Search found 1321 matches

by oopfan
Tue Apr 13, 2021 1:38 pm
Forum: Polar Alignment
Topic: Newbie - Problem with PA
Replies: 7
Views: 1668

Re: Newbie - Problem with PA

"The camera is not cooled" -- I have an Altair GPCAM2 290M, not cooled, works great for polar alignment, guiding, and imaging More importantly, your field-of-view is only 0.64 deg x 0.48 deg (see attachment RED). That is your FOV with the Altair 72 EDF and Altair 130 camera. From experienc...
by oopfan
Tue Apr 13, 2021 1:14 pm
Forum: Polar Alignment
Topic: Newbie - Problem with PA
Replies: 7
Views: 1668

Re: Newbie - Problem with PA

"I don'y know how I'd know when it was MS 12 deg."
-- Download for free Computer Aided Astronomy (C2A) to your laptop, search for "Moon" and wait for altitude to be less than -12
http://www.astrosurf.com/c2a/english/
by oopfan
Mon Apr 12, 2021 11:30 pm
Forum: Polar Alignment
Topic: Newbie - Problem with PA
Replies: 7
Views: 1668

Re: Newbie - Problem with PA

"Is it normal that it has to be totally dark before Sharpcap works?"
-- I wait for the Sun's elevation to drop below -12 degrees.
by oopfan
Fri Apr 09, 2021 4:08 pm
Forum: Gallery
Topic: ARP299 deep sky project
Replies: 7
Views: 1386

Re: ARP299 deep sky project

Great, Menno!

It's interesting that the stars with the highest proper motion are also the faintest.

Professor Celigman has a very helpful website of Arp objects (and others) with good write-ups and photos:
https://cseligman.com/text/arpatlas.htm

Brian
by oopfan
Fri Apr 09, 2021 3:39 pm
Forum: Gallery
Topic: M81 and the Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN)
Replies: 15
Views: 2546

Re: M81 and the Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN)

Hi Menno,

The histogram should look something like this:
LP Histogram.jpg
LP Histogram.jpg (9.19 KiB) Viewed 1491 times
Brian
by oopfan
Fri Apr 09, 2021 2:36 pm
Forum: Gallery
Topic: M81 and the Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN)
Replies: 15
Views: 2546

Re: M81 and the Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN)

Menno, I haven't looked at the specs of any of the new 16-bit CMOS cameras, but one of the problems with older models is that they were mostly 12-bit, with some 14-bit models. My old Altair 290M is 12-bit. At its lowest gain setting, the conversion factor is 3.62 electrons per ADU. That does a poor ...
by oopfan
Fri Apr 09, 2021 12:32 pm
Forum: Gallery
Topic: M81 and the Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN)
Replies: 15
Views: 2546

Re: M81 and the Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN)

To everyone, I want to reassure everyone that I am using the same formulas as the Brain, although it may not seem that way. I am 100% confident that the Brain would recommend the same exposure if I could tell it that I am "extremely intolerant of noise." Why? Because the IFN is very faint ...
by oopfan
Fri Apr 09, 2021 10:56 am
Forum: Gallery
Topic: M81 and the Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN)
Replies: 15
Views: 2546

Re: M81 and the Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN)

Hi Menno, Hey that's a neat overlay! Polaris region looks brighter, but just be careful. The farther down towards the horizon you look, the more atmosphere there is between you and the IFN. It's interesting how deceptive that AstroBin image is. Clearly the author employed some post-processing tricke...
by oopfan
Thu Apr 08, 2021 3:57 pm
Forum: Gallery
Topic: M81 and the Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN)
Replies: 15
Views: 2546

M81 and the Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN)

I've attached an animated GIF that alternates between two images. (Please leave a comment if your browser is not rendering it as such.) The benchmark image comes from AstroBin: https://www.astrobin.com/iru2mp/0/ The benchmark was captured at Bortle 2 with 14 hours integration time and an ASI1600MM. ...
by oopfan
Wed Apr 07, 2021 8:49 pm
Forum: Gallery
Topic: M63 Sunflower Galaxy
Replies: 5
Views: 922

Re: M63 Sunflower Galaxy

Hi Tim, I'm glad you asked: "is it some kind of average?" I've been wanting to dedicate a paragraph to that topic, but never got around to it. Referring to the attached annotated image, there is a governing body that decides the dimensions of the ellipse. They take into account the extent ...