Astronomical Society of Eastern Missouri

January 8, 2008

Comet Tuttle on Jan 3, 2008 with 12-inch Newt thru clouds with ~ 10 minute-of-arc tail

Filed under: Members Pages, Jim Melka's Pages, Comet Images — jtmelka @ 8:57 pm

Comments Off

December 27, 2007

Comet Holmes on Dec. 24, 2007 from Chesterfield, MO

Filed under: Members Pages, Jim Melka's Pages, Comet Images — jtmelka @ 12:14 pm

The FOV is 8 X 5.5 degrees. I am very happy with the flat field using a Canon 20d body with Tamron 2X teleconverter
and an 85mm f/1.8 lens. 90 45sec frames sigma combined with Images Plus 2.8. This time I locked the dec axis so I only needed to do an automatic translation alignment with IP. However, the deviation radius of the frames maxed out at 100.4 pixels!! I duct taped an 8x monocular to the mount to be a polar scope. It may need some adjusting. But I think I’m getting my money’s worth out of IP. Good seeing, Jim Melka

Comments (0)

December 12, 2007

Image of Comet Holmes on Nov 28, 2007 with 12-inch Newt

Filed under: Members Pages, Jim Melka's Pages, Comet Images — jtmelka @ 6:50 pm

Imaging comet Holmes with 12-inch Newt started on Nov 28, 2007 at 12:43am and ended at 01:13am CST. Sixty 30-sec RAW frames recorded at ISO 800 with 20d camera body at paracorr focus. Focussing and post processing with Images Plus 2.80. Also used GradXterminator and Neat image enhancement programs. Of note is the green tint of the comet’s coma and the FOV is 1 x 2/3 degrees. Clear skies. Jim Melka

Comments (0)

December 2, 2007

Comet Holmes on Nov. 29, 2007 from Chesterfield, MO

Filed under: Members Pages, Jim Melka's Pages, Comet Images — jtmelka @ 8:33 pm

Used Images Plus 2.80 to find best focus. Then used the Canon timer-counter-controller device to sequentially record ninety 45-sec frames with the Canon 20d set at ISO 800 with 85mm f/1.8lens coupled to Tamron 2X teleconverter resulting in an f/3.2 system. Field of view is 8 X 5.5 degrees. Mirfak is the bright mag. 1.78 star near the bottom right corner and 4th mag. Iota Persei is left of comet. Used IP 2.80 to register 88 usable frames by translation and rotation - I forgot to tighten the declination axis on the tracking Orion EQ1 GEM. Used GradXterminator S/W to remove amplifier noise on the right edge of the combined frame. Best regards, Jim Melka

Comments (0)

November 22, 2007

Comet Holmes on Nov. 20, 2007 - The Transparent Comet

Filed under: Members Pages, Jim Melka's Pages, Comet Images — jtmelka @ 9:25 pm

The field of view is estimated to be 0.75 by 0.50 degrees. The axis of the comet is pointed away from Earth and can be seen as a light shaft starting at the false nucleus lower left center and extending to the one-o’clock position. Magnitude 1.8 Mirfak is the bright star lower right. Sixty 30-sec frames were taken using a Canon 20d with a 50mm lens mounted afocally on 12" Newt. A 52mm 50-degree Antares erfle eyepiece was put in the paracorr lens mount. Calibrated frames with dark frame and flat frame using Images Plus 2.80. Used IP to measure and obtain the best focus and used digital development on the digitally combined Image frame. The frames were recorded with the Canon counter, timer, controller. Good seeing. Jim Melka

Comments (0)

— Next Page »

Astronomical Society of Eastern Missouri

January 8, 2008

Comet Tuttle on Jan 3, 2008 with 12-inch Newt thru clouds with ~ 10 minute-of-arc tail

December 27, 2007

Comet Holmes on Dec. 24, 2007 from Chesterfield, MO

December 12, 2007

Image of Comet Holmes on Nov 28, 2007 with 12-inch Newt

December 2, 2007

Comet Holmes on Nov. 29, 2007 from Chesterfield, MO

November 22, 2007

Comet Holmes on Nov. 20, 2007 - The Transparent Comet

Astronomical League

Related Sites

Weather Maps