SBIG Image Sharing: Kevin Marcus and a “Quick Snap” of the Horsehead in Hydrogen Alpha
SBIG is happy to share images that have interesting stories behind them, because many times how an astrophotographer captured the image in question is as interesting as (dare we say “more interesting than?”) the image itself.
In this case, we see a nice combination of image and story, notably with the short imaging time Kevin reports. (See details below image.)
See and judge for yourself. We hope you share your thoughts here in the comments section! Kevin and we look forward to seeing what you have to say.
ic434-driz. Image by Kevin Marcus. Used with permission.
Adding Rogelio Andreo to our Website Hall of Fame
2011 SBIG Hall of Fame Member Rogelio Andreo
We have been remiss in posting the news that Rogelio Andreo now has his own page within our Hall of Fame on the SBIG website.
Please visit it to see all the amazing accolades Rogelio has received for his work in astrophotography.
And in case you missed it, one of his images appears in the 2011 Astronomer of the Year competition run by the UK’s Royal Observatory at Greenwich, although not as the top winner. Scroll down the page to find Rogelio’s image of Orion, and his description of the project.
The BBC made a video slide show of the winning entries, with a narrative by the judges that is worth viewing. You will have to be attentive to see Rogelio’s image as it goes by. Click to open the “Captions” text boxes in the lower right corner of the presentation.
To view Rogelio’s own image catalogue, visit his Deep Sky Colors site.
Andreo prefers taking his equipment on the road to a fixed observatory. This image is from his own site.
Australia Hogs Transits and Eclipses in 2012
Will you capture an image like this in June?
For those that chase solar eclipses or want to catch a great view of the Venus Transit, you will have to head to Eastern and Northern Australia this year:
- A full view of the Venus Transit will occur June 5-6 in Eastern Asia and Eastern Australia (and various islands states in the Pacific.) The rest of us get partial views or none at all (don’t head to the Atacama, for instance!)
- A total solar eclipse will pass over Northern Australia November 3. This makes three years in a row that the Pacific region got to view solar eclipses. (And in 2013 it will happens again!)
Those in other parts of the world who like to view and images these events will have to settle for annular solar eclipses and lunar eclipses.
For details, check into articles on Sky & Telescope, which will direct you on to further resources:
SBIG Image Sharing: Supernova 2011dh in the Whirlpool Galaxy by Rod Pommier
SBIG is pleased to share this set of images submitted by Rod Pommier of Portland, OR, USA. It is a before-and-after shot of Supernova 2011dh. It also comes with a nice background story about how other members of the astronomical community found and used Rod’s images to complement their own work in imaging the event with radio wavelengths.
Image by Rodney F. Pommier. Used by permission.
Image subject: M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy, and NGC 5195, before and after supernova SN 2011dh
Equipment used: STL 11000M, Baader Planetarium LRGB filters. Celestron Compustar C14 Telescope/Mount. with 0.75x focal reducer (f/8).
Location and date: Pommier Observatory, Portland, OR, USA; 2011-05-08/09 (left) and 2011-06-15 (right).
Method:
Left image: LRGB exposures=184:70:70:70 minutes=7 hours:04 minutes total exposure.
Right image: Same, supplemented with LRGB=44:44:44:40 minutes=2 hours:52 minutes additional exposure, for grand total exposure of 9 hours:56 minutes.
Software used: MaxImDL, Photoshop
Comments: This image has a great background story! I was recently contacted by a group of professional European Radio Astronomers who had just imaged the supernova at radio wavelengths. To do this, they connected a network of radio telescopes in Spain, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden and Finland using the very long baseline interferometry technique. In so doing, they made a radio telescope roughly the size of Europe that permitted them to image the supernova with unprecedented resolution, down to a fraction of a light-year. They said the equivalent would be to image a golf ball on the lunar surface. They were going to show their image in multiple European press releases. However, it is very difficult for the public to interpret what they are seeing in radio astronomy images, so they wanted to display their image alongside a visible light image of the galaxy and supernova for reference. They searched the internet thoroughly and they liked this image, taken with the STL 11000M, the best. They asked permission to use it in their press releases provided they credited me. I was happy that my amateur image was able to help this group of professional astronomers. Here are some links to a couple of the press releases:
For Spain (in Spanish):
http://www.iaa.es/sites/default/files/SN2011dh.pdf
For The Netherlands (In English. Click on the embedded images to enlarge them):
http://www.astron.nl/about-astron/press-public/news/youngest-supernova-imaged-just-after-explosion/youngest-supernova-ima
We hope you enjoyed this image set from Rod Pommier and the story that goes with it. If you wish to share your own images on SBIG’s blog, please click here for instructions. Of course, you are free to share your work on our Facebook community page as well!
Alan Holmes Reports on the Congreso Austral de Astrofotografia
This sculpture at the Observatorio Astronomico Andino points at the south celestial pole.
SBIG’s own Alan Holmes traveled to Santiago, Chile last November for the Congreso Austral de Astrofotografia. The event was organized by Daniel Verschatse, Alejandro Nunez, Guillermo Yanez and Diego Cartes. The conference took place at the European Southern Observatory (ESO), with a companion star party located at the beautiful facilities of the Observatorio Astronomico Andino.
To read Alan’s full travelogue and view the photographs he took to chronicle the adventure, click here.
SBIG Image Sharing: NGC 7822 by Franck Jobard
We are pleased to share this image of NGC 7822, submitted by Franck Jobard of Montpelier, France. He is a master of the difficult art of urban sky viewing and imaging. Find his philosophy here, and click through to browse his other images.
Image by Franck Jobard. Used with permission
Image subject : NGC 7822
Equipment used: ST10XME, FS60 f4.2 with focal reducer, G11 Gemini Level IV
Location and date : Montpellier (France) on 15th September 2009
Method : Ha (8*15min), SII (7*15min) and OIII (12*15min) narrowband filters
Comments: I have a homemade observatory in the center of town, and so is light-polluted. This is my challenge!
Our thanks to Franck for sharing his work. If you wish to share an image with SBIG, click here for our blog submission guidelines.
SBIG Image Sharing: A is for Andromeda by Lefteris Velissaratos
We are pleased to share another image submitted by Lefteris Velissaratos of Greece. So far, he is our most consistent participant in our blog image sharing initiative! We encourage all SBIG camera users to share images they love (and the stories behind them) in this blog space. Here are the instructions.
This image is of Andromeda Galaxy. The details of its creation are below.
Andromeda Galaxy ©2011 Lefteris Velissaratos - Used with permission
- Title: A for Andromeda
- Location: The dark skies of Strethi mountain Korinthia Greece
- Camera: STL11000M -20C°
- FSQ106EDX f5
- Total exp. 9.5 hours
- Ha-LRGB filters
- Dates: 29-31 of August, 2011
- Acquisition: CCDSoft
- Processing: PixInsight
If you are an SBIG camera user who would like to submit an image for us to share on this blog, click here for instructions.
SBIG Image Sharing: Barnard 3 in Perseus by Chris Cook
Here is the next image in our image-sharing campaign. This image of Barnard 3 was submitted by Chris Cook (www.cookphoto.com)
©2011 Chris Cook - Used with permission
Title: Barnard 3, LBN 601, LBN 758, LDN 1470
Type: Dark, Reflection & Emission Nebula
Constellation: Perseus
Location: Cape Cod Imaging Station – Harwich, Massachusetts
Date: October 21, 22, 26 & November 1, 2011
Exposure: LRGB = 300:130:120:120 minutes
Processing: MaxIm DL & Adobe Photoshop CS3
Telescope: Astro-Physics 130mm f6.3 Starfire EDF GT @ f5.2
Mount: Losmandy G11
Guiding: SBIG ST-4 via a Mini-Borg 60 refractor
Camera: SBIG ST-8300M w/FW5-8300 filter wheel
Camera Temp: -20°C
Filters: Astrodon Tru-Balance Gen 2 LRGB
Would you like to share your favorite images here on the SBIG blog? Click here for instructions. If we post your image, we will send you an SBIG tee-shirt as a thank-you for your submission!
SBIG Image Sharing: A Mosaic of the Iris Region by Lefteris Velissaratos
We are pleased to present the first of a series of images submitted for sharing on our website blog by SBIG customers. This first submission is from Lefteris Velissaratos.
♦♦♦ The image is “Picture of the month” in November 2011′s AstronomyNow magazine.
Iris Region - Two-Panel Mosaic ©2011 Lefteris Velissaratos - Used with permission
This is a 2-panel mosaic of a relief, part of the king. Is Iris a cosmic jewel floating in space? No, is just the brightest part of something bigger, the titanic faint elegant structures remains to reveal all their hidden magnificent colorful nature. In that case Iris is not the theme any more. The whole picture is!
- Title: Iris region, Two-panel mosaic
- Location: The dark skies above Strethi Mountain, Korinthia, Greece
- Date: August 26-27, 2011
- Camera: STL11000M -20°C
- FSQ106EDX f5
- Total exp. 12 Hours, LRGB filters
- Acquisition: CCDSoft – Processing: PixInsight
SBIG Introduces the New STF-8300
SBIG is excited to add the STF-8300 to its roster of innovative CCD cameras. The new Model STF-8300 is SBIG’s second-generation camera using the popular KAF-8300 CCD. What is new? Here are a few noteworthy items:
- The STF-8300 has new, faster, electronics with 10-megapixel/second digitization rate and a full frame image buffer. A highres image will download in less than one second.
- The camera uses SBIG’s traditional even-illumination (photometric) shutter design and adds a user rechargeable desiccant plug similar to the proven ST, STL, and STX designs.
- Integrated 5-position and 8-position filter wheels are available as well as a new integrated, low profile, wide field off-axis guiding accessory that, with the ST-i, turns the STF-8300 into a self-guiding camera.
The STF-8300 also comes in a range of bundled product packages. Find them here.
For good measure, here is a sneak peek at the ad that will start running next month to promote our new camera. Click here to see it full-sized.
