Posts Made By: Ron Wodaski

April 11, 2003 05:22 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

The Box (Hickson 61) in Coma Berenices

Posted By Ron Wodaski

This is a group of four galaxies, but only three of them area actually related to each other. The largest (NGC 4173)is actually a foreground galaxy (reshift of 0.00376). Interestingly, NGC4173 looks like it is interacting tidally with the other galaxies because it is stretched out. I wonder if it has a small satellite galaxy that it is interacting with? The other three (NGC4169, 4174, and 4175), though closer together (redshifts of 0.01262, 0.01328, and 0.01338, respectively), don't appear to show any signs of interaction.

Also remarkable is the number of background galaxies visible in the image. This was a test image for a rebuilt mounting for my C14 remote telescope in New Mexico. We mounted the cope to the mount more rigidly, and the results were very positive - this is a simple stack of three 15-minute unguided (!) images. The unguided images are made possible by the Paramount ME and its ProTrack feature.

Ron Wodaski
http://www.newastro.com/remote

April 12, 2003 12:26 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

NGC6207 LRGB

Posted By Ron Wodaski

This is the little galaxy that is near M13. I imaged it with the ST-10XE on the C14/Paramount ME. Ten luminance of 10 minutes each, plus four sets of 3:5:6 minute RGB. Guided exposures at 0.7 arcseconds/pixel.

For comparison, here is a widefile image with NGC6207 at lower center:

http://www.newastro.com/wodaski/images/new/M13_RGB012701.jpg

Ron Wodaski

April 16, 2003 08:04 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

M81 in color

Posted By Ron Wodaski

I spent a little over a week in New Mexico teaching a class on image processing. I only managed a little imaging because I was pretty busy with the classes, but this M81 turned out well. The seeing was good - a few of the images are strikingly sharp, and then the seeing reverted to more average in quality.

I didn't get enough color, so I blended two sets of RGB 2x2 images taken during this visit with color from a previous M81 with the same setup. Luminance is 5 10-minute images with C14/ST-1001E on Paramount ME. Unguided as usual.

Ron Wodaski
http://www.newastro.com/remote

April 17, 2003 09:35 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

M51 color

Posted By Ron Wodaski

This image of M51 was taken at my recent CCD image processing camp. We were hanging out in the library and I had the laptop handy so I took a series of L and RGB images. Couldn't have been easier. 12 5-minute images for a one-hour luminance. Four RGB sets, 3:5:6 minutes each. Lucy-Richardson deconvolution in CCDSoft to bring out fine detail.

Taken with C14, ST-1001E on Paramount ME. Unguided.

Ron Wodaski
http://www.newastro.com/remote


April 17, 2003 10:41 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

M108

Posted By Ron Wodaski

This is 9 5-minute images combined and sharpened with Lucy-Richardson deconvolution in CCDSoft. I used values of 1, 32, and 4 for sigma, iterations, and kernel. I generally prefer to use the largest useful sigma (up to 1), and go with many iterations rather than a large kernel size.

Taken with C14, ST-1001E, Paramount ME in New Mexico.

Ron Wodaski

April 22, 2003 06:49 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

M63 test image

Posted By Ron Wodaski

I got a chance to try a borrowed ST-10XME camera on the C14 tonight and for the next few nights. I got lucky and the seeing was really good. I lost most of it to things related to getting the setup focused, but I did get in a single 15-minute image of M63, the Sunflower Galaxy, before the fog rolled in around midnight. I assume the high humidity was responsible for the excellent seeing.

This is a single 15-minute image, guided with the camera's internal guider. The image is binned 2x2; the guider was binned 3x3.

Ron Wodaski
http://www.newastro.com/remote

April 23, 2003 06:49 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Owl Nebula

Posted By Ron Wodaski

This is a stack of three 15-minute images taken with the loaner ST-10XME camera on the C14/Paramount ME. There are quite a few background galaxies in evidence.

Ron Wodaski
http://www.newastro.com/remote

April 23, 2003 09:12 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

The Mice show their tails

Posted By Ron Wodaski

This is the final test exposure for the ST-10XME camera, at least within the time that I have use of it (it's a borrowed camera). This is made up of 6 15-minute images. Taken with the C14 at New Mexico Skies.

Ron Wodaski
http://www.newastro.com/remote

April 25, 2003 09:14 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

A little bitty Jupiter

Posted By Ron Wodaski

This image of Jupiter doesn't match up to the excellent work done with video cameras, but it's still one of the best I've ever gotten. Imaged with an ST-10XE camera on a C14, prime focus (no Barlow). I averaged 8 each of red, green, and blue and then some sharpening with Lucy-Richardson deconvolution and unsharp masking.

Ron Wodaski

April 26, 2003 11:37 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Deep M57 showing outer shell

Posted By Ron Wodaski

Here is a stack of 11 images of M57 - six are 5-minute exposures, and five are 15-minute exposures. I summed the exposures so as to not have to worry about the different exposure lengths. This doesn't quite show all of the outer shells; there are some dim ones even further out than this.

Another nice side effect was a lot more detail on the galaxy IC1296 to the upper right. A few more distant galaxies can also be seen. I used two layers for this image, one with just M57 in it and the other with the background. Stars got kind of bloated with the extreme stretch required to show the outer shells, so I used Photoshop's Minimum filter to trim them down to size.

Taken with the C14/ST-10XME/Paramount ME remote setup in New Mexico.

Ron Wodaski
http://www.newastro.com/remote