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Posts Made By: Stephen Fugardi

April 25, 2008 05:51 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Enceladus Transit 4/24/08 9:01pm (1:01UT)

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
Under poor seeing, I was lucky to get one 90sec avi that shows the transit of Enceladus. I used a DMK21/C11 at 750gain, 140%gamma, 1/15s exposure, 15fps, then stacked the best 200 frames. The final f25 image was resized 1.5x to show the moon better.

Regards,
Steve

April 27, 2008 11:38 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Saturn 4/22 Redo 400frame DMK RGB only

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
I went back to my last Saturn capture & reprocessed only the DMK R,G,B channels combining them with 30% less blue which made the final image more "Hubble" like for color. After reducing the blue I noticed that the ring RGB colors became much more balanced. For some reason, adding in the L channel made the image worse for color and added little detail so I stayed with RGB only. There is a hint of a redish ring in the northern cap which was not visible previously. After reprocessing the data, I have concluded that the seeing must have been average even though the transparency was below average. It is my personal best Saturn, and I hope you like it. It may be the last one of the year from me

Regards,
Steve

June 2, 2008 04:53 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Pluto, 5/29/08

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
Last Thursday morning, after a night of deep sky imaging with my Nikon D70s, I decided to try for the dwarf planet as it neared transit at 2:36am. Surprisingly it cleared my tree line. Using my C11 + 0.5x reducer, I stacked 20x30ec frames @ISO1600 with Enhanced Sat, Adobe II RGB, Sunny WB, then cropped & resized the final composite. Based on TheSky4 software, I was able to easily locate Pluto on the individual frames but not visually through my 55mm eyepiece.

Regards,
Steve

June 5, 2008 12:10 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Flat Field & Reducing Advice

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
I have recently started deep sky imaging with my C11 & Nikon DSLR. At prime focus, the collected light was too dim so I decided to buy a 0.5x reducer that threads into the end of my 2" camera adapter. This works well for the very center of the image but tends to bend the light at the edges and completely cuts off at the corners. It seems like the 0.5x is too much for my setup and I was thinking of trying a .7 or .8x. What you you guys recommend for an SCT?

I have attached my flat field. With the corners being dark they blow out on the final image. Shouldn't the flat field cover the entire image evenly? I suspect this is due to the excessive reducing from the 0.5x. Also, how bright should the "ideal" flat field be, histogram-wise?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Steve

July 11, 2008 06:38 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Jupiter 7/11/08, f18

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
Taken in below average seeing 1 hour past transit, 25deg altitude, in between trees. The 2.5x barlow was too much magnification for the adverse conditions, so I went with the 1.8x. 30fps R,G 15fps B, best 150frames each stacked. Having just spent the previous 2hrs getting perfect drift alignment with my 2.5x barlow, I realized that while essential for deep sky imaging, perfect alignment is not desired for planetary shooting. At least not one with a scope with dust motes. Even subtracting out flat fields did not prevent artifacts ending up in the final image. Next time I will crank the base mount handle exactly 1 turn to achieve a "uniform" drift across the chip as I collect the avi. I used 800gain/140gamma for this image but will try 900/130 next time. Unfortuneately I only have 16min between trees. It was my first RGB Jupiter and leaves plenty of room for improvement.

Regards,
Steve

July 16, 2008 10:03 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Jupiter f10 7/16

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
First of a few runs from this morning, all taken at prime focus. The seeing conditions would not allow even my smallest barlow, 1.8x to be used. RGB avis taken at 60sec, 60fps, 1/60sec, 130% gamma, Gain 600 RG, 800 B. Best 800frames each stacked, resampled at 1.5x. I have avis at 110 & 120% gammas and will try restacking at less than 800frames. For now here's the first Jupiter, improved from previous but still a bit washed out

Regards,
Steve

July 16, 2008 05:15 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Pluto 7/16/08

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
While I was waiting for Jupiter to clear the treeline this morning, I took 20x30s DSLR shots of Pluto using a Nikon D70S at ISO 1000 with the bright moon nearby. I compared the image with my old ver4 of TheSky (which seems to be missing many stars) then tried to view it through the eyepiece. At 51X, it was not visible, however using my 31mm erfle (90X) I was able to barely see the faint grouping of 3 stars looking off center after my eyes finally adjusted. Based on my software, the middle "star" should be Pluto (line pointing down). Can any one confirm this? Also if you have a link to some better sky chart freeware, please pass it on.

Regards,
Steve

July 26, 2008 02:17 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Jupiter f25 7/26/08

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
Here's my latest image from this morning with the "best" seeing taken over 1 hr past transit at an altitude of 23deg. Best 400 RGB frames stacked. Finding decent seeing at this elevation here in CT may not be possible this season.

Regards,
Steve

November 1, 2008 12:52 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Re: Jupiter setting against Milkyway, Earth below

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
Jason, beautiful! It's amazing that today's digital cameras can take such a good image, especially for a single frame.

Regards,
Steve

December 4, 2008 11:58 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Saturn f25 12/3

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
This is my first Saturn after getting my scope cleaned so the collimation still needs tweaking. Previously, I had been using 140% gamma, however, the DMK recommendations have been to use a neutral 100%. I did not however compensate with enough gain and collected data at around 50-55% of the histogram. As a result, the rings were a little underexposed, and as Saturn climbed higher in the sky, I lowered the gain (not realizing it was too low already) and was not able to take advantage of the improved seeing. This RGB image was taken around 4:30am with my C11 & DMK21, below average seeing, best 400frames RGB, Dione faintly visible to the left.

Regards,
Steve

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