Pego do Altar Messier Marathon, March 13, 2010

Long awaited Messier Marathon, scheduled some 4 months ago and threatened by one of the most rainiest winters I can recall in a very ling time.
Nice time along with some fellows AAs and big time to get away from downtown city lights sky.
This proved to be a much appreciated place and I'm sure we'll get back there in the future.
I had, however, some energy shortage... my vehicle battery ran dead just after some 1h30'. Unbelievable; I didn't even hear the inverter's beep, letting me know it was time to start the motor on, for some minutes... Well, I had to jump start it with the help of someone's car...
I took advantage of Pedro Ré's expertise and knowledge to setup my Maxim's routines. Guiding was very good and I was able to integrate M101 for some 60' and also M81 for another 120'.
Didn't take flats nor darks.
This is just a first processing routine:
image: FS102NSV, f/6.8, selfguided
mount: Losmandy G-11 Gemini
ccd: ST2000xm, CLS Astromomik IIc filter
MaxIm DL and CS4

full resolution

AAPOD - February 15, 2010

AAPOD - February 3, 2010

I am glad and proud I made it again: one more AAPOD (http://astronomy.fm/)!

http://imageshack.com/a/img922/2970/nofMb3.jpg

http://astronomy.fm/aapod/2010-02-03_Plato-and-Alpine-Valley.html

JC/2010

Mars, Feb, 1st, 2010 f/30

Before seeing deteriorated, I was able to snap this Mars.
Stack of some 800 frames per R&G channel and 600 B.
C11 @f/30
Registax 5 & CS4.
Seeing 5/10.

JC/2010

Mars, Feb, 1st, 2010

Seeing has gotten a little better and allowed for a couple of tries at f/30.

First off, I didn't push hard to f/30 but rather to f/20.
It looked promising and seeing was quite nice for my local standards - 6 story roof top building, with scattered fireplace chimneys, though none was burning at the time.
I got the following picture, a stack of some 1000 frames per channel, in Registax and CS4.

Since it looked so nice, I tweaked collimation and pushed up to f/30. Boy, I could see fine detail on the R channel image on the laptop screen. I was glad that it was worth the waiting... only to become evident that seeing was only getting worse...
This is the best I was able to get, just some 50 minutes later...
C11 @f/30, DMK21AF, RGB Astronomik IIb
Registax & CS4.

Got to keep waiting for better skies...
JC/2010

Plato & Alpine Valley

Leiria, (PT) Jan 24th, 18h26 UT

After such a long time under clouded skies I was finally able to set my gear up and shoot some pics.
Though it was not perfect, it was ok to get rid of the spider webs and dust LOL!
This one was shot right after the C11 had been taken outside, so no thermal equilibrium was achieved. Nevertheless, I made the attempt.
C11 @f/10
DMK21AF, Red Astronomik IIb.
stack of 450 (out of 3000) on Registax & CS4.

full resolution

(c) JC/2010

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