Astromart

February 5, 2003 06:16 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

M81-M82 from GA

Very nice Chris. You might try adjusting the saturation a *tiny* bit to get the red hydrogen cloud of M82 and HII regions of M81 to "pop" a little more.

Wery well done.

Jeff Hapeman

February 6, 2003 03:50 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Dumb question about IR blocking filter

Posted By Jeff Hapeman

This would not be the source of your color problems. That is likely either a bug with your software, or your filter wheel is not working correctly.

It is not easy to tell the difference between a plain clear filter and an IR-block filter. If you look at them side-by-side, you will see that the IR-block filter looks a little "darker" compared to the non-IR block.

I think that the SBIG filters had a blue retaining ring if the filter had built-in IR block, and a black retaining ring if the filter was not IR-blocking.

Hope this helps...

Jeff

February 10, 2003 02:59 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

m45 lum...

Posted By Jeff Hapeman

The coma is almost undoubtedly because you don't have the correct metalback distance between the reducer and the chip in the camera. The distances can be found here:

http://www.buytelescopes.com/container.asp?dest=/manufacturers/takahashi/back_focus_guide.htm

Gorgeous image, BTW, and one where the ABG of the 2000XM can really shine.

Jeff

February 11, 2003 02:02 AM Forum: Takahashi

Tak NJP Mount

Posted By Jeff Hapeman

Rumor has it that the Tak tracks significantly better. I wouldn't be surprised. My NJP has about +/- 2.3" of PE, or a total error of around 4.5". That is really hard to beat, and from what I hear, pretty typical of the NJP. The electronics on the 900 are superior in terms of features and ease of use, however.

What this means to me is that if you want to do the best astrophotography you can, go with an NJP. If you do a lot of visual observing, the AP900 might be the better choice.

Jeff

February 12, 2003 05:11 AM Forum: Film Astrophotography - Imaging and Processing

Cygnus Mosaic

Posted By Jeff Hapeman

Todd,

Really nice. How dark are the skies at the site(s) you took these images at?

Jeff

February 15, 2003 05:26 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

D60 and the "screwy" russian lens

Posted By Jeff Hapeman

Paul,

The problem is NOT the file size with Maxim. I use an SBIG ST-10XE and a 32-bit integer file will be much bigger than a D60 file. What Maxim stinks at is handling jpegs, which is what you are using, I bet. It't terrible at combining jpegs....unusable.

Jeff

March 2, 2003 05:01 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Waterfall Nebula and HH34

Posted By Jeff Hapeman

Ron,

That's a really nice image of something obscure. Good to see something we don't usually see and what an indication of how far "amateur" equipment has come in the last few years. That would have been a research-grade image only a decade ago...

Jeff

March 3, 2003 02:10 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System