cogeto

Seven Sisters

cogeto — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 21:49:33 GMT

Seven Sisters

DSI III behind homebuild 155mm dia f1.4 astrograph

This is my most recent visit to M45. I still haven't had a real good night yet this fall/winter with the new DSI but I am encouraged with the results that I have had.

This shot is a stack of 2min exposures. I used an H-alpha filter for the red and so wasen't able to capture the subtle red wisps near merope. next time I'll know better. I also think that witha few more lum frames i can pull a little harder with unsharp next time. I sure am sleepy.

The Heart Nebula

cogeto — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 21:19:07 GMT

The Heart Nebula

DSI III behind homebuilt 6" f1.4 astrograph.

H-alpha, green and blue all 2 min times

The red channel (3nm fwhm H-alpha) consists of 50, 2min exposured, taken 12/8/8 with the waxing gibous moon high up.

M31

cogeto — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 01:27:56 GMT

M31

DSI III behind 155mm f1.3 lens

The lum image was a combination of some 20 odd 1 min exposures mixed with a few 2min ones for (the faint stuff). G&B was 2 min and R 1 min. I think I really am starting to like this new camera.

M38

cogeto — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:35:16 GMT

M38

Again, DSI III behind NV lens. This star field was a focus test. Still not quite there yet ...but not bad.

Calnebula in Ha

cogeto — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:32:52 GMT

Calnebula in Ha

This next one was taken with 3nm FWHM H-alpha filter, still behind 155mm f1.4 NV lens and DSI III

North American Nebula

cogeto — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:29:23 GMT

North American Nebula

First image with new DSI III

Taken from ehind a modified 155mm dia f1.4 NV lens

Ring Nebula

cogeto — Fri, 23 May 2008 11:11:12 GMT

Ring Nebula

DSI Pro II behind 10" LX200R @ f40
400 hand selected (8sec) images were combined in registax....it took 2 days

lunar eclipse

cogeto — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:36:38 GMT

lunar eclipse

DSI Pro II behind C5 with two (yes 2) focal reducers f6.3 followed by 3.3. I also used a H-alpha NBP filter so as to cut down any color seperation that may lead to a blurry grey image.

Crab nebula

cogeto — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 15:01:07 GMT

Crab nebula

DSI Pro II behind 10"LX200R @ f3.3 & F6.3
Hundreds of 30 sec frames were combined to create the Lum for this image. R,G,B and H-alpha,SII and 1 miron filters were used fo color info. Color data was ballanced with an aesthetic eye rather than scientific. Notice the firey yellows (mixture of SII and G)

more near IR testing

cogeto — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:10:16 GMT

more near IR testing

DSI Pro II behind 10” LX200R @f3.3

Here is another test using 1 micron data. I took images with blue, H-alpha and near IR filters. The reason for the h-alpha was so that with combining the end members of the Silicon detectors sensitivity range (blue ~400-500nm & near IR <st1:phone o_x003a_ls="trans" phonenumber="$6900$$$">900-1000</st1:phone>nm); the H-alpha is a nice narrow slice with more than enough signal and plenty of wavelength separation to either side. The 3 images were combined and color punched in PS. This filtering methodology seems to yield much, much better results than I have had with the simple <st1:stockticker>RGB</st1:stockticker> approach. The compositional differences in overlapping lava flows across Serenitatis and Tranquillitatis are quite evident although I am not sure if the entire IR signal is due to geological or perhaps some thermal effects too. The right side of the image has been in the sun for a longer period of time.

Near IR Trap

cogeto — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:24:49 GMT

Near IR Trap

2 images of the Trapezium region of the Orion Nebula, both taken with a 10” LX200 @ f10. The image on the right was taken 2 years ago with the original DSI I; and the image on the left ,this week with a DSI Pro II and blue, H-alpha and 1micron filters. The sky was very turbulent and ..yes I know, things a little out of focus.. but the amount of stars that are visible in the near IR is surprising with a Si CCD. I didn't have to pull hard on the levels in PS to bring them out. The filter passes only 900nm plus. This looks very promising for reasonably good near IR work for obscured galaxies, lunar mineralogy, and planetary work ect . Just thought I would let those interested know. I’ll keep you posted

Pete

The Rose

cogeto — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:23:54 GMT

The Rose

DSI Pro II behind homebuilt astrograph aka Bride of DSI
H-alpha 2 min x 12, SII 2min x 9
green and blue 2min x 7
used the h-alpha data for lum but diden't pull hard for the red channel to acent other colors. processed 2 ways; one with h-alpha as red ( tweaked it a little orange) and one with SII as red (tweaked it a little deep red) then combined both for a more natural look than the normal green/red

Horse and Flame

cogeto — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 19:03:02 GMT

Horse and Flame

DSI Pro II behind homebuilt 6" f1.8 astrograph
H-alpha , 2min x 25, blue & green 2min x 8
contrast balance and combined in PS
Hope to blend this with the M42 data...all I have to do now is capture all the bland stuff inbetween

Holmes and Mirfak

cogeto — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 20:48:00 GMT

Holmes and Mirfak

DSI pro II behind homebuilt 6" f1.8 astrograph.
These 2 images were taken 3 hours apart and when viewed properly will produce a nice 3D image. The trick is to make the image small enough on your screen (about 50% full resolution) so as to allow your eyes to blend the left and right image together...good luck

Orion Complex

cogeto — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 20:40:34 GMT

Orion Complex

DSI Pro II behind homebuilt 6" f1.8 astrograph
This is a four panel mosaic taken in green, blue and H-alpha light
The H-alph is the time intensive portion of this subject, each pannel representing 25 x 2min
Inner detal was taken with a 10" LX200R @ f3.3 and layered i in PS
hopeing to extend this mosaic to include the horse head as well befor winter is over

doubble cluster

cogeto — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 20:00:40 GMT

doubble cluster

DSI Pro II behind homebuilt 6" f1.8 astrograph
1 & 8 sec lum data
15 sec h-alpha,g,b data
all combined in ps

Holmes in Stereo

cogeto — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:26:23 GMT

Holmes in Stereo

DSI Pro II behind homebuilt 6" f1.8 astrograph.
Let your eyes relax and focus on the blob in the middle. This image was obtained by spacing the two images 90 min appart and use the relative motion of the comet against the background stars to produce a 3D effect. each image was taken @ 8 and 1 sec. a number of 1 sec shots were taken (again 90 min appart) and droped in Registax for inner detail of nucleus.

comet

cogeto — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 12:53:05 GMT

comet

DSI pro II behind 6" f1.8 homebuilt astrograph.

After taking many images of 15 sec or less over the course of the evening I realized that because of the reasonably large field of view I need not be too concerned about the relative motion between the object and the background stars. This image consists of H-alpha, green and blue data all with 1 min integration times taken in quick succession. The nucleus was taken at 1 sec and layered in with Photoshop.

Big M31

cogeto — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 16:51:40 GMT

Big M31

DSI Pro II behind homebuilt 6" f1.8 astrograph
Still trying to squeeze all I can out of Pro II before upgrading to III.
This is a combination of data taken w and w/o drizzle. intergration times for lums are 15sec, 1min and 2min
H-alpha , blue and green all 2min times

NGC7822

cogeto — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 11:46:51 GMT

NGC7822

DSI Pro II behind homebuilt 6" f1.8 astrograph
This is a 2 frame mosaic taken in H-alpha light.
each frame consists of 25 images. The bottom frame was disturbed by plane sometime while I was getting more coffee