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Tuesday, April 22, 2008

M106, update

Now it's over here, nights are not astronomically dark anymore.
- I managed to shoot 18.04. three more hours for M106. The outer halo is now somehow more visble but massive light pollution, in my location, eats out lots of it, IDAS LP filter helpped though.. _ I used longer subs, 1200s, for this secon tryout. 9 x 1200s = 3h - There is older subs, 8x900s from 17.04, combined to this new image, so there is 5h total exposure time used.
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Same setup, than in previous post.
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I'm very pleased to functionality of SXV-AO active optics unit.
Becouset of AO, many details can be seen in the core of the M106 galaxy.
Processing was difficult doe the gradients coused by LP.
There is some deconvolution and wavelets used in processing
to bring out details more cleary.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

M106, last project of the season.

Nights are getting shorter and shorter up here north.
Lenght of the day is now 15h 30min. Astronomical darkness
last from 23:38 to 02:57 tonight.
One week from now here is no astronomical darkness untill autumn.
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This is the last target for this season. I managed to capture two hours
of data last night. I'll try shoot more data tonight.
M106 (Object number 106 in Messier catalog)
Allso known as NGC 4258.
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M106 is a spiral galaxy located in constellation Canes Venatici.
Distance is about 25 million light-years from my home.
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IMAGING DETAILS - Optics: Meade LX200 GPS 12" @ f6.3 - Camera: QHY8 - guiding: SXV-AO, active optics unit and LodeStar guider - Exposures: 8 x 900s+ Flats and Bias frames, no darks total exposure time 2h.
- Filter: IDAS LP

Monday, April 14, 2008

M13 as a Stereo Pair

Parallel vision stereo pair
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This is a second version of M13 as a stereo pair image.
This time I used about same method as in Sh2-240 image posted before.
Image is better resolved to the core and stars are more uniformly spreaded
in space.
Image information in original M13 post.
Viewing instructions, look for right side menu.
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Cross vision stereo pair

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

The Learning Curve

The term learning curve refers to a relationship between the duration of learning or experience and the resulting progress. Initially introduced in cognitive psychology, over time the term has acquired a broader interpretation, and expressions such as "experience curve", "improvement curve", "cost improvement curve", "progress curve"/"progress function", "startup curve", and "effeciency curve" are often used interchangeably, depending on the context. Some of these terms may also have other meanings.
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(Above text is borrowed from Wikipedia)
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This image serie is example of my leraning curve with the Galaxy M51.
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All the images are taken with same optics, LX200 GPS 12".
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The oldest one, 2005, is taken with Canon 300D, in Alt/Az
Image from 2007 is taken with QHY8.
Latest image is taken with QHY8 and SXV-AO, active optics.
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The impact of imaging conficuration is not as big as
impact of the improved processing skills.