Racing against the Moon, Sun, and the meridian, on two consecutive nights I captured Panel G in luminance, red, green, and blue. The mosaic seen above consists of all six panels in luminance only. Now having all data in LRGB, I created Panel G in color. The image above shows accurate star color and also …
If you have been following the progress of the mosaic and you’ve wondered how I derived the panel naming scheme, this explains it: That screenshot came from a program called Computer Assisted Astronomy (C2A) by Philippe Deverchère. I highly recommend it. It offers the ability to create User Catalogs. I created a catalog named “M31 …
Captured three additional panels last night: C, E, and F. The plan was to also capture G but a cloud bank interfered with F. Waited for clouds to pass but by then G was not possible due to the meridian and dawn. The weather forecast says that this coming Saturday may be favorable. It will …
Six more panels to go in Luminance! And then to do eight panels in Red, eight panels in Green, and eight panels in Blue. Lot’s to do but the results are encouraging. For perspective here is Panel A: and here is Panel B: Astro Pixel Processor (APP) for imaging processing and mosaic creation. INDI/Ekos used …
Dew is condensed water vapor that likes to form on optical surfaces whenever the relative humidity is high. The featured image shows a dew drop that formed on my camera’s sensor window shortly after I turned on the thermo-electric cooler. It ruined a night’s worth of astrophotography because I did not have a plan in …
Astro Pixel Processor (APP) has a powerful tool for creating mosaics. Last night I tested it out. The result is stunning: My camera has a small field-of-view. It cannot fit the entire nebula in one shot. It must be broken up into two panels. Here is a screenshot of my planetarium software C2A. I used …
The Cocoon Nebula lies in the constellation Cygnus in one of the nearby arms of our Milky Way galaxy. In the distant past the nebula gave birth to a cluster of highly energetic stars. The energy from those stars ionize the hydrogen gas, causing it to glow red. The technical classification of this nebula is …
The Dumbbell Nebula was discovered in 1764 by famed French astronomer and comet hunter Charles Messier. It is the 27th object in his eponymous catalog, better known as M27. The hot central star, which can be seen in this image, is in one of its last evolutionary stages. The gases were ejected about 9,800 years …
There is a raging debate over short exposures vs long. The decision to use one over the other is multi-faceted. Here are some reasons to consider short exposures over longer ones: 1. Your mount isn’t up to the task.2. You live in a zone where aircraft frequently buzz by.3. You have clear skies but with …
Acquisition Date: June 18, 2018 This was my first attempt at color with a monochrome camera. It was a real learning experience. The image you see uses synthetic luminance which I created from the RGB stacks with the help of StarTools. A couple weeks earlier, I imaged in actual luminance but made the mistake of …