Earth Sky Stars

Ever wanted a thorough step-by-step guide to processing your astrophotographs in Adobe Photoshop, well Ron Wodaski just answered your prayers! Ron’s previous book, “The New CCD Astronomy”, has become a classic among astrophotographers and now he’s followed it up with “The New Astro Zone System for Astro Imaging”.

This book covers image processing after the calibration and combining phase that’s typically done in programs, such as, MaximDL. Ron covers bringing out fine, dim details, removing gradients, fixing bloated stars, and refining color balance. The book also comes with a DVD filled with excellent examples.

For more information check out Ron’s website at The New CCD Astronomy

Life at 6,350 feet can be very good, especially when a big high pressure system settles over the Ellensburg, WA area. It was time for the 2006 edition of the annual Table Mountain Star Party and my family and I were determined to get a good spot by arriving Monday afternoon (the event starts officially on Thursday). The spot we chose overlooked Ellensburg, WA, but was clear in all directions. The first night the temperature plummeted to 36 degrees with a stiff wind. Not ideal astrophotography conditions! Still I managed some wide-field sky shots and decided it was a good night to catch some Zs.

Tuesday dawned with crystal clear blue skies — an excellent day for a hike to Lion’s rock. The hike to Lion’s rock allowed ample opportunity for wild flower photography and conversation with other astronomers. Tuesday night was the first of 5 excellent nights for astronomy. With the wind gone it was non-stop astrophotography!

By Wednesday the Table Mountain site was rapidly filling up. The big dobsonian reflectors had begun to dot the main scope field. These beasts of the amateur astronomy world can have mirrors as large as 40 inches! By Thursday the speakers tent went into action. One of the strengths of TMSP is its ready access to the University of Washington. This year Dr. Brownlee of the NASA Stardust project was the UW highlight. Dr. Brownlee was like a proud father discussing his successful Stardust comet return mission. But the star speaker didn’t come until Saturday night, David Levy. David Levy, of comet Shoemaker-Levy fame, gave a great talk on the passion of his life, astronomy.

One of the great things about star parties is meeting new friends. Jim, Ed, Kerri and Mark, where just a few of those new friends. I hope to see them next year at TMSP!

One of the problems plaguing today’s amateur astronomer is light pollution. Sometimes a little travel is in order to solve this problem. In this post and in future ones I’ll try to identify dark sky sites in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. If you know of such a site feel free to leave a comment or send me an email.

Scooteney Reservoir is a nicely maintained BLM campground 17 miles southeast of Othello, WA on state route 17. The skies are very dark and the campground has minimal lighting. Better yet the horizons are very open (high desert has its advantages!) and camping is only $15 a night. The campsites are flat and grassy with little dust.

During the day there are ample opportunities for hiking, watersports, and fishing. Here’s a Google Maps link:

Google Maps Link to Scooteney

Just finished reading the Astronomy Hacks book from O’Reilly books. It’s part of the “Hacks” series of books from O’Reilly. Astronomy Hacks is basically compilation of tips and advice for astronomers. While there is a definite bias towards dobsonian reflectors, authors Robert and Barbara Thompson do a great job of showing how to get the most out of any piece of astronomy equipment. They also give a great list of open source software for astronomy. One of their suggestions, Cartes du Ciel, has become a favorite star charting program of mine.

Recommended!

The Oregon Star Party was a definite improvement over 2004! Three out of four nights had clear skies. If you haven’t been to this Star Party you’re really missing missing a real treat. Located in the Ochoco National Forest in central Oregon the skies are dark and clear. The site is much larger than the Table Mountain Star Party site allowing folks to spread out.

In addition to the dark skies, there is a great speaker list and this year was no exception. Don Macholz (of comet hunting fame) gave a great presentation on comet hunting. While Powerpoint presentations tend to be a drag, Don’s was a definite exception! It was hilarious as well as informative!

Astrophotography was also great! While the skies were clear the seeing was also great. One of the nice things about the OSP site is the calm skies caused by the relatively flat terrain on the plateau. It is easily one of the best sites for astrophotography in the Pacific Northwest.

While at the Table Mountain Star Party I purchased a Deep Sky Imager (DSI) Pro from Sean’s Astronomy shop. The goal was to use the DSI Pro as a guider for a Digital SLR (Hutech modified Canon 20d). After some initial teething problems the DSI performed its role beautifully. The DSI’s imagining is a bit noisy, but even with a 5 second exposure it can image faint stars (9th magnitude?). BTW, don’t use an USB 1.1 connection — it won’t work!

Attached to a Borg 60mm guidescope on my Stellarvue SV4 (4″ apo refractor) and Losmandy GM8 mount it has enabled 6 minute guided exposures! Definitely a great way to get astrophotos on a budget. Check out the main EarthSkyStars web site for astrophotos done with this setup.

I haven’t tried imaging with the DSI Pro yet, but I doubt it’ll compete well with my SBIG or my Canon 20d DSLR.

Attended the Table Mountain Star Party from 8/3/05 to 8/6/05 and had a very good time. The star party (a gathering of amateur astronomers, usually in a dark sky location) is one of the most popular in the Pacific Northwest and has an attendance of 700+ people. The first (Wednesday) and third (Friday) nights were the best nights with the third night the best imaging session I’ve had in a long time!

Wednesday and Thursday were both impaired by smoke from nearby forest fires. Even the fires had an upside though, the party attendees got to see classic World War II bombers doing fire-bombing duty!

The star party was once again blessed with a wealth of excellent speakers, with Stephen James O’Meara’s talk on visual observing the highlight for me. Among Steve’s noteworthy accomplishments was the first visual sighting of Halley’s comet on its return to the inner solar system. Steve was also one of the first astronomers to see the “spoke” structures in the rings of Saturn.

One of the problems with the TMSP are the vendor booths — at least it’s a problem for my wallet I bought several books, a Meade Deep Sky Imager (DSI) Pro camera, and lastly a 10″ dobsonian reflector! I was getting bored while the computer was doing astro-imaging so I needed a visual ’scope to keep me entertained

I attended the Imaging the Sky 2005 conference, Saturday, July 23. While it’s a small conference it’s rich in speakers. Richard Berry, The Handbook of Astronomical Image Processing, was the standout speaker was there to discuss the latest edition of his book and software. Later Richard did a comparison of imaging with CCD cameras and Digital SLR cameras.

David Sandage, making his first appearance at the conference, did an overview of the workflow process involved in CCD imaging. It was very interesting to see the process detailed from beginning to end. I’d like to see David give the same talk at some of the local star parties.

The last talk of the day was presented by Doug George, of Diffraction Limited, on Maxim DL. Maxim is one of the premier astro-imaging programs, but is a large, complex application. Having Doug available to demonstrate Maxim’s features was great!

Just bought a Televue 24mm - 8mm clickstop eyepiece while at the Mt. Bachelor Star Party. While it’s really a Vixen eyepiece (Orion sells the same eyepiece without the clicks) it’s still very convenient. Very nice to stuff one eyepiece in your pocket instead of carrying a Pelican case out to the dark sky sites!

A bit soft at the edges and doesn’t have a super large field of view, but as a zoom it works great.

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