M41 through the kitchen window

This is the open cluster M41 as observed yesterday night through the closed window of my kitchen. A tiny 6cm scope is used to shoot this photo.

NGC3115 has a massive black hole

NGC4565: An edge-on galaxy

NGC2129-The forgotten star cluster in Gemini

How to search for faint objects near M27

Are you looking for the Dumbbell Nebula (M27) or some really faint objects in its neighborhood? Don't look further. Here is a guide how to do it.

1. Visit the "STScI"to gain the coordinates of M27:

http://archive.stsci.edu/cgi-bin/dss_form

2. Visit the site to search:

http://www.messier45.com/cgi-bin/dsdb/dsb.pl

Enter the coordinates you retrieved from step (1) in the search field:

19 59 36.34 +22 43 16.1

and press the enter key:

3. Ready!

The Red Planet

M31 - Ultra high resolution

FULL RESOLUTION CLICK HERE (X)

Copyright (c) 2009-2010 by Holger Weber
==
Equipment:
Strong modified GSO carbon newton 200mm f/5 w. Starlight-FeatherTouch
CCD camera: AllCCD9Pro color
Mount: Losmandy G11 w. Gemini GOTO
Description: This mosaic consists of 4 segments
Guiding: Watec CCD on SkyWatcher Maksutov
Copyright by Holger Weber, Germany
Co-Author of http://blog.astrodigital.net
Software: Deep-Sky-Stacker (DRIZZLE stacking method)

Processing Mars OSC photos in RRGB...

Tonight, I would like to show you how I processed my recent Mars photos. The RRGB (Red-Red-Green-Blue) technique is applied. All photos are made with a user friendly One-Shot-Color WebCam (model: TIS DBK12 USB)!

YES! You can increase the resolution of your Mars photos using this planet processing technique. Here is a screenshot of my computer desktop during practicing it. This technique is an idea I have had a couple of hours ago. It seems to work!

Description:

• Capture your planet as a video stream (avi file) in the allowed time window according to the resolution of your telescope+webcam combination, the planet (i.e. Mars) and its apparent size in the firmament. If you want to find out how long you can record the planet in a single avi file without to have a smearing effect caused by the planet rotation then run my free software "AstroDigital.Net". It computes it!
• Stack your avi file by using the GIOTTO software. The result is the automatically generated .FITS color file "resultcopy" in the same directory as your avi file.
• Sharp your resultcopy file by using the GIOTTO software. Save the result in a .FITS color file called "resultcopy_sharp_390.fits":

• Load the color file resultcopy_sharp_390.fits in MaximDL. Make a TriColor split to separate the three sharped channels R,G,B. Save them in your harddisk as:

1. resultcopy_sharp_390-R.fits
2. resultcopy_sharp_390-G.fits
3. resultcopy_sharp_390-B.fits

• Duplicate the resultcopy_sharp_390-R.fits file as resultcopy_sharp_390-L.fits (L means Luminance, i.e. we will use the red channel as luminance) in the Windows Explorer window.
• Load the resultcopy.fits in MaximDL. Make a TriColor split to separate the three channels R,G,B. Save them in your harddisk as:
  1. resultcopy_390-R.fits
  2. resultcopy_390-G.fits
  3. resultcopy_390-B.fits
• Load the files resultcopy_sharp_390-L.fits , resultcopy_sharp_390-R.fits, resultcopy_sharp_390-G.fits, resultcopy_390-B.fits in CCDSoft.
• Adjust their histograms.
• Invoke "Color Combine" window.

Congratulations! Your RRGB Mars image is ready! Note the difference in resolution between the original RGB image from your OSC Webcam and your RRGB composite. It's a huge step up, isn't it?

Observing the Sun through the kitchen window

The Sun with spots as observed on Sat, 16th Jan. 2010 at 265mm focal length:

Digital zoomed (at effectively 530mm focal length):

The photo above has been shot through the closed kitchen window (!) with a tiny Tak FS-60C (@ f/30) telescope and a special Baader Astrosolar filter. The sky was partially cloudy preventing to reach the maximum resolution of my telescope. Even so some sunspots are clearly visible. Sunspots are "cold" areas with strong magnetism on the Sun surface. Caution: Do not attempt to observe the Sun without using special solar filters. For further information, please contact your telescope dealer.

Star fields near NGC6210 in Hercules

Integration time in the luminance channel: 180+420 seconds

Camera: ST-7XME, Telescope FS-102 (f/5.6), Focal length 560mm.