Posts Made By: Chris Hetlage

I was impressed that I could get this kind of pic from a 3min exposure without an autoguider. This was my first attempt at M42 and my first attempt at drift alignment. It is definitely not a keeper but one of those encouraging pics I felt worth sharing. It is noisy, blurry and low res but shows the possibilities.

AP130, AP600e, Canon D60, 1-3min pic, prime focus, levels adjusted and noise reduced in Photoshop, no darks were taken.

Just got back from a long weekend, this may need some more processing...

Comments welcome,
Chris

This is my first 'real' M42 (I shot a few unguided images last fall that didn't really turn out). This is also my first attempt at layering in Photoshop.

Basically this is what I did; I took a combined image, say the Blue. I lowered the histogram so all I could see is the core of M42. Saved it as a new TIF file. Then I took the same image, opened it again, and adjusted the histogram so I could see all the nebula detail (with the burned out core). Saved this as a new file. Opened both files in Photoshop. Converted these to 8bit TIFS. Did a select-all on the brighter image. Copied and pasted it into the image with the dim core detail. Then I used Select color range to select the burned out core, feathered it a bit, and then deleted the selected portion to show the dim core details below it. Flattened it and saved it as a new TIF. I repeated this for each color channel. Then I combined the RGB images and used PS to adjust the color and levels and sharpness.

Does this make sense? I thought it turned out OK but I have seen much better.

Here is the link this image on my site with the exposure details.

http://www.hetlage.com/astro/images/m42.htm

Any comments would be appreciated.
Chris

Hi Eric, I use a Dell laptop with an 802.11b wireless connection to my desktop, when I am imaging from home. I also use a Linksys WAP/Router. It requires that I place my laptop outside alongside my scope setup, but it does work quite nicely. I have all my equipment on a wheeled cart so I can easily move it in and out of the garage. Connected to the laptop is my AP Mount, Robofocus, and ST8XE. Once I have made a good drift alignment, and a 1 star GOTO alignment, I am ready to be remote for the rest of the evening. I use TheSky to slew the scope and CCDSoft for image acquisition and focusing. I have used RemoteAdmin to control the laptop CPU and it works fine. Right now I am experimenting with VNC (which is freeware) and it also seems to be working well.

I have not seen wireless USB hubs yet or wireless serial extensions but with Bluetooth I suppose may be coming soon or already exists. Wireless USB hubs would be fantastic for me as I am mostly portable and it would be GREAT to sit in the warm-up shed and have full control of my setup. I suppose if one had 2 laptops he could do a peer to peer wireless network in the field (I may have to try this sometime).

My 2 cents. Hope this helps.

BTW, here are two images I did from home using this setup
http://www.hetlage.com/astro/images/ic405.htm
http://www.hetlage.com/astro/images/m33.htm


Chris

Bet you never heard that term. Last Sunday I was at one of our clubs dark sky sites and was demonstrating imaging to a few new members. I roughly polar aligned, using only my AP Polar Scope, installed my ST8, and used my Robofocus to quickly focus. I must have been aligned pretty close as my guiding errors were really low.

Since this image only took 10 minutes I call it Quickie Mode. Maybe we can have a Quickie Mode Marathon to see how many DSO's one can get in an evening.

AP130, AP600e, ST8XE
5, 2 minute exposures

Another Quickie Mode pic from Sunday night

AP130, AP600e, ST8XE
5-2 minute exposures

I reworked this image and think it looks a bit better. I hope it is not over-processed. Image processing is still frustrating for me. Ron, any word on that new book? I would be happy to review it and write an testimonial

Click here for the details
http://www.hetlage.com/astro/images/leo_trio.htm

Chris
http://hetlage.com

Thanks to all for sharing the great pics this past week. I've been unable to reply individually so here is a group Ya-da-boy!

I'll add my most recent. I wasn't able to get any color but will the next time out. Looks like I got some good L.

M101, AP130 f6, ST8XE, 20x3mins.

Chris
http://hetlage.com

AP130 @f48 (AP2x, PowerMate 4x) ToUcam Pro, 300 frames, absolutely the worst seeing ever (I mean fog, clouds, big moon...). I WILL DO BETTER.

Chris
http://hetlage.com

Not my scope and an $80 webcam!

I used my clubs custom-built 20in and a ToUcam for this pic. Transparency was poor and focusing was difficult. I'm hoping the skies will clear again for another try.

- ToUCam Pro 740k with Moog, Sirius NIR1 filter and Baader Contrast Booster filter (These really help the blue channel)
- 550 frames out of 1100 Autoselected, aligned and stacked in K3CCDTools
- Color Channels realigned in ImagesPlus
- Curves, Unsharp Mask, Gaussian Blur, Color adjusts in Photoshop.

Thanks for looking,
Chris
http://hetlage.com