Processing in Registax6
Final Image Processing in Photoshop

Bottom Image
Y800 Codec @ 1256x958
750 Frames @ 3 frames/sec

Image Stacking in AutoStakkert2

Wavelet Processing in Registax6
Final Image Processing in Photoshop

NGC 7331 (Deerlick Group) - Revisted

One of the first images I every photographed, back in 2013, was the galaxy NGC 7331.  It's known as the main attraction of the Deerlick Group.  Two things immediately grabbed my attention in this image.  First, is the almost uniform spatial distribution of stars.  Second is the incredible number of galaxies in this one view.  I found over twenty, and with a longer exposure, more would certainly be evident.  The galaxies gathered around NGC 7331, though appearing nearby, are estimated to be 10 times more distant than the main galaxy.  For comparison, check out my first attempt at this image below.  Needless to say, a lot of reading, practice and some better equipment adds up to better images.

Photo Details

December 10, 2017

Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount

SBIG STF-8300C Camera

Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector

Skyglow filter

46 subframes at 3 minutes/frame

Total Exposure Time = 2 hours 18 minutes
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

Pelican Nebula - Wide Field View

In mid-November, I revisited the Pelican Nebula (see original post below) with a new wide-field telescope.  The original was take with a much longer focal length reflector so it was zoomed in closer than the one above.  The new wide field covers a significantly larger area and was able to capture the entire Pelican, along with part of its neighbor (North American Nebula) visible in the upper left portion of this image.  It's hard to get a sense of scale for this image, but the Pelican covers nearly 8 times the sky area as a full moon.  Too bad we can't see it without long-exposure photography!

Photo Details

November 13-14, 2017

AstroTech 65Q on VX Mount

SBIG STF-8300C Camera

Skyglow filter

83 subframes at 3 minutes/frame

Total Exposure Time = 4 hours 9 minutes
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop