An Incredibly Rich Star Field in Canis Major

My CCD camera is on its way back from sunny Santa Barbara after having
its filter carousel repaired. Last night, 16 December, was such a rare,
clear night in central Maryland, however, that I had to try _something_
so I placed my Canon 40D on my 106mm f5 Tak refractor and made a
wide-field image of NGC 2359 "Thor's Helmet" in Canis Major. It is
surrounded by one of the richest star fields I have seen.

The page http://www.primordial-light.com/deepsky6.html#thor contains
the full frame reduced to a width of 1024 pixels; there is a link to a
larger image, as well.

Davoud

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

On Dec 17, 9:11*pm, Davoud wrote:
My CCD camera is on its way back from sunny Santa Barbara after having
its filter carousel repaired. Last night, 16 December, was such a rare,
clear night in central Maryland, however, that I had to try _something_
so I placed my Canon 40D on my 106mm f5 Tak refractor and made a
wide-field image of NGC 2359 "Thor's Helmet" in Canis Major. It is
surrounded by one of the richest star fields I have seen.

The page http://www.primordial-light.com/deepsky6.html#thor contains
the full frame reduced to a width of 1024 pixels; there is a link to a
larger image, as well.

Davoud

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

Sweet... thanks for sharing...

\Paul

Stunning and each a potentially unblemished jewel supporting life.

Thankyou for reminding us of our original purpose.

On Dec 17, 9:11*pm, Davoud wrote:
My CCD camera is on its way back from sunny Santa Barbara after having
its filter carousel repaired. Last night, 16 December, was such a rare,
clear night in central Maryland, however, that I had to try _something_
so I placed my Canon 40D on my 106mm f5 Tak refractor and made a
wide-field image of NGC 2359 "Thor's Helmet" in Canis Major. It is
surrounded by one of the richest star fields I have seen.

The page http://www.primordial-light.com/deepsky6.html#thor
snip

Dude, you _have_ to clean your lens- look at all that dust all over
every inch of the picture.


berk
people who live in and around the Cities never see stars. Let alone
the Milky Way.

"Davoud" wrote in message
...
My CCD camera is on its way back from sunny Santa Barbara after having
its filter carousel repaired. Last night, 16 December, was such a rare,
clear night in central Maryland, however, that I had to try _something_
so I placed my Canon 40D on my 106mm f5 Tak refractor and made a
wide-field image of NGC 2359 "Thor's Helmet" in Canis Major. It is
surrounded by one of the richest star fields I have seen.

The page http://www.primordial-light.com/deepsky6.html#thor contains
the full frame reduced to a width of 1024 pixels; there is a link to a
larger image, as well.

That's one nice pic. Why not submit it to APOD?

"Davoud" wrote in message
...
My CCD camera is on its way back from sunny Santa Barbara after having
its filter carousel repaired. Last night, 16 December, was such a rare,
clear night in central Maryland, however, that I had to try _something_
so I placed my Canon 40D on my 106mm f5 Tak refractor and made a
wide-field image of NGC 2359 "Thor's Helmet" in Canis Major. It is
surrounded by one of the richest star fields I have seen.

The page http://www.primordial-light.com/deepsky6.html#thor contains
the full frame reduced to a width of 1024 pixels; there is a link to a
larger image, as well.

Davoud

Good job and great on the processing. Seems like you did it just right, not
under or over done. Ed likes it too. Hope you were spared the worst of the
snowfall that seems to be blanketing the NE.

Nancy Burkett


--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything
that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

In article , Davoud:
The page http://www.primordial-light.com/deepsky6.html#thor contains
the full frame reduced to a width of 1024 pixels; there is a link to a
larger image, as well.

John Nichols:
That's one nice pic. Why not submit it to APOD?

My humble thanks to all of you for your kind remarks.

I have submitted it to APOD, but when you consider the gorgeous detail
that people are getting with their RC's from elevations of 2500 meters
and upward in New Mexico, the Atacama, and such like, not to mention
the stuff from the professional observatories and Hubble, a photo taken
at 18 meters elevation in the heart of the East Coast light dome seems
unlikely to end up on the top of the pile the APOD people have to
choose from! Who can blame them!?

Davoud

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

On 19 Äåê, 17:52, Davoud wrote:
In article , Davoud:

The page http://www.primordial-light.com/deepsky6.html#thor contains
the full frame reduced to a width of 1024 pixels; there is a link to a
larger image, as well.

John Nichols:

That's one nice pic. *Why not submit it to APOD?

My humble thanks to all of you for your kind remarks.

I have submitted it to APOD, but when you consider the gorgeous detail
that people are getting with their RC's from elevations of 2500 meters
and upward in New Mexico, the Atacama, and such like, not to mention
the stuff from the professional observatories and Hubble, a photo taken
at 18 meters elevation in the heart of the East Coast light dome seems
unlikely to end up on the top of the pile the APOD people have to
choose from! Who can blame them!?

Davoud

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

Davoud,

Can I trouble you for your thoughts on the Starfish? I am looking for
a guider and I would love to get your thoughts. Other options include
Lodestar, LVI as well as standard webcams.

The area is indeed quite rich and which is obvious with your result.
There is a tint of blue in the central portion - is this due to
reflection nebulosity or due to a lack of flats?

Thanks!

Anthony.

Anthony Ayiomamitis:

Can I trouble you for your thoughts on the Starfish? I am looking for
a guider and I would love to get your thoughts. Other options include
Lodestar, LVI as well as standard webcams.

I love it! I have the uncooled version because I'm not interested in
using it for anything but guiding. It has great sensitivity and it
offers guiding that is about as simple as auto-guiding can be. Mac OS
or Windows, just connect the camera to USB and to the mount's guider
port. Use PHD. Calibration is unbelievably quick and easy. For the
first time since I have been imaging auto-guiding is a rather trivial
matter for me.

The area is indeed quite rich and which is obvious with your result.
There is a tint of blue in the central portion - is this due to
reflection nebulosity or due to a lack of flats?

Lack of flats. In lieu of flats I used the Dynamic Background
Extraction routine in Pixinsight. The dark blue did not escape my
notice, but it didn't bother me, either. I figured that only the creme
de la creme of astrophotographers would be likely to notice and I was
right :-)

Davoud

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

On 19 Äåê, 19:48, Davoud wrote:
Anthony Ayiomamitis:

Can I trouble you for your thoughts on the Starfish? I am looking for
a guider and I would love to get your thoughts. Other options include
Lodestar, LVI as well as standard webcams.

I love it! I have the uncooled version because I'm not interested in
using it for anything but guiding. It has great sensitivity and it
offers guiding that is about as simple as auto-guiding can be. Mac OS
or Windows, just connect the camera to USB and to the mount's guider
port. Use PHD. Calibration is unbelievably quick and easy. For the
first time since I have been imaging auto-guiding is a rather trivial
matter for me.

The area is indeed quite rich and which is obvious with your result.
There is a tint of blue in the central portion - is this due to
reflection nebulosity or due to a lack of flats?

Lack of flats. In lieu of flats I used the Dynamic Background
Extraction routine in Pixinsight. The dark blue did not escape my
notice, but it didn't bother me, either. I figured that only the creme
de la creme of astrophotographers would be likely to notice and I was
right :-)

Davoud

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

David,

Thanks for the feedback. I will check it out. My interest is also
strictly for guiding and nothing else. I considered getting a cheap
ST-7 but the weight may lead to flexure and in contrast to other
solutions which are much lighter. I hope the Starfish allows for guide
exposures around 4-5 seconds so that one does chase the seeing.

With respect to your result, check out the colour balance in Photoshop
and especially the first option for shadows and by slightly reducing
the blue and being careful not to clip the histograms. You may also
need an ever slight adjustment for the midtones (blue once again).
Finally, make sure the box for "Preserve Luminosity" is checked off.

Anthony.