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Posts Made By: Paul Hyndman

April 4, 2002 08:30 PM Forum: Film Astrophotography - Imaging and Processing

M3 in Canus Venatici

Posted By Paul Hyndman
Hi All,

I was putzing around earlier tonight and decided to snag a few shots of M3. I've got a hellacious amount of drift (time for my semi-annual polar alignment! shocked), and the target was pretty close to the horizon (@20:30hrs) so lacks punch... But in the spirit of christening Herb's new boards here it is:


Specs
=============================
Scope: 203mm f5.9 Mak-Newt
EP: 17mm Nagler
Camera: Nikon CP995
Exposure: 39.7 seconds
Zoom: f2.8/FL10mm
ISO: 400
Noise Rd: On

Cheers,

Paul

April 11, 2002 11:58 PM Forum: Film Astrophotography - Imaging and Processing

Sombrero and meteor (?)

Posted By Paul Hyndman
Hi All,

It's a tad after 3AM and I'm about to pack it in for tonight, but wanted to share a quick anomoly shot with you. About 2 hours into tonight's session I moved over to M104. The first image picked up a flash that appears to be a meteor (doesn't look like an Iridium flare and was low near the southerly horizon at about 11PM).

Below is a brightened copy of the raw image...Check it out and see what you think.

I posted the original raw (cropped) and one with a few more images added to smooth out the noise some (shots were 59 seconds @ISO800 w/Nikon CP995) at:

http://astro-nut.com/m104a.jpg

http://astro-nut.com/m104b.jpg

I'll process 'em some cloudy night after I get up to speed with ImagePlus... but for now it's off to bed (yaaaaaawn).

G'night all,

Paul


April 14, 2002 05:24 PM Forum: Film Astrophotography - Imaging and Processing

WooHoo!!! Images Plus rocks my M5 Shot!!!

Posted By Paul Hyndman
Hi All,

I'm slowly getting up to speed with Images Plus software, and all I can say is Wowie-Ka-Zowie!

8" Mak-Newt w/31mm T5 Nagler and Nikon CP995, 5 shots @58 seconds each, 1 @ISO800 and the rest @ISO400 in NR mode.

If only this thing called "My Job" didn't keep getting in the way of my personal development programs! shocked)

Cheers,

Paul


April 26, 2002 03:51 PM Forum: Film Astrophotography - Imaging and Processing

A Weelly, Weeeelly big moon!

Posted By Paul Hyndman
Hi All,

I apologize to those who may have already seen this on another egroup I visit, but...

I just finished a monster-sized Lunar mosaic, consisting of 23 individual (2048x1536) images culled from 200. A local shop is able to use Genuine Fractal format files and can do up to 60"x90"... WooHoo!!! Unfortunately the widest laminations I've found in the past were limited to 42", so I'll probably limit it to 42"x48" (screen detail looks good even at 80"x92").

Images were taken through a 203mm Mak-Newt using a Nikon CP995 direct-coupled to a 31mm T5 Nagler EP. Processing courtesy of Images Plus with color matching and placement done via Adobe PhotShop (I'm not up to speed with IP yet, but am workin' at it! shocked)

Hmmm... a small version jpeg cropping (1800x1784 pixel, 315K file) takes a long time to load here... please be patient. Or if you feel like surfing, you can see the same small version at:

http://astro-nut.com/lunar-mosaic.jpg

Cheers,

Paul


May 4, 2002 09:49 AM Forum: Film Astrophotography - Imaging and Processing

M57 CoolPix image

Posted By Paul Hyndman
Hi All,

I took advantage of the cooler temps and late arrival of the Moon last night to hunt a few brighter targets with the digicam, capturing Messiers 4, 13, 19, 57, & 62. Transparency was good, but atmospheric turbulence limited me to lower power levels.

Nothing to write home about, but here's the M57 results (processing courtesy of Images Plus with a Photoshop tweak). The central star is barely visible (adjust your monitor to display the 16-bar gray scale... some of my famous "averted imagination" helps too! shocked)

Taken with an 8" Mak-Newt and Nikon CP995 direct-coupled to a 31mm T5 Nagler EP. Consists of five 50 second images at ISO800 in the NR mode.

Cheers,

Paul

May 4, 2002 04:24 PM Forum: Film Astrophotography - Imaging and Processing

M19 via Images Plus

Posted By Paul Hyndman
Hi All,

I wanted to hit some of Ophiuchus' and the Scorpion's treasures while they obligingly passed the lone accessible opening in my southerly treeline. Despite minimal elevation and a thicker slice of atmosphere to contend with, the images came out pretty decent. I was especially gratified with the rich color variations present in the globulars and, with (drum roll please...) Images Plus was able to carry those over from the raw M19 images to the final without blowing out the core... (I haven't finished processing the M4 or M62 images yet).

Note the vivid range of colors and elliptical shape of the main body.

Vitals are: 8" Mak-Newt using a CoolPix 995 direct-coupled to a 31mm T5 Nagler EP. Combination of five 50 second shots taken at ISO800 in NR mode.


Cheers,

Paul

May 8, 2002 08:13 PM Forum: Film Astrophotography - Imaging and Processing

M13 via CoolPix995

Posted By Paul Hyndman
Hi All,

Quickly plopped together a few M13 shots from taken during my last session. It's from a group of ISO400 shots at ~40 seconds each, 31mm T5 EP in an 8" Mak-Newt. They still need work to bring out the colors without blowing out the core, but here's what I've got so far:


May 11, 2002 02:58 AM Forum: Film Astrophotography - Imaging and Processing

Tea anyone?

Posted By Paul Hyndman
Hi All,

I didn't plan on an all-nighter, but one thing seemed to lead to another and before I knew it the sky started to (yawwwwn) brighten.

It was a fairly prosperous night though, bagging M82, M3, M53, M51, M9, M62, M57, and the NGC700 area before doing a few scopeless shots.

Here's one of those "scopeless" shots, showing the steam rising from the "teapot" (geeze, it's after 6am... maybe *I* should make some tea!):

And to all a good night!

Paul

PS: Ooops... almost forgot... Nikon CoolPix995!

May 11, 2002 10:30 AM Forum: Film Astrophotography - Imaging and Processing

Three part harmony at ISO800

Posted By Paul Hyndman
Hi All,

A quickie mosaic from this early am... don't look too hard, or you'll see the warts (seam lines!)

Nikon CoolPix995 piggy-backed on an EQ mount, lens to full open (f2.6), ~58 seconds at ISO800, Noise Reduction set to on.

Three sections, each consisiting of one to four images combined qvia Images Plus (to help smooth random noise), and slapped together via Adobe PhotoShop (sorry IP'ers... but don't know my way around IP that well yet! shocked)

Hey... gotta run. It's a gorgeous day here today and the garden calls!

Cheers,

Paul

May 28, 2002 09:33 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Hi-Res Gibbous Moon image

Posted By Paul Hyndman
It's a tad too big to load here, but you can see it at:

http://astro-nut.com/gibbousmoon.jpg

or the (now old) full moon pic at:

http://astro-nut.com/lunar-mosaic.jpg

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