Hey dudes/dudettes,

Some of you know I'm passionate about astronomy, specifically Astro-imaging.  Last Friday, we saw a sign that ragnarok is coming, the end of the world is upon us. Surely that's the only explanation, for what I see in the skies:  CLEAR SKIES!  You guys don't realize how bad the weather's been the past year!

Anyway, so I took out the scope, one of my targets is to try and image the ISS. No luck yet, but I did find software that can assist to do this (my scope is fully computerized) however I cannot attempt as once I align my scope and install the special camera, I need to focus and this camera (basically a webcam, great for this type of object) needs either a planet or the moon to set the focus, and neither is available from my location (venus is too low and access to Saturn is blocked by my house at the time I can image the ISS).

WHATEVER....

All this to say, I did image a lot of stuff and am quite excited and "hungry" for more. What a week we're having, why did I have to be stuck at work until 10:00pm? .  Anyway, enjoy, please do comment on them.

Couple more. These aren't final, they're quickly processed to give me an idea on how my data is (average about 800 megs per pic!!!).

... well, except for the Crab Nebula, I gave special attention to that one.

p.s. for those who aren't aware, the Crab nebula was originally documented by both the Chinese and Arabic Astronomers back in... 1054AD!!!  The originator star went SuperNova, which resulted in a new star visible to us, in broad daylight!  900 years later, astronomers put 2 and 2 together and realized the nebula is the "left over" from that star's explosive end.

Rob

... anyone who still thinks we are alone in the universe is an idiot.

Quoted from Sparky

... anyone who still thinks we are alone in the universe is an idiot.

I hope for them that have pinball

Those are incredible pics!

How long does it take to get an image of that resolution? (exposure time)

Nice work.

Those look fantastic. Nice work!

Duane

That - is - awesome... I've always loved stargazing (one of my favourite camping hobbies), this is really cool!  Can you explain the process?

The resolution is rather low, my camera of choice is a DSI-2 Color (a one-shot camera, good for lazy bastards like me eheh).  I think the rez is 748 X 580 or something like that.  The camera is a dedicated CCD Astrocam, it's not usable in anything other than connecting to a laptop via usb and plug into the telescope. The advantage is it's very sensitive to light. which is necessary as deep sky objects like galaxy are millions of light years away.

So anyway, the way it works is my scope is presently set up via alt-az, which limits exposure length to about 30 seconds on a good night, but sometimes 22 seconds (which is what I used for the pics above).  Each "pic" comprises of two different files: one mono about 1.7 megs in size (which is more sensitive and thus can have a bit more info) and one color which is 5.1 megs in size (basically a combine of red/green/blue.  Alright, now I start taking the pics, I’ll try and get at least 70 or so different frames, in the hopes about 40 are usable (error can creep up in the tracking which messes some of the pics, this is normal). Once that’s done, I need to combine all those pics (called “stacking”) to get a final one frame. The file size of the final file is the same as one frame BUT it has information from several different files so it’s better quality.

Stacking: In case you aren’t familiar, consider this: because of atmospheric conditions, parts of the one frame aren’t of even quality as the others. So by comparing a bunch of different pics of the same object, you’re able to get a better, cleaner picture, all done through software (but with some manual selecting of frames).

Typically, what I should do is stay with one object the entire night, keep getting pics until I have over 100 of clean great frames with no star streaking, but I’m kind of at the stage where I want to image more stuff, so I tend to cheat a little bit and settle for less. Another thing I need to do that will see a HUGE jump in quality is set up my scope via a wedge mount. Doing so, if properly aligned, will enable me to get a lot more data which will help the color and detail (color is hard to get because the light is so faint due to distance / magnitude level).  I do have a wedge mount, my plan was to first learn the easier way (alt-az is SUPER easy to set up and align, takes 10 minutes max!).  Now that I’m more comfortable, I plan to give it a try this summer.

You guys want to see more pics?

Looks terrific dude!

That was rather long . Ok, to simply the process:

- I set up the scope on my deck (beside the dining room). First the tripod, I ensure it’s level, then I set up the scope itself on top and tighten the 3 bolts so the scope is snuggly attached to the tripod
- I install the various scope hardware, such as the visual back that allows me to install the diagonal mirror, which I then attach an eyepiece. I’ll also attach a few other items such as cables that I’ll need to plug in my USB to serial adapter (for the scope control software I run from a laptop) and also the USB cable for either of my astro cameras and finally the cable to connect my micro-focuser.
- I align the scope. Celestron CPC800 in alt-az mode has a super easy way to do this.  As long as the scope is level (it has a bubble level on the tripod, so easy), all I have to do is point it at 3 different objects such as a planet or stars, typically in 3 different areas of the sky, in sort of a triangular pattern (that works for me perfectly).  Ie: they need to be eyepiece, I press one button, then I do fine adjustments so it’s in the middle, press another button on the hand remote and that one object is done. Do this 2 more times and the alignment is complete.  Once that's done, the scope's computer, using the built in GPS and its database of over 40 thousand objects, figures out where everything is and that’s it.  Sometimes, like 3 years ago, it would fail on align every now and then but I never have a problem any more, easy as pie.  I was probably either not centering the objects enough or taking too long between the 3 different stars or perhaps I wasn’t taking the stars far enough from each other.
- So the scope is aligned, I can now keep on viewing or if I’m imaging, the next step is to remove the eyepiece and diagonal and install the astro cam.  To go to any object, I can just select the object on the hand controller, select goto and it will slew to it automatically. The CPC800 is a great scope, the object is usually located near the middle of the field of view (FOV).

Or…

- Next step: start the laptop, start my favorite software (Starry Night Pro) and “connect” the software to my scope which is awesome if I’m imaging. Why? Because once I set up the scope and align it, there’s no need to go back outside, I run EVERYTHING from my dining room table (I mean … er… my observatory). Adjusting the focus, slewing from one object to another, taking the necessary pics, everything.

- Once that’s done, I can simply select the object that’s on the screen by right-clicking on it and select “slew” and the software will tell my scope where to go.  After going to the first object, I’ll do a little adjustment to get it centered on the laptop screen and I’ll usually select the option “sync on”.  This reaffirms that both the software and scope are agreeing on what where its pointing and voila, the rest of the night I get near perfect goto (ie: it will be in the FOV but sometime I have to do minute adjustments to get it right in the middle). This is no mean feat, the FOV for an astrocam like the Meade DSI2C is very narrow!

- Now’s the time to take the pics using the meade DSI software.  They recommend to do some of the stacking right from the software but I find after 15 frames you start to get too many errors so I do all my combining through post processing technics afterwards using a great software called: MaximDL (the company Cyanogen is located right here in Ottawa!).  It was expensive but man was it worth it.

- Lastly is the post processing which I mentioned in the previous post, MaximDL is awesome but there are also other great programs too.

That’s about it, my hands hurt from the typing! eheh

Very interesting.

I always wondered how, living in a built up area, would light pollution affect star gazing?

Very cool!  Thanks for sharing.  Please post more images!