Each image is a single photograph taken off the coast of Mazatlan, Mexico aboard a small expedition ship called the S.H. Diana. Eclipse photography from a boat doesn't offer anything approaching a stable environment. While I wanted to be as stable as possible, I also needed the ability to quickly move the camera in 3 dimensions due to the motion of the ship. With all that movement another requirement was quick dampening of the system with every move. I decided to purchase a gimbal head for my tripod and either sink or swim.

In the end, I was very pleased with the performance of the system that included:

ProMediaGear GKJr gimbal
Enduro carbon fiber tripod with dampening
Canon T7i camera body
Canon 100 - 400 mm f/4.5-5.6L is II usm lens
Canon EF extender 1.4x III
Firecrest IRND 18-stop Infrared Neutral Density Filter

Thanks for looking and always happy to learn what I could improve.

Jay

Corona

(Download)

Proms

(Download)

Baily's Beads

(Download)

Diamond Ring

(Download)

dhroberts,

This is a really well done progressive set to get to the Diamond Ring. I'm glad you had clear skies.

I was off the coast of Mazatlan onboard an "expedition ship", which is just a fancy way of saying small ship with 190 passengers. The average clarity for April 8 over the last 20 years where we were is way up at 96%. As the clocks moved past midnight into April 8, one model predicted total clouds over the next 12 hr and the other just a 30% chance of clarity. It turned out to be wonderfully clear. My worst nightmare would be that I got clouded out in a place with one of the highest possibilities for clarity along the path and my mother-in-law in Springfield, OH has perfectly clear skies in a place with one of the lowest averages (33%) for clarity along the path. I would have saved a hell of a lot of money going to Springfield. Good news is it was clear in both locations. Long winded way to say thanks for sharing you work.

Jay

Oh, I forgot to ask if you know what the squiggly vertical line is to the upper right of the galaxy?

Jay

pfrancke,

Your M51 is special, especially when viewing the download. What really drew me in was the amount of continuum, IFN, or ___ (fill in the blank with the correct noun) you were able to extract with your noob Pixinsight post-processing. I'd gladly take half of your talent with that program.

Jay

Clayton and bwa (damn I get spell corrected to bra every time!)

Your 12P images far, far, far exceed the total nothing-burger that came out of my camera. I was floored by your guys combination of skill with the data gathering and post-processing that produced 12-P Clayton-bwa (not that time...it was boa!). Great job gents.

A-mazing! Super nice photos, bwa! Thanks for sharing.

Hey Sonny,

Thanks for answering my questions. I apologize because I just don't have the time to respond to your message in a way that it deserves. We're getting ready to leave for Mexico and an eclipse cruise, viewing it from just off the coast of Mazatlan. As much as I've traveled, this is the first visit to Mexico. Hope y'all enjoy the eclipse. I'll respond more when I return.

Jay

Hey Sonny,

Did you use the 130 EDT for the Seagull Head? That should be right around 910 mm I think. Do you have to use a reducer and if so, how much does it reduce your focal length? I used a TeleVue 101NP-IS at 540 mm and the nebula really filled up the 2600 sensor. I think you should do a color image of the head itself as the detail from the 130 should look great. I was looking at more of your B&W images. I love B&W photography but it's not seen much in astro-work. You're a pioneer!

Jay

bwa,

Thanks for the compliment on the image. That was very gracious of you. Although I lurk here from time-to-time and occasionally make a 2 cents comment, I rarely post images anywhere and believe that was a first for this site. The intent was to show Sonny that indeed the nebula looks seagullish when taken with a right-handed 540 mm refractor.

Since I'm addressing this reply to you, I wanted to mention I saw a photo you posted in a different topic that was of your backyard/deck that had about 10' of snow on it. I was going to reply with a photo of my thermometer reading 80ºF with my sunny lanai and pool in the background, but thought better of it. I have a lot of Canadian friends and can say y'all are a hearty lot. I'm also seethingly jealous of your darker skies!

Jay

Hey Sonny,

You just got mostly the head and didn't get much of the rest of it. This is an LRGB image of the Seagull Nebula I just finished. Having more of the nebula visible provides a a more seagullish look than yours simply because you imaged mostly its head and if I cross my eyes and dot my tees, there is a strong resemblance to the bird in bwa's AI Masterpiece! You obviously have a lot more scope than I do. <seethingly jealous>

The one thing I like about this image is the bow shock to the right of center.

Jay

(Download)

Wow...Spectacular shots. As you say the prominences are HUGE and something to behold. I was going to ask where the earth is in the photos...and then looked at the downloads. Thanks for sharing these.

Jay

I think all the superlatives have been used already so how about I share a childhood memory that you pulled from deep within?

I'm so tickled you shared that shot because I've only seen a single Painted Bunting. When I was 8 years old, I had a plastic model of a male. The model was assembled with glue, just like a model car. Unlike model cars the bird models came with a set of paints of appropriate colors. I think it was paint by numbers. When it was done, I didn't believe there really was a living bird with all those bright colors. Thanks for the proof!

I doubt I'd given any thought about that model since I was 8 years old. Thank you for sharing and thanks for the memory.

Jay

I second your granddaughter's opinion about the colors especially the contrasty red.

The odd groupings of white dot artifacts are interesting. Each group is identical with regard to the number and location of the dots relative to each other. The groupings however, appear to be completely random in their locations in the image. Since you were able to get rid of the artifacts using noise reduction through the camera, this suggests that a good set of dark calibration frames will solve the problem as previously mentioned.

Just as an FYI and FWIW, I saw something in your image that I saw in an image I was working on the other day. I noticed most of the smaller stars in my image exhibited a tear-drop shape. I went back through the original individual light frames and examined them more carefully than I had done prior to the original stacking. I found the smaller stars in several of lights were quite elongated, whereas the larger stars looked perfectly acceptable. It seems the larger stars camouflaged a tracking error in those bad lights. Once I removed the bad lights, the stars were all nice and round.

I have to say I'm so jealous of your dark skies, or access to them. Light pollution on the west coast of Florida is getting worse by the week with all the building going on.

I do deep space astroimaging and just love how different the view is from your backyard. I've never seen a photo of the Southern Lights so thanks so much for sharing. The reds you saw/captured were just magnificent and incomparable to the red I saw the only time I've whitnessed the Northern Lights when I lived in Michigan. I have aurora envy and so pleased you happened to be in the right place at the right time. Nice job.

I have a Mantus rechargeable marine head-light. It's rugged and waterproof to 10 m and has 4 modes: red, low white, high white and SOS. It's extremely well made and I get about 12 - 14 hours out of a charge. However, I think it will set you back $80 rather than $50. https://onboard-rigging.myshopify.com/products/mantus-head-light