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Posts Made By: Floyd Blue

June 5, 2008 09:23 PM Forum: Politics

Over, well maybe, not not done.

Posted By Floyd Blue

As far as I can see Obama has done a bit of damage control, but never really addressed the issues of association over a 20 year period. He always says the same thing, just in different ways, that never really explains the situation to my satisfaction.His wife still feels as she did when she wrote her paper and made her statements. Not exactly what I want in a first lady, a person that holds white people responsible for the worlds problems and considers us the bane of society.
I do not want anyone in the White House that holds any race in contempt, I do not care what the color.
I would like to hear exactly how Obama intends to do this miracle of change that he continues to wave like a flag. How are we going to break the hold on us by foreign oil, by banning the use of Coal or making Methanol using our corn crop that uses as much oil as it saves? Electric cars, not in this decade, there is not viable power source that will allow them to take over in most areas. For a run around in town, maybe, but for a out of town transportation, not a reality. Try driving up the Grapevine (Interstate 5) with an electric vehicle and see how far you can go after the climb, if you make it!
Changes that are needed are trade deficit resolution, job outsourcing solutions, immigration issues, gaining a hold on world production of goods again, Social Security, gangs and of course the ability to drill new oil wells and build new refineries.
These are the things I want to hear about, what changes are there in the Obama plan for these? :S

June 7, 2008 12:41 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

NGC4631, The Whale Galaxy

Posted By Floyd Blue

Well, I finished the Whale last night, second time got the subs I needed.
Here is the high res picture, click on the picture to see the full size.
http://www.astrophotogallery.org/showphoto.php/photo/451
Hope you like it, first time I tried this object. A bit of wind made things difficult, but I guess that is life.
DSI III Pro
8 minute subs
R=64 min
G=64 min
B=64 min
L=120 min

June 7, 2008 11:46 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

M3 reprocessed, need your comments please

Posted By Floyd Blue

http://www.astrophotogallery.org/showphoto.php/photo/216
Make sure you click on the photo to see the full size and res, it makes a difference. ;^)
I have found that I was having some problems with my monitor, which made it difficult to figure out what was real color or how dark it really was, so I did some changes and am reprocessing some files.
This is one where there was too much noise in the background, so I have eliminated that and got the color right, I hope.
How does it look to you?
Floyd

June 23, 2008 04:05 AM Forum: Telescope Making

Re: 26" thin mirror, anyone?

Posted By Floyd Blue

It is against the TOS to post an Ebay sales item.

June 29, 2008 10:00 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

My first HA exposure, M16

Posted By Floyd Blue

Well, I had nothing but troubles last night trying to get a Tri-color Narrow Band image of M16. I had dirt on the CCD window that I had to clean, in the dark. cwy I had to do two runs of Polar Alignment Correction to eliminate the drift and then fought flexure so that I could not get the 10 minute exposures that I wanted to use.
The next morning I realized that when I reinserted the camera, I did not get it fully seated in the focuser, causing the flexure.
Oh well, I ended up with 120 minute, 6 min x 20 subs of HA only. Here is the shot as it stands now, and I hope to add O-III and S-II at the next night out. Click on the image to get full resolution and size. Hope you like it, I took all night to get these few exposures. :S
http://www.astrophotogallery.org/showphoto.php/photo/636

July 3, 2008 11:27 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

My first Narrow Band Tri-Color, M16

Posted By Floyd Blue

http://www.astrophotogallery.org/showphoto.php/photo/674
I finished the exposures last night, with just enough time to get the O-III and S-II subs.
This is the first time that I have made one of these, so be kind. :^)
Be sure to click on the image to get the full size and resolution image.
Floyd

William Optics Megrez 80mm f/6 Super APO Triplet
Meade DSI III Pro
Astronomiks filters
Losmandy G-11 Gemini
Autoguided, 80mm Meade @ f/7.2 , Meade DSI Pro camera, PHD guiding


Narrow Band
HA = 120 minutes 6 minute subs
O-III = 90 minutes 10 minute subs
S-II = 90 minutes 10 minute subs


O-III = Blue
HA = Green
S-II = Red
Stacked AIP4WIN
Combined in CS2 and processed in CS2

July 7, 2008 01:02 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

My latest images from this weekend.

Posted By Floyd Blue

Hi all!
Well, this weekend I got some good skies and a chance to try Binning for the first time. Took two shots, M20 and M8 and got a chance to process the data.
Here are the two images in full res and size, please be sure to click on the picture to see the full res and size.
M8
http://www.astrophotogallery.org/showphoto.php/photo/698
M8 in RGBL
All Color Subs Binned 2x2
R = 6min x 8
G = 6min x 8
B = 6min x 8
L = 8min x 13 (Not Binned )

M20
http://www.astrophotogallery.org/showphoto.php/photo/697
M20 in RGBL
All Color Subs Binned 2x2
R = 6min x 8
G = 6min x 8
B = 6min x 8
L = 8min x 16 (Not Binned )

Hope you like them, they are my entry into binning of the color subs. grin

July 7, 2008 06:19 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

My M8 from this weekend, more red added

Posted By Floyd Blue

http://www.astrophotogallery.org/showphoto.php?photo=698&nocache=1
I added some red to the shot as I found most pictures show the nebula
as more red. Not sure exactly what the color should be, but tell me
what you think.
Floyd

July 7, 2008 06:45 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

New guide scope for imaging setup

Posted By Floyd Blue

Hi all,
Here is a picture of my new guide scope and imaging setup. I have replaced the old guide scope with a ST80 to make the whole thing shorter and more compact. Works nicely and is only 18.5 lbs with cameras as shown.

July 8, 2008 06:50 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Your opinions would be greatly appreciated, if you

Posted By Floyd Blue

I posted my original photos of M8 & M20 and a couple of revisions.
Now I have done a lot of work on the color and contrast on these photos and have a new version of each.
If you have the time, please look at these photos and tell me honestly what you think of them.
You have to click on the photo to see the full size and resolution and this is very important as it gives the real look I am trying to achieve.

M8
http://www.astrophotogallery.org/showphoto.php?photo=698&nocache=1

M20
http://www.astrophotogallery.org/showphoto.php?photo=697&nocache=1

These last efforts are an attempt at gaining color without making it look artificial while adding to the resolution and depth.
Did I give this look to these photos or am I off on this?
Honestly, it is hard for me to judge this myself as I have worked on them for hours and loose perspective.