Training

1
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
2
Planning an Imaging Session

• or
• What to do when the sun is up

3
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

4
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

5
A Good Night
6
Organizing a session

• Three things need to be considered

• Setting up your equipment

• Selecting Objects

• Viewing and imaging effectively

7
Organizing Your Equipment

• Testing new equipment

• Power and connections

• Computers

• and, your Telescope

8
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

9
Battery Power

• You can never have enough

• Cold (lt10 C) greatly reduces battery life

• Take a second battery, theyre light!

• Have a plan to move to another source

10
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

11
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!

12
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

13
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

14
Its Dark, Now What?

• Pick an object, any object

• Use your scope visually?

• Panic?

Execute your Objects to Image plan!!!
15
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

16
Selecting Objects

• Determine what you want to view or image

• Galaxies, Nebula, Clusters, Doubles, 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

17
Selecting Your Images - Size

• Pick images that match your scope and camera

• We all want to see NGC 6826, but its pretty
  small

18
Selecting Your Image - Brightness

• Pick objects that you can actually see

• NGC 1560 looks big and bright in The Sky

4 hours later
19
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!
20
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

21
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

22
Selection Tools
NGCView
Sky Tools
23
Framing Tools
TheSky CCD View
TheSky Wide View
24
Sanity Check Tools
Vickers CCD Atlas
STScI Digitized Sky Survey
25
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

26
An Evenings Wish List
Cocoon NGC 891 NGC 253
Horsehead NGC 256 M1
Helix Neb NGC 7814 IC 342
Note how short the list is. Take time to enjoy
the objects
27
NGC 891 Plan

• NGC 891

• Image from 1030-200

• Finish before meridian flip

• Note that camera must flip

28
Focus Philosophy

• Focus early, focus often

- Each Robofocus unit is 0.001 - For my
refractor, the depth of field is about /-.003
Temp C RoboFocus
9.7 2050
8.3 2047
6.5 2042
5.0 2040
4.1 2038
2.8 2033
(2050-2033)/(9.7-2.8) .0025/C
29
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
30
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

31
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

32
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