Year Ending Images

2013 was a great year for imaging at Little Piney Observatory. We learned a lot, and also had some failures. Most of the failures occurred on the hot Summer nights. Having just started serious imaging in November of 2012, it was our first experience with a hot camera sensor. Let me just say that it was then that I started saving up for a nice CCD camera with cooling capabilities.

Not knowing much at all about CCD astronomy cameras at the time,  I only knew that I wanted one that was capable of keeping the sensor cool. The images with my modified Canon T3 (1100D) seemed to be ok with a sensor temp up to about 27 degrees C. The difference between 27*C and 32*C was enormous.

I have since decided to purchase the SBIG STF-8300M monochrome camera which should greatly improve my images, especially during the Summer months. It is capable of cooling the CCD sensor to -40 degrees C from ambient temp with set point cooling which makes matching dark frames much easier. I hope to have my new camera along with the Starlight Xpress USB powered 7 position 36mm filter wheel by early next month. I plan to start out with an Astrodon 5nm hydrogen alpha filter and gradually fill the filter wheel with Astrodon Tru-Balance E-series LRGB colored filters and the Astrodon 3nm OIII and SII narrowband filters. I am really looking forward to my journey into monochrome CCD imaging.

The forecast for the remainder of the current dark window looks pretty bad so the recent images I was able to get could very well be my final astro images with my DSLR camera. Gary Honis modified my Canon back in March with the Baader UV/IR filter and it has served me well for all but the hot summer nights. I was thankful for the opportunity to get out to the observatory for a few evenings and capture these new images. Most are HII regions, which I'm sure will make me appreciate the new camera and h-alpha filter even more once I have them up and running in the observatory and re-visit these targets.

The Monkey Head nebula (NGC 2174), 33X300 seconds (2.8 hrs)

The Soul nebula (IC 1848), 31X300 seconds (2.6 hrs)

The Rosette nebula (NGC 2246), 36X300 seconds (3 hrs)

The Flaming Star nebula (IC 405), 43X300 seconds (3.6 hrs)

The Tadpoles (IC 410), 47X300 seconds (3.9 hrs)

The Seagull nebula (IC 2177), 23X300 seconds (1.9 hrs)

The Witch Head nebula (IC 2118), 41X300 seconds (3.4 hrs)

I was able to get these from the nights of Dec 27th through Dec 31th. They were all shot with the Levenhuk 80mm triplet using the Astro Tech 0.8X reducer/flattener. The Canon DSLR was set at ISO 800 and Auto White Balance was used on all the HII nebula, Custom White Balance (White Paper) was used on the reflection nebula (Witch Head). Please see my Astrobin gallery for the full resolution pictures. http://www.astrobin.com/users/rflinn68/

It was a good ending to a very good year. I hope 2014 is every bit as rewarding as my first year in this wonderful hobby has been.