Just click on images to see enlarged versions
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"New"
04-04-08 My spring trip to Fort McKavett was one of the best times I've
had! Not only did I have great friends to visit with, but Friday
night was the best imaging sessions I've ever had. This trip I was
making an attempt to image galaxies. M-104, otherwise known as
the Sombrero Galaxy, is one of my favorite objects to view through my
20" Obsession. I've attempted to image this galaxy at my house in
Santa Fe Texas but the light polution severly limited my ability to
obtain a suitable image for posting. Combining dark skies and
calm winds at the fort, this was a special night to remember.
Click on image to see larger version and details.
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10-29-07
With the beautful weather lately, I decided to image Comet 17P/Holmes.
I've been hearing all the chatter in my astronomy club
(JSCAS)
and throughout the astronomical community and was excited to find some
time to observe and image this exciting event.
We've had
5-6 days of perfect weather and didn't expect a change but about the
time of sunset, smoke filled clouds started to move in from Galveston
way. To my surprise, those clouds obscured my view up till
around
10:00 pm. By that time, the comet was high enough to observe
and
image. What a beautiful object!! I have both a
"Visual"
view image and an "Enhanced" view image. Click on image to
see
both versions and details.
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10-12-07
Imaged on my fall trip to Fort McKavett, M27 otherwise known
as
The Dumbbell Nebula, was a complete surprise! Like the spring
trip, we were rewarded by clear skies most of the time, but
the
wind was a killer for imaging. Knowing how bad the wind was I
just starting taking exposures of only 20 secs due to wind gusts
upwards to 10-15 mph. Out of 60+ subframes, I actually found
that
8 were half way stackable. Due to the short
exposure time
& lack of confidence that anything would turn out, no dark
frames
were taken. Low and behold, I was able to process
something
presentable. Click on image to see larger version and
details.
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03-16-07
My spring trip to Fort McKavett was an especially interesting this time
around. Two words,."New Camper!!". The most
important
factor
was that the telescope fit in the camper's storage.
Even though we had great weather every night (up to about
midnight), I was able to image only one night out of four due to wind.
This was my first image of B-33, otherwise know as the
Horsehead
Nebula. Actually, I was more impressed with the blue
reflection
nebula NGC 2023. |
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10-20-06
My semi-annual trip to Fort McKavett was enjoyable as always.
Due to 5-10 mph winds buffering my scope, I was
able to
keep only 20
out of 55 shots of NGC 7293, better known as the Helix
Nebula.
Not too much to look at in my scope, but photographically,
very
stunning. |
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9-20-06
Wiped the dust off my telescope, camera, and all the other
"stuff" to do some imaging since it's been forever since I've seen some
sustainable clear weather here and got a shot of one of my favorite
objects...The Swan Nebula (M17). Don't forget to check out
the
core of this beauty! |
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1-30-06
2nd Light with my new Canon 20D Capturing The Great Nebula in Orion. |
1-29-06 It never fails. Get a
new astronomy toy and the clouds move in for a week. Finally,
some clear skies for about an 2 hours tonight! I finally got
to do some imaging tonight with my new Canon 20D hooked to my 20"
Obsession scope. After getting aligned and my
autoguide a'guiding I started testing my new setup.
I shot some quick 30 sec shots of m42 & m43(of course) for my
first light. After about 10 shots or so the clouds
moved in. Anyway, I started processing some of the images and
noticed something strange....even spooky. Some of the
experienced astroimagers probably have seen this before but it was new
to me. I zoomed in on the Trapezium region and noticed what
appeared to be a man embedded to the right of the Trapezium
with his back to me looking over his left shoulder into the
sky! And... I think he's necked!!!! I know ya'll
think I've lost it but look for yourself!
I'm calling this the "Necked Man Nebula" |
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2005
Mars Opposition. Click on the image of Mars on the left to
see
several images made with my 20" Obsession Telescope, Toucam Pro II and
Tom Osypowski Aluminum
Dual Axis Equatorial Platform. |
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3-21-04 - The last night at
Spring trip to Fort
McKavett. All by myself with bats flying around my head, I obtain this
shot of Jupiter. I tried to process this shot with the goal of how it
actually appears visually (less processing) through my scope with
excellent seeing conditions. Transparency was 9/10 but the seeing was
around 5/10. 20" Obsession @ f/20 with ToUcam Pro II webcam. |
3-20-04 - Animation of
Jupiter, Ganymede, and Europa.
Animation has 39 frames, each frame consisting of over 400 frames
aligned, processed, and stacked with Registax. Seeing started out good
(around 6-7/10). As night progressed, seeing decreased and wind
increased as illustrated in animation. 20" Obsession @ f/10 with ToUcam
webcam. |
3-19-04 Saturn taken at 2004
spring trip to Fort McKavett. 20"Obsession @ f/10, ToUcam Pro II
webcam, seeing 6/10. |
3-19-04 - My first pic of the
face of Jupiter showing
the Great Red Spot with my current setup. Taken at the 2004 spring trip
to Fort McKavett. 20" Obsession, f/10 ToUcam Pro II webcam, seeing
5/10. |
3-6-04 - Wow!!! It's amazing
how much detail can be
seen when the seeing gets better. This is an f/20 shot using the ToUcam
pro II with 20" Obsession. 475 out of 535 frames processed with
Registax2. Considered the "boring" side of Jupiter, this was anything
but boring last night. Seeing was 7/10, Transparency was 5/10. |
3-6-04 - Jupiter and Io at
f/10. I finally got some
clear weather to shoot in. Seeing was good (7/10) but shooting through
a persistant cloud (transparency 5/10) that just seem to hang over my
house was challenging. Also, the full moon was about 7.8 degrees from
Jupiter. I began to see what the ToUcam Pro II and my 20" Obsession
combination could really do. Cloud knots, white ovals and blue festoons
galore! Just unbelievable!!! I used all 792 frames stacked with
Registax2. |
02-26-04 - My first attempt at
animation. Very short,
I admit but it has potential!!! I didn't realize that I had enough
shots that evening to create one but after seeing Randy Brewer's fine
work, I thought I would try. 20" Obsession @ f/10, ToUcam Pro II seeing
3/10. |
02-26-04 - This was the first
image of Jupiter I've
taken with my new ToUcam Pro II, 20" Obsession at f/10. Seeing was
about 3/10. Notice Io to the left and Europa and it's shadow on the
right side. 57 frames hand picked from 481 frames stacked and processed
using Registax 2. |
02-26-04- This was the first
Image using my new ToUcam
Pro II webcam. I just pointed it at the moon in broad daylight to align
the finder and get it ready for viewing that night. Mirror was still
warm and image was swimming all over the place. I did not know what
crater this was at first but a nice gentleman named John from the Yahoo
Obsession User Group Forum correctly identified this crater as
Piccolomini. |
1-19-04 - This is probably the
highest resolution of
Saturn to date for me. This was on a night that the seeing was about
6/10. Taken at f/20 with 20" Obsession with surveillance camera
recordered to Sony Digital Camcorder then converted to AVI file to be
processed in Registax 2 |
1-19-04 - With the light
gathering power of the 20"
scope, some nebulosity can be detected on the video screen when
recording the Trapezium. Taken at f/10 with surveillance camera
recorded using a Sony Digital 8 camcorder downloaded as a AVI file then
processed with Registax 2 |
12-07-03 - This is a Tri-color
stacked image taken
with my 20" Obsession at f/10 with a cheap surveillance camera I bought
at EPO. I captured the images with my Sony Digital 8 Video Cam then
downloaded them as an AVI file to my computer for processing with
Registax 2. The camera uses a 1/2" ccd chip which gives a much larger
field of view than a webcam. |
12-7-03 First Image taken with
20" Obsession,
"Electric Screwdriver" Equatorial Platform, B/W surveillance camera
setup. Recorded to a Sony Digital 8 camcorder, downloaded to an AVI
file for processing with Registax 2. |
08/27/03- Mars taken via
Eyepiece projection through 20" Obsession using an Olympus C-3020Z
Digital Camera |
08-26-03- Mars using 20"
Obsession and Quickcam Pro 4000. Images stacked and processed using
Registax 2 |
04-05-02- First Image of
Jupiter with 20" Obsession. Eyepiece Projection using my Olympus
C-3030Z Digital camera. |
3-30-02- M42 & M43 -
Olympus C-3030Z digital camera mounted to 11x80 Binoculars Eyepiece
Projection on an EQ Platform. |
03-30-02 - Moon taken with a 4
1/4" Reflector. 14
individual shots stiched together. Images taken with an old camcorder
and using a Snappy video capture device to down load pics to computer. |
04-14-99: My first planet shot
of Venus taken with my
Dad's digital camera via eyepiece projection with a 4 1/4" homemade
Newtonian Telescope. |
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