Posts Made By: Charles Hakes

This time with color added. Details are here:

http://www.fortlewis.edu/observatory/image_detail.asp?ID=242

I had thought I would be able to stretch a bit more, but those dark clouds are, well, dark. I could keep adding, but wanted to try ngc2071 next door.

Charlie

Not too much activity on this forum recently...

This image got started back in September, and I only got around to "finishing" it last night. It sure is cold here now, but at least the observatory is still accessible.

http://www.fortlewis.edu/observatory/image_detail.asp?ID=244

Charlie

There have been some nice images I have seen on this forum. It has been eons since I have posted anything though...

This is a totally new setup for me. A G-11 ordered almost a couple of years with the new Gemini-2, but that ended up on backorder for over a year... (long story). I have had it for a while, but then there were other "issues."

This fall I got an Orion ED80T CF. I am going to really like the carbon fiber, since 40 degree swings are the norm rather than the exception here. The first image, with only one mount motor working, was M31:

http://www.fortlewis.edu/observatory/image_detail.asp?ID=248

Then I got the motor fixed (actually the circuit board), and had other delays. Finally last week I got the Leo Trio. This I wanted to count as the first long autoguided image, but it was without a field flattener, which has since been ordered.

http://www.fortlewis.edu/observatory/image_detail.asp?ID=246

In the mean time I ordered a field flattener, which of course brought some clouds and now a full moon... Actually, I have it outside right now with an H-alpha filter, but that might be a few days before I get to see how IC1948 looks.

I will have to give an update on the FLC 16" scope in another post one of these days. The last image posted was about a year ago. I did reprocess M78 more recently though. That is here:

http://www.fortlewis.edu/observatory/image_detail.asp?ID=245

Thanks for looking.
Charlie

I guess the question is how round is round enough and what should I expect from the Orion ED80T CF?

With the correct flattener spacing and better flats, I got M42. This is my "middle length" RGB exposure for this target, as I will need some longer for the dim areas and some shorter for the brighter areas. (I was pleasantly surprised with the colors I ended up with when I went back and looked at Jim's recent "dusty" image.) I think more of the stars in this image are rounder, but that upper right corner concerns me. Is this most likely the lens is not square, or is the focuser a bit loose? I must admit I sometimes have issues tightening the focus ring in the grove on the field flattener "enough". The image is here, including a link to the full resolution version:
http://www.fortlewis.edu/observatory/image_detail.asp?ID=256

When I first got the field flattener, I imaged the Soul nebula, but almost under a street light, and with lots of mount and camera fiddling, so getting good flats was almost impossible. The stars in the lower left are much better than the ones in the upper right. With all those issues, I spent way too long processing. That image is here:
http://www.fortlewis.edu/observatory/image_detail.asp?ID=255

Thanks for looking.

Charlie

Widefield view of M101. For these data, I was still de-bugging the star shape with the ED80T scope. (Turned out the ring that the focuser attaches to was not properly secured, and I do have a return label for when those scopes are in stock again.) The focus was a bit off for the RGB data. After fiddling (fumbling?) for a couple of weeks I have more respect for you manual focusers out there now. I have since received a Bahtinov mask and will have to report how focusing goes with that after I get a clear sky.

I thought I would go ahead and process this anyway and there is a mystery blue star in the galaxy. Turns out it was SN2011fe, but not listed as being "in" M101 or NGC 5457. (?) You may need to link to the high resolution image and zoom even further to see it.

http://www.fortlewis.edu/observatory/image_detail.asp?ID=257

clear skies,
Charlie

Very late on posting anything from last year - the 16" had a dead RA motor. So here is a mix of what happened at the Old Fort Lewis Observatory in 2011:

First up is a nice time lapse of the summer milky way:
http://www.fortlewis.edu/observatory/image_detail.asp?ID=250

We set up a 10" on the 16" wedge, but that didn't get as much use as planned:
http://www.fortlewis.edu/observatory/image_detail.asp?ID=249

Pittmann doesn't make that proprietary motor any more (I could have ordered 10!), so we had to swap some things). Here is a closeup of the motor after the gears in the 16" were re-lubed in November:
http://www.fortlewis.edu/observatory/image_detail.asp?ID=251

I didn't process these two until recently (some else took them):
M104: http://www.fortlewis.edu/observatory/image_detail.asp?ID=253
M63: http://www.fortlewis.edu/observatory/image_detail.asp?ID=254

Charlie

Just to keep the camera running after I went to bed, I set it up to image the M86 neighborhood. Apparently that is the intersection of all the transcontinental airline flights, or maybe satellite transits, at that time of night, as numerous subframes had a nice streak through the middle. I de-selected most of those streaky ones, but still ended up with 17-10 minute frames I combined here. No processing besides just a stretch of the FIT into photoshop. I will get to the other tweaking later. Yes, there might be some issues with the flat and focus, but this was taken with the 80mm scope that still has the focuser issue, and was before I received the Bahtinov focusing mask. (I haven't used that one yet - I didn't realize that such a tiny piece of equipment like that could cause so much snow.)

http://www.fortlewis.edu/observatory/image_detail.asp?ID=259

I posted the FIT in our data directory if anyone wants to play with it. If you do, let us see. Otherwise, I will see what I come up with and wait for RGB...

Charlie

More good standby targets, but does this count as "stamp collecting?" The bar keeps getting set higher and higher with all the other great image posts around here. I hope these are the last of the 80mm scope images for a while, as the snow clears off the roads and the camera gets to move back to the 16" scope.

Both of these images could be stretched a bit more with the L, but there were apparently some issues with the RGB flats that will need some further "tweaking". Eventually I would like some time to re-process, but that will be another week. Details and links to a higher resolution versions are on the web site.

M66
http://www.fortlewis.edu/observatory/image_detail.asp?ID=258
This is a totally different data set than I took a month ago.

M81
http://www.fortlewis.edu/observatory/image_detail.asp?ID=260
I am not sure why, but this is my first shot of M81.

Thanks for looking.
Charlie

The observatory at Old Fort Lewis is finally (mostly) clear of snow and mud and now back open (I hope for the season). This is the first image of 2012.

High resolution, image description, and supernova marker are here:

http://www.fortlewis.edu/observatory/image_detail.asp?ID=261

Got a clear night with no moon for this sequence. Plenty of airplanes though. This is my first time lapse posted in HD - my old laptop couldn't handle HD, so why make them...

http://www.fortlewis.edu/observatory/image_detail.asp?ID=262

enjoy,
Charlie