ASTRO: Widefield fun between airplanes and clouds

Last night was the first clear night we have had in a few days and the only
one we are likely to have for the next three to five days. I decided to try
the widefield setup last night and went to Montebello Open Space Preserve in
the Santa Cruz Mountains just west of Palo Alto, Califiornia. It is pretty
close to my home compared to Fremont Peak, but doesn't feature a/c power
from the power grid. I took my 2Kw Honda EU2000i "whisper generator" with me
for power

The quarry was Barnard's Loop and the weaponry was the FLI IM6303E and
medium format Pentax 35mm f/3.5 fisheye lens for the 6x7 camera. I used a
4.5nm Cust Sci Halpha filter and the lens was stopped down to f/8 for good
stars corner to corner.

Between wispy clouds and airplanes the best I could manage by 10pm was a
single 10 minute exposure ( I had been trying for 30 minute ones but they
were obviously not going to work with the issues I mentioned). San Francisco
Int'l really has a lot of traffic for this kind of imaging (30 x 45 degrees
FOV).

By 10 pm the clouds moved in for good heralding the leading edge of a
weather system that promises a rainy Christmas Day

Here's my puny 10 minute effort, no darks or flats either: wasn't worth the
bother.

Richard, quite amazing for 10 minutes. What a shame that you only returned
with 10 minutes from your "field trip".
Btw, which mount were you using for this image? I don't suppose you would
lug your AP1200 around for the widefield lens?

Stefan

"Richard Crisp" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
et...
Last night was the first clear night we have had in a few days and the
only one we are likely to have for the next three to five days. I decided
to try the widefield setup last night and went to Montebello Open Space
Preserve in the Santa Cruz Mountains just west of Palo Alto, Califiornia.
It is pretty close to my home compared to Fremont Peak, but doesn't
feature a/c power from the power grid. I took my 2Kw Honda EU2000i
"whisper generator" with me for power

The quarry was Barnard's Loop and the weaponry was the FLI IM6303E and
medium format Pentax 35mm f/3.5 fisheye lens for the 6x7 camera. I used a
4.5nm Cust Sci Halpha filter and the lens was stopped down to f/8 for good
stars corner to corner.

Between wispy clouds and airplanes the best I could manage by 10pm was a
single 10 minute exposure ( I had been trying for 30 minute ones but they
were obviously not going to work with the issues I mentioned). San
Francisco Int'l really has a lot of traffic for this kind of imaging (30 x
45 degrees FOV).

By 10 pm the clouds moved in for good heralding the leading edge of a
weather system that promises a rainy Christmas Day

Here's my puny 10 minute effort, no darks or flats either: wasn't worth
the bother.

That's wide all right. Darned good for only 10 minutes. Imagine it
gets noisy at full size. Driving for hours, setting up then getting
clouded out. I used to do a lot of that. Now I just go into the other
room and turn on the TV when the clouds roll in. Much easier. But did
have to wait until I retired.

I'm still stumped by something that went through one of my frames. A
constant but dim light and a strobe. Problem is at 3556mm the strobes
were only about 15 pixels apart meaning it had to be moving very very
slowly. A satellite could be that slow but I've never seen one strobe so
evenly as it rotated. Each is the same brightness -- very bright. My
first UFO :-o Can't recall what I was taking. If I find it I'll post
it for ideas.

I once set up in the mountains just north of Yosemite. Darned planes
were a constant problem even there. Then there was this herd of sheep
that came through led by a donkey. Rude awakening department. Trying
to protect the scopes we lost the tents and some easily (cheaply)
replaced gear though one tent wasn't a cheap one. Scopes survived. A
bit of wool in one exposed gear for reminder.

Rick


Richard Crisp wrote:
Last night was the first clear night we have had in a few days and the only
one we are likely to have for the next three to five days. I decided to try
the widefield setup last night and went to Montebello Open Space Preserve in
the Santa Cruz Mountains just west of Palo Alto, Califiornia. It is pretty
close to my home compared to Fremont Peak, but doesn't feature a/c power
from the power grid. I took my 2Kw Honda EU2000i "whisper generator" with me
for power

The quarry was Barnard's Loop and the weaponry was the FLI IM6303E and
medium format Pentax 35mm f/3.5 fisheye lens for the 6x7 camera. I used a
4.5nm Cust Sci Halpha filter and the lens was stopped down to f/8 for good
stars corner to corner.

Between wispy clouds and airplanes the best I could manage by 10pm was a
single 10 minute exposure ( I had been trying for 30 minute ones but they
were obviously not going to work with the issues I mentioned). San Francisco
Int'l really has a lot of traffic for this kind of imaging (30 x 45 degrees
FOV).

By 10 pm the clouds moved in for good heralding the leading edge of a
weather system that promises a rainy Christmas Day

Here's my puny 10 minute effort, no darks or flats either: wasn't worth the
bother.





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

Great photo despite the difficulties, Richard.



Jon Christensen

"Richard Crisp" wrote in message
et...
Last night was the first clear night we have had in a few days and the
only one we are likely to have for the next three to five days. I decided
to try the widefield setup last night and went to Montebello Open Space
Preserve in the Santa Cruz Mountains just west of Palo Alto, Califiornia.
It is pretty close to my home compared to Fremont Peak, but doesn't
feature a/c power from the power grid. I took my 2Kw Honda EU2000i
"whisper generator" with me for power

The quarry was Barnard's Loop and the weaponry was the FLI IM6303E and
medium format Pentax 35mm f/3.5 fisheye lens for the 6x7 camera. I used a
4.5nm Cust Sci Halpha filter and the lens was stopped down to f/8 for good
stars corner to corner.

Between wispy clouds and airplanes the best I could manage by 10pm was a
single 10 minute exposure ( I had been trying for 30 minute ones but they
were obviously not going to work with the issues I mentioned). San
Francisco Int'l really has a lot of traffic for this kind of imaging (30 x
45 degrees FOV).

By 10 pm the clouds moved in for good heralding the leading edge of a
weather system that promises a rainy Christmas Day

Here's my puny 10 minute effort, no darks or flats either: wasn't worth
the bother.

The AP1200 is the only choice I have Stefan.

The camera lens arrangement, frame and so on ready to go needs about the
same mount of counterweighting as my AP180EDT system: three of the 18
pounders about half way down the long bar. Since there was really no need to
keep it super lightweight I didn't really even try. I just built something
sturdy and adjustable and let it weigh however much it turned out to weigh
:-)


http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/ima...whole_view.jpg

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/ima..._side_view.jpg

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/ima...front_view.jpg

and here's an updated labelled map

www.narrowbandimaging.com/images/orion_map.jpg

and the image in slightly larger scale

www.narrowbandimaging.com/images/orion.jpg





"Stefan Lilge" wrote in message
...
Richard, quite amazing for 10 minutes. What a shame that you only returned
with 10 minutes from your "field trip".
Btw, which mount were you using for this image? I don't suppose you would
lug your AP1200 around for the widefield lens?

Stefan

"Richard Crisp" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
et...
Last night was the first clear night we have had in a few days and the
only one we are likely to have for the next three to five days. I decided
to try the widefield setup last night and went to Montebello Open Space
Preserve in the Santa Cruz Mountains just west of Palo Alto, Califiornia.
It is pretty close to my home compared to Fremont Peak, but doesn't
feature a/c power from the power grid. I took my 2Kw Honda EU2000i
"whisper generator" with me for power

The quarry was Barnard's Loop and the weaponry was the FLI IM6303E and
medium format Pentax 35mm f/3.5 fisheye lens for the 6x7 camera. I used a
4.5nm Cust Sci Halpha filter and the lens was stopped down to f/8 for
good stars corner to corner.

Between wispy clouds and airplanes the best I could manage by 10pm was a
single 10 minute exposure ( I had been trying for 30 minute ones but they
were obviously not going to work with the issues I mentioned). San
Francisco Int'l really has a lot of traffic for this kind of imaging (30
x 45 degrees FOV).

By 10 pm the clouds moved in for good heralding the leading edge of a
weather system that promises a rainy Christmas Day

Here's my puny 10 minute effort, no darks or flats either: wasn't worth
the bother.

"Rick Johnson" wrote in message
...
That's wide all right. Darned good for only 10 minutes. Imagine it gets
noisy at full size. Driving for hours, setting up then getting clouded
out. I used to do a lot of that. Now I just go into the other room and
turn on the TV when the clouds roll in. Much easier. But did have to
wait until I retired.

Yeah the preps started at 9am: tear down the AP155 system, set up the camera
lens system, get it all working again, verify it works in all regards, tear
down,. pack up, find the winter clothes, beg the wife to fix a thermos hot
meal and coffee and for a ticket for the "night out", get packed up, head
out at 2:45, stop for diesel in an impossibly crowded street/gas station
brouhaha (3/4 ton four door 4x4 ford my wife uses for pulling her gooseneck
horse trailer) get to montebello, set up etc, and now it's 4:45pm and the
sun is setting and it is coooold (by california standards). Then as the
target gets into imaging position a flock of planes needs to go into and
leave out of SFO, and the thin clouds start up.....



I'm still stumped by something that went through one of my frames. A
constant but dim light and a strobe. Problem is at 3556mm the strobes
were only about 15 pixels apart meaning it had to be moving very very
slowly. A satellite could be that slow but I've never seen one strobe so
evenly as it rotated. Each is the same brightness -- very bright. My
first UFO :-o Can't recall what I was taking. If I find it I'll post it
for ideas.


why couldn't it be an airplane headed off at a fairy acute angle from you so
that it moves slowly from an angular perspective. They have regularly
flashing strobes and the cabin lights may be on etc giving it a constant
level of illumination. Travelling at the correct angle it might only move
10-15 pixels between flashes of the strobe.



I once set up in the mountains just north of Yosemite. Darned planes were
a constant problem even there. Then there was this herd of sheep that
came through led by a donkey. Rude awakening department. Trying

Just goes to show that the sheep will follow any jackass that claims to know
the way. You see it all the time in all aspects of life: not just camping
near Yosemite....
But it also sounds like a humorous scene from a hollywood movie! That's a
pretty good one Rick: sounds like you guys got off light considering what
could have been


to protect the scopes we lost the tents and some easily (cheaply) replaced
gear though one tent wasn't a cheap one. Scopes survived. A bit of wool
in one exposed gear for reminder.

Great story: I'd have loved to have seen that all come down from about 200
yards away :-)

Rick


Richard Crisp wrote:
Last night was the first clear night we have had in a few days and the
only one we are likely to have for the next three to five days. I decided
to try the widefield setup last night and went to Montebello Open Space
Preserve in the Santa Cruz Mountains just west of Palo Alto, Califiornia.
It is pretty close to my home compared to Fremont Peak, but doesn't
feature a/c power from the power grid. I took my 2Kw Honda EU2000i
"whisper generator" with me for power

The quarry was Barnard's Loop and the weaponry was the FLI IM6303E and
medium format Pentax 35mm f/3.5 fisheye lens for the 6x7 camera. I used a
4.5nm Cust Sci Halpha filter and the lens was stopped down to f/8 for
good stars corner to corner.

Between wispy clouds and airplanes the best I could manage by 10pm was a
single 10 minute exposure ( I had been trying for 30 minute ones but they
were obviously not going to work with the issues I mentioned). San
Francisco Int'l really has a lot of traffic for this kind of imaging (30
x 45 degrees FOV).

By 10 pm the clouds moved in for good heralding the leading edge of a
weather system that promises a rainy Christmas Day

Here's my puny 10 minute effort, no darks or flats either: wasn't worth
the bother.





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

You have far fewer donuts than I'd have if I tried that. Maybe I should
think about cleaning my filters. Figured as long as they flat field out
I'd leave them. Like cleaning a mirror, do it only if you absolutely
have to. Your funny columns are about equal to mine it appears.

With not much to compare to I didn't know how it was doing in regard to
those columns that were slightly brighter or dimmer than the others.

Rick


Richard Crisp wrote:

The AP1200 is the only choice I have Stefan.

The camera lens arrangement, frame and so on ready to go needs about the
same mount of counterweighting as my AP180EDT system: three of the 18
pounders about half way down the long bar. Since there was really no need to
keep it super lightweight I didn't really even try. I just built something
sturdy and adjustable and let it weigh however much it turned out to weigh
:-)


http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/ima...whole_view.jpg

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/ima..._side_view.jpg

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/ima...front_view.jpg

and here's an updated labelled map

www.narrowbandimaging.com/images/orion_map.jpg

and the image in slightly larger scale

www.narrowbandimaging.com/images/orion.jpg





"Stefan Lilge" wrote in message
...

Richard, quite amazing for 10 minutes. What a shame that you only returned
with 10 minutes from your "field trip".
Btw, which mount were you using for this image? I don't suppose you would
lug your AP1200 around for the widefield lens?

Stefan

"Richard Crisp" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
.net...

Last night was the first clear night we have had in a few days and the
only one we are likely to have for the next three to five days. I decided
to try the widefield setup last night and went to Montebello Open Space
Preserve in the Santa Cruz Mountains just west of Palo Alto, Califiornia.
It is pretty close to my home compared to Fremont Peak, but doesn't
feature a/c power from the power grid. I took my 2Kw Honda EU2000i
"whisper generator" with me for power

The quarry was Barnard's Loop and the weaponry was the FLI IM6303E and
medium format Pentax 35mm f/3.5 fisheye lens for the 6x7 camera. I used a
4.5nm Cust Sci Halpha filter and the lens was stopped down to f/8 for
good stars corner to corner.

Between wispy clouds and airplanes the best I could manage by 10pm was a
single 10 minute exposure ( I had been trying for 30 minute ones but they
were obviously not going to work with the issues I mentioned). San
Francisco Int'l really has a lot of traffic for this kind of imaging (30
x 45 degrees FOV).

By 10 pm the clouds moved in for good heralding the leading edge of a
weather system that promises a rainy Christmas Day

Here's my puny 10 minute effort, no darks or flats either: wasn't worth
the bother.

Richard Crisp wrote:


I'm still stumped by something that went through one of my frames. A
constant but dim light and a strobe. Problem is at 3556mm the strobes
were only about 15 pixels apart meaning it had to be moving very very
slowly. A satellite could be that slow but I've never seen one strobe so
evenly as it rotated. Each is the same brightness -- very bright. My
first UFO :-o Can't recall what I was taking. If I find it I'll post it
for ideas.



why couldn't it be an airplane headed off at a fairy acute angle from you so
that it moves slowly from an angular perspective. They have regularly
flashing strobes and the cabin lights may be on etc giving it a constant
level of illumination. Travelling at the correct angle it might only move
10-15 pixels between flashes of the strobe.

I was near the zenith at the time. It would have had to be going nearly
straight up or down to have been that foreshortened.


I once set up in the mountains just north of Yosemite. Darned planes were
a constant problem even there. Then there was this herd of sheep that
came through led by a donkey. Rude awakening department. Trying


Just goes to show that the sheep will follow any jackass that claims to know
the way. You see it all the time in all aspects of life: not just camping
near Yosemite....
But it also sounds like a humorous scene from a hollywood movie! That's a
pretty good one Rick: sounds like you guys got off light considering what
could have been



to protect the scopes we lost the tents and some easily (cheaply) replaced
gear though one tent wasn't a cheap one. Scopes survived. A bit of wool
in one exposed gear for reminder.


Great story: I'd have loved to have seen that all come down from about 200
yards away :-)


It's funny now (20 years later) but it sure wasn't at the time! After
losing the inverters to power the scopes, they were trampled to
oblivion, we decided to head out. On the way down we passed a second
flock headed our way. I did get a photo of that. But since the move I
have no idea where that is stored now. Nothing like open range to make
observing interesting.

One other time we saw at 2 a.m. some hikers headed our way. We were in
the north Arizona desert not far from the south rim of the Grand Canyon.
You could hear these two guys cussing like crazy. They'd shine a
light on something for a bit, Turn it off, go silent, start to cuss then
repeat the process. Apparently they saw our red lights (we were viewing
so no photos running) and headed our way. Turns out they'd bought a
glow in the dark planisphere for a horridly expensive price (this was
the 70's and they paid something like $40 for a 12" glow in the dark
one) and it was wrong they said. Seems it didn't show this very bright
star. We tried to explain it was Saturn and no planets were plotted on
a planisphere. Not only did that cause them to cuss even more, they
refused to even look at Saturn in the scopes or anything else. They
just were going to wring the necks of the clerks that sold them that
"faulty" planisphere. To them it was the brightest star in the sky and
it had to be there. They weren't even drunk.

Rick



Richard Crisp wrote:

Last night was the first clear night we have had in a few days and the
only one we are likely to have for the next three to five days. I decided
to try the widefield setup last night and went to Montebello Open Space
Preserve in the Santa Cruz Mountains just west of Palo Alto, Califiornia.
It is pretty close to my home compared to Fremont Peak, but doesn't
feature a/c power from the power grid. I took my 2Kw Honda EU2000i
"whisper generator" with me for power

The quarry was Barnard's Loop and the weaponry was the FLI IM6303E and
medium format Pentax 35mm f/3.5 fisheye lens for the 6x7 camera. I used a
4.5nm Cust Sci Halpha filter and the lens was stopped down to f/8 for
good stars corner to corner.

Between wispy clouds and airplanes the best I could manage by 10pm was a
single 10 minute exposure ( I had been trying for 30 minute ones but they
were obviously not going to work with the issues I mentioned). San
Francisco Int'l really has a lot of traffic for this kind of imaging (30
x 45 degrees FOV).

By 10 pm the clouds moved in for good heralding the leading edge of a
weather system that promises a rainy Christmas Day

Here's my puny 10 minute effort, no darks or flats either: wasn't worth
the bother.





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





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

"Rick Johnson" wrote

........ Then there was this herd of sheep that came through led by a
donkey. Rude awakening department.......

Now it's stuff like this that makes amateur astronomy so much fun!

I'll trade you a few of my bears for your donkey.

George N

"Richard Crisp" wrote

Richard,

That's a pretty cool picture despite all the problems setting it up! I
kept a copy of this one to help locate all of those neat "targets" you got
in that image.

George N