M101 on Jan 29, 2006
I finally got around to processing the images of M101 taken early Sunday morning around 01:18 MST at Crow Valley Campground near Briggsdale, CO. The image is a bit noiser than it should be as I stopped the exposurers due to some clouds. Temperature was about 8 degrees, no wind, occasional clouds, and turbulence was fair (5/10) most of the time. Stack of 23, 8.5 sec second exposures taken with a Stellacam2 video camera attached to 0.33 focal reducer on the Celestron Nexstar11.
January 31st, 2006 at 6:09 am
2 great images, Vern. I hold a special interest in these objects for what they are and the challenge they present. I like how our MW stars litter the foreground and the isolated concentrations floating in space. Is that stellar-like nucleus (brighter than anything else in the photo) or a well placed star? M101 has yet to be detected from Central Park - may need 30″ of glass ;~D)
peter
January 31st, 2006 at 5:18 pm
Wow,maybe I should consider buying a ccd imager?!.Very nice shot!!.I would be happy getting a image of half the quality!!.Nice work!!
January 31st, 2006 at 10:48 pm
Peter and Andrew,
Thanks for you both for the words of encouragement! The Stellacam2 is very simple to use. It integrates for up to 8.5 seconds so you can view the image almost real time on a monitor. An 8.5 sec exposure with Stellacam2 gets deeper than a 2 min ISO 800 shot with the a 300D. It greatly simplifies checking focus and framing the object. If only the Stellacam2 had color and higher resolution! I’m sure that will happen in a few years. Amateur astronomers in the near future will have some fabulous toys.
February 26th, 2006 at 9:15 pm
[…] Compare this to one I took on Jan 23—excellent transparency makes a difference! […]