Posts Made By: Enrico Africa

Hi everyone!

I rarely shoot comets. Actually, let me correct that: I shoot most bright comet apparitions, but I rarely process them. They are a challenge to process right, being moving targets (literally!). As evidence of this, I have quite a bit of data of recent comets that I have not gotten around to processing. Including Holmes and its outburst, of which I have quite a few shots of but only one that's been completely processed to my satisfaction.

I don't know if this trend will change anytime soon, but this particular pairing of Comet 103P/Hartley and the Double Cluster was too good an opportunity to pass up!

One thing for sure: if I keep this up, I won't be on anyone's list of astro-event photographers!

I shot two images of 103P/Hartley and the Double Cluster last October, 2010. A friend pointed out the closest approach of the comet to the clusters early in the morning of October 8. I decided to shoot this conjunction; as a side benefit, the timing of the conjunction was what spurred me to image IC1848 in the first place (shoot IC1848 while waiting for the conjunction)!

I shot two sequences, one at around 9:30PM EDT October 7, just in case conditions deteriorated (or in case I had trouble getting up early in the morning!), and one around 3:30AM EDT October 8. I may have overdone the processing of the October 8 image, so the comet in that version looks bigger and brighter. Ah, well!

Enjoy!

http://www.skiesbyafrica.com/Clusters/DoubleCluster.html

Eric

Hi all,

Not to say Rolando started it, but hey....

Over the last few months I have been somewhat busy getting a remote observatory in New Mexico up and running. After working my way through some glitches, I can finally share an image gathered using data while working my way through those glitches!

This is the ever-popular M81 and M82 duo, decorated with the Integrated Flux Nebula. Eighteen hours of usable data was used to create this vista.

Small image attached. More information on the objects with links to a larger image can be seen at

http://www.skiesbyafrica.com/Galaxies/M81-82.html

Takahashi TOA-130F with flattener on an AP1200GTO mount
SBIG STL-6303 with Astrodon filters and FW8-STL filter wheel

Exposure Details:
L: 63 x 10 Minutes, binned 1x1
R: 15 x 10 minutes, binned 1x1
G: 15 x 10 minutes, binned 1x1
B: 15 x 10 minutes, binned 1x1
18 hours total exposure

Be sure to click on the image on the website to link to a 75% size image!

So, where am I set up? Over at Rancho Hidalgo, the new astronomy village covered by Astronomy Magazine in some recent issues. In fact, our remote observatory is only a few doors away from Astronomy Magazine's observatory!

Comments welcome. Otherwise, enjoy and thanks for looking!
Clear skies,
Eric

Hello all,

M53 and NGC 5053 in Coma Berenices come closest to being a double-globular cluster counterpart to the glorious Double Cluster in Perseus. I managed to snag this pair last April from my remote site at Rancho Hidalgo in New Mexico.

Exposure Details:
L: 9 x 10 minutes Binned 1x1
R: 5 x 10 minutes Binned 1x1
G: 5 x 10 minutes Binned 1x1
B: 5 x 10 minutes Binned 1x1

Equipment Used: Takahashi TOA-130F with flattener on an Astro-Physics 1200GTO mount. SBIG STL-6303 camera with STL-FW8 filter wheel and Astrodon LRGB filters. Self-guided using the STL-6303's built-in guide chip, positioned via an Astrodon Takometer camera rotator.

Acquisition Software : MaximDL 5, TheSky6, CCDAutopilot 4
Processing Software: MaximDL, Photoshop CS4, IrFanView

More details on this pair can be seen at:
http://www.skiesbyafrica.com/Clusters/M53-NGC5053.html

A 75% sized image can be seen at:
http://www.skiesbyafrica.com/Clusters/Images/M53/M53-2011.jpg

Comments and suggestions welcome.
Clear skies!
Eric

Rented from our library a few days ago. It's an independent film about a woman (Rose Byrne) who meets a man in her apartment (Hugh Dancy) with Asperger's Syndrome. Of note is his fascination with astronomy and cosmology.

Of even better note is that everything he said about astronomy (at least that I caught) was pretty accurate. The only scenes on astronomy that had a touch of Hollywood in it were some planetarium scenes depicting objects (shooting stars?) whizzing by at high speed.

A scene I enjoyed was when he trapped a hapless party guest who asked him the inevitable question "what scope should I buy?"

Pretty good independent film, and a nice depiction of our hobby and passion.

Eric

Hi all,

Yup, this data was actually collected in 2009. I've been processing it on and off for the past couple of years. I set it aside for months on end as I was frustrated with the results I was getting. Finally, I came up with a result that I found satisfactory.

This is SH2-157 with NGC 7538, the Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635) and open cluster M52, shot in the Hubble Palette.

Exposure Details:
H-alpha: 8 x 30 Minutes Binned 1x1
SII: 13 x 30 Minutes Binned 1x1
OIII: 21 x 30 Minutes Binned 1x1
R: 6 x 3 Minutes Binned 1x1
G: 6 x 3 Minutes Binned 1x1
B: 6 x 3 Minutes Binned 1x1


Equipment Used:
Takahashi FSQ-106N on a Takahashi EM200 Temma-II mount. SBIG STL-6303 camera with 8-position filter wheel and Astrodon filters. Externally guided with an SBIG Remote Guide Head on a Borg 45ED refractor.

Acquisition Software: MaximDL, TheSky6, CCDAutopilot 3
Processing Software: MaximDL, Photoshop CS, IrFanView

More details, along with a rather lengthy discussion on what SH2-157 looks like to me, can be seen here:
http://www.skiesbyafrica.com/Nebulae/SH2-157.html

A 75% sized image can be seen here:
http://www.skiesbyafrica.com/Nebulae/Images/SH2-157/SH2-157-2009.jpg

Comments always welcome.
Enjoy,
Eric

Hello all,

Here is a trio of images from my TOA-130F taken over the last several months.

First is a narrowband image of SH2-142, nicknamed The Wizard Nebula. It is popularly referred to as NGC 7380, but after a little research I discovered that NGC 7380 is actually the open cluster associated with this nebula!

This was shot from my backyard in Ohio back in September 2010 and is relatively thin on data as far as narrowband data is concerned. I'm not entirely satisfied with this image (it's not as blue as other narrowband representations of this area usually depict), and I was going to leave this out of public sight until a recent development.

Details here:
http://www.skiesbyafrica.com/Nebulae/Wizard.html

Next is what is actually my first complete image set from my remote observatory in New Mexico. I had some teething pains setting up the remote observatory, and this resulted in a relatively thin dataset. I believe there is also a gradient in the image from an infrared light on the remote observatory's web cam that I was not aware of until about two sessions later. The details in the nebula itself came out very well, though I have doubts about the color accuracy.

Anyway, here is my first ever attempt at imaging M78 in Orion, shot in January 2011 from New Mexico:
http://www.skiesbyafrica.com/Nebulae/M78.html

The last in this group of images is the Trio In Leo, also shot from New Mexico. Around the time I gathered the data for this target, the TOA started developing issues in its focuser that ultimately rendered the telescope completely useless in May. Fortunately, the issues cropped up right around the time that monsoon season started, so at worst I lost a few nights between June and September of this year.

http://www.skiesbyafrica.com/Galaxies/TrioInLeo.html

Comments and suggestions always welcome.
Enjoy,
Eric

Hello once again,

If I may, I am posting this one by itself.

As I mentioned in my prior post, the focuser of my TOA-130 developed issues preventing me from imaging as much as I would have wanted. Last September I travelled to New Mexico to address the issue - I ended up replacing the stock focuser with a Feathertouch focuser with a Microtouch system. So far, so good with that setup!

Here is first light with the new and (hopefully!) improved setup: the ever-popular NGC 281, otherwise known as the PacMan Nebula.

Of course, as luck would have it my first session with the updated setup was under a blazing bright waxing or full moon. Fortunately, the narrowband filters delivered, including the 3nm OIII filter!

Lots of clear nights allowed for lots of data (37 hours for this target!).

http://www.skiesbyafrica.com/Nebulae/NGC281.html

I kinda had a little fun with this image. Given that this nebula is the PacMan, I figured it had a counterpart somewhere else in the sky. I think I found it:
http://www.skiesbyafrica.com/Nebulae/Images/NGC281/PacmanFun.jpg

Comments and suggestions always welcome.
Enjoy,
Eric

Hello all,

Here is my take on two winter staples. The first is the Horsehead nebula (had enough of this yet? ). This is only my second attempt at this nebula, and only my first LRGB.

Takahashi TOA-130F on an Astro-Physics AP1200GTO mount. SBIG STL-6303E camera with FW8-STL filter wheel and Astrodon LRGB and narrowband filters. Robofocus focuser and Astrodon Takometer rotator.

H-alpha: 11 x 30 Minutes Binned 1x1
L: 24 x 5 Minutes Binned 1 x 1
Red: 18 x 5 Minutes Binned 1x1
Green: 18 x 5 Minutes Binned 1x1
Blue: 18 x 5 Minutes Binned 1x1

12 Hours Total Exposure Time

Small version attached. More details and links to larger versions at my web site:

http://www.skiesbyafrica.com/Nebulae/Horsehead.html

Eric

Hi all,

Images of dusty regions (e.g., those of Tom "The Dustbuster" Davis among others) has inspired me to try my hand at these targets. Here is my first shot at a dusty target. This is the region around vdB141, "The Ghost Nebula".

I'm not particularly happy with this image. I actually captured and processed the data back in November 2011, but any attempts at revisiting the data don't really do much in terms of improvements. I'm open to suggestions on how to improve upon this.

One specific question is handling the star sizes. I know that a lot of it is related to the amount of stretching I do on my images. But I'm hoping there's a way to reduce their sizes a bit short of attacking each on individually. Kinda tough to do when there are a few dozen to tackle.

Takahashi TOA-130F on an Astro-Physics AP1200GTO mount. SBIG STL-6303E camera with FW8-STL filter wheel and Astrodon LRGB and narrowband filters. Robofocus focuser and Astrodon Takometer rotator.

L: 35 x 10 minutes Binned 1 x 1
R: 15 x 10 minutes Binned 1 x 1
G: 15 x 10 minutes Binned 1 x 1
B: 15 x 10 minutes Binned 1 x 1

Larger image with additional details available here:

http://www.skiesbyafrica.com/Nebulae/vdB141.html

Thanks,
Eric

Hi all,

Man, has it been six years since I last shot this? I fondly refer to this complex of dark nebulae "The Philippine Nebula", as it reminds me of the country I was born in. I shot it back in 2006 with in H-alpha only, and didn't get around to shooting it in full color until this year (with a different setup!).

Takahashi TOA-130F on an Astro-Physics AP1200GTO mount. SBIG STL-6303E camera with FW8-STL filter wheel and Astrodon LRGB and narrowband filters. Robofocus focuser and Astrodon Takometer rotator.

Exposure Details:
H-Alpha: 19 x 30 Minutes Binned 1x1
Red: 15 x 10 Minutes Binned 1x1
Green: 15 x 10 Minutes Binned 1x1
Blue: 15 x 10 Minutes Binned 1x1

17 Hours Total Exposure Time

Captured from Rancho Hidalgo, New Mexico, January 2012.

Acquisition Software : MaximDL 5, TheSky6, CCDAutopilot 5, FocusMax, Takometer Controller

Processing Software: MaximDL, Photoshop CS/CS5, Carboni Actions, IrFanView

Preview attached. Full sized image can be seen here:

http://www.skiesbyafrica.com/Nebulae/PhilippineNebula.html

Enjoy,
Eric