Telescope set up in back yard in Bandera (golf course in
background!). The equipment is powered by two gel-cell batteries, and is remote
controlled from the house desktop computer using a Radmin server over the home WiFi
network. The guide scope is only used for planetary photography to
keep the image in the field of view at high magnification.
Latest Photographs
A supernova was discover on August 24 in the
Pinwheel Galaxy (M-101). This animation shows images
taken from my back yard in March and again on September 20,
2011. More information on this supernova can be found
here.
Imaged on 9/20/2011, the Veil Nebula has been a goal
for many years. This is a stack of 40 x 30 second
exposures using the Canon T2i DSLR (6400 ASA) and Tamron
210mm/f2.8 lens mounted on the Meade telescope for guiding.
This is a very faint object in visible light. For
reference, see
this picture.
Comet C2009 P1 Garradd on
9/20/2011. Mouse over for zoom view (about
one degree vertical field of view).
M42 (Orion Nebula) imaged with LX200 plus f/6.3
focal reducer and Canon T2i camera. November 5, 2010
Jupiter on 10-29-2010. This movie is a set of
12 pictures taken over a 2 hour period starting at 8:35 PM.
Each image is made up of about 500 frames from the Philips
SPC900 webcam taken over 30 seconds, stacked using
Registax_5 and processed with PhotoShop CS5. The Moon
Io is approaching from the left.
Jupiter and three of the larger moons: Ganymede,
Europa and Io. This is one of the frames taken on
10-29-2010 (see movie above).
Comet Hartley 103P
photographed on 10-07-2010. The two images in this
slideshow are 50 minutes apart showing the motion near
NGC869 and NGC884. The photographs were taken with the
Canon T2i for 10 seconds at 6400 ASA and f/2.8. The
focal length of the Tamron lens was 210mm.
Stacked
with Registar and processed with FITS Liberator 3 and
Photoshop CS5.
Andromeda (M-31) and M-110
photographed 10-7-2010 using Canon T2i and Tamron 70-210,
f/2.8 lens set to 210mm and f/2.8. Exposure was 10
seconds @ ASA 6400. 24 shots were averaged with
Registar and processed with FITS Liberator 3 and Photoshop
CS5.
North
American Nebula:
Taken August, 2010. This image was
taken with a Canon T2i digital camera (18 M pixels!) set to 6400
ASA. A Tamron 70-210mm f/2.8 lens was used and set to about
72mm. The camera was mounted on an inexpensive equatorial
mount, and the exposure was 20 seconds. This is a great
combination for very wide field astrophotography (see below).
Also taken in August 2010
with the Canon T2i, this wide field image was taken with an 18mm
f/3.5 lens. Exposure time was 30 seconds at 6400 ASA.
The Andromeda nebula (M-31) is clearly visible as marked.
NGC-7293, the Helix Nebula.
Imaged near Ft. Davis, TX - August 2009.
This image and the image below were taken with a Meade
DSI-II for L and DSI-c for the RGB. A f/3.3 focal reducer was also
used.
M-16, the Eagle Nebula.
Imaged near Ft. Davis, TX - August 2009.
Close up of the central
portion of M16. This was taken using the f/6.3 focal reducer.
This area was made famous by Hubble as the "Pillars of
Creation".
Slideshow
of selected Astrophotographs
These were taken from various Texas
locations including Bandera, Lake Whitney and the Davis Mountains State Park.
Iridium Flare photographed at the Davis Mountains on June 4,
2005. The flare is a reflection from Iridium satellite antennas (the sat-phone
satellites). To find flare schedules for your location, visit http://www.heavens-above.com/.
On June 27,2005 a German amateur astronomer discovered a 14
magnitude supernova in M-51. A photo I took on June 1, 2005 is shown here.
Mouse over that image to see the published image with the supernova (at the end of
the arrow).
