Finally started processing some of photos shot a my last summer holiday at the Tivoli Southern Sky guest farm. Just for fun I made a quick stack of M31. Although M31 was only at 15 degrees altitude, this stack of 5 x 3 min. at ISO1250 shows some real potential.
Canon EOS 5Dii, FSQ106 (f=530mm), 5x3m, ISO1250, Fornax 51 mount.
Stacking and digital development was done in ImagesPlus,
gradient removal with Fitswork4 and finishing touches with PaintShopPro.
Nova Del 2013 was easily visible with the naked eye at magnitude 5.0, notwithstanding moonlight and high clouds. Humidity was extreme; within 10 minutes of setting up, dew started to build up on the outside of the hood.
22.25UT, Canon EOS 5DII(mod.), EF135/2L @F2.8, ISO1250, 8x30s, Vixen Polarie.
Finally time to upload some quickly stacked and processed images. Will add more information and details later. Equipment used: Takahashi FSQ-106 ED on Fornax 51 mount, Canon EOS 5DII, Canon EOS 60D, Canon EF 8-15mm/F4L, Canon EF 135mm/2L, Canon EF 35mm/1.4L.
20130629, M7.
20130630, M8 & M20.
20130701, Dark doodad & NGC4372.
20130701, Helix.
20130702, Allsky & Astrotel
20130704, IC4592.
20130705, M83.
20130705, NGC6188.
20130705, Running chicken.
20130707, dawn over Fornax observatory.
During a Panstarrs session I noticed a faint white glow low on the northern horizon. Barely visible to the naked eye, but no problem for the camera with 135mm telelens.
2013-06-04, 22.41UT, Canon EOS 5Dii, EF 135mm/2L @ 3.2, 5 sec, ISO1250
Last monday I quickly stacked the 25 jpg’s. This time I’ve used the raw files converted to tif and added a proper flat field image.
The skies cleared after weeks of bad weather and with the moon rising just after midnight I had a go at the comet again although it doesn’t get really dark this time of year. I was able to take a sufficient number of shots between 21.45-22.00 (UT) before cirrus clouds started to drift across the field of view.
Below is a quick, negative converted, jpg-stack of 25 x 45s.
Equipment used: Canon 5Dii and EF135mm/2L at F3.2, ISO800, tracked with Vixen Polarie star tracker. Polaris is to the lower left.
Will try a proper stack (raw + flat + gradient removed) this weekend.
Another cold and windy session. The comet is fading slowly but seems easier to spot now that it’s rising.
20130406, 20.24UT, Canon EOS 5Dii, EF135mm/2L @F2.8, ISO1600, 19x30s. Vixen Polarie.
It continues to be unusually cold and windy for the time of year. Used my car as a wind-blocker, but the wind still managed to unplug the powercable for the Polarie! The lightpollution of Amsterdam seemed worse than ever. This caused a nasty gradient on the images that took my 2 nights trying to figure out how to get rid of it. In the end Fitswork did the trick.
2013-04-02, 20.14UT, Canon EOS 5Dii, EF135mm/2L @F2.8, ISO1250, 15x30sec, Vixen Polarie Star Tracker.
Same picture as above, heavily stretched
Another cold and windy night. Skies not as clear as 2 days earlier. Lots of light pollution. At the start of the session a nice meteor appeared. It’s persistent train is visible in subsequent images for more than 10 minutes.
2013-04-01, 19.47UT, Canon EOS 5Dii, EF200/2.8 @F3.2, ISO1600, 10x15sec, Vixen Polarie.
Finally the moon was out of the way and the skies were clear. Earlier this week I was fighting the wind, trying to use my telescope (took me 45 minutes to find the comet). Tonight the wind was even stronger so I decided to use the Vixen Polarie Star Tracker. The Polarie performed flawless despite the strong winds (and temperatures just below freezing). Darker skies made the more easily visible in binoculars. The dust tail starts left of the nucleus and spans an area of over 100 degrees (clockwise).
2013-03-30, 19.37UT, Canon EOS 60D, EF200mm/2.8 @F3.2, ISO1600, 58x8sec.
2013-03-30, 19.37UT, Canon EOS 60D, EF200mm/2.8 @F3.2, ISO1600, 58x8sec.