This was a more challenging semester than usual. Heavy rains dogged us all semester and there were precious few dark clear nights. Several of the gang needed to work on photos taken earlier. But on the positive side, we got our 12" Gemini system up and working with the new Gemini.NET software, enabling fully computerized operation of the telescope and a truly modern (and civilized) astronomical research observatory experience for Astro students.
Riley used a photo set from an earlier semester to create this shot. |
Bill's rendition of the Cone Nebula and the dust complex near the star cluster core. |
Erik's M63 the Sunflower Galaxy in Canes Venatici. May 3, 2011 at 9:15 p.m. with ST4000xcm LXD75 8". 2x5min stack. There was no moon out and no clouds, but there was obviously a high amount of light pollution. Edited in Photoshop. I cleaned up the vast amount of light pollution, darkened the sky, changed the color of the galaxy from yellow to the more realistic colors of the galaxy, and changed some of the stars. I also altered the hue and saturation levels. |
Justin's M81/M82 galaxy pair, Apr 26, 2011, 10:15pm. ST4000xcm on LXD75 8". Chip T=-25C. No moon, no clouds, or wind. Photoshop: Curves, levels, color balance, brightness/contract, exposure, unsharp mask, dust/scratches, lens correction. |
CJ's M101 5/10/11 9:15pm 8" f/4 Meade LXD75 w/ st4000 |
Kayla An's The Seagull nebula- 4x5 minute exposures taken w/ SBIG ST 4000 through the 8" Meade LDX75. The images were then dark subtracted and converted to color using CCDOPS. Then all four color images were stacked using Registax 5. In photoshop the curves and levels, as well as the brightness/contrast were adjusted several times, unsharpened, despeckled and finally cropped. |
Kyle borrowed an earlier semester's NGC247 Dwarf Spiral Galaxy in Cetus - Three five minute exposures were taken with the SBIG 5T-4K color 3 CCD camera on the ... telescope. Each image was dark frame corrected and contrasted using CCD-OPS. All three were stacked in Registax 5 beta using one alignment anchor. The stacked image was edited in Adobe Photoshop 7. Light pollution was minimized using hard color gradient removal. Luminescence was minimized using levels and curves. Unnatural colors were removed using hue and saturation. Galaxy was selected and made natual using hue and saturation. Image was then resized and printed.
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Brian's M106. No stacking done, and no description supplied |
Marty's Description:"I dont not take this picture, but rather borrowed it from a student who dropped the class. From what I know the picture is the Crab Nebula. Three, 5 minutes exposures where taken on 3/8/11 2043 local time on the ''' telescope. The estimated chip temperature was -25C. Each picture was later dark framed and flat fielded using the computer program CCDOPS. Then all three pictures where stacked into one using Registax 5. Finally the stacked photo was adjusted using photoshop" |
M35. Sierra's Description: "Taken: 4/12/11 at 9:13 p.m. |
Rosette Nebula: Pavan borrowed from a previous semester - his description: "i dark subtracted in CCDops and then i stacked my two images in Registax 5. Then i edited my picture in Photoshop CS4 where i firsted dealt with the hues and saturation and sharpened red and purple to fix the nebulae. After, i used exposure and went to noise and used dust and scratches. Once i did that i used unsharp mask in filter/sharpen. I decided to adjust the curves and levels and once i got that settled i used the brush and darkened a couple spots and lighted a few stars. once i was finished i went to image size and adjusted the size and pixels." |
M78- March 29, 2011. Natassia Racine 3x5 min ST2000xcm 12” dome @ Cabrillo Observatory "This is a photograph of the Nebula M78. Three five minute exposures were taken with the ST2000xcm through the 12” dome. Each image went through a dark subtraction, flat fielding, and color conversion using CCDOps. The images were then stacked in RegiStax 5 using one point to align all images. The stacked image was then edited in Adobe Photoshop( PScs4). First, I used the curves and levels adjustments to correct the brightness and contrast of the image. Next, I adjusted the hue and saturation to bring out the colors. Then I reduced the noise using the automatic noise filter. Lastly, I cropped the photo a just a bit. Once I was finished with Photoshop, I then used Windows paint to do a few more touch ups, using the spray paint brush option to rid the image of any unwanted hazy spots. I then sharpened the image and adjusted the brightness, contrast, and saturation once more. After that the image was printed." RN: Tasha submitted as TIFF, did not follow instructions, online version as it came, after I re-sized it. |
Louis' image. No accompanying description given. Borrwed image from prev Astro 8 class. Instructor comments: submitted as TIFF, did not follow instructions, this version as it came, after I resized it |
Noah's image. No accompanying description. Borrowed from prev Astro 8 class. Instructor comments: submitted as TIFF, did not follow instructions, this version as it came, after I resized it |
Paul's M100 image. No accompanying documentation. Instructor comments: submitted as TIFF, did not follow instructions, this version as it came, after I resized it |
