The Moon.
Taken on Nov. 21 with a Nikon D40 through a Meade LX200 10-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain. Exposure time: 1/320 ISO set to 200. Conditions: 66% moon with a few wispy clouds. Photoshop 7: Curves, color balance, brightness/contrast, sharpen.

Scopes in field Oct 13th, 2012 with M13 Globular Cluster composited in , 7:04pm, looking West, South West, Bonny Doon Airport Casio EX-Z35, 35mm, 12.1 Mpixel, Tripod mount Auto function (F3.1, 1/2 sec, ISO 1600, 72dpi, 640 x 480) Wx: clear, warm mid 60s In background top right: Sept 19, 2012, 8:30pm Hercules Globular Cluster (M13), Hercules 8? F/4 Meade LXD75 Camera ST2000xCM -20? - Chip Temperature 3 x 5 minute exposures using CCD Ops 5 (only used one raw exposure) w/IBM Thinkpad (14? w/I5 processor) Dark field provided by Rick White field ? not required for 8? per Rick* *(Learning note: every time the CCD camera is remounted potentially changes position of any undesirable mark (hot pixel, or ??) that dark and white fields would take out. So old flats may miss something that changed position when remounting camera.Weather: Lots of moisture (dew), clear sky Moon: Set in North West about 8:54pm Photoshop: Made layer copy Copied M13 and pasted over telescope field Transformed scale of M13 and placed in upper right corner Curves applied only to dark. Raised dark to 2nd lightest setting from top. Layer style selected: Blending options: @ bottom reduced Blue ? ?blend if blue 192 out of 255)

Moon Nov 21st, 2012. Cabrillo College Observatory, 9:11pm, looking east Exposure. 1/320 second Nikon 40D, mounted to 8? scope 8? F/4 Meade LXD75 Wx: Cool, high 60s, 66% moon Camera recorded time as 10:11, suspect time setting has not been set back 1 hour for standard time. No changes to photo. Printer - Cannon Inkjet MX870 with glossy paper

Nov 28th, 2012. Cabrillo College Observatory, 7:30pm, looking east Moon with Jupiter overhead Exposure. .625 second Nikon 40D, Zoom Lens, F5.6, Focal Length 200 Wx: Cold, heavy moisture, low 60s & temperature dropping. Font was moving in that was obscuring the moon periodically every 5 minutes. Clouds were thicker after each subsequent obscuring. Camera recorded time as 8:30, suspect time setting has not been set back 1 hour for standard time. No changes to photo. Printer - Cannon Inkjet MX870 with glossy paper

Oct 18, 2012, 9:10 pm North American, NGC 7000, Cygnus 6 x 5 minute exposures using CCD Ops 5 8" F/4 Meade LXD75 Camera ST2000xCM -20? - Chip Temperature w/IBM Thinkpad (14? w/I5 processor) Dark field provided by Rick White field provided by Rick* *(Learning note: every time the CCD camera is remounted potentially changes position of any undesirable mark (hot pixel, or ??) that dark and white fields would take out. So old flats may miss something that changed position when remounting camera.) Levels. Levels brought to data distribution curve (right side moved to left) Actions. Ran ?Stars Smaller? 2xs, ran ?Space Noise Reduction? 1x. Turned photo 90 degrees, so west coast on long side of photo.

Nov 10th, 2012. Cabrillo College Observatory, 9:49pm, looking east Orion, Taurus & Jupiter are bright track above cattails ? Star Trails 5:30 minute exposure, Nikon 40D, 18mm, F3.5 Jupiter is boldest track at top of page Asterism photo obtained from freeware Stellarium observing software. Stellarium view set to ?Stereographic?, turned off all markers displaying orbits, labels, stars, novas, and planets only displaying only the asterisms. Used a Stellarium view copy with stars to practice orienting Stellarium star view to photo?s actual star trails. Grabbed sky shot using ?Grab? software from Apple and saved files to jpg files and converted files to negative formats, which turned the dark sky to light white color. In Power Point I adjusted the asterism file to highest translucent setting, overlaying (bring to front) of star trail image in foreground (move to back). Locked scales for both images to keep perspectives and scaled up images until both were same scale. Rotated asterisms until star trails line up to stars starting positions. Attempted to overlay star asterisms with Photoshop but available Power Point software worked best.

 

 

 

 

 

 

23 Tauri - Merope
11/21/2012, 8:45PM @ Cabrillo Observatory. Partially cloudy, first quarter / waxing Gibbous moon, little wind. 12" Meade, SBIG ST2000xcm @ -28.7C. EXP = 4 x 5min. CCDOPS 5: - Dark frame - Flat field
Registax 5: - Aligned & Stacked Photoshop CS5: - Deep Sky Colors HLVG filter to remove green - Adjusted curves to increase brightness
- Adjusted levels  - Spot healing brush tool to remove artifacts - Reduced noise - Slight Gaussian blur to further reduce noise

Luna - The Moon 11/21/2012, 8:30PM @ Cabrillo Observatory
Partially cloudy, first quarter / waxing Gibbous moon, little wind
Nikon D40 digital SLR, 1/80th of a second shutter speed. Photoshop CS5: - Cropped - Adjusted curves to increase brightness- Reduced noise

M45 - Pleiades open star cluster
Dan Thomas & Scott
11/10/2012, 9:25PM @ Cabrillo Observatory. Clear sky, no moon, little / no wind, 8" Meade, SBIG ST2000xcm @ -28.7C, Exp = 3 x 5 min. CCDOPS 5: - Dark frame Registax 5: - Aligned & Stacked. Photoshop CS5:- Cropped
- Deep Sky Colors HLVG filter to remove green, Adjusted curves to increase brightness- Adjusted levels   
- Spot healing brush tool to remove artifacts - Reduce noise x2 - Slight Gaussian blur to further reduce noise

Moon. Eugene Salamin, 8" Meade LDX75, Nikon D40, 5 x 1/320 s, Nov. 21, 2012 -Cabrillo Observatory, Registax 6.1.0.8, Stack 5 frames, Photoshop 7.0, Levels, Gaussian blur 0.25 pixels, Saturation +77, Crop and size for print and gallery

Full Moon and Jupiter, Eugene Salamin, Nikon D40, 220mm focal length, Moon 1/15 s, Background 1 s, Nov. 28, 2012 - Cabrillo Observatory, Photoshop 7.0 Moon: Levels (suppress background to black), Healing brush (remove Jupiter), Make as Layer1 over Background layer, Move Moon over white disk on Background layer, Edit>transfor>scale: Make Moon bigger 102%, Background layer saturation +70
Fill 20% (Moon 20%, Background 80%), Flatten layers, Crop and size for print and gallery.

Ring Nebulae (M57), Planetary Nebula, Eugene Salamin & Becky Snow, 12" Meade LX200, ST2000XCM, 2x5 min, Sept. 19, 2012 21:21 to 21:29, Cabrillo Observatory Dome, CCDOPS: Version 5.54 build 13, Dark subtract -20C, Flat field, No color process, Registax: Version 5.1, Stack 2 frames, Photoshop: Version 7.0, Levels (increase contrast and darken background), Make stars smallerx3, Unsharp mask, 1.1 pixels, 40%, Saturation +20, Crop and size for print and gallery

Triangulum Galaxy (M33, NGC598) Eugene Salamin, 8" Meade LDX75, ST4000XCM, 7x5 min , Oct. 17, 2012 22:35-23:13, Cabrillo Observatory, CCDOPS 5.54 build 15, Dark subtract -20C, Color process sRGB+gamma, Registax 6.1.0.8, Stack of 7 frames. Photoshop 7.0. Space noise reduction. Color blotch reduction, Healing brush (remove bad pixels), Color blotch reduction, Levels (darken background), Curves (increase contrast, reduce background), Color balance (green -5), (Local contrast enhancement+space noise reduction)x3, Curves (reduce green), Unsharp mask 65%, Healing brush (remove bad pixels), Crop and size for print and gallery

NGC 1499 California Nebula
Taken: 11/22/08 at 21:40:15
Camera : ST4K  Temp: -23 degrees
CCD OPSFlat field and stacked
Photoshop CS6
Image size to 300 pxl crop to 8x10
Levels  50  1.0  242
Color Balance +37 red -15 magenta +59 blue
Vibrance + 10  Saturation +6
select all and convert to smart object
Noise Despeckle
Dust and scratches   radius 2 pxl  186 levels
Reduce noise   red 10, 17  green 10,9  blue 8,93
Smart sharpen  100% .3 pxl
remove motion blur  angle 20
Despeckle
Median 2 pxl size
Processed thru Perfect Resize for 8x10 image

 M27 Dumbbell Nebula
Taken on 11/17/12 at 19:45
camera ST2K Five images at Five minutes each
CCD Ops Dark subtract
Flat field and dtacked. Photoshop CS6
Levels   31   .55    253
Color Balance  -2  magenta  +7  blue
Vibrance +3
Image size to 300 pxl
Processed thru Perfect Resize for 8x10 image

 

M16 Eagle Nebula
Taken 10/17/12 at 21:13:38
camera ST2K Temp: -20 degrees
three images at five minutes each
CCD Ops
Dark subtract 
Flat field and stacked
Photoshop CS6
Levels   56  1.07   227
Color Balance  +9 red  -14 magenta  +2 blue
Hue  +5  Saturation  +20
Vibrance +7  Saturation  -1
crop to 8x10
select all anx  onvert to smart object
Reduce Noise   8   70   71   24
Image size to 300 pxls
 Processed thru Perfect Resize for 8x10 image

MoonStar 
Taken August 31, 2012 
At: Twin Lakes Beach
Canon Rebel T3i f/ 5.6
.60s ISO 3200
18-55 kit lens shot at 23mm
Photoshop Elements 8, Crop
Clone stamp lens reflection 
 
      

 

 NGC281 Pacman Nebula
Taken 11/17/12 
CCD Ops 
Dark subtract
Flat field and stacked
Photoshop CS6
Image size 300 dpi
Levels   20  1.0  240
Color Balance  +19 red  +5 green  +17  blue
Vibrance  +8  
Saturation  +5
Select all and convert to smart object
Dust and scratches  1 pxl  thru 189 levels
Reduce noise advanced
Smart sharpen
Healing brush for blue spots
Processed thru Perfect Resize for 8x10 image
 
      

 

October 21, 2012 First Quarter Moon Setting Cannon 60D SLR Camera with 300mm Zoom Lens f/11, ISO 400, West Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz, California First Quarter Moon Setting The photo image was taken on the night of October 21, 2012 at 10:00 pm. during the first quater moon on West cliff Drive. Image processing included the following; image was transferred into Photoshop 7 curves; color balance, and hue/saturation were applied in order to get the best highlights possible given the dark background. Images was then transferred into Lightroom to apply the noise reduction program and final touch up for printing.

November 29, 2012. Full Moon. Canon 60D SLR Camera with 300 mm Zoom Lens, f/11, ISO 400-Downtown Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California
This image was taken at 7:30 pm. on November 28, 2012 in Downtown Santa Cruz. Image was transferred into Photoshop 7 and was unaltered. The following anaylsis' were applied ; color balance and hue/saturation in Adobe RGB, zon system tonal range was also applied. Since all anaylical resulted in sound balance and ranges, the image was left unaltered adn printed via Lightroom.

November 7, 2012 Iris Nebula-NGC 7023 SBIG ST2000X CM CCD Camera Cabrillo College Iris Nebula-NGC 7023 A series of three images were taken on the SBIG ST2000X CM CCD Camera. All three images were dark subtracted at 29.50C, flat field, dark framed and colorized through CCDops 5/DDP. All images were stacked through RegiStak 5 and infused into one image. The image was then trnasferred into Photoshop 7 the followingwere applied,;curves, color balance, saturation for color enhanement and hues. Image was then refiend through Astronomy Tools for Photshop and was then printed.

November 17, 2012 Pac Man Nebula-NGC 281 3X5 min ST 2000X CM (ST-2K/Standard Image) 8" f/4 LXD 75 Cabrillo College Pac Man Nebula-NGC 281 A series of three images were taken on the ST 2000X CM (ST-2K/Standard Image) Imaging Telescope at the Cabrillo College Observatory. All of the images were dark framed and colorized through CCDops 5/DDP. All of the images were stacked and optimized in RegiStak 5, infusing them into one image. the image was then transferred into Photoshop 7 wehre the image adjustemnts in curves, color balance, and color saturation were applied.A refinement was applied through Astronomy Tools for Photshop. Image was then transferred into Lightroom for opst-production which included nosie reduction, dark area balancing and color enahncement, after which the image was printed.

November 7, 2012 Hercules Dwarf Galaxy (no, it's NGC 7331 in Pegasus) 3X5 min SBIG ST2000X CM CCD Camera Cabrillo College Hercules Dwarf Galaxy Three images was taken on the SBIG ST2000X CM CCD Camera. All images were dark subtracted at-29.90C below ambient, dark framed and flat field. Images wer also colorized through CCDops5/DDP and stacked through RegiStak 5 and were fused together into one image. This image was transferred into Photoshop 7 where adjustments using curves, sturation.hue, and noise reduction were applied. A refinment was performed in Astronomy Tools for Photoshop after which the image was then printed.

November 17, 2012 The Pleiades-Messier Object 45 3X5 min ST2000X CM (ST-2K/Standard Image) 8" f/4 LXD 75 Cabrillo College The Pleiades-Messier Object 45 A series of three images were taken on the ST2000X CM (ST-2K Standard Image)Imaging Telescope at the Cabrillo College Observatory. All of the images were dark framed and colorized inCCDops5/DDP and were stacked in RegiStak 6 infusing all images into one. The image was then transferred into Photshop 7 were curves, layers, color saturation, color balance/hue and color contrast prgrams were applied. Astronomy Tools were applied for refinement. The image was then transferred into Lightroom to sharpen adn reduce noise for post-production, the image was then printed.

Rachel promised she'd share with us, on this final day's pot luck art show, her much loved 3 year old tortoise - Nobel. She kept him spic'n'span with regular good brushings with a toothbrush, and we all got a big smile out of petting him.

Nobel was so adorable! And wandered around the classroom tables and floor with as much energy as any 3-year old. A big hit - thanks Rachel!

The rainbow moon and Jupiter opportunity came on a cloudy night when we were simply going down to the observatory to get some things before heading back up to the lab to computer-work on our images. I had the Nikon, and quickly set it up on the tripod and tried setting it to get interesting compositions. I thought it would be of interest to show an instructor's version of the same shot. I took one of the original photos, added texture by using Astronomy Tools Actions: "enhance local contrast" 3x, then got a velvety texture from the result by "noise reduction" x2. Then used curves twice to raise the brightness and bring out the tree silhouette, unsharp mask to make the tree crisp, cropped out the uninteresting pine tree and focused in on the red halo, used photoshop saturation to bring up the color and show off the blue moon and red halo, then sized for this frame. Finally, I raised the scale by 9x to allow me to do micro-surgery on Jupiter at the top, fixing the black moat which resulted from using 'unsharp mask' by clone stamping the bright pixels to fill in the moat. This also brought up Jupiter's brightness.

 

When I get a moment, I'll try my hand at the lower exposure version which has lunar features.