Image of the day

Captured by
RICHARD COFER

M 82 Cigar Galaxy

About Astromart

My Account

New to Astromart?

Register an account...

Need Help?

Posts Made By: Chris Nisbet

May 12, 2012 06:13 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

M95 Processing Question

Posted By Chris Nisbet
As you can see, this image has numerous black dots right on M95 (naturally). What are these? Are these cold pixels? How do you remove them?

This is a combination of nine images taken with a C11 at f/6.5 with a ST-8XME. 10 minute exposures, darks and flats taken same night. Basic processing with CCDStack v2. CCDAP v5 dithered the exposures.

Chris Nisbet
Cedar, MN

July 17, 2012 06:10 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Soap Bubble in Cygnus - Ha

Posted By Chris Nisbet
Haven't seen this one posted for awhile so here is my attempt. The Soap Bubble Nebula in Cygnus in Ha. That is one faint object. No wonder it wasn't discovered until 2008.

Celestron 11 at f/6.5 (Celestron reducer in an Optec Agos adapter), ST-8XME, Astrodon 6nm Ha filter, 10x15 min subs. Processed in CCDStack v2.

Chris N
Cedar, MN

August 11, 2012 04:57 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Part of Cygnus Wall in Ha

Posted By Chris Nisbet
Since I image with a C11, it is not possible to get NGC 7000 in its entirety in a single frame. So, I picked out a region to image in NGC 7000 around the "end" of the Cygnus Wall just to see how it would turn out. Here it is. There sure is a lot "going on" in that cloud!

15x10 min subs, Astrodon 6nm Ha, ST-8XME, C11 at f6.5, MI-250 and CCDAP5 (now I can sleep).

Chris N
Cedar MN

March 18, 2013 06:16 PM Forum: Home Observatories

Snow Piles

Posted By Chris Nisbet
Well it's only a few days away from official spring but the snow will not stop here in Minnesota. Nor will the cold. Apparently the efforts to stop global warming have suceeded at least in Minnesota! LOL!!!

Seriously, from my weather station data, I have not hit 40.0 deg here since January 6th. That's a long time even for here. By now, the snow piles are usually melting and the cords and cables have regained their mobility. Not this year. Fortunately, a couple of years ago, I converted the observatory to remote imaging so even though the scope is 150 feet from the house, I operate it from the comfort of home. Roll back the roof (rolls in either direction), power everything up and let CCD Autopilot do the rest.

Oh and let's not forget the persistent clouds at night. Clear all day, clouds up at night. Cruel.


Chris N

Cedar, MN

March 18, 2013 06:40 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

NGC 40 Small Planetary

Posted By Chris Nisbet
I haven't posted anything in awhile and this persistent winter is getting old so I had some time to process some images. Anyway, this does not appear to be a popular target probably because of the small size (only 1.2'). These small planetaries can be quite challenging but fun to capture.


Taken with a C11 at f/11.5 (3220mm), MI-250, AO-8, Optec Rotator, CFW-10, Astrodon LRGB Gen 1, ST-8XME. Lum 7x10 min 2x2, RGB each 5x10 min 2x2 processed in CCD Stack 2.

Chris N
Cedar, MN

April 14, 2013 11:09 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

NGC 7320 Celestron 11

Posted By Chris Nisbet
Well as I'm posting this from Minnesota, it's snowing, 32 deg with a windchill around 10 deg. The yard is still snow covered. There is no hope of spring anytime soon here. So I thought I would post a pic. I have been trying to get a somewhat decent pic of this group back to the film days. As everyone knows, it's small and faint. And the weather here in the fall can be quite finicky. OK, I'm done complaining. NGC 7320 taken with a C11 (factory CF tube) at f/11.5 (3220mm), ST-8XME, AO-8, Astrodon color filters, MI-250. Lum 10 x 15min, RGB 5 x 15min.

Chris N
Cedar, MN

May 12, 2013 05:30 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Abell 2065 Galaxy Group

Posted By Chris Nisbet
Well winter here in Minnesota just won't end but for the first time in months, we had a clear night all night. I was lucky I remembered how everything worked! Using Uranometria 2000, I saw Abell 2065 listed and not much of a description. The Sky 6 showed a quite a a number of very faint galaxies. A quick check of the internet revealed a few pics of the galaxy cluster. It didn't appeared to imaged frequently so that was going to be my target to see what I could capture with my modest setup. So here is the result. And more importantly, everything worked without any issue!

I was also intrigued by the fact that this cluster is 1.5 BILLION light years distant. Wow.

Taken with a C11 with an Optec Agos adaptor (f6.8, 1900mm), ST-8XME, MI-250, CCDAP5.

10x15 min subs, CCDStack 2. (Outside temp in the upper 20's.)


Chris N
Cedar, MN

October 10, 2013 09:48 AM Forum: Comets

ISON 10/08/2013

Posted By Chris Nisbet
Finally getting high enough to image but just barely. Trees and imminent sunrise. Imaged with a C11 at f/6.5, ST-8XME binned 2x2. Sixteen 3 minute exposures. Imaged 10:23 UT to 11:11 UT. Sunrise 12:20 UT. Processed in DeepSkyTracker first to keep the comet and stars sharp then CCDStack 2.


Chris N
Cedar MN

October 13, 2013 06:56 AM Forum: Comets

ISON 10/13/2013

Posted By Chris Nisbet
The weather forecast is not good here for the week so here is a pic of ISON this morning from Minneapolis MN. Taken with a C11 at f6.5. ST-8XME binned 2x2. 18 3 minute exposures processed in DeepSky Tracker then CCDStack.



Chris N
Cedar, MN

August 16, 2014 04:05 AM Forum: After Dark

What Does A Clear Sky Look Like?

Posted By Chris Nisbet
I live in Minnesota and I must say this has been the worst year for clear skies in a VERY long time. Plus smoke from Canadian and Western wildfires didn't help anything. Couple that with the extreme cold this past winter and the MI-250 has been pretty quite this year. Gave me a chance to do a lot of maintenance but it sure would be nice to hear the drive motors hum!

Where are the clear skies?

Chris N
Cedar, MN

Funding Member

Telescopes, Astronomy, Binoculars

Sponsors


View all sponsors

Search