A misadventure in framing, I tacked on the Shoebuckle Cluster after the sequence of my current project, the Triangulum galaxy. A quick search of the eastern sky around 3:00 AM in Stellarium showed the Shoebuckle being a prominent feature, so I quickly added it as a sequence without regard for… Continue Reading... "Shoebuckle cluster"
I had my IR security camera take an image every 60 seconds all night long, and I compiled it into a video at 30 frames per second. You can see two meridian flips and a target change in the middle. Ain’t technology grand? Continue Reading... "Dome time lapse"
I finally took the next big plunge in imaging: I switched from a guide scope to off axis guiding (OAG). I was hesitant for a while, as I read a lot of horror stories about it being hard to find guide stars, and that they needed to be planned out… Continue Reading... "Off Axis Guiding"
I use a middle of the road laptop as my imaging computer. Outside of my normal gripes with Windows, it has been a real pain in the ass making it work as a computer when you close the laptop lid. Especially with my Nexdome, I want the laptop to operate… Continue Reading... "Windows issues with the lid closed"
The first target with my new NexDome observatory was Andromeda. Given that it is so close to us and so large in the sky, I only did a small part of it. My field of view is only about 1 degree, while Andromeda is over three degrees long. If you’re… Continue Reading... "Andromeda Galaxy"
After getting my new NexDome set up and mostly configured, I had to wait almost two weeks for a clear night. Isn’t that how it goes. I first tried to use the ASCOM Dome Control program as the device hub, but it wouldn’t allow SharpCap to slew. The next choice… Continue Reading... "First light with the NexDome, and some EAA"
I found a really slick trick to reduce stars in an image using GIMP. It’s really simple and works amazingly well. Many of my images are absolutely loaded with stars, especially most nebulae which live in the galactic plane. After stretching, sharpening, and other processes, these stars can be quite… Continue Reading... "Star Reduction in GIMP"
Still on a kick revisiting the popular targets that I tried last year, I did a few nights on the Wizard Nebula. These were three of the most humid nights of the summer so far, but my new dew heaters seemed to work pretty well. The third night was half… Continue Reading... "The Wizard, again"
This was one of those projects where nothing was going to go right. Between dew problems on my primary mirror, un-forecast clouds, and Windows deciding to update right after I started imaging and went to bed, three nights turned into barely 12 hours of data. And the flats didn’t work… Continue Reading... "Deer Lick Group and Stephan’s Quintet"
My next target was another that I did last summer, the Bubble Nebula. I imaged it for four nights, but clouds and dew ruined a bit of the data. Overall, I got about 24 hours worth of data. I muddled about considering more nights, but I didn’t think it would… Continue Reading... "The Bubble Nebula"
