First Moon Shot

Our good friend Presleigh, who will forevermore be known on this blog under the pseudonym Sun's Eye, captured her first moon photo.  This fantastic shot was taken through her own telescope with an iPhone.  With such a great start in astrophotography, I can't wait to see what Sun's Eye captures next.  The sky's the limit!

First Quarter Moon

It's always striking to me how dramatically different the moon appears depending on the phase.  Last week's first quarter moon provides a beautiful example where the rugged lunar terrain is clearly visible as long shadows were cast from peaks into valleys and rims into craters.  

Photo Details

January 25, 2018

NexImage10 Camera

Image Acquisition iCap 2.3

Image Stacking in AutoStakkert! 2.6.8
Wavelet Adjustments in Registax 6.1
Final Processing in Photoshop CS6

Messier 45 - the Pleiades

Nothing in the night sky says winter to me quite like the Pleiades.  This naked-eye cluster has been interwoven with numerous cultures for centuries.  Commonly known as the Seven Sisters from Greek mythology, they are also know as the Nā hiku o Makali‘i  (Seven Little Eyes) from the Hawaiian tradition.  The gossamer-like nebulosity lit up by the stars are not part of the cluster itself, but rather a cloud of dust lying somewhere between us and the seven.  This was also one of the first images I attempted back in 2013 when I was first getting started.  I've reposted that image below for comparison.  Lots of reading, some equipment upgrades and more patience seems to have been beneficial :)  

Photo Details

January 6, 2018

AstroTech 65Q on VX Mount

SBIG STF-8300C Camera

Skyglow filter

42 subframes at 3 minutes/frame

Total Exposure Time = 2 hours 6 minutes
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

M45 Photographed in 2013

Super Moon Part II

Another perfectly clear night to start 2018!  I set up again to capture the Super Moon, but this time with a shorter focal length telescope to capture the entire surface.  

Photo Details

January 1, 2018

AstroTech 65Q on VX Mount

NexImage10 Camera

Image Acquisition iCap2.3

Y800 Codec @ 3872x2764
900 Frames @ 3 frames/sec