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[katodog]

You know, wind really sucks. It messed up what could have been some really nice shots. But, hey, it's Halloween. I should have been out trick-or-treating. Here's a few shots from last night. One of the comet, which didn't come out too sharp due to some stubborn wind. A few of Albireo, and two of the Dumbbell Nebula. Funny thing, the wind really didn't affect the Albireo shots as much as it did the comet shots.


Comet Holmes: 20 seconds, 12" SCT, Fuji S6000fd, 40mm Plossl. Single jpg...





Albireo: 30 seconds, same equipment. Single jpg. Slight brightness and contrast adjustment in Paint Shop Pro...









The Dumbbell Nebula (M27): 30 seconds, same equipment. Bright & contrast adjust. Single jpg frames...







It's weird, but when I was looking at the comet, the sky didn't seem all that impressive, kinda hazy. But, when I looked at M27, and Albireo, the sky was perfect. So perfect, in fact, that I could see the Dumbbell in the 100mm achro, with the 14mm UWA. I don't think it was from the light pollution I have from the North, since it didn't affect any of the comet shots I took on previous nights. I was pretty surprised that I could see M27 so well in the achro. I usually can't see it through that scope.


The one huge drag is the fact that they're rebuilding the store right next to my house, and they installed some really nice, brand new, parking lot lights. Well, not so much parking lights, more like aircraft landing lights. Which are aimed perfectly at me when I'm out on the driveway. Time to give the town a piece of what's left of my mind. But, on the brighter (no pun intended) side, we'll be moving soon, and I don't think there's too much in the way of street lights where we're going.

Hopefully, I can get the time to put the Phillips webcam on the scopes and see how it does. I've been so busy playing with the comet that I haven't got around to bringing the laptop outside. Last night I would have brought it out, but after seeing how much the wind was affecting my DSLR shots, I figured the webcam wouldn't do much better. So, it will have to wait for another night.




And, on a completely different note, what the heck happened to Starbux??? You guys shanghai him away to some remote island or something?

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

The Dumbell capture is quite a kudo. I like the tight shot of the binary too.

I'm impressed.

[katodog]

Thanks. I was pretty happy with the Albireo shots, and was surprised at how much the camera got of the Dumbbell. I could see it really nice in the scope, and was surprised to be able to see it so well in the 100mm. I could see it really nice on the camera screen, but figured it would be like everything else...Looks good on the camera, and crappy on the computer. But, when I looked at the pics on the computer, I was very happy with the results. I tried to stack the M27 images, but there was some nasty field rotation, which I haven't noticed before. Of course, the longest shots I could take before were only 15 seconds, so maybe the 30 seconds was long enough to pick up the field rotation. The only problem is how to get rid of it. But, if the single shots come out like these did, or better, than I won't have to worry about stacking them.


All in all, the shots I've been getting with the new camera, the Fuji S6000fd, have been really nice. I'm glad I bought it. Now all I have to do is get my butt outside in the morning for M42 and Saturn.