M24 Star Cloud in Sagittarius

Date: 7/1/03   Camera: Canon 10D    Scope: 6" Tak FCT-150 at F5 riding on a Paramount and unguided.

Exposure: This is a picture of M24 the star Cloud in Sagittarius.  Although I was a little out of focus I processed it anyway. It was 10-5min exposures at ISO 800, no darks and was processed in IP and PS.

The Temp really dropped that night and I didn't check the focus enough. Live and learn.

M8 the Lagoon Nebula

Date: 7/1/03   Camera: Canon 10D    Scope: 6" Tak FCT-150 at F5 riding on a Paramount and unguided.

Exposure:  Its 10-5min Exposures at ISO 800, no dark frames were used and it was processed in Images Plus and Photoshop. Dark Skies really help as does a perfect tracking mount and a high dollar scope.

M20 the Trifid Nebula

Date: 7/1/03   Camera: Canon 10D    Scope: 6" Tak FCT-150 at F5 riding on a Paramount and unguided.

Exposure:  Its 10-5min Exposures at ISO 800, no dark frames were used and it was processed in Images Plus and Photoshop. 

A Mosaic of M20 and M8

Date: 7/1/03   Camera: Canon 10D    Scope: 6" Tak FCT-150 at F5 riding on a Paramount and unguided.

These are from the pictures below.  I used IP to create a mosaic. When I initially set up I used the mosaic tool in The Sky to align and frame these 2 objects with a 5% overlap.

M106 Wide field

Date: 01/19/2004   

Camera: Canon 10D    Scope: 6" Tak FCT-150 at F5 riding on a Paramount and unguided.

Exposure: 15-4min Exposures at ISO 1600 and 7 averaged dark frames.  The seeing was average  when I was imaging this object.  Images were Processed  in Images Plus and Photoshop CS. 

NGC 4158,4217,4248,4231,4232,4226,4346,4220 and UGC7325,7356 are also visible in the wide field shot. 

Wide Field Rosette 

Date: 01/19/2004   

Camera: Canon 10D    Lens: Canon 135mm at F2.5 with Lumicon UHC filter

Exposure:  10 -5min at ISO 400 and 10-5min at ISO800, 5 averaged darks. All processed in Images Plus and Photoshop CS

M81 & 82

Date: 01/19/2004   

Camera: Canon 10D    Scope: 6" Tak FCT-150 at F7 riding on a Paramount and unguided.

Exposure:   21-4min Exposures at ISO 1600 and 7 averaged dark frames.  The seeing was very good when I was imaging this object.  Images were Processed  in Images Plus and Photoshop CS. 

M101 

Date: 01/19/2004   

Camera: Canon 10D    Scope: 6" Tak FCT-150 at F5 riding on a Paramount and unguided.

Exposure:  15-4min Exposures at ISO 1600 and 7 averaged dark frames.  The seeing was very good when I was imaging this object.  Images were Processed  in Images Plus and Photoshop CS. 

Orion Wide Field Mosaic

Date: 01/18/2004   

Camera: Canon 10D    Lens: Canon 50mm F1.4 and 135mm F1.8 piggy-backed on a LX200

Exposure: 10-5min ISO400, 10-5min ISO800 for each half of the mosaic using the 50mm at F3. 

 10-5min ISO1600 with a Lumicon UHC filter through the 130mm at F2.8. I used this to get a more detail shot of  The Horshead and M42 as well as the The Witch head   and rosette areas. 

All these frames were converted then calibrated using 6 median combined dark frames.

Then each set of frames were then aligned, combined and then stitched together and stretched using Images Plus.

That a total of 6.5 hours of exposure.

The large image is only 33% size.

Running Man Nebula

Date: 01/18/2004   

Camera: Canon 10D    Scope: 6" Tak FCT-150 at F5 riding on a Paramount and unguided.

Exposure: 15-4min Exposures at ISO 800 and 7 averaged dark frames.  The seeing was  average when I was imaging this object.  Images were Processed  in Images Plus and Photoshop CS. 

M4 @F7

Date: 06/2004   Camera: Canon Modified 300D    Scope: 20" RC on Paramount ME (Thanks Ron)

Exposure: It was 10-3min exposures at ISO800. Processed in Images Plus and PS.

Doc and the C14

M8 Lagoon Nebula

Another successful trip to New Mexico Skies!  I had the pleasure to go to New Mexico Skies with Doc G. this time.  We had good weather, skies , company and great food! Thanks Doc.

Most images unless otherwise noted were taken with a modified Canon 300D, the IR blocking filter was removed.  I used a Astronomik IR blocking filter in its place. A Takahashi FCT-150 at F5 or F7 was also used. No time to give a detailed description of each object. I had 5 nights of imaging so there was allot of data collected. 

Veil /Lace-work  Nebula 

Veil /Network Nebula 

M22 Globular Cluster 

Pelican Nebula

NGC 5357

M20 The Trifid

Antares NGC 6144 & M4

Wide Field Sagittarius

IC 410

IC 2162

IC 443 Super Nova Remnant

NGC 2174

M33 The Pinwheel Galaxy

Imaged with  Camera: Canon Modified 20D    Scope: FCT-150 @ F5 Astronomik UV/IR Filter.

M3 Globular Cluster 

Date: 04/13/04   Camera: Canon 10D    Scope: 12" LX200 at F5

Exposure:  It consisted of 25-2min exposures at ISO800 in Raw mode.  All images were converted in IP to 16bit tiff. files.  Using the median combined dark frame I calibrated all the  images and then aligned them. Then I used min max excluded average to combine them and Digital Development to do the initial stretch to the image.  The rest of the  processing  was done in Photoshop CS.

M94 Spiral Galaxy

Date: 04/13/04   Camera: Canon 10D    Scope: 12" LX200 at F5

Exposure:  It consisted of 25-5min exposures at ISO1600 in Raw mode.  All images were converted in IP to 16bit tiff. files.  Using the median combined dark frame I calibrated all the  images and then aligned them. Then I used Images Plus  min max excluded average to combine them and Digital Development to do the initial stretch to the image.  The rest of the  processing  was done in Photoshop CS.

M78 and McNeil's Nebula

Date: 01/19/04   Camera: Canon 10D    Scope: FCT-150 at F5

Exposure:  It consisted of 16-4min exposures at ISO1600 in Raw mode.  All images were converted in IP to 16bit tiff. files.  Using the median combined dark frame I calibrated all the  images and then aligned them. Then I used min max excluded average to combine them and Digital Development to do the initial stretch to the image.  All done in IP.

When I caught wind about the new discovery (which I had recently imaged) I went back and sure enough there it was,   I was thinking that there was something strange about this image as I had imaged this nebula before but didn't know what it was  and just moved on (now I know)  Congrads to McNeil what a wonderful feeling!

NGC 4216 Edge on Spiral Galaxy in Virgo 

Date: 02/25/04   Camera: Canon 10D    Scope: 12" LX200 at F10

Exposure:  It consisted of 16-5min exposures at ISO1600 in Raw mode.  All images were converted in IP to 16bit tiff. files.  Using the median combined dark frame I calibrated all the  images and then aligned them. Then I used min max excluded average to combine them and Digital Development to do the initial stretch to the image.  All done in IP.

Now using Photoshop CS I created a false flat frame and layered them together.  I  also had to crop some of the stars as the tracking was not perfect.  

M1 Crab Nebula 

Date: 02/15/04   Camera: Canon 10D    Scope: 12" LX200 at F6.3

Exposure:  It consisted of 17-5min exposures at ISO1600 in Raw mode.  All images were converted in IP to 16bit tiff. files.  Using the median combined dark frame I calibrated all the  images and then aligned them. Then I used min max excluded average to combine them and Digital Development to do the initial stretch to the image.  All done in IP.

Now using Photoshop CS I created a false flat frame and layered them together.  I  also had to crop some of the stars as the tracking was not perfect.  

I did many other odds and ends to get to the final image to many to list.

M45 Pleiades

Date: 12/25/03   Camera: Canon 10D    Scope: Tak FSQ-106 at  F5 Piggybacked on a 12" LX200 unguided. 

Exposure:  It consisted of 10-3.5min exposures at ISO1600 taken in Raw mode from 10/06/03 and 20-5min ISO800 exposures taken on 12/25/03 and converted ,calibrated, aligned and stacked in IP. Digital Development was used to stretch the image.  Some other small adjustments were done in PS6.  That's it.

Horse Head Nebula Region

Date: 09/30/03   Camera: Canon 10D    Scope: Tak FSQ-106 at  F5 & F8 Piggybacked on a 12" LX200.

Exposure:  This was a 2-night affair with good transparency both nights. 

It was taken with a Takahashi FSQ-106 at F5 & F8 and a Canon 10D at ISO 1600 piggybacked on a pier mounted 12" LX200 located at Yanna Research Station the dark sky site of the Madison Astronomical Society.

 It consisted of 20-4min exposures at F5,15-5min exposures at F8 and 6 Median combined darks. The 15-F5 exposures were untracked and the F8 images were tracked with a STV Deluxe.

 All F5 images were converted, calibrated (median), aligned and combined (averaged) and initially stretched using Digital Development. A mask was then used to brighten the red outlying regions and blurred and added to the original image, all done in Images Plus. The list goes on…   The F8 images were converted, calibrated (median), aligned and combined (averaged) and initially stretched using Digital Development resized in Photoshop before combining them to the F5 images with a mask.   

This image took 3-4 days to process to get the result I was looking for. Allot of experimenting with different filters, stretches and sharpening techniques.  

All in all I was very pleased with the result.

M42 Region The Great Orion Nebula 

Date: 09/30/03   Camera: Canon 10D    Scope: Tak FSQ-106 at  F5 Piggybacked on a 12" LX200 unguided.

NGC 1499 California Nebula 

Date: 09/30/03   Camera: Canon 10D    Scope: Tak FSQ-106 at  F5 Piggybacked on a 12" LX200 unguided.

Rosette Nebula

Date: 10/06/03   Camera: Canon 10D    Scope: Tak FSQ-106 at  F5 Piggybacked on a 12" LX200 unguided.

Exposure:  The exposures consisted of 20 exposures at ISO 1600 each were 3.5 min and in Cannon Raw mode. 6 Dark frames were also taken.  

All images were then converted to 16 bit tiff. The darks were then median averaged to make a single combined dark. Then each converted image was dark subtracted using the single averaged dark frame. Now I aligned, combined using (Minimum and Maximum excluded average) and applied an initial stretch to the combined image using DD in Images Plus. 

Now, I used a Mask to bring out the nebulosity without bloating the stars. Using the mask function in IP I made a copy of the image and used Local/Region growing and Segmentation function to remove most of the stars in the image. Then using Color/Brightness, Levels & Curves/Background, contrast stretch I stretched the Mask image, then I combined them using addition and 30% of the mask.

The Helix Nebula NGC 7293

Date: 10/01/03   Camera: Canon 10D    Scope: Tak FSQ-106 at  F8 Piggybacked on a 12" LX200 unguided.

Exposure:  It consisted of 30-4min exposures at ISO1600.  15 were taken in Raw mode with no darks the other 15 were taken in Fine Jpg mode and 6 respective darks (this was all because I focused in the middle of the set and forgot to change the mode back to Raw) Well I stacked all of them anyway.  It was very cool that night about 25F so that helped with the noise.

Image is 80% crop

Processed in Images Plus and Photoshop.

M31 The Andromeda Galaxy Mosaic

Date: 9/2003   Camera: Canon 10D    Scope: Tak FSQ-106 at  F8 Piggybacked on a 12" LX200 unguided.

Exposure:  It consisted of 30-5min exposures at ISO800 for each half of the mosaic. Putting the mosaic together proved to be the most time consuming part of this venture. Due to the sky glow and the 30 exposures of each half the first half was plagued with some ambient light and needed to be matched up with the second darker half. After a few days of playing around with the 2 images I finally got them as close as I could.

Processed in Images Plus and Photoshop.

M33 The Pinwheel 

Date: 8/22/03   Camera: Canon 10D    Scope: Tak FSQ-106 at F8.

Exposure:  This was 30-5  min exposures at ISO800 , dark subtracted and processed in IP and PS6. This image is 50% size.

Veil Complex at 50% 

Date: 09/04   Camera: Canon 300D and 10D    Scope: FSQ-106 @f5

Exposure:  It consisted of 20-5min exposures using the 300D(modified) at ISO 1600 and 20-5min exposures with the 10D at ISO1600. All where taken in RAW mode then using IP to convert, calibrate, align, excluded addition and stretched in DD. Final processing in Photoshop.

Double Cluster

Date: 09/04   Camera: Canon 300D     Scope: FSQ-106 @f5

Exposure:  5-3 min exposures ISO1600

M57 The Ring Nebula 

Date: 07/13/04   Camera: Canon 300D    Scope: 16" LX200 at F10

Exposure:  It consisted of 30-70sec exposures at ISO1600 in Raw mode.  All images were converted in IP to 16bit tiff. files.  Using the median combined dark frame I calibrated all the  images and then aligned them. Then I used min max excluded average to combine them and Digital Development to do the initial stretch to the image.  The rest of the  processing  was done in Photoshop CS.

IC 1396

 Large File 50% crop of original

Date: 09/04   Camera: Canon 300D    Scope: FSQ-106 @f5

Exposure:  It consisted of 20-5min exposures using the 300D(modified) at ISO 1600  for each part of the 2-part mosaic. All where taken in RAW mode then using IP to convert, calibrate, align, excluded addition and stretched in DD. Final processing in Photoshop.

M31 The Andromeda Galaxy Mosaic

Less than 50% size

Date: 09/04 and 9/03  Camera: Canon 300D/09/04  and Images from 10D/09/03    Scope: FSQ-106 @f5

Exposure:  It consisted of 30-5min exposures using the 300D(modified) at ISO 1600  for each part of the 2-part mosaic and 30-5min exposures at ISO800 with the 10D  each half of the mosaic from last year for  A total of 5 hours of exposure.

All where taken in RAW mode then using IP to convert, calibrate, align, excluded addition and stretched in DD. Final processing in Photoshop.

Bubble Nebula NGC 7635 

Date: 08/04   Camera: Canon 300D   Scope: 16"LX200 @ F6.3

Exposure:  15-5min exposures at ISO 1600 , guided with an ST-9 and 4" refractor.

All where taken in RAW mode then using IP to convert, calibrate, align, excluded addition and stretched in DD. Final processing in Photoshop.

Spiral Galaxy NGC 6946 

Date: 09/04   Camera: Canon 300D and 10D    Scope: 16"LX200 @ F6.3

Exposure:  It consisted of 35-5min exposures using the 300D(modified) at ISO 1600 and 20-6min exposures with the 10D at ISO1600.  A total of 5 hours of exposure.  

These were taken on 2 different nights from different locations one was using a 16" LX200 on a fork mount and the other a 16" LX200 on a Paramount ME. Guided with a FSQ-106/STL11000 on the paramount and  ST9 on the fork mount.

All where taken in RAW mode then using IP to convert, calibrate, align, excluded addition and stretched in DD. Final processing in Photoshop.