Milk & Dish

We had clear skies on the Saturday night before TSP officially began, so I took the opportunity to revisit a favorite location -- the VLBA Radio Telescope just a few hundred yards from where Kim and I were staying at the Sproul Ranch.

This year I chose to try a 3 panel panorama with the Milky Way arching to the dish (like a galactic rainbow leading to the pot-o-gold). This was shot with my Nikon D700, 12-24mm lens, on a tripod. Each 3 exposures were 45 seconds, then stitched together using Photomerge in CS5.

Playing with FIRE

I went to the Texas Star Party last week and once again had a great time. The only thing missing were the stars! We only had 2 clear nights out of the week, but we did have wildfires (and thankfully no one was hurt). This made for some interesting photo opportunities.

I went out late one night with my buddy Vance and I shot the Milky Way as it appeared through a hole in the smoke and clouds.

The next night the fires were still burning (and even larger) and I took Kim up into the mountains to see the flames. We made our way up to the top of the McDonald observatory and I was surprised to see the shutter open on the 107" dome and the astronomers still hard at work -- the fire was only about 3 miles away!

Although I did not manage to finish an 8 panel mosaic I started, it was still a great week. I even won the TSP astrophoto awards : )

Das PlaneWave!

I know, I know... I've lately been taking more photos of gear than of the sky, but I am hoping my work now will pay off in LOTS of image data later!

So THIS is a milestone -- my buddy Phil finally brought his new PlaneWave 12.5" CDK scope, Optec 3" focuser, and Apogee U16 camera down to my BuckSnort Observatory last weekend.

When Phil learned I was building an observatory and intended to operate it remotely, he asked if I was interested in having a partner. When he proposed selling a bunch of his gear and buying this scope for the observatory, the offer was too good to pass up (besides, Phil is a great guy and I knew we'd have fun).

Anyway, we still have some minor issues to fix before it is fully operational (like adding more counterweight, replacing a bad USB hub, etc.), but we tested it on Friday night and it did great! We were both very excited.

This scope will allow me to image much smaller targets at great resolution (galaxies, planetary nebulae, small reflection nebulae, etc.) than I currently can with my "wide field" rigs . The available target list now goes way up.

And aside from the obvious photographic potential, the scope just looks COOL on my big red Paramount ME ; )

BuckSnort Update

I know what you are saying... "why the heck hasn't JOhn posted any new pictures lately?" Well, I've been busy working on my BuckSnort Observatory!

Since the initial structure was built last summer, I have been spending several hundred hours installing all kinds of gear -- computers, mounts, cameras, weather monitoring devices, networking stuff, running/burying cables, and doing lots of programming and trouble-shooting. Whew!

But the good news is I am almost finished. Everything is working great, and I have total remote access. I have not yet done any remote imaging because I am just now putting the final procedures and safeguards in place to prevent me from doing any boneheaded mistakes (or at least reduce the likelihood). Plus, my buddy Phil Jones is bringing his new PlaneWave 12.5" and Apogee U16 to mount on my Paramount ME at the end of April. At that time we will start remote imaging in earnest!

In addition to telescopes, I have also installed a video scanner that searches nightly for meteors, fireballs, and any other nocturnal transient events (UFOs)! These events will be viewable from the BuckSnort website.

Website?

Yes! Kim and I are putting together a dedicated BuckSnort website that will display all of the live camera feeds, weather info, as well as image gallery and other neato stuff. It should be online in a couple of weeks.

JellyMonkeyCluster

Working on my BuckSnort Observatory last week and encountered an unexpected couple of mostly clear nights. Soooo....

I shot a 2 panel mosaic of the Jellyfish Nebula, the Monkey Head Nebula, and M35. Doesn't "M35" sound kind of pedestrian after monkeys and Jellyfish?

The large red nebulous regions are Hydrogen gas that is being excited by nearby stars and glowing red (like a red neon sign). The blue stars of open cluster M35 provide a nice contrast methinks.

FSQ 106EDX f/3.63
STL11000M -25C
HaLRGB (120, 120, 30, 30, 30) per panel
Total exposure = 11hrs
CCD Stack, PixInsight, CS5

Orion over Valley of Fire

Kim and I went to Vegas last week, so we took the opportunity to revisit the Valley of Fire state park. This park holds a special place for us because it is where Kim proposed to me 17 years ago (she used to complain "why must the guy always propose?", so I jokingly told her "fine I'm not going to, it is up to you!").

I had about an hour after sunset before we needed to head back to town -- just enough time to catch Orion peaking up over the rocks.

This is kind of an experiment. I purposely left the focus slightly soft to bloom the constellation stars a bit (focused past infinity). Unfortunately, it also made the foreground slightly soft. But still, I think it is kinda cool.

I was also experimenting with a flash -- firing 2-3 bursts to illuminate the foreground and distant rocks (there was no moon yet). We are planning a driving trip out west and I intend to do a lot of night landscape shooting, so I am just trying some different stuff. I think next time I will use good focus and add a soft filter to bloom the brighter stars.

Nikon D700 ISO 1600
Sigma 15mm f/5.6
45 sec

The Riddler

This dusty nebula is very seldom imaged. In fact, I could find no other examples on the internet (except for extremely wide shots that encompass the entire Orion/Eridanus area -- where this object shows as a tiny patch).

I have always noticed this nebula, being just west of the famous Witch Head, so last week I decided to see what it would look like up close. I could not find any catalog number for the nebula, so this object was a bit of a mystery to me. And when I saw the results, I was quite amused at the "?" shape -- so I call this the Riddler (as suggested to me by my pal Dave Pearson).

After posting this image, a fellow astrophotographer finally alerted me to the catalog name of this object. It is found in the Lynd's Bright Nebula catalog. It is actually 2 different nebulae -- LBN917 (bottom) and LBN906 (top).

After poking around a bit, I found more info on this area here http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/0809/0809.0585v1.pdf

Stats:
FSQ 106EDX f/3.63
STL-11000M -25C
LRGB 240,30,30,30
CCDStack, PixInsight, CS5