Stardust for lucky stargazers

The Moon and the planets

2015-06-23T22:18:00.002+03:00

It's been a while since I last posted something, but the month of June has been one of close encounters on the evening sky and I couldn't help myself. July promises to be just as good :)

This is a time when two of the brightest planets draw closer and closer together. The Moon just happens to join in. That's why, sometimes, there are interesting patterns to be seem high above.

On the 20th of June, the three formed an equilateral triangle:

The Moon, Venus and Jupiter
Nikon D90 @ 25mm
ISO320, f/5.6, 1.3 sec

The Moon, Venus and Jupiter - close-up on the equilateral triangle
Nikon D90 @ 158mm
ISO320, f/5.6, 1.6 sec

Last night, the three celestial bodies teamed up in another formation - a straight line this time. All, under the watchful eye of Leo.

"Straight lines in the sky" starring: The Moon, Regulus, Jupiter and Venus
Nikon D90 @ 25mm
ISO100, f/6.3, 20 sec

Looking forward to July!

The constellation of Delphinus

2015-03-04T23:43:00.001+02:00

I recently went through some old files, images I've taken last year in August, during the annual astro-camp. That's how I found a few images of constellations - Delphinus among them.

In my opinion, this is one of the easiest constellations to find - its shape is very suggestive of the marine mammal it represents. There's nothing really noteworthy about it, maybe just Gamma Delphini (the tip of the Dolphin's snout) - an optical double star.

The constellation of Delphinus and Altair

What we lack in astronomical details, we can compensate with trivia :)

The alpha and beta stars are called Sualocin and Rotanev. There was no apparent meaning to the names until reverend Thomas Webb found out that spelled backwards, the two stand for Nicolaus Venator. And that's the Latinized name of Niccolo Cacciatore, the observer who named them. Apparently, it was all a prank, but the star atlas published in 1814 included the two names without comment.

In the Chinese culture, the body of the Dolphin forms what is known as the "Good Gourd".

In Romanian star charts, it's known as "The Little Cross".

In the end, a few "technical" data about this image:
- Canon 450D and an 18-55 mm lens @42 mm
- ISO 1600, f/5.6
- 4x240sec
- stacked with DSS, with a bit of post-processing in Photoshop
- Valea Frumoasei, Romania, on August 26th, 2014

My first attempt at processing The Orion Nebula (M42) with Photoshop

2015-02-25T16:37:00.001+02:00

In January I spent an astro-weekend in the mountains, the sole purpose of which was to acquire as many "lights" as possible, for as many objects as possible. And I'm still processing and re-processing a bunch of them.

Below is a picture of the Orion Nebula (M42) and The Running Man Nebula (NGC 1973, 1975 and 1977), processed in Photoshop. This is my first time processing something in Photoshop to this degree - I can safely say I've never spent so much time on a photo before.

The Orion Nebula and The Running Man Nebula
17 min of exposure (30s, 60s and 90s)
Canon 450D and Stellarvue ED80
post-processing: DSS and Photoshop

I'm pretty happy with the result! :)

The Horsehead Nebula

2015-01-27T17:58:00.003+02:00

Last weekend I went to the mountains (at Plaiul Lisei, near Sambata de Sus), to spend a few nights under the stars. The weather was bound to be good at the destination and I was finally in posession of almost everything I needed for astrophotography (minus a polar scope - but there's something "magical" about doing a polar alignment by instinct and with the help of more experienced friends).

After 2 nights of stargazing, I left Plaiul Lisei with images of the Orion Nebula, the Horsehead Nebula, the Pleiades, and comet Lovejoy, among other things.

This is my second attempt at post-processing images with PixInsight (my first attempt was on M42). I think the finished product looks a lot better this time. I also tried not to pull too much on the Saturation curve :)

Alnitak and the Horsehead Nebula
1 exposure of 90 sec, at ISO 1600

Alnitak and the Horsehead Nebula
7x90sec + 5x60sec, at ISO 1600
stacked with DSS and postprocessed with PixInsight

There are several interesting objects to be found in this picture, some of which I've managed to identify by myself. These are:

Alnitak (Zeta Orionis or 50 Orionis) is one of the three bright stars that make up the asterism known as the Orion's Belt. It's actually a binary system, about 800 light years away from Earth. The primary star is blue-white in colour, proof of the high temperature on the surface (at about 50,000K it is nine times hotter than the Sun). Also, its brightness gives it a magnitude of +1.7, making it one of the most visible stars in the sky.
The Flame Nebula (NGC 2024) is a gaseous region illuminated by the supergiant Alnitak, with dust lanes that resemble a tree in flames, hence the name.
The Horsehead Nebula and IC 434 - at about 1,500 light years away, IC 434 is the bright nebulous region (an emission nebula) near the star Alnitak, pinkish in colour (due to the ionized hydrogen), against which you can see a dark region in the shape of a horse's head. The Horsehead Nebula (B33) is one of the most recognizable objects in the sky. Shaped as a horsehead, this dark nebula is illuminated by the nearby star Sigma Orionis and is a birthplace of stars.
The Lump Star (NGC 2023) is improperly named a star, since it is actually a bright reflection nebula, illuminated by a very hot B-type star. 4 light years wide, it is one of the largest such nebulae in the sky.
IC 431, 432 and 435 are all reflection nebulae, located around bright stars.

My set-up:

- Canon 450D

- Stellarvue SV80ED refractor

- EQ 3.2 equitorial mount

Images taken on January 17th, 2015, at Plaiul Lisei (Romania).

Conjunctions in August 2014 (part 1/2)

2014-11-03T22:34:00.000+02:00

As winter sets in, I remember fondly the beautiful and mild summer that has just passed, with its breathtaking sunsets and nice weather... And sometimes conjunctions in the evening sky. :)

Speaking of, here are some photographs I took on August 29th, illustrating the conjunction between the crescent Moon and Spica (the alpha star in the Virgo constellation). All pictures were taken in Bucharest, at dusk.

Moon and Spica above Bucharest, at dusk
Canon, ISO400, f/5, 1/20sec, 135mm

Moon and Spica above Bucharest
Canon, ISO800, f/5, 1/3sec, 85mm

crescent Moon on Aug 29th, 2014
Canon, ISO400, f/5.6, 1/13sec, 300mm

crescent Moon in Bucharest (with crane :) )
Canon, ISO400, f/5, 1/20sec, 135mm

crescent Moon - Spica - crane
Canon, ISO800, f/5, 1/3sec, 85mm

conjunction between the Moon and Spica
Canon, ISO800, f/5, 1/3sec, 205mm

Orion, the Hunter

2014-09-05T22:58:00.000+03:00

The constellation of Orion is one of the most beautiful in the entire sky; and one that is easily recognized, too. Although from the southern hemisphere, the Hunter is upside down and that's a bit weird to see.

The brightest stars are:

Betelgeuse (on the right shoulder), meaning "the hand of Orion" (Arabic) - is a supergiant red star. So massive in fact, that if this star were at the center of the Solar System, it would extend beyond the orbit of Jupiter. But at its current distance of 640 light years away, it's the ninth brightest star in the sky.
Rigel (on the left foot) - is actually a triple star system, all of them shining in the blue-white spectrum. Rigel is the seventh brightest star in the sky.
Bellatrix (left shoulder) and Saiph (right foot) complete the Hunter's body
Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka create the asterism known as the "Orion's belt" - south of it is the sword - The Orion Nebula (M42). But M42 is the subject of another post.

For now, here is the Hunter rising above Valea Frumoasei, in the early hours of the morning of August 26th, 2014.

Orion, the Hunter, rising in Valea Frumoasei

Technical data
- camera: Canon 450D
- lens: 18-55 mm at 25 mm
- mount: EQ 3.2
- exposure: 2 min (single shot)
- ISO: 1600
- date: Aug 26th, 2014
- location: Valea Frumoasei, Romania

M42

2014-09-02T09:26:00.000+03:00

M42 - The Orion Nebula

M42 and Orion's belt - a 2 min exposure at 200 mm

The picture below was obtained by stacking 5 exposures, each 2 minutes,
4 dark frames and 10 bias. I used a Canon 450D with a 75-300 mm lens, at 200 mm, f/5 and ISO1600.
After stacking the image with DeepSkyStacker, I used PixInsight for post-processing - my first try ever.

I might mave exaggerated a bit with the Curves Transformation tool :)

M42 and Orion's belt - 10 min

a brief stay with the Kiwis

2014-07-07T23:08:00.001+03:00

Back in the autumn of 2012, I took a trip to Australia and New Zealand. Several months have passed since then (more than several, actually :) ), but while flipping through some of the many photos I took on that occasion, I felt the need to write about the things I've seen and experienced.

First, here's a map of this short tour, with the few places I've visited on the North Island:

Nau mai! Haere mai! (Welcome to Aotearoa)

Stay tuned, part one will follow in just a few days, as soon as I've finished selecting and giving some finishing touches to my photos.

... planes, aerobatics and lots of fun ...

2013-07-30T00:41:00.000+03:00

Every year, in July, fans of airplanes and aerobatics face the perils of intense heat to participate at the Bucharest International Air Show, a.k.a. BIAS.

The first time I went to BIAS was in 2012 and I was absolutely mesmerized by the incredible skill demonstrated by the participants. So it was only natural to go this year as well.

BIAS 2013 in a few words: intense heat, great aerobatics, intense moments! And most of all: Jurgis Kairys, the Aerobatic Yakers, the Hawks of Romania and Luca Bertossio.

A few photos, for now :)

Romanian's Air Club Extra 330 SC

"to the right", by Extra 330 SC

a lone bee... Baltic Bee

the Baltic Bees tying a knot

Baltic Bees formation

"follow the leader" with the Baltic Bees

spinning around with the Extra 330 SC

Hawks of Romania, escorting an 737

star-shapes

Aerobatic Yakers in romanian colors

Aerobatic Yakers in black and white

the Aerobatics Yakers

watching the Yakers

Jurgis Kairys, doing a corkscrew

Jurgis towards the sky

admiring Jurgis

See you soon!

Getting to Oz

2013-04-29T22:37:00.000+03:00

Australia... a country far, far away, a lot further than you would think by looking at the globe. But, as I was to experience, it really is at the end of the world... at least from my corner of the world...

So, the first logical step of any trip preparation is to handle the logistics. And if Dorothy was swept by a tornado and taken to Oz, why shouldn't I get there in a similar fashion? Well, not by a tornado, obviously, but by air, the fastest way to travel nowadays. Even so, it took me and my friends 2 days to reach Sydney.

We left Bucharest on the morning of November 2nd, 2012, at 8 am and we landed in Sydney two days later, on November 4th, at 7 am, with just two stops on the way: Istanbul, Turkey and Abu Dhabi, UAE. Maybe we could have achieved a better time, but we were pretty stressed out about missing our flights, so playing it safe seemed like a good bet. After all, we were going eclipse chasing, not on a mere holiday and getting there was of the essence!

So, a one and a half hour flight from Bucharest, a pit stop in Istanbul for eight hours with a quick tour around the city (and I mean quick - as quick as a city tour double decker can take you), a three and a half hour second flight, a five hour short stop in Abu Dhabi's terminal and off we were on our last portion of our trip: the fourteen hour long flight to Sydney. And that's a looong flight. You can sleep for a few hours, eat about three meals and watch at least three movies, all while checking your progress on the map. And trust me, sometimes it can feel like you've made no progress above the ocean, although the airplane is moving at fantastic speeds.

I'm not sure how Dorothy felt in her house while up in the air, but I grew restless at one point and I couldn't wait to get there, to finally stretch my legs, smell the fresh air, feel the breeze and catch some sunlight. :)

In the end, we did land in a faraway place: so similar, yet so different from anything in the Old World, so new and yet so old... And just so you have an idea how far away a place it is, look at these numbers...

Directions from Sydney

Next time, I'll tell you all about my first day in Sydney.

The Small Magellanic Cloud - a first attempt at stacking and processing

2013-04-13T17:39:00.000+03:00

My trip to Australia was not just to catch the total solar eclipse, but it was also an opportunity to do some astro-photography, something I'm completely new at. The most I've done so far is take photos with my camera and a tripod.

This is my first attempt at post-processing and stacking. The image below is a stack of 11 images of 140 seconds, coming up to a total of 25 minutes and 40 seconds of exposure.

Small Magellanic Cloud

A few details about this image:
Date and place: Nov 7th, 2012, Australian Dessert (near Uluru)
Camera: Canon 450D
Lens: Canon 50 mm, at 50 mm and f/2.0
Exposure: 11 frames x 140 sec
ISO: 800
Mount: EQ 3.2

And now I'll tell you a little bit about what I did in the post-processing stage.

First, I had to stack the light frames, the darks and the biases. A great software to do that is DeepSkyStacker, but seeing as I had never done it before, I needed help. Doug German has some great tutorials on youtube. I recommend his other tutorials as well: they're easy to follow and very helpful.
I also watched his Basic Processing in Photoshop tutorials and I used this info to process the image after stacking it.

So, basically, after stacking, I did some levels, curves and applied some filters in Photoshop. So far, this is the extent of my knowledge regarding post-processing. I plan to get back to this photo after I've learnt more.

See you soon!

Australia and New Zealand - part 1

2013-03-26T23:15:00.002+02:00

Recently I took a trip to the countries down under to watch the total solar eclipse of 2012. This is the story of how this trip went and what I saw there...

I will not bore you with the details of the trip to Australia just yet (maybe on a later post :p ), but I'll show you a preview, a "best of" if you will, of what's to come.

This... is Sydney :

Financial Centre

purple tree and moon, early morning

The Sydney Opera and Bridge at night

Sydney at night

Sydney at night, tilted

And because Sydney offers some interesting wildlife, here are some of my favourites:

Humpback whales: mother and calf

Humpback whale waving its tale

Medusas :)

Meeting at twilight

Rex, the crocodile, eager for visitors :)

I didn't stay just in Sydney, after all the country is full of wonderful places to visit:

boats in Cairns harbour

out on the boat

coral reefs straight ahead!

tornado in sight. beware!

Uluru / Ayers Rock

yep, definitely watch out for kangaroos out here

Kata Tjuta

Uluru at sunset

And now that you've seen some of the beauties of Australia, let's move to its neighbour, New Zealand:

Rotorua, North Island

Maori boat - details

Rotorua museum, before sunset

same Rotorua museum, just closer

Mount Ngauruhoe, at the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, a.k.a "Mount Doom" (Lord of the Rings)

The Emerald Lakes, inside the Tongariro Alpine Crossing

Wellington harbour

Wellington at night

Stay tuned for a more detailed account of my adventures in these wonderful places.

Panstarrs comet - revisited

2013-03-24T21:41:00.000+02:00

I decided today to play a little bit in Photoshop and see what I could do with one of the photos I took of the comet last week.
I adjusted the curves and levels a little bit, and I applied Color Dodge to the layers. This is the result:

I realised in my previous post I didn't write anything about the settings used to take the shot, so here they are:
Place: Fundulea, Romania
Camera: Canon 450D
Lens: Canon 75-300 mm zoom lens at f/5
Exposure: 10 sec
ISO: 1600
Mount: tripod

Cometa PANSTARRS

2013-03-18T00:25:00.000+02:00

De cometa Panstarrs am auzit anul trecut, ca fiind una dintre cele 2 comete mult asteptate ale anului... Avand in vedere noua mea pasiune pentru astrofotografie, de-abia am asteptat momentul sa isi faca aparitia si in emisfera nordica. Iata ca a sosit momentul mult asteptat, dar cometa se afla ascunsa bine de tot in spatele unor nori grosi... Din fericire, dupa cateva zile, am avut si o seara cu cer senin :)

Am lasat balta tot si am plecat, cu alti pasionati, sa vanam cometa :D
Unde? Pe un camp de langa Fundulea, la 20-25 km de Bucuresti - o zona propice astrofotografiei, din categoria "mai bine de atat nu se poate" langa capitala.
Cand? Vineri, 15 martie, ora 19.00-19.30

Singurul aspect negativ: vantul puternic, de aproximativ 40-50 km/h, ce iti taia respiratia si cobora mult temperatura ambientala. Ma bucur doar ca am avut prevederea sa-mi iau manusile. Chiar si asa, degetele mi-au inghetat dupa cateva minute. In fine, nimic nu se castiga fara sacrificii, nu? :)

Iata si cele mai bune rezultate ale serii:

Imaginile au fost facute cu un aparat Canon 450D si cu un obiectiv 75-300mm, 5.6 zoom lens.
Singura prelucrare a fost un usor crop al primelor 2 cadre.

Update... sort of...

2012-08-23T23:31:00.000+03:00

Well, I'm guilty of neglect, I admit it. I haven't posted anything on this blog in what feels like forever.

I haven't been idle, though.

Following the transit of Venus, I've been busy planning the trip to Australia and New Zealand for November's total solar eclipse and I've went to an Astrocamp, organized by the local Astroclub. It was great! I'll have to write about that in a separate post.

Oh, I finally learned how to focus using liveview! :)
Big accomplished for moi ;)

I plan on working on some photos this weekend so maybe... just maybe :D ... I'll have a new post by the end of the week...

The Transit of Venus - 06.06.2012

2012-06-18T01:33:00.001+03:00

One of this year's most important astronomical event has come and gone. It's been almost two weeks since the event, but only now I've managed to work on the photos and find some quiet time to update my blog.

First and foremost, it's been a wonderful adventure, one that I will always remember fondly.

This adventure starts Tuesday evening, on June 5th, with pretty glum weather forecasts. It seems like the best chance for a clear sky lies about 150-200 km west from Bucharest. There's also a chance the skies will clear at about 150-200 km east. So... what to do and which direction to take. After all, the next transit is in 2117 so... no pressure. My team decides to go west, while the other members of the Bucharest Astroclub decide to go east. I feel like a tornado chaser, only we're chasing patches of clear skies :)

I pack my borrowed equipment (since I don't have a scope of my own yet), my cameras and my tripod and off we go. We leave the city at about 11 pm, just in time to make it to the selected site by sunrise. No incidents on the way, we pick a nice wheat field almost in the middle of nowhere and we set our equipment with time to spare...

By 5.30 am the sky looks clear, but awful winds threaten the sunrise... As it is, the sunrise comes and of course, in accord to Murphy's laws, the event happens behind a thick curtain of clouds... For the next minutes, we're all on edge looking at the sky and hoping that the winds will move the clouds fast enough so that we might actually see something.

As if our prayers were listened to, at about 6.25 am the Sun makes a quick appearance (for a few minutes) and then hides behind the clouds again. I am able to take a few photos, but my settings are off, so they're underexposed... (as you can see). In my defense, it's the first time I've photographed the sun with a filter on and I was expecting an ISO of 200 or 400 to be enough...

06:30:54 am; Corabia, Romania

06:38:50 am, Corabia, Romania

The next hour is horrible for me. With only these images taken until now, I'm almost in a state of panic. All I could think of was that I really needed to get at least one good photo of the transit.

Apparently, someone loves me up there, because in the last half hour of the transit, the sky clears and the sun is waiting for the photo session.

Here are a few of my photos. They're not processed too much... They're also a bit out of focus because the winds were really strong and my mount was not one of the sturdiest...

07:424:42 am

07:29:20 am

07:32:32 am

07:35:44 am

07:36:56 am

07:37:54 am - the Third Contact

07:38:46 am - the Third Contact

07:41:46 am

07:46:50 am

07:49:34 am

07:52:04 am

07:53:46 am - almost gone now and the Forth Contact is almost here

07:54:58 am - Venus is gone

All in all, it's been an incredible adventure and I'm looking forward to the next "hunt".

First photos of 2012

2012-01-01T18:19:00.001+02:00

Happy New Year everyone!

2012 starts with the first night with clear skies in weeks. So I could not pass up the opportunity to take some photos from my balcony: one with the Moon and Jupiter and one with Venus above the city.

The pictures may not be my absolute best, since I feel pretty rusty. It's been a long time since I found the time to indulge in my new hobby. One of my New Year's Resolutions is to practice more.

In the meantime, here is the photo of the Moon and Jupiter (Jupiter is the small dot on the far left of the Moon):

And here is Venus above the city, as seen from my balcony:

First star party

2011-09-02T23:39:00.000+03:00

Last Saturday night I went on my first star party. It was a small one, with only 15-20 people present. But I had a lot of fun, despite the cold temperatures in the wee hours of the morning.
I learnt a few important things on this occasion:
1. if people say to dress warmly, then you should listen to them. There is definitely a big difference between night temperature in the city and in the fields, even in summer. 2-3 warm jackets are a good idea, an extra pair of trousers, some gloves even...
2. hot tea / coffee is not only welcomed... it's very welcomed. A sip of a hot beverage can make a whole lot of difference. And if it happens to energize you, all the better. The purpose is to stay up as long as possible and take as many photos as you can.
3. buy a flashlight. one of those that you can wear on your head and has two settings: white light and red light. Red light is extremely useful and does not affect your night vision.
4. bring extra batteries - I didn't actually need one this time and I don't even have one at the moment. But it's a thing to remember and invest in. Also applicable to extra memory cards.
5. food is needed - one item on the list I got right :)

I took a lot of pictures that night and I saw a lot of shooting stars. I'm gonna have to find some time in the next few days for post-processing these photos. I can't wait to see what I'll be able to produce.

The Big Dipper revisited

2011-08-24T01:11:00.000+03:00

With a little help from a friend from the "Canon DSLR Digital Astro" yahoo group, I managed to tweak my image a little bit. I think it looks better :)

The method I used can be found here: http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/b.macdonald/gallery/Stars&DSOs.htm. It was a bit tricky at first, but I nailed it in the end (at least at for my current level of absolute beginner).

Thank you Chuck for your help, and thank you Blair for writing the tutorial :)

I've also worked on another photo - The Scorpio. The entire constellation is not visible, only the head and the heart - Antares. This image was taken from my balcony so there's a lot of light pollution. Pretty much the same settings as before.
I've lost a little of the red of Antares in post-processing, but I'll correct it as soon as I know how.

Here it is:

If I thought taking astro-images was a bit hard, well... post-processing seems equally hard. But I'm not giving up :D

The Big Dipper

2011-08-21T21:45:00.000+03:00

One of my first tries in taking constellation pictures : The Big Dipper. Right now it's unprocessed because I haven't found a way to process it and be satisfied with the result. Actually, I like the raw file better than I do the processed image.
I'm still reading about how to prcess images, so hopefully I'll come back to this shot soon and post a processed version.

This picture was taken in the center of town, in a park, with a Canon 450 Xsi camera and a tripod.
Settings: ISO 400, 10 sec exposure and f/4.5 with an 18-55 mm lens.

You can see Alcor and Mizar clearly :) I don't have great eyes, so this is the first time I see the two :)

2011-06-28T21:55:00.000+03:00

This is the first image I actually processed with a special stacking software - DeepSkyStacker. It's a great and easy to use program, but I still have to discover all it's functionalities.
This image is the result of stacking several pictures I took with my Nikon D90 camera and a telephoto lens. Because I didn't know at the time I would need dark and flat frames, I didn't take any. So this is the result of stacking only light frames (the images).
Now I have to discover how to keep the color in the final picture ;)

Saturn and Porrima

2011-06-08T01:08:00.000+03:00

My latest photo - unedited.
I know it's not much, but for someone who is just starting, it's a lot :)
Saturn is on the left and Porrima (the second brightest star in Virgo) is on the right.

Flowers

2011-01-10T22:42:00.000+02:00

Today I want to share with you some flowers :)

Japanese rose

Paradise flower

The Zodiacal Light

2011-01-09T21:34:00.000+02:00

The following photographs of the zodiacal light were taken on La Palma island

The Pleiades, Cassiopeia and Andromeda Galaxy

2011-01-09T19:52:00.000+02:00

Pleiade - Cassiopeia - Andromeda Galaxy

One of my first attempts at astrophotography.