Hi all

This image shows the Orion Constellation in its natural environment. It’s a widefield vista showing all the major components, including Betelgeuse, Rigel, the belt stars, M42, the Running Man, the Horsehead and the flame, parts of Barnards Loop and a faint display of IC 2118.

It’s only 35 minutes exposure, with no flats calibration, so it’s not as smooth as I’d hoped, but like all of my IISAC2009 images, it’s given me a glimmer of hope and something to aim for next time.

The Orion Constellation. Click image to see larger version.

The image was taken at IISAC2009, on the Friday night when my USB hub was playing up and I couldn’t control the camera from the laptop. I mounted my Canon 20D and my new 24-105mm L IS f/4.0 lens on top of my ED80 and pointed it at the Orion Constellation.

The exposures were guided through my 80mm refractor and the DMK21AU04, using PHD Guiding. The camera was controlled using the timer remote. The lens was at 47mm f/5.6, and each exposure was 5 minutes. Dark frame subtraction was done in-camera. 7 exposures @ ISO800, 35 minutes total data. No flats.

I’m really pleased with how the 24-105mm lens is performing – it’s a definite keeper and will definitely make a return to this part of the sky in the future.

Thanks for looking.

Well I’m back from IISAC2008, a little tired, a little sunburnt, a little disappointed (with the weather) but a lot relieved. Another year down, but planning for IISAC2009 has begun already!

We had pretty ordinary weather.. it couldn’t have been much worse, though if it was raining during the day that would be classified as worse. We had mostly hot days but mostly cloudy nights. On Thursday night, we had reasonably clear skies just after sunset – enough to get drift alignment completed, and then it clouded over for a few hours. It cleared again at midnight for a total of 2 hours – enough time for me to grab some data on the Horsehead and Flame Nebula in the Orion Constellation – just next to the bright star Alnitak (Zeta Orionis), which is one of the stars in Orion’s belt.

I was lucky enough to borrow Chris Wakeman’s modded 350D, which captures much more data in the h-alpha wavelengths than my standard Canon 350D – perfect for a target like the horsehead region which has abundant h-alpha emission. 

I captured 42 minutes worth of data – 5 minutes and 7 minutes at ISO800, and 3 x 10 minutes at ISO400, all with ICNR on to subtract the darks. The modded 350D was at prime focus of the ED80 (with Williams Optics 0.8x reducer/flattener) on the EQ6, which was guided using PHD software, an 80mm guide scope and the DMK21AU04.

I wanted to capture much more data, but the clouds came back at 2am so I pulled the tarp over all the gear and went to bed in the tent. I took the flats when I woke up at 6:30am, and started processing later that day.

Anyway too much rambling, here’s the image:

The Horsehead and the Flame Nebula

Click on the image in the gallery to see the less-compressed 1200px wide version.

I’m very happy with the image – the dark skies and the modded camera made a real difference and this image is a huge improvement to my previous attempt of this object from about 10-11 months ago.

Thanks for looking.

Hi all

It’d been almost 6 months since doing any prime focus astrophotography through the ED80, and I was keen to shake off the cobwebs before IISAC2008. It was also my last chance to make sure all my equipment worked before packing it all away for travelling – I’d recently purchased a Belkin USB-Serial adapter, since my serial port had stopped responding on the laptop meaning I couldn’t use ImagesPlus to control the 350D long exposures, and this was the first chance to test that the adapter worked in the field.

I’m happy to report that everything worked as planned. No technical glitches, no equipment failures. It was a beautiful, clear night on Saturday night/Sunday morning and I used the opportunity to capture some data of the Great Orion Nebula (M42) as it rose in the East.

The image is made up of about 90 minutes worth of data at 10 minute subs, ISO400 with the Canon 350D and ED80 with WO 0.8x reducer/flattener. Guiding of the EQ6 was performed using PHD software with a DMK21AU04 and an 80mm f/5 refractor. ICNR was used for dark frames. 15x 15s and 15x 90s subs were used for the core area.

The Great Orion Nebula and Running Man

ImagesPlus was used for calibration, aligning, stacking and DDP. Photoshop CS2 was used for final processing. 

I’m quite happy with the final result – but I was very out of practise with processing deep-space images. I’m sure there’s more that could be done with the data, but it’s not a bad way to ease back into it.

Given clear skies at IISAC2008 (here’s hoping!), I’m happy that the equipment is ready!

This image was taken this morning at approx 4:45am local time on the 24th September 2008, with a mag -1 ISS pass flying by at an altitude of approx 43deg.

I put the camera direct on the EQ mount (plonked down and not aligned) and set it to track so that I wouldn’t get the usual short trailing stars with the longish exposures.

2 exposures of 60s each, ISO100, f/4.5 were the settings used on my Canon 350D and Sigma 17-70mm lens @ 17mm. The two exposures were combined with Lighten blending, and a very minor curves and levels adjustment.

I had the moon to set the auto-focus on (and then lock it to manual) which was handy, too.

licence:

Moon, Orion and the ISS

Thanks for looking.