Monday, October 13, 2014
Cygnus panorama
While waiting the weather to clear, I reprocessed my older material to keep up my skills. This one turned to be so nice. I decided to publish it here.
Cygnus Panorama
Click for a large image. Note. A largish file, 2400 x 1100 pixels and 3.6MB
Labeled
Click for a large image
An original photo and processing, with the technical details, can be seen HERE
Monday, October 6, 2014
A new imaging setup starts to build up.
At beginning of the last Spring season my old imaging setup blew up.
During a mandatory Summer pause I have been building a new imaging set up little by little. It starts to be ready mechanically, I need to wait for a couple of clear nights to be able to finalize the setup procedure.
Without a help from couple of great companies this could be a mission impossible for me.
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I have got the most needed help from the beloved neighbour country, Sweden! The Astro Sweden is a largish company specialized to astronomical equipments. They have support my work by equipments and technical knowhow.
Starlight Xpress CCD
I have been using many years some very clever products from the UK based company, Starlight Xpress .
I now have a new Active Optics unit from them, it supports full frame CCD cameras. With the AO-unit I'm using an OAG with the ultra sensitive guider, Lodestar X2. I used to have a smaller version of the AO-unit and Lodestar guider for many years. They really turn any poorly tracking mount to a extremely stable imaging platform. Best of all, the AO-unit works with any third party imaging camera, like the Apogee in my case.
I now have a new Active Optics unit from them, it supports full frame CCD cameras. With the AO-unit I'm using an OAG with the ultra sensitive guider, Lodestar X2. I used to have a smaller version of the AO-unit and Lodestar guider for many years. They really turn any poorly tracking mount to a extremely stable imaging platform. Best of all, the AO-unit works with any third party imaging camera, like the Apogee in my case.
New Setup
click for a large image
Light path
The Active Optics Unit from Starlight Xpress CCD is attached to a large custom made adapter ring at right.
List of new equipments
- Mount, 10-micron 1000
- Optics, Celestron Edge HD 1100
- Camera, Apogee U16 D09 with KAF16803 chip, 4096x4096 9 microns pixels, 36,8x36,8mm
- Filter Wheel, Apogee, seven square slots 50x50mm
- Focuser, FeatherTouch with MicroTouch control unit
- Heater, Dew Buster
- Active Optics Unit, SXV AO LF from Starlight Xpress + OAG
- Guider, an ultra sensitive Lodestar X2, also from Starlight Xpress
- Focal Reducer, Celestron reducer 0.7 for Edge 1100 (Not yet arrived)
- Finder, Telrad
- Filters, Astrodon, H-alpha 5nm, O-III 3nm, S-II 3nm. R, G, B and L
I need to wait for a clear weather to be able to finalize the setup. Few things must be done before any imaging is possible.
To do list
- Polar alignment, The axis of the telescope must be exactly parallel to Earth axis
- Collimation, the optical axis must be perfectly concentric
- Fine tune any possible tilt in CCD to have it perfectly perpendicular to light path.
- FocusMax training, ~30 V-curves to have an accurate model of the optical behavior for auto focusing.
- Temperature compensation training, so that temp expansion of the optics can be compensated.
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Winning images in Buzzfeed, Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2014
The Buzzfeed published The winners of the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2014 competition by the Royal Observatory Greenwich
My photo of Supernova remnant detail, NGC 1340, winned a shared third price.
Also the Helsingin Sanomat, a finnish national newspaper, published an article about my work
Read the story here (In Finnish)
The list of all winners
I'm in a Deep Space category
Earth and SpaceJames Woodend (UK) with Aurora over a Glacier Lagoon (Winner and Overall Winner)
Matt James (Australia) with Wind Farm Star Trails (Runner-up)
Patrick Cullis (USA) with Moon Balloon (Highly Commended)
Catalin Beldea (Romania) with Totality from Above the Clouds (Highly Commended)
O Chul Kwon (South Korea) with Venus-Lunar Occultation (Highly Commended)
Deep Space
Bill Snyder (USA) with Horsehead Nebula (IC 434) (Winner)
David Fitz-Henry (Australia) with The Helix Nebula (NGC 7293) (Runner-Up)
J.P Metsävainio (Finland) with Veil Nebula Detail (IC 1340) (Highly Commended)
Rogelio Bernal Andreo (USA) with California vs Pleiades (Highly Commended)
Marco Lorenzi (China) with At the Feet of Orion (NGC 1999) – Full Field (Highly Commended)
Our Solar System
Alexandra Hart (UK) with Ripples in a Pond (Winner)
George Tarsoudis (Greece) with Best of the Craters (Runner-Up)
Alexandra Hart (UK) with Solar Nexus (Highly Commended)
Stephen Ramsden (USA) with Calcium K Eruption (Highly Commended)
Tunç Tezel (Turkey) with Diamond and Rubies (Highly Commended)
Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year
Shishir & Shashank Dholakia (USA, aged 15) with The Horsehead Nebula (IC 434) (Winner)
Emmett Sparling (Canada, aged 15) with New Year over Cypress Mountain (Runner-up)
Olivia Williamson (UK, aged 10) with The Martian Territory (Highly Commended)
Shishir & Shashank Dholakia (USA, aged 15) with The Heart Nebula (IC 1805) (Highly Commended)
Emily Jeremy (UK, aged 12) with Moon Behind the Trees (Highly Commended)
Special Prize: People and Space
Eugen Kamenew (Germany) with Hybrid Solar Eclipse 2 (Winner)
Julie Fletcher (Australia) with Lost Souls (Runner-up)
Special Prize: Sir Patrick Moore prize for Best Newcomer
Chris Murphy (New Zealand) with Coastal Stairways (Winner)
Robotic Scope Image of the Year
Mark Hanson (USA) with NGC 3718 (Winner)
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Astro Anarchy gets published
The winners of the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2014 competition by the Royal Observatory Greenwich.
Over 2500 images from 51 countries participated this competition
Over 2500 images from 51 countries participated this competition
My image of IC 1340 wins the third place, "Highly Commended", in Deep space category
Daily Mail, news about the winners of Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2014 competition
My photo is a fourth from the top
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2760574/Shimmering-green-aurora-total-eclipse-exploding-star-Winning-images-Astronomy-Photographer-Year-revealed.html
BBC news about the winners of Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2014 competition
My photo can be seen at 3:50 position in the movie of the winner images.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29237571
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