(Viewed 8,960 times)

[Barry]

A.S.I.G.N. Observatory is proud to present a complete time-lapse movie and a complete montage of the 2007 Lunar eclipse in it's entirety from the clear skies of Canberra.

www.asignobservatory.com/lunar.aspx

CDS

Baz.

[Barry]

Our galactic centre near Sagittarius. Lagoon and Trifid nebulae centre image.

Cannon EOS 400D unmodified with 75-300mm lens at F/5.6

12 x 2 minute exposures at ISO800

Piggybacked on fork mounted and polar aligned Nexstar 11 GPS

Manual guiding

Darks subtracted and processed with Deep Sky Stacker and Photoshop

The sky was beautiful tonight until the moon took over. Friday nights are my best night, but there are so many factors against limiting yourself to a particular night per week. I would have added more subs, but the extra light in the sky may have ruined it.

Anyway, I hope you all like it.

Cheers,

Baz.

[Barry]

Hi all.

I thought I would try my hand at a little animation of the stars moving about in the south.

I took several pics with the DSLR on a fixed tripod of 30 seconds, taking one every 5 minutes or so.

The effect is simple, but effective. I am inspired now to go all the way and image the rotation over a whole night. One to the South, one to the east or west and one to the north.

I thought it may serve best on my Drift alignment page as a bit of a visual aid to new astronomers.

So here it is. www.asignobservatory.com/driftalignment.aspx

Have a look about a third of the way down the page for the movie.

Like I said, improvements are only a matter of a few clear nights away!

Baz.

[Barry]

Hi all,

A nice fellow asked for a design for a wedge for his SCT, so while I was at it, I thought I would go the whole hog and add it to the DIY page on the A.S.I.G.N. Observatory website.

www.asignobservatory.com/DIY.aspx

Its a start, a good guide and open for as many modifications as your skills and imagination will allow.

I hope it comes in handy for those looking to move onto astrophotography.

This is a simple and rigid wedge, that will get the job done.

Cheers,

Baz.

[Barry]

A.S.I.G.N. Observatory has just clocked over 50,000 hits!

It's all thanks to my great friend Ron of www.aussiepeople.com.au

When I first started the website, using a pretty ordinary default template, I managed around 5000 hits in a year. Since Ron came along, enhanced my site, gave it a bit of a makeover it has turned over another 45,000 hits in 8 months!

I also would like to thank everyone on the forums. The great people I have met here, who gave me advice, encouragement and just general interest have all contributed to a site that has become a runaway train of ideas and ideals, resources and inspiration.

God bless and thank you, one and all!

Baz.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Barry,

When you got a good thing going, it's naturally going to be popular.

Your set up there is a good and sophisticated as any university or museum around. It's a great personal observatory, resource and educational endeavor for everybody who loves astronomy.

Hers to Baz's wonderful observatory and continued success and thank you for sharing with all of us!

[Barry]

Thanks Joe, it's nice to be recognised and appreciated! I also have so much admiration for what you do here on the Chicago Astronomer!

Someone else obviously noticed, because I got home today to check my emails, to find a message from a mob called, "Rainy day magazine."

They saw fit to publish my observatory in their media. www.rainydaymagazine.com/RDM2...rysObservatory

I am chuffed to bits!

Baz.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Barry,

Now...ain't that too cool!

I think your observatory needs to be on the national listing of astronomcal obervatories and perhaps you can make this a money generating venture thru funding or grants.

Also,

I tried to access the link you provided, but it states an error message. Check it out please as I would like to view what they wrote.

Great work there.

[Barry]

Sorry about that Joe, It did that a few times. Some forums abbreviate links when you post. Try this mate.

www.rainydaymagazine.com/RDM2007/RDMHomeNov2007.htm#BarrysObservatory

Baz.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Barry,

It great that the Rainy Day site has highlighted your observatory...and well deserved.

Check your ASIGN mailbox for a message.

[Barry]

Greetings earthlings!

A.S.I.G.N. Observatory is proud to present the latest layman's guide to astrophotography.

www.asignobservatory.com/AstrophotographyGuide.aspx

As the Canon 400D and it's ilk are the most commonly used these days for the average budget, I thought it pertinent to be a little more specific in this area.

I hope you enjoy the tutorial, share it with new and old astrophotographers, and add it to your links so everyone can gain from it!

Happy space travels!

Baz.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Barry,

That is a great step by step procedure on astro imaging set up. I need to study it some, but I do appreciate you taking the time to share your techniques with other astronomers world wide. Good stuff.

Also...

In your pic there...there seems to be some strange symbols in the upper right.

Getting help from aliens maybe?

[Barry]

Its actually from the Bible. Its in Hebrew. Isaiah 40:26, Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Quite cool.

Learning something new everyday.

[Barry]

I found the airbrush tool on photoshop, so I thought I would have a bit of a play around with it and see what it could do. The first two pics are about 1/2 hour each of work. The Third is 1 hour. THe last I did tonight took me 3 hours.

This thing it HEAPS of fun!!! Found something to do with my cloudy nights!!

Baz.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Barry,

What pleasent and pretty art you have created.

And considering you just discovered the tool in PP, quite cool indeed.

They are pieces de art.