2010 Fall Star Party: I attended the Fall Star Party hosted by the Chiefland Star Party Group (CSPG) in Chiefland, FL. After the 20 hour drive, I was greeted and treated to a beer upon arrrival on the observing field by CSPG staff. That great hospitality by the CSPG volunteers continued for the duration of my stay. The Fall Star Party is made possible by the generosity of the village's Tom Crowley and John Novak, along with assistance and hard work by the CSPG volunteers. Attendance allowed me to spend time with old observing friends, make some new friends and image under some of the darkest Florida skies along with steady seeing conditions. Daytime temperatures were in the 80's and nighttime temperatures were usually in the 50's. I was imaging with a Peltier Cooled Whole DSLR Camera system, so the imaging DSLR was operating between 15 and 32 degrees Fahrenheit, for very noise free images. Here is a photo of my 20" dob and 5" Triplet imaging setup near John Novak's warehouse building:
Light pollution maps show that this area may be the last refuge from light pollution in the state. Skyglow rises about 30 degrees to the North from Cheifland, there is very low skyglow along the Eastern horizon and this site's best skies are to the West and Southwest in the direction of the Gulf.
IMAGES:
Images were taken with a Peltier Cooled Modified Canon Rebel XSi (450D). Ambient temperatures were mostly in the range between 50 degrees to 66 degrees Fahrenheit overnight. Temperature of the peltier cooled camera ranged between 12 degrees and 32 degrees Fahrenheit allowing for noise-free imaging with the DSLR. Telescope used for imaging was an Astro Tech 127mm ED APO Triplet refractor at prime. The Astro Tech 127 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. All images are Full Frame unless otherwise noted.
Equipment used:
IC 1396 & Elephant Trunk Nebula - Full Frame:
Peltier Cooled Full Spectrum Modified Canon XSi (450D) with 127mm Triplet at Prime. 49 six-minute exposures at ISO 1600 were combined using DeepSkyStacker and reduced in size for display (1200X800):
WIDEFIELD: Non-modified Canon T2i (550D) with Nikon 180mm ED camera lens at f2.8 piggybacked on same imaging system as for above photo. 88 three-minute exposures at ISO 1600 were combined using DeepSkyStacker and reduced in size for display (1200X800):
IC 2118 Witch Head Nebula - Full Frame:
Peltier Cooled Full Spectrum Modified Canon XSi (450D) with 127mm Triplet at Prime. 30 six-minute exposures at ISO 1600 were combined using DeepSkyStacker and reduced in size for display (1200X800):
NGC 7635 Bubble Nebula & M52 Open Cluster - Full Frame:
Peltier Cooled Full Spectrum Modified Canon XSi (450D) with 127mm Triplet at Prime. 35 six-minute exposures at ISO 1600 were combined using DeepSkyStacker and reduced in size for display (1200X800):
WIDEFIELD: Non-modified Canon T2i (550D) with Nikon 180mm ED camera lens at f2.8 piggybacked on same imaging system as for above photo. 20 three-minute exposures at ISO 1600 were combined using DeepSkyStacker and reduced in size for display (1200X800):
NGC 6960 Western Veil Nebula- Full Frame:
Only had nine exposures to stack because of incoming clouds. Peltier Cooled Full Spectrum Modified Canon XSi (450D) with 127mm Triplet at Prime. 9 six-minute exposures at ISO 1600 were combined using DeepSkyStacker and reduced in size for display (1200X800):
NGC 7331 & Stephan's Quintet - Full Frame:
Peltier Cooled Full Spectrum Modified Canon XSi (450D) with 127mm Triplet at Prime. Only had ten exposures to stack because of clouds. 10 six-minute exposures at ISO 1600 were combined using DeepSkyStacker and reduced in size for display (1200X800):
Crop of above image on NGC 7331 Galaxy - Deer Lick Group and Stephan's Quintet:
103P Comet Hartley2 - Full Frame:
Peltier Cooled Full Spectrum Modified Canon XSi (450D) with 127mm Triplet at Prime. Autoguided on comet nucleus. 13 six-minute exposures at ISO 1600 were combined using DeepSkyStacker and reduced in size for display (900X600). The following image is a "mouseover image". You will need to have scripting allowing in your web browser for this to work. Move your mouse cursor over the image and you will see the comet and a faint red dust trail without the star trails. Move the mouse cursor off the image to see the star trails:
Move cursor on and off image:
WIDEFIELD: Non-modified Canon T2i (550D) with Nikon 180mm ED camera lens at f2.8 piggybacked on same imaging system as for above photo. 30 three-minute exposures at ISO 1600 were combined using the Comet and Star Combine of DeepSkyStacker and reduced in size for display (1200X800):
The previous New Moon period I had an easier time imaging Comet Hartley2 from Cherry Springs Dark Sky Park. I used a peltier cooled Full Spectrum Modified Canon 450D and 127mm Astro-Tech Triplet Refractor at prime to capture 3 minute exposures at ISO 1600 over a 2.5 hour period and posted this High Definition 1080p Video on You Tube.
Here's another time-lapse movie of Comet Hartley 2 taken from Cherry Springs. It was taken over a 5.5 hour period on 10/8.
Jupiter - 10/31/10:
This was my second time using the special movie crop mode. of the T2i. I captured video with both the T2i and a modified Logitech Fusion webcam to get an idea of how planetary imaging compares between the DSLR and webcams. The T2i's .MOV video file was converted to .AVI file format for stacking in Registax using the free conversion software SUPER.
Registax 5 was used to process a two-minute video taken with a non-modified Canon Rebel T2i (550) DSLR in 640 X 480 crop mode at 60 fps using a 2X Big Barlow and 20" Starmaster Dobsonian.
Registax 5 was used to process a two-minute avi taken with a modified 2 megapixel Logitech Fusion webcam at 10 fps using a 5X powermate and 20" Starmaster Dobsonian.
Both images are animated below. The moon is IO and its shadow is transitting Jupiter:
Detailed instructions for modifying a Canon 450D, 1000D, 500D & 550D CLICK HERE
Considering a DSLR for astro imaging? Link to my DSLR Modification Service.
Detailed instructions for building a whole camera peltier cooling system CLICK HERE
Other astro images with the modified 450D: CLICK HERE
My Astro YouTube videos: CLICK HERE