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Name: Wah Date: 09/24/04 Object: The Moon (Mosaic)
Details:
Telescope: Celestron CGE-800 system
Camera: ToUcam w/ Zhitong 2x Barlow
Exposure:
Location: Yuen Long Astrofarm (Hong Kong)
Seeing: 9/10, Transparency 9/10


Processing:
Stack 100 frames for each area with Registax 3, Layer processing in Registax. Mosaic in Photoshop CS
Name: Jim Dixon Date: 05/06/05 Object: Jupiter
Details:
Telescope: 8 inch SCT @ f/20
Camera: ToUcam Pro
Exposure: Best 90 of 900 1/50s images
Site location: Wye Mountain, AR


Processing:
Used K3CCDTools for capture, RegiStax to stack and Photoshop for final processing.
Name: Edward Roach Date: 12/31/04 Object: Saturn
Details:
Telescope: Meade 8" LX90 SCT at f/35
Camera: Phillips ToUcam Pro 840 webcam with a Baader UV-IR cut filter
Exposure: 1/25 sec at 5 frames per second, taken for 4 1/2 minutes
Site location: Mansfield, MA


Processing:
The images were acquired with K3CCD Tools. The frames were stacked with Registax 3 and Wavelets were applied. I finished processing it in Paint Shop Pro 8, adjusting for color balance, histogram adjustment, unsharp mask, Gaussian blur and noise reduction.
Name: Adam Stuart Date: 04/30/05 Object: Sunspot Group 756
Details:
Telescope: 10" LX200 Classic @ f/20 with diagonal
Camera: ToUcam Pro
Exposure: 10 fps, 1/1500 shutter speed
Site location: Miami, FL


Processing:
Image Processing Applied: 150+ images stacked in RegiStax 2.0. Slight wavelet processing on first two channels.
Name: Alan Smith Date: 03/25/05 Object: Jupiter
Details:
Telescope: Celestron C11 @ f 20, CI-700 mount
Camera: Meade LPI camera
Site location: My backyard.


Processing:
Image Processing Applied: Each of the three images was automatically stacked by the camera from approximately 100 raw frames. Subsequently unsharp masked, gamma stretched in MaxIm and Despeckle in Photoshop.
Name: Rob Adkins Date: 04/16/05 Object: Jupiter
Details:
Telescope: Celestar 8.
Camera: Meade Electronic Eyepiece at prime focus.
Site Location: Wayne, WV


Processing:
Video was converted with a Dazzle DVC 80. Six
hundred seventy-two frames were stacked for each image out of the original
1800 frame captures. Aligned, stacked, wavelets and gamma in Registax 3.
Images combined in Ulead IPhoto Plus 4.

Additional Thoughts: Astrophotography on a shoestring!
Name: Andrew Scheck Date: 06/10/05 Object: Jupiter
Details:
Telescope: Celestron NexStar 8 GPS;
Camera: Celestron NexImage;
Exposure: 1/10 sec exposure (10 fps) for 1 minute (603 frames);
Site Location: Scaggsville, MD


Processing:
Composite of 590 separate frames (of 603); aligned, stacked, sharpened, levels and color adjusted with Keith's Image Stacker (Mac OS X); rotated (bands running horizontally) in GraphicConverter (Mac OS X).

ScopeTronix MaxPower 1.6x in front of diagonal giving approximately 2.4x; IOXperts webcam driver for Mac OS X; BTV capture software for Mac OS X (images flipped right-to-left to account for diagonal here)
Name: David Mello Date: 05/13/05 Object: Jupiter
Details:
Telescope: Celestron C-11
Camera: NexImage @ f/28
Exposure:
Site location: Quail Run Observatory, Casa Grande, AZ
Any Other Pertinent Information: Images are from my second night out using the NexImage Seeing was very good, transparency was excellent


Processing:
Registax processing of 900 frames
Name: Christopher Go Date: 05/25/05 Object: Jupiter
Details:
Telescope: Celestron C-8 SCT
Camera: ToUcam Pro II webcam Imager
Exposure: 1/5 second
Site location: Cebu City, Philippines


Processing:
Image capture using K3CCD Tools (1/5 seconds at 5fps), Stacked in Registax 3 with 1.5X Mitchell resampling, Stacked 623/650 frames, initial sharpening using Registax wavelets and final sharpening and color adjust using Photoshop.

Additional Thoughts: This is one of my best images this season for Jupiter. Note the detail on the South Temperate Belts and Zones. This image resolves a feature called Folded Filamentary Region on the South Temperate Belt at the Central Meridian, which according to Dr John Rogers in his comment on this image has only been resolved by spacecraft!
Name: Jacques-Andre REGNIER Date: 03/18/05 Object: Ptolemaeus, Alphonsus and Arzachel (mosaic)
Details:
Telescope: Celestron NexStar 5i at f/10
Camera: Philips Webcam Vesta Pro with BW 1/4" CCD Sensor
Exposure: 3 x 400 exposures of 1/25 seconds
Site location: My backyard located at Etréchy (France)
Any other pertinent information: Celestron Ultima 2x Barlow; IR-blocking Sirius Optics NIR1


Processing:
Frames capture done with AstroSnap; registration and stacking, wavelet and unsharp mask processing with Iris; mosaic assembly and final enhancements (curves and levels adjustments, reduction and final unsharp masking) with Photoshop.
Name: Oliver Pettenpaul Date: 03/16/05 Object: Craters Theophilus & Cyrillus
Details:
Telescope: Celestron C-9.25 XLT
Camera: Modified ToUcam pro (Sony ICX098BL)
Exposure: 1/33s - 5fps
Site location: Paderborn, Germany
Any Other Pertinent Information: Meade 2x Barlow; Astronomik Type II dichroic red filter.


Processing:
2 x 300 out of 1000 frames stacked in Registax3,
Wavelet sharpening, resulting images combined in Photoshop, curves adjusted, mild additional USM.
Name: Aaron Tornow Date: 06/05/05 Object: Jupiter
Details:
Telescope: Meade ETX-125 EC
Camera: Sac7
Exposure: 20frames per second at 1/40second shutter speed
Site location: Hewitt, NJ


Processing:
313 of 1000 frames stacked and wavelet processed using Registax 3 and leveled in Photoshop 7.0.

Additional Thoughts: Seeing conditions were around 8/8.
Name: Alan Smallbone Date: 06/26/05 Object: The Moon
Details:
Telescope: Vixen VC200L with a 0.33 focal reducer
Camera: Meade LPI
Exposure: 33 frames, each 1/20second
Site location: Anza, CA
Any Other Pertinent Information: I was just fooling around and thinking of packing up now that the moon was rising and then decided to shoot the moon, so to speak.


Processing:
33 frames stacked using K3ccdtools automated processing. Image saved and brought into Registax and wavelet processed for sharpening, levels adjusted in Photoshop.

Additional Thoughts: Still trying to learn how the software works.
Name: Brent Maynard Date: 06/07/05 Object: Jupiter
Details:
Telescope: C8-SCT @f5
Camera: ToUcam Pro 740k
Exposure: 1000/1200 frames
Site location: Hurricane, WV
Any Other Pertinent Information: CG5 mount, 2X Barlow in EP projection configuration.


Processing:
K3CCDtools used for video capture @ 10fps, Registax3 used for wavelet processing, Paint Shop Pro 7 used for color balance and gamma adjustment.
Name: Francesco Corrao Date: 06/06/05 Object: Jupiter
Details:
Telescope: Celestron C-11 XLT
Camera: Philips Vesta Pro
Exposure: 700/1000 frames @ 1/25second
Site location: Brindisi, Italy
Any Other Pertinent Information: IR-pass monochrome image, RGB added from an RGB video (no filter) taken immediately after.


Processing:
Video processed in Iris 4.31, LRGB compositing and final elaboration (contrast and colors adjust) in Paint Shop Pro 8.
Name: George Lamy Date: 12/127/04 Object: Saturn

Details:
Telescope: Celestron C-11
Camera: ToUcam Pro
Exposure: 1/25 second @ 5 frames per second for 4 minutes
Site location: Port Vincent, LA
Any Other Pertinent Information: 3x Barlow to scale the image to f/30.

Processing:
The avi was aligned and stacked with Registax 3 with image scaled to 1.3. Also Registax 3.0 wavelets were applied to sharpen the image. Image was saved and then imported to PhotoShop 8.0 where color levels were balanced.

Additional Thoughts: On a special (and cold) night under the stars. Seeing started out about 7/10 but around 11:00 local it changed to 8 - 9/10. Visually, the view was the best I have ever seen Saturn.

Name: Gerald WECHSELBERGER Date: 08/10/04 Object: Sun
Details:
Telescope: C-14
Camera: ToUcam 740k Webcam
Exposure: 200 x 1/1500 second exposure
Site location: Ebreichsdorf, Austria
Any Other Pertinent Information: Focal length 3910 mm .


Processing:
Image Processing Applied: 63 images selected and averaged with Registax, sharpening via wavelet 1 at 27 and wavelet 2 at 3. Final masked sharpening and contrast improvement with Photoshop.
Name: Leroi Teiva Date: 04/17/05 Object: Jupiter
Details:
Telescope: Celestron C14 at f/30
Camera: ToUcam pro1 webcam
Exposure: 10 images second, 90"avi video (900 images)
Site location: Raiatea Island.


Processing:
600 best images stacked with Registax and color enhancement with Photoshop.

Additional Thoughts: North is UP. This April night, seeing was perfect (8/10), transparency (9/10) and no wind. One of my best nights.
Name: Ron Hinkle Date: 09/22/04 Object: Moon’s straight wall
Details:
Telescope: 10" LX200 Classic
Camera: Philips ToUcam
Exposure: 900 frames at 1/25 second
Site location: Copper Head Ridge Observatory.


Processing:
Image Processing Applied: Used Registax 3 for processing.
Name: Steve Bodin Date: 01/02/05 Object: Comet Machholtz
Details:
Telescope: Celestron C-8 (orange tube) with dual homemade focal reducers
yielding f/2.3
Camera: DX8263SL video camera
Exposure: 2 second frame integration; two frame composite of 48 images for about 2 minutes of total time recorded to videotape.
Site location: Silverdale, WA.


Processing:
Stacked with Registax3, 2 frame composite done with iMerge, enhanced saturation and contrast in Picture Window 2.0

Additional Thoughts: Difficult target for only 2 second exposure, better seen in short focus lens of f/1.2.
Name: Joe Shuster Date: 03/16/05 Object: The Moon
Details:
Telescope: Celestron NexStar 5 in alt/az mode,
Camera: Philips Toucam
Filter: Sirius Optics NIR1
Exposures: 1/60s collected in 16 avi files of approx 10s each using K3CCDTools
Date: March 16, 2005, starting at 8:58 pm CST
Location: Gurnee, IL, USA.


Processing:
SAvi files (16) were collected via K3CCDTools. Manual frame selection (10-14 from each Avi file), flatframe application, automatic stacking and wavelet adjustments in Registax 2. Mosaic assembly (fully automatic) by Autostitch. Histogram adjustment, cropping, unsharp
mask in PaintShop Pro 8. The camera ccd had serious dust problems and the filter had a short scratch. Flatframes and stacking corrected these defects.

Additional Thoughts: The camera ccd had serious dust problems and the filter had a short scratch. Flatframes and stacking corrected these defects (despite the very poor quality of individual frames). The moon was near a neighbor's roof and the seeing was affected by the convention from the heated home. I adjusted (and locked for all avi's) the brightness so that the brightest spots on the illuminated surface didn't saturate. This reduced some of the detail along the dimly lit terminator, but made the image more uniformly illuminated. Using the histogram adjustment in PaintShop Pro restored some of the terminator details. This was my first lunar mosiac of more than 2 images.