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Andrew Welsh
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 03/28/06
Posts: 2300
Loc: Rochester, NY
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Figured I'd fool around a little off the beaten path and image some asteroids floating around in our solar system. Here is an animation showing two frames taken about 50 minutes apart.
Each frame was a stack of 4x30 sec images at ISO1600, taken at prime focus (2000mm) in the 8" LX200. I gathered the RA and Dec coordinates from Sky Map Pro, then punched them in the keypad and snapped away. OK, so using planetarium software and go-to makes it like shooting fish in a barrel.. but interesting nonetheless. I subtracted darks and flats in Iris. Levels were adjusted in Photoshop, and I cloned out a couple of lingering hot pixels. I did not bother to do color balancing, so I desaturated the image.
Here is Ceres, the first asteroid discovered. It was around magnitude 7.5-8, just as bright as Neptune, low on the horizon from my location in New York state. Ceres will be much more favorably positioned in November 2007, where it will almost be at Zenith around 10pm at night.
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LX200 8" classic, f/10, Meade eq. wedge, .63x FF/FR
Canon 40D and 5D, unmodified
Canon EF 300/2.8L IS, 400/5.6L, 135/2L, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 35/2, 24-70/2.8L, and Peleng 8mm fisheye
Orion Apex 102mm (4") Mak-Cass
Pimped out with accessories and bling
My DSLR Astrophotography Webpage and photo bucket with full equipment list
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Mike Phillips
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 02/21/06
Posts: 752
Loc: Swift Creek, NC - 35.682 N, 78...
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Quote:
Figured I'd fool around a little off the beaten path and image some asteroids floating around in our solar system.
Andrew, Ceres isn't an asteroid anymore! Congrats on being the 1st to post the 12th planet! 
See the URL below for details!
http://www.iau2006.org/mirror/www.iau.org/iau0601/iau0601_release.html
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VIDEO HowTo: Planetary Processing Routine v7
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Andrew Welsh
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 03/28/06
Posts: 2300
Loc: Rochester, NY
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Quote:
Andrew, Ceres isn't an asteroid anymore! Congrats on being the 1st to post the 12th planet!
Hey, you're right! How cool is that! Next thing you know someone will take a pic that resolves disc detail 
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LX200 8" classic, f/10, Meade eq. wedge, .63x FF/FR
Canon 40D and 5D, unmodified
Canon EF 300/2.8L IS, 400/5.6L, 135/2L, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 35/2, 24-70/2.8L, and Peleng 8mm fisheye
Orion Apex 102mm (4") Mak-Cass
Pimped out with accessories and bling
My DSLR Astrophotography Webpage and photo bucket with full equipment list
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LivingNDixie
Lord of Ferrets
Reged: 04/23/03
Posts: 15913
Loc: Hoover, AL
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They made it a planet so they can sell new science textbooks... dang book publishers 
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Preston
Celestron 11" Nexstar GPS XLT
Tak FS 78
Lunt LS60T/Ha 60mm f/8.33 (on order)
Vixen Porta Mount
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trever
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 08/18/03
Posts: 2699
Loc: North Alabama
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Technically it is the 5th Planet now ..  In order behind Mars that is.
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Trever
Coronado PST Solar Telescope
Vixen A80MF 80mm Refractor with Porta Mount
Orange Celestron 8 inch SCT on AS-GT mount
Zhumell 20x80 Astronomical Binoculars
Orion Paragon HD-F2 Tripod
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LV_Valdis
super member
Reged: 12/29/05
Posts: 139
Loc: Latvia
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Quite a small planet though. Escape velocity is just 510m/s. If you plan on firing a gun on the surface on Ceres, don't point it to the horizon, you migh hit yourself  .
I'd think that a planet has to be somewhat bigger or at liest more massive, let's say an escape velocity of about 1km/s or maybe the surface gravity could be taken into account and that should be at liest 1m/s/s (Ceres has only 0.27m/s/s).
Well, that's just my 
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8" SkyWatcher dob.
ZRT-457M The "Tank".
A pair of 8x30 binocs from 1952 (insane FOV).
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trever
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 08/18/03
Posts: 2699
Loc: North Alabama
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I still think the most simple thing to do is just set a limit. Just say anything smaller than 1000 miles, make that an Minor Planet. Why do they have to make things so complicated?
At 500 miles, round or not, Ceres seems just too small.
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Trever
Coronado PST Solar Telescope
Vixen A80MF 80mm Refractor with Porta Mount
Orange Celestron 8 inch SCT on AS-GT mount
Zhumell 20x80 Astronomical Binoculars
Orion Paragon HD-F2 Tripod
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Anto
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 06/06/06
Posts: 987
Loc: Italy, Caserta 41°N 14°E
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Great shot Andrew, you suggested me to shot Ceres too with my equipment.
Try to search the stars on GSC catalog to show them in the pic.
Great Meade 8"!
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My web site
"The imagination is more important than knowledge..." - A. Einstein
LX200GPS 14"; Borg101ED; Borg60ED; Intes Micro M603
Coronado SolarMax 60 with BF10
DMK21AF04; DMK31AF04; SXV-H9
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David Rivas
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 05/29/04
Posts: 2004
Loc: Lima, Peru
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Planet or not(for many) that's a sweet animation of it Andrew!!
Regards,
David
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