Posts Made By: Alex McConahay

The schedule and other information about the workshop in Pasadena on September
16 (day before PATS) runs like this:

SCHEDULE:
8:00 Registration, Coffee, and Rolls In Registration Center (Room 204)
9:15 Daniel Perry Getting Started in Astrophotography: Gearing Up
Tim Puckett Data Mining
10:30 Rogelio Bernal Wide Field Imaging
Wolfgang Promper Imaging with Front Illuminated and Back Illuminated Sensors
12:00 Luncheon
1:00 Warren Keller Image Processing I
R. Jay GaBany Big Things from Small Packages
2:30 Warren Keller Image Processing II
Ken Crawford Digging out the Details
3:45 Warren Keller Image Processing III
Ken Crawford The Cure for Anemic Color

5:00 Door Prizes
Apogee, QSI, and FLI have donated an excess of $5000 for the prizes

PROGRAM NOTES:

Daniel Perry Getting Started in Astrophotography: Gearing UpNot knowing where to start or where to go next can be large hurdles for amateur
astrophotographers. Daniel will walk us through the basics and some intermediate
aspects of equipment selection (mounts, cameras, and optics), session planning,
data acquisition (software, exposure times, and types of exposures), and image
calibration. Whether you're in your observatory or in the field, and whether
your camera is on a tripod or attached to a telescope on an equatorial mount,
there will be something for every beginning imager.

Rogelio Bernal Wide Field ImagingWide field telescopic images include short focal length telescopic and camera
lens shots, mosaics, and so forth. The imager must consider composition and
special processing challenges such as compositing the mosaics, and controlling
gradients. The presentations features software, processing, and other techniques
very different from what most people use.

Warren Keller Image Processing I, II, IIIThese three sessions will take those seeking a good, comprehensive foundation in
processing through the magic and science of Image Processing. These three
different sessions can be viewed in a series or independently. This is a
complete presentation of how one takes a calibrated image through its processing
to bring out all the information and beauty of the image.

Tim Puckett Data MiningAs part of the "Science with the Telescope" theme, Tim will show how amateurs
can research their own and other people's images to find things nobody
(including scientists) knew were there. Thousands of images are never checked by
general imagers for transient objects. The talk will focus on the objects they
can find, how to measure and report them, and so forth.

Wolfgang Promper Imaging with Front Illuminated and Back Illuminated SensorsWolfgang will describe the considerations high end imagers must take into
account when choosing their ultimate cameras. When going for the most detailed
imaging data, the types of sensors and other hardware considerations become
important.

R. Jay GaBany Big Things from Small PackagesAmateurs are regularly making contributions to Science, using backyard
equipment, software, and processing techniques. This presentation will emphasize
how you can be part of this effort.

Ken Crawford Digging out the DetailsA step by step lesson for revealing and enhancing those hidden details in your
images.

Ken Crawford The Cure for Anemic ColorFive different ways to bring your to life with very dramatic results including
an intro to the new HDR toning

If you would like to know more about these presenters, simply go to
PATSIMAGE.ORG and click on their names in the upper right hand corner. That will
take you to their websites. I suppose I should say--things are subject to
changes. (But I hope it goes just like this!!!!)

If you are registered, you should have gotten your confirmation last night. If
you would like to register or get more information, go to patsimage.org

Alex

Alex,

I do not know whether Nikkormat lenses generally fit other brands besides Nikon. I do not even know if they fit current digital Nikons--so I will leave that to others.

However, I should advise you that Canon products are generally far preferred by the astro-imaging community.

Look for one of the more recent versions of the Rebel. Get one with Live View. If you need professional quality, (heavier build, slightly more features, larger sensors) you may want one of its big brothers.

Megapixels are relatively unimportant to imaging after a certain point, and anything you are buying nowadays will have more than you need. (After you have filled a computer screen at 1980 x 1080--about two megapixels--the rest of the pixels are not doing you all that much good.)

Your camera will come with the basic software for image acquisiton, and then you will need some processing software. I would suggest you look into the products from Stark Labs.

However, I should advise you, that if you are looking to go into astroimaging on a budget, you should just turn around and walk quickly away.
Alex

About a year ago, a fellow amateur astronomer and telescope maker signed on to Astromart for the first time. I was immediately struck with his enthusiasm for the hobby and interest in spreading his love for astronomy to others. I decided I wanted to meet this guy—named Joe.
Sometimes we forget how easy it is to bounce ideas about astronomy with our local clubs, star parties, and shows. Just show up at Stellafane and RTMC, or NEAF and PATS, and there are lots of people to share ideas with. Imagine living in faraway Nairobi. Joe did not have access to those sharing experiences. And his resources were not available at the local Home Depot or Ace Hardware. So, he did what ATM people have always done—he improvised.
When I realized that I was going to nearby Tanzania this fall, I decided to add Nairobi to my itinerary, just to meet Joe and share a bit of enthusiasm. We met up at his work, where he is chaplain to some 600 students at a beautiful private school. We spent some time looking over his scope and sharing ideas. Just like in Springfield or Big Bear, it was just ATM people getting together.
Unfortunately I had scheduled my visit to East Africa to coincide with the little rainy season…..and there was no way we could use his ten inch F 4.35 scope under the solid cloud cover, but we did have time to play with it out in the yard, and it moved smoothly in both axis. He has shown a lot of imagination in his project, including making a version of a reflex finder out of a flat mirror and red light, a finder scope out of half a binocular, and a fine adjust on the altitude elevator.
All in all a great visit.
Just thought you might like to see what can come out of these Astromart postings.
Alex

I was cleaning up for a yard sale and ran across my Transit of Venus viewers from 2004.

What could I do?????

Well, walked out into the back yard and looked at the sun.

And there was a huge sunspot visible naked eye (Well, filtered naked).

Alex

I just heard that Tom Johnson of Celestron fame has passed on. His innovation certainly had an impact on us all.

Alex

Is there a command from the hand paddle that will force a meridian flip?

I have a relatively new AP1200.

I went out to my desert observatory with the intention of correcting the orthogonality error in my telescope bracket, and had prepared myself with all the instructions and all the shims and tools I might need, and all that--I knew to center a star at the meridian/0 dec, then do a meridian flip, and see if it is still centered, etc.....So- I had it all ready, and Duh---I could not figure out how to tell it to do a meridian flip. I had assumed, like on my Gemini, it was just hidden someplace in the menu, but I could not find it. I did find some info in the manual about how to adjust the Meridian and then do a goto to the star of my choice(and this allowed me to get most of the job done)---but not how to do a flip in itself.

Alex


Alex

Hap Griffin will be presenting an all-day workshop at RTMC on May 27.

Hap is notable for making DSLR imaging possible for many thorugh his camera modifications, cables, and accessories. But he is also an accomplished imager using CCD's DSLR's and a variety of software applications. He has spoken at NEAF and the Miwest AstroImaging Conference.

Information and registration is available at http://www.rtmcastronomyexpo.org/general.html

Pre registration closes May 10.

Alex

PS....Hap's website is at:
http://www.machunter.org/hapspics.html

Hap Griffin will be presenting an all-day workshop at RTMC on May 27.

Hap is notable for making DSLR imaging possible for many thorugh his camera modifications, cables, and accessories. But he is also an accomplished imager using CCD's DSLR's and a variety of software applications. He has spoken at NEAF and the Miwest AstroImaging Conference.

Information and registration is available at http://www.rtmcastronomyexpo.org/general.html

Pre registration closes May 10.

Alex

PS....Hap's website is at:
http://www.machunter.org/hapspics.html

The moon is getting real big for May 5. My explanation (from a few years back) at:

http://www.alexastro.com/Alex%20Home%20Page/Articles/Whythemoonisbig.pdf

Alex

As I was going into church this morning, the priest was out front as usual greeting us parishioners as we walked in. Father O'Shaughnessy greeted those in front of me "Welcome--I don't think I've seen you here before." "Oh--we're new here. I'm a Higgs Boson. Is it okay if we come to the service?"

"Sure," Father O'Shaughnessy said, "We wouldn't have mass without you!!!"

Alex