Posts Made By: dan kowall

November 22, 2006 11:20 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

NGC 2174

Posted By dan kowall

This nebula is drab and nondescript in RGB, but it comes alive in narrowband.
Imaged, as always, from my light polluted back yard.
ST10 on a 6" refractor, 17 hours unbinned.
A larger image and details are here:
http://www.photonhunter.com/nebulae/NGC2174.html
Thanks for looking,

dan kowall

December 31, 2006 01:56 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

M 31 Mosaic

Posted By dan kowall

This is my first mosaic and it shows.
It wasn't well planned so it's a hodge-podge of sub-frames. Somewhere along the line black points got clipped and star colors got lost. What can I say, it was a learning experience.
Larger images and details are here:
http://www.photonhunter.com/galaxies/M31,MOS.html
The 'Largest Image' at the site is still only half size of the original.

dan kowall

P.S.
This Sunday morning I have corrected the color balance on the originally posted image.

January 20, 2007 07:00 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Hickson 44

Posted By dan kowall

Hickson 44 is a gravitationally bound group of galaxies featuring distorted dust lanes, bent arms, and material bridges. Three of the four members of this group appear in this image.
Conditions have been horrible lately, and I still haven't been able to tweak collimation after a mirror cleaning. Ya just gotta take what's given sometimes.
A larger image and details are here:
http://www.photonhunter.com/galaxies/HICKSON44.html
Thanks for looking,

dan

January 26, 2007 08:52 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

NGC 2403

Posted By dan kowall

I had hoped to get more data on this one, but Mother Nature hasn't allowed it.
This galaxy is large but dim.
I made a synthetic luminance out of the RGBs in order to do some core sharpening on this image.
Larger images and image details may be found here:
http://www.photonhunter.com/galaxies/NGC2403.html

Thanks for looking,

dan

January 28, 2007 03:06 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

M 81

Posted By dan kowall

The cloudy weather has found me processing incomplete data from a couple of months ago.
At least it's better than the previous image that I had done of this galaxy.
Larger images and details are to be found here:
http://www.photonhunter.com/galaxies/M81.html

Thanks for looking,

dan

January 30, 2007 09:45 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Congratulations-Jim Thommes!

Posted By dan kowall

Jim Thommes' image of NGC 2546 can be seen in the March issue of Sky & Telescope (page 74).
How cool is that?

February 9, 2007 03:28 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Congratulations-Alan Friedman!

Posted By dan kowall

I'm more of a reader than a poster here, but I did notice that Alan got the
Astronomy Photo of the Day today for his image of Ptolemaeus, Alphonsus, and Arzachel.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
That's a well deserved honor.

dan kowall
photonhunter.com

February 28, 2007 05:47 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

M 108

Posted By dan kowall

Despite being of decent size and conveniently located in Ursa Major, this galaxy doesn't receive as much photographic attention as its neighbors (such as M 81 and M 82). Perhaps this is because its dustier than PigPen (the Peanuts character) and not as photogenic?
Larger images and a write-up are here:
http://www.photonhunter.com/galaxies/M108.html
but its about 9 hours with an ST10 on a 12" reflector.
As usual this winter, this was taken under less than ideal conditions, but I think a lot of us are in the same boat.

dan

P.S.
---And as usual, I reworked and replaced the image this morning.
I think it's time to walk away from it now.

March 9, 2007 06:49 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

IC 2162

Posted By dan kowall

I don't like to post incomplete images, but that's all the weather is allowing me.
This one does have a couple of years worth of data, but it needs more. Since it's now out of my target area, I'll have to wait until next year to gather more data.
Processing was an interesting exercise since various subs were at various rotations and different fields of view.
It's about 9 hours of HaRGB on a 12" reflector @ f/9 with an ST10.
Larger images, object identifications, and more information are here:
http://www.photonhunter.com/nebulae/IC2162,'07.html

dan

March 16, 2007 05:20 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Quasar

Posted By dan kowall

On another group a Richard Steinberg had posted an image of a quasar.
I examined an image of M 97 that I had never posted and, lo and behold, there it was:
http://www.photonhunter.com/nebulae/M97,quasar.html

An SDSS image of this object may be seen here:
http://cas.sdss.org/dr5/en/tools/chart/navi.asp?ra=168.76879&dec=55.02869

Since it has a g-filter mag of 19.12, many of you may have imaged this, too. I used a 12" reflector for this image.
This quasar has a recession velocity of 65.5% of the speed of light.
Thanks for looking,

dan