RE: [APML] New California Nebula

[Alen Koebel <alen_koebel@yahoo.ca>]

Oops. I exaggerated. I checked my notes: It was
actually my fourth shot. But the one just before that
I aborted because the battery for the reticle
illuminator died halfway through the planned exposure.
(I should have checked it before I started that
night!) I guess I discounted it in my mind. 

It's not like I got things totally right the first
time, either. I took plenty of unguided barndoor 
shots before going prime-focus that no one will 
ever see (for every reason you can think of!). And
all but three out of the 16 prime-focus shots I took
at Starfest 2002 were ruined because of an equipment
problem I was unaware of that affected my focus
(turned out a tensioning screw in the focuser was
loose and the camera tilted with gravity). After
fixing that, the next time out was much more
successful. But it still takes me too long to drift
align (no polar alignment scope to get me close).

I find astrophotography is a lot like golf - a 
very humbling experience. But very exciting when
everything works out right!

-----Original Message-----
From: Alen Koebel [mailto:alen_koebel@yahoo.ca]
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2003 11:56 PM
To: APML
Subject: Re: [APML] New California Nebula


Yeah, I might have overdone it on the bottom end.
I'm still relatively new at all this (that shot was
only my second or third prime-focus one - ever).

-----Original Message-----
From: mike halderman [mailto:astro@mrh.org]
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2003 11:30 PM
To: apml
Subject: Re: [APML] New California Nebula


That is a nice image!  Manually guided as well, good
job. I prefer a somewhat lighter background, it seems
dark on the top of the image.  Just my preference,
though.

-mike

Alen Koebel <alen_koebel@yahoo.ca> writes:

> This is my second posted image to APML. It's not
> really a "new" shot since it was actually taken last
> August (kinda hard to find this object now <g>). But
> it's a new scan of the slide (2,820 dpi, 48 bit) and
> the first time I've image-processed the scan.
>
>
http://www3.sympatico.ca/the.koebels2/Astronomy/california.htm
>
> Please critique the image. (As if I have to ask!
<g>)
> Things I know about already: One, it's not in the
> usual orientation of North up. I tried flipping it,
> but for whatever reason I preferred it this way. 
> {The framing, OTOH, was the choice of my off-axis
> guider: I take whatever is reasonable to find a
> suitable guide star!) Re the processing, the
brighter
> stars are clipped and hence bloated a bit. And, I
> applied some gaussian blur in Picture Window but I
> haven't yet tried SGBNR, which I suspect would yield
> better results.

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