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Captured by
Douglas Rollain

Lion Nebula SH2-132 - RC71

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Posts Made By: Alan Friedman

September 1, 2008 02:15 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Labor Day Bonfire

Posted By Alan Friedman
Hi,

Greetings all,

Nice of the sun to host a BBQ on a day off from work!

http://www.avertedimagination.com/img_pages/labor_day_bbq.html

This large prominence was large and very active, showing much change over a half
hour of observing.

Captured with Little Big Man (my AP 92mm F5 Stowaway refractor with 90mm Coronado
Solarmax H-Alpha filter.)

Best wishes for a happy Labor Day,

Alan


April 25, 2009 02:15 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Saturn with Tethys, shadow and storm in transit

Posted By Alan Friedman
Greetings,

Here is an image of Saturn recorded in good seeing with my 10" mak/cassegrain.

http://www.avertedimagination.com/img_pages/saturn20090415.html

I spent some time hunting for the predicted transit of Tethys... finding the details was a bit like hunting for buried treasure... Additional info and links to an animation can be found in the copy below the image on my website.

Apologies for being a stranger here and thanks for looking!

best regards,
alan


August 11, 2009 01:42 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Mark Anthony

Posted By Alan Friedman
I had a shot at Anthony Wesley's historic discovery on the night of August 7:

http://www.avertedimagination.com/img_pages/Jupiter_20090807_2.html

...a brief window of opportunity before Jupiter dropped into the power lines.


31 degrees elevation, A/P 10" mak/cassegrain at f30
approx. 400 frames averaged/ DMK 21AF04
captured and processed on a Mac using AstroIIDC, Keith's Image Stacker
and Adobe Photoshop CS3

clear skies and best wishes,
Alan

February 1, 2010 03:22 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Frozen Mars

Posted By Alan Friedman
Mars captured last night from my backyard in Buffalo... nine degrees fahrenheit:

http://www.avertedimagination.com/img_pages/mars_at_9_degrees.html

Took me most of today to get the feeling back in my fingers!

A-P 10" mak/cassegrain at f45.

best wishes,
Alan


March 1, 2010 03:14 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Mars from Buffalo

Posted By Alan Friedman
Sorry for this late post - I captured this on February 6/7 but work and other obligations kept me from completing this image. Seeing was good at times:

http://www.avertedimagination.com/img_pages/mars_20100207.html

A-P 10" mak/cass at f45, DMK21AF04 camera, processed on a Mac with AstroIIDC, Keith's Image Stacker and Adobe Photoshop.

March 17, 2010 12:54 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

BIG doings on the sun

Posted By Alan Friedman
Here is a picture of the grand prominence that has been gracing the solar disk over the last two days.

http://www.avertedimagination.com/img_pages/a_big_one_color031610.html

sunny skies to you!
Alan

November 25, 2002 06:55 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Does anyone use an Apple?

Posted By Alan Friedman
Hi Michael,

I do my astro imaging on a Mac platform. I use an older SBIG ST8 camera with the Mac SCSI connection. SBIG does still offer this option for some cameras - but they are not upgrading this software and it is not available for the high speed USB models available today. And new Macs have abandoned SCSI for firewire - I have the best result with an older G3 laptop (which I have to wrestle back from my kids when the sky is clear) which has a dedicated SCSI port. I have had trouble trying to use a SCSI card on a newer machine.

It would probably make sense to bite the bullet and plan on a windows laptop to run your CCD camera and a copy of Maxim DL. But the Mac is an excellent tool for graphics and you can do a lot of astro work with Photoshop once you've dealt with the steep learning curve. And if you are considering experimenting with a digital camera at the telescope, the Mac will be a much more viable platform.

good luck!
Alan Friedman

July 23, 2003 05:28 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Here is looking at you baby!

Posted By Alan Friedman
Hi Angel -

Very good detail in your image. I just finished working on this image from 7/19 at CM100 here in Buffalo, NY where mars peaks around 33 degrees and I have not been able to capture as much sharpness and detail with my A/P 10" mak/cass.

I opened your image in Photoshop and aligned the R,G,B channels. This is a simple technique and will only increase the information that is masked by the atmospheric dispersion. Will repost this pic in the next email.

clear skies,
Alan Friedman


July 23, 2003 08:09 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Some Mars proccessing help

Posted By Alan Friedman
Hi Brian -

It's not your camera, it's the atmosphere. Image through a thick hunk of it (ie 30-40 degrees up where Mars is positioned for mid-northern latitudes) and atmospheric dispersion will spread apart the focus position of red and blue light as you see in your image. Much of this (though not all) can be magically corrected in Photoshop by adjusting the RGB channels. You will be nudging the position of the blue channel down and the red channel up to realign them. See my post a few messages back in response to Angel Gomez's image.

good luck
Alan Friedman

July 28, 2003 07:21 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Mars...What might help this image?

Posted By Alan Friedman
Dave -

Larger image scale for the planet and more images integrated will both help you tweak out the most detail from a given night of seeing. Video or webcam imaging offers a big advantage for the planets.

good luck,
Alan Friedman

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