OAG & Robofocus 1st Light

We finally got a break from the long lasting cloudy nights over here, which made it possible to give it a go and try the new equipment.
Boy, does it look promising!

FS102NSV + G-11 + OAG + DMK21AF + ST2kXM (H-alpha filter)
Dec, 14th/15th, 2009 (23h28/00h57 UTC)
Guiding with PHD on a different laptop (still waiting for the Firewire Express Card for my new laptop...)
1x 1800" @-30ºC
2x 90"" @-30ºC

No other processing other than:
- Align, Stack & kernel filter in MaxIm DL
- Levels, Curves & High Pass Filter in CS4
No Darks, no Flats.

Full resolution

M31 - Andromeda Galaxy

The Andromeda Galaxy is the closest spiral galaxy to our own Milky Way and is some 2.5 million ly away. Andromeda is believed to be moving towards us to finally merge with the Milky Way in around 3 billion years from now, leading to a new galaxy: The Milkydromeda :D
Image setup:
FS102NSV @f/6.2 + IDAS 2"
SBIG ST2000XM self-guided
MaxIm DL & CS4
4x 900"
9x 300"
Leiria, Oct. 14th 2009

full resolution

NGC253 - Sculptor Galaxy

The Sculptor Galaxy (NGC253) lies about 10 million ly away from Earth, in the Constellation Sculptor, discovered in 1783 by Caroline Herschel.

Imaging setup:
FS102NSV @ f/6.2
SBIG ST2000XM - self-guided
IDAS 2"
18x 300"
darks
flats
bias
MaxIm DL & CS4

Leiria, Oct. 13, 2009 @22h29m/00h07m Oct. 14 UT

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Amateur APOD October 7, 2009

This is my first AAPOD ever.
This is a nice feeling... ;-)

http://astronomy.fm/aapod/2009-10-07_Jupiter.html

Jupiter, Sep 22 2009

Same setup as usual, other processing techniques.
C11 @f/20; DMK21AF; RGB AStronomik IIc.
Registax, Astraimage; CS4.
I have conducted a CCD window cleaning but it still seems to need some more working on that.

Move mouse over image for label view

full frame image

Now in H-alpha

A few days (should I say nights) later, I targeted the Bride's Veil again, only this time in H-apha (6nm).
Image: FS102NSV @f/6.3 + ST2000XM + Astronomik Ha 6nm
Guide: SW 70mm + DMK21AF + PHD
Aug 31, 2009

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NGC6960 - The Veil Nebula

The beautiful NGC6960 sight I had last weekend through my C11 amazed me to the the point of nailing the Veil.
So I did, just after the Eagle Nebula went out of sight on the night of the Aug. 26th.
FS102NSV @f/6 and ST2000XM autoguided on a Losmandy G-11.
24x 300" @-20ºC/-4ºF
Dark and Flat frames registered and calibrated in MaxIm DL, processed in CS4 (Astronomy Action Tools (r)).
Aug. 26th, 0h16/2h39 UT
Leiria, Portugal

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M16, 25 Ago 09

The Eagle Nebula and the Pillars of Creation.
This is my first M16 image.
The picture was taken with my Takahashi FS102NSV and SBIG ST2000XM, autoguided on a Losmandy G-11. Stack of 7 x 300" frames shot at -20ºC/-4F. Calibrated in MaxIm DL and CS4.
Used Flat and Dark frames from other shots.
Couldn't shoot more frames due to a haze that rolled in and there were no more guiding stars...
Luckily I'll be able to add more frames some time soon.

Full Resolution

Astromania StarParty at Redondo, Alentejo

August, 22 - A very pleasent evening, with a lot of AAs; a perfect time to gather again with the guys and to get to finally meet some others only known trough forums and stuff alike.
Very good location and weather conditions, despite the blazing temperature felt in the afternoon.
The sky was very good but not as good as I'd like it to be, since I drove downunder with the specific goal of testing my beloved C11 away from my heavy polluted sky and poor weather. Jupiter didn't feel like it and I could not snap it higher than f/10. This was a setback I had to put up with...
I did manage to shoot 3 avis (one for each RGB channel) at f/10 mainly due to the fact that a very nice young couple cared to ask a few questions about imaging capturing and processing. We had a nice chat over it, along with the process which was really nice.
This is the image that "we" came up with:

Anyway, the icing on the cake was the beautiful sight through my FRed (0.63x) C11: the Veil Nebula (NGC6960). This was a super catch that was shared by some of the fellows that were close to me at the moment.
We tried a view with and without Astronomik's UHC filter, but it was much better unfiltered. Gosh! What a great sight!
It turn up to be really worth it all the buzz&fuzz of getting there and not being able to get those much wanted Jups.
A memorable image in my mind.
The picture below shows the supernova remnants and the Veil Nebula part that we had a glimpse on. Move your mouse over to check the area we had a look at.

Credit: Dean Jacobsen
Direct link to original picture:http://www.astrophoto.net/veil.html
picture resized and modified for animation purposes only.

All in all, it all came down to this:

PROS:
- great atmosphere among the AAs, as usual;
- meeting "old" and new friends;
- nice dark sky with lots of stars to make you feel lost :D
- great patch of Milk Way;
- M31 clearly visible in naked eye;
- NGC6960 view.

CONS:
- unable to shoot Jup at high power;
- lack of power (car battery for power inverter failed to give my laptop enough power...) even car engine running... for the first time :(

Jupiter, Aug 20

Finally no clouds in the sky.
Though seeing was not perfect, still I was able to capture at f/20 with my C11.
Io is just leaving the planet's disc and it's shadow is almost gone too.
Stack of some 800 frames per R&B channels and only 200 for the G one (what did I say about seeing?).

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The face of Zeus...

Orwell's BB?
What on Earth have we done to make the mighty Zeus so puzzled?

Jupiter w/ GRS and Moons

On Aug. 19, 2009 at 23h15m UT, just before it clouded in I was able to catch Ganymede and its shadow, along with Europa and Io, while the GRS was rising.
No different than usual, the sky shut down just when the fun was about to begin, and no more pictures were possible.
Hopefully this Autum/Winter will come to an end.

full frame image

Near Europa Occultation by Ganymede

It's Perseids time!
It promised to be a thrilling night when one thinks that at the same time there was a Galillean event taking place: Ganymede was about to occult Europa, a first time ephemerid for me.
Scope set up and cooled, it was time to wait for the occasion.
Well, do you know a certain Mr. Murphy? No clouds, but seeing could be a lot better. The moons looked like they were dancing a celestial waltz. Focusing was so hard it turned the all experience into a nightmare.
I was able to snap this picture, a few minutes before the occultation took place.
We can see Ganymede, Europa and Io's shadow on Jupiter, whereas the GRS is about to "rise".
Move your mouse over image for labelling.

C11 @f/10 + DMK21AF.AS + IR Astronomik IIb (C)
exp: 1/120; 60fps
Leiria, Aug 12th @2h09m UT

Move mouse over image for labels

Full resolution

Oh, by the way, I did watch 3 amazing fireworks before I decided to call it a night.

(c) JC - Ago/09

Jupiter, Jul 16th

This is a joint venture shot.
Taken along with my cousin, who was told how to set the DMK's IC Capture parameters and took care of capturing, whereas I did the processing. Nice one, since he never did anything like this.
I parked my G-11 and C11 on his Monte Redondo, Leiria country side home where we were able to glimpse an almost perfect sky, just 20km away from my urban polluted and poor seeing sky. Remember the famous "Oh my God, it's full of stars...!"? Right! We could even see the Milky Way... Amazing sky.
We celebrated this session with this Jupiter picture:

(c) JC - Jul/09

Jupiter & Ganymede animation Jul 8th

First time out since Lymax Cat Cooler purchase and clear skies, on July 8th.
Mirror was brought to ambient temperature just as advertised and Jupiter was just there, waiting to be captured.
This my first ever animation, done in good transparency but not enough to push it to f/20.
C11 FR 0.63x, DMK 21, barlow 2x, Astronomik IIb RGB.
@60fps, exp: R&G at 1/60 sec; B at 1/54 seg.
Registax v.5 e CS4.

(c) JC/09