North American Nebula: 9-7-2012 Pak Tam Chung

I went o Pak Tam Chung (北潭涌) this Monday and captured the North American Nebula. To me it is just a practice & I used two flatteners to image the North American Nebula, namely WO FLT (zero power) & the APM Riccardi Super ED reducer (0.75X). After finished the imaging with Riccardi reducer, clouds covered!!! I only got one frame of North American Nebula with the FLT flattener. So I just post the resized raw image.

For the combo of APM-TMB 105/650 & APM Riccardi Super ED 0.75X reducer

APM-TMB 105/650, APM Riccardi Super ED reducer, P2, HEQ5Pro, LVI II, 5DII (Astrodon Modified)

ISO 1600, 16 x @2mins, Dark Frame, Flat Field

DSS, PS

For the combo of APM-TMB 105/650, WO FLT flattener

APM-TMB 105/650, WO FLT flattener, P2, HEQ5Pro, LVI II, 5DII (Astrodon Modified)

Since I only got 1 frame, so just resized unprocessed photo

APM-TMB 105/650, Riccardi 0.75X

APM-TMB 105/650, FLT, resized unprocessed raw

M45 Pleiades: A trial shot

This M45, Pleiades (七姊妹星團) was taken with an APM-TMB 105/650 with WO’s FLT flattener in 24-11-2011 at Pak Tam Chung, Hong Kong. I didn’t optimize the back focus for the flattener in present of P2 filter. The performance was good. I need to wait for clear skies to do the optimization, but the sky in HK is always disappointing. Maybe I need to use artificial star to do the optimization. Although the distance is not infinity, it gives an approximated back focus adjustment. This can save me some time during field test.

APM-TMB 105/650, FLT, P2, Canon 5DII, HEQ5Pro

ISO 1600, 5 mins x 10

DSS, PS4, cropped

My First M42

I started DSI since this summer.

http://willisao.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-first-dsi-m8-m20.html

M8 & M20 are easy targets in the summer. I have seen lots of M42 in Internet. Last night the sky condition was good and enabled me to image my first M42. In the middle of the imaging, LVI complainted several times of loss star! I looked at the sky. The guide star was not covered by clouds. Gosh! The guide scope was fogged! I have no heater. In fact both guide scope & main scope were fogged. I didn’t know when this happened. I have no cleaning kits! This certainly caused loss some contrast & resolution etc. Perhaps there is lots of room for improvement, I am very happy with this image. It marks my first winter DSI this year.
Equinox 80ED

Astrotech Zero Power flattener

40D

LVI II

350mm guide scope (A modified 9x50 finder scope)

LPS-P2

HEQ5 Pro

ISO 800

2x30s, 6x2mins, 2x5mins, 2x10mins = 43mins (Total)

The Harvest of Taiwan Star Hunting Trip

After a week back from Taiwan, I have just finished processing all the raw deep sky objects’ images. As a novice in DSI and an illiterate in processing DSI, I spent extra time to refine the images. Perhaps the quality of the images are average, I learned a lot and received positive feedbacks from other stargazers. The sky in Hehuan Mountain (合歡山) was not as dark as expected. It was much better than the sky of Hong Kong already. There were too many stars in the sky and made me difficult to identify the constellations. Gorgeous! The spectacular Milky Way was engraved in my mind and it was the second time I saw it. I was told that the sky in Australia is extremely dark. The Milky Way is able to cast you a shadow. I have put Tasmania in my vacation list. Hope to visit Tasmania in near future. Anyway, these are my harvest:

M31 Andromeda Galaxy 仙女座大星系: APM-TMB 80/480, AstroTech zero power flattener, Baader LPS-P2, ISO 800, 4x10mins, No flat field, No dark frame

North America Nebula 北美星雲: APM-TMB 80/480, AstroTech zero power flattener, Baader LPS-P2, ISO 800, 6x4mins, No flat field, No dark frame

M13: APM-TMB 80/480, AstroTech zero power flattener, Baader LPS-P2, ISO 800, 9x6mins, No flat field, No dark frame


Double Cluster (NGC884 & NGC869) 雙星團: APM-TMB 80/480, TV 0.8X Reducer/Flattener, Baader LPS-P2, ISO 800, 2x3mins, No flat field, No dark frame


Rho Ophiuchi Nebula 星空調色盤: Canon 135mm f/2.0 @f/2.8, Astronomic CLS clip-filter (CCD version), ISO 800, 10x3mins, No flat field, No dark frame

Sagittarius M8 M20 人馬座天區的 礁湖星雲、三裂星雲: Canon 135mm f/2.0 @f/2.8, Astronomic CLS clip-filter (CCD version), ISO 800, 8x3mins, No flat field, No dark frame

Scorpius M6 M7 天蠍座天區的 M6 M7: Canon 135mm f/2.0 @f/2.8, Astronomic CLS clip-filter (CCD version), ISO 800, 10x3mins, No flat field, No dark frame

Summer Triangle 夏天大三角: Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 @16mm & f/4, Astronomic CLS clip-filter (CCD version), ISO 800, 8x3mins, No flat field, No dark frame

Polaris, M31 and Double Cluster 北極星、仙女座大星系、雙星團: Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 @16mm & f/3.5, Astronomic CLS clip-filter (CCD version), ISO 800, 7x3mins, No flat field, No dark frame

Milky Way 銀河: Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 @11mm & f/4, ISO 1600, 30s, No flat field, No dark frame


Equipment list:

APM-TMB 80/480

TV 0.8X Reducer/Flattener

AstroTech Flattener (zero power)

Guide scope (modified Takahashi finder scope)

Canon 40D (Baader modified)

Canon 135mm f/2.0

Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8

HEQ5Pro

LVI I

Baader LPS-P2

Astronomic CLS clip-filter (CCD version)

My first DSI: M8 & M20

Last week the sky was exceptionally clear. I’ve been waited for clear skies for more than a half year. This was the first time I did DSI. This image was jointly taken with my friend. In fact he did most of the setting and the APM 80/600 and the 5DII were owned by him. The seeing was so so that night and the clouds were just running around and made us lost guiding star several times! We only shot one M8 & M20 before the moonrise. Although we have taken a few M8 & M20, I don’t know how to use DSS. I just use the PS to tune the Level & Curve. Here is the photographic detail:

APM-TMB 80/600
TS flattener (Zero Power)
5D II
LVI I
350mm guide scope (A modified 9x50 finder scope)
LPS-V4
HEQ5Pro
ISO 1600
Single frame (180s)
No flat field and no dark frame
100% crop and 25% resize
4-7-2010