Horse, Flame, M78,and Loop

After a long dry spell (haven't completed a data set through my scope since September) I finally completed a new image -- yea!

This is a large field in Orion stretching from the Horse Head (upper right) to a chunk of Barnard's Loop (lower left). The blue reflection Nebula to the right of the Loop is M78.

This is my deepest image yet -- 10.5 hours of exposure! I collected 5 hours of Hydrogen Alpha (narrow band emission) data from home, then headed to the dark site at the Comanche Springs Astronomy Campus (3RF) to collect another 5.5 hours of LRGB (color and luminance).

I had a great time at 3RF and one fabulous night of imaging (one out of three ain't bad). I'll post some DSLR images from the trip later.

Here's the stats:

FSQ 106EDX f/3.65
STL-11000M -20C
HaLRGB (300x150x60x50x60)
CCD Stack, CS4

Happy New Year!

Although I have not had good luck with the weather these past few months, I have managed to shoot some quick pics with my DSLR. These two images (Orion over my house and the Moon over the park across the street) were taken on Xmas Eve.

You will notice snow on the ground in the moon shot -- in my 47 years of living in Dallas this is the first white Christmas I've ever seen!

Both of these images were taken with my new Nikon D700 (awesome sensitivity and noise management). I decided to retire my Nikon D80 and get myself a Xmas present : )

Anyway, here's to a happy, safe, and prosperous New Year... and many more CLEAR nights!

Geminid Pair

Well, my astrophotographic offerings have been relatively slim the last few months. It seems whenever I have a chance to image, the weather reports LOOK good, but then it all falls apart as soon as I drive several hours, set up all my gear, then hit "start". Right on cue the clouds roll in -- just a run of bad luck : (

I went to the ranch for 3 nights of imaging AND to see and photograph the Geminid meteor shower. The weather reports looked good, skies were clear, the shower started, I got my new Nikon D700 rolling... 40 minutes later at the peak the sky was TOTALLY cloudy! Man, this hobby can be frustrating. But that's the way it works -- we are at the whim of fickle ol' Mother Nature.

Anyway, I at least captured 2 of the Geminid meteors before shutting down. Not the most spectacular image, but it keeps me in practice and provides me with a "momento". Too bad, the shower was getting pretty active and fun to watch. Maybe next year!

What a bunch of BULL!!!

Taurus, that is! Here is a shot of the Taurus constellation taken a couple of weeks ago at the 3RF Astronomy campus near Crowel, TX.

This field stretches from Orion's head (the red patch in the lower left called Sharpless 264) up to the Pleiades in the upper right. I used the new Star Spikes Pro to enhance the Taurus stars a little bit for better viewing.

Stats:
Canon XSI @ ISO 800
28mm Sigma Lens f/4
AstroTrac mount
10 x 5min
DeepSkyStacker, CS4, Star Spikes Pro

BANG! BANG! BANG!

No, this is not M45, the "ACP" Nebula. This is my latest piece of astronomical gear, a Kimber 45 ACP Pro Carry II TLE.

"Why" you ask? I'll explain...

Doing astronomy means hanging out in very dark places, very late at night. In my wanderings I have encountered feral hogs and many packs of wild dogs (as well as all sorts of other odd creatures). But recently I added "gangbangers" to my list of nocturnal visitors.

My buddy Trey and I went to local park in Garland, TX to test out my new TEC 140 scope. I had all my gear set up and we were digging views of the moon when... BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Five shots rang out from a passing car about 15o yards from us. Moments later, a carload of gangbangers pulled into the dark parking lot with us. As they appeared to size us up, Trey and I stealthily (and quickly) broke down my gear and split! I really did think we were going to have some drama, but we bolted without incident.

Anyway, I hate having to think about protection while enjoying the peaceful and awesome views of the heavens... but I also hate the idea of being attacked by marauding creatures (four-legged OR two-legged).

Hmmm... I wonder how my new gun would look with a scope?

M11 and Dust

Here is one last image from Okie-Tex. In fact, it is the last image I took there, on the last night. I did not have much time as the target was dropping over a hill. In fact, I ran out of time and did not collect ANY Green channel data. But I was able to create a "synthetic Green" from the Red and Blue channels. It actually worked pretty well.

M11 is the star cluster in the upper left, with several Barnard dark nebulae towards the right.

By the way, this image is severely cropped (because I actually DID photograph the top of the hill as this one dropped low).

Stats:
FSQ 106Ed f/5
STL-11000M -20
LRB (100,20,20)
Synthetic Green from RB
CCDStack, CS4

Sharpless 129

Yep, that's what this one is called -- number 129 in your Sharpless catalog. The nebula is a very large area of Hydrogen Alpha emission. It looks to me like a supernova remnant, but I cannot find info to that effect. Anybody out there know?

This is another image I shot during Okie-Tex star party in September. I finally got around to processing it (been gone a while). But I am finally about to get after some more photons as I head to the 3RF Astronomy Campus in West Texas for a few days of imaging!

In other news, I have added a new "baby" to my telescope family... a TEC 140 refractor!
Still waiting for a robofocus bracket, but I should be able to try it out soon. Watch these pages for first light pictures from this neato hunk of glass : )