M57 The Ring Nebula planetary nebula in Lyra

Date: 11/13/2007

Location: Tierra Del Sol, California

Conditions: 40% moon, seeing 7/10, transparency 6/10, temperature 55-65 F, very dry night, wind 5-20 mpg.

Telescope: C8, .63 focal reduce, 2000mm, F10, prime focus, no diagonal

Guiding: TV85, 600mm, F7, prime focus, no diagonal, camera The Images Source 24AF04.AS, PHD software

Mount: Losmandy G11, Gemini goto, polar scope used to polar align.

Camera: Canon 40d prime focus.

Focusing: Manual on star using LIVE FOCUS viewing done on laptop using Canon Utility software.

Exposures: (8) lights 4 min raw 800 ISO, (6) darks raw, (6) bias raw, (6) flats raw.

Processing: IP 3.0 - converted raw to FITS, dark & bias frame calibrated, centroid 2 pt align-rotate, combine min-max excluded average, digital development, convert to 16 bit TIFF, PS CS , white balance, neutralize sky, black balance, color enhance, highlights enhance, Neat image noise reduction, converted to JPEG for web.

Comments:

 

M57 The Ring Nebula planetary nebula in Lyra

Date: 6/9/2006

Location: Bryce Canyon

Conditions: 88% full moon, seeing 8/10, transparency 6/10, temperature 65-46 F.

Telescope: Celestron C8 SCT, 2000mm focal length, prime focus with diagonal.

Mount: Losmandy G11, Gemini goto, polar scope used to align,.

Camera: Canon Rebel 300d

Focusing: Manual on star using right angle Canon 2.5 magnifying view finder.

Exposures: (2) 3 min JPEG, 800 ISO

Processing: IP- align-rotate-scale, combine average,. digital development, convert to 16 bit TIFF, PS CS- curves, levels, color saturation, cropped, unsharp mask, convert to 8 bit JPEG.

Comments: Had a bad polar alignment. I improved the alignment the 2nd night.

 

M57 The Ring Nebula planetary nebula in Lyra

Date: 6/10/2006

Location: Bryce Canyon Conditions: 93% full moon, seeing 8/10, transparency 8/10, temperature 65-46 F.

Telescope: Televue 85mm refractor, 600mm focal length, prime focus no diagonal.

Mount: Losmandy G11, Gemini goto, polar scope used to align,.

 

Camera: Canon Rebel 300d

Focusing: Manual on star using right angle Canon 2.5 magnifying view finder.

Exposures: (2) 3 min raw, 800 ISO

Processing: IP- convert raw to FITS, dark frame calibrate, align-rotate-scale, combine average,. digital development, convert to 16 bit TIFF, PS CS- curves, levels, color saturation, cropped, unsharp mask, convert to 8 bit JPEG.

Comments: To small. Must shoot using the C8 telescope with more magnification. Lots of stars showing up in Bryce Canyon.