First Photo Session with the Belt and Sword Region of Orion

Got up early (4:30 am) and headed out to the observatory in the backyard to photograph the region around the Belt and Sword of the constellation Orion (due south at that time of the morning). This region is one of my favorites in the night sky! In it you can see the Great Orion Nebula, the "Running Man" nebula, the "Flame Nebula" and a hint of the "Horsehead Nebula".

I had a little trouble getting started (roll-off roof was stubborn, the camera connection to the computer was inconsistent) so I did not get as many images as I wanted to... but Orion will be with us through the winter so I will have many opportunities to do even better astrophotography of it.

Here is a stack of 44 images (approximately 25 secs each at f/5.6, zoom set at 70mm, ISO 1600, Canon t3i, DeepSkyStacker Live, Celestron 4SE mount. Total effective time of exposure: 17 minutes then post-processing with GIMP.

A Brief Photo Session on Andromeda Galaxy

Last night's sky was awesome! This is a brief attempt at capturing the Andromeda Galaxy (M31). It is a stack 0f 60 - 30 sec images for a total time of 30 minutes. (More info below the photo) Enjoy His creation and worship the Creator!

30 minutes (30 sec each exposure, total 60 images)

Take with a Canon XS w/ 250mm zoom lens

Processed with DeepSkyStacker Live and GIMP

Great video of the Solar Eclipse's Path in August, 2017

..

https://player.vimeo.com/video/73595112

First you RETHINK, then you SELL, then you UPGRADE!

I have put my Celestron NexStar 8i SE telescope up for sale on craigslist today.

Why?

I have had to reevalutate my passion astronomy, specifically astrophotography. Visual astronomy isn't my bag anymore as my eyesight isn't up to par (floaters, near-sighted, not as sensitive to low light, etc.) And astrophotography is limited by my location (southern skies blocked by my neighbor's tall pine trees) and limited by weather, age, and equipment. And also I am likely to post to craigslist my Meade 12 inch Dobsonian scope (more on that in a later post)...

As much as I want to produce quality astroimages, the reality is that I would have to invest the cost of a new car to get them... and I am NOT that passionate about that, nor do I have the money to achieve it.

So I while I am planning on upgrading my primary telescope and mount, I will have to learn contentment and not allow my happiness to be dependent upon my images rivaling those who have invested far more into this hobby.

Because though my NexStar 8i SE is a great scope and mount for alt/az visual astronomy it is not the best for astrophotography due to the way Celestron "permanently" mounted the scope on its mount.
I say "permanently" with quotes because it is possible (and I have done it) to remove the scope from its mount, add a dovetail bar, and put it on another mount (i.e. a German equatorial mount hence GEM). I have done that with some success.

However, at the Oregon Star Party, the very first night the declination motor on my LXD-75 mount got smoked, over-heated, and burnt out. Apparently I was not careful about doing a meridian flip and the declination motor housing pinched up against the RA housing too long and poof, no working motor. Stupid me.

I did pick up another used Celestron GEM when I left the OSP but have not been satisfied with its "goto" ability... as in not even close.

So I believe it is time to a NEW mount and scope, a GEM that has reliable "goto" ability AND has the scope on a dovetail bar... OR a scope on an alt/az mount that will allow reasonable astrophotography ability with a reliable "goto" feature.

My Review of Celestron's Stereo Binocular Viewer for Telescopes

My eyes aren't getting any younger and with floaters and astigmatism viewing through one eye just isn't getting it done. So I picked up one of Celestron's Stereo Binocular Viewer for use with my Celestron NexStar 8iSE and NexStar 4SE telescopes. I got it through Amazon for $162 (warehouse deal price, regular price would have been $185.)

It came with a really nice aluminum case and the bino has a great feel to it.

Here it is mounted on my Celestron 8iSE:

And mounted on my Celestron NexStar 4SE:

Since the Moon was at first quarter and the skies were clear with little turbulence, I was astonished at the clarity and the feeling that you were just hovering over the Moon! The detail was... WOW !

It is amazing what details that TWO eyes can pick up that one eye has trouble with. The interior ridges of the Copernicus Crater kept me at the scope for minutes! Here is a poor shot taken with my smart phone through one of the eyepieces.

Copernicus Crater on the left side.

Like a regular pair of binoculars, you focus with one eye closed, then focus with the other closed but use the diopter (twisting the eyepiece) until it is sharp. Open both eyes, adjust the spread of the binos to match your eyes and be prepared to be wow-ed!

If you have the cash to spare... GET ONE!

Three Evening Planets with the Celestron 4SE

Took my Celestron NexStar 4SE out last evening for a few quickie images of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.

CELESTRON NEXSTAR 4SE

All were taken at prime focus with a Canon T3 at ISO 400 @ 1/125th sec. These are cropped from the single shot and are "actual" size comparison with each other. Nothing to write home about but it was an experiment anyway. Ideally I should have used my Canon t2i or t3i in the cropped movie mode and then used software to find the best frames and integrate them into a higher quality result.

MARS

You can see that the planet is gibbous (no longer a full circle)

as our planet is pulling away from Mars (getting ahead of it in orbit around the Sun).

JUPITER

You can easily see several of the cloud belts

and a hint of  in the the Great Red Spot

near the lower right edge of the planet.

SATURN

The lower part of the rings of Saturn

are tilted downward in relation to us.

You can just make out the two major parts

of the rings as well and perhaps a hint

of a slightly darker cloud belt on the upper part

of the planet.

Just a reminder: These were taken with a small scope (4" mirror)

as compared with the Celestron NexStar 8iSE (8" mirror).

While the 8" is twice the diameter

it has 4 times the light gathering and detail potential of the 4".

Personally, I am just surprised that I was able to get what I did with this little scope! 

M 27 - The Dumbell Nebula

The weather was cooperating and M 27, the Dumbell Nebula was calling! I decided to do something I had not done before: image one subject for 30 minutes of stacking! Using the HIGH setting on my Canon t2i (ISO 12800) the image was quite grainy:

But stacking 180 - ten second exposures like the one above resulted in:

Quite a significant improvement ! I love the DeepSkyStacker program that accomplishes this.