Captured with a PST and DMK21 and PowerMate2.5x combo.
M7 Flare Animation
Solar HA
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Apr 192014
Solar Compilation for February 2014
Solar HA
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Feb 282014
AWACS Crossing H-Alpha Sun
Solar HA
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Feb 272014
The watchers are watched.
Canon 1100D and Nexstar 4SE First Light
CHDK AstroKam
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Jan 012014
Just tried out my new 1100D at prime focus thru my 4SE’s optical port in alt-az mode. I captured 90 frames (each 20s x ISO6400) using Canon EOS Utilities and then used AstroKam to filter them down to 56 good frames. DeepSkyStacker did its stacking magic and then Star Tools brought out the detail and colors.
Click on the image to see the original or click this link to see a zoomable version.
Update: I actually captured in 3 batches to give a total of 114 good light frames. Below is the new result and it looks like the extra frames give more detail in the fainter regions.
Again, here is a zoomable version.
Orion M42 with Canon A810 at 2x Zoom
CHDK AstroKam
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Dec 112013
This was taken with my Canon A810 looking thru my Nexstar 4SE in alt-az mode. Stacked in DeepSkyStacker and processed in Star Tools then Gimp.
M42 in Orion – Click for full size image
Dec 062013
We recently got a request to help a user align a series of full disk Sun images while keeping the Sun’s position static. The normal method of aligning on a surface feature would result in the disk moving sideways as the Sun rotated. We came up with the idea of using the entire Sun as the alignment target and it worked like a charm. You can see how this works in the screenshot below. This is really stretching DVS so you need to give it time to work thru each frame.
The second tip was suggested by the user who came up with the idea of having 2 sets of processed images for hard-to-align image sequences. The first set has the contrast or sharpness or gamma cranked up so that DVS can easily lock onto the alignment targets and perform an alignment pass. The second set is processed normally to give the desired images for the final animation. The trick is now to load the second set of images and load the first set’s alignment results using the Data button. This will align the frames and you can now export your animation.
Big thanks to Matthias Mass for these suggestions.
AstroKam M42
CHDK AstroKam
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Dec 052013
Here is my latest AstroKam shot of M42 in Orion taken with my £50 Canon A810 mounted on my Nexstar 4SE in alt-az mode. AstroKam automatically slewed to M42 during an all-night survey and spent 60 minutes shooting lights, darks and offsets. The best 43 lights were selected using AstroKam’s Sort module and stacked in DeepSkyStacker and processed in the beta version of Star Tools.
M42
Canon 1100D First Alt-Az Light
CHDK AstroKam
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Dec 012013
UPDATE: Ivo of Star Tools showed me how to process my FITS files and here is his take on my M42 below. He used Star Tools’s Repair module to turn my arrowhead stars into points – not bad for an alt-az mount.
M42 rework by Ivo of Star Tools
I just tried out my new 1100D with a Canon 75-300 zoom on some deep sky objects. The camera was mounted on a Nexstar 4SE mount in alt-az mode aligned using 1 star with no guiding. My location is in a heavily light polluted city. Capture was by the Canon EOS utility program which captured around 30 shots at 30 seconds and 1600 ISO for each object. Stacking was done in DeepSkyStacker and post processing in Star Tools.
Still getting the hang of the software but I am pretty pleased with my first efforts at deep sky. I am still trying to figure why the stars are little triangles – vibration or lens distortion? Click on any image to view the original frame.
M42
- M81 and M82
- M45
AstroKam v4 Released
CHDK AstroKam
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Nov 222013
AstroKam v4 is now available from the link at right. The main change is that you can now edit your automatic capture plans in-programme before you capture.
The Image Sort module can also now handle Canon .CR2 and .CRW raw files.
AstroKam M37
CHDK AstroKam
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Nov 162013
Another shot of M37 taken with a Canon A810 and Nexstar 4SE (alt-az). Stacked in DeepSkyStacker and processed in Star Tools.
