The space of night is infinite,
The blackness and emptiness
Crossed only by thin bright fences
Of logic

— Kenneth Rexroth
"Theory of Numbers"

ebfaulkner6a

NGC3587

NGC3587

Taken from Whiting, NJ between 10 pm and 1 am March-14,15-2012 it is a combined guided 160 min exposure; 30 min G, 30 min B, 35 min Red, 65 min Lum. in MaximDL and PS CS4.

M1 CRAB NEBULA

M1 CRAB NEBULA

Taken 2-1-12 from my back yard thru my 111EDT using the Starlight Xpress SXVR-H9. Wanted to get two hours imaging in, but the guider started to give me problems after 8 5min images. Of the eight 6 were good due to the guiding. This image of the Crab Nebula is 6-5min images combined in MaximDL and slight process in Photoshop CS4.  Located in the constellaion Taurus M1 was created from a supernova explosion in July 1054 (fireworks anyone?).  It is 6,500 years away and 11 lys across.

m33

m33

M33 taken with SXVF_H18 2x2 5X15 for a 75min Luminance from Whiting, NJ. on November 2, 2011 at 5:59 pm.

Andromeda Galaxy

Andromeda Galaxy

M31 taken thru AstroTech 111edt 11-6-11, 5x11 guided exposures color combined in MaximDL5 and processed in Photoshop CS4, trial image taken with SXVR-H18 Starlight Xpress ccd. From Whiting, New Jersey where the sky is so clear you can count the stars in the Milky Way !

Pelican Nebula-Red

Pelican Nebula-Red

With the weather keeping us from the much desired clear skies, need to fill in the open time space by playing with our images. This is the Pelican in Ha (Red) with some green and blue adjustments. Nothing else to do but experiment in Photoshop.

NGC6992 part of

NGC6992 part of

This is a combined 70 min image of NGC6992 and is only part of the entire nebula. It is located in the constellation Cygnus. I was playing around with CMY and Ha filters (photoshop color not always what one wants). The image is combined Lum 30min, Ha 10min, Cyan 10 min, Magenta 10min and Yellow 10min. Using these filters can produce odd looking color images. In most cases the nebula is shown in mostly red, usually using RGB filters.

Saturn thru 8"

Saturn thru 8"

Took this image last night (6-3-11) thru 8" Celestron Cass. 345 x 0.20 exposures combined in MaxIm DL/CCD and processed in Photoshop CS4. It can be compared with the previous image using my 10" LX200 and AT111EDT. I also used a TeleVue 5x lens to magnify the planet which also makes it harder to focus. It was a very clear night, no clouds, no wind. The image was cropped.

NGC4565

NGC4565

This image was taken thru my 8" Meade cass 6-2-11, 51 minutes combined images 20 sec exposures unguided on a CGEM mount, Starlight Xpress CCD. The small blur to the right and above center is IC2571 an irregular galaxy.

Saturn Sized

Saturn Sized