Traveler First Light (Oh no... yet another Orion's Sword image!)

Ahhh, a break in the weather... AT LAST!

Santa obligingly cleared the skies here by about 8 PM-ish last night,
affording the opportunity to gather first light with the AP Traveler he left
under my tree. M31 was already well past the meridian, headed deeper into
the thickening slice of atmospheric muck and the murky sky-glow of a distant
New Haven (don't those Yalies go home for the holidays?!? ).

But what's this?!? Orion brightly poised well above the horizon, soon ready
to march across the meridian... YES!!! By the time everything was set up and
ready to roll, he had fully cleared the tree-line and (clouds willing!)
would allow several hours of uninterrupted image-gathering if need-be. By
12:30 I figured I had gathered enough images to assure decent selection for
processing. This sweet little scope produced
20 images, all of which were "keepers"!

My only regret for the session is that Saturn was by now beckoning, but I
had not brought out the big gun (8" Mak-Newt). But I needed to grab some
ZZZs before an early day at work (yawwwn!), so no harm no foul (but gosh,
the skies seemed so steady!)

Enough blathering... here's a link to a reduced size JPEG and, for those who
might be so inclined, a link to a larger scale rendition (one third of the
RAW size):

Small: http://www.astro-nut.com/m42-03dec25.html

Larger: http://www.astro-nut.com/m42-03dec25a.html

Looks like this little scope is gonna' provide a load of fun!

Cheers,

Paul

--- http://www.astro-nut.com/ ---

"Paul Hyndman" wrote in message
. ..
Ahhh, a break in the weather... AT LAST!
Small: http://www.astro-nut.com/m42-03dec25.html

Larger: http://www.astro-nut.com/m42-03dec25a.html

Looks like this little scope is gonna' provide a load of fun!

Cheers,

Paul

--- http://www.astro-nut.com/ ---

Nice! I lust after a Traveler, but for a visual use its hard to justify.
Maybe I'll have to take up photography so I can get over that hurdle ;^)

Ed T.

"Paul Hyndman" wrote in message
. ..
Ahhh, a break in the weather... AT LAST!
Small: http://www.astro-nut.com/m42-03dec25.html

Larger: http://www.astro-nut.com/m42-03dec25a.html

Looks like this little scope is gonna' provide a load of fun!

Cheers,

Paul

--- http://www.astro-nut.com/ ---

Nice! I lust after a Traveler, but for a visual use its hard to justify.
Maybe I'll have to take up photography so I can get over that hurdle ;^)

Ed T.

Hello, Paul,
Great images!
I am not sure how to interpret the fact that the Traveler image is so much
better and more contrasty than the 8 inch Mak-Newt image. Could you elucidate?
Thanks,
Bill Meyers

Paul Hyndman wrote:

Ahhh, a break in the weather... AT LAST!

Santa obligingly cleared the skies here by about 8 PM-ish last night,
affording the opportunity to gather first light with the AP Traveler he left
under my tree. M31 was already well past the meridian, headed deeper into
the thickening slice of atmospheric muck and the murky sky-glow of a distant
New Haven (don't those Yalies go home for the holidays?!? ).

But what's this?!? Orion brightly poised well above the horizon, soon ready
to march across the meridian... YES!!! By the time everything was set up and
ready to roll, he had fully cleared the tree-line and (clouds willing!)
would allow several hours of uninterrupted image-gathering if need-be. By
12:30 I figured I had gathered enough images to assure decent selection for
processing. This sweet little scope produced
20 images, all of which were "keepers"!

My only regret for the session is that Saturn was by now beckoning, but I
had not brought out the big gun (8" Mak-Newt). But I needed to grab some
ZZZs before an early day at work (yawwwn!), so no harm no foul (but gosh,
the skies seemed so steady!)

Enough blathering... here's a link to a reduced size JPEG and, for those who
might be so inclined, a link to a larger scale rendition (one third of the
RAW size):

Small: http://www.astro-nut.com/m42-03dec25.html

Larger: http://www.astro-nut.com/m42-03dec25a.html

Looks like this little scope is gonna' provide a load of fun!

Cheers,

Paul

--- http://www.astro-nut.com/ ---

Hello, Paul,
Great images!
I am not sure how to interpret the fact that the Traveler image is so much
better and more contrasty than the 8 inch Mak-Newt image. Could you elucidate?
Thanks,
Bill Meyers

Paul Hyndman wrote:

Ahhh, a break in the weather... AT LAST!

Santa obligingly cleared the skies here by about 8 PM-ish last night,
affording the opportunity to gather first light with the AP Traveler he left
under my tree. M31 was already well past the meridian, headed deeper into
the thickening slice of atmospheric muck and the murky sky-glow of a distant
New Haven (don't those Yalies go home for the holidays?!? ).

But what's this?!? Orion brightly poised well above the horizon, soon ready
to march across the meridian... YES!!! By the time everything was set up and
ready to roll, he had fully cleared the tree-line and (clouds willing!)
would allow several hours of uninterrupted image-gathering if need-be. By
12:30 I figured I had gathered enough images to assure decent selection for
processing. This sweet little scope produced
20 images, all of which were "keepers"!

My only regret for the session is that Saturn was by now beckoning, but I
had not brought out the big gun (8" Mak-Newt). But I needed to grab some
ZZZs before an early day at work (yawwwn!), so no harm no foul (but gosh,
the skies seemed so steady!)

Enough blathering... here's a link to a reduced size JPEG and, for those who
might be so inclined, a link to a larger scale rendition (one third of the
RAW size):

Small: http://www.astro-nut.com/m42-03dec25.html

Larger: http://www.astro-nut.com/m42-03dec25a.html

Looks like this little scope is gonna' provide a load of fun!

Cheers,

Paul

--- http://www.astro-nut.com/ ---

Hello, Ed,
I think you have put your finger on the key feature of usefulness and
appeal of the Traveler: wide field astrophotography rather than visual
observations.. The contrast in Paul's images is wonderful.
Clear skies,
Bill Meyers

Edward wrote:

"Paul Hyndman" wrote in message
. ..
Ahhh, a break in the weather... AT LAST!
Small: http://www.astro-nut.com/m42-03dec25.html

Larger: http://www.astro-nut.com/m42-03dec25a.html

Looks like this little scope is gonna' provide a load of fun!

Cheers,

Paul

--- http://www.astro-nut.com/ ---

Nice! I lust after a Traveler, but for a visual use its hard to justify.
Maybe I'll have to take up photography so I can get over that hurdle ;^)

Ed T.

Hello, Ed,
I think you have put your finger on the key feature of usefulness and
appeal of the Traveler: wide field astrophotography rather than visual
observations.. The contrast in Paul's images is wonderful.
Clear skies,
Bill Meyers

Edward wrote:

"Paul Hyndman" wrote in message
. ..
Ahhh, a break in the weather... AT LAST!
Small: http://www.astro-nut.com/m42-03dec25.html

Larger: http://www.astro-nut.com/m42-03dec25a.html

Looks like this little scope is gonna' provide a load of fun!

Cheers,

Paul

--- http://www.astro-nut.com/ ---

Nice! I lust after a Traveler, but for a visual use its hard to justify.
Maybe I'll have to take up photography so I can get over that hurdle ;^)

Ed T.

A beautiful image. You've got your technique down!

Richard Navarrete

Astrophotography Web Page - http://members.aol.com/richardn22

A beautiful image. You've got your technique down!

Richard Navarrete

Astrophotography Web Page - http://members.aol.com/richardn22

I really like that image. The subtle colors are similar to what I see
when viewing the nebula through a telescope.

--
Joe Bergeron

http://www.joebergeron.com