A Major Award

Yes, in the immortal words of Darren McGavin from A Christmas Story... I have received "A Major Award". No, its not a "leg lamp". A couple of my astrophotos won the monthly competitions over at Cloudy Nights, a large astronomy forum http://www.cloudynights.com/index.php

Every month there are several competitions in astrophotography (DSLR, CCD, Beginner, Sketching). I entered 2 images...


In the "object of the month" challenge, my NGC 1333 won
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsDKXxT6gc5ePKKFFGUlrJeryHpBTiW62j7Uplba5faKG7ZupbCmHMiMxC6yG3xDMAyy7cNu3z5x7o14xGH9xzoUU4aZRN8_PlGNKyTpdtKDLWjfCJIoJVjeABSRVMV7SFK3a3mWVBzuQR/s1600-h/NGC+1333+master_crop_med.jpg


And in the Group Challenge (a sort of "best of" from all the categories), my M42 won
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjPu-zCL6TYDWAFX_XUPu6AJtjbM4HeLHAnJCaz4z3hVR3vL8R0zbpqHV16GwLd9puyhm8IRSeDQOM7qA0Dq4cr3JMv8D1efMf0JGGFbPOcoWfDEq0S4ZrtlNwKeFvP5dzCIFnJzIs0ByA/s1600-h/M42_master_crop_med.jpg

Cloudy Nights is a great forum and resource for the aspiring astronomer and/or astrophotographer. The competitions are friendly and fun, with bragging rights and a t-shirt the ultimate reward. Plus, the winner gets to pick the next "object of the month". It is a great way to challenge yourself and work on your skills, as well as see other folk's take on a similar object.

My M42 photo will appear on the Cloudy Nights homepage next month : )

New Baby

What, ANOTHER telescope? Why do you need another telescope?! The answer is simple... why do you have a screwdriver AND a hammer? The right tool for the right job!

My Takahashi FSQ 106ED telescope is alive and well and will continue to get a workout for many years. But the Tak is a wide field scope for imaging large objects. To image SMALL objects I need a much longer focal length (think of it as changing lenses on your camera).

Galaxy season is coming up and there are not that many wide field targets in the spring, so this time around I will be ready! After much debating, I settled on a Meade LX200 ACF 10" SCT telescope. It has a long focal length, larger aperature, flat coma-free field, and a mirror lock. In other words, it is a good choice for narrow field astrophotography.

I am still putting this rig together. I am slightly worried about the weight on the mount, but the Tak mount is pretty darned robust. I may go with a lighter guidescope (the one on top), but for now I'm going to give this a try and see how it performs.

I am eager to try this out on galaxies and planetary nebulae. It should be a fun challenge! Stay tuned...

M78 (with a dash of Loop)

Well, I have been out of the country for a couple of weeks (Kim and I took a cruise through the panama canal -- neato). But before I left town, I managed to get up to Atoka for a couple of nights. At last I can process my images!

The first night in Atoka was perfect, and very cold. The next night started well, but clouded up as I tried to image the California Nebula. So I packed up early and headed back to town around midnight. It is a bummer to bail on a session, but the upside is a nice warm bed!

Anyway, the image before you is M78, a reflection nebula in Orion. I shot this with the FSQ 106 taking 11 x 20min exposures for a total exposure of about 3.6 hours.

As I was processing the image I noticed I had captured an arc of red nebulosity in the upper right corner. I was not sure what it could be. But as I worked on pulling out the details, I was struck by hunch. After researching a bit I discovered my hunch was correct -- the red arc is part of the famous Barnard's Loop!

Most images I see of M78 are close-ups. But since my field was wide, I picked up the Loop in my shot as well. I knew the Loop was in Orion, but I had no idea it was so close to M78. It was really fun to "stumble upon it", then figure out what it was -- like making a discovery (even though all seasoned astronomers would certainly know exactly what it was immediately).

This quote really captures the idea...

"When you make the finding yourself - even if you're the last person on Earth to see the light - you'll never forget it."-Carl Sagan.

Autumn Moon

Every year I go deer hunting with my dad -- an annual ritual since I was a kid. But in recent years I do most of my shooting with a camera. Hey, I still love venison (grew up on the stuff) but I am now content to simply watch the deer frolic and take photos.

For me, the greatest thing about hunting was simply getting outdoors and watching nature do its' thing. Getting up early and climbing a tree before the sun comes up (freezing cold!), then watching patiently as daylight breaks and the world awakens. Animals of all sorts emerge to begin their daily routines, while the rising sun slowly warms you. It is spectacularly beautiful and sedate.

So, I was down to the ranch last week and sitting in a blind under a tree. As the first rays of sunlight hit the tree tops, I looked behind me to the West to see this gorgeous image -- the autumn leaves of red, green, and gold framing the waning moon. It was pretty as a picture...

And now it IS one : )

The Famous M42

Once again I look towards Orion. This time to the famous Orion Nebula. This large nebula is a star factory -- birthing stars from the bright hot core. I went deep on this object to try to pull out a lot of the surrounding darker dusty bits.

There is so much dynamic range in this object, I shot my sub exposures at 3 different lengths (30 sec, 300 sec, and 1200 sec) and then combined the results. All total there is about 2 hours on this object.

You can actually see this object with your naked eye (and much better with binoculars). Looking at the Orion constellation, this object resides just under Orion's Belt and makes up the "sword". It appears as a faint, glowing cloud to the naked eye (best seen with averted vision).

My hope is to continue mining the gems in Orion, then combine them all into a widefield image.

Incidentally, M42 was the first astrophoto I ever took (last February). To show my progress, here are my first 2 attempts at this object from last winter...

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9sXfIaIBfxDx2zYvi3tavfyUTdceHZolr9zP9TQ_wUt_B_FzAEN_Xfw13omw3e1zfnv3Il7sekLOBPyZELKyNEpuOS8ZvEvgTnbhVywIUrG-4NrIrZsXNFlBjznbmey_-t1H_pPu7_23F/s1600-h/FirstPhoto_Orion.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioxkIOMLWEqTt8URoMyCMBpkfBZOn37_9kdGxy1D6B84zc3lpIAvNrXgjixYj5lfsddttTFRPUWWqTCqtkVpGrP4svHLdaeCBb_YPUGGIzRPVDbrsrqvqkbt3jp2L7a5rKdh58kiCvvPpf/s1600-h/Orion_Final_2_screen.jpg

Horsey on Fire!

This is the famous Flame Nebula (lower left) and the Horsehead Nebula (should be obvious), as well as several other reflection nebulae scattered about.

This is a very rich field full of lots and lots of wonderful sights. It has a LOT of dynamic range (very faint stuff next to very bright stuff) which makes it a challenge to process.

Approximate exposure time is just under 2 hours. I took this shot with my usual rig (FSQ scope and QHY8 camera) at Ranch Venado over my Halloween stay.

I hope ya'll like it : )

Season of the Witch!

Guess what I was doing on Halloween night...

That's right, I was out in a dark field in Texas collecting photons of the Witch's Head nebula (otherwise known as IC 2118). It is a large reflection nebula in Orion, and it is very faint.

This image was taken with just under 3 hours of exposure -- and I could have used an hour or two more. But I'm pleased with it. And it was fun shooting this witch at the witching hour on Halloween night. It was a great "theme" night!

Kim and I (and our dogs) stayed 3 nights at Ranch Venado where I took full advantage of the new moon and great weather. I have many more images in the works. In fact, I'm starting to acquire more data than I have time to process. Actually, it just means that I get "picky" about what objects I process. Some that I feel are sub par I simply shelve.

I'll have more coming in the next day or two so keep watching.