Cocoon, Horshead, Flame

Orion and Monoceros mosaic

Sal, Robert, and I got together on a mosaic project, expanding on the Orion shot.  This is a 7 panel mosaic, 30x120sec per tile, with no calibration subs.  Stacked and sampled in DSS.  Mosaic tile translation in Registar by Robert.  Post processing in Photoshop by Sal.

This was a huge undertaking as it chewed up processors and RAM like you wouldn't believe.  Orginal tiles combined would be about 105Megapixles assuming no overlap.  I sampled it down 50% in stacking.  We had to compress and shrink it again just to be able to put it online.

The weather looks good tonight through next week.  I hope to add a few more panels before this area is too low to shoot.

Great work Sal and Robert, and thanks!  Looking forward to working with you guys again on another collaboration.

Orion Widefield Reprocessed by Sal

My good friend Sal Grasso worked his magic on this same Orion data that I took a few days ago.  MUCH more detail.  Thanks again, Sal!

Orion Constellation

Acquisition - Canon T1i full spectrum modified, Astronomik clip-in CLS filter

Mount//Tracking - Vixen Polarie on tripod, rough alignment.

Exposure - 30 subexposures x 120 seconds, 50mm fl @ F/3.5 ISO 800
Pre-processing - No darks, No flats, No bias applied. Stacked  and resampled in Deep Sky Stacker.

Post-processing by Sal Grasso
This was a first light test of the Vixen Polarie. Serious attempts to follow.
Image shows Orion, Running Man, Witch Head, Running Man, Horsehead, Flame Nebulas, Barnard's Loop

Select to see the full resolution shot. It's amazingly clean for only 30 short subs with no calibration files. I also took several panels of the surrounding area to start on a larger mosaic. I'll post up the result when complete.

It's been a while since I've been active in my Astrophotography, and thus, a while since I've updated my blog.  I'm in the middle of piecing a new setup together so I thought it would be a good idea to dust off the camera and make a few tests before all of the new components arrive.  I've made modifications to the camera and wanted to make sure it was still performing well.  I captured 3 hours of star motion near Polaris.  The attached image is only about 1 hour worth of data stacked so far, using 60 second exposures at ISO 200.  Nothing special here other than putting the camera on a tripod and letting it rip.  As soon as I process the rest of the data I'll update the image and include a Polar rotation video clip.

CLICK HERE for a larger format to see the stars in closer to the true pole than Polaris.