Images were taken with a Peltier Cooled Modified Canon 450D (XSi).
Telescope used for imaging was an Astro-Tech 6" f/9 Ritchey-Chrétien astrograph at prime. The Astro Tech RC and ED80 refractor guide scope were mounted on an Orion Atlas EQ-G mount. The EQMOD ASCOM driver was used to drive the mount directly via an EQDIR interface module.
Equipment used:
DSLR Modification Service: I am selling and converting Canon 450D, 500D, 550D, 600D, 1000D & 1100D DSLR cameras for astro imaging. CLICK HERE for details.
Out of our seven nights at the park we had 5 clear nights through dawn, one partly cloudy night and one clouded out night. On our last night, we were treated to good transparancy and steady seeing, which is rare in PA. The days were very hot with temps around 90 degrees Fahrenheit with comfortable overnight observing mostly in the 50's. On two nights we had minor auroral glows which were just barely visible but were captured using a T2i digital camera. We were worried we may have been seeing Marcellus Gas Well Drill Site Flarings to the north. We were able to see Mercury after sunset and were treated to a bright meteor (bolide) or space junk re-entry (see animation below).
This was my second time using the Astro-Tech 6" f/9 Ritchey-Chrétien astrograph (AT6RC) for deep sky images. My star images with the scope were very poor aftermany re-collimation attempts. On the last night of imaging, I finally discovered that the mishappen stars were being caused by tube currents. I used a hair dryer on the cool setting to blow air down the front of the scope between sets of exposures and it cleared up the problem. I may look into mounting a small fan for this purpose.
IC 5146 - Cacoon Nebula - July 1, 2011:
29 five-minute exposures at ISO 1600 captured with AT6RC at prime were combined using DeepSkyStacker and reduced in size for display (1100X732).
M20 - Trifid Nebula - July 1, 2011:
39 five-minute exposures at ISO 1600 captured with AT6RC at prime were combined using DeepSkyStacker and reduced in size for display ((1100X732).
M16 - Eagle Nebula - July 5, 2011:
25 five-minute exposures at ISO 1600 captured with AT6RC at prime were combined using DeepSkyStacker and reduced in size for display ((1100X732).
M27 - Dumbbell Nebula - July 4, 2011:
35 five-minute exposures at ISO 1600 captured with AT6RC at prime were combined using DeepSkyStacker and reduced in size for display ((1100X732).
Fireworks Galaxy - NGC 6946 & Open Cluster - NGC 6939 - July 5, 2011:
23 five-minute exposures at ISO 1600 captured with AT6RC at prime were combined using DeepSkyStacker and reduced in size for display ((1100X732).
Bubble Nebula NGC 7625 & Open Cluster M52 - June 29, 2011:
11 five-minute exposures at ISO 1600 captured with AT6RC at prime were combined using DeepSkyStacker and reduced in size for display ((1100X732).
Comet C/2009 P1 (Gerradd) - July 4, 2011:
Moon 9:30pm at 13 degrees altitude and 16% phase on July 4, 2011:
1 exposure at 1/8 second and ISO 200 with lens at 24mm and f4 using non-modified Canon T2i (550D) DSLR camera on fixed tripod and reduced in size for display (1100X733).
Moon 9:10pm at 17 degrees altitude and 16% phase on July 4, 2011:
One 1/50 second exposure at ISO 800 captured with AT6RC at prime and reduced in size for display ((800X533).
Minor auroral glow to the North at 1:45am - July 1, 2011:
1 minute exposure at ISO 1600 with lens at 24mm and f4 using non-modified Canon T2i (550D) DSLR camera on fixed tripod and reduced in size for display (700X467).
Minor auroral glow and vertical ray to the North at 1:30am - July 5, 2011:
1 minute exposure at ISO 1600 with lens at 21mm and f4 using non-modified Canon T2i (550D) DSLR camera on fixed tripod and reduced in size for display (700X467).
Mercury at 9:40pm at 5 degrees altitude and 68% phase on July 4, 2011:
1 exposure at 0.6 second and ISO 400 with lens at 24mm and f5.6 using non-modified Canon T2i (550D) DSLR camera on fixed tripod and reduced in size for display (1100X733). Can you find it?
ANIMATION of the trail made by a very bright meteor (bolide) or space junk streak in Soutern sky from 4:10am through 4:23am on the morning of July 6, 2011 during dawn:
Animation was made from seven frames using 1 second exposures at ISO 1600 with lens at 20mm and f3.5 using non-modified Canon T2i (550D) DSLR camera on fixed tripod.
Group Photo with Milky Way 1:50am on July 5, 2011:
I used the feature PhotoMerge in Photoshop CS5 to automatically sticth together 10 exposure at one second and ISO 1600 with lens at 18mm and f3.5 using non-modified Canon T2i (550D) DSLR camera on alt-az tracking platform and reduced in size for display (700X1413).
In Photo above from left: Me, John, Kelly, Elliott & Tony:
For images taken at Cherry Springs the previous New Moon CLICK HERE.
Other astro images with the modified 450D: CLICK HERE
My Astro YouTube videos: CLICK HERE