ASTRO: M77 Right image this time

Oops, posted the wrong image. Details the same.
Rick
--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".

On Thu, 14 Dec 2006 18:41:00 -0600, Rick Johnson wrote:

Oops, posted the wrong image. Details the same.
Rick

Lovely image.
Dont often see the faint outer arms in images and there is a good
selection of faint fuzzies in the background as well.
Phil Bishop

"Rick Johnson" wrote

Great image of an interesting galaxy Rick! Pulling that outer part out of
the sky is tough!

George N

Thanks,

It's even harder done through clouds. Didn't help that the one night
that I did have clear skies for 3 exposures I took them by accident with
the red filter. Those three were the only ones not taken through
clouds. The other 7 had periods of total eclipse due to the clouds
going by. I doubt there is 25 minutes of data there if it was taken
under clear skies. Then half that was with the red filter. I assume
those faint arms are blue unless this is a very odd galaxy. Thus they
are very noisy.

Now to add insult to injury, my "repaired" Robo-focus unit just died
again. I'll have to send it back to them yet again. It refuses to turn
on unless I bring it into the house to warm up for a half hour. Then
run out and install it before it cools again. It worked fine in far
colder weather for a couple weeks after I got it back from them but
suddenly tonight its back doing its old tricks again. I can keep it on
if I run an extension cord to the observatory to just power it and leave
it on 24-7. Normally closing the roof cuts all power to the
observatory, except the roof motor, because the roof would hit the scope
if the scope isn't parked. Roof will only roll if the scope is down and
in its parked position.

But after I got it running again after a 30 minute warm up the clouds
rolled back in and it's another lost night.

To add insult to injury I'm finding that the front side of the glass is
fogging over if I run at -35C or colder. Odd, but in warmer weather I
had no trouble at that temp but now I do. Dew point is lower with the
lower temps which must be the cause. Turning off the fan warms the
inside enough to clear the frost and it doesn't seem to return for a few
hours. Heat tape around the camera is in the future it appears. Or I
run at -25C that doesn't fog -- so far.


Rick


George Normandin wrote:
"Rick Johnson" wrote

Great image of an interesting galaxy Rick! Pulling that outer part out of
the sky is tough!

George N



--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".

Thanks
I hope to do it with cloud free skies and get them a lot better. Right
now Mr. Murphy is camped on my doorstep

Rick


Phil wrote:

On Thu, 14 Dec 2006 18:41:00 -0600, Rick Johnson wrote:


Oops, posted the wrong image. Details the same.
Rick


Lovely image.
Dont often see the faint outer arms in images and there is a good
selection of faint fuzzies in the background as well.
Phil Bishop

Rick,

very good detail in this galaxy. Did you do any fancy processing to get the
brightness of the core down?

Stefan

"Rick Johnson" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
Oops, posted the wrong image. Details the same.
Rick
--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".

Depends on what you mean by fancy. I isolated the core with a large
feather (25 pixels) and processed it with levels and curves. Then
inverted the selection and processed the outer arms the same way. I did
some unsharp masking of the core which was bright enough to take it but
not the rest which dissolved to noise immediately. No combining of
separate short exposures for the nucleus if that's what you mean. Mine
were all too short anyway as the clouds easily cut the exposure time in
half for most of them, and three were taken accidentally through the red
filter.

Murphy and I are becoming too close of late. Now my Robo-focus has gone
out a second time. They are sending me a new one rather than try to
repair it a second time. Then the cold temp right above dewpoint is
causing the outside of the window to fog up as well as the filters in
the filter wheel. I'll likely need heat tape on the camera to warm the
outside. In the meantime (local hardware store doesn't have any short
enough in stock so have ordered some) I found I can warm it inside by
turning off the fan for every other frame. Can't keep it off more than
20 minutes or the cooling suffers. Or I can run at -25C. I prefer -35C
or colder but that will take the heat tape unless the dewpoint rises.

Rick


Stefan Lilge wrote:
Rick,

very good detail in this galaxy. Did you do any fancy processing to get
the brightness of the core down?

Stefan

"Rick Johnson" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...

Oops, posted the wrong image. Details the same.
Rick
--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".