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Posts Made By: Ivan Gastaldo

October 8, 2004 08:12 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

A BIG THANK YOU...

Posted By Ivan Gastaldo
Well, just wanted to stop by & say THANK YOU to all the Image Posters here... your pictures have helped many people improve themselves, their pictures, their processing techniques, & also kept many of us "alive" since our weather has not been so good lately...

Also would like to Thank You because I KNOW how much work goes behind the scenes in order to get the final image here...
Some people might not realize this, but sometimes you are watching the results of many hours of work, and these people are sharing with us the results of their hard work, love & dedication.


THANK YOU GUYS!



Ivan
8)


October 19, 2004 09:08 AM Forum: Home Observatories

I surrendered to THE DARK SIDE...

Posted By Ivan Gastaldo
Of my house, that is...
My wife & I were having one of our vehicles serviced at Sears last night, and while we were waiting we decided to take a walk through the store... ahhh, that was a good thing!
We went through the tools section, the patio furniture section, and there it was, a SHEDS book right in front of us, so while she was looking at the patio furniture, I started looking at the sheds (dreaming about setting up my own observatory), and found a nice one on sale... wife saw it and said, GET IT!

A nice Arrow metal shed 9x10 for $220, not too shabby! 8)

Of course, now I'm gonna pick everybody's brains here and try to get as much info as I can so that I do things right... please, could you give me some pointers as far as the best foundation for it, links to shed observatories and/or examples if anybody here has built one like that. I plan on making it a roll-off roof one...

I'm gonna check with the house association, just to make sure all is OK before I do anything against their rules, but being that the shed will be in an area non visible from the outside, should be ok...

I won't be able to run wires to it, but I plan on using wireless access to it, for computer control.


Thanks for your input guys, and clear skies to all...


Ivan
8)
"Building my dream one step at a time..."

October 21, 2004 05:09 PM Forum: Home Observatories

Piers made out of 4x4x4's

Posted By Ivan Gastaldo
I'm thinking a lot about the pier itself, and as much as I would love to make one of concrete, I'm trying to stay away from anything that "could" be a problem if I ever needed to move from my house and have to take it down...

Has anybody seen any of the Homemade Piers made out of (4) 4x4's ? I could dig a deep enough hole in the ground and secure it with some concrete... would this be ok? If not I might have to go the concrete route... not enough money for the Fancy Pre-Made Metal Piers...


Clear skies!


Ivan
smile

October 21, 2004 05:22 PM Forum: A Day in the Life of the Administrator

Heads up Admin...

Posted By Ivan Gastaldo
Not sure if you saw this post Herb, but just wanted to let you see it, as I don't find the language "politically correct"...

http://www.astromart.com/forums/viewpost.asp?forum_post_id=263418&poll_id=&news_id=&page=



Take good care, and thanks for everything.


Ivan
8)

November 7, 2004 06:51 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Re: Your Thoughts:

Posted By Ivan Gastaldo
Harold, IMHO, and as Floyd pointed out, I don't think you would be happy dropping from the "false-color free" images that you get with the 12" SCT and going to a 6" ACHRO... (I had a chance to compare it to my 10" LX200 GPS and there was simply NO comparison...)(NOTE: of course I'm not 100% sure of what exactly are you expecting from this scope, besides lighter weight)

I would personally recommend going to an 8" SCT, which is a good compromise between weight & light gathering...


Good luck, and keep it touch!



Ivan
8)

November 28, 2004 08:40 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

DSI FIRST LIGHT, BLUE SNOWBALL...

Posted By Ivan Gastaldo
Hello all!
Got my DSI about a week ago, and just today I had a chance to try it out...
One thing I can surely say is that IT IS NOT AS EASY AS THEY SAY IT IS! (but also it is not that bad..., I guess it would help knowing "what the heck" to do...)

I wanted to pick something nice, faint but concentrated in a small area, and planetary nebulas are just great for that...

Here's a 20x15sec shot of C22 - Blue Snowball... nothing to write home about, but excited to see that I can finally get started imaging DSOs, even with this glorified webcam... smile
Next time I'll try to use a barlow to magnify the image a bit more... but only had 2 hours to play... and way too much to learn!

I surely hope one day I'll be able to afford better CCD cameras, but for now this will have to do...

As a side note, if you ever consider getting the DSI, please, do not settle for less than the recommended system, as I've tried 2 different laptops, and nedless to say, anything less than the recommended would make the whole experience even more frustrating... (make sure you have USB 2.0!!!)



Clear skies to all, my friends!


Ivan
smile


P.S.

Great pics everyone!!
Way too many posts to keep up with the replying... smile

November 29, 2004 02:21 PM Forum: A Day in the Life of the Administrator

Where to send check?

Posted By Ivan Gastaldo
Herb, I lost the info about who/where to send a Money Order/Check for AstroMart Support... could you please post it here, I'm sure some other people could use that info...

Tried to use the Supporters Section, but seems it is only set for Credit Cards, and I much rather send you a check at this time.


Thank You,


Ivan
smile

December 4, 2004 06:58 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

DSI's Blue Snowball, second try...

Posted By Ivan Gastaldo
Here we go again, this time used a 2x barlow on my scope to pump up the magnification on this lil' nebula...

This was my second time out with the DSI, and there's so much to learn it is not funny!
Anyways, not a stellar shot, but having fun while learning how to use this darn thing!

Equipment:
Meade 10" LX-200GPS
Celestron f/6.3 reducer.
Celestron Ultima 2x barlow.
Meade DSI

40x15sec exposures, stacked in Registax, and processed in Photoshop.


Clear skies to all, and keep your shots coming!


Ivan
8)


December 7, 2004 02:31 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

FLATS & DARKS, questions...

Posted By Ivan Gastaldo
First of all, are they the same?
Second, I know they are truly necessary in order to remove much of the noise found in the images we take, but how often do you take them? must you take a new set if you make changes in your imaging setup? (ie. when changing from f/10 to f/6.3 with r/c?)... What about if ambient temperature changes, do you take a new set of them also?


Thank you for your attention, and clear skies to all!


Ivan
8)

December 9, 2004 06:25 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Re: Saturn on Dec 9, 2004

Posted By Ivan Gastaldo
Wonderful shots Eric!
Congrats!


Ivan
8)

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