Posts Made By: Paul Maxson

All,

Just got an email from Adirondack that my Atik 1HS was shipped this past Monday!! Now I fully understand why it is raining cats and dogs out here and is supposed to stick around until Sunday!

Paul

Hi all,

I got some images on Sunday of these groups. Oddly, my images with the toucam turned out better than with the Atik 1HS camera. Probably, I still need more practice with the Atik.

http://glory.gc.maricopa.edu/~pmaxson/Solar/Sun021305-733-735-1.jpg

http://glory.gc.maricopa.edu/~pmaxson/Solar/Sun021305-733-3.jpg

http://glory.gc.maricopa.edu/~pmaxson/Solar/Sun021305-735-4.jpg

These were all shot with the Toucam.

The last link are three shots of Saturn. I was very happy to capture the 11.7 mag Enceladus in the satelite image. The Toucam image (color image) came from one of the sharpest set of images I have seen in my back yard. Cassini's division was jet black all the way around the planet and banding stood out. I am quite pleased with it. The B&W image was first light with the Atik camera. The images didn't seem to focus as sharp during imaging, but the final result is pleasing. All in all I am quite happy with these images.

http://glory.gc.maricopa.edu/~pmaxson/Saturn/Saturn2005-0213.jpg

BTW, you may note that my webpage is not very informative now. My college district has decided that our pages must not have anything personal on it. Since there is no astronomy in my job, the page had to be made un-available.

Paul Maxson

Hi all,

Well with all the clouds, it's hard to find anything exciting in the sky. Yesterday I got the two filters I had ordered, a UV Venus filter (300-400nm) and a long pass red filter (610nm). The UV filter is DENSE!! I could not see anything through it from lights in the house. Probably a good thing as I don't think having a lot of UV floating around is a good thing anyway. I'm anxious to try it out on Venus and other objects when the sky clears (sic). The red filter on the other hand...very, very light and well....actually it was invisible!! I opened the box to find the spec sheet but no filter. I'm certain the company will send it to me, but all I could think of was that I was glad it was cloudy and I can't use it soon. At least because of that I could chuckle and not cry!!

Paul

Hi all,

I know it isn't of the quality seen here recently, but for first light with the camera and using an ED100 refractor, I think it's not too bad. The seeing was pristine and I have kicked myself at least 32 times for not pulling the C925 out to try imaging with it on that evening!! :S

The Saturn images with the Toucam were very nice, but I think the Atik's images are an order of magnitude better. The two images are the same, one is a 200% enlargement of the other. I am really encouraged for clear skies and looking forward to trying LRGB imaging with this camera!!

http://glory.gc.maricopa.edu/~pmaxson/Saturn/Saturn021305.jpg

Paul Maxson

Damian,

Excellent image!! I should show that image to my C925 and see if it takes the hint... hehehehe

Paul

Damian Peach said:

Hi all,

The same evening as the Lunar shot i also caught Saturn under good seeing (thought not great, and poor transparency.) The good seeing is slowly becoming more frequent as spring approaches

Best Wishes

Damian

Hi all,

I can't believe it!! I got a window of blue sky this morning and almost broke my neck getting the equipment out to obsereve the sun!! (Not really, but makes a good story...)

Here is my image of AR735 shot with my ED100 and Atik 1HS camera. Obviously seeing not good, but it felt good to be under the black hood again! I am hoping for a window tonite for Saturn as we are getting an 80% chance of rain until Thursday.

http://glory.gc.maricopa.edu/~pmaxson/Solar/Sun022005-735-4.jpg

Paul Maxson
http://glory.gc.maricopa.edu/~pmaxson/

Hi all,

I can't believe it!! I got a window of blue sky this morning and almost broke my neck getting the equipment out to obsereve the sun!! (Not really, but makes a good story...)

Here is my image of AR735 shot with my ED100 and Atik 1HS camera. Obviously seeing not good, but it felt good to be under the black hood again! I am hoping for a window tonite for Saturn as we are getting an 80% chance of rain until Thursday.

http://glory.gc.maricopa.edu/~pmaxson/Solar/Sun022005-735-4.jpg

Paul Maxson
http://glory.gc.maricopa.edu/~pmaxson/

Hi all,

Monday started out cloudy and threatening rain. Then about 11am the sun popped out and I set up the 4" apo. I was able to get images of both AR735 and 736. The seeing was quite bad, yet the images show some detail.

http://glory.gc.maricopa.edu/~pmaxson/Solar/Sun022105-735-2.jpg

http://glory.gc.maricopa.edu/~pmaxson/Solar/Sun022105-736-3.jpg

Paul Maxson
http://glory.gc.maricopa.edu/~pmaxson/

Hi all,

For some reason my C925 is performing better now than ever! All I did was loosen the corrector plate screws by 1/16th of a turn. Who knew?? Anyway, I am linking 3 images shot with the C925. The first is a colour image shot with the Toucam at F/32, then a prime focus image shot with a Baader Venus filter and my new Atik 1HS-2 camera and finally a shot at F/21 with the Atik camera in B&W. I'm debating on getting a colour wheel. I have a quote for such a setup and I am still recovering..(grin). The whole setup is about $1200US!! Three times the price of the camera.

Enjoy!!

http://glory.gc.maricopa.edu/~pmaxson/Saturn/Saturn022405-3x.jpg

http://glory.gc.maricopa.edu/~pmaxson/Saturn/Saturn022505prime-UV.jpg

http://glory.gc.maricopa.edu/~pmaxson/Saturn/Saturn022505-2x.jpg

I am learning how to use Neat Image to clean up noise and think it has helped

Thanks!!
Paul Maxson
http://glory.gc.maricopa.edu/~pmaxson/

Hi all,

You know how when you are almost finished imaging and you feel like trying something outragous? Well, that happened last night...I had finished obtaining the images of Saturn I wanted and decided to try something totally off the wall....I stuck my 5x powermate into the C925 with the Atik camera and took a 200 second avi. The efl is about F/48. Anyway, here is the final image. It is not enlarged or reduced...just as it came from the raws. Seeing was only 5-6/10 but considering what I was doing, it is shockingly good!! I may have to try this again under better conditions.

Paul Maxson