We had an energetic Astro 8A class this fall, and they were treated by Mother Nature with an almost unbroken string of clear nights. Kneeling, from left: Me, Nick, Adrianna, Nigel, Emily, Becky, Leroy. Second row: Sarah, Michael (kneeling), Dave McKulle, Brooke, Stephanie, Jesus, Josh, Stephen, David. Back Row behind table: Jed, and Francis (behind his photo).
R Scuti - a classic RV Tauri red giant variable star - went through big changes, but not reflected quite so well in the by-eye light curve from the class |
Mira went through even bigger changes - going from maximum brightness to closer to minimum, 3 magnitudes dimmer. |
Beta Lyrae, a contact eclipsing binary, actually came out quite well, with the student data showing primary and secondary eclipse clearly |
Delta Cephei also seemed to present a challenge. The red curve is the actual brightness. |
Stephanie's Image of M31
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 Jesse's (Jesus) Image of M39 |
Triangulum Galaxy (M33), Spiral Galaxy.
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North American Nebula (NGC 7000), Diffuse Nebulae. Nicholas Blas, 12" Meade LX200, ST2000XCM, 3x5 min Oct. 8, 2013, 20:14:13-20:29:02 LT, Cabrillo Observatory Dome CCDOPS: Version 5.5 build 28-NT 1.dk5 -25C, flat frame fOct 30-3, Color: Single-shot color sRGB+gamma, Registax: Satck with color, stack 3 frames, Default Alignment, align box size : 128, lowest quality 0, Photoshop: Version CC (64bit), adjusted RGB levels lowering white balance, adjusted BW levels increasing black balance, adjusted saturation +20, adjusted color balance to +Red11
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Michael Messina. Messier 15(M15) Pegasus Nebula, Globular Cluster, NGC 7078. 12" Meade LX200, ST2000XCM, Oct. 8 2013 9:05-9:20pm, Cabrillo Observatory Dome. 3 stacked exposures, 5 min each. Cloudy sky, crescent moon, 64* Altitude. In CCDOps: Selected the time and the temperature, set the magnitude 2:1. From Utility, Set dark subtract dk 5-25, set fLat field foct 30-3, chose single shot color and color process, selected 'auto' and 'apply'. In Registax: Stacked the three pictures, set to 0, aligined by picking a star, clicked Limit. In Photoshop: Increased saturation, did not change hue, altered layer properties, used Curve to bring out the black sky and increase some brightness, brought margin down to 50, changed image size.
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info for: IC342 - 1 ST2K Observation date; 12/04/2013
local time : 20:13:28
Exposure : 5 min. x 5
Temperature : -30c
ST-2K/S big ST-2 color dual CCD camera
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Eagle Nebula (M16) (NGC 6611). Emission Nebula. Jed Long. September 24th, 2013. 20:27:46. Telescope: Meade 12" f/6.3. Camera: ST2000XCM CCD. 3 5-minute exposures. CCDOPS: Version 5. 54. Dark subtraction DK5-20. Registax: version 6.1.0.8. stack 3 frames. Flat Field October 30th, -3. Photoshop: Version 7.0, raised levels and curves for brightness and to reveal texture. Made stars smaller x 2. Despeckle and healing brush to remove fuzz, blotches, and noise.
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Ring Nebula M57 (NGC 6720). Planetary Nebula. Brooke Gilsenan. October 15th, 2013. 20:12:46. Telescope: Meade 12" f/6.3. Camera: ST2000XCM CCD. 3 5-minute exposures. CCDOPS: Contrast - Back, 0; Range, 6573. Dark Subtraction DK5-20. Registax: version 6.1.0.8. stack 3 frames. Flat Field October 30 -3. Photoshop: Version 7.0, Used levels to darken sky; Saturation +20; Local contrast enhancement to make dwarf star visible; Space noise reduction. RN: I suggested M57 as an experiment, even though it failed the size crition.
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NGC188 Open cluster. Nigel Williams, Meade 12" f/6.3,ST2000xcm CCD Camera,4X5min Oct. 1, 2013 21:09:44 Cabrillo Observatory Dome, CCDops,dark frame correction,Flat field,conversion to color,saved to a .tiff file,Registax 5,stack 4 frames,Photoshop 7.0,Sharpen more,adjusted RGB curve,crop and size for print and gallery
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Comet Lemmon. 12" Mead. 9/25/13 21:53:43 300 sec. -20 degrees C dk5-20 flat field focus = foct3-3.st2k SRGB with gamma, Registax: stack 5 frames Photoshop version 7.0, Levels (darken background and brighten tail), hue and saturation (add color), healing brush (remove pixels), curves (brighten tail), contrast (brighten tail), color blotch reduction (sharpen image), despeckle (remove pixel), band-aid tool (remove blotches), crop picture and save for printing Adriana's image; |
Comet Lemmon C/2012F6- three five minute exposures taken with the Meade LX200, ST2000XCM, 3x5 min Oct.8 2013, Cabrillo Observatory Dome CCDOPS: v5.5, Dark subtract, Flat field, Color: sRGB+gamma, Registax: stack 3 frames, Photoshop: Levels, Saturation, Crop
Stephen Kok's image; |
Sarah Colonna, the Great Globular Cluster (m13),12" Meade LX200, ST2000XCM, three five minute exposures, September 17, 2013 21:15:28, Temp- 20.00 degrees C, Moon was out, CCDOPS: Each image was dark frame corrected, flat field corrected, and converted colored, Registax: Optimized and stacked all three images, Photoshop 7: Color balance and saturation was adjusted with the saturation/hues setting, shading of the sky was corrected with the curves/levels setting, I filtered and sharpened stars with the unsharpen mask setting,and used contrast to lower glare and add demension, color noise and blotches were erased using the clone stamp tool, the image was then saved and printed.
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PACMAN NEBULA NGC 281
Observation date: 9/24/13 21:15
Camera: ST-2K
Exposure: 300 Seconds
Image size: 1600 pixels x 1200 pixels
Chip temp: -20.42 degrees C
Scope: Indoor 12 inch Meade
Process:
Dark subtract
Flat field
Single shot color - color process (method: SRGB w/ Gamma)
Registax:
Alignment method: Default
Alignbox size: 128
Photoshop:
Levels 255
Make stars smaller 2x
Space noise reduction 2x
Sharpen
- unsharp mask, focus 150%
Contrast +28
Clone stamp
Less crunchy more fuzzy 2x
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