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M20 Trifid Nebula in LRGBHa

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Posts Made By: Garry Buck

November 28, 2003 04:07 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

PC power supply and GEM mount

Posted By Garry Buck
I have a Synta HEQ-5 GEM mount. It takes 8 D-cell batteries to power the motors. I have a PC near the scope, and I'm thinking of using one of the 12v outputs from the power supply in lieu of the batteries.

Is this a bad idea? I want to save money on batteries, but I don't want to risk damaging anything. FWIW, I have everything behind a UPS, so I think I'm ok in terms of power spikes and sags.

Garry Buck

January 5, 2004 03:59 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Yet another Saturn

Posted By Garry Buck
I'm a rank newbie, and this is my first Saturn that I'm not embarassed to show.

It was taken in Tucson AZ, 11pm, Jan 2. Temp 47F, seeing was 3/6, transparency 2/6. Intes MK67, Teleview diagonal, Teleview Powermate 2.5x, SAC IV. Exposure was 1/10th second. Captured a 200 second AVI in Astrovideo at 640x480, uncompressed. Stacked the top 2004 of 3000 in Registax. It took 16 hours for my PC to stack and align the 1.3 Gig file! The result was then ruthlessy abused in Maxim D/L.

Garry Buck



January 20, 2004 04:07 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Saturn, 1-15

Posted By Garry Buck
Here's a picture I took of Saturn on 1-15. I've processed this run literally dozens of times over the last few days, with different software and different settings. The combinations seem infinite, it's amazing how the same run can produce so many different results.

This is the sharpest I've gotten to date. My big breakthrough was having Astrostack restack on the result. The difference was just huge.

Am I seeing a hint of Enke in there, or is it just an artifact? I don't even know if a 6" scope can resolve such a fine detail.

Seeing was stable but hazy. Intes MK67, Powermate 2.5, SAC-IV, captured with Astrovideo, 450 frames as 1/10th sec. Stacked in Astrostack, procesed in Maxim and Photoshop.

January 21, 2004 02:25 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Optic-Craft mounts

Posted By Garry Buck
Is anybody familiar with these mounts? I like the robust design, and the prices seem quite reasonable.

http://www.opticcraft.com/

April 26, 2004 03:27 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Need help processing

Posted By Garry Buck
Well, I tried my hand at Paul Maxon's exercise (thanks Paul)and I learned that I can hose up even a well rendered image taken on great equipment by a good photographer!
Trouble is, I don't know what to make of my own images. Are they decent raw material that I'm ruining with ham handed processing, or are they bad to begin with? I'd appreciate it if any of you would process this image for me and offer any comments you may have. It was taken with a Minolta Dimage Z2, 1700 frames shot at 800x600, stacked in Registax with no additional processing. Seeing was good, 5 of 6. The scope is an Intes MK67.


July 15, 2004 02:09 AM Forum: Pet Pics

Super Dog

Posted By Garry Buck
Rocky the Boxer in his favorite Halloween costume.

July 18, 2004 10:22 PM Forum: Solar System Observing

Sunspots, sunday afternoon

Posted By Garry Buck
Homemade Baader filter, Intes MK67, TV 2.5x Powermate, Scopetronix Maxview 40, Minolta Z2. Video shot at 800x600, 15fps. Hand selected 40 frames out of 500. Stacked in Registax, wavelets set to 10.

November 25, 2003 04:01 AM Forum: Telescope Making

Craziest question of the year, by far!

Posted By Garry Buck
Why would such a binocular have to be mechanical? Couldn't you have a buddy in England stream images onto the web at the same time as you (I assume you're in the states), and you could both view the images through your "virtual binocular" in realtime. You'd have a small time window where it's dark in both places, and the weather would have to decent in both places of course. It wouldn't do to have sun in one eye and fog in the other!

I don't know how to do the math, but if a separation of a few thousand miles is sufficient to trick our eyes and brains into seeing a 3-D image, it seems like this should be both cheap and doable. The sort of thing the eccentric Brits would go in for.

I dub it: Binoc-zilla!

Garry Buck
Tucson, Arizona

December 8, 2003 02:36 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Saturn with QC Pro 4000 and ToUcam Pro

Posted By Garry Buck
VERY nice pictures, congratulations. What software are you using to do the stacking. Do you stack manually, or let the software do it automatically. Same question about quality frames, do select each of the 600 frames, or do you let the software sort by quality, and you just select the top few for further processing.

January 5, 2004 03:34 AM Forum: Solar System Observing

A question for the Experts

Posted By Garry Buck
Do you remember the exact time you took the picture? If so, you can use Sky View Cafe or JupSat95 to show you what the moons were up when you took your picture.

Speaking of which, that's a very nice picture. I too have an MK67 DL, and I haven't produced a Jupiter anywhere near as nice as yours. What kind of camera, software etc. did you use?

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