Homepage
  Skybadger Background For Sale Leyenda website Home
Homepage

 

Deepsky Imaging at SkyBadger.

Equipment

  1. Starlight Express HX916 cooled CCD camera

    I use the ccd camera at the (prime focus ) focal plane of the VC200L with and without the focal reducer. The image plane size per pixel corresponds to
    Plate Scale = ( 206265/focal length mm ) arc seconds per mm in the focal plane.
    This further breaks down to
    Pixel scale (arc secs per pixel ) = Plate Scale * pixel size ( mm )
    So the relevant image scales are ( assuming 7.6 μm pixels ):

    Telescope Focal ratio Focal length (mm) Plate Scale( "/mm) pixel scale ("/pixel)
    VC200L 9 1800 114.591 0.64171
    VC200L with compressor 6.4 1152 179.0 1.002
    ED80 6.5 600 343.78 2.3
    ED80 with Vixen compressor 4.6 460 448 3.0

    jump to the pictures

Stephans Quintet 15 Aug 05

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 ,dark, bias and sky flats. PEC on, no guiding.

Stephans Quintet 15 Aug Jul 2005, 22:33 GMT : average of 4 x 60 secs f/6.3 unbinned and later reduced for display. Processing consists of mild DDL &Amp; histo stretch in Maxim. Galaxy Cluster in Pegasus.

NGC6888 10 Aug 05

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 ,dark, bias and sky flats. PEC on, no guiding.

NGC 6888 18 Jul 2005, 23:01 GMT : median of 5 x 60 secs f/6.3 unbinned and later reduced for display. Processing consists of mild DDL &Amp; histo stretch in Maxim.

ngc536 10 Aug 05

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 ,dark, bias and sky flats. PEC on, no guiding.

NGC 536 18 Jul 2005, 00:40 GMT : median of 5 x 60 secs f/6.3 unbinned and later reduced for display. Processing consists of mild DDL &Amp; histo stretch in Maxim. Galaxy Cluster in Pegasus.

NGC 404 10 Aug 05

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 ,dark, bias and sky flats. PEC on, no guiding.

NGC 404 18 Jul 2005, 00:40 GMT : median of 5 x 60 secs f/6.3 unbinned and later reduced for display. Processing consists of mild DDL &Amp; histo stretch in Maxim

M29 10 Aug 05

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 ,dark, bias and sky flats. PEC on, no guiding.

Messier 29 10 Aug 2005, 22:15 GMT : median of 6 x 60 secs f/6.3 unbinned and later reduced for display. Processing consists of mild DDL &Amp; histo stretch in Maxim

M17 17 July 05

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 ,dark, bias and sky flats. PEC on, no guiding.

Messier 17 17 Jul 2005, 23:58 GMT : median of 3 x 60 secs f/6.3 unbinned and later reduced for display. Processing consists of mild DDL &Amp; histo stretch in Maxim

M13 17 July 05

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 ,dark, bias and sky flats. PEC on, no guiding.

Messier 13 17 Jul 2005, 23:24 GMT : average of 4 x 60 secs f/6.3 unbinned and later reduced for display. Processing consists of mild DDL &Amp; histo stretch in Maxim

M11 July 05

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 ,dark, bias and sky flats. PEC on, no guiding.

Messier 11 17 Jul 2005, 23:48 GMT : average of 2 x 60 secs f/6.3 unbinned and later reduced for display. Processing consists of mild DDL &Amp; histo stretch in Maxim

Pelican July 05

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 ,dark, bias and sky flats. PEC on, no guiding.

Pelican Nebula - first attempt at Maxim 2x2 Mosaic 12 Jul 2005, 00:58 GMT : average of 5 x 60 secs f/6.3 unbinned and later reduced for display. Processing consists of mild DDL &Amp; histo stretch in Maxim

NGC 6940 July 12 05

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 ,dark, bias and sky flats. PEC on, no guiding.

NGC 6940 12 Jul 2005, 23:47 GMT : average of 5 x 60 secs f/6.3 unbinned and later reduced for display. Processing consists of mild DDL &Amp; histo stretch in Maxim

M71 July 05

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 ,dark, bias and sky flats. PEC on, no guiding.

Messier 71 12 Jul 2005, 23:06 GMT : average of 5 x 60 secs f/6.3 unbinned and later reduced for display. Processing consists of mild DDL &Amp; histo stretch in Maxim

M15 July 05

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 ,dark, bias and sky flats. PEC on, no guiding.

Messier 15 12 Jul 2005, 00:58 GMT : average of 5 x 60 secs f/6.3 unbinned and later reduced for display. Processing consists of mild DDL &Amp; histo stretch in Maxim

M27 July 05

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 ,dark, bias and sky flats. PEC on, no guiding.

Messier 27 12 Jul 2005, 00:58 GMT : average of 5 x 60 secs f/6.3 unbinned and later reduced for display. Processing consists of mild DDL &Amp; histo stretch in Maxim

Comet P/Tempel

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 no flats, averaged darks+bias. PEC on, no guiding.

Comet P/Tempel 12 May 2005, 23:37:52 BST : average of 10 x 60 secs f/6.3 unbinned and later reduced for display. Processing consists of mild DDL &Amp; histo stretch in Maxim

NGC3268

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 no flats, averaged darks+bias. PEC on, no guiding.

NGC3268 12 May 2005, 23:16:13 BST : average of 10 x 60 secs f/6.3 unbinned and later reduced for display. Processing consists of mild DDL &Amp; histo stretch in Maxim

M66

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 no flats, averaged darks+bias. PEC on, no guiding.

M66 12 May 2005, 22:44:18 BST : average of 10 x 60 secs f/6.3 unbinned and later reduced for display. Processing consists of mild DDL &Amp; histo stretch in Maxim

Comet P/Tempel

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 no flats, averaged darks+bias. PEC on, no guiding.

Comet P/Tempel 11 May 2005, 00:24:00 BST : average of 7 x 60 secs f/6.3 unbinned and later reduced for display. Processing consists of mild DDL &Amp; histo stretch in Maxim

M64

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 no flats, averaged darks+bias. PEC on, no guiding.

M64 11 May 2005, 01:11:26 BST : average of 7 x 60 secs f/6.3 unbinned and later reduced for display. Processing consists of mild DDL &Amp; histo strech in Maxim

Comet Tempel

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 no flats, averaged darks+bias. PEC on, no guiding.

Comet Tempel May 09 May 2005, 00:15:29 BST - average of 7 x 60 secs f/6.3 unbinned and later reduced for display. Processing consists of mild DDL & histo strech in Maxim

NGC 5053 unguided

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 no flats, averaged darks+bias. PEC on, no guiding.

NGC5053 May 08 2005 average of 5 x 60 secs f/6.3 unbinned and later reduced for display. Processing consists of mild DDL & histo strech in Maxim

M53 unguided

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 no flats, averaged darks+bias. PEC on, no guiding.

M53 May 08 2005 average of 4 x 60 secs f/6.3 unbinned and later reduced for display. Processing consists of mild DDL & histo strech in Maxim

M60 unguided

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 no flats, averaged darks+bias. PEC on, no guiding.

M60 May 07 2005 average of 5 x 60 secs f/6.3 unbinned and later reduced for display. Processing consists of mild DDL & histo stretch in Maxim

M59

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 no flats, darks & bias averaged from 5 frames. PEC on, no guiding.

M59 May 07 2005 60 secs f/6.3 unbinned and later reduced for display. Processing consists of mild DDL & histo strech in Maxim

M13

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 no flats, no darks. PEC off, no guiding.

M13 May 02 2005 60 secs f/6.3 unbinned and later reduced for display. Processing consists of mild DDL & histo strech in Maxim

M27

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 no flats, no darks. PEC on & GuideDog autoguider .

M27 Sept 08 2004 60 secs f/6.3

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 no flats, no darks. PEC on & GuideDog autoguider .

M56 Sept 03 2004 Median of 5 @ 60 secs f/6.3

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 no flats, no darks. PEC on & GuideDog autoguider .

M57 Sept 03 2004 Median of 7 @ 60 secs f/6.3

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 no flats, no darks. PEC on & GuideDog autoguider .

M32 Core Nov 04 2004 Median of 2 @ 60 secs f/6.3

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 no flats, no darks. PEC on & GuideDog autoguider .

Eskimo Nebula Jan 16 2004 Single image @ 60 secs f/6.3

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 no flats, no darks. PEC on & GuideDog autoguider .

Pleiades M45 Jan 16 2004 Median of 6 images @ 60 secs f/10

Vixen VC200L on GP-DX/SS2K using HX916 no flats, no darks. PEC on & GuideDog autoguider .

Orion Nebula M42 Jan 16 2004 Single image @ 120 secs f/10