New Image - M108 (Galaxy) and M97 (The Owl Nebula)
Hi all. I took advantage of the last two clear nights to do a little astrophotography from my new observatory. Murphy's Law kicked in right away. After waiting for weeks for a clear night, and checking and rechecking my equipment, the power supply on my FLI MicroLine ML3200 camera failed just as I was getting ready to focus. I lost some valuable time messing around with it before I decided it was dead. Thankfully, I still have my Starlight Xpress SXVF-H16 camera, so I did a quick re-rack and forged ahead. I managed to get some decent data despite the less than optimal conditions. I took 18 frames at 10 minutes each for luminance on the first night, and then added 80 minutes each for the RGB channels. Here is a link to my "Latest Images" webpage: http://www.allred-astro.com/gpage8.html Be sure to click the thumbnail to get to the clickable full image. I am pretty happy with the image, especially with the number of small galaxies that are sprinkled throughout. I was also surprised to see just a hint of the faint outer shell of M97, which is rarely images. You need to look pretty closely to see it, but it is there nonetheless. It is fun to get two nice objects in a single frame. Comments and suggestions are always welcome. Cheers, Tyler
Outstanding, Tyler! Besides the outer shell, which is easily seen, isn't there some barely discernible nebulosity slightly to the right of a line between M108 and the star? It's about two-thirds of the way to the star and then to the right -- like dark bands of nebulosity. What a fine picture. Thanks, Joe ________________________________ From: Tyler Allred <tylerallred@earthlink.net> To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Sent: Tue, February 9, 2010 3:34:45 PM Subject: [Utah-astronomy] New Image - M108 (Galaxy) and M97 (The Owl Nebula) Hi all. I took advantage of the last two clear nights to do a little astrophotography from my new observatory. Murphy's Law kicked in right away. After waiting for weeks for a clear night, and checking and rechecking my equipment, the power supply on my FLI MicroLine ML3200 camera failed just as I was getting ready to focus. I lost some valuable time messing around with it before I decided it was dead. Thankfully, I still have my Starlight Xpress SXVF-H16 camera, so I did a quick re-rack and forged ahead. I managed to get some decent data despite the less than optimal conditions. I took 18 frames at 10 minutes each for luminance on the first night, and then added 80 minutes each for the RGB channels. Here is a link to my "Latest Images" webpage: http://www.allred-astro.com/gpage8.html Be sure to click the thumbnail to get to the clickable full image. I am pretty happy with the image, especially with the number of small galaxies that are sprinkled throughout. I was also surprised to see just a hint of the faint outer shell of M97, which is rarely images. You need to look pretty closely to see it, but it is there nonetheless. It is fun to get two nice objects in a single frame. Comments and suggestions are always welcome. Cheers, Tyler _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com
Joe, Thanks Joe. I think that the dark areas you are seeing are defects from the luminosity frames. My H-16 camera was acting up a bit that first night, and I had an area of the frames that showed some dark areas, even after flat fielding. I decided not to fix it in the final image because it covered a fairly large area. I was really pleased to capture that outer shell, which is almost never imaged. Cheers, Tyler -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Joe Bauman Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2010 4:12 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] New Image - M108 (Galaxy) and M97 (The Owl Nebula) Outstanding, Tyler! Besides the outer shell, which is easily seen, isn't there some barely discernible nebulosity slightly to the right of a line between M108 and the star? It's about two-thirds of the way to the star and then to the right -- like dark bands of nebulosity. What a fine picture. Thanks, Joe ________________________________ From: Tyler Allred <tylerallred@earthlink.net> To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Sent: Tue, February 9, 2010 3:34:45 PM Subject: [Utah-astronomy] New Image - M108 (Galaxy) and M97 (The Owl Nebula) Hi all. I took advantage of the last two clear nights to do a little astrophotography from my new observatory. Murphy's Law kicked in right away. After waiting for weeks for a clear night, and checking and rechecking my equipment, the power supply on my FLI MicroLine ML3200 camera failed just as I was getting ready to focus. I lost some valuable time messing around with it before I decided it was dead. Thankfully, I still have my Starlight Xpress SXVF-H16 camera, so I did a quick re-rack and forged ahead. I managed to get some decent data despite the less than optimal conditions. I took 18 frames at 10 minutes each for luminance on the first night, and then added 80 minutes each for the RGB channels. Here is a link to my "Latest Images" webpage: http://www.allred-astro.com/gpage8.html Be sure to click the thumbnail to get to the clickable full image. I am pretty happy with the image, especially with the number of small galaxies that are sprinkled throughout. I was also surprised to see just a hint of the faint outer shell of M97, which is rarely images. You need to look pretty closely to see it, but it is there nonetheless. It is fun to get two nice objects in a single frame. Comments and suggestions are always welcome. Cheers, Tyler _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com
Maybe a dark nebulosity was really there and you managed to capture it -- is that possible? Anyway, thanks for a wonderful image. -- Joe ________________________________ From: Tyler Allred <tylerallred@earthlink.net> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Tue, February 9, 2010 8:01:49 PM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] New Image - M108 (Galaxy) and M97 (The Owl Nebula) Joe, Thanks Joe. I think that the dark areas you are seeing are defects from the luminosity frames. My H-16 camera was acting up a bit that first night, and I had an area of the frames that showed some dark areas, even after flat fielding. I decided not to fix it in the final image because it covered a fairly large area. I was really pleased to capture that outer shell, which is almost never imaged. Cheers, Tyler -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Joe Bauman Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2010 4:12 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] New Image - M108 (Galaxy) and M97 (The Owl Nebula) Outstanding, Tyler! Besides the outer shell, which is easily seen, isn't there some barely discernible nebulosity slightly to the right of a line between M108 and the star? It's about two-thirds of the way to the star and then to the right -- like dark bands of nebulosity. What a fine picture. Thanks, Joe ________________________________ From: Tyler Allred <tylerallred@earthlink.net> To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Sent: Tue, February 9, 2010 3:34:45 PM Subject: [Utah-astronomy] New Image - M108 (Galaxy) and M97 (The Owl Nebula) Hi all. I took advantage of the last two clear nights to do a little astrophotography from my new observatory. Murphy's Law kicked in right away. After waiting for weeks for a clear night, and checking and rechecking my equipment, the power supply on my FLI MicroLine ML3200 camera failed just as I was getting ready to focus. I lost some valuable time messing around with it before I decided it was dead. Thankfully, I still have my Starlight Xpress SXVF-H16 camera, so I did a quick re-rack and forged ahead. I managed to get some decent data despite the less than optimal conditions. I took 18 frames at 10 minutes each for luminance on the first night, and then added 80 minutes each for the RGB channels. Here is a link to my "Latest Images" webpage: http://www.allred-astro.com/gpage8.html Be sure to click the thumbnail to get to the clickable full image. I am pretty happy with the image, especially with the number of small galaxies that are sprinkled throughout. I was also surprised to see just a hint of the faint outer shell of M97, which is rarely images. You need to look pretty closely to see it, but it is there nonetheless. It is fun to get two nice objects in a single frame. Comments and suggestions are always welcome. Cheers, Tyler _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com
So Tyler, when are you going to confess that you've managed to launch your own space telescope to get your spectacular images. :) But seriously, another great shot. patrick On 09 Feb 2010, at 15:34, Tyler Allred wrote:
Hi all.
I took advantage of the last two clear nights to do a little astrophotography from my new observatory. Murphy's Law kicked in right away. After waiting for weeks for a clear night, and checking and rechecking my equipment, the power supply on my FLI MicroLine ML3200 camera failed just as I was getting ready to focus. I lost some valuable time messing around with it before I decided it was dead. Thankfully, I still have my Starlight Xpress SXVF-H16 camera, so I did a quick re-rack and forged ahead. I managed to get some decent data despite the less than optimal conditions. I took 18 frames at 10 minutes each for luminance on the first night, and then added 80 minutes each for the RGB channels. Here is a link to my "Latest Images" webpage:
http://www.allred-astro.com/gpage8.html
Be sure to click the thumbnail to get to the clickable full image. I am pretty happy with the image, especially with the number of small galaxies that are sprinkled throughout. I was also surprised to see just a hint of the faint outer shell of M97, which is rarely images. You need to look pretty closely to see it, but it is there nonetheless. It is fun to get two nice objects in a single frame. Comments and suggestions are always welcome.
Cheers,
Tyler
Thanks Patrick. Tyler -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Patrick Wiggins Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2010 4:31 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] New Image - M108 (Galaxy) and M97 (The Owl Nebula) So Tyler, when are you going to confess that you've managed to launch your own space telescope to get your spectacular images. :) But seriously, another great shot. patrick On 09 Feb 2010, at 15:34, Tyler Allred wrote:
Hi all.
I took advantage of the last two clear nights to do a little astrophotography from my new observatory. Murphy's Law kicked in right away. After waiting for weeks for a clear night, and checking and rechecking my equipment, the power supply on my FLI MicroLine ML3200 camera failed just as I was getting ready to focus. I lost some valuable time messing around with it before I decided it was dead. Thankfully, I still have my Starlight Xpress SXVF-H16 camera, so I did a quick re-rack and forged ahead. I managed to get some decent data despite the less than optimal conditions. I took 18 frames at 10 minutes each for luminance on the first night, and then added 80 minutes each for the RGB channels. Here is a link to my "Latest Images" webpage:
http://www.allred-astro.com/gpage8.html
Be sure to click the thumbnail to get to the clickable full image. I am pretty happy with the image, especially with the number of small galaxies that are sprinkled throughout. I was also surprised to see just a hint of the faint outer shell of M97, which is rarely images. You need to look pretty closely to see it, but it is there nonetheless. It is fun to get two nice objects in a single frame. Comments and suggestions are always welcome.
Cheers,
Tyler
_______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com
participants (3)
-
Joe Bauman -
Patrick Wiggins -
Tyler Allred