M31 - 26th Sept 2008

Ray's APO with my Canon EOS 400D. 86 exposures of 60 sec (unguided). @ 800 & 1600 ISO. Flats, darks and bias. Processed in Deepskystacker and CS3.

Larger version here:- M31
Here's another version processed slightly different:-

Bingo!

Here's part of a single RAW frame, with an aircraft going straight through the middle!!!

Ray's APO

M31 rough, work in progress - 26th Sept 2008

Here's a very rough "work in progress" image. Using about 33% of the images captured so far. No flats, darks or bias. From Ray's APO.
... stay tuned.

Test shot with Ray's APO

Setting up my mate Ray's APO this evening. Here's a test shot of a parachutist (he was moving quite fast as well).
Fingers crossed, M31 tonight... hope the fog holds off.

Drygalski 20th Sept 2008

Lacus Mortis 19th Sept 2008

Cauchy - 18th Sept 2008

Hyginus Rille 20th Sept 2008

Alphonsus and Arzachel 20th Sept 2008

Quite a high Sun angle, so the rilles in Alphonsus and Arzachel are not as prominent.
The small craters in the blackened patches of Alphonsus really stood out when I was capturing the video.

Pitatus, Hesiodus A and Rupes Recta mosaic.

haha... I've just realised that these are related.

Rupes Recta 20th Sept 2008

Pitatus & Hesiodus A - 20th Sept 2008

4 image mosaic.

Aristoteles & Eudoxus 20th Sept 2008

4 image mosaic, best 350/1200 frames, 12 point Map in Registax.
Post processing and photo-stitching in CS3.
The image size was also reduced by 10%.
C9.25, 3 x TV Barlow, Red filter, DMK21AF04AS.

Moretus - work in progress from the 20th Sept.

6 image mosaic, just a quick single point MAP.

Moon 17th Sept 2008 - work in progress

A small section of a work in progress from 17th...

Tycho & Hadley Rille 20th Sept 2008

Janssen area - 17th Sept 2008

9 image mosaic of the area around Janssen crater. Using C9.25, 2.5x Powermate, DMK21AF04AS. Processed in Registax, best 300 frames, 9 MAP and finished in CS3.

First Picture of Likely Planet around Sun-like Star

Wow! astronomers have unveiled what is likely the first picture of a planet around a normal star similar to the Sun, using the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii

The planet has a mass of about eight times that of Jupiter.


Credit

The paper.

Hubble Finds a Mystery Object

I've only just spotted this on the Sky & Telescope site:-
Here is the paper.

OT: haha... Gordon Freeman Spotted in CERN Test Chamber

OMG this could be the end! ;-)

OT:Large Hadron Collider... rap!

... we're all doomed! ;-)

Clear Sky Clock.

Found this great CSC for the UK today, thanks to Tonk: 7Timer!

hehe... it's really confusing for me when I see CSC written down, I work for CSC. :-)

RGB images in PS

I found this interesting article today from the Planetary society, showing how to align RGB images in CS3.
Although you could use the auto-align layers function as well, seems to do a pretty good job.

Here is the finished example of Rhea:-

Archimedes & Hadley Rille from Feb 2008

4 Image mosaic from earlier this year. I had trouble stitching this one together last February. I couldn't get the shades of the 4 images to match very well.
Now I used CS3 photomerge and it worked a lot better, nearly fully automatic using the interactive layout setting. Which is a bit of a must for Moon mosaics, I think one crater looks very similar to another for CS3 ;-)

Copernicus from 2007 - Best Copernicus to date.

Another rendering of my best Copernicus from last year. Using Registax and CS3.
5 image mosaic, best 200 from 2000 frame avi's, 42 x 64 box MAP.
I've gone for a slightly smoother feel with the 64 box MAP processing.

Tycho from August 2007 - Best Tycho to date.

Tycho from last year, re-processed again in Registax and CS3.
4 image mosaic. Best 200 frames from 1000 frame avi, MAP using 34 points each image.

60-inch Aluminizing - The Palomar Observatory

What a difference an Aluminizing makes:-

Credit Palomar Skies

The Colour in the Solar System by Don davies

Here's an interesting article by Don Davies about the "Colour in the Solar System"

Southern Highlands - the directors cut.

I found some frames that I didn't process! so here is the full directors cut version.
... and the fullsize version - 1.9Mb

Below is an image taken from NASA's "World Wind" of a view just over the horizon.
I love that crater in the middle top; Drygalski, also visible in my image right on the top horizon.

Imagingsource blog entry

Moon Southern Highlands 23rd Aug 2008

Moon mosaic 23rd Aug 2008

Full size version here.

I'm glad I upgraded my computer... these files are chunky!

The Moon 23rd Aug 2008

The Planetary Society Weblog article

Here's a very interesting article about asteroids/minor planets by Emily Lakdawalla from the Planetary Society Weblog.

Space Shuttle Launch Seen From Air Canada Flight

This is amazing, click on the image above for a link to the video.

OT: Computer advert

I love this retro computer ad.
Credit

Clavius from 2nd Sept 2007 re-processed with CS3

Here's one of my best Clavius images to date. Best 500 images stacked in Registax and mosaiced with CS3 Photomerge.

Some people prefer the so-say correct orientation, so here's two versions.

The lower version looks like the horizon is going into the distance underneath you, which is not very natural as far as I'm concerned ;-)

Plato & Alpine Valley re-processed in Photoshop CS3

...and Registax, of course.

Jupiter 2nd Aug 2008 at prime focus