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Captured by
Lawrence Parchman

Sculptor Galaxy (NGC 253)

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Posts Made By: dan kowall

July 31, 2006 03:21 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Some summer Ha goodies

Posted By dan kowall
They all show good composition, Vincent, and your processing skills have counteracted the bad weather conditions.
In other words, they're all keepers!

dan kowall

August 3, 2006 02:06 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Cygnus wall

Posted By dan kowall
An ST10 at f/4 sure sweeps up those Ha photons.
Nicely done, Tom.

dan kowall

August 4, 2006 02:39 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Comet 177P Barnard Movie

Posted By dan kowall
Excellent movie, Dennis.
It's hard to believe something in our solar system could be moving that fast.


dan kowall

August 8, 2006 02:27 PM Forum: Home Observatories

Need advice on a door

Posted By dan kowall
If you haven't built the walls yet, why not size the wall height to accept a standard door?

dan

August 11, 2006 02:15 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Lightning strike

Posted By dan kowall
There was a discussion of this on another group just recently.
Here's what Ron Wodaski had to say:
<<I recently participated in the design of a lightning protection system
for a large observatory. Some things I learned:

* Even if you spend a lot of money (say $50,000), you still can't buy
complete protection from lightning strikes. If lightning hits, and
you've done all the right things, and spent the money to do those right
things, you still only have a 50-50 chance of having your equipment and
building survive the hit. Lightning is just too powerful and too
unpredictable.

* It's hard to image a really effective lightning protection system that
would cost less than $10,000. Startling idea, that. But you need massive
amounts of copper, lots of air terminals, big trenches, a ground ring,
and some way to dissipate static charges effectively to have a shot at
substantial protection. Heck, you could spend $10k just digging trenches
and burying the copper. sad

* The less you spend, the less protection you have.

* There is a lot of anecdotal stuff out there on lightning protection.
Even the experts disagree on the right way to provide protection.

Ron Wodaski >>>>END QUOTE

_________

dan kowall

August 14, 2006 06:36 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Cat's Paw - NGC6334

Posted By dan kowall
That's a really commendable result for the short exposure times, Jim.

dan kowall

August 15, 2006 02:37 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Bubble Region wide field in H-alpha

Posted By dan kowall
It's really amazing the depth you can get at f/4 with that exposure time.
That scope sure is a performer.

dan kowall

August 15, 2006 02:49 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Crescent in H-alpha

Posted By dan kowall
David Tasch said:
........... Manually guided with a Stellacam II.
David

I applaud your driving skills with the Stellacam, David.
You have great detail in your image, and though people often overexpose the outer 'shoulders' of the Crescent, you've handled that well.
You might want to back off a bit on the sharpening, the stars are starting to show as panda eyes.
Good job.

dan kowall

August 22, 2006 02:50 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Pickering's Triangle

Posted By dan kowall
That's a wonderful field of view, Jim, with lots of detail in the Triangle.
You've framed it well.
This is a dim one, isn't it? It barely shows up in my framing shots.
Shooting at f/3.8 has served you well in the center of the image, but betrayed itself in the corners a bit. There's always a price to be paid, I guess.
My regards,

dan


August 23, 2006 06:29 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

NGC7331/Stephen's quintet

Posted By dan kowall
That is perfectly processed, Rick.
I often look at CCDWare's calculated times and think "That seems too short to be right", but it's hard to argue against someone who has logic and solid mathematical analysis on their side.
An excellent image, even at full resolution.

dan kowall

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