Gallery Grid

TARGETS

STORIES

Evolution of Universe - need Supernova & Star residues - Crab Dec - Jan

Journey through the Universe - need better planets, distant galaxy clusters inc. Stephans Quintet, Nebula detail inc. Cradle

Next up in March - Bode and Gamma Leonis RASA

Using SCT for <10 amin; Nebula

Jan overhead Orion, Elephants trunk

M66 in Leo Triplet in Leo , Mar ohead

Markarians Chain in Leo Apr-May ohead

Pinwheel Galaxy in Leo March

Pillars of Creation (Eagle Nebula) - July in S SCT, Using Sa7s for Lagoon Nebula Lagoon Mag 4.6, exposure 15s ISO 3200 f6 for, 2x needed for Eagle . f2.8 gives overexposure, can live with Bortle 4.

Cats paw - RASA in July / Aug in South. In 2025 july 24 or Aug 20,

Using RASA for > 5 amin objects - Galaxies

Andromeda, Triangulum, Cats Paw etc

Crab Nebula with RASA Ha filter - then SCT - with Ha filter.

Sephans Quintet in Deneb Oct-Sept Dark sky expedition

Helix Nebula Sept-Oct low in south

Rho - 100mm a7s low in S in CO June - Aug

Interacting galaxies - Antenna, Stephans Quintet to add to Whirlpool.

Group Galaxies - Markarians Chain, Leo Trip, Gamma Leonis Group in Leo (HCG44)

Single Galaxies - Andromeda, Trapezium, Bode and Cigar, Pinwheel, Waterbug

Planets using C6SCT/Sa6700 1000+frames

Configurations

Brightness limited - Galaxies, Dim Nebula - Austin for > M12, dark skies for targets <M12

C6 RASA/QHYC on track stage, 1 hr exposure @ <1 min subs

Color detail - Bright Nebula or Galaxies

C6 RASA/F/QHYM

No track low noise.

100mm/Sony a7s - N x 5s exposures

Resolution limited - Nebula - good seeing

C6 SCT / QHYC

Planets - C6 SCT/Sa6700, same pixel resolution as QHYC but with better mechanical shutter for short exposures.

Solar -

Filter / ED 80 / F / QHYM

f10/f2= 25x, f10/f6.3 = 2.5.

TARGETS

Seeing forecast

https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/outdoorsports/seeing/austin_united-states_4671654

Jan-Mar -

Bode 1x0.8 deg RASA

Leo triplet 1x0.8 deg .

Gamma Leonis Group NGC 3190 in leo RASA Mag 13 - 4hrs @ f2

Markarians Chain M11

Needle Galaxy 15 arcmin in Coma next to Canis

April - June -

Whirlpool Mag 8.4 18x13 amin - in Austin 1 asecs min-1 residual for blind tracking. In June8 2024 Austin backyard RASA C6 RGB 1.5 hr @ 30s Gain 30dB. Single frame - background G39IU, galaxy core G187IU

Hyperstar benchmark at 40mins.

Pinwheel Galaxy M101 Mag 7.5 in Ursa Major 25'

NGC 2403 Mag 8.5 23' in Canis

Antennae galaxy NGC4039 Mag 10 - April. May, needs a south view 15 hrs benchmark.

Sombrero Galaxy Mag 8 10 amin in Virgo.

M106 with a group of minor galaxies in Ursa Major 22'

NGC5003 Waterbug Galaxy Mag 10.5, 65 Mly, 11x6 amin. In Canis.

June-August

Pillars of Creation SCT 30amin FOV

Rho Ophicio. Sa7s 100mm

Cats paw Nebula NGC6334 M 35 arc min in emission nebula Antares - RASA 2degree FOV

Veil Nebula - close to N American Mag6

Heart Nebula IC1805, NGC 1027. Mag18.3 3deg

California Nebula Mag5 2deg

In S Hemisphere Large Megallanic Cloud 10 deg

August - Nov

Stephans Quintet M15 Plus 6 amin . NGC7320 7331 neighbor near Andromeda. Core 200x dimmer than Whirlpool so needs dark skies in Junction. Benchmark 3 hrs f5 looks OK, 10 hours looks great. C14 RASA 9hrs, 60 s subs produces similar ref star size to Whirlpool, and galaxies visible. For 6 amin need 2x drizzle or pixel before dual sharpening.

Phantom Galaxy 20' M74 between Orion and Andromeda

Andromeda C6 RASA / QHYC 2.5x2deg field 1.7 asecs/pix just fill diagonal.

Perseus Galaxy Cluster nr. Andromeda. 15 amin

Triangulum Galaxy 1deg

Nov-Feb

Orion NGC1976 & Flame Nebula

Flaming Star IC405 or Caldwell 31 Mag6 1.2deg, next to Tadpole Nebula NGC1893

Horsehead Nebula

Elephants trunk C6SCT RGB

Helix NGC7293 20' M7.6 in Aquarius - -early morning summer, evening in winter

Cocoon Nebula 18' M7.2 in Aquarius

Crab Nebula NGC1952 6 arcmin M8.4 supernova remnant

Little Dumbell Neb M76 4'

Saturn 1 NGC7009

Cats eye NGC6543 1min in Ursa Major

Elephants Trunk IC 1396 mag 5.6 35 mins close to Deneb, head is 6 min

Nav challenge - FOV for SCT-QHY is 30'x30'. Accuracy of laser pointer is about 1 degree. Use Sony a7s to find, then step down to QHY. HD 239712 +8Mag - saturates at 120s G50 (ISO50125) no tracking needed. 30x over f2 benchmark, f2/f10=32x. Estimate +12Mag just visible. Astronomy.net can find identify star if lost.

The tripod navigation IC 1396 centers on nebula and HD 206267 triplet. E Trunk is 1 frame to left. Aim to HD 206267 - triplet group in middle of IC1396 Nebula, as it is easy to find, small gap points to Elephant. Look for doublet and position away from triplet rotate so doublet is on long axis.

When you view straight through a refractor or catadioptric telescope (and assuming no funky optics) the image will be turned through 180*, so it's upside-down and backwards. If you're using a star map you can just turn it upside down to match what you see.

Milky Way baseline 20s ISO2000. Spectacular results at 90s, needs very dark skies.

Milky Way with foreground - 8mm & Ha filter. 180 deg FOV - Deneb overhead in AK Sept. 20mm f2 ISO640 120s - deep nebula.

Milky Way full spectrum - 8mm/filter/QHY = 90 deg FOV

Milky Way time lapse -

8-20mm Sony 7as - 30s @3200 = 65 sec cycles = 1 frame every 10 arcmins of motion. Compress to 20 fps for smooth action. Make corrections to RAW files. Use Photodirector - 0.02 per frame. 45 mins of 8mm lens = 2 secs of video. 2 hours for 30 degrees of motion. Need battery extender.

iPhone14 Night mode - on tripod. Much noisier than Sony RAW.

Colorado23 - 3 hr window between sunset and moon rise, so not quite dark skies.

Antares -

100mm - 30 secs Sony 7a. need to mount on big tripod for long exposure.

100mm filtered Sony 7a, do darks >30 secs. Use the QHY.

Exposure 15s ISO3200 f2.8 has background of 65 IU N 95=8IU, with a nebula +10 IU. Nominal black is 60 IU +- 10I U, so plenty of backlight. Needs much better S/N, and full dark skies. More averaging, cooled camera probably essential. Need at least 60s 3200ISO with Sony a7s 100mm, need Junction dark skies.

Lagoon - SOny 7as/480mmRef good image 15s ISO3200 f6 = +75 IU.

Eagle / pillars of creation 80mmRef - not enough pixel resolution for the pillars. 15s ISO3200 f6 is 2-3x underexposed +22 IU, f2.8 overexposed. Use 480mmRef with QHYR/G/B 60s ISO3200 to get pixel resolution, Wiess should be fine.

Austin

Eagle Nebula with RASA 120s ISO3200 Ha was underexposed, need at least 300s, with darker skies.

Elephants trunk redo with 480mm to get resolution.

Overhead Crab Nebula in orion 1 hr f2 4 asecs gets the core, 3hrs gets full color. 12hrs f6 Filter 1 asecs gets detail.

RASA C6 for Crab Nebula 6' object Mag 8.4, exposure 2hrs at f2 in Bortle 4 gave plenty of signal for color rendering, Try again with collimation also in dark sky

Northern Lights -

iPhone 1x 24mm best resolution, small tripod ?

14mm & 20mm Sony 7as, UV/IR clip filter, snap tripod, tip tilt stage, intervalometer, external battery. Baseline RAW, 1600 ASA, 5-20 secs. Use intervalometer for video. For 10 secs video, need at least 100 frames = 10 mins @ 5 secs.

REDO

Leo Triplet M66

Markarians Chain.

Triangulum

Long term

Eskimo - Clown faced nebula 54 arcsecs M9.1

Cats eye 38 arcsecs M8.1 in Drago

Stephans quintet M14 in Virgo near Andromeda

Total Eclipse April 8 13:30 65 deg above horizon

Video last 10 sec of partial first 5 sec of totality ISO100 480mm Sa7s Put cell phone on Sa7s Hyperlapse.

Full corona 14 steps 1/5000-4s @ ISO100 480mm Sa7s - then video

Protrusions 3000mm /NP1000 - stills and video.

Mirror 400mm NP100 with foreground ring, background mirror.

Last 5 sec of totality first 10s of partial. 480mm Sa7s.

If short and cloudy - do start and finish video & corona & mirror - skip the exposure series

Full sequence scanned From just before to 20s in, 20sec before to end - Bailey beads/Diamond - need video on Fornax scan stage - 480mm /FF/ Sony a7s

Corona 2 degree edge to edge - Multiple exposures every 2 settings on Fornax scan stage - 480mm - Keep lens COG over stage. Lens parallel to stage plane.

Protrusions 30 asecs similar to Jupiter - Telephoto find protrusion - P1000 video on portable tripod.

Use scanning stage to track and create a time lapse video. How to deal with transition in and out of totality.

Use Hyperlapse on phone to cover whole transition. Do not perfect tracking, just keep in frame.

In 4 min the moon is going to move 1 degree or 2 moon diameters.

On scanning stage stage - Movie the whole thing, particularly first and last 20s of totality.

Full texture f6.5 ISO100, 1/5000 - 4 secs with 2x each level 2^14 = 14 levels. 480mm f6.5 / FF/ Sony a7s. Should take 2s each = 40s.

Then Prominences f6.5 ISO100 1/1000 s - 2 fps - Nikon 3000mm telephoto, on portable tripod.

Overlay P1000 - 400mm Mirror foreground with ring, eclipse with wafer - composite

Exposure conditions http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhelp/eclipsePhoto.html

Example from 2016 1/60 middle corona, 1/20 upper corona. 1/3 outer corona ISO500 1000mm on NikonP1000. Need to be on tripod and need much shorter exposures, use Sony for lower noise. Ay ISO500 1/400 inner corona, diamonds 1/1000, prominences 1/2000 ISO100, chromosphere 1/5000 ISO100, Baileys beads 1/5000 ISO50.

At ISO100 6 levels - 1/2000 - 1/400 - 1/80 - 1/16 - 1/3 - 1.5 secs prominences to outer corona.

Annular Eclipse

https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/map/2023-october-14

Oct 14 2023, at noon 52 (46) degrees alt due south. 90% coverage lasting 4 minute moving 1 arc min.

Generates ring, needs an interesting center for the bulls eye.

Equipment list; glasses

400mm Pentax, Sony a7s, filter, tripod, timer

Nikon P1000, filter, tripod.

10 min - time lapse - 20 frames @ 30 secs.

f22, 200ISO, 1/200s with NR filter.

Best choice....... Need 2 filters....

San Antonio Basilica of the National Shrine of the Little Flower, 1715 N Zarzamora St, littleflowerbasilica.org

400mm lens from Astro rig / Sony a7s at f22 has 132m-inf DOF will require refocus, needed for good resolution.

Need photos fill lit sun out frame 10 degrees at 15 secs min-1 will take an hour to clear field.

Nikon P1000. take exposure series to get ring and back lite roof features

A wind director to form an arrow. Or Texas capitol statue. Pleasanton, Sonora, or Rocksprings in center of totality. Kerrville about half way out - Kerrville clock is a possibility, . The Alamo.

Planets

These are the next 12 oppositions and the constellations Jupiter will be in for each one:

November 1, 2023: Aries
December 6, 2024: Taurus
January 9, 2026: Gemini
February 10, 2027: Leo
March 13, 2028: Virgo
April 13, 2029: Virgo
May 14, 2030: Libra

COMPOSITES

Video tour.

Milky Way visible with Nebula foregrounds.

Northern Hemisphere with Galaxy foregrounds

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2021-08-31/science-of-illusions-brain-perception-and-senses/100364762?utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web

VIDEO Evolution script

1.3mm image = brown

UV = blue

White

IR Red

1 Big Bang - dissolve

2 CMB - transition from green to brown color with contrast

3 Zoom in to brown proto- star Brighten. Background moves in, Center ignites blue.

4 Zoom out to Rosette

5 Zoom out to LMC , Cool to red

6 Fade to Betelgeuese

7 Supernova without and then with star

8 Zoom to Crab nebule

9 Zoom into small black hole colored brown.

10 move background in, grow BH turn bright white 101 move stars in by zoom out and brighten, rotate, turn BH through spectrum to brown

11 Zoom out to spiral and continue background move in to form halo

12 Fade to Whirlpool

13 Fade to Andromeda

14 Fade to Hubble

VIDEO tour script

Launch

Tour Milky Way

Planets - Moon - Mars - Jupiter - Saturn add light year clock in bottom right from here
Plieades - Antares - Orion & Flame & Rosette - Lagoon & Eagle - clip all and superimpose on full pan all to give depth scale full MW 10% for Orion and lagoon.

Isolate lagoon (may be at 400mm) and zoom in keeping full MW background fixed

Pass Lagoon and zoom in to MW, scan and exit (100 mm images)

LMC_SMC (all deep sky from here)

Andromeda

Triangulum 2Mly

Bode 11 then Cigar 12

Whirlpool 23

Leo M61 32 then Sarah 36 then M65 41

Hubble 11Bly

Create foreground and background for zoom.

Select key area - inverse - copy paste new layer - select big star - enlarge 3 - copy paste to form star layer - copy star layer - select bkg - inverse - enlarge 5 - move /copy/paste in original layer to replace foregrounds. Now have foreground and background.

Match middle ground to background, zoom in final step. Start foreground 1/3 frame early to get sense of foreground relative to background.

Video Size script

360 view

360 outline transition to MW panorama, moon overlay scan

Move to LMC 10 deg - zoom in where galaxy is right 50% of FOV.

Moon overlay scan do not block galaxy

Move to Andromeda 3 deg - zoom in

Moon overlay scan

Move to Rosette Nebula 1.2 deg - zoom in

Moon overlay scan

Move to Orion nebula 1 deg

Move to Triangulum 50 amin

Move to Whirlpool 15 amin - zoom in

Moon overlay scan

Move to Jupiter 40 asecs - zoom in

Moon overlay scan

Hyperstar 6 hrs - Sharpened

Saturn and Jupiter grand conjunction (one day before)

Camera is a Nikon P1000 on a Fornax tracking stage so the planet stays in frame. Get the zoom setting right at 6000 mm equivalent. Take 1 min videos at different ISO settings for the moons and planets. Wait for the perfect align to get a single align shot. Wait for planets to move away. Go back and get a video of the right bit of foreground. Use software to separate into frames and then stack 100+ frames to a single low noise image at each ISO using AutoStakkert. Then assemble the images in Photoshop. Using the align image as background image in the layers, cut around the foreground, planets and moons layers to form a spatially correct, very high dynamic range, composite. You have to size the cuts to cover up the overexposed planets in the background layer. Merge the layers and adjust to taste !! Its the better part of a day post processing to get it to work. The key really is the frame stacking it reduces the low light ISO noise and the atmospheric noise. QED!

Andromeda (M31) Mag. 3.4, Size 3 degrees.

Above M110 Mag. 8.9, Size 21'.

Photographed using a Canon 7as

400mm f6.1 exposed 10x30 secs @ 25600 ISO at 1.5M ISOsecs, Fornax tracking stage.

Bortle 2 sky - background at Mag. 11.

Flame Nebula in Orion Mag. 7.2, Size 30', illuminated by the neighboring star Alnitak Mag. 1.74.

Photographed using astro mod Canon 7as 400mm f6.1, exposed at 0.6M ISOsecs. Fornax tracking stage.

3 degree field of view.

Bortle 4 sky - background at Mag. 9

HDR created with the stars imaged by 4 smaller exposures, converted to B&W and stacked, then stacked with the nebula image.

Stitched fish eye view panorama June, Sept and Dec, March in southern hemisphere.

20 mm lens with a 84x61 degree field @ 20secs 2000 ISO. In landscape orientation starting 20 degrees angled up. In 4 vertical rows 25 degree increments; on the horizon 25 x 15 degree rotations, 12 x 30 degree, 4 x 90 degree, 1 vertical view. Assemble each session using PTgui software using equirectangular mode and linear corrections, discard any excess images. Combine sessions by manual stich, and take out edge illumination artifacts using PS level in +- 10% level increments.

Saturn stack4-Shapen-DeNoiseAI-denoise.j

I have a new appreciation for the nerds at Nikon. Here is a picture of Saturn that I think provides a direct measure of the optical performance of the P1000. It was taken at 12,000 mm zoom – 3000 mm optical and 4 x digital (i.e. cropped and resampled). The image was taken as a video on a tripod with a Fornax tracking stage. The focus was set manually using the remote control. A selection of the 250 best frames in a 2 minute video were averaged using Austostakkert. The results is the image with my best focus, least atmospherics, and minimized digitization. Atmospherics dominate so frame count and pixel count is more important than low compression. The NikonP1000 supports higher video resolution and better pixel resolution at 12kmm zoom, than the Sony 7as. If seeing creates 20 pixel noise in 1 frame, 100 frames = 13 pixel noise, 2000 frames = 10 pixel noise, 4000 frames 25% = 5 pixel noise.

The dark band (Cassini’s Division) between the 2 major rings is hinted but not resolved. The average Saturn diameter is 14.5″ to 20.1″ excluding rings, 35" for outer ring. Using a high resolution Hubble photo of Saturn, also shown, Cassini’s Division is about 0.5 arc secs wide, and the dark band between the planet and the first ring is about 5 arc secs wide.

The aperture of the P1000 is 70 mm, which translates into a Rayleigh diffraction limited resolution of 1.97 arc secs. (https://astronomy.tools/calculators/telescope_capabilities). Rayliegh limit (1.22 lambda/d) = 1.8 arc secs, edge resolution 0.9 arc secs, recorded at 2160i video so pixel = 0.25 arc secs, with 4x video compression.

At 3000 mm, the pixel resolution of the P1000 is 0.7 arc secs, equal to the edge resolution – as it should be !

It looks to me like the limiting resolution of the P1000 must be close to the diffraction limit of 2 arc secs based on almost resolving Cassini’s Division at 0.5 arc secs, and clearly resolving the first dark band at 5 arc secs.

BRAVO – to Nikon nerds !

BTW In 1675, Cassini in the Paris Observatory used telescopes with focal lengths up to 136 feet long to observe Saturn and its division. (http://www.cosmicelk.net/telrev.htm)