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Captured by
Douglas Rollain

Lion Nebula SH2-132 - RC71

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Posts Made By: Stephen Fugardi

July 31, 2006 11:17 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Jupiter July 21 with keck

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
Chris, The views through an 8,000mm scope must be incredible! The only downside is you probably already caught the "aperture" fever... What is amazing is that the shape of the GRS seemed almost unaffected by the passing of Red Jr. Congradulations on your trip to Keck

Regards,
Steve

September 6, 2006 11:03 AM Forum: Home Observatories

Computer Counter

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
Dan, nice woodworking! I am still using a small metal ladder with my Celestron manual on top to achieve the perfect laptop height. Which is fine until we need the ladder for something in the house... I had grand plans of adding shelves everywhere in my observatory this past year which never happened, yet

Regards,
Steve

September 10, 2006 11:49 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Uranus 2006/9/8

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
Richard, excellent shot! Did you use a barlow and what kind of camera did you use? Thanks for posting

Regards,
Steve

September 12, 2006 11:20 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Uranus f25, 9-11-06

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
Folks, taken at Neptune's peak altitude around 10:50PM with Compustar C11, f10, and Toucam 840 with an IR filter, 1/25sec, 5fps, 80% br, 10% gam, 100% sat, 60% gain. Knowing how dim the planet appears, I did not even attempt trying a barlow. I took the best 300shots from my 450sec avi and resized it by 2x. No wavelets or color adjustment, just 1x through Neat Image. I finally got lucky and found it on the first try, switching from my 8.8mm eyepiece to the web cam.

Regards,
Steve

September 12, 2006 01:49 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Uranus f25, 9-11-06

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
20" box fan running full speed pulling the fresh cool air from the door across the scope and out the opening. This setup running for at least 2hrs prior to observing seemed to help my local seeing. The flow was very turbulent but effective. I still have my cat cooler on back order.

Regards,
Steve

September 28, 2006 04:27 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

My first Uranus capture

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
Brad, you must have incredible patience! Just to be able to get Uranus in a Toucam field of view at 500x without a clock drive is remarkable, let alone imaging it for several minutes. Nice shot. I wish I had your level of patience, thanks for posting

Regards,
Steve

October 14, 2006 01:04 PM Forum: Home Observatories

New Super Dew Shield

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
After viewing M45 I couldn't resist trying an f25 star test on one of the 7 sisters. I took 2 30sec avi's, one with my box fan (located in the doorway) on high and the other off. Previously, having the fan on was better than off, however I never optimized the speed (low, med, high). With the super dew shield, my star test shows that no fan is actually better than the high speed. I should have tried each setting but didn't think of it last night. I have never been able to capture any decent diffraction rings on a real star with my webcam until last night. My theory is that while the fan can overcome some thermal turbulence, too much causes unsteady air. Finding that ideal condition is the key to optimal viewing in my dome.

Attached images are the best 60 of 300 frames, resized 8x (left is fan on, right off). Maybe this simple dew shield modification can help you?

Regards,
Steve

November 4, 2006 01:11 PM Forum: Home Observatories

My Roll off shelter

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
Alex, awesome website with tons of great astro shots. I just bookmarked it, thanks for the link!

Regards,
Steve

November 7, 2006 11:58 AM Forum: Home Observatories

We are go for rollback.

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
Mike, nice setup! You must get a ton of perfect seeing nights in Alaska. Thanks for posting shots of your obervatory and good luck with it!

Regards,
Steve

November 9, 2006 12:47 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Mercury Transit November 8th 2006 - Arizona

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
JW, gorgeous shot! It really looks 3 dimensional. Tiny Mercury seems to get lost in all the Ha solar texture. Thanks for posting

Regards,
Steve

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