Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Solar Test Using new Point Grey CCD Camera

Here's a stack I made of a Ha test that Vladimir Alexandrov did before I got to the observatory on the 18th.
This image has very fine detail right from the camera, making it easy for me to combine the images.
This is the same prominence mentioned in my previous post.... just some hours prior.
Keith


Sunday, October 18, 2015

Huge Solar Prominence

I went to the observatory today to pick up a Ha scope for my outreach at a local high school this coming Tuesday. There was a huge QO team (8 people!) with all the solar scopes already outside showing the public the sun between clouds. It seems we have a lot of excellent new QO's in training.

When I looked through the 90mm Ha scope I was amazed to see this massive prominence coming out of sunspot (probably will be given #2436... it wasn't yet numbered at the time of this writing) and then crossing the limb to retreat back into the solar chomosphere on the back side. 
Beautuful! That view from the 90mm Ha filter on the Teleview 80 is v-e-r-y impressive.
I plan to have my 102mm ES with a Lunt Solar Diagonal alongside this scope for the kids.
It's supposed to be a nice clear day, but I'm still keeping the fingers crossed.
I took this image with my Samsung S5.
Keith Marley

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Tim Schott made a great SHOT!!!!

Here is an image he took this past week of NGC 891, a galaxy about the same size of the Milky Way and around 30 million light years away in the constellation Andromeda. His PHD Guiding software appears to be doing a fine job giving nice round stars for ten minutes on his mobile setup (INSIDE New Jersey for cryin' out loud). The dust clouds that block much of the galaxy's light are distinctly visible.
This is an great image for an 8" scope..... compare his image to the one at the bottom with 12x more time exposure and probably from a darker sky site. 
Excellent work Tim!
You've come a long way in a short time.

Image by NJAA member Tim Schott



Image by R. Jay GaBany

The bottom image was produced using a RCOS half meter telescope, Apogee Altra U16M camera ($13K) camera and Astrodon E-Series Filters.
Exposure times:  1,710 minutes Luminance, 120 minutes Red, 120 minutes Green, 120 minutes Blue (all 1x1). 
Some of this info was reproduced from www.Cosmotography.com
Keith Marley

Monday, October 5, 2015

Some Deep Sky Images From Member Perry Arts

NGC 6946 – Fireworks Galaxy
Taken: 2015-07-17, 2015-07-22, 2015-07-24, 2015-07-25
Location: Branchburg, New Jersey
Telescope: CPC Deluxe 1100HD @f/10
Camera: Nightscape 8300 OSC, no binning
Exposures: 65 - 180 sec subs
Capture software: PHD, Maxim DL
Processing software: PixInsight, Photoshop
NGC 7293 – Helix Nebula
Taken: 2015-09-14, 2015-09-15, 2015-09-16
Localtion: Branchburg, New Jersey
Telescope: CPC Deluxe 1100HD Hyperstar @f/2
Camera: Nightscape 8300 OSC, no binning
Exposures: 40 - 180 sec subs
Capture software: PHD, Maxim DL
Processing software: PixInsight, Photoshop
NGC 7635 – Bubble Nebula
Taken: 2015-08-15, 2015-08-16, 2015-08-23, 2015-09-07
Location: Branchburg, New Jersey
Telescope: CPC Deluxe 1100HD @f/10
Camera: Nightscape 8300 OSC, no binning
Exposures: 57 - 180 sec subs
Capture software: PHD, Maxim DL
Processing software: PixInsight, Photoshop
Perseid
Taken: 2015-08-13
Location: NJAA
Camera: Fuji S5 Pro DSLR
Lens: 17mm
Exposures: 30sec f/4 ASA 800
Processing software: Photoshop
Images by Perry Arts