Sun Dogs

Veil Updated With Ha Data

This image uses the same LRGB data from the post below but now with 4 hours of Hydrogen Alpha data added. About 99% processing techniques from Ron Wodaski's last two books and about 1% experimentation to get the results I wanted. LRGB and Ha combined in photoshop with the Ha added as a Luminance layer. Ron suggests using about 50% transparency in his book. Personally I thought that it sacrificed too much of my Ha data. I may rework it at a lower percentage however, for now I am happy. The only problem was that by keeping it at 100%, my brighter stars has colored ghosts around them. To get around this, I just selected the bright stars on the LRGB layer, expanded the selection a bit, feathered the selection and then reduced the brightness. The only problem is that this appears to get rid of all of the color for the star. Anyone have any other suggestions on how better to do this???

Black Forest Star Party 2008

My wife and I were able to sneak away to Black Forest Star Party this year. It is one of my favorite places to go and the skies are amazing! I usually try to get to Cherry Springs at least once a year. What an amazing time we had. The people are great and the Pennsylvania countryside is gorgeous! Anyway, here are some astroimages I was able to acquire at this years event.
First up is the Veil Nebula, aka NGC 6960. The first night I imaged this object, I was only able to collect 2 hours of luminance and 40 minutes each of red and green before it slipped behind a tree. Thankfully, the next night was clear as well. I was able to obtain the blue I needed that second night, but realized the next day that I shot it in full resolution instead of binned 2x2 like the red and green. Thankfully, once again, we had one more somewhat clear night. A former hurricane blew over and the skies did not clear until around 2 am. When they did clear, there were a lot of sporadic clouds passing over. I was able to get the blue I needed to complete this image in between clouds and was not able to image anything else the rest of the night. Thank goodness for that 20 minutes of blue! It was a lot of work to get it, but I am blown away by how good the image turned out. One of my best so far. In fact, all the images take at this star party are some of my best work yet. Things sure are a lot easier when you have dark skies!!! Image details are Tak Sky 90 with reducer and ST-2000xm, L-120min 1x1 (10min subs), R&G-40min each 2x2 (10min subs), B-20min 2x2 (10min subs). Dark reduced, aligned, and stacked in CCDSoft, further processed in Photoshop CS3. Not only did I have trouble capturing the blue for this image, I found out the first time I went to use my camera that my dessicant needed recharged. I wasn't even able to get my camera down to 0 without some frosting. All my images were shot at +10deg which added a lot of noise.


Next up is NGC 6992 and friends. Also part of the Veil Network Nebula this one is often referred to as "The Claw". I had no trouble obtaining the LRGB for this one like I did above. Same setup as above, L-60min 1x1 (10min subs), R&G-30min 2x2 (5min subs), B-15min 2x2 (5min subs).

On to Andromeda. I've shot andromeda on several occasions, but this time I wanted to try something new...my first mosaic. I tackled this potential mosaic in three sections...left, middle, right. I shot 30 minutes of each frame (10min subs) and shot 10 minutes of the core (2min subs). Images callibrated and stacked in CCDSoft and further processed and combined into a mosaic in Photoshof CS3. I think it turned out extremely well for my first mosaic. It looks like I'm shooting with a large format camera but it takes me a lot longer :(


It's that time of year again...the hunter is on the rise. Orion was a beautiful site in a large dob but it is even more spectacular to image. It isn't up very high until late in the night and just before dawn. I was still up at this time so I fugured I would try and image it. I shot L-30min 1x1 (5min subs) and L(core)-5min (15sec subs). Turned out OK, but I would love to go a lot deeper!


This was the first object I imaged on this trip. While waiting for the veil to position itself right where I wanted it, I aimed my setup at the Eagle Nebula. This allowed me to work out some bugs and make sure everything was working properly. I captured 40min of luminance with 10min subs. This is really a tough object to process. It took a lot of effort to bring out the faint nebula while also trying to keep the central part of the "eagle" recognizeable. I will definitely be reworking this one one of these days. Overall, I am satisfied with this one though.


Ok, there is a long story behind this one but I'll try to keep it short. This last image is of the Coathanger star pattern. I would have liked to get RGB but clouds kept ruining my exposures. This is a single green exposure of 5 minutes. The story is as follows: A group of guys, myself included, decided to do some binocular observing. Someone brought up the Coathanger and inquired about it's location. I began panning with my binoculars and came across a very similar grouping of start and told the others that I had found it near Cassiopeia. Eventually someone else found the real Coathanger with the help from some computer software and it turned out to be nowhere near Cassiopeia. The rest of the weekend I did not live that one down. Everyone (John) would say where is that Coathanger again...Cassiopeia. It was good fun though. One thing is for sure, I will never forget where the real Coathanger is....just about half way between Vega and Altair. This one was just for you John G.

A Few Images From Cherry Springs Star Party

Had my first somewhat successful imaging at a true dark site. Still had some problems as I don't get to image as often as I'd like. After I got the bugs worked out I was actually able to get a few good hours of images.
My first attempt was the snake nebula. Probably not a good first choice because it is not in my G-11 goto and a search in The Sky will not find it. Took me a while to locate it. After I did, I was able to capture a couple hours worth of 30 min subs. This image is an average of 4 30 min subs. No darks or flats were subtracted. I still have some work to do but think it has come out quite well so far. I really wanted to get some color as well but with all the amateur problems I run into color was out of the question.
On another clear night, I decided to shoot the iris nebula. Was able to capture 3 hours on this one and it definitely needed. I was really not happy with this one until I averaged the final 30 min sub. I like to average the subs throughout an imaging session to see how things are going. Throughout the whole session I just was not satisfied because with each new sub, the graininess in the faint areas was just not going away. I averaged the final sub and viola. This one is really in early processing. I need to work on the central area as it was blown out in this quick processing job. Once again, no dark frames or flats have been subtracted.

Lastly, I decided to do some wield field stuff. Mounted my Canon Rebel XTI on my G-11 and shot 10 minute frames from southern horizon to northern horizon for a total of 8 x 10 minute frames. I wish I could put a 50% reduction on here but the site just will not allow such a large file. Click on the image to see all that it would allow me to upload. You can still see a few gems. My favorite is the North American nebula toward image center, almost too small to see in this small image.

More Eclipse Stuff

Spectacular Lunar Eclipse!

What a night! First clear night in Michigan for a while. I had been anticipating the eclipse for a while, but just figured I wouldn't get to see it due to the endless cloud this time of year. I almost forgot about the eclipse completely. Put my daughter to bed around 7:30, made some dinner, took my usual glance out the window to see what the weather was doing. To my surprise, I saw a perfectly clear sky. Then I saw the full moon and jumped into action remembering that this was the night. Got the Sky 90, mount and camera hooked up just in time to take my first image just as the partial eclipse began. Images were taken at multiple exposure settings, throught Tak Sky 90 and Digital Rebel XTI. Partial phases are stacks of 20, total phases are stacks of 30. I'm working on an animation and will hopefully post it within the next few days. Thanks for looking!