POSTED 7-3-08
Clear nights are so rare lately that I've lowered my standards for minimally satisfactory sky conditions. Last night was the clearest we've had for weeks, but it was still a long way from being good enough to do serious imaging. Pluto was favorably placed in the early evening hours and I wanted to give the latest version of LUCAM RECORDER a first run. Pluto was in the constellation Sagittarius just Northeast of M23. The bright star just to the right of center is magnitude 11.45.
Pluto (in Sagittarius)
10:10am EDST 7-02-08
127mm Orion Starmax Mak-Cass
20 individual frame captures @ 58 seconds each
frames stacked in Registax 4, post processing in Nikon Capture NX
DBK 21AF04.AS color camera with .5x focal reducer
scaling:none
Pluto altitude: 29 degrees
Seeing: 3/10
transparency at target: 2/5
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POSTED 5-16-08
So-so transparency and seeing allowed some wide-field Lunar imaging. These images are the only ones that are worth posting. The vertical pano of the Aphonsus/Ptolemaeus/Arzachel region is an improvement over an older image taken with the 10" classical some years ago.
Triad Vicinity
EDST 5-13-08
16" F18 Royce Dall-Kirkham Cassegrain
three 1300 frame stream at prime focus
best 250 frames Registax 4, Nikon Capture NX
DMK 31AF03.AS mono camera
scaling: none
Target altitude: degrees
Seeing: 4/10
transparency at target: 2/5
North Polar Region
EDST 5-13-08
16" F18 Royce Dall-Kirkham Cassegrain
1300 frame stream at prime focus
best 250 frames Registax 4, Nikon Capture NX
DMK 31AF03.AS mono camera
scaling: none
Target altitude: degrees
Seeing: 4/10
transparency at target: 2/5
The above image clearly shows the foreshortened craters Byrd and Peary. The North Pole is just visible on the horizon almost directly on the far side of Peary.
EDST 5-13-08
16" F18 Royce Dall-Kirkham Cassegrain
1300 frame stream at prime focus
best 250 frames Registax 4, Nikon Capture NX
DMK 31AF03.AS mono camera
scaling: none
Target altitude: degrees
Seeing: 4/10
transparency at target: 2/5
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POSTED 4-20-08
skies finally cleared except for some high cirrus clouds and an almost record amount of pollen. Seeing was also one step better than usual, but still not quite as steady as I would like. The nights of April 15 thru 17 proved to be the most productive. The Saturn images below clearly show a small storm brewing in the subtropics. I think there is a modest improvement over the March image.
Saturn
9:26 EDST 4-18-08
16" f18 Royce Dall-Kirkham reflector
250 frames from a stream of 1300 at 1/25th second, 30 frames/sec
all frames stacked in Registax 4
DBK 21AF04.AS color camera w/Maxpower 1.6x amplifier
scaling: reduced 25%
Target altitude: degrees
Seeing: 4/10
transparency at target: 3/5
Saturn
8:52 EDST 4-18-08
16" f18 Royce Dall-Kirkham reflector
250 frames from a stream of 1300 at 1/25th second, 30 frames/sec
all frames stacked in Registax 4
DBK 21AF04.AS color camera
scaling: none
Target altitude: degrees
Seeing: 4/10
transparency at target: 3/5
Crater Tycho Vicinity
EDST 4-17-08
127mm Orion Starmax Mak-Cas
1300 frame stream at prime focus
best 200 frames Registax 4, Nikon Capture NX
DMK 31AF03.AS mono camera
scaling: none
Target altitude: degrees
Seeing: 3/10
transparency at target: 3/5
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POSTED3-7-08
My apologies for the long wait for new images. I was hoping that with global warming, the winter here in Northern Virginia would have been more conducive to observing than it has in past years. Well, no such luck. This winter has been miserable for any kind of imaging effort. So here it is, a Saturn image that ends a 4 month long dry spell. Unfortunately, the image itself isn't quite up to being worthy of such a long wait, but here it is anyway. The Televue Powermate 2.5x was used for the first time and I have a feeling it provided a substantial improvement over the old eyepiece projection method. I am certainly looking forward to clearer and steadier skies with this new optical train.
Saturn
8:11pm to 8:13 EST 3-05-08
16" f18 Royce Dall-Kirkham reflector
530 frames from a stream of 1600 at 1/35th second, 30 frames/sec
all frames stacked in Registax 4
DBK 21AF04.AS color camera w/Televue 2.5x Powermate
scaling: none
Target altitude: 36 degrees
Seeing: 2/10
transparency at target: 2/5
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POSTED 10-29-07
I was travelling along the ecliptic on my way to Mars but had to take a detour to Perseus. Comet Holmes (C17P) had brightened radically in the last week or two so it became the subject for a couple hours of imaging. Here is the best from the group. This is very close to what is seen at the eyepiece of a low power scope. I would like to process this one a little more to bring out some structure in the coma. The nucleus is just to the left of the center of the fuzzy spot. All other points are background stars in Perseus. A faint neck of outgassing can be seen between the nucleus and the bright fuzzy center of the tail that is streaming away from the Sun and the Earth. The DMK camera comes through again with it's long exposure capability.
Comet Holmes (C17P)
9:08pm to 9:11 EDST 10-28-07
127mm Orion Starmax Mak-Cas
50 frame stream at 9 seconds exposure per frame
all frames stacked in Registax 4
DMK 31AF03.AS mono camera w/Atik .6x reducer
scaling: none
Target altitude: 52 degrees
Seeing: 5/10
transparency at target: 3/5
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POSTED 10-25-07
The evening of the 20th and the morning and evening of the 21st were very good nights for imaging, though seeing and transparency weren't quite good enough to garner any "best of.." images. The DMK 31AF03.AS camera continues to please me with it's capabilites. Most of these images are a little on the soft side due to less-than-ideal sky conditions. A red filter would have helped the DMK images a little so one will be on order soon. There is still data to be completed for each image and I hope to get it posted on 10-27-07)
Rupes Recti (Straight Wall)
8:57pm to 9:04 EDST 10-21-07
16" Royce Dall-Kirkham Cassegrain f18
2000 frame stream at prime focus
best 200 frames Registax 4, Nikon Capture NX
DMK 31AF03.AS mono camera
scaling: none
Target altitude: degrees
Seeing: 4/10
transparency at target: 3/5
Valis Alpis (Alpine Valley)
8:57pm to 9:04 EDST 10-21-07
16" Royce Dall-Kirkham f18
2000 frames at 30fps
best 200 frames Registax 4, Nikon Capture NX
DMK 31AF03.AS mono camera
scaling: none
Target altitude: degrees
Seeing: 4/10
transparency at target: 3/5
Crater Tycho Vicinity
8:57pm to 9:04 EDST 10-21-07
127mm Orion Starmax Mak-Cas
1000 frame stream at prime focus
best 150 frames Registax 4, Nikon Capture NX
DMK 31AF03.AS mono camera
scaling: none
Target altitude: degrees
Seeing: 4/10
transparency at target: 3/5
M42 (Great Orion Nebula - Inner Core)
8:57pm to 9:04 EDST 10-20-07
127mm Orion Starmax Mak-Cas with .6x Atik Focal Reducer
2 single 29second image captures and one video stream of 15 images
stacked Registax 4, Nikon Capture NX
DBK 21AF04.AS color camera
scaling: none
Target altitude: degrees
Seeing: 4/10
transparency at target: 3/5
Crater Copernicus (mosaic of 4 images)
8:57pm to 9:04 EDST 10-21-07
16" Royce Dall-Kirkham Cassegrain f18
2000 frame stream at prime focus
best 100 frames each image Registax 4 MAP, Nikon Capture NX
DMK 31AF03.AS mono camera w/IR longpass filter
scaling: none
Target altitude: degrees
Seeing: 4/10
transparency at target: 3/5
Crater Copernicus
8:57pm to 9:04 EDST 10-21-07
16" Royce Dall-Kirkham Cassegrain f18
2000 frame stream at prime focus
best 200 frames Registax 4, Nikon Capture NX
DMK 31AF03.AS mono camera no filter
scaling: none
Target altitude: degrees
Seeing: 4/10
transparency at target: 3/5
Crater Plato
8:57pm to 9:04 EDST 10-21-07
16" Royce Dall-Kirkham Cassegrain f18
2000 frame stream at prime focus
best 150 frames Registax 4, Nikon Capture NX
DMK 31AF03.AS mono camera
scaling: none
Target altitude: degrees
Seeing: 4/10
transparency at target: 3/5
Mars
4:21am to 4:23 EDST 10-21-07
16" Royce Dall-Kirkham f18 Cassegrain
3000 frame stream w/1.6 Maxpower lens
best 150 frames Registax 4, Nikon Capture NX
DBK 21AF04.AS color camera
scaling: none
Target altitude: degrees
Seeing: 4/10
transparency at target: 3/5