Click here if you are having trouble logging into the forums Cloudy Nights - Official Forums of the 2009 International Year of Astronomy Privacy Policy | Please read our Terms of Service | Signup and Troubleshooting FAQ | Problems? PM a Red or a Green Gu.... uh, User   You are not logged in. [Login] Entrance · Main Index · Search · New user · Who's Online FAQ · Calendar Astrophotography and Sketching >> DSLR & Digital Camera Astro Imaging & Processing Previous   Index   Next   Threaded   Pages: 1 Nils_Wygant member Reged: 12/19/05 Posts: 44 NGC1499 - California Nebula       #1170043 - 09/28/06 11:52 AM Attachment (55 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Hi All, Wanted to share my latest results. Here is the California Nebula shot shot with my Televue TV76 and Nikon D70(mod). Lights 10x360sec. @ ISO 800 Darks 3 x360sec. @ ISO 800 Image calibration done with API4Win. Final tweaks in PS. Image suffers from curved field from the TV76 and uneven field illumination. I usualy take more lights/darks/flats ect. but it was getting late and this was all I could get durring this session. Enjoy, -Nils -------------------- Discovery 12.5" Dob Parks 80mm refractor G11 w/ Gemini Nikon D70 (mod) http://community.webshots.com/album/550067794Snuovo Post Extras:       nytecam Postmaster Reged: 08/20/05 Posts: 5402 Loc: London UK Re: NGC1499 - California Nebula [Re: Nils_Wygant]       #1170335 - 09/28/06 02:29 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Stunning image! -------------------- Nytecam 51N 0.1W Meade 30cm LX200+ETX-70+DS-2090+C8+Ha+CaK PSTs SBIG SGS+homebuilt spectrographs Starlight SXVF_M9/Lodestar/Canon 300D DSLR/Fuji E550 My observatory build-ETX-70 imaging-my videos Post Extras:       c131frdave Post Laureate Reged: 01/17/05 Posts: 4373 Loc: Arcanum, Ohio Re: NGC1499 - California Nebula [Re: nytecam]       #1170359 - 09/28/06 02:42 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Very nice. Beautiful. Congratulations! -------------------- Tak NJP SXV-H9 Various sizes and shapes of formed glass Post Extras:       Benjamin B Pooh-Bah Reged: 06/21/04 Posts: 1067 Loc: Sweden Re: NGC1499 - California Nebula [Re: c131frdave]       #1170635 - 09/28/06 05:06 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Simply amazing! -------------------- G11/Gemini TMB 80/480 super apo Post Extras:       Nils_Wygant member Reged: 12/19/05 Posts: 44 Re: NGC1499 - California Nebula [Re: Benjamin B]       #1170755 - 09/28/06 06:12 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Thanks for the kind words all. I hope to be able to do better soon. I have a field flattener for the TV76 on the way. -------------------- Discovery 12.5" Dob Parks 80mm refractor G11 w/ Gemini Nikon D70 (mod) http://community.webshots.com/album/550067794Snuovo Post Extras:       Gardner professor emeritus Reged: 01/19/04 Posts: 662 Loc: New Hampshire Re: NGC1499 - California Nebula [Re: Nils_Wygant]       #1172814 - 09/29/06 08:35 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Awesome! Nice to see your D70 hack worked well, I know you agonized over it but dove in anyway. Glad to see you finally on CN! -------------------- Mini Borg 50 & Q-Guide SV80S #87 TV 102 #1022 XT8 NHAS Post Extras:       AviddayM Carpal Tunnel Reged: 12/28/05 Posts: 2096 Loc: Snohomish, Washington Re: NGC1499 - California Nebula [Re: Gardner]       #1172847 - 09/29/06 08:56 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Great job! _________ Dave -------------------- Dave FS102NSV f/8 C11 XLT NJP Temma II STV Deluxe w/efinder Ps 8:3-4 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers. The moon and the stars, which You have ordained. What is man that You are mindful of him. And the son of man that You visit him? Post Extras:       s58y Postmaster Reged: 12/12/04 Posts: 5147 Loc: Eastern NY Re: NGC1499 - California Nebula [Re: AviddayM]       #1173021 - 09/29/06 10:30 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Nice shot -- it looks like the modded D70 does a good job of picking up the red nebulosity. I'm hoping to reshoot NGC1499 myself, now that I have a modded DSLR. If the TV76 is anything like the SV80 as far as field curvature goes, the flattener will help a lot (but there is still some residual field curvature or other aberration that affects stars out near the corners). -------------------- Hutech 30D, SBIG ST-402 autoguider (old) Nikon 800mm f/5.6 lens, SV80S, SV66 guidescope AP900, G-11, Barndoor tracker http://www.pbase.com/s58y Post Extras:       Nils_Wygant member Reged: 12/19/05 Posts: 44 Re: NGC1499 - California Nebula [Re: s58y]       #1173973 - 09/30/06 03:17 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   s58y, I took some time to explore your webpage. WOW. Very nice widefield work! Way to beat down the noise! That' one heck of a NGC1499 you have already! I also realy enjoyed your "Same Scale" page. Thanks for putting that up. Very intersting. -Nils -------------------- Discovery 12.5" Dob Parks 80mm refractor G11 w/ Gemini Nikon D70 (mod) http://community.webshots.com/album/550067794Snuovo Post Extras:       Ptarmigan Carpal Tunnel Reged: 09/23/04 Posts: 2093 Loc: Arctic Re: NGC1499 - California Nebula [Re: Nils_Wygant]       #1174167 - 09/30/06 05:57 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Amazing! I always wanted to see that object. The largest spiral galaxy is nearby. -------------------- Ptarmigans=Cute and Cuddly Post Extras:       Qkslvr Pooh-Bah Reged: 06/23/06 Posts: 1316 Loc: NE Ohio, US Re: NGC1499 - California Nebula [Re: Ptarmigan]       #1174253 - 09/30/06 06:57 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Nils, What do you think of API4Win? I'm just getting started and have a copy, it seems to work okay, But you're the only other person that I've seen using it. -------------------- Mike Onyx 80ED/N8/CG-5/40D Post Extras:       Nils_Wygant member Reged: 12/19/05 Posts: 44 Re: NGC1499 - California Nebula [Re: Qkslvr]       #1174538 - 09/30/06 11:25 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Hi Qkslvr, I find API4Win a very good program. I find the book (Handbook of Astronomical Image Processing) that it comes with to be an excellent source of information as well. Quite a deal for $100! I've been just scratching the surface with what API4Win offers. My standard opperating procedure at this point is to capture as many lights of an object as I can along with a matching number of darks. I also typicaly take about 20 flats and 20 flat darks. I built a lightbox for this purpose from designs outlined in "Handbook of Astronomical Image Processing". I have not used bias frames yet. I then use API4Win to calibrate, stack and average all the data. I then move on to final image tweaks. Those include levels/curves/unsharp mask/gaussen blur to taste. I prefer Photo Shop for this stage. I have not spent the time to get proficient with any of the other great programs out there (like ImagesPlus/PixInsight) but lots of others have with great success. -------------------- Discovery 12.5" Dob Parks 80mm refractor G11 w/ Gemini Nikon D70 (mod) http://community.webshots.com/album/550067794Snuovo Post Extras:       Qkslvr Pooh-Bah Reged: 06/23/06 Posts: 1316 Loc: NE Ohio, US Re: NGC1499 - California Nebula [Re: Nils_Wygant]       #1176742 - 10/02/06 09:34 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   I thought the book was very useful too, and you're right at a great price. I need to make a light box, So far I've used the sky for my flats, But it's hard to get those if you setup after dark. -------------------- Mike Onyx 80ED/N8/CG-5/40D Post Extras:       Pages: 1 Previous   Index   Next   Threaded   Extra information 6 registered and 7 anonymous users are browsing this forum. 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