Noel Carboni%60s Astronomy Tools
Posted By admin On 06.01.21Astro Tools for PhotoShop by Noel Carboni's Some images (view more) C/2020 F3 NEOWISE.
Processing astronomy pictures has always stressed computer systems. (Newer DSLR cameras, like my Nikon D610 with 24.3 megapixel images or my D810 with 36 MP (and now D850 with 45.7 megapixels), also create large files that are difficult for even fast computers to handle in bulk.) New image processing techniques, such as drizzle and deconvolution algorithms, are extremely computer-intensive. (More on the equipment used to capture the images is here.)
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Software for Image Processing
It turns out I've acquired and use quite a number of astronomy and image processing titles. The following work OK with Windows 7, 64bit:
PixInsight
MaximDL 5 - Controls the SBIG ST-8300M camera and filter wheel, also does batch image process which I use for image reduction (i.e., flats, darks, etc.)
Nebulosity - Control the QHY8 CCD camera, capture .fit files..
Photoshop - Check image quality while imaging, and final processing; it is the last tool I use to process images for publication (CS2 and CS5)
Registar - Combine images, my primary 'stacking' tool
ImagesPlus - Process DSLR images
Neat Image - Noise reduction
Noel Carboni's Astronomy Tools - Photoshop actions to do things like select stars and tighten them up
GradientXterminator - Photoshop plugin to remove unwanted gradients
Deep Sky Stacker - Drizzle combinations and some stacking
The Sky (I have 5, 6, and X)
Not in use:
GoldFocus - Software that works in conjunction with a bahtinov mask to analyze and announce focus corrections - did not work well for me
CCDSoft - This came with my SBIG ST-8300 camera. Prerelease v206 controls the new filter wheel. This software performs many of the functions of the separate programs below. I find it also has many annoying behaviors, especially when focusing with the focus windows being tiny and partially hidden.
AIP4WIN - deconvolution - seems to have stopped working after an upgrade somewhere but I haven't pursued it
Hardware for Image Processing
New Desktop July 2019 System:
Processor: Intel Core i9-9900K Desktop Processor 8 Cores up to 5.0 GHz Turbo unlocked LGA1151 300 Series 95W
CPU Cooler: (Going with an air-cooled solution for now) Noctua NH-D15, Premium CPU Cooler with 2x NF-A15 PWM 140mm Fans
64GB Memory: CORSAIR DOMINATOR PLATINUM 64GB (4x16GB) DDR4 3200MHz C16 Desktop Memory - CMD64GX4M4C3200C16
Motherboard: ASRock Z390 Taichi Ultimate (link) - This is one of the few Mobos that supports 8 SATA channels, which I really needed due to the large # of disk drives I run to hold all my pics
Graphics Card (2070): EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 XC Ultra Gaming, 8GB GDDR6, Dual HDB Fans & RGB LED Graphics Card 08G-P4-2173-KR
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Series Primo Aluminum ATX Ultimate Full Tower Computer Case PH-ES813P_BL (link)
OS/Boot Drive: Samsung 970 EVO Plus Series - 1TB PCIe NVMe - M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V7S1T0B/AM)
Working Photographs Drive: Samsung 970 EVO Plus Series - 2TB PCIe NVMe - M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V7S2T0B/AM)
Optical Drive: LG Electronics 14x SATA Blu-ray Internal Rewriter without Software, Black (WH14NS40)
Power Supply: EVGA Supernova 850 G3, 80 Plus Gold 850W, Fully Modular, Eco Mode with New HDB Fan, 10 Year Warranty, Includes Power ON Self Tester, Compact 150mm Size, Power Supply 220-G3-0850-X1
2019 Laptop:
Dell XPS 15 7590
9th Generation Intel(R) Core(T M) i9-9980HK (16MB Cache, up t o 5.0 GHz, 8 cores)
NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GTX 1650 4GB GDDR5
15.6' 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) InfinityEdge Anti-Reflective Touch IPS 100% AdobeRGB 500-Nits d isplay
32GB DDR4-2666MHz, 2x16G
2TB PCIe Solid State Drive6-Cell 97WHr Integrated
130W Power Adapter
Old Laptop: I acquired a new laptop for field processing 4/2014: ASUS ROG G750JZ-DS71 17.3-inch Gaming Laptop, GeForce GTX 880M Graphics
Intel Core i7-4700HQ 2.4Ghz (Turbo 3.4 GHz)
24 GB DDR3 (twice my desktop's memory!)
1TB 7200 rpm HD, 128GB x 2 (256 GB Total) Solid-State Drive
17.3-Inch matte screen, 1920x1080 pixels ('full HD'), contrast 950:1, color gamut 95% of sRGB and 74% of Adobe RGB
Blu-ray BD-ROM
Windows 8.1 - Quite a learning curve here. The only thing I've found a problem with after a couple days is 'Scrabble Online' which won't install.. Now on Windows 10 so I can use the whole 32GB memory.
This laptop replaces my old Dell Dell Inspiron N7010, which was not able to process my all-night DSLR time-lapse images effectively.. Working with those files in Bridge or Nikon ViewNX 2 was an exercise in frustration.
Desktop: My old desktop system vintage mid 2011: At that time I was toying with the idea of upgrading my computer system, then Fry's sealed the deal by putting the motherboard and processor I wanted on sale! I'm using the fastest Intel Sandy Bridge processor chip. These new chips bring top of the line processing power to a cool running and affordable CPU, reducing the cost for Intel's top performance by many hundreds of dollars, and reducing the power use (and heat generated) by your computer. It also has a very decent display processor as part of the chip, which performs much better than the dedicated graphics card in my previous (which was a 4 year old) system. This means a cooler, quieter case because I (didn't use to) need a graphics card.. But that changed when I went to a Dell U3011 30' monitor with 2560x1600 pixels, and I acquired an AMD Radeon HD 5700 Series display adapter. That card caused all sorts of wierd problems resolved by the GTX960 upgrade. Here are the specs for the major components of the new system:
ASUS P8Z68V Pro Motherboard, Intel® Socket 1155 for 2nd Generation Core™ i7/Core™ i5/Core™ i3 Processors
Corsair 115GB SSD (Solid State Drive) - Force CSSD-F115GB2-BRKT-A 2.5' 115GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (Since upgraded to a Samsung 500 GB SSD)
Intel® Core™ i7-2600K Processor (8M Cache, 3.40 GHz), LGA 1155 (I am overclocking this to 4.43 GHz for about a 30% speed increase.)
Corsair XMS3 3x4GB DDR3 2000MHZ memory (looking for a 4th module) Since replaced and upgraded to 32GB, and with Photoshop and Registar I actually use more than 24GB!
2 x Hitachi 3TB Coolspin 32MB Cache SATA3 (5400 rpm model) (Since upgraded to two 10TB and two 8TB drivers plus an 2 SSDs)
CPU cooled with a Noctua NH-C14
Seasonic X Series 850W power supply (replaced Corsair 600W GS 600 PSU)
ASUS GEFORCE GTX960 video card - the fans don't spin during normal operation!
LG 12x Blu-Ray writer
And went to an ASUS RT-N56U Dual Band router which (2014 note) has been a complete PITA and has been replaced as noted next:
Sadly my computer room isn't hard-wired with Ethernet so I'm using a D-Link AC 1200 as a Range Extender (HW Ver. A2 F/W 1.02) & it works well. My main router is now a TP-Link Wireless Router Archer C9. I'm connected with a Asus PCE-N15 11n Wireless LAN PCI-E Card.
Here are some overclocking references on the setup as I sort everything out. It looks like people are hitting 5.0 GHz with some frequency and 4.5 GHz range just about always with a setup like mine. As noted above, as of 7/15/11 I'm running at 4.43 Ghz: As of 9/14, this processor is still near the top of it's class in speed as compared with other intel processors.
HardOCP, hardforum, Toms, HardwareCanucks, Overclock.net,
Scroll down for for pictures of the desktop. The massive Noctua CPU cooler assembly was the last major component to go in, and after that it was time to hide the wires.
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Dick's Summer 2011 Computer Project
The front fan doors are open in this shot. There are 7 large (120mm) fans that come with the DF85 frame (2 on top you can't see). Plus the CPU has two monster (140mm) fans. The big fans move a lot of air. I run the case fans on low, and the CPU fans on the medium setting, making for a surprisingly quiet package providing enough cooling for 4.4 GHZ overclocking stress tests. As for the case style, it does look like something an 18 year old might choose, and I'm not sure an interior decorator would put this color combination together. The case was the best Fry's had in the store the day I was putting the system together, so fate pretty much determined it. I'm more of a function over form guy, but I may decide to get an LED side case fan to maybe balance everything out ;-)
Cooling Transplant Coming Up! Note the relative size of the currently installed Intel 'stock' cooler. The Intel guy did not like first stress test I threw it (board temp exceeded 85 deg C), so I knew I had to step up the cooling. The new cooler keeps the temps under 70 under the worst conditions, at least so far.
Hitachi 5400 RPM drives (bottom, 2x 3GB) provide the pure space part of the storage system, while a 115GB SSD drive (out of sight at the bottom of the case) holds Windows 7 and the applications for a super-responsive system. The case provides plug-in disk drive ports for simple disk swaps. There are 4xSATA 3 (6GBit/s) 4xSATA 2 (3Gbit/s) ports, plus an E-SATA port providing support for up to 9 SATA storage devices.
The right side panel will cover the wires. Believe it or not, I tried to be very careful where I placed the wires on the computer, since the case I ended up with has a clear side door. The case provides a number of convenient routing paths that make this a bit easier. The disk drive wires were tough (yellow and red) to run to the bottom as a pass through area didn't quite line up with the board connectors.
Laptop Upgrade Discussion from 2011:
Multiple Core Computers are critical for image processing! I found my 2004 model single-core laptop just wasn't cutting it when processing images in the field, and I've been watching laptop prices and features carefully since the new Intel 'Core I-' processors came out. Best Buy had a good deal and 11/2010 I acquired a Dell Inspiron N7010 laptop with these features: 17.3' LED screen, Blu-ray optical drive, 640GB hard drive, 6GB memory, Windows 7 64-bit OS, and a Intel Core I5-460M processor. (There has been a worldwide shortage of blu-ray drives for notebook computers, and laptops with blu-ray are hard to find and command a premium price.) Complete specs for the true geeks are further below.
Compatibility: I recently cautioned people regarding 64-bit Windows for astronomy applications due to possible compatibility issues. The advantage of 64-bit operating systems and software is that they can address (use) more than 4GB of memory, which is helpful in processing large amounts of image data. My QHY8 CCD Camera now has 64-bit compatible drivers, which opened up the 64-bit door for me.
Astronomy software compatibility problems with Windows 7:
As of early 2011 just about everything is working with Windows 7. However, William-Bell's Megastar will not install. I have not received a response to my emailed request for information about work-arounds or future support for 64 bit windows. However, you can manually copy files to your computer and get Megastar to run.
Happily haven't had any other problems!
New Quad Core, widescreen laptop (left), old workhorse dell on right
The Sky X on the newer Dell, The Sky 6 on the right
| Dell | Inspiron N7010, Service Tag, DK5YCN1 |
| Quantity | Parts # | Part Description |
| 1 | F073F | Dual In-Line Memory Module,2GB1333MHZ,256X64,8K,200 |
| 1 | Y619H | DVDRW/BD-ROM,12.7,SATA,PLDS |
| 1 | MC13K | Liquid Crystal Display,17.3HDF+,White Light Emitted Diode,True Life,V2,Legend |
| 1 | P7J74 | Hard Drive,640,S2,2.5,5.4,P11,SMSN-M7E |
| 1 | 13M23 | Processor,I5-460M,2.53,3MB,Arrandale,K0 |
| 1 | 4YRJH | Battery,Primary,48WHR,Vmware 6 Core Processor,Lithium,SANYO |
| 1 | X830D | Dual In-Line Memory Module,4GB1333MHZ,512X64,8K,200 |
| 1 | FJT7K | Assembly,Camera,1.3M,14/15/1764 |
Copyright © by Dick Locke. All Rights Reserved.
Contact and Image Use Information
Late 2016 I acquired a Synology DiskStation DS916+ 4-Bay NAS Enclosure and 4 WD 8TB Red 5400 rpm SATA III 3.5' Internal NAS HDD drives.
Reference speeds:
Megabyte (MB) or Megabyte per second (MBps, MB/s) — a unit used for file sizes and often in the end user software, including NetWorx, and
Megabit (Mb) or Megabit per second (Mbps, Mb/s) — a unit used for download speeds advertised by ISPs and reported by on-line tools.
10 MB/s (Bytes)= 80 Mb/s (bits)
Unless otherwise noted, these images were captured with my Canon EOS digital cameras or Meade Lunar/Planetary Imager and Meade 10' LX200 GPS UHTC 2500mm f/10 telescope from my light-polluted south Florida home. I used my own Astronomy Tools actions, AstroFlat Pro plug-in, and StarSpikes Pro 4 plug-in on these images.
Click here to learn more about the astophotography software I've written to process astroimages:
My Astrophotography Software
My Latest Astrophotos
| Two Days Past a Super Moon, September 10, 2014 A Super Moon is when the moon happens to reach Full stage at the same time it's closest to the Earth, and so it looks large in the sky. This image was taken almost 2 days past the Full phase, and you can see the edge starting to fall in shadow at the upper-right. This image is a mosaic of 18 separate and overlapping 10 megapixel images from my Canon EOS-40D digital SLR set to M (manual) mode, captured as raw .CR2 files and converted and stitched together in Photoshop CC 2014.2. I mounted my dSLR to my Meade LX200 GPS UHTC 10' Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope via my 2x Televue Powermate - a focal length doubler, similar to a teleconverter, which also serves to mate the camera to the 2' telescope eyepiece tube. Effective focal length in this configuration is 5000mm f/20. Using Live View mode on the camera to frame the images, I swept across the surface in a zig-zag fashion, trying for about 1/3 to 1/2 overlap between frames. I triggered the shutter 8 times manually at each position with my TC80-N3 remote timer/controller, allowing the telescope to settle (stop vibrating) between shots. After I chose the sharpest image from each set, Photoshop CC's Photomerge feature made quick work of the stitching. Since it was taken at the camera's most noise-free setting (ISO 100), the data is highly accurate, and thus I was able to strongly increase the color saturation via Photoshop's Image - Adjust - Hue/Saturation function. Thus the colors are real, indicating different mineral compositions of the lunar surface. |
Previous Astrophotos
| The Moon in Hypersaturated Color Stacked from 15 exposures of 1/5 second at ISO 100 This image is a mosaic of 15 separate and slightly overlapping 8.2 megapixel images from my Canon EOS-20D (unmodified), taken in Raw mode and converted and stitched together in Photoshop CS2. The exposures were each 1/5 second at ISO 100. I mounted my 20D to my Meade LX200 GPS UHTC 10' Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope via my 2x Televue Powermate. Effective focal length was 5000mm f/20. Looking through the viewfinder I swept across the surface in a zig-zag fashion, trying for about 1/3 overlap between frames. Mods for fortnite pc download. I triggered the shutter with my TC80-N3 remote timer/controller. I did the stitching by hand in Photoshop. Since it was taken at the camera's most noise-free setting (ISO 100), the data is very accurate, and thus I was able to strongly increase the color saturation via Photoshop's Image - Adjust - Hue/Saturation function. APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day), September 7, 2006: A high resolution 1600 x 1200 image with stars added, makes a great desktop background. |
| M45 - The Pleiades Cluster Stacked from every image I've taken of the Pleiades over a year and a half. I digitally combined all long and short, high and low focal length images I've ever taken of the seven sisters and came up with a result better than that from any individual set of images. |
| M57 - The Ring Nebula Stacked from every image I've taken of the Ring Nebula over a year and a half. I digitally combined all long and short, high and low focal length images I've ever taken of M57 and came up with a result better than that from any individual set of images. |
| Polaris - the north star. Stacked from 16 exposures of 30 seconds at ISO 200 plus 14 exposures of 30 seconds at 1600 with 0.63x focal length reducer / field flattener and IDAS light pollution filter on my LX200 telescope. Shot in Raw mode and converted in Adobe Photoshop using -20% color saturation so as not to clip the black point. |
| M68 - Globular Cluster. Stacked from 34 exposures of 15 seconds at ISO 1600 with 0.63x focal length reducer / field flattener on my LX200 telescope. |
| M13 - Globular Cluster. Stacked from 30 exposures of 30 seconds at ISO 1600 at prime focus of my LX200 telescope. M13, also called the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules, is one of the best known globulars of the Northern hemisphere. This image isn't deep enough to show nearly all of the several hundred thousand stars in M13. |
| M43 Nebula. Stacked from 132 exposures of 20 seconds at ISO 1600 at prime focus of my LX200 telescope. M43 is the roundish nebula with the star in the center. Part of the M42, the Great Orion Nebula, also shows at the lower-right of the image. |
| M104 - The Sombrero Galaxy. Stacked from 30 exposures of 30 seconds at ISO 1600, some at prime focus and some using my 0.63x focal length reducer. Photographed at my dark site near Lake Okeechobee in Florida. |
| The Coma Bernices star cluster. Wide starfield shot stacked from 7 exposures of 2 minutes at ISO 3200, using my 100-400 zoom lens at 200mm piggybacked atop my LX200 telescope. Photographed at my dark site near Lake Okeechobee in Florida. |
| The Rosette Nebula. Stacked from 29 exposures of 2 minutes at ISO 3200, using my 100-400 zoom lens at 400mm piggybacked atop my LX200 telescope. Photographed at my dark site near Lake Okeechobee in Florida. Unfortunately, the deep red color of Hydrogen Alpha emission in this nebula is all but blocked by the unmodified Canon 20D's internal filters. |
| Wide field shot of NGC4559, NGC4565, NGC4494 in the Coma Berenices constellation. Stacked from 7 exposures of 2 minutes at ISO 3200, using my 100-400 zoom lens at 300mm piggybacked atop my LX200 telescope. Photographed at my dark site near Lake Okeechobee in Florida. Several galaxies and a globular cluster are visible. NGC4565 is an edge-on galaxy sometimes called 'The Needle Galaxy'. |
| Very wide shot of the Corvus constellation. Stacked from 3 exposures of 2 minutes at ISO 3200, using my 100-400 zoom lens at 100mm piggybacked atop my LX200 telescope. Photographed at my dark site near Lake Okeechobee in Florida. |
| The bright star Aldebaran and the Hyades open cluster. A wide starfield image, stacked from 11 exposures of 10 seconds at ISO 1600 using my 100-400 zoom lens at 200mm piggybacked atop my LX200 telescope. The Hyades cluster is very close to Earth and thus the stars are quite widely dispersed. |
| Wide starfield shot in Auriga, showing M36, M38, NGC1907. Stacked from 9 exposures of 10 seconds at ISO 800 using my 100-400 zoom lens piggybacked atop my LX200 telescope. |
| The Big Dipper asterism, part of the Ursa Major ('Great Bear') constellation in the northern sky. I shot this image by mounting my camera with 17-40 zoom lens at 31mm atop my telescope and using the mount to track the stars. As long as I keep the exposures fairly short, circular trailing is kept to a minimum even though I'm using the telescope in altitude-azimuth configuration for ease of setup. If you look carefully in the high resolution image, there are quite a few tiny deep sky objects (galaxies and nebulae) visible. |
| Orion the hunter. One of the most recognizable constellations in the winter sky. Another wide angle high resolution shot through my 17-40 zoom lens, which is proving to be a great performer for astrophotography. |
| Messier Objects 82 and 81 Wide Field. I shot this image by mounting my 20D with Canon 100-400 zoom lens at 300mm piggybacked on top of my telescope. If you look carefully in the high resolution image, there are a few galaxies besides M82 and M81 visible. |
| The Double Cluster, NGC 869 and NGC 884. Canon EOS-20D and Canon 100-400 zoom lens at 300mm, piggybacked on top of my telescope. |
| A high magnification image of the planet Saturn and five of its satellites. The upper atmosphere was moving around early on, but by about 10 PM it had really settled down. It was great looking at the moon and planets with super-high magnification through still air. About the time Saturn's Encke division showed in the eyepiece I figured I'd better break out the LPI and do some imaging. The optics in my LX200 continue to amaze me. There's some odd 3 point flaring when the scope is warm, but man when it cools down (to 65 degrees F in the case of last night) there just don't seem to be any limits! I was quite comfortable looking at Saturn with my 2x Powermate and 9mm Nagler.. What's that, 556x? Amazing! Right at diffraction limits. |
| NGC 2392, the 'Eskimo Nebula' or sometimes known as the 'Clown Nebula', a 'planetary' type nebula so named because it is round and about the size of a planet. It's really the outer shell of a star not unlike our sun that's been blown off at the end of the star's life. Not long ago I decided I'd try to concentrate on photographing small, bright objects, insofar as I have a lot of light pollution here at my home, and I have a long focal length scope (10' LX200 GPS UHTC, 2500mm f/10) with great tracking. Thus, the 'Eskimo Nebula' seemed a good fit. I did some exposures of this object about a year prior, before I had a Powermate and knew much about processing. I decided I needed to do it better. This is stacked from 60 Canon 20D JPEG images at 15 seconds, ISO 1600 plus 55 Raw images at 20 seconds, ISO 3200 through my 2x Powermate, which made the telescope 5000mm f/20. Note that this is unguided in alt-az configuration. I took one dark frame to calibrate all images, and it greatly reduced hot pixels in both sets of shots. |
| M45 - The Pleiades, Wide Field. My second attempt at this cluster with my 20D and 100-400 zoom lens piggybacked on my telescope, this time from a site with darker skies. I was able to sustain 2 minute exposures at ISO 3200. The only thing keeping me from going deeper and getting a cleaner shot was that clouds moved in before I had finished the exposure set. |
| A closeup of the Trapezium region of M42. Stack of 242 exposures at ISO 200, 400, 800, 1600, and 3200 and various exposure times. |
| The Belt of Orion, Wide Field. A stack of 23 ISO 3200 images taken at a dark site, piggybacked through Canon 28-135 zoom lens @ 135mm, f/5.6, 1 minute per subexposure. In this image you can see the flame nebula and horsehead nebula area near Alnitak, the leftmost belt star in Orion. |
| M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy Most folks don't realize how large the Andromeda Galaxy is. It requires a wide-field setup - in my case a camera lens on my dSLR, piggybacked on my telescope to track the stars. Visible also in this shot are M32 (the small blob left and a bit up from the main galaxy's center), and M110 (the blob to the lower-right). Canon EOS 20D at ISO 1600 through Canon 100-400 zoom lens @ 300mm, f/5.6. 92 x 30 second subs stacked in Images Plus, and processed in Photoshop |
| The Sword of Orion I piggybacked my Canon 20D and 100-400 zoom lens on top of my LX200 and got this wide field shot. This is NGC1977 (the Running Man nebula), M43 (the little mostly round nebula), and M42 (the Great Orion Nebula), all making up the sword of Orion. Canon EOS 20D at ISO 1600 through Canon 100-400 zoom lens @ 300mm, f/5.6. 22 x 30 second subs stacked in Images Plus, and processed in Photoshop |
| Saturn 161 of the best frames of Saturn chosen by Meade Autostar software, taken with Meade LPI (Lunar/Planetary Imager) through Powermate 2x on Meade 10' LX200 GPS UHTC, stacked in Registax, upsampled in Photoshop, Adaptive Richardson-Lucy sharpening in Images Plus, color balance in Photoshop, final sharpening with my dSLR Fractal Sharpen actions. Moments of reasonably good seeing that night. |
| M45 - The Pleiades Piggyback my 100-400 lens on my LX200 - check! Tighten zoom ring so no slippage - check! Find best focus (not at infinity mark) - check! Determine max exposure time at 300mm f/5.6 - 30 sec ISO 1600, limited by LP. Took a bunch of exposures for half an hour before the battery died. The LX200 unguided alt-az tracking was great, at 300mm I was able to use EVERY SINGLE exposure in the stack; all had pinpoint stars and no trace of rotation. Woohoo! Problem is I could *BARELY* coax any nebulosity out of the resultant image. I got more out of two exposures during the power outage after the hurricane. I really need to get to a dark sky site for this one. |
| Mars When I got my LX200 almost a year ago, included in the package was the Meade Lunar Planetary Imager (LPI). I tried it out exactly once, but because I was having USB connector problems on my laptop I put it away and never tried it again. Until Now. Meade 10' LX200 with Televue Powermate 2x, Meade LPI, 41 frames chosen by the Meade Autostar software, stacked in Registax with wavelet enhancement, Adaptive Richardson-Lucy sharpening in Images Plus, final processing in Photoshop |
| Moon-Mars Conjunction, November 14, 2005. Single ISO 100 image taken handheld through Canon 100-400 zoom lens @ 380mm, f/5.6, 1/125 second. |
| Mars on November 8, 2005, just past opposition. Eyepiece projection for high magnification, stacked from 5 particularly sharp ISO 200 dSLR images out of a set of 45 exposures at 1/3 second each. Kind of like a webcam, but with far fewer frames. |
| NGC 1977, the 'Running Man' nebula in the sword of Orion, just up from the big, bright M42/M43 complex. Taken through my Meade f/6.3 focal length reducer, stacked from 10 ISO 3200 exposures of 30 seconds each. |
| APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day), November 18, 2005. The answer to life, the universe, and everything.. Douglas Adams was off by 5! NGC 2169, The '37' Cluster. 26 x 30 second ISO 3200 subs, with f/6.3 FL reducer. |
| Saturn, early in the morning of November 8th, 2005 (3:48 am EST to be exact). I captured 8 satellites, according to Cartes du Ciel, and a few stars too! With Televue 2x Powermate. This was a combination of 3 exposures, 0.4 sec at ISO 100, 10 sec at ISO 400, and 30 sec at ISO 3200. I overlaid the three exposures in Photoshop, then erased through the overexposed parts to combine the data and show much more dynamic range than the camera is capable of in any one exposure. Click here to see a medium resolution image. |
| Messier 42, the 'Great Orion Nebula', and Messier 43. A combination of a stack of 11 x 5 second ISO 3200 shots for the bright Trapezium area, and a stack of 19 x 30 second ISO 3200 shots for the rest. |
| The Moon and Venus, November 5, 2005. Shot at ISO 800 through my Canon 28-135 zoom lens @ 135mm, f/6.3, 3 seconds. The diffraction spikes are optical, from the aperture vanes. |
| A 60 degree wide-field shot showing Cassiopea, Andromeda, Pisces, Perseus, Triangulum, and Aries. The Andromeda galaxy, the Double Cluster, and several other DSOs are visible, as well as Mars in the lower-right. This was a single, non-tracking 30 second ISO 1600 shot with my Canon EOS-20D through my Canon 10-22 zoom @ 22mm. Taken on October 25, 2005, just after Hurricane Wilma blew out all the power and darkened the skies. Click here to see a medium resolution image. |
| An almost 90 degree ultra wide-field shot of the dark south Florida skies on October 25, 2005, just after Hurricane Wilma blew out all the power. We've never seen stars like this here before! Taken through my Canon 10-22 EF-S lens @ 10mm, 30 seconds, ISO 1600, f/3.5. Click here to see a medium resolution image. |
| NGC 869, one of the Double Cluster in Perseus. Just a very small image I prepared quickly for a photo contest. |
| Mars, on a background of stars. Combined from two stacks of exposures, one for the planet and one for the stars. |
| Albireo, a beautiful blue/yellow double star, taken as a test shot to determine the optical quality of a new TeleVue Powermate 2x lens I had purchased. This makes my Meade into a 5000mm f/20 scope. |
| The Moon. A 15 image ultra high resolution mosaic, stitched in Photoshop. Each sub-image was an ISO 100 shot through my Powermate 2x. |
| Messier 57, the Ring Nebula. Shot taken through Meade 0.63x focal length reducer / field flattener. |
| A combination of two exposure stacks, one for the planet and one for the background stars and moons. |
| M27 - The Dumbbell Nebula By coincidence, when I imaged this object there was a new star showing, which is highlighted with the two lines in the image. The forums were abuzz with talk about whether it was a supernova, a nova, or just a variable star. Most ended up agreeing it was a variable, but I didn't hear for sure, so I labeled it a nova in the image. 40 x 30 second ISO 3200 subs, Canon EOS-20D on Meade LX200 GPS UHTC 10', f/6.3 FL reducer, unguided, alt-az mount. Click here to see a medium resolution image. |
| Messier 37 - Open Cluster |
| Messier 36 - Open Cluster |
| Messier 35 - Open Cluster 3 x 30 second ISO 1600 subs at prime focus (2500mm f/10). |
| Several shots with different exposure parameters overlaid to capture both the Earthshine and sunlit portions. |
| A sequence of 7 images of the moon taken with my Canon EOS-20D and Canon 100-400 zoom lens. |
Click here to learn more about the astophotography software I've written to process astroimages:
My Astrophotography Software
Noel Carboni`s Astronomy Tools And Equipment
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