The last week in March
Apr 7, 2019 11:53:41 #
This last week in March were clear sky or nearly so. I had two nights to image and ran three telescopes to take advantage of what "up" time I had. The Needle Galaxy was taken with an 8 inch Orion Newtonian.
All images were taken with ASI1600MM-C cameras (two are pro) the other is one of the early ASI1600MM-C cameras but still does a great job. Astronomik LRGB filters were used for the Needle and Pinwheel Galaxy. ZWO filters (I think they are Optilong) were used for the Markarian Chain. I imaged each target for approx 7 hours. Exposures of 20 seconds for Lum and 30 for RGB produced a lot of subs to sort through. I scored the subs in Nebulosity 4 and used roughly 50 subs per filter. Supporting darks, flats, and bias frames were used but were not needed....with those short exposures there was no amp glow and all three optical trains are pretty clean but I took and applied them anyway.
All images were taken with ASI1600MM-C cameras (two are pro) the other is one of the early ASI1600MM-C cameras but still does a great job. Astronomik LRGB filters were used for the Needle and Pinwheel Galaxy. ZWO filters (I think they are Optilong) were used for the Markarian Chain. I imaged each target for approx 7 hours. Exposures of 20 seconds for Lum and 30 for RGB produced a lot of subs to sort through. I scored the subs in Nebulosity 4 and used roughly 50 subs per filter. Supporting darks, flats, and bias frames were used but were not needed....with those short exposures there was no amp glow and all three optical trains are pretty clean but I took and applied them anyway.
Apr 7, 2019 17:38:25 #
nikonshooter wrote:
This last week in March were clear sky or nearly s... (show quote)
Great stuff Ed.
Craig
Apr 7, 2019 18:23:00 #
Wow, you really took advantage of the limited time. I like the results. Markarians is good one if you can get to darker skies, but good results from your area too.
How’s your new venture with the local observatory, is it still coming along?
How’s your new venture with the local observatory, is it still coming along?
Apr 7, 2019 22:43:16 #
Europa wrote:
Wow, you really took advantage of the limited time. I like the results. Markarians is good one if you can get to darker skies, but good results from your area too.
How’s your new venture with the local observatory, is it still coming along?
How’s your new venture with the local observatory, is it still coming along?
The new school, Fairforest Middle School, will be completed by June....in fact we get the keys, weather permitting, June 1st. This next Fall will be the first school year. I have two weeks of training in mid July on how the planetarium works - lots of technology and software that I am not familiar with. We also have a representative coming from Astrophysics to go over the observatory equipment and software.
We have 11,700 plus students in our district - all of which will go through the planetarium this coming school year. I was initially under the impression that the planetarium seated a whole lot more than the 108 seats. Do the math and that translates into a bunch of presentations daily.
Not to mention the board wants to make it open to the public at least one night monthly. The observatory is going to be pretty special. In addition, they are currently negotiating for off site observing lease agreements.
Sooo, this next year should be interesting - different for certain.
Apr 7, 2019 23:15:54 #
Sounds like a lot of work, but exciting . Are you still working to furnish photos? It’s been a pretty bad year for imaging.
Apr 7, 2019 23:23:59 #
Not sure about my photo business. I will stop weekend sport events for certain. Originally, I was going to be the director of the planetarium and observatory. I think the district - used some wisdom to hire a much younger phd in astro-physics, Scott Taylor. Scott will have the keys and the responsibility for everything. They want me to be on hand daily to oversee the observatory and help with the planetarium presentations. Scott and I will be the team. I committed two years - health permitting to help get things going. But I was preparing to scale down the photography business before this came along....and it is entirely possible I may not have any time for sports photography. I hate that but like a life of astro fun more. Time will tell.
Apr 9, 2019 08:17:31 #
Awesome Ed , I took advantage too . I worked on getting my mount back in sync and worked on AG , m81 is coming along . The clouds and rain has definitely made it a slow go . I wish you well with your new endeavor .
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.