Posts Made By: Ron Wodaski

May 5, 2003 12:41 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

M51

Posted By Ron Wodaski

Nice details. You have a bit of a gradient (brighter on the right) - cleaning that up will allow you to show more detail in the dim areas of the galaxy (those trailing star streams).

I can see more than a dozen galaxies on the left side, including a bunch above the cleft between the two galaxies - that is a cluster of distant galaxies, don't know the designation.

Ron Wodaski

May 5, 2003 08:05 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

M83

Posted By Ron Wodaski

THis is a great image of M*3. IT's one of my favorite galaxies because of the color and the structure. You've preserved details near the core extremely well - nice processing.

Ron W

May 7, 2003 01:24 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

First Webcam attempt Jupiter Qs?

Posted By Ron Wodaski

Nice start. I can see small details in this. I'm not familiar with the technical side of webcam imaging, but this is quite good compared to most of what I can get with CCD cameras on Jupiter.

Ron Wodaski

May 7, 2003 10:41 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Mercury transit

Posted By Ron Wodaski

That's a very innovative approach! Cool.

Ron W

May 7, 2003 10:43 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

first mar image from this apparition

Posted By Ron Wodaski

Looks great. You should be getting some excellent images with this setup once the angular size increases. Very nice start.

Ron Wodaski

May 18, 2003 10:40 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Abell 37 pn in Virgo

Posted By Ron Wodaski

Nice job - that's a dim little thing to get in color. Looks nice.

Ron Wodaski

May 21, 2003 11:26 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Centaurus Galaxy Cluster

Posted By Ron Wodaski

I don't recall seeing many color images of galaxy clusters, but I like it. The colors are subtle, but add much to the appearance of the image, IMO. Nicely done - very sharp stars, well resolved image.

Ron Wodaski

May 26, 2003 08:52 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

CCD vs. CMOS

Posted By Ron Wodaski

This is based on Foveon. Despite the hype, the reality of Foveon technology has been very limited. The basic problem, and this is a big issue when it comes to astrophotography, is quantum efficiency. The best astro-specific CCD images have a peak QE of around 90%. Foveon QE is much, much lower, so you can't acquire much signal in a reasonable period of time - but noise will acculate as quickly as it always does.

These facts are particularly ironic given that the slogan from Foveon is "use all the light." They simply don't come close to that - yes, they use all the colors (sort of, but that's another story), but they lose most of the light. A more honest slogan would be "use most of the colors but sacrifice everything else." The comparison image at the top of the article is also very deceptive; it is not comparing apples to apples at all.

So it will be much more than a year - if ever - before this particular technology becomes useful in the astro arena. It's quite disappointing to see such biased press coverage. I used to be a newspaper reporter and editor, and that has all the hallmarks of being written directly from a Foveon press release.

Ron Wodaski

May 27, 2003 05:45 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Need help in coupleing camera to scope

Posted By Ron Wodaski

Unless you put lenses at the back of the scope, there is one and only one point at which you are going to come to focus. If you are focused, then the FOV you are getting is the only one you can get without either a Barlow (less FOV, more magnfication) or a reducer (more FOV, less magnification).

Ron Wodaski

June 6, 2003 06:56 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Omega Centauri from So Cal

Posted By Ron Wodaski

Even far south in the US, Omega Centauri is a tough object because it is so far south. I have never seen it above about 8-10 degrees myself, so it's been tough to image. This is a very nice job.

Ron Wodaski