L: 20x120sec (ISO1600)
D: 5x120sec (ISO1600)
F: N/A
B: N/A
Guiding: DIY 50mm miniguider & Imaging Source DBK21
Captured with BackyardEOS, processed with PhotoshopCS3
A massive, gorgeous spiral galaxy sometimes visible to the naked eye from dark skies. Approximately 2.5 million light years away in the constellation Triangulum (hence the name). Imaged last night from my home observatory with EOS550D and C9,25(f/6.3) guided with 50mm miniguider.
L: 20x120sec (ISO1600) D: 5x120sec (ISO1600) F: N/A B: N/A Guiding: DIY 50mm miniguider & Imaging Source DBK21 Captured with BackyardEOS, processed with PhotoshopCS3
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So here are the first results of my first dive into the Deep from the new setup and observatory! Had a real struggle trying to enable guiding due to a) The DIY miniguider I assembled using a 9x50 finder and a makeshift 1,25" nosepiese could not reach focus with the DBK so I had an epiphany and switched back to the side by side setup with the Orion ST80...
and b) It took me roughly 3 hours to figure out how exactly to get PHD to talk to the NEQ6 aswell as activate the guide commands... more on that later though! First day in the observatory today! Still a lot of work as far as moving in, arranging everything e.t.c. but the scopes are in and operational! The split-roof works great as a Sun shade for solar observing/imaging! Had a quick snap with through the ST80 guidescope as its the only size filter I had available but I love it!
On Saturday, August 3, we drove up to Paradisos Hills at Lysos in Paphos forest to visit our friends wo were spending the weekend there. The skies up there are unbelievably dark and clear so we took the opportunity to snap a few pics...
We also met some amazing people, Lisa and Nick who were visiting from the U.S.A. Here are some pics! On the night of July 29, we gathered at the pine tree locale with our friends Rolandos & Koulla to seek out supernova 2013DY in Lacerta. Our attempt was a success and we were treated with beautiful dark skies (best SQM reading was 20.89 at zenith) and a multitude of fireballs that seemed to be early Perseids! I set up the camera quite a few feet away to capture this but I seemed to have annoyed a critter who kept walking around the camera nervously but remained in stealth mode (good thing it didn't touch anything!). Here's a quick and silent timelapse of our activity! ...belated I know. Here's a shot of the Trio as it appeared above our horizon here in Ay. Varvara. EOS 550D with 55-250mm IS.
On the night of April 26, myself and renowned planetary imager Damian Peach met up at mt. Olympus on Troodos to attempt some imaging. Here is the result of a 3-segment timelapse that I recorded through the night. Music: Thomas Newman - "Any other name" The night started out with excellent seeing conditions which allowed Damian to capture some good material on Jupiter which was getting low quickly, unfortunately though the seeing gradually deteriorated and remained in that state for the remainder of the night. We both attempted to image Saturn as well. Below is my result, with the data I acquired being a mixed bag of mostly low end stuff.
Having recently acquired some essential accessories for the 550D such as a programmable remote & battery grip, I decided to have a go at star trail photography. Here are my results so far! Here we have the result of around 30 exposures of 60sec duration at ISO1600, F18mm. Aimed at the C.A.S. amateur astronomers going about their business at Agros Astronomy Weekend on 24-25 September! For the next shot I set up the camera facing East - North East. You can see Jupiter as well as the Pleiades & Orion! Also, towards the end some whispy clouds started to roll in (left edge center). Around 60 x 60 sec shots at ISO1600/F18mm. This was taken on September 30, from Amiantos. I tried to find a slightly photogenic tree group for this test and also I tried to illuminate them with a red light. You can see the red shine on the lower right edge of the Cedar. 60x 60sec, ISO 1600 at 18mm with the 550D.
My biggest mistakes in planetary imaging are: a) I am always too impatient to rest after an early morning session BEFORE touching the data and b) I take the data with me and process them on my netbook instead of processing them on my comfortable, calibrated 20" monitor at home. This of course results in me not producing the best images possible out of the data at hand. I'm still going through the data set but one particular avi stood out, that of 01:11 UT. Here's a reprocessed version of that with better color balance and limb issues corrected.
Opinions? The amount of detail that comes out of planetary imaging attempts is directly proportionate to the amount of detail you put in to your preparation i.e. collimation!
I set up yesterday afternoon without any expectations for the morning since the forecasts were not at all favorable. I spent a good deal of time attempting to improve the collimation of the scope since it had shifted considerably due to a couple of trips to dark skies. Packed up, slept for 2 hours and got up again at 03:00 local to find Jupiter shining brightly and looking very very good! I must have been under a pocket of steady air as this data set is the most consistent and clear set I 've ever acquired! All 45 GB's of it! As a teaser, here is a first, very rough, attempt presented in 120 and 150%. Note that this set was acquired working at approximately f/30 with the actual f/ number soon to follow! |
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Ad Astra Per Aspera:
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