Posts Made By: Floyd Blue

Hi All,
I just wanted to share with you something that I learned today about FITS Liberator. It has a method of stretching [COLOR="Red"]B] ArcSinh(x) 1/2[/B][/COLOR], that is very good.
http://www.astrophotogallery.org/showphoto.php/photo/291 be sure to click on the picture and you will get the full size full res version of 2.5 megs.
This image was put together using this method and it required almost no other work to get the photo where I wanted it. The image was full of balanced color, resolution without blowing out the bright areas and the background was very smooth.
If you have not tried this, do so and see what your think. I selected ArcSinh(x)1/2 and hit auto scale and presto, almost perfect.
Floyd

x^(1/4) process was used this time. It seems to not be as aggressive with the stretch and yet gives good resolution without over exposure.
There was a bit of noise and artifacts with the first process, that I did not catch at first.
Here is the link to this procedure, I deleted the old photo and replaced it to save space.
Be sure to click on the picture shown to see the full size and resolution.

Full size and resolution
http://www.astrophotogallery.org/showphoto.php?photo=290&nocache=1

Cropped version showing core better.
http://www.astrophotogallery.org/showphoto.php/photo/290

This process seems more in line with Linear, yet does seem to give a better core overall than Linear.
What do you guys think about this? :S

Hi,
Well, the DSI III Pro Outback Razorback Cooler finally arrived from Australia after it was rebuilt by Steven Moog to correct some problems with the first production models.

I have it mounted now and it seems to be working to specs. I did make a slight modification, I added a foam block to the case to insulate the metal original front case for the camera. The cooler was making the metal quite cool. So I figured that this indicated a heat leak and that insulating it would improve the cooling
characteristics of the unit. Indeed it did seem to help to achieve quick equilibrium and keep it there.

I have taken a set of darks at 10°c and 5°c and it is amazing how the 1 minute and 10 minute darks look almost the same.!

Here is a picture of the camera with the cooler, foam block, filter wheel and TV focal reducer. This is the configuration used for imaging. Note the felt seals on the filter wheel thumb knurl area, to keep out light or dust.

Total cost (new including focal reduce and wheel) of the unit as shown without filters is $1730. This is not bad for the performance that it provides. It is about the same as an Atik 16HR (same chip, but with un-controlled cooling)without the filter wheel or focal reducer.,
This package represents a good value in a mid-priced camera with a nice size chip and FOV as well as small pixel size.

Why is it that this forum is so heated all the time. It seems to me that most are here to just stir up an argument and then push it as far as the moderator will allow. Makes for very poor reading really. :S

I am so sick of hearing about race or gender. I don't care if Obama is black, well actually he is half white, and I don't care which half is elected as long as it is not because of race.
I don't care whether Hilary wins because she is a woman or loses because she is a woman.
Really, I could care less whether a person is man, woman, black, white or brown.

The only race that I am interested in is the race to repair the USA's economy and protect our workers from outsourcing to other countries. I want someone that will kick China in the stomach and tell them we will not let them dominate the market place and dump their products in the USA. I would like someone that will stand up and tell the oil producers of the world, they we will not sit back and let them dominate us with oil prices and threats about oil production.

We need someone that will look at the plight of the people and the older generation such as myself that have worked all our lives to just have our security pulls from under our feet by bankrupting the social security system to fund pork! None of the candidates are this type of person and that is what is really sad. Each one of them is a poor excuse for a true leader if you ask me.

What is needed is someone that is not out for money or power but just has a desire to do something to again make this country great. Someone that would be strong and aggressive yet compassionate enough to not use their power unless it is needed. This is what this country needs, not a bunch of whining, bickering idiots that do nothing but spout whatever makes the people cheer and wave signs.

Will we see such a person? Probably not or at least not as long as money is running the country and the government and not the people that it is suppose to represent. >

I just saw that Virtual Moon 4 is available for download, a 450 meg file. I downloaded it, but it turns out that it has a spyware built into the install. Do not download this file, but if you do make sure you scan it with a good antispyware program. Some of these new worms are very hard to get rid of if you catch them. >

Hello,
I got an answer from the author of the program, which I will post here. It seems that it uses a file which is also used by other programs, which he explains here.
So, it would seem that the file does exist, but is just a part of the install-uninstall and not a threat.
Floyd

Re: [virtualmoon] Question about Virtual Moon Atlas Ver 4 and Registry Clean Fix 2008 in the exe

[COLOR="Blue"]Hi,

I can ensure you there is no "addon" with VMA download.

This is not the first time some anti-virus or anti-spyware give false detection
on the installer software. This is generally due to poor filtering rule.

VMA use InnoSetup ( http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php ) to build the
installer package, the uninstaller part consist of the two files unins000.exe
unins000.dat which allow to cleanly remove the application.
But some spyware also use InnoSetup to install there sh... and then also install
this two files.
If the anti-virus maker do not take enough precaution when building it's rule it
can give you a warning because of this.

On the new web page the email address are mailbot protected, pch [at] freesurf
[dot] ch must be converted to pch@...

Patrick
[/COLOR]

I for one would love to see alternative energy sources.
Electric cars sound great, but electric airplanes and trucks? I just don't see that happening anytime soon. A big truck that carries most of what you and I consume would have a VERY large battery to lug around and it would have limited range and capacity.
Even electric cars have such limited range that they would be worthless to me for most of my needs. Just going up to my observing site would require a range of 130-150 miles or at least 65-75 miles one way with the ability to recharge once there. Most electric cars have much less range than this.
Just driving to Los Angeles would require some kind of stop for hours to recharge along the way. So, we need something more than batteries to make this possible. Hybrids, well they are OK, but the savings in fuel is not that great. There are economy cars that get close to the same mileage.
So, what is the alternative, Alcohol? Alcohol gives you 70% the mileage per gallon and you have to use a lot of fuel to make the corn to make the alcohol. Plus using the corn for this increases our food costs.
Hydrogen, well that is a good idea, but a cheap way to make it has yet to be found. But, maybe with enough money thrown in there could be new technology found?
Really though, if we wish to improve the air, we need an alternative for internal combustion and that is a tall order! Airplanes, trucks, trains, ships as well as many others need a power source too, not just cars. These huge vehicles need a lot of continuous power that does not weigh so much that it makes them useless.
The funny thing is, we have not really seen any NEW technology in over 100 years that is geared toward this goal. Yes, there are a few things like fuel cells that have come along. But mostly we are still just modifying old technology in some way. Electric cars are not new you know.
The point is there is not magic solution available to us. I have no idea of where this magic might come from, but I think it is not going to be anytime soon.

Hello all,
Well, I am off for an imaging weekend to the LAAS site. Hope to get two objects, one each night. Not certain yet which, but maybe M63 and one other.
Hope everyone has a good weekend with nice dark skies! 8)

Well,
I only had Friday night that was good enough for imaging, Saturday the high clouds came in early.
Not the finest I have ever seen, but it did come out pretty good I think.
But, I did manage to get M63. Here is the full res pic, be sure to click on it for full size.
http://www.astrophotogallery.org/showphoto.php/photo/374
Also got a shot of my pier setup at LAAS, here is the photo of it in large format.
http://www.astrophotogallery.org/showphoto.php/photo/376