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Some people say an image is made outta mud But a real good picture's made 'o muscle and blood Muscle and blood and zeros and ones And a brain that's fried and a budget that's done You image all night and what do you get Another dead batt'ry, a scope soaking wet Tell my friends not to call me 'cause I can't go I owe my soul to the 'stronomy store I was born one evening when the moon didn't shine I hooked up my s-big and connected the wires Loaded Mira and Maxim and imaged 'til four I used up bits 'till there weren't any more You image all night and what do you get Less space on your drive and closer to debt The sun is a-rising and I gotta go I owe my soul to the 'stronomy store Apologies to Merle Travis & Tennessee Ernie Ford
Planning an Imaging Session or What to do when the sun is up
At the end of a good night • You saw or image what you planned • Your equipment cooperated, mostly • You are not badly hurt • You are still on good terms with your neighbors
As well as • You are ready for the next night • Your battery is charging • You have multiple copies of all your data • You can sleep soundly
Organizing a session • Three things need to be considered • Setting up your equipment • Selecting Objects • Viewing and imaging effectively
Organizing Your Equipment • Testing new equipment • Power and connections • Computers • and, your Telescope
Dealing with New Equipment • Always test before heading out • Test when the stores are open • Do not let it be the single point of failure • Know that it never works as advertised
Battery Power • You can never have enough • Cold (<10 C) greatly reduces battery life • Take a second battery, they’re light! • Have a plan to move to another source
Computers/PDAs/Goto • Boot okay, NO untested software! • For portables, spare batteries and power adapters • Plenty of disk space – Comet videos are BIG! • Keep them warm, no sudden temp changes
Eyepieces and Cameras • When was the last time you checked your eyepieces? • Windows clean, filters clean and moving smoothly • You did pack ALL your cables, right? • Rigidly attached, no set screws!
Your Telescope • Balance, way more important than you think • Dec axis should be balanced • RA slightly heavy to the east • Careful when removing those Naglers or camera • Cable forces can change
Managing Telescope Accessories • To focal reduce or not. Just remember which. • Is your motorized focuser really working? • Guide scope/finder aligned with scope • Once around to tighten it down
It’s Dark, Now What? • Pick an object, any object • Use your scope visually? • Panic? Execute your “Objects to Image” plan!!!
Objects to Image Plan • Keys to optimizing your dark time • Plan ahead – That is what daylight is for • Stick to the plan, but be ready to be flexible • Be realistic – Not every night is a Messier Marathon
Selecting Objects • Determine what you want to view or image • Galaxies, Nebula, Clusters, Double’s, Nova, Comets? • Make a list first, then use your criteria for selection • Make a master list of all the objects you want • Size, brightness, location
Selecting Your Images - Size • Pick images that match your ‘scope and camera • We all want to see NGC 6826, but it’s pretty small
Selecting Your Image - Brightness • Pick objects that you can actually see • NGC 1560 looks big and bright in The Sky… 4 hours later
Location, Location, Location • NGC 5128 is a neat looking galaxy • But it is only 1 degree above my home horizon! • NGC 253 is way higher, sort of • Wait until it gets near transit, be patient • What about the Cocoon Nebula? You Bet!
Tools to Help You Select • All sorts of software - unfortunately • Web based tools – difficult in the middle of nowhere • What did your buddy do last time out? • Recent issues of magazines
Tools for planning • NGCView, DeepSky 2000, Sky Tools, Cartes du Ciel • Great for filtering and optimizing dark sky time • TheSky, Guide, RealSky, DSS, Atlases • Useful for getting an idea of the size, guide star, reality check
Selection Tools NGCView Sky Tools
Framing Tools TheSky CCD View TheSky Wide View
Sanity Check Tools Vickers CCD Atlas STScI Digitized Sky Survey
Make a List, Check it Twice • Use NGCView or SkyTools for selecting from list • Watch for transit time • Use TheSky to check for size, guide stars, bloomers • Start framing the image • Use Atlases to see what the images really look like • Start thinking about exposure times • Iterate and come up with a nice # of objects for imaging or viewing
An Evening’s Wish List Note how short the list is. Take time to enjoy the objects
NGC 891 Plan • NGC 891 • Image from 10:30-2:00 • Finish before meridian flip • Note that camera must flip
Focus Philosophy • Focus early, focus often - Each Robofocus unit is 0.001” - For my refractor, the depth of field is about +/-.003” (2050-2033)/(9.7-2.8) = .0025”/C
Pay attention to cabling Cables change the forces on the mount as the scope moves through the sky. They also are way too easy to trip over
Are You Practicing Safe Storage • Take the time to copy data over as soon as possible • A great reason to have two computers • around when you are imaging • Allows you to process • while you are imaging
Organizing an Imaging Session - Summary • Make sure your equipment is well behaved • Construct a well thought out list of objects • Optimize your dark sky time by planning ahead
I was born one morning, it was cloudy again Deconvolution was my middle name I was raised in a lab by an old Fortran man Said, "ain't no such thing as have'n too much RAM" You image all night and what do you get Lights, darks and flats; all are well met The rain is a-coming so I'd better go If I don't get to work they'll show me the door If you see me exposing, better put out the lights A lotta men didn't, and it just don't seem right One scope doing film, the other making bits If the emulsion don't get you, then the silicon will You image all night and what do you get A gig worth of images and you are all set The imaging's over and I gotta go Been gone a whole week - there's a big lawn to mow
