RE: [APML] Finally a Clear Night

["Scott Hammonds" <shammonds@creatorsview.com>]

Nice post Wade. This is a fun hobby and demanding enough without adding our
own little mistakes. It's disheartening to spend clear dark nights and wind
up with failures. I know I've had my share. I hope these turn out well for
you. Even with failure, the dark clear skies are certainly VERY enjoyable.
Scott

-----Original Message-----
From: astro-photo-bounces@seds.org [mailto:astro-photo-bounces@seds.org] On
Behalf Of Thomas W. Earle
Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2005 2:20 PM
To: astro-photo@seds.org
Subject: [APML] Finally a Clear Night

I finally was able to do some short imaging last night with nice
transparency and seeing.  As my eyes dark adapted, I was able to see
(without aid), North American Nebula, Pelican Nebula, Milky Way dust
clouds almost stretching to the head of Scorpius.  In fact, I could
make out faint signs (unresolved background stars) of the Milky Way
all the way to the head of Scorpius.  It was a pretty awesome night.
I also saw 7 sporadic meteors, two of which were brighter than 0
magnitude.  I only had two hours of total darkness before the moon
rose so I concentrated my efforts on the Lagoon Nebula region.  I
used the Pentax 67 300mm EDIF at F/4.0 (I sure wish I could afford
the Pentax 67 400mm EDIF, but at $5800 it's way out of my price
range).  This sure is a nice lens.  It is very easy to focus using
the Mitsuboshi KEF.  I took two images: one 45 minutes and one 60
minutes.  Although it was a "perfect" night, I accidentally loosened
the camera mount while thinking I was tightening it so I'm sure
these shots will have some flexure too.  I do have a ring attached
to the lens so the flexure may not be too terrible.  Unfortunately,
this will prevent me from figuring out whether or not my system has
a slight flexure problem with shots over 30 minutes (see below).
Anyway, it was a fantastic night.

I finally got my Rho Ophiuchus image back from development.  It
turned out nicely; however, there is slight trailing which could
have been from the gusty 15-30 mph winds or flexure.  I'll have to
experiment more.  However, Provia 100F performed very well.  It
picked up everything I've seen from other's images of this region.
For the final result, we'll have to wait for Tony Hallas' digital
magic.  I would certainly recommend using this film to anyone with
an F/5.0 system or faster.  I took a 75 minute shot at F/4.0 at a
new site (Bortle Scale 2).  At my darker site (Bortle Scale 1), I
probably could have gone an additional 15 minutes or more.

Wade


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