Sunspot AR 2529

After deassembling the focusser on my Orion XT12 I could reduce the focus point for my Nikon D60. Before it was always necessary to install a barlow x2 to reduce the focus point. The picture below is thus the first picture taken without barlow x2. The picture was taken in RAW and edited using CS4 (curves & levels spectrum).

Credit SDO/HMI 

Meeting @Sterrenjutters - Lecture by Dierick Dominique

Yesterday, April 8th, I went to Koksijde, "De Sterrenjutters"  for a lecture from Dierick Dominique about the use of DSLR in astophotography.  About 25 people attend this meeting, mainly members from De Sterrenjutters.
From presenters experience the use of reflexcamera's is a very good alternative for CCD camera's except if you are a scientist.

Koksijde - Duinenhuis -Home of Sterrenjutters

Good examples were shown using DSLR Nikon D810a. Any other DSLR would fit for use when modified by taken the filter out sits in from of the CCD/CMOS chip.

In his opinion best results within a reasonable budget are realised using a modern guiding system (Skywatcher EQ5/6 Celesteron, 10micron, ..) and a refractor telescoop. He was not in favour of reflector telescoops type newton, ritchy c, matsukov, ..

Sun dog - Koksijde - Duinenhuis

If choosing refractors a good choice would be APO triplet refractors 80/100/120/150 with flateners.
Software for editing picture are also discussed ... Maxim, Nebulosity (not for Nikon), photoshop.

At last calibration of pictures are discussed : bias, darks, flat frames and how to stack pictures in photoshop.

Moon Jan 16, 2016 - 125frames

Using RegiStax6 stacking avi movie from moon on Jan 16th, 2016. Movie was shot with ASI224MC camera on Celestron D70/400. Total frames used 125 and picture was edited by CS4.

Double rainbow with Alexander's band

The weather today was very unpredictable... rain and sunshine and thus high chance to observe rainbows. Around 5pm we could observe a double rainbow which was very bright and also I could see the dark band, Alexander's band.

Update Usefull Links

Interesting to find more information on the Web? All software and websites I'm using I captured and updated recently on my existing webpage Usefull Links. Have fun!

Use of RegiStax6 Jupiter

In stead of using Autostakkert! I did use RegiStax6 to stack my .avi movies from Jupiter. The movies were taken using the ASI224MC camera on my dobson Orion XT12" last friday, March 25th.
The picture below is the result of 94 frames stacked and the imaged was saved under tiff and edited further using CS4. The final result is saved under jpg format.

Besides the four galilean moons - Io, Europa, Callisto and Ganymede you can alse recognize the "clouds" on Jupiter's "surface". The equatorial zone in the middle and north and south of this the temperate belts and tropical zones.

The moon on Jan 17th, 2016

As I was looking how to optimize the stacking of frames from .AVI movies I retried the free software RegiStax6. Last time the use was too difficult for me but today i found some more time to practice.
The result below is a shot from the moon on Jan 17th, 2016 taken with camere ASI224MC on Dobson Orion XT12. The result was finished using CS4.

After stacking with RegiStax 6

After stacking with RegiStax6 and editing using CS4