WT5L Blog

The image presented above is the open cluster M37 located in the constellation Auriga.  In this field of view where north is up and east is to the left, the camera is centered on the 15 arcminutes wide, magnitude 5.6 cluster.  The 200 million year old cluster contains roughly 1890 stars and lies approximately 4400 light-years away.  (Source: “The Messier Objects” by Stephen James O’Meara)

All subframes used for this image were captured at the Chiefland Astronomy Village on 18 October 2009.  The image was taken with an unmodified Canon XSi (450D) at ISO 800 with 120 seconds (2 minutes) subframes.  In all, 30 subframes were used for this image for a total integration time of 60 minutes.  All subframes were calibrated using dark, flat, and bias frames in Maxim DL and final image processing was done with Adobe Photoshop CS3.  The scope used for this shot was a Takahashi TSA-102s reduced to f/5.96 (608mm) riding on a Takahashi EM-200 Temma 2 mount.  All subframes were autoguided using a Fishcamp Starfish uncooled guide camera attached to a Orion 80mm f/5 short tube guide scope.

(Click on the image above to view the full-frame image of M37.)

More information regarding this image can be found here:

http://astro.wt5l.com/m37_01.htm

The linked document file below (in PDF format) contains the image processing procedure that I currently use to generate images obtained with my Canon 450D (XSi) digital SLR camera.  Specifically, this procedure applies to processing images of open clusters and globular clusters.  Since this camera is not modified and, therefore, not very sensitive to the hydrogen-alpha frequency of light, I mainly use this camera for cluster imaging.  This procedure assumes the use of Maxim DL Pro version 5 and Adobe Photoshop CS3 .

image processing canon xsi.pdf

Latest Procedure Update: 01 March 2010

The image presented above is the famous Double Cluster located in the constellation Perseus.  In this field of view where north is up and east is to the left, the camera is centered between open clusters NGC 884 (left) and NGC 869 (right),  each approximately 18 arminutes wide  and magnitude 4.0.   The two components of the Double Cluster, also known as Caldwell 14, are separated by 25 arcminutes and both lie approximatley 7300 light years away.  Each cluster contains about 300 stars and is located roughly halfway between the bright stars Delta Cassiopeiae and Gamma Persei.  (Source: “The Caldwell Objects” by Stephen James O’Meara)

All subframes used for this image were captured at the Chiefland Astronomy Village on 17-18 October 2009.  The image was taken with an unmodified Canon XSi (450D) at ISO 800 with 120 seconds (2 minutes) subframes.  In all, 30 subframes were used for this image for a total integration time of 60 minutes.  All subframes were calibrated using dark, flat, and bias frames in Maxim DL and final image processing was done with Adobe Photoshop CS3.  The scope used for this shot was a Takahashi TSA-102s reduced to f/5.96 (608mm) riding on a Takahashi EM-200 Temma 2 mount.  All subframes were autoguided using a Fishcamp Starfish uncooled guide camera attached to a Orion 80mm f/5 short tube guide scope.

(Click on the image above to view the full-frame image of the Double Cluster.)

More information regarding this image can be found here:

http://astro.wt5l.com/doublecluster_01.htm

Below is the configuration file that I am currently using for executing the FocusMax application with my TSA-102S refractor mated with my Canon XSi (450D) DSLR camera.  The major important parameters are: Move Direction is ‘IN’, Near Focus HFD is ‘7′, Average Right Slope is ‘ 0.172023′, Average Left Slope is ‘-0.172022′, and Average PID is ‘0.70′.  Averages were obtained by using data from 11 successful V-Curve runs.

Download:

Right-click the link below and choose “Save Link As…” to save the document to the computer)

tsa102_canonxsi.ini

Printout:

[Config]
MoveDirection =In
SettleTime =0
BestFocusSampleLimit =5
NearFocusHFD =7
FocusStartHFD =20
StartFocusType =2
SubFrameWidth =200
Exposure =0.20
HighHFDLimit =999999
LowHFDLimit =0.0001
VcurveSteps = 30
VcurveHalfWidth =1250
VcurveStepIncr =-25
InitialFocusPosition =1751
PreviousFocus =1634
WizardVCurveStartHFD = 40
TempMovingAvg = 5
TempLogInterval = 0.5
ConvergenceSteps = 2
ConvergenceSamples = 5
MaxSkew = 1
FocusConvergenceEnable =1
ShowConvergencePlot = 1
CameraDelay = 0
CameraDownloadTimeout = 0
CCDCentralRegionEnable =0
CCDCentralRegionWidthPercent =75
FocusRoutineReturnToStartPositionEnable =1
FocusRoutineMaxHFD =9
DimStarDetectionEnable =0
DimStarDetectionMaximumExposure =32
DimStarDetectionExposureMultiplier =2
DimStarDetectionMinimumFlux =10000
FocusConvergenceSteps=2
FocusConvergenceSamples=5
FocusConvergenceMaxSkew=1
ImageFullFrameCalEnable=0
VcurveImages_Step=1

[User]
FailAttempts = 3
FailTimer = 5
MsgDisplayTime =5
FocusRoutineFailAttempts=3
FocusRoutineFailTimer=5

[System]
RightSlope =0.172023
LeftSlope =-0.172022
PosIntercept =0.70

[Data]
N 2009/02/03 20:20:43 0.01 -0.205661 0.205661 0.0000 0.0000 0 0
N 2009/02/03 21:07:04 0.06 -0.171371 0.171371 0.0000 0.0000 0 0
Y 2009/02/03 21:29:34 0.90 -0.171256 0.171258 0.0000 0.0000 0 0
N 2009/02/03 21:47:03 1.20 -0.171227 0.171232 0.0000 0.0000 0 0
N 2009/02/03 22:03:04 1.39 -0.171214 0.171219 0.0000 0.0000 0 0
Y 2009/02/06 19:51:11 1.09 -0.171941 0.171942 0.0000 0.0000 0 0
Y 2009/02/06 20:07:32 0.68 -0.171839 0.171840 0.0000 0.0000 0 0
Y 2009/02/06 20:24:16 0.95 -0.171634 0.171636 0.0000 0.0000 0 0
Y 2009/02/06 20:59:57 0.21 -0.172082 0.172082 0.0000 0.0000 0 0
Y 2009/02/06 21:15:47 0.57 -0.172015 0.172016 0.0000 0.0000 0 0
Y 2009/02/06 21:32:05 0.59 -0.172294 0.172295 0.0000 0.0000 0 0
Y 2009/02/06 21:51:30 0.69 -0.172353 0.172354 0.0000 0.0000 0 0
Y 2009/02/06 22:07:37 0.91 -0.172144 0.172145 0.0000 0.0000 0 0
Y 2009/02/06 22:24:03 0.06 -0.172478 0.172478 0.0000 0.0000 0 0
Y 2009/02/06 22:40:43 1.07 -0.172211 0.172212 0.0000 0.0000 0 0
N 2009/02/06 22:57:09 1.30 -0.172095 0.172097 0.0000 0.0000 0 0

I have now scanned all my DXCC Certificates and have uploaded images to my website.  These images can be found below and on my personal website here under the section entitled “Certificates and Awards”.

Mixed Mode DXCC Certificate:

(click to enlarge >)

CW Mode DXCC Certificate:

(click to enlarge >)

Phone Mode DXCC Certificate:

(click to enlarge >)

20-Meter Band DXCC Certificate:

(click to enlarge >)

15-Meter Band DXCC Certificate:

(click to enlarge >)