Long standing issue resolved: caveat emptor

Let me compress a long, eight months old story about the image above into a short one.

In July 2007 I ordered a Tak 180E and a SBIG 2000XCM to go with it from OPT. The Tak to SBIG adapter that OPT sent was, as my first trial run revealed, perfectly suited to any SBIG with a filter wheel. But not to the one shot color XCM. Focus was impossible to achieve. As any imager knows, when you run into problems like this, you’ll soon discover that you’re about to burn up some major time. I was less than pleased. :(

After several conversations with OPT staff, I contacted the owner, Craig Weatherwax. Craig made things happen – albeit with another cash ante from moi. OPT contacted Texas Nautical, the Tak dealer. Texas Nautical ultimately came up with the appropriate SBIG adapter. (Of course I now have a nearly $200 "extra" adapter that OPT is not interested in accepting.)

A clear night finally arrived (March 11), albeit one with an early rising, nearly full moon. After a quick and, as it turns out, imperfect focus run, I zipped over to M42 and ran a sequence of roughly 75 by 20 second unguided images of M42. The results were not picture perfect, given the soft focus and the marginal framing. But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

One conclusion: the Tak is amazingly fast!

Max

re: November update

November has been a wash for collecting photons in these parts. The first snow is on the ground. The clear nights without a moon were few. And Father Time has been kickin' my hind end. I had loads of fun wearing out my joints over 60-some years. But the arthritis in my hips has...uh...put a damper on moving around very much. This too will pass, as modern medicine offers a variety of fixes: most likely hip resurfacing.
Meanwhile I have dabbled in some small terrestrial shots, using a Canon 10-22mm zoom. I like the lens, and it will come to focus in the macro mode at about 8". The image at the top was shot at 16mm, processed, cropped, and saved for the web in Photshop CS2. It's a particularly appropriate subject-matter, as both the flower and Ol Max are pansies!

M-33 comparison image

This image partially illustrates how important additional "subs" (light exposures) are in helping to define an image. The M-33 on the left integrates the image on the right (15x3min exposures, collected on September 13) with an additional 60 minutes of subs (20x3min, collected on October 11, 2007).
The differences are subtle but nonetheless discernible. I note four:
First, the extent or sweep of the spiral arms has been clarified. The diffuse nature of M-33 leads to a very low surface brightness.
Second, there is more "texture" or overall detail to the image. The 45 minute exposure required smoothing via a Gaussian blur. The 105 minute combined stack has been smoothed, but only by a small amount.
Third, the hydrogen alpha regions (with the reddish tinge) stand out more clearly, not only in the named regions, but also as H-alpha is intermixed with the arms.
And finally, the overall coloration of the image is, to my eye, more pleasing, moving from a muddier-greenish tinge in the smaller stack to a "ruddier" and somewhat bluer coloration in the larger stack.

Acquisition and Processing
Acquisition and processing per usual. Stacks combined with IP. Composite image created with PS CS2.

IC-405, The Flaming Star Nebula

Astrophysical data on the Flaming Star Nebula is easy to find online. Click here for the NASA overview. After a couple of quick and dirty processing attempts that yielded a drab image, it suddently occurred to me that the goal for my processing should be "flame-like."

The star AE Auriga is powering the "flame," so to speak. There's an interesting astrophysical history here, since "AE Aurigae's story is inextricably linked to another star called Mu Columbae. Around 2.7 million years ago these two stars were formed and had a close encounter with one another in the Great Orion Nebula. The encounter was so close (another star was certainly involved) that each of them was ejected from the Orion complex never to return again. Currently these stars are 66 degrees away from one another in the sky. Astronomer's discovered these two runaway stars by measuring their apparent (fast) motion and noting that if you work backwards in time - the origin is in the same place at the same time! But AE Auriga is certainly the more glamorous of the two stars since it just happens to be moving through a region of gas that makes it look like a 'Flaming Star.' " Source

Acquisition and Processing
SV115 at f/5.6 on the CGE, SBIG ST2000XCM, 22 subs at 3 minutes, acquired using CCDSOFT v.5, processed in ImagesPlus 3, beta9 and PhotoShop CS2.

M-31 - The Andromeda Galaxy

There's no need to go on about M-31 -- clearly one of the most beautiful and photographed DSOs. Rob Gendler's M-31 just about takes your breathe away (click here). Note how Gendler captures multiple colors. He emphasizes that his processing, which is truly spectacular, is done to suit his aesthetic taste. I've processed more than one version from these subs, but this one is my favorite. Why? Because the "rifts" or dust lanes are so plainly obvious. As Eric Jacob notes, someone ought to sweep this "dirty" galaxy up.

In any case, here are a few quick points about the Great Galaxy in Andromeda. First, M-31 is a naked eye object from a reasonably dark site. Interestingly, the photons that we see or collect have been on their way for about 2.2 million years. In other words, long before there was a sentient, cosmically aware species on Earth those photons were making their way here. M-31 is one of if not the most distant naked eye DSO.

Second, M-31 is a so-called sister galaxy, part of the local cluster. The local cluster has two giants -- M-31 and the MWG -- some fair sized sisters such as the SMC and LMC, and M-33 -- and a slew of little elliptical galaxies. (There's an interesting visual of the local cluster here.)

And finally, gravity is bringing our own Milky Way Galaxy and the Andromeda Galaxy together. They are approaching each other at an incredibly fast rate of speed. There's a good chance that they will merge when the rendezvous is finally complete.

Acquisition and Processing
SV115 at f/5.6 on the CGE, SBIG ST2000XCM, 17 subs at 3 minutes, acquired using CCDSOFT v.5, processed in ImagesPlus 3, beta9 and PhotoShop CS2.

The Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635)

Here's a "sub-starved" (only 7x3 minutes) composite of the often photographed Bubble Nebula in Cassiopeia. Why only 21 minutes total? I started collecting the subs "too late" for a full run: the camera and scope were about to "run into" the mount. So it goes. In any case, there are dozens if not hundreds of superlative images of the Bubble Nebula online.

The image is still "under construction," as more subs are required. The slight red cast to the image is apparently due to the extensive nebulosity in the region. Aesthetically considered, I don't like the red cast, and have tried to mute it. However, the red cast may be inevitable. This link connects with a close-up of the Bubble Nebula made with a 20" RC and an SBIG ST-11000. The detail is wonderful. Notice the pervasive red nebulosity, which is especially evident in the 11 o'clock direction.

This link connects with an early shot by Jerry Lodriguss (a most accomplished astroimager and author), using gas-hypersensitized Fujicolor Super G 800 film. The shot offers an interesting comparison between what was (film) and what is (digital photon collection). Jerry offers a few astrophysical details concerning NGC 7635, including the fact that it's one of only two such objects.

Astrophysical data

The bright star (at 12 o'clock) is SAO 20562 with an integrated visual magnitude of 6.94. The Bubble Nebula itself (15'x15') surrounds SAO 20575, an 8.53 VM star about 20x as massive as Sol. The complex is estimated to be 11300 LY distant.

Equipment

SV 115 + TV .8 focal reducer + CGE + SBIG ST-2000XCM

Processing

ImagesPlus v3.0 beta 7 primarily + resized and saved for the Web in PS CS2

Max

Driveway Observatory

Here are four quick jpgs of the "Driveway Observatory" setup, taken on September 14, shortly before dark.

Top photo: Mission Control Center

Given all the various pieces of equipment and software, I've found that three laptops makes life a lot simpler...basically one laptop to control each of the three imaging setups.
Photo two:

The StellarVue (908mm focal length at f/7) with eyepiece, ready for aligning the mount, and the Borg (300mm focal length at f/4) with a Hap Griffin modified Canon XT (350) in place.

Photo three:

The Takahashi Epsilon 180 (500mm focal length at f/2.8) with the SBIG ST2000XCM. The Celestron 102 is used for aligning the mount and/or as a guide scope when using the XT with the Tak for an extra-large field of view.

Photo four:
The entire suite of equipment for the driveway observatory. Obviously, a "real" observatory with piers and such would be ideal. Unfortunately, there is no site on my property suited to the placement of such a structure. Thus the Driveway Observatory. The ScopeBuggies make wheeling the mounts into place a snap....about one minute each, setting over permanent "true north" markers. Placing the vibration pads and levelling the mounts takes about two minutes each. The CGE 2 star alignment + 4 star calibration plus polar align (followed by repeating the 2 + 4 routine) requires about 10 minutes per mount. The payoff is spot on go to and virtually perfect polar alignment.

Max