Dan's Astrophotography

Sunset with Venus and the Moon from Tierra Del Sol

Dan — Thu, 20 May 2010 23:36:41 +0000

Image Location and Date: Tierra Del Sol on May 15th, 2010
Object: Venus, Moon, power lines.
Mount: CG5GT
Lens: Tokina 28mm
Exposure: 1/40th at f5.6
ISO: 1600
Camera: Nikon D60

Lagoon Nebula from Tierra Del Sol

Dan — Tue, 18 May 2010 04:15:18 +0000

Image Location and Date: Tierra Del Sol on May 16th, 2010
Object: M8 Lagoon Nebula
Mount: CG5GT
Imaging scope: Omni XLT 150 Newtonian
Imaging FL: 750mm
Imaging focal ratio: f5
Imaging camera: unmodified Nikon D60
Lights: 28 x 180 sec ISO 3200 (1 hour 24 minutes)
Calibration: Darks, flats.
Guide scope: Antares 8×50mm finder with Orion StarShoot Auto Guider
Other details: guided with PHD, stacked in DSS processed in Photoshop

Virgo Galaxy Cluster from Tierra Del Sol

Dan — Tue, 18 May 2010 01:22:18 +0000

Image Location and Date: Tierra Del Sol on May 15th, 2010
Object: Virgo Galaxy Cluster
Mount: CG5GT
Imaging scope: Omni XLT 150 Newtonian
Imaging FL: 750mm
Imaging focal ratio: f5
Imaging camera: unmodified Nikon D60
Lights: 30 x 180 sec ISO 3200 (1.5 Hours)
Calibration: Darks, flats.
Guide scope: Antares 8×50mm finder with Orion StarShoot Auto Guider
Other details: guided with PHD, stacked in DSS processed in Photoshop

Milky Way from Palomar Mountain

Dan — Sat, 15 May 2010 09:03:24 +0000

Snapped a few quick pictures of the summer milky way from the Palomar Mountain turnout. Unfortunately my deep cycle battery wasn’t working correctly so I didn’t have the ability to set up my telescope mount. Therefore, I have no tracking, therefore, star trails. There was a nice marine layer covering San Diego County, you can see the peaks of mountains and valleys poking above it. Great night. Pardon the noise, I was shooting at ISO3200 and forgot to take dark frames. I did get the chance to try out a 28mm Tokina lens I found at the swap meet for $20, so far so good.

NGC4565 From San Juan Capistrano

Dan — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 04:57:13 +0000

Image Location and Date: San Juan Capistrano on April 06, 2010
Object: NGC4565 Edge On Spiral Galaxy
Mount: CG5GT
Imaging scope: Omni XLT 150 Newtonian
Imaging FL: 750mm
Imaging focal ratio: f5
Imaging camera: unmodified Nikon D60
Lights: 30 x 60 sec ISO 3200 (30min)
Calibration: Darks, No flats.
Guide scope: Antares 8×50mm finder with Orion StarShoot Auto Guider
Other details: guided with PHD, stacked in DSS processed in Photoshop

Yeah, there are a lot of crappy gradients in this photo. I had light leaking in from somewhere, I suspect my focuser was the culprit. I need to re-do the insulation around it. Light pollution was also pretty bad in that direction which didn’t help matters much either.

M3 from San Juan Capistrano

Dan — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 08:23:34 +0000

Image Location and Date: San Juan Capistrano on April 04, 2010
Object: M3 Globular Cluster in Canes Venatici
Mount: CG5GT
Imaging scope: Omni XLT 150 Newtonian
Imaging FL: 750mm
Imaging focal ratio: f5
Imaging camera: unmodified Nikon D60
Lights: 54 x 60 sec ISO 3200 (54min)
Calibration: Darks and Flats
Guide scope: Antares 8×50mm finder with Orion StarShoot Auto Guider
Other details: guided with PHD, stacked in DSS processed in Photoshop

M104 Sombrero Galaxy from Tierra Del Sol

Dan — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 02:15:26 +0000

Image Location and Date: SDAA site at Tierra Del Sol on February 13th
Object: M106 Sombrero Galaxy in Virgo
Mount: CG5GT
Imaging scope: Omni XLT 150 Newtonian
Imaging FL: 750mm
Imaging focal ratio: f5
Imaging camera: unmodified Nikon D60
Lights: 4 x 300 sec ISO 3200 (20min)
Calibration: Darks and Flats
Guide scope: Antares 8×50mm finder with Orion StarShoot Auto Guider
Other details: guided with PHD, stacked in DSS processed in Photoshop

M109 from Tierra Del Sol

Dan — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 20:54:41 +0000

M109, a bright example of a barred spiral galaxy.

I love how many little background galaxies are visible in the hi res version of this image. All those faint smudges of light? Galaxies.

Image Location and Date: SDAA site at Tierra Del Sol on February 13th
Object: M109 Galaxy Ursa Major
Mount: CG5GT
Imaging scope: Omni XLT 150 Newtonian
Imaging FL: 750mm
Imaging focal ratio: f5
Imaging camera: unmodified Nikon D60
Lights: 8 x 300 sec ISO 3200 (40min)
Calibration: Darks and Flats
Guide scope: Antares 8×50mm finder with Orion StarShoot Auto Guider
Other details: guided with PHD, stacked in DSS processed in Photoshop

New Rosette image from Palomar Mountain

Dan — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 07:50:41 +0000

I’m still really not satisfied with anything I’ve got on this object yet, here is another attempt. I was able to combine last weeks data from Tierra Del Sol’s with last night’s Palomar session. I need to image this at least one more time to add more data before it sets until next winter. So far I’ve got 1 hour 15 minutes of data on it at 3200 ISO. 4 minute exposures.

Nebulosity in Cygnus – Tierra Del Sol

Dan — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 03:02:18 +0000

I actually stayed up late enough to see Cygnus rise. Time sure flies. This is part of the North American Nebula (NGC7000).

Image Location and Date: SDAA site at Tierra Del Sol on March 13th
Object: North American Nebula in Cygnus
Mount: CG5GT
Imaging scope: Omni XLT 150 Newtonian
Imaging FL: 750mm
Imaging focal ratio: f5
Imaging camera: unmodified Nikon D60
Lights: 4 x 300 sec ISO 3200 (20min)
Calibration: Darks and Flats
Guide scope: Antares 8×50mm finder with Orion StarShoot Auto Guider
Other details: guided with PHD, stacked in DSS processed in Photoshop