From: "Tim" <tjp314@pacbell.net>

Date: January 11, 2006 2:02:04 PM MST

To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: Eskimo Nebula image uploaded to files


Hi guys.


Thanks for the remarks.  I think shooting at f/10 helped a lot.  I made the tube for my 

Jaegers out of old birdseye maple flooring that was in my shop when we bought our house 

(on a rack, I didn't rip it out of the house!).  I used plywood for baffles and structural 

support.  I get wonderful contrast in a dark sky with that scope, even though the coatings 

are not in great shape (the lens is about 45 years old).  On the Eskimo, I first tried imaging 

with the Mogg FR in place, with the Baader contrast booster in behind the FR.  But the 

image was too small, and since the Tak was tracking so well without guiding, I decided to 

try f/10.  First, I took both the FR and the filter off, but the residual color was very 

objectionable, such that I bet I'd get nothing but blue-appearing stars if I imaged that way.  

But with the filter in place, the color is very good.  I may have to upload that M42 mosaic 

without finishing it, just to show you what I mean - it nocked my socks flat off, and the 

exposures were only 10 seconds.


Last night was clear, but the weather is changing, so I wanted to image last night before I 

couldn't for a while.  I've got the high clouds again.  When we get these Santa Ana winds 

through the passes, it can get very clear, though it never gets truly dark.  I've been able to 

find Canopus over the skyscrapers downtown on a couple of occasions (we have a view 

down the Arroyo Seco to the south across downtown (7 miles away) and all the way to 

Palos Verdes penninsula about 25 miles away).  


I recently "came into" another Jaegers lens and cell - this one a 6" f/15 - and a 12.5" full-

thickness f/3.5 parabola (that I was told was about 1/10th lambda).  I just might try my 

idea from before, where I mount the flea at the prime focus and not have a secondary 

mirror.  This one might need a paracorr, though.  Does Televue still make those?  Of 

course, I'll have to go out of my way to build an OTA that has no provisions for an 

eyepiece!  ;o)  ...and if it works well enough, I just might try one of the higher resolution 

color Pt Grey cameras in it...  hm...


-Tim.


--- In Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com, Milton Aupperle <milton@o...> wrote:


Hi Tim;


Nice image - especially considering your shooting from light polluted  

LA.


Does the Baader Contrast Filter you used also act as a LPR filter too?


I've been either ice fogged in (lots) or clouded over here in  

Calgary. And during my vacation to this exceptionally dark site (no  

street lights are allowed in the village), the first two nights I  

managed to get the scope all set up and drift aligned between clouds.  

After that I never got to use my scope at all for the next 2 weeks.


TTYL..


Milton J. Aupperle

President

ASC - Aupperle Services and Contracting

Mac Software (Drivers, Components and Application) Specialist

#1005 - 815 14th Avenue. S.W.

Calgary Alberta Canada T2R0N5

1-(403)-229-9456

milton@o...

www.outcastsoft.com




On 11-Jan-06, at 8:58 AM, Tim wrote:


Hi all:


I uploaded an image I took last night with my color Flea, to the  

files/DSO area.  It's a grabbed

and averaged set of 3 60 second exposures.  Shot at f/10, as the . 

6x focal reducer made too

small an image.  Unguided Takahashi NJP german equatorial mount  

(love that polar finder!).

No darks or flats used, though i did use a lasoo selection tool  

with a 50 pixel feather to

reduce the amp glow in the upper left corner of the frame.


I also began a mosaic of M42 that was looking spectacular, but as  

Orion was dropping toward

downtown in the SW, the  background sky color was changing to an  

unpalatable dark green.

I'll tyr to finish that mosaic on another night.


best,

-Tim.