After learning some tricks and a bit more about image processing in general, I decided to take a stab at post-processing the Pacman nebula again. I attempted some better stacking techniques, and was able to reduce noise a bit from the start. The background extraction also went much better in… Continue Reading... "Retouching the Pacman"
The Pacman
The second test of my new equatorial platform was NGC 281, the Pacman nebula. I tweaked some settings in PHD2 and got phenomenal results, with 40 of 43 images being perfect! Each image is a one minute exposure at 1600 ISO. Incredible detail is revealed from the longer exposures. Not… Continue Reading... "The Pacman"
γ Cas Nebula
The first run with my new Tom Osypowski equatorial platform was a pretty good success! I did get guiding to work adequately for this first trial, although I fiddled with some settings afterwards to get it working even better. For a first shot at guiding with no experience, I was… Continue Reading... "γ Cas Nebula"
Some unnamed gas
I found an unnamed patch of hydrogen alpha near η Cygni in Stellarium and tried to give it a go. It was straight overhead, and my polar alignment must have been horrible, because I had drift over my 30 second exposures that was orthogonal to the tracking direction. So, a… Continue Reading... "Some unnamed gas"
NGC 7538, the Northern Lagoon
With some recent tracking problems likely due to the rollers slipping on the aluminum strips that the platform rides on, I did an experiment and replaced the aluminum with some strips of thick, textured ABS plastic. The tracking definitely seemed to improve, although it was still not great. The Northern… Continue Reading... "NGC 7538, the Northern Lagoon"
NGC 6888, the Crescent
I decided to try to upgrade the tracking yet again on my platform, and purchased and installed a 100:1 planetary reduction stepper motor with a driver and an adjustable controller. It still has some bugs that need worked out, notably, the drive roller seems to slip on the aluminum runners.… Continue Reading... "NGC 6888, the Crescent"
Getting my tracking groove back with IC 5146
I had a tough time last weekend with my cheap Celestron tracking motor, so I thought I would piece together something beefier. Well, after wasting one and a half nights on that, I dug the old Celestron motor out of the garbage and reinstalled it. Tracking was much better with… Continue Reading... "Getting my tracking groove back with IC 5146"
NGC 7380, the Wizard
After getting a little used to my new guidescope and camera, and with the planets pretty much behind the trees for the year, I decided to try another deep sky target. Looking around in Stellarium, I noticed the wizard nebula that seemed to perfectly fit in frame. Seeing was not… Continue Reading... "NGC 7380, the Wizard"
Pop the bubble!
Another success with my UHC filter, the Bubble nebula turned out terrific! It wasn’t too bad to find, but as soon as I landed on it, I knew it was it. The distinct circular shape came through perfectly, and there was so much more present in the stacked image that… Continue Reading... "Pop the bubble!"
A pleasant surprise, the Iris
I figured I would take a shot at a large nebula that is much larger than my field of view. Although I didn’t expect to capture much of it given my f ratio, I was pleasantly surprised when I processed subframes that didn’t look like much of anything. This is… Continue Reading... "A pleasant surprise, the Iris"
