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Posts Made By: Charles Hakes

June 24, 2009 04:55 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

SN2009gf

Posted By Charles Hakes
10x5 minutes each RGB. No L (yet). Mostly just smoothed the background for processing. Had to rotate to match the on-line image.

We hosted two star parties in the last week - middle school and high school. Barely squeezed them in between the clouds. I will be out a couple of weeks, but hope the observatory gets some use in the mean time.

Charlie

July 11, 2009 02:36 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Cat's Eye in OIII

Posted By Charles Hakes
This is a combination of 37x5min and 24x1m (for the core) of OIII. Reduced and aligned in CCDStack, then processed in photoshop with an arcsine stretch on import. Lots of blurring on the background and only a little sharpening on the core. Looks like I could re-do the flat here and process the stars separately?

We are still working on autoguiding drift, which really limits the length of exposures. (!) Some of this was taken with a different guide scope (not better - just different) and either there is still something loose that I can't find, or the primary mirror is not as locked as I think. If I don't find something soon, I think I will drill and tab a couple more holes in the back to add some 1/4-20 nylon screws to help lock the mirror. Anyone have any other ideas?

Charlie


July 20, 2009 06:20 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

M27 2009

Posted By Charles Hakes
Another version of the Dumbbell. Something else I like to try periodically to see how things at the FLC Observatory are improving. This mostly just had longer subs than 2008, and slightly different processing. LRGB are 30 minutes each, with L having 3 minute subs, and RGB with 5 minute. Processing is where I need some opinions, since I have only looked at this version on two monitors - one looks pleasing and subtle, while the other monitor makes this just look dim and flat. Which is it really?

After the fact, I realize that the scope probably needs some significant collimation. We have been doing lots of fiddling and have collimated twice recently, but apparently not right before this set. Oh well.

Charlie

July 21, 2009 06:42 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

M11

Posted By Charles Hakes
This is 10 minutes each of RGB. No L. Done with the same setup where I figured out afterwards that the collimation was a bit off. (^$%#@ - does that have an emoticon?) I should probably go back, collimate, and get some L on this one and see how sharp I can get the stars. Still don't know if that had much more effect than the wind and/or tracking, but something that should be fixed. If I use an electronic focuser, can someone explain why I don't at least look at an out of focus star every night anyway?

As always, processing suggestions are most welcome. Thanks for looking.

Charlie

July 21, 2009 06:47 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Re: M-16 first try

Posted By Charles Hakes
I agree with the spike comments. Otherwise, maybe selectively increase the contrast right around the eagle itself? I think the color and sharpness look fine. What equipment were you using?

Charlie


August 10, 2009 03:03 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

HH555

Posted By Charles Hakes
Here is an hour of 6nm H-alpha. (12x300s) Median combine in CCDStack. Still have a bit of star trails, but that is the way it goes for now. I did a bit of smoothing (~1pixel) in the dim areas, and a bit less in the not-as dim parts. Arcsin stretch. Could always use more time, but want to try other filters, etc. (I have some [OIII], but have not processed it yet.)

Charlie

August 12, 2009 01:18 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

H-alpha [OIII] two color.

Posted By Charles Hakes
While I am waiting to process the sulphur data I took last night (that didn't transfer to the flash drive like I thought it did!), I put together a two color version of HH 555. Still need to re-process the H-alpha to try to squish those elongated stars, but autoguiding is another story. Thanks for looking, and comments welcome.

Charlie

August 16, 2009 09:36 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

HH555 narrow band

Posted By Charles Hakes
Finally got a chance at editing the [SII] and combining with the H-a and [OIII] from a couple of weeks ago. Originally trying to take data to compare with what Richard Crisp posted a while back. These were all 5-minute subs. Imported with an arcsine stretch and then smoothed the dim areas. I had to do some "extra" processing of those long oval stars on the H-alpha for this version. Finally, a little sharpening at the end.

And now I may need to start over from the beginning. With continued tweaking, guiding was getting better, and the later sub-frames had MUCH rounder stars than what I started with. (Re-extra-tightening of my home-made mirror lock screw, and back to the "original" guide scope. Again with extra-re-tightening of everything.) Looks like I will get a chance to verify performance tonight if I keep my fingers crossed just right.

So with my intention of "helping" this with additional/different data, I am mostly curious about comments on the processing. Particularly about the contrast and color balance here? Richard already commented that he is not into smoothing anything. Thoughts from anyone else? Thanks for looking.

Charlie

August 18, 2009 09:29 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

CS4 question - FITS liberator?

Posted By Charles Hakes
Anyone know more about liberator and CS4 and what issues it might be having, besides the info on the web site that basically says it doesn't work?

Charlie

August 18, 2009 10:14 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Bubble

Posted By Charles Hakes
My real goal last night was to continue tweaking the autoguiding without resorting to a new guide scope. (And I was ready to move on from the Pelican's neck). Since this scope hadn't looked at the Bubble yet, that is where it ended up.

These were 10 minute subs (7 each of Ha=red and OIII=blue) which is better than previous attempts here. At least the oval stars were much less oval than the 5 minute subs a few weeks ago. There were a couple of subs that even looked really round! I think the collimation must still be funny, since the stretched stars had some very interesting shapes that didn't look like guiding problems.

[SII] should be soon? Hope the weather holds. This is really unusual for this time of year here.

Although I think the artifact around the bright star looks really cool, I would be very interested in ideas on how to get rid of it.

Thanks,
Charlie

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