Last night was an unexpectedly pleasing mixture of excellent skies and visitors. After a murky, cold, and windy day, the cloud gods held their convention elsewhere and the skies opened up beautifully for us at DHO. Tony K, Bob O, John R, Mike Z and (new member) Kevin L arrived early to set up and prepare the Cave for a crisp and clear night. After a long twilight, the wind died down, the predicted clouds never arrived, the sky darkened to a inky black velvet texture, and the Milky Way traced a lovely bright path across the entire sky. […]
Jeff Higgins
17 posts
Twelve members took time out of their busy schedules to schlep their gear to DHO for a wonderful night on the hill. The temps outside hovered around freezing once the sun set, but the chartroom was heated and lots of home sapiens added to the warmth…both physically and mentally…and with Mike Z’s thoughtfulness, we had a plethora of Vitamin O modalities to explore…bakery-style, gluten free, and classic Oreo’s to keep us going throughout the night. A few of the observers were die-hard astrophotographers, but there were quite a variety of stargeeks on the lawn. Mike F brought his lawn chair […]
Last night was the first Public Session of the season, and it was a “Winner” Fifteen visitors spent some time with us at DHO under so-so skies, and cool weather, but it didn’t seem to bother them at all. A group of comet watchers spread a blanket out on the lawn and played games until darkness fell, but high clouds and light pollution thwarted views of any Lyrid meteors raining down. Several toured the ground to see what Bob O., Tony K., John R had to offer, I was holed up in the chartroom all night with a large TV […]
Flat frames illuminate where dust, vignetting, and other imperfections in the optical path and are used by imaging software can use the flat frame to compensate when processing the image. Flat frames are used with dark frames and bias frames to round out the calibration set. You don’t need to do any of these frames, but your images will come out better and less noisy if you do. If you disassemble your camera from your telescope, you will want to take flat frames each session because there is no guarantee the camera will have the same alignment when you reassemble […]