tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-214270012024-03-07T20:21:53.624-06:00Phil's Astronomy BlogAstronomy and Astrophotography for the Beginner and Try-Hard Amateur!Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10701582923648225920noreply@blogger.comBlogger518125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427001.post-29320094498077116022021-10-11T20:46:00.002-05:002021-10-11T20:46:57.778-05:00Hello out there?<p> Anybody still coming here?</p>Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10701582923648225920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427001.post-37529952954038176432018-04-13T13:19:00.000-05:002018-04-13T13:19:14.911-05:00Markarian's Chain in VirgoMy own Hubble View! These galaxies lie between 10 to 50 million light years away. How many galaxies do you see?<br />
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A pretty tricky part of the sky to image, really. You're utilizing almost your entire field of view with an 80mm scope, so dealing with all that comes with wide-field. This is the best iteration I have processed to date from two night's of imaging. Learned a lot, but have a way to go to get this the way I want it.<br />
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Image Details:<br />
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* Imaging Scope: Astrotelescopes 80mm ED Refractor<br />
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* Imaging Camera: Nikon D7000<br />
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* Guiding Scope: William Optics 66mm Petzval Refractor<br />
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* Guiding Camera: Orion Starshoot AutoGuider<br />
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* Mount: Celestron CGEM<br />
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* Exposures: 32 * 8 minute lights, 21 * 8 minute darks, 40 bias frames<br />
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* ISO 1000<br />
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* Aligned and Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker<br />
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* Post-Processing Dynamic Photo HDR, LightRoom and Photoshop.<br />
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<br />Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10701582923648225920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427001.post-451863474356829162018-04-09T16:22:00.000-05:002018-04-09T16:22:49.416-05:00M51 Whirlpool GalaxyA nice clear night last night until around 12:30 when clouds rolled in. Managed to get this image of the lovely M51 Whirlpool galaxy. It lies around 23 million light years away and it is interacting with a smaller galaxy (yellow~ish bulge to the left). Three supernova (star explosions) have been detected in this galaxy since 1994. There's more detail here but I think I'm pushing things with an 80mm scope.<br />
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Image Details:<br />
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* Imaging Scope: Astrotelescopes 80mm ED Refractor<br />
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* Imaging Camera: Nikon D7000<br />
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* Guiding Scope: William Optics 66mm Petzval Refractor<br />
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* Guiding Camera: Orion Starshoot AutoGuider<br />
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* Mount: Celestron CGEM<br />
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* Exposures: 15 * 8 minute lights, 9 * 8 minute darks, 30 bias frames<br />
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* ISO 1250<br />
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* Aligned and Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker<br />
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* Post-Processing Dynamic Photo HDR, LightRoom and Photoshop.<br />
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<br />Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10701582923648225920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427001.post-40240324431033825512018-03-15T18:29:00.002-05:002018-03-15T18:29:44.732-05:00M81 and M82The spring brings out some great galaxies. This is the first iteration of a long-term project I'll be working on with respect to these two galaxies.<br />
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M81 is on the right, lies around 11.7 million light years away and harbors around 250 billion stars. M82, on the left, is also called the "Cigar Galaxy" lies at about the same distance as M81. The two galaxies are seperated by about 150,000 light years.<br />
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Image Details:<br />
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* Imaging Scope: Astrotelescopes 80mm ED Refractor<br />
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* Imaging Camera: Nikon D7000<br />
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* Guiding Scope: William Optics 66mm Petzval Refractor<br />
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* Guiding Camera: Orion Starshoot AutoGuider<br />
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* Mount: Celestron CGEM<br />
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* Exposures: 9 * 8 minute lights, 9 * 8 minute darks, 30 bias frames<br />
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* ISO 1000<br />
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* Aligned and Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker<br />
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* Post-Processing Dynamic Photo HDR, LightRoom and Photoshop.<br />
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<br />Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10701582923648225920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427001.post-48317495778131841882018-02-25T23:28:00.000-06:002018-02-25T23:28:11.191-06:00Waxing Gibbous MoonThe weather has been atrocious! Several cold fronts have come through central Texas over the last few weeks, so the observatory has been closed. The skies were clear tonight, so I grabbed a decent capture of the Moon.<br />
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Here's hoping next month is better. Galaxies are rising and I'm itching to recapture some old friends....Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10701582923648225920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427001.post-24874038193181889262018-02-07T14:02:00.003-06:002018-02-07T14:02:45.613-06:00The Sword of Orion Region (2018 Attempt)Obviously a fantastic part of the sky, imaged by many! I really wanted to get a lot of data of this region now that the observatory was up and running. After a few attempts, I realized that my stars were rather oblong during long exposure imaging. Couldn't really figure it out, so I hit the proverbial reset button: realigned the mount, rebalanced the mount with photographic equipment attached, re-installed new guiding software (PHD2), and started from scratch. Immediately saw better results with easier guiding (software could easily pick up guide stars) and could now get nice round stars. Also paid attention to focusing!<br />
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Anyway, the image below is a nice result!<br />
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<u>Image Details:</u><br />
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<ul>
<li>Imaging Scope: AstroTelescopes 80mm ED Refractor</li>
<li>Imaging Camera: Nikon D7000</li>
<li>Guiding Scope: William Optics 66mm Petzval Refractor</li>
<li>Guiding Camera: Orion Starshoot Autoguider</li>
<li>Light Frames: 20*5 minutes @ ISO1250 for the overall region, 20*1 minutes @ ISO1250 for the core</li>
<li>Bias Frames: 20</li>
<li>Dark Frames: 10</li>
<li>Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker</li>
<li>Merged in Dynamic Photo-HDR</li>
<li>Tweaked in Adobe Lightroom</li>
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Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10701582923648225920noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427001.post-26076890400295547402017-12-22T19:45:00.001-06:002017-12-22T19:45:54.618-06:00M45 Pleiades Cluster This is the first official image out of my observatory!<br />
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Image Details:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Imaging Scope: AstroTelescopes 80mm ED Refractor</li>
<li>Imaging Camera: Nikon D7000</li>
<li>Guiding Scope: William Optics 66mm Petzval Refractor</li>
<li>Guiding Camera: Orion Starshoot Autoguider</li>
<li>Light Frames: 17*8 minutes @ ISO800</li>
<li>Flat Frames: 40</li>
<li>Bias Frames: 40</li>
<li>Dark Frames: 7</li>
<li>Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker</li>
<li>Final single image processed in Photomatix Pro</li>
<li>Tweaked in Adobe Lightroom</li>
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Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10701582923648225920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427001.post-55996756157041915122017-12-22T19:39:00.000-06:002017-12-22T19:50:22.006-06:00I Now Have an Observatory! (aka "Going Off the Deep End")Astronomy has been an on and off hobby for me, but since moving out to rural Texas, it's been more on than off, and that was the intent. We moved northwest of Liberty Hill, where skies are currently around Bortle 3 with the light dome from Austin to the south. One can clearly make out the Milky Way on a moonless night, and my property offers a big sky view with very low horizons all around. I'm sure more folks will settle into the area but believe we've moved far enough out that we'll be ahead of the sprawl for a long time.<br />
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Part of the move involved purchasing an observatory. I looked around at various options and studied pros and cons of various designs while also thinking about my own needs and preferences. I originally considered a dome, but of the available options at my price range they were either too expensive or looked too much like port-a-loos (according to my wife/financial officer). I really ultimately preferred a roll-off-roof design because it offered great sky views and more room to walk around and store stuff (again, given my budget). Also, it would look more like a shed than a pure observatory, the latter looking more expensive and perhaps more attractive to would-be thieves.<br />
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I explored different options ranging from building it myself to turn-key solutions. I'm not handy at the best of times, so my confidence with respect to the former option was very low. Exploring turn-key solutions, I inquired with several dedicated observatory builders. Most were friendly, but prices shot up quickly when discussing the various options that I needed. I also approached local barn/shed builders. Most declined right off the bat, a few were interested and promised to draw up plans. While waiting for such plans, I got in touch with a few folks from the local astronomy club who had put together an observing site about 1.5 hours west of me called <a href="http://www.stellar-skies.com/" target="_blank">Stellar Skies</a>. It's a great bit of land where folks can pay for a small portion of it, with concrete pad included, and utilize it as they wish (temporary scope setups on weekends to permanent observatory builds with remote access). They have a chap there who builds roll-off roof observatories and who is also a professional framer/builder. After a few email exchanges, he agreed to come out this way and build me a 10'*12' roll-off roof within my budget! Great guy, this Jarret character - he owns a massive Dob and has earned various Astronomy League certificates for visual observing. He well-and-truly understood the intricacies of building observatories and asked all the right questions while putting it all together. (While he was building my observatory, he launched a formal company which can be seen here - Heaven's View Observatories: https://hvobservatories.squarespace.com/.)<br />
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So, it took Jarret about a month or so put the observatory together. He had other jobs and rain interfered with the construction site access (when it rains on my property it becomes a massive mud fest!). But, he got it done and it was complete by Thanksgiving weekend. The beauty of his design is that he uses steel beams for the roof rail supports, with a cross-beam welded support system. This means no warping over the years as might be experienced with wooden rail support systems. Once he was done, I painted the exterior and interior. I also built a corner desk unit and added some cheap but strong plastic shelving from Lowes hardware store. The floor isn't done yet, and I'm exploring options for that but leaning towards some matt black horse stall padding available at my local Tractor Suplly Company (yeehaw!). I'll also add a solar power system to keep my marine battery charged, which powers both my scope and laptop during imaging.<br />
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It really is a luxury in this hobby to have your own observatory. To be able to walk out and be imaging without barely any setup time is amazing and great fun. My mount, the Celestron CGEM, has a hibernate mode, so you can effectively turn it off and on later and the mount will still be perfectly polar aligned. So, you really do have a ton of time to really focus on the image, including obtaining your dark, flat and bias frames.<br />
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Anyway, finished product pictures are below, and you can see construction images on my FLICKR site <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/guvnah/albums/72157689828646976" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<br />Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10701582923648225920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427001.post-46798856859325996532017-11-12T20:52:00.000-06:002017-11-12T20:52:00.327-06:00Another Catch-Up PostNot sure if anyone is still following this blog due to its inactivity. Not even sure if people really blog anymore, or just FaceBook and Twitter all the time instead, or whatever.<br />
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Been an eventful few months. The death of a close friend, a new job, a trip back home to Australia and a move to a new home. Some of these things I have experienced in the last few months have led me to live a little harder, chase some more dreams, value some things that I haven't on the past.<br />
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Anyway, astronomy...<br />
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Last month I was able to set my sights on Saturn with my relatively new astro imager, a ZWOASI120MC. Managed to capture a lovely shot, as seen below.<br />
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Image details:<br />
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- Celestron C8 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope</div>
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- Celestron CGEM mount</div>
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- ZWO ASI120MC camera</div>
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- Celestron 2X Barlow</div>
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- 800 frames stacked in Autoskakkert2</div>
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It's the best image of Saturn I've ever captured. The conditions were probably 3-4/5, so a better image isn't far off but I now have to wait for next year. </div>
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I've also been working on some wide field shots. We have moved out into the country, and have a property with spectacular night skies (bortle 3-4). The Milky Way is clearly visible, and the ability to shoot from my back yard is first-class. Below is a star trail shot I took with a lightning storm along the horizon.</div>
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As a result of moving out into the country, I have the ability to build an observatory which I am n ow in the middle of. More of that in the next post...</div>
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Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10701582923648225920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427001.post-880787947438823642017-03-05T19:30:00.000-06:002017-03-05T19:30:37.359-06:00Catching up - Moon, Venus & EclipseOkay, time to get the blog up to date! I'm not even sure if anyone comes here any more but I'll keep it going all the same.<br />
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Over the last couple of months, I have been testing out my new C8 OTA and New ZWO ASI120MC Camera combination. The skies here have been so-so, so I've been getting out when I can.<br />
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First, here's a pic of the camera on my C8 and CGEM configuration:<br />
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I'm using FireCapture freeware software to capture my video files from the camera. I like it a lot. It has different recommended settings based on the object you're shooting, and you can modify those settings as needed. Super-easy.<br />
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Here is a wide-field~ish shot of the moon:<br />
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...and a nice zoomed-in shot (i.e. camera + 2x barlow) of Copernicus:</div>
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I've tried imaging Venus, but getting some chromatic aberration, most likely due to a cheap barlow:</div>
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So, overall, not too shabby. Jupiter is rising earlier and earlier, so I'm looking forward to trying out the new gear on that marvelous gas giant. Until then...</div>
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<br />Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10701582923648225920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427001.post-71382488025122947602017-01-08T12:32:00.003-06:002017-01-08T12:32:44.703-06:00Rediscovering Planetary and LunarLast year was a bit of a bust. Between the weather, work and family, there weren't too many opportunities to get out under the night skies for me. Part of that involves driving further and further out of Austin, Texas, to escape the growing city lights. After some thought, I decided to plunge back into lunar and planetary astrophotography. You don't need dark skies for this, so I don't have to drive too far to image the moon and planets. My front garden would do just fine.<br />
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In that vein, I updated some astronomy equipment. Firstly, I acquired a C8 Celestron OTA second-hand. Came with a finder scope and terrific carrying case. This gives me a dedicated scope for lunar and planetary, and will later allow me to shoot more distant DSOs once I can attach my guiding setup to the scope.<br />
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Then, I was able to get a new lunar and planetary imager for Christmas. It's a ZWO ASI120MC camera, quite a step-up from the Philips Toucam I used all those years ago. You can see the full specs <a href="https://www.optcorp.com/zwo-asi120mc-color-astronomy-camera.html" target="_blank">here</a>, but the camera can also be used as an autoguider. Hmm. Image acquisition seems rather straightforward, using it with the FireCapture software which I like a lot (freeware!). It has different profiles for different planets and the moon built-in, so takes a lot of guesswork out of the various settings you need to make out in the field.<br />
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So, hopefully this new stuff will encourage me to get out more and take photos. Visually, the C8 is great. I needed to collimate it just a little to get it in shooting condition. It's offered great views of various objects so far, and I'm sure it will fir the astrophotography bill! The OTA is FASTAR compatible, so I'll check that out at some stage...</div>
<br />Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10701582923648225920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427001.post-80810073942453759492016-12-08T12:25:00.000-06:002016-12-08T12:26:00.056-06:00Orion RisingIt's been a fair while since I have posted anything. Work and family life continue to make astronomy a tough pastime for me. However, I am committing to making a better go at it moving forward.<br />
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This past Thanksgiving, I spent a few days at my father-in-law's farm in Northwest Arkansas. He has killer skies, with the Milky Way being quite visible and M31 being easily naked eye visible. Despite a few high level aircraft contrails that persisted sometime after sunset, I snapped the shot below. You can clearly see the Orion constellation, with Sirius following from behind.<br />
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<li>Nikon D7000</li>
<li>18mm focal length</li>
<li>F2.8</li>
<li>ISO 3200</li>
<li>25 second exposure</li>
<li>Processed in Lightroom</li>
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Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10701582923648225920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427001.post-46375402638894368872016-08-12T15:37:00.001-05:002016-08-12T15:37:51.171-05:002016 PerseidsAnother bad summer for astronomy for me. Very little opportunity to go out due to weather, work, family or [insert other excuse here]. One of the main reasons has been that my regular local observing spot had been taken over with light pollution. However, I have located another decent spot, and hope to get shooting again.<br />
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Last night I checked out the Perseids. Firstly, this was done with the family late at night, when the moon was up and high-level clouds were present. Saw a few fireballs, but nothing brilliant. I went back out to the countryside this morning, at around 4am. Completely different story - the sky was raining meteors! A very nice display indeed, with about 30 an hour, easily.<br />
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Below are a few captures from my early morning excursion. The images were taken with a Nikon D7000 and Rokinon 8mm. ISO 2400, 25 second exposures.<br />
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<br />Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10701582923648225920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427001.post-63831207228829897692016-04-04T13:52:00.002-05:002016-04-04T13:52:49.033-05:00Another Arizona TripMy father came to visit in March from Australia, and I had the opportunity to take him to Arizona for a one-week tour. We explored the Grand Canyon, Phoenix, Sedona, old Route 66 and various points in between. A highlight was spending an evening at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff. We took in several lectures which were very interesting. Some were entry-level astronomy "sky at night" fare, but others were more focused on the evolving discoveries connected with Pluto - from it's initial discovery to the recently acquired images and knowledge provided by the New Horizons spacecraft and its team of scientists. Not still a planet??? C'mon now - let it back into the club. It behaves just like one, from a tectonic perspective alone!<div>
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We managed to get a view through the 24" Clark Refractor (pictured below) of Jupiter, after lining up for about an hour in the cold. It was simply stunning! The seeing was very good that night, and we could see a clear image of the Great Red Spot, the planet's wispy cloud bands with intricate detail and the four Galilean moons. I could even see detail within the GRS itself, different shades of red. It's the best view of Jupiter I have ever seen, and dad was pretty much blown away by it as well. I'll drag my 12" Lightbridge to check out Jupiter again soon, but I know it won't be the same!<div>
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We also had the chance to visit the impact crater near Winslow. The views of the crater from the observation decks were terrific, and they have a splinter chunk of the asteroid/meteor that caused the impact on display to touch and examine more closely. It felt like pure iron or metal, and gave you an eerie sense of the damage a really large asteroid of this nature could cause if it impacted our planet. Well worth a visit if you're up that way!</div>
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Hopefully I'll have some more astro-images to share soon as the warm, spring nights take hold here in Texas.</div>
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Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10701582923648225920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427001.post-64266768475360138502016-02-10T14:09:00.003-06:002016-12-08T12:47:25.332-06:00Astro Update!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Well, we finally got some clear skies over the past week, and I have been able to get out and observe. The conditions have been great, with a little wind that has added to the chill factor during these so-called winter months (temps have been a lot higher than normal this year). It had been a while since I have actually imaged, so I got out under the stars a couple of times and revisited some old friends.<br />
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Below are a couple of shots of the Sword of Orion region, with different processing workflows applied to each. I'm not sure which one I like better, and wish I could blend the two from a color perspective. My new Orion field flattener made a huge difference, though - nice round stars to the edge of the field.<br />
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<u>Image Details:</u><br />
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<ul>
<li>Imaging Scope: Astrotelescopes 80mm ED Refractor</li>
<li>Imaging Camera: Nikon D7000</li>
<li>Guide Scope: William Optics 66mm Petzval Refractor</li>
<li>Guide Camera: Orion Starshoot Auto Guider</li>
<li>Mount: Celestron CGEM</li>
<li>Orion Field Flattener</li>
<li>10*5 minute lights</li>
<li>10*1 minute lights</li>
<li>10*5 minute darks</li>
<li>40 bias frames</li>
<li>Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker</li>
<li>Processed in GIMP</li>
</ul>
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Below is the M47 cluster in Canis Major. I would like for my cluster images to have more "punch" - they lack impact somehow. Pretty sure its an exposure issue.<br />
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<u>Image Details:</u><br />
<ul>
<li>Imaging Scope: Astrotelescopes 80mm ED Refractor</li>
<li>Imaging Camera: Nikon D7000</li>
<li>Guide Scope: William Optics 66mm Petzval Refractor</li>
<li>Guide Camera: Orion Starshoot Auto Guider</li>
<li>Mount: Celestron CGEM</li>
<li>Orion Field Flattener</li>
<li>10*1 minute lights</li>
<li>10*5 minute darks</li>
<li>40 bias frames</li>
<li>Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker</li>
<li>Processed in GIMP</li>
</ul>
More to come soon!<br />
<br />Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10701582923648225920noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427001.post-2990799708696312242016-01-12T10:03:00.000-06:002016-01-12T10:03:13.879-06:00Air & Space Museum at Dulles, VirginiaI was in DC for business last week, and stayed an extra day to check out the Smithsonian Air and Space museum annex at Dulles Airport in Virginia. It's about 30-40 minutes' drive from DC proper, and entry is free. There is a US$15.00 parking fee, however.<br />
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The museum itself is fantastic. It's like three large aircraft hangars brought into one building, and it's chock-full of amazing aircraft and space assets. Notable exhibits include the Space Shuttle Discovery, an SR-71 "Blackbird", the Enola Gay and an Air France Concorde. The museum has different sections for space flight, early aviation, WW2 aviation, the Cold War era and modern military. There's an IMAX theater there as well which is currently playing Star Wars Episode VII, but also shows some great movies about aviation, one of which being narrated by Harrison Ford.<br />
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I highly recommend visiting this museum if you're in the area. It's outstanding. The main Air & Space at the National Mall is very good, but this shows more experimental types.<br />
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Below is a picture of the Discovery in all its glory!<br />
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<br />Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10701582923648225920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427001.post-38969989062981797322015-12-14T08:43:00.000-06:002015-12-14T08:43:04.495-06:00Geminids 2015Ah, the Geminds. Lovely to watch, difficult to capture! This time of year, the weather makes for bad dew conditions, so having a couple of cameras pointing up at the night sky in the cold, late hours makes for difficult capturing attempts. Still, I managed to get the image below of a Geminid zooming near the Orion constellation and Pleiades with my 10-20mm Sigma lens, set at 10mm. ISO3200, 35" exposure.<br />
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<br />Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10701582923648225920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427001.post-68829883870321204612015-11-09T14:30:00.001-06:002015-11-09T14:30:54.740-06:00Published in Amateur Astrophotography MagazineWhat a treat! My black and white Sword of Orion image was published in this month's edition of "Amateur Astrophotographer" magazine as part of a feature on the Orion nebula. You can check it out <a href="http://astrophotomag.com/issue22/" target="_blank">here</a>, page 62!<br />
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It's been difficult to get out under the stars lately. Central Texas has been deluged with several massive rain systems which have caused flooding and, sadly, loss of life. The meteorologists have predicted a wetter winter this year, so chances are ordinary that I will get much observing time in. We'll see.<br />
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I'm also being kept busy with a new project, a 1973 MGB! I bought it back in July, had a great run, then blew a pushrod in the engine. So, it's new engine time, but that's well underway and she'll be back on the road soon. Note it's a convertible - great 360 degree views of the night sky when driving at night!<br />
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<br />Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10701582923648225920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427001.post-9518592835418872732015-09-28T12:43:00.000-05:002015-09-28T12:43:01.232-05:00Lunar EclipseWell, central Texas was completely socked in with clouds last night. We saw fleeting glimpses of the event but nothing to write home about. I did manage to get the shot below through a brief clearing of the cloud activity, though. Taken with a Nikon D7000, 80mm refractor mounted on a Manfrotto camera tripod.<br />
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Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10701582923648225920noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427001.post-18915559715700738962015-08-17T10:01:00.001-05:002015-08-17T10:01:36.122-05:00M8 Lagoon Nebula and M20 Trifid Nebula<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Taken two nights ago, utilizing a new field flattener I purchased from Orion Telescopes. This image is the full frame image with no cropping, which shows a great flat image end-to-end.</div>
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The image quality is okay. I was shooting into the border area between dark sky and a big light dome. Some more data with better focus will improve this a fair bit.</div>
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Imaging scope: Astrotelescopes 80mm ED refractor</div>
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Imaging camera: Nikon D7000</div>
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Guiding scope: William Optics 66mm Petzval refractor</div>
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Guiding camera: Orion Star Shoot Autoguider</div>
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Mount: Celestron CGEM</div>
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Light Frames: 6*6 mins @ ISO1250</div>
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Dark frames: 3*6 mins</div>
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Processed in Deep Sky Stacker, GIMP, Neat Image and Snapseed.</div>
<br />Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10701582923648225920noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427001.post-36892121471765093352015-08-14T13:38:00.002-05:002015-08-14T13:38:37.575-05:00More Perseids!I carefully walked through the hundreds of shots I took two nights ago on my laptop, and it turns out I captured quite a few meteors. I was using a super-high ISO (3200) to get them, so the images are rather noisy despite being put through some noise reduction software. Still, you can clearly see the meteors here.<br />
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<br />Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10701582923648225920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427001.post-56416486136006144842015-08-13T11:05:00.001-05:002015-08-13T11:05:49.988-05:00PerseidsLast night, despite cloudiness and distant summer lightning, I looked for the Perseids with my kids for about 6 hours, from around 8:30PM to 2:30PM local time. It wasn't a spectacular meteor shower from my perspective, averaging maybe 5-10 per hour. The clouds moved away at around 10:30PM, but came back at 2:30PM. Flashes of lightning from the distance remained persistent throughout the night, lighting up most of the sky. I saw some decent fireballs and a fair few smaller, short burst meteors. I have seen better displays in the past, though.<br />
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Below is an image of one of the meteors that graced itself in front of my 10mm lens towards the latter stages of the evening. I have lots more photos but will need to check those to see if I caught anything else!<br />
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Hope you had a decent show wherever you were watching from.<br />
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<br />Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10701582923648225920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427001.post-66092231022975945352015-08-10T10:38:00.001-05:002015-08-10T10:38:38.669-05:00Visual Night OutThe last couple of months have not been too conducive to stargazing for me.I went home to Australia for a while with the best intentions of doing some astro work, but the Melbourne weather had other plans, which included "hosting" an Antarctic polar vortex which brought heavy rain to the area for much of my visit. I caught a fleeting glimpse of the Southern Cross, but that was about it.<br />
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I took my 12" Lightbridge out for some visual observations this past Friday. The weather here in Texas was exceptionally warm, but the skies were clear and rather steady. I think I set the scope up, including perfecting collimation, in record time - well under 5 minutes!<br />
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Saturn looked amazing. It had been a long time since I have viewed it, and the planet tilt in relation to our position made for a great view. I could clearly see Encke's Division, and several moons. Quite a sight!!!<br />
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Other visual targets for the night included the Ring Nebula, the M4 globular in Antares, M13 in Hercules (absolutely stunning tonight!), the Lagoon and Triffid nebulas and the Sagittarius Star Cloud. I also spied the M51 Whirlpool Galaxy which, despite heavy light pollution, revealed the two central bulges of the interlocked galaxies.<br />
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Great night out!Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10701582923648225920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427001.post-64786241373498613952015-06-05T08:49:00.001-05:002015-06-05T08:49:18.188-05:00Interviewed by Breakthru Radio about Amateur Astronomy!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I had the delightful pleasure of being interviewed about amateur astronomy by DJ Jess Goulart about amateur astronomy a couple of weeks ago, and it went to "air" yesterday! We discuss subjects like astronomical equipment, choosing when and where to observe, exoplanets, and the distances of deep space objects. If you want to listen to me, as well as some cool new tunes, click on the link below:<br />
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<a href="http://b-t-r.co/1GBeRHA" target="_blank">Biology of the Blog - Phil Ostroff.</a><br />
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Enjoy!Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10701582923648225920noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21427001.post-5431541459944079202015-05-26T09:30:00.001-05:002015-05-26T09:30:39.729-05:00Still cloudy, but rather interesting...Central Texas has succumbed to some fairly brutal weather over the last couple of weeks. This culminated in severe storms racing across the region yesterday, resulting in flooding, tornadoes and storm damage. The situation is rather dire south of Austin, in towns like San Marcos where entire homes have been swept away by flooding and there are reports of missing people. Let's hope they are found safe and sound.<br />
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After the storms moved through, they left in their wake some amazing mammatus cloud formations. We've had them before but they have never been as well-defined and prominent as what was viewable yesterday afternoon and evening. See the picture below for a view from near my home.<br />
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<br />Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10701582923648225920noreply@blogger.com0