ShahGazer Astrophotography

1st test shot with Modded Canon 40D

2012-01-17T12:17:00.001+08:00

Finally i got to test my modded Canon 40D. The sky wasn't great. High thin clouds were apparent, but since this is the best night since.. well, 'forever' ! ... I just couldn't pass it.

I was scrambling most of the time, to familiarizes myself with the buttons on the 40D. Need to get a used to it, after using 550D for so long. But eventually, with the help of a couple of video tips on youtube, I am finally ready for the shots.

Since I don't have the remote cable, I am stuck with the 30 sec shots. I did some 10 shots, and choose the best 7 of it.

My processing steps are as follows:
1. Convert CRW files to TIF, using Canon DPP software.
2. Stacked using MaxIm DL.
3. Levels and Curves adjustment using Photoshop.

The final photo was the best I can push for, otherwise the noise will be too hard to handle.

I was pretty pleased with the performance of the modded 40D. Comparing it with the QHY9 CCD, well.. I don't think it's a fair comparison. I can push for longer exposures with the QHY9, and since I don't have the luxury of the having the remote cable just yet, I will not do any 40D vs QHY9 article at the moment.

Besides, the images were without flats and darks. It would probably definitely come out better.

The guiding was not very good too. If I zoomed in to 100%, the were some trails. I guess it must be the guider settings during calibration in MaxIm DL. Will look further into it.

Total Lunar Eclipse 10 Dec 2011

2011-12-12T19:54:00.000+08:00

This is, as far as I can remember, the most complete set of Total Lunar Eclipse sequence, I managed to capture under the unpredictable Malaysian sky!

I am very pleased with the results. And equally please with the performance of my newly bought AstroTrac!

This is a screenshot from my local television, with me and my good friend, Dr. Rowi along with the new toy.

Orion with 50mm f/1.8

2011-12-03T21:26:00.001+08:00

This shot was one of my earliest using a 50mm f/1.8 lens on Canon 550D. Still unfamiliar with DSLR settings, I simply blast up my ISO to 3200 and was pleasantly surprise with the 5 sec exposure results!

No tracking involved since I simply placed on my camera tripod.

Looking forward for my astrotrac to arrive next week, and see how deep I can go into with long exposures with a 50mm f/1.8 lens.

Photo was taken last December 2010 during the Geminids watch

Moon and Jupiter conjunction - 13 Oct 2011

2011-12-03T20:22:00.001+08:00

The 13th Oct 2011 , Moon-Jupiter conjunction was viewed nicely from my observatory. The weather somehow clears up for the event, and the positioning of both objects and with the nearby mosque's minaret was down right lucky!

I had some difficulty in getting my main SW 120ED scope in the frame, since the area inside the observatory is quiet narrow from that angle. However, with the help of my 2 daughters, they assisted me in position the moon squarely under the moon, after much contradicting tips! :-)

I posted it over to Spaceweather.com and APOD. And I was surprised as Dr.Clay of Spaceweather.com chose my photo again.

You can view the photo HERE

Shot was taken with my Canon 550D, 18mm kit lens.

Comet Garradd - first view

2011-08-10T18:33:00.000+08:00

The weather is not that cooperating in Kuala Lumpur for the past months. However occasionally the sky opens up revealing some stars (hardly reach 3rd magnitude!). The haze was thick and never seems to go away.

Not wanting to waste any time, and missed the opportunity of capturing my first comet using a CCD, I decided to give it a go.

Comet Garradd seems to be quiet large, but the tail is kinda difficult to see the whole stretch. I've googled the comet's photo and a lot shows the tail to be pretty impressive.

Well, most probably the haze and the scattering of lights from Kuala Lumpur, making it somewhat drown inside the sky glow.

Anyway, I'm pretty pleased with my first CCD image of a comet. The image is Luminance only, and even though I have the RGB data sets, I am still trying to find some ways of processing it and making it look presentable.

I came across the blog by AstroSwanny, and how to process the comet in LRGB. Will give it a try soon.

I am on Google+

2011-07-15T23:38:00.001+08:00

Yes, I am hooked with Google+. Thanks to a friend, I was invited in yesterday, and have a pretty solid day today playing around and familiarizing with its functions. I have to admit, it took me quiet a while to get used to it, and re-learn the concept of 'sharing network' as they called it.

Frankly, I need to get a break from Facebook. For the past year, it has becoming too cluttered and 'noisy'. I felt like being forcefully spoon feed with unwanted news, status updates and worse.. spamming!

Now with Google+, especially with its really cool Circle concept, I am finally began to have more control on what is displayed on the screen.

Look for "Shahrin Ahmad"

M7 - Ptolemy Cluster

2011-06-08T10:44:00.001+08:00

M7, also known as Ptolemy Cluster, tucked nicely at the tail of the Scorpion. With the Milky Way center nearby, it was tempting to give it a try, even though it was right in the middle of the city glow.

The final image was rather pleasing for me. I managed to capture some background stars as well. Stretched quiet a lot in Photoshop especially on the grey curve.

Camera: QHY9 Mono with QHY Filter wheel (RGB)
Telescope: SW Equinox 120ED
Mount: EQ6 Pro with EQMOD
Guiding: Orion 80mm and QHY5
Imaging Software: Maxim DL
Processing Software: Maxim DL and PS3
Exposures: L: 6 x 100sec, R: 3 x 60sec, G: 3 x 60sec, B: 3 x 60sec
Calibration: Old Flats (per color) and Darks
Dither : 2 pixel per sub

Planetary Triangle

2011-05-14T20:19:00.000+08:00

The morning of 14th May 2011 was pretty clear. After several days shrouded by haze, the sky at my observatory was promising this morning.

My 10'x10' observatory footprint doesn't allow me to have a good spot for the shot. But at least the planets were pretty near the nearby mosque and have a photogenic look.

I submitted this photo at Spaceweather.com and surprisingly was selected at the front page today. Thanks Dr. Tony Phillips of Spaceweather.com !

NGC 2467 - Nebula in Puppis

2011-05-11T18:28:00.001+08:00

NGC 2467, an interesting nebula in Puppis. This image was captured last night when the moon was about 30 degrees away.

The sky was pretty hazy during the time. And unfortunately my focus was slightly off. I wonder what went wrong with the focus because I already did a new v-curve set in FocusMax the night before.

So I had to binned the final image. Combining LRGB was done in Maxim DL, while the final Levels and curves via PS CS3.

Camera: QHY9 Mono with QHY Filter wheel (RGB)
Telescope: SW Equinox 120ED
Mount: EQ6 Pro with EQMOD
Guiding: Orion 80mm and QHY5
Imaging Software: Maxim DL
Processing Software: Maxim DL and PS3
Exposures: L: 6 x 100sec, R: 3 x 60sec, G: 3 x 60sec, B: 3 x 60sec
Calibration: Old Flats (per color) and Darks
Dither : 2 pixel per sub

NGC 2440 Planetary Nebula in Puppis

2011-04-18T17:19:00.002+08:00

Last night, with the Moon almost full in the east, I was reluctant to do any imaging. However, the sky towards the south became clearer each minute, and having a steady clear sky in my location is very rare. So I fired up my imaging equipments.

This is a small planetary nebula in Puppis, NGC 2440. Finding it was easy, using Maxim DL and PinPoint. In fact I am enjoying and more relaxed now when doing imaging, having Maxim DL help me to automate the process and PinPoint assuring me that I am pointing at the correct place!

Camera: QHY9 Mono with QHY Filter wheel (RGB)

Telescope: SW Equinox 120ED

Mount: EQ6 Pro with EQMOD

Guiding: Orion 80mm and QHY5

Imaging Software: Maxim DL

Processing Software: Maxim DL and PS3

Exposures: L: 6 x 100sec, R: 3 x 60sec, G: 3 x 60sec, B: 3 x 60sec

Calibration: Flats (per color) and Darks

Dither : 2 pixel per sub

Eta Carina - LRGB

2011-04-18T17:11:00.002+08:00

I was following almost step-by-step of processing LRGB images from the Starizona - Guide to ccd imaging, and happily managed to extract some good data from my previous Eta Carina RGB data sets.

Combined with the Luminance data, I used R(3 min), G(3 min), B(3 min).

The combined method is Median for RGB and Sigma Clip for Luminance. The SNR seems better.

Eta Carinae - Early CCD shot

2011-04-16T00:13:00.004+08:00

Eta Carinae was barely clearing my rooftop, as it never reaches above 30 degrees from Kuala Lumpur.

But, I was please to see the initial results. This is among the first CCD shot and post processing done by me. The learning curve was pretty steep, but then I got a lot of cloudy nights here to force me to learn, read, try and experiment with whatever data I have.

The shot was taken on 28th March 2011.

Skywatcher 120ED
EQ6
QHY9-mono
Autoguided by MaximDL and QHY5
Luminance = 11.6 minutes

ShahGazer Observatory - SGO

2011-04-15T23:35:00.005+08:00

Finally, my home observatory has finally finished. After about 5 month of construction, the final piece of the puzzle was put in place.

I have now a complete solution for an automated imaging observatory.

For now, this is a photo of the equipment in place. I will probably do a proper page for this observatory soon. At the moment I am very happy on what I have and can see numerous projects and opportunity when observing from a permanent site.

Finally, Comet Hartley 2 captured.. really need to do remote imaging more often!

2010-10-21T14:21:00.004+08:00

Finally, after several months of cloudy skies, it clears up a bit, just in time before Comet Hartley 2 waves goodbye to us.

This is shot from a light polluted, magnitude 3 sky of Sri Damansara. Couldn't see the comet clearly enough, even with binoculars.

Tried login in at Global-Rent-A-Scope telescopes, but apparently everyone was hunting down this comet as well, until it slows down the servers!

Current Astronomical Stuff

2010-10-04T16:22:00.004+08:00

Finally, I decided to get my photo taken with all the equipments that I have now, using either when doing my outreach astronomy programs, or doing my personal observations or imaging.

Not for the faint hearted.. :-)

CCD imaging setup ..almost there!

2010-09-13T21:44:00.003+08:00

Looking forward for test out my new QHY9 mono CCD. The whole CCD imaging setup is 'almost' complete. Hopefully everything will work out well.

Main scope: Skywatcher Equinox 120 ED

Guide Scope: Skywatcher Equinox 80 ED

Guide Camera: QHY5 mono

Main CCD: QHY9 mono

Mount: EQ6

Wish me luck! and hope for clearer skies in the coming weeks.

M42 in High Dynamic Range

2010-03-08T09:32:00.004+08:00

This is the same M42 data taken from the previous post. The only different is that this is my first attempt on processing it in High Dynamic Range.

A lot of post-processing in Photoshop CS3, IRIS and NEAT Image.

Not too sure if the colour is 'right' though. Seems a bit red(?).

M1, M104 and M64

2010-02-20T00:07:00.006+08:00

These are 3 more shots I took during the 4 day astrofotography session at Penang.

I did a lot of heavy post-processing, especially on M104 and M64 mainly because I failed somewhat to take proper darks and flats.

Single frame capture of M42

2010-02-18T10:48:00.003+08:00

Each of these image was a single frame capture using Celestron Amcap software, as proposed by Rock Mallin on his website

It was nice to play with the settings and see immediate results. And the most surprising thing was the amount of details I can see when I pushed maximum to 56 seconds!

Interesting M42 Mallincam shots with 80mm scope

2010-02-17T19:25:00.005+08:00

During last weekend, I got a solid 4 nights of good sky in Balik Pulau, Penang for imaging. It was done using Mallincam Hyper Color Plus and Skywatcher Equinox 80mm scope. A light pollution filter was added to help ease out a nearby glaring streetlight. SQM readings was 20 19.6 .

I was surprise with the amount of details I saw using different integration settings. From low setting looking at the Trapezium, all the way to 56 seconds where the outer part of M42 was easily seen.

Here is a stacked shot using different settings. Details are as follow:

SW Equinox 80mm f/6.25
Mallincam Hyper Plus Color with MFR-3, ~~Light Pollution Filter~~ Celestron LPR.
Settings = (2.1s x 5, 7s x 5, 14s x 9, 28s x 10, 56s x 10). Total exposure time about 16 minutes.

Images stacked using DeepSkyStacker, processed in Registax.

Sunspot 1045

2010-02-08T13:26:00.005+08:00

Sky was clear this morning. Sunspot 1045 grew a lot in just 24 hours. Took the opportunity to snap some shots.

I like the snake-like shape of the sunspot, as if trying to wriggle away from the watchful eye of humans..

M42 via online observing session!

2010-01-22T09:18:00.007+08:00

Note: The live streaming services provided was called Night Skies Network, and NOT NightSkyNetworks as stated on the photo (left). My mistake.I will make the necessary correction as soon as possible.

I attended the virtual online observation by Rock Mallin via the really cool ~~Night Sky Networks~~ Night Skies Network. It was way late at night in Canada, while I was comfortably having my breakfast here in Kuala Lumpur!

The setup used was a 16 inch LX200 coupled with MFR-5 and using the new Mallincam VSS. Integration setting was 2 seconds.

We were looking at M42, and the live view itself was wild! As mentioned by one of the attendees, it looked pretty much 3D!

The dust lanes (or clumps) really pops up in front of the trapeziums!

I couldn't resist capturing some of the frames and stacked it up. The photo speaks by itself!

It was a combination of 20 frames each at 2 sec integration. So, in all a total of 40 SECONDS! exposure time! Whew!!!

The VSS seems to be displaying nicely. There's no darks or flats included during the process. I used DeepSkyStacker for stacking, which seems to be working very well and compensating the field-rotation effect, as compared to Registax.

The final TIFF file was then open in Registax which has much better post-processing tools.

It was a truly inspiring session. As pointed out by Rock, the Mallincam not only is a very effective tool for outreach activities , but with a little effort in post-processing, can reveal an enormous amount of details!

Sunspot 1029

2009-10-26T10:39:00.002+08:00

The weather seems surprisingly clear this morning. So, I did not waste anytime and quickly setup my HEQ5. Using the Skywatcher Equinox and Toucam Pro, I stacked about 353 frames worth of video using Registax.

I cannot get much resolution or magnification when using with the Canon 300D. Much of the fault is me not buying a proper barlow for this scope.

No effort to do any visual observation.. too hot!

New friends down under!

2009-10-12T23:14:00.003+08:00

Here are some photos with new friends during the brief stint at Coona and Wiruna.

Fantastic Night Out at Coonabarabran

2009-10-12T22:50:00.005+08:00

Back in May 2009, I attended the South Pacific Star Party at Wiruna, Ilford and the Ozsky Star Party at Coonabarabran. That was actually the first time I visited Australia. It was truly a memorable trip. Despite being there for just under a week, 3 nights of planned stargazing, and only 2 nights of clear sky, that was enough for me to start planning for another trip next year!

So here are some of the wide angle photos of the Milky Way I took using un-mod Canon 300D with the standard 18mm-55mm kit lens at the Ozsky Star Party in Coona. No tracking, just on a flimsy camera tripod.

M22 via SW 80ED and Mallincam Hyper Color

2009-09-30T12:31:00.006+08:00

Responding to a post at Mallincam Yahoo Group, this is another photo taken using Mallincam Hyper Color with the Skywatcher 80ED Equinox. Taken on the same date as my previous post but somehow I didn't post it up! Keep in mind, the sky was awful, blanket with haze and only 2nd magnitudes stars were visible.

Object: M22

Telescope: Skywatcher 80mm ED Equinox

Mount: HEQ5 Pro

Camera: Mallincam Hyper Color

Exposure: 6 sec integration x 47 = 4.7 mins

Software: EQMOD, VirtualDub

Stacked & Post-Processing: Registax, Photoshop CS3

Ignore the dust bunnies! :-)

Some Deep Sky with DSLR

2009-09-26T10:44:00.008+08:00

The moon was pretty much basking its light in Scorpio last night. But the sky was somewhat clear from clouds. So, I decided to do some DSLR astrophotography on the moon (left).

Equipment is Canon 300D and Skywatcher Equinox 80 ED. Both tracking on HEQ5-Pro mount.

Then, thin clouds came and went around the southern part of the sky. But the temptation of doing DSLR on Deep-Sky seems to be too good to be true.

So, here are some of the objects taken last night.

M22. 26 X 20 sec subs.

Starting all over again...

2009-09-19T23:48:00.004+08:00

Now I'm feeling guilty for not updating for almost 3 months! Bummer. Well, I should know better than to jump into the bandwagon of bloggerworld!

It's festive season again. Everybody has gone back to their home town. This year is going to be a rather different kind of Raya. Mum passed away while I was in China for the Total Solar Eclipse trip. A day after the eclipse to be exact. May Allah's blessed her soul. Al-Fatihah.

The internet tonight is blazing fast! So I took some opportunity to browse through Bob Denny's ACP video tutorials. I find the system to be extremerly well-thought. Kudos to you Bob!

The weather wasn't coorperating for the past week. I was hoping to get a glimpse of the 16-hour old moon this evening, but decided not to go all the trouble driving down to Teluk Kemang, especially when everyone is going out from KL as well.

Got a few projects I had in mind. I will probably jot down some bits and pieces here, once in a while. So stay tune.

Under the hazy sky

2009-06-20T19:51:00.006+08:00

In the recent hazy situation here in Kuala Lumpur, I decided to braved to warm night to do some Mallincam imaging with the SW 80ED.

Using EQMOD to control my HEQ5-Pro mount, I focused on the familiar bright objects in Scorpio and Sagittarius. The sky condition is not perfect. I did not see any clouds, but the haze was pretty thick. I can barely see 2nd magnitude stars with the naked eye! Not a very encouraging sight for the faint hearted.

Nevertheless, I did managed to get a few shots. Check it out.

Object: M8
Telescope: Skywatcher 80mm ED Equinox
Mount: HEQ5 Pro
Camera: Mallincam Hyper Color
Exposure: 6 sec integration x 50 = 5 mins
Software: EQMOD, VirtualDub
Post-Processing: Registax, Photoshop CS3

Object: M17, Omega Nebula
Telescope: Skywatcher 80mm ED Equinox
Mount: HEQ5 Pro
Camera: Mallincam Hyper Color
Exposure: 6 sec integration x 100 = 10 mins
Software: EQMOD, VirtualDub
Post-Processing: Registax, Photoshop CS3

It's not a picture perfect photo , but I guess this would show the capability of using a video integration device, such as Mallincam Hyper Color, under a very hazy sky and light pollution area.

DIY-ing my HEQ5 mount

2009-05-16T21:25:00.001+08:00

Browsing through the iceinspace forum just now, and found a post leading to this very very good website.

HEQ5 strip down guide!!

Yea!

Creaking, shuddering and wondering why

2009-05-07T21:35:00.005+08:00

The sky was exceptional tonight. Yesterday I was too exhausted to setup after a call from fellow amateur, Pak Aziz, asking me if I was actually out, up and observing.

After managed to catch a -3 magnitude ISS passing low over the southern horizon, silently gliding over Crux, I setup the mount and Equinox.

Planning just to photograph the moon, I did not bother to hook up with EQMOD (just yet). Then all hell breaks loose!

The 2-star alignment was in progress. Pointing to Procyon... OK. Then slewing to Spica (which was very near the Moon), and that's when I noticed the mount started to creaked! Holding on the mount, I can feel it vibrates and seems to struggle moving the RA axis. No problem with the Dec axis.

I was thinking probably the I did not balance the scope enough. So, shutting down and re-balance the scope, and slew again. And again it creaks, and this time it started to shudder pretty hard!

Bummer! Ok. Troubleshooting time. I removed the counterweight and the Equinox, leaving just the mount empty and bare. Aligned again with the same stars (Procyon and Spica), and this time is gets worst! It refused to move at all on the RA axis!

Yikes!

After making some quick phone calls to CK Lim of Perseid. I gave up and packed everything and hope tomorrow when I go over and meet up CK, we can probably find the exact problem.

Not feeling at all comfortable, I started to Googled and io behold, I found one post in the Cloudy Night forum.

ahh.... the culprit was the RA scale screw! Now I remember yesterday when I was testing the mount with the EQMOD software, my itchy fingers was all over the mount and I remember tightening up the scale's screw. (see photo)

When I loosen it back, tadaaa... the RA axis is back to its normal well-behaved self!

Oh yes, Pak Aziz, there's still a lot of booby trap for this new owner! :-)

HEQ5 and Skymap Pro Connection Test

2009-04-24T12:57:00.002+08:00

Objective: Finalize all connection software and hardware between each component is running smoothly.

1. Connection HEQ5 to Skymap Pro 8

Connect RJ45-serial cable from HEQ5 handpad to Serial-to-USB converter to Laptop
Identify COM Port number (under My Computer>Manage>Hardware etc)
In Skymap, under Telescope>Configure, select ASCOM Driver then Configure
In the list, select Celestron Scope Driver, then Properties
Under Scope Type, select NexStar 5i
Serial Port = whatever COM Port number assigned by Windows
Track Mode = Eq N
Site = Current location
Scope = not paying attention for this one yet.
OK>OK>OK
Under Skymap, select Telescope>Open Connection
“Your Wish is My Command”!!

1st Light using the 80ED and Mallincam Hyper

2009-04-19T13:00:00.001+08:00

2 nights back, the sky was exceptionally clear. I couldn’t resist setting up my equipments to try out some simple shots using Mallincam Hyper Color through Equinox.

I did a rough (simply using the 50mm eyepiece to ‘center’ the alignment stars). Too lazy to beef up the magnification. Well, as it turns out… the GoTo is well off from to the side of the FOV.

Hooked up with Skymap Pro 8, did some ‘Sync’ with several stars, and it still refused to re-align properly.

Where does the fault lies? The Mount? Software? I couldn’t pin point exactly, but I suspected it must be the initial alignment which I did it roughly. But why doesn’t it re-align after I sync it back to the actual position via Skymap? Doesn’t happen when I used my Meade’s LX90 Autostar.. hmmm.. further study required.

Still, I did managed to get some quick and dirty shots on Omega Centauri. Sky condition here was never perfect. SE sky was bathed with glow from Damansara Perdana maybe? But I was really impressed with the combine power of MCH and the Equinox 80ED. Kewl!!

Simple processing using Registax 5. Flat field cheated a bit, pointing elsewhere where no bright star and defocus the scope. Must do more post-processing, which means more reading and more asking around!

New arsenal patrolling the sky

2009-04-10T13:00:00.001+08:00

This is my new scope, Skywatcher 80mm Equinox. The photo show the scope on my newly bought HEQ5 Pro mount, which was also recently bought from Dr. Rowi. He used it only once and offered a really good price which I simply cannot resists burning my pocket! It has been almost 8 years since I upgraded any of my telescopes, and it seems to be a good time to do one as everyone else is doing so!

And as usual, the weather was overcast for days later. Only after coming back to Kuala Lumpur,did I managed to test with my Mallincam Hyper Color , and with a sigh of relieve, I can reach focus with it.

Now for serious studying before the China eclipse trip in July!

Note: Dr.Rowi bought the mount from CK Lim of Perseids Telescopes and Binoculars in Penang, and I got the 80ED from him as well. Good service and you should try contacting him for other goodies he had.

Greetings!

2009-04-04T13:01:00.003+08:00

This is my personal log while scrutinizing the world of observational astronomy and gadgetries. Not intending to be a teaching blog, cause I'm still learning myself, but I hope this will serve some kind of guides, tips and perhaps reminder for myself in the future when I want to return back and exploring the endless configurations and settings.

And most important, I want to re-ignite the passion back into myself, doing things that I love, and simply have fun doing it.

Please feel free to comments and throw in ideas for the rest of us to explore.