VisualUniverse

iSleepy Dark T-Shirt - CafePress

noreply@blogger.com (VisualUniverse) — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 05:11:00 +0000

iSleepy Dark T-Shirt - CafePress

Time-lapse video of Texas Star Party 2010

noreply@blogger.com (VisualUniverse) — Tue, 25 May 2010 03:43:00 +0000

I shot this time-lapse video of my imaging platform tracking several Milky Way objects:

Texas Star Party 2010 from Phillip Jones on Vimeo.

Texas Star Party 2010

noreply@blogger.com (VisualUniverse) — Wed, 19 May 2010 13:45:00 +0000

Had a great time. My buddy Andy captured video of the Milky Way (and some clouds) crossing over the observing field.

TSP 2010 Time-Lapse from txcheng on Vimeo.

M33 reprocessed

noreply@blogger.com (VisualUniverse) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 03:00:00 +0000

The above image is a reprocessed version of the image below. In a little over 2 years, image processing skills have changed. Hopefully for the better. This M33 image consists of 86 Lum, 60 Blue, 40 Green, 30 Red, and 30 H-alpha. Lots of data there, but in my first processing run 2 years ago, I didn't know how to extract the data from its hiding place.

Today's solar prominence

noreply@blogger.com (VisualUniverse) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 03:01:00 +0000

Captured this today via my little Coronado PST. Dramatic prominence display. Looked great in the eyepiece.

Rho Ophichus photo Explored on Flickr today

noreply@blogger.com (VisualUniverse) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 21:46:00 +0000

On Front Page!

Woot!! Unbeknownst to me, another one of my images had been explored: NGC 253, but it was so low ranked that it didn't generate enough interest to make the front page.

Solar Imaging with Coronado PST

noreply@blogger.com (VisualUniverse) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 03:36:00 +0000

Using my Coronado PST with the Lumenera 2-1M camera on a Tak Teegul mount for capturing the sun. Am impressed more with the visual performance than I am the imaging performance. This will keep me content...for a while. =)

The above solar image was captured on March 28, 2010 with this setup.

Coronado PST double-stacked has arrived

noreply@blogger.com (VisualUniverse) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 04:58:00 +0000

Found this double-stacked Coronado PST on eBay offered as a new item from Highpoint Scientific. It was out there at an unreal price, so I ordered it for solar imaging. First light today with a TeleVue 24mm Panoptic eyepiece blew me away. Without the additional etalon, it looked good. When I threaded the double-stack filter on, the visual contrast and the ability to tune for solar flares was quite wonderful. Very happy with the purchase just from a visual perspective. Of course, it is going to rain tomorrow, so I won't get to try imaging with it just yet.

Frisco StarFest

noreply@blogger.com (VisualUniverse) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 20:08:00 +0000

Weather will be clear tonight. If you live in the Dallas area, join us this evening for our public observing event called Frisco StarFest. The event is located at Frisco Commons Park on McKinney Avenue in Frisco, TX.

noreply@blogger.com (VisualUniverse) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 06:15:00 +0000

Crescent Nebula

Would've posted this earlier, but wanted to shoot the OIII layer to pick up some of the reflection nebula surrounding the Crescent. I'll try again next Fall. For a larger version of this image, click here.

This is an HaLRGB image. I used my Apogee U16M camera with Astrodon Gen2 LRGB and 5nm Ha filters all attached to an Astro-Physics 160 telescope on my Takahashi NJP Temma 2 mount.

noreply@blogger.com (VisualUniverse) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 23:02:00 +0000

Hobby-Eberly Telescope dome at McDonald Observatory in HDR. This is my first HDR image. I shot 3 bracketed images of this last year because I wanted to learn how to do HDR processing. Completely forgot about 'em until last night when I stumbled up on them. I found this HDR Tutorial for PhotoShop CS3 on YouTube:

Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 manual focus lens for Canon EOS cameras

noreply@blogger.com (VisualUniverse) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:42:00 +0000

Yes, such a lens does exist. FedEx will be delivering one to me shortly. The plan is to use this with my modified Canon 350D and sell off my Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 lens. My hope is to obtain even sharper widefield astrophotos.

Cocoon Nebula

noreply@blogger.com (VisualUniverse) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:45:00 +0000

Here's another image I did at the 2009 Eldorado Star Party in Eldorado, TX. The Cocoon Nebula seems to be connected to a trail of dark nebula that hides from us stars in the Milky Way arm. Click here to see a larger uncropped version with details.

This is an HaLRGB image. I added the Ha data to the red channel in PhotoShop to enhance what is a rather faint nebula.

North American Nebula imaged from Eldorado Star Party

noreply@blogger.com (VisualUniverse) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:01:00 +0000

Imaged this at the 2009 Eldorado Star Party a few weeks ago. See larger resolution and image details here.

Eldorado Star Party 2009

noreply@blogger.com (VisualUniverse) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 08:24:00 +0000

Astrophotography is a lot of work: setting up, making sure all components are working, and battling the weather elements. This year, Vance and I decided to try something different: image remotely from inside his camper. I'm controlling my gear via a 50 foot ethernet cable running to a USB-to-ethernet hub. At the time of this post, it is COLD outside. Normally at ESP, I am freezing by this time of night and usually giving up, or reducing my exposure intervals just to get the image over with. Not this year! I am toasty warm inside Vance's RV and running long sub-exposures.

My youngest child just turned 3. I missed his birthday because I'm at this star party. I took this photo of him the day before I left for this trip. He loves riding his scooter.

noreply@blogger.com (VisualUniverse) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 06:49:00 +0000

I attempted to create a template for comparing astrophoto CCD camera chip sizes by their actual millimeter dimensions. Of course, this is a slightly oversized representation. While the sizes relative to each other are accurate, the chips are all a bit smaller.

I'll add more info soon, e.g. pixels, pixel microns, etc...

amateur captures LCROSS in flight to moon

noreply@blogger.com (VisualUniverse) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:28:00 +0000

Paul Mortfield of Ontario, Canada, captured this video of LCROSS spacecraft as it flew by galaxy IC3808. Click the link to see a nice write-up by Tony Phillips of SpaceWeather.com.

Day 15 - Cloudcroft NM area

noreply@blogger.com (VisualUniverse) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 03:23:00 +0000

That's me standing next to the rolloff housing for the Apache Point 2.5 meter Sloan Digital Sky Survey telescope.

Aiden stands next to a National Solar Observatory (NSO) display of the sun. There are some earths next to the sun. The idea is to guess which earth is proper scale next to the sun.

First observatory dome on the NSO grounds. It was made from a grain bin.

Hiking the NSO grounds.

We saw a timber wolf and some deer. I was too slow on the camera and the car brakes to get a pic of the wolf.

This houses a 3.5 meter telescope on Apache Point.

The view from up here is incredible.

Conner enjoyed the infrared interactive display at the NSO museum.

This is a coronagraph at the NSO. By blocking out the solar disc, images of the edge prominences can be obtained in great detail.

Housing for the big solar telescope.

This large solar telescope goes deep into the ground. They use this for a number of activities, including granular detail of the solar surface.

Next to the big solar telescope is light path instrumentation.

No solar observing today.

NSO has a nice visitor center.

I like the street names.

This site was incredible. We saw about half of the main petroglyphs along the trail. A storm caused us to head for safety.

Heading back because of lightning.

Cynde and the kids enjoying the fire in the cabin. We're at 9000 ft and it is cold up here.

Day 14 - no internet in the woods

noreply@blogger.com (VisualUniverse) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 03:16:00 +0000

We are in a cabin in Cloudcroft, NM. Am posting from my phone. Sign on kitchen wall says "do not let children play outside unattended due to bears.

Day 13 - Tucson, AZ - PIMA and Kitt Peak

noreply@blogger.com (VisualUniverse) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 06:26:00 +0000

View from Kitt Peak

This is the 2.1 meter telescope...one of many telescopes on the peak.

We spent a wondeful morning at PIMA Air Museum learning a lot of history and viewing an excellent military aircraft collection. We were occasionally treated to the a pair of A-10 War Hogs and British Tornado fighters doing maneuvers overhead. At 7000 ft elevation, Kitt Peak was about 20 degrees cooler than Tucson. Since the grounds closed at 4:00pm, we didn't get to see as much as we had hoped, but what we did see was educational and the landscape views were fantastic.

Glad the weather cooperated for the views. Too bad the clouds kept the domes shut that night.

Family outside the dome housing the 2.1 meter telescope.

Conner, the presidential history buff, stands near the presidential seal on the plane utilized by Kennedy and Johnson.

Conner stands near a historically significant plane. This plane transported home, upon their release, the Americans held hostage in Iran.

Aiden is like his big brother, Conner, in that he wants to be a pilot.

My little astronaut.

The PIMA museum has a large amount of historical displays, including this one devoted to Gen. Doolittle of Pearl Harbor fame.

The family stands next to a B25. Doolittle architected the Pearl Harbor reactionary plan to get B25 bombers to launch from an aircraft carrier for a bombing run on Japan.

Conner being Conner.

Flag from D-Day. Sign says it was the first flag on Utah Beach on D-Day.

Conner wasn't thrilled about the hike to the 2.1 meter telescope after reading this sign.

The Embassy Suites hotel provides a scenic view of the mountains. We really liked staying here while in Tucson.

Kitt Peak

Conner really wants to be a pilot. He brought up the fact that flying lessons can start in the teenage years.

Aliens were recently discovered on the moon.

Kitt Peak

MiG 29: what an awesome aircraft. Very fast, can hit some seriously high altitude, and very agile. Bet Russia would like to get this one back.

A slice of the moon brought back by lunar astronauts. Sure would like to add that to my meteorite collection. The guy watching over this said it is worth about $10 million, mostly because of shipping & handling.

British Tornado jet coming in for a landing. Tour guide explained that the Brits like to practice maneuvers in Tucson and come out every year.

This solar scope extends deep into the ground to create a 500 ft light path for the solar light.

The Vomit Comet: NASA's weightlessness plane for training astronauts. It would fly in a roller coaster pattern to create the weightless feel.

We love Swensons sticky chewy chocolate. This is one of the things we miss about our hometown of Springfield, MO. Wish we had these in the Dallas area.

Nikon guy goes Canon for vacation

noreply@blogger.com (VisualUniverse) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 06:27:00 +0000

(My Vac Day 12 blog post is below this one.) I love my Nikon lenses. I've been a Nikon guy for 22 years. So what was I thinking when I bought a Canon XSi 450D last year? I bought it for astrophotography. When we were preparing for this 2 week vacation, I originally planned to take my Nikon D90 and an array of lenses. When I envisioned myself lugging around the D90 and 3 or 4 lenses at the various theme parks, I cringed. Decided to take the XSi instead since the body is smaller and lighter, and I only own 2 lenses for it. What could go wrong?

The XSi has done fine...until today. The main dial stopped working. It temporarily stopped working a few days ago, but later it worked. Today, however, it died. Rotating the dial does nothing to change the aperture and/or shutter speed. Back when I realized I was going to take the XSi on this trip, I ordered the battery grip. Thank goodness I did. The grip comes with a dial for vertical use, so I can use that to change the settings.

The lens in the picture above is the wonderful Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 super wide-angle lens. The lens hood you see pictured didn't come with it. That's a replacement. You see...the one time I let someone else (Cynde) carry the camera, the Tokina lens hood vanished...somewhere between the 10th and 1st floors of the Disneyland Hotel on the day of our checkout. I've hauled that camera all over Arizona and southern California and not once did I knock the hood off. Cynde has the camera for 5 minutes and *poof* the lens hood vanishes. You'd think we could just retrace her steps and find it, right? We tried, and no luck. So when I visited OPT, I was glad they had this hood. Problem is this hood threads on, which means I can't use the UV filter in conjunction with it unless I want severe vignetting. The other lens I have is the Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8. It includes a nice 1:2 macro feature at 75mm f.l.

Day 12 - Border Patrol Day

noreply@blogger.com (VisualUniverse) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 05:29:00 +0000

Border Patrol checkpoint. The dog didn't detect anything, so they waved us through.
It was a long drive from San Diego to Tucson. Interstate 8 dips down to the U.S./Mexican border several times. The Border Patrol presence was thick. We saw several roadside busts going down, including a van full of people. The border wall/fence was interesting to see. Much of the drive is very scenic with the multiple mountain regions on both sides of the road. At one point, we dropped in elevation from 4100 ft to 2000 ft within about 5 miles. The temperature increased 7 degrees in that short duration. Tomorrow we will try to hit Kitt Peak visitor's center and Pima Air Museum all in one day.

The fence/wall along the U.S./Mexico border.

Border Patrol chopper patrolling the border.

Closer view of the wall with the American and California flags. Cynde was too scared to let me drive across the bridge. There were two Border Patrol trucks parked in position to monitor the bridge.

The West Inn is the hotel we stayed in for 5 nights in Carlsbad just north of San Diego. We picked this hotel because of the close proximity to Legoland and the beach. The hotel was wonderful. All of the staff were very friendly. The hotel is privately owned and they thought of everything. Every night the hotel provided fresh baked cookies and milk. Our evening schedules centered around this snack event. The morning breakfast buffet was well done (much better than most hotels), and the large lodge area allowed for plenty of room to relax.

Day 11 - San Diego Zoo

noreply@blogger.com (VisualUniverse) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 05:56:00 +0000

This photo reminded Cynde and I of our three sons just as they get busted for rough-housing. Two will try to look innocent while one is pummeled underneath.

I'd like to know who had the bright idea of putting a zoo on a hillside. The trails took us to the bottom of the hill, then back up, then back down, then back up... It's a big, big hill. Anyway, San Diego has a very nice zoo facility, but Conner and Parker claim the Ft. Worth Zoo is better. We had a great time. I avoided posting pictures of the animals since most animals have already been seen. But I did post a select few for reasons that will become obvious as you read below each picture.

So we drove over 1500 miles to see Panda bears, and this is what we saw. I started looking around for hedge trimmers so I could clear the view. Afterall, this was the only zoo exhibit that had a line reminiscent of the Disneyland lines, and we had endured the line to see the famous Panda exhibit. The lady talking through the speaker system,in almost a whisper, explained how delicate the bear is, so they have to wake it carefully. Initial attempts to wake the bear had failed. I'm thinking, "Surely they could nudge this bear off the tree limb, right?" We had to move on since more people were in line behind us to see the panda's back between the leaves.

This was how most of the big cats displayed themselves: laying down in a hidden area. This black jag was the most visible, other than a cub you'll see below.

Most of the koala bears were hiding their faces. This one turned its face just briefly and so I was lucky to get this shot. They are adorable little critters.

Want to entertain meerkats? Bring a silver umbrella. Note the guy on the right with the silver umbrella. As he spun it, closed and opened it, and moved it around, the meerkats would react and the humans would laugh. This was my fav exhibit.

They posed for me!

Too cute.

Conner bummin' that he can't be a pest with his younger brothers. Little does he know that in reality...

Aiden and I watching little monkeys in the trees.

Cynde swears she has had hissing cockroaches invade her office at her employer. Their pest control service guy has yet to see any. I myself have been skeptical of her claim. So when she saw this display case of hissing cockroaches, she immediately identified the culprit. I'm still skeptical.

Aiden loved the otters. As they performed underwater stunts in front of him, he would giggle.

Note the jaguar cub in the background. Not sure if it wants to play with Aiden or see if Aiden would make good cat food.

Aiden and Conner watch the polar bears.

Parker and Aiden examine the rare Mang Pit Viper from China. Its skin is unlike any other snake. The skin is layered like dragon scales.

My family examines the anaconda snake. Thing was huge.

After his bee sting incident, Parker shows his ability to overcome his fear of bees by standing next to a wall of bees.

Parker models his new San Diego Zoo hat.

This polar bear was the only bear to put on a proper display of animal activity. The grizzly, black, speckled, and panda bears were either on strike or didn't get the memo that hibernation ended several months ago.

This rhino suddenly took off to lead all of its audience somewhere. Where could it be taking us?

Over to see the smaller rhino taking a whiz.

What's a Serval? Never heard of it. Very pretty cat.

Conner tries to get Aiden to pose with him and Parker under the zoo sign. Aiden was uncooperative.

Aiden takes a few steps away and then stops in his all too familiar "I'm not gonna do what you say" pose.

Day 10 - Legoland

noreply@blogger.com (VisualUniverse) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 05:27:00 +0000

Griffith Observatory...made entirely of Legos.

Another great day of weather. We visited Legoland, and lucky us...it was Star Wars day. Entire families dressed for the occasion by wearing Star Wars costumes. Sadly, I had on a Star Trek t-shirt...fortunately, I wasn't kicked out of the park. Legoland has numerous large objects made of legos. From animals to vehicles to entire cityscapes. The miniature cities are very detailed and well done, as you can see in the Griffith Observatory photo above.

Volvo XC90 made entirely of Legos.

It is a life-sized build. It sits on actual Volvo wheels/tires.

Parker taking an awkward stance against the Dark Lord.

Conner about to be sliced in half by Darth Vader.

Chewie made entirely of legos.

Droids made entirely of legos.

Cynde hangin' with Imperial Troops.

Winners of the costume contest: a lego version of Obi-Wan and a Jawa.

Another Lego city.

Lego version of NYC.

Lego harbor.

Lego DC.

Lego camping.

Battle of Hoth.

Lego Star Wars chess set.

Family dressed in Star Wars threads. Had I　ｋｎｏｗｎ　ｔｈｉｓ　ｗａｓ　Ｓｔａｒ　Ｗａｒｓ　ｄａｙ，　Ｉ woulda had my family do the same...after much resistance from the dark side in my family.

Large dragon made of legos.

Parker and Conner experience what it is like to be tossed about by a dragon.

Parker, who loves math, stands next to Einstein.

Parker, who is currently taking piano lessons, stands next to Beethoven.

Conner, who is enrolled in theatre class, stands next to Shakespeare.

Conner, who loves American history, stands next to George Washington.

Parker examines his hand just seconds after a bee stung him.

Aiden was at first reluctant to stand next to the dinosaur made of legos. There's a speaker underneath making growling sounds. Took some serious effort to convince the little guy that the dinosaur is made of legos and is not real.

Aiden driving.

Not sure why they are so serious.

What a neat event.

Farewell Legoland. Those lego sets cost about the same as a Nagler eyepiece.

Day 9 of vacation

noreply@blogger.com (VisualUniverse) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 05:57:00 +0000

Kids stand next to the Sea King responsible for 5 Apollo retrievals.

Beautiful weather, but a bit chilly when the wind picks up. The USS Midway is an impressive aircraft carrier. The museum provides a headset for an informative audio tour. Very educational. The aircraft collection consists of only planes and choppers utilized on aircraft carriers. Our visit to the beach was brief, but fun. Temperatures had started dropping, so we didn't stay long. The kids got to see surfers for the first time.

San Diego harbor is beautiful. It is right next to the airport and train station. All modes of transportation going on simultaneously.

Parker ready for his training flight.

Aiden gives orders to the pilot and co-pilot.

Chinook

E-2 Hawkeye...a large plane for an aircraft carrier.

Aiden and Parker inside the Sea King.

F-14 Tomcat

USS Midway

Carlsbad beach

Parker enjoying the ocean.

City slickers on the beach.

Aiden is in his element. A lot more sand here than in his sandbox back home.

Aiden having a blast in the sand.

Conner reacts to the cold water.

Conner contemplating the meaning of life.

USS Midway

Seagull flying overhead.

Surfer about to wipeout.