Cherry Springs 8/25/2014

 Apogee A694, Astronomical, Nebula, Orion Atlas EQ-G, Star Parties, SVQ100, Widefield  No Responses »
Aug 272014
 
Cherry Springs panorama from the northern side of the overnight astronomy field

Cherry Springs panorama from the northern side of the overnight astronomy field

 

Cherry Springs

Cherry Springs

Monday night was my first visit to a dark site; or at least my first visit since catching the astronomy bug.  Upon arriving at Cherry Springs after the 4 hour drive I noticed there were quite a few people  still hanging around after the Black Forest Star Party which was held over the weekend.  According to some of the other amateur astronomers, the weekend star party was a bust.

We found a vacant spot to setup our tents right next to one of the RV style power outlet posts scattered throughout the observing fields.  I can’t stress how wonderful it is to have power provided  on the field for the astrophotographically inclined!

The grounds were well kept and the main bathrooms much nicer than expected.  The surrounding area is gorgeous for anyone who enjoys the outdoors.

 

Untracked 30 Second Exposure

Untracked 30 Second Exposure

As nice as the park was, the show obviously didn’t start until the sun went down.  The Milky Way was more prominent before astronomical twilight than I’m used to seeing here in the PGH region after astronomical twilight; even at the Greene County site.  By 10:00pm it was gorgeous and I snapped a quick 3o second shot on a tripod and marveled that the dark lanes extending out from the Rho Ophiuchi / Antares region were clearly visible in a short exposure so close to the horizon.

Seeing the sky like this puts everything in a different perspective.

Yes, it’s depressing being back in light polluted Pittsburgh but I’m really glad I finally made it out to Cherry Springs after all this time.

I had plans to shoot some other objects but due to poor planning and setup of my tent I couldn’t take some of the deep southern objects I was hoping for.  I settled for 5.5 hours of exposure time on NGC 7023:  The Iris Nebula.  I have shot the Iris before but was never totally happy.  I’m still not quite satisfied but it’s certainly better than what I’ve gotten around here.

4 minute Exposure Canon 6D 200mm f/2.8 Tracking, Unguided

4 minute Exposure
Canon 6D
200mm f/2.8
Tracking, Unguided

NGC-7023-LRGB-Combine-V2

NGC 7023 Atlas EQ-G Mount Stellarvue SVQ100 – 100mm f/5.8 Quadruplet Apogee Ascent A694 CCD 5.5 Hours Total LRGB Exposure

 

The Iris Nebula, also NGC 7023 and Caldwell 4, is a bright reflection nebula and Caldwell object in the constellation Cepheus. NGC 7023 is actually the cluster within the nebula, LBN 487, and the nebula is lit by a magnitude +7 star, SAO 19158.[1] It shines at magnitude +6.8. It is located near the Mira-type variable star T Cephei, and near the bright magnitude +3.23 variable star Beta Cephei (Alphirk). It lies 1,300 light-years away and is six light-years across.[2]

Courtesy of Wikipedia.

Reflection Nebula NGC 6914 in Cygnus

 Apogee A694, Astronomical, Dark Nebula, Emission Nebula, Nebula, Orion Atlas EQ-G, Reflection Nebula, SVQ100  No Responses »
Aug 012014
 

Another decent night at the AAAP Greene County Dark Sky Site.

NGC 6914 is a reflection nebula nestled amongst the diffuse emission nebula in Cygnus.

NGC 6914 SVQ-100 Apogee Ascent A694 Atlas EQ-G w/eqmod 5x10min Lum 6x10min Red 6x10min Green 6x10min Blue Total: 3.8 Hours Greene County, PA

NGC 6914
SVQ-100
Apogee Ascent A694
Atlas EQ-G w/eqmod
5x10min Lum
6x10min Red
6x10min Green
6x10min Blue
Total: 3.8 Hours
Greene County, PA

Playing around with an 8mm circular fisheye lens as well for an all sky timelapse.

[youtube:http://youtu.be/l92QPyDS_GQ]

Hydrogen Alpha Mosaic – Test Framing w/ the Moon for scale

 AP900GTO, Apogee U16, Astronomical, Emission Nebula, FSQ-106ED, Nebula, Widefield  No Responses »
Jul 072014
 

It’s that time of year when Cygnus rises high over head and displays a multitude of nebulous treasure.  This mosaic is only a portion of the Cygnus constellation but represents a large patch of sky almost 9 x 9 degrees.  This is only a test framing as I create a game plan for a summer long imaging project.  For a sense of scale, I have included a gibbous moon which was not part of the original image as well as a full scale crop of the Crescent Nebula, bottom right, to show the full size scale of the original 83 megapixel image.

Mosaic_12

Cygnus Mosaic in Hydrogen Alpha FSQ-106ED Apogee U16 AP900GTO Baader Ha Narrowband Filter 9x20min total exposure

 

 

4/8/2014 – Waxing Gibbous Moon

 Astronomical, Lunar, SVQ100  No Responses »
Apr 082014
 

Playing around with a Stellarvue SVQ100 Astrograph with a Lumenera Lu070 monochrome video camera and a 5X Televue Powermate tonight.  A quick stack and sharpen to see what I got.  They need some more time processing but doesn’t look too bad for an astrograph.

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