Sirius and the Pup - April 2008

General astronomy-related discussion (publicly viewable)
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Rotorhead
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Unread post by Rotorhead »

I am now officially impressed with Bob S' time of sighting of Sirius. I tried very hard last night and could only come up with a time that was 3.5 minutes LATER!!!
Bob M
15" f5 Starsplitter Dob/80mm Finder
5" Explore Scientific triplet APO on a Vixen Sphinx GEM
________
"He numbers all the stars, and calls each one by name." Ps 147:4
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BobSikes
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Bwaha ha ha!

Unread post by BobSikes »

My secret weapon!

16 1817
17 1819
18 1820
19 1821
20 1822
21 1824
22 1825
23 1826
24 1827
25 1829
26 1830
27 1831
28 1832
29 1834
30 1908
31 1909

Of course there's always the 15" scope record for daytime Sirius spotting to be had.

BobS
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WCGucfa
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Unread post by WCGucfa »

Wow Bob, April doesn't seem to be the time to look for the pup, but a challenge is a challenge I guess!
Anyway, I hunted one night for the pup on 12/10 and came up with this shot. No Pup, as technically it is lost distance wise in the glare of Sirius. This was meant as a first test shot for exposure. I never had time to get back to the project.
This shot is about 30 seconds, way too much for the 8th mag. Pup. The brightest stars are about 5' - 7' away from Sirius at about 8.5 mag.

Bill

Image
Comets:40, Best Meteor shwr: Leonids '01, Best Aurora:Oct. '03.
Total.Sol.Eclipse,7/10/72 from Nova Scotia.Annular Sol. Eclipse '94,
Trans.of Venus 2004&2012.,ShoeLevy crash into Jupiter '94.
4/25/66 fireball-9 mag.,SN2011fe,N2012aw,DelphN2013.
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Rotorhead
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Unread post by Rotorhead »

Nice, Bill. It might be interesting to take two photos in succession to see if any of the bright spots in the 'boil' around the star remain constant. I've got a feeling that the Pup is in there somewhere. This appears to be a mirror-image view, 'north up' shot, with north in the mid-upper left corner, if I'm seeing the right stars on my charts. Thus, the Pup should be not too far from where that bright dot is next to the limb of the star at the 4 o'clock position. Although maybe the Pup should be more at the 6 or 7 o'clock position... A repeat photo with the same dot in the same place might confirm this one way or the other. Those stars around Sirius average about 5' to 6' away, or about 60 times further than the Pup. So that dot is about the right distance.

So, did you shoot the Pup????

Just a thought. 8)
Bob M
15" f5 Starsplitter Dob/80mm Finder
5" Explore Scientific triplet APO on a Vixen Sphinx GEM
________
"He numbers all the stars, and calls each one by name." Ps 147:4
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Mark G
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Unread post by Mark G »

For what it is worth I downloaded Bills image of Sirius and post processed it a bit to reduce some of the glare. I belive the "pup" Sirius b is still in the processed image below at 4 o'clock. 8)

Image

I hope you don't mind me tweaking the image Bill. :D
Clear skies,

Mark

iOptron CEM25P w/ Tri-pier
CGEM DX
LXD750 w/ CDS #1697
LXD75 w/ #497 autostar Hypertuned
Antares 8" f/5 Newt
Antares 4" f/15 "Vixen Spec" long focus refractor
Orion 4" f/7 ED refractor
Astro-Tech 65mm Quad APO
and so much more
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WCGucfa
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Unread post by WCGucfa »

Bob and Mark,

First of all Bob, you have the orientation of the image correct. Second, Mark, I'm not used to tweaking astro images, so THANKS! This is intriguing to say the least.
Now, over the few years of messing with pixels and noise I've found that moving the camera slightly will, if you are careful not to move it too much, produce double images only to the real stars in the image. The noise and hot pixels will not show up double, thus revealing the actual stars. I know it sounds crazy.
So, here is another image of Sirius and surroundings using this method and a second blowup image. Lens flare has been removed for simplicity.
Very close to the star glare at the 1:00 position is a 'real' star, doubled from camera movement, though it is just out of the glare itself.
At the 4:00 position, well within the glare is another star, but in the blowup it is torn apart from the glare pixels. Marks method works well, at least to show there is some sort of extension.
When this photo was taken on 12/10/07 I had an idea where "the pup" was supposed to be. I've long since forgotten, but this is still a lot of fun. I discovered in the 60's that if I stare at something long enough, I can see anything I want. I don't hear any barking.

Bill

Image

Image
Last edited by WCGucfa on Sat Apr 26, 2008 8:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
Comets:40, Best Meteor shwr: Leonids '01, Best Aurora:Oct. '03.
Total.Sol.Eclipse,7/10/72 from Nova Scotia.Annular Sol. Eclipse '94,
Trans.of Venus 2004&2012.,ShoeLevy crash into Jupiter '94.
4/25/66 fireball-9 mag.,SN2011fe,N2012aw,DelphN2013.
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Rotorhead
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Unread post by Rotorhead »

Okay, so this is why the Pup is so darned difficult, eh?

Bill, I like the 'double star' method of killing hot pixels/stray light and highlighting the actual stars. Now, all the guides are saying that the Pup is due east of Sirius right now, which would point to the 'doubled' star at 2 o'clock in the image. The 6 or 7 o'clock position I had suggested earlier is wrong according to Guide 8. However, is that star at 2 o'clock too far out? Now it comes down to assessing how large the star flare is. I think it is possible. But it also appears that the bright spot that both Mark and I keyed on is in the wrong position. When rotated slightly to put north directly up, that spot is at the southeast quadrant of the star, not due east.

Hey, this is fun!! It's almost like real astronomy. :lol: Leave it to Bob S to extend 'Whazzup Tonight' to 'Whazzup this Month' 8)
Bob M
15" f5 Starsplitter Dob/80mm Finder
5" Explore Scientific triplet APO on a Vixen Sphinx GEM
________
"He numbers all the stars, and calls each one by name." Ps 147:4
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BobSikes
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Super Processing

Unread post by BobSikes »

I took Bill's last shot and used my new Pupomatic Photoshop addon filter, set to max to see if it would bring the pup out better on Bill's last detailed shot.



See what you guys think.





Nice shots Bill and great discussion. Even though Sirius is low in the sky, imaging seems to be the way to go this year to bag to little canine.

BobS
Image
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Mark G
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Unread post by Mark G »

The cameras orientation at the time the image was taken also needs to be accounted for.

Bob great pup image! :lol:
Clear skies,

Mark

iOptron CEM25P w/ Tri-pier
CGEM DX
LXD750 w/ CDS #1697
LXD75 w/ #497 autostar Hypertuned
Antares 8" f/5 Newt
Antares 4" f/15 "Vixen Spec" long focus refractor
Orion 4" f/7 ED refractor
Astro-Tech 65mm Quad APO
and so much more
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WCGucfa
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Unread post by WCGucfa »

Thiis IS a good time! I think the 1 - 2:00 star is too far out also although I can't locate it on my maps. If we could only turn down the wattage of Sirius, we'd be all set, but where's the challenge if it were too easy?
Thanks for the input guys. I never expected this to turn into a major discussion, but, when you toss the bone to the PUPs... :roll: :lol:

Bill
Comets:40, Best Meteor shwr: Leonids '01, Best Aurora:Oct. '03.
Total.Sol.Eclipse,7/10/72 from Nova Scotia.Annular Sol. Eclipse '94,
Trans.of Venus 2004&2012.,ShoeLevy crash into Jupiter '94.
4/25/66 fireball-9 mag.,SN2011fe,N2012aw,DelphN2013.
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