M92 / NGC 6341

[rjbokleman]

Managed to get out the last couple of nights with the new AT65EDQ. Had some issues with plate solving the little guy on Thursday, but got some great help on the SGP Forum that quickly sorted that out. When I created a new Equipment Profile for the AT65EDQ, I'd forgotten to recalculate the FOV/Camera Scale settings (which should have been 2.3) and had it initially set at the same scale (0.97) as my SW100ED Pro. That's wasn't going to work!

NOTE: Yes, it's small! This is a wide field test of a newly acquired AT65EDQ (420mm). I plan on using the SW100ED Pro (900mm) later and reshooting this.

[AndyG]

Nice, Ron, shows you'll be able to get some great wide-field images with the new scope.

[rjbokleman]

Thanks Andy...not the best use of this scope of course, but since I was out and all setup I was just experimenting with the targets at hand.

The next night, I used the SW100ED instead. The post processing was tough as the full Moon washed things out, but it's good for a FOV reference between the 420mm and the 900mm. Had SGP set for 45 frames, but got clouded out around midnight, so I lost 20 additional frames.



I feel some aperture fever kicking in...

[rjbokleman]

Some may ask, why M92? This article is a good reference http://www.astronomynow.com/news/n1305/ ... eRIy7SxHJ8, and for Moonlite nights (99.07% in my case) they are fairly bright.

M92 was also nearly directly past my meridian @ 8:30pm as it began setting toward the West thus gave me from 9:00-9:30pm till well after midnight to gather frames without having to worry about a meridian flip. Though the weather forecast called for a clear night till well after midnight...that didn't happen as heavy clouds rolled in just around that time killing any chance of gathering over 3 hours of data.

Will try this again in a few weeks at new moon to see if I can do better. Fun, fun!

[mrgizmo65]

I have to say Ron, you are putting in the work , and getting good results. This week looks like you will get plenty of opportunities to put a lot of time in. It's great you have clear skies , pretty soon everybody will be asking you for tips, nice work even if all I can do is admire your work, Jerry

[rjbokleman]

Jerry,

There's still so much to learn! Not only about the astrophotography aspect, but the targets (and their details), but the night sky overall.

I consider myself a 'Life Long Learner'. It's the pure enjoyment/delight or dare I say 'Child-like Wonder' that keeps me going no matter the topic. Matched with an insatiable reading habit ... well, you get the picture.

I've had so many other hobbies in my lifetime and once I felt like I mastered them, they became rather ordinary and then interest would diminish.

My wife and I joke about this "New Hobby" saying: "The Universe, Galaxy, and/or Solar System are so large that hopefully he'll never master this!" I think she's right!

BTW, I know some other folks picked up a copies of the - Annals of the Deep Sky by Jeff Kanipe and Dennis Webb. I have been enjoying Volume 1, despite its several typos in the Descriptive Astrophysics section and other areas. Seems like they could have done a little better job during the editing phase.

What I like best about Volume 1 are the details presented on single targets and then looking back at the details in the astrophysics section to refresh my memory on things like Harlow Shapley & Helen Sawyer Hogg' Globular Cluster classification system. Very cool stuff indeed. Highly recommended reading.

http://www.universetoday.com/119982/rev ... nnis-webb/

http://www.willbell.com/HANDBOOK/Annals.html

In fact, my wife and I were at Nantasket Beach last night after feasting on some tasty little clams we sat in our chairs reading. I was reading Volume 1 listening to the waves come in. Before long the sun had set and then ... the Moon rose over the ocean setting behind some clouds that cast an unreal red/orange glow. It was a sight to behold for sure. You guessed it, I didn't have my camera!!

[rjbokleman]

Actually...I did have sort of a camera the other night...my phone.

I managed to get lucky and get this shot of the rising moon. Not too bad considering it was dark and this came from a phone.

[rjbokleman]

This was redone last night (2015-09-06) from scratch. I think its an improvement over the original.

[AndyG]

Nice improvement, great job on the processing. I like the sharpness, the colors, and it's cool to see that faint galaxy in the distance.

[rjbokleman]

Nice improvement, great job on the processing. I like the sharpness, the colors, and it's cool to see that faint galaxy in the distance.

Andy,

Thanks for the compliment on the image and for pointing out the galaxies!

It's amazing how many galaxies show up as fuzzy single points of light or slight blurs/smudges in these images. I believe there are at least two galaxy's in that FOV and most likely many more:

1.) IC 4645 [A magnitude 15.1 spiral galaxy discovered by Edward Barnard] nearly dead center at the bottom.
2.) NGC 6332 [a magnitude 13.6 spiral galaxy] in the lower right.

S&T has a nice little write up about M92 and all the galaxies in and around its visual neighborhood. Makes some good reading for those so inclined.

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observin ... -near-m92/