Here’s a close up view of M13, The Hercules Star Cluster. This is a cropped version on the previously posted image. It definitely has more information to display. In the eyepiece, Hercules looks like a collection of diamonds on a black velvet background. In the big scope, it is one of the most amazing astronomical views I’ve ever experienced. I think I’ll need to hit this again on a night of rock solid seeing… so that I can really show the pinpoint nature of the stars in the core of the cluster.

Astro Photo Details:

* Designation: M13
* Constellation: Hercules
* Magnitude: mag 5.8

Astro Photo Processing Details

* Canon Digital Rebel XTi
* 120s at ISO1600
* PhotoShop CS2 Curves (mac version)
* Astro Physics Starfire 160

I’m finally getting back into my imaging routine… so let’s start things off with one of the gems of the summer night sky… Globular Cluster M13 aka The Hercules Star Cluster. This is simply the finest globular cluster visible from northern locations. It is so big and bright that it looks good in virtually any size telescope… or binoculars. It’s even visible to the unaided skies if you can free yourself from the obscuring effects of light pollution. This was an ideal object to get things rolling again… as it is such a simple object to image (its visible through the camera view finder) and doesn’t require much image processing to get it looking good. It even looked nice reviewing it on the LCD on the back of the camera.

Here’s a wide angle view of the cluster…. taken at prime focus through my Astro Physics Starfire 160 refractor. This is one of the first shots since getting one of my drive motors rebuilt. Thankfully, I’d not moved things… so my alignment is still pretty nice. I’m planning to do a bit of drift aligning in the coming days/weeks… to fine tune this even further.

Astro Photo Details:

* Designation: M13
* Constellation: Hercules
* Magnitude: mag 5.8

Astro Photo Processing Details

* Canon Digital Rebel XTi
* 120s at ISO1600
* PhotoShop CS2 Curves (mac version)
* Astro Physics Starfire 160

More people on this planet should experience skies like they’re supposed to be. Here’s a shot of the summer Milky Way Centered in Sagittarius. Wow!

THIS is what skies look like free from the debilitating effects of light pollution. If this isn’t worth preserving… I don’t know what is :-\

Here’s a shot taken the other night (7/5/08) atop a ridge in Utah’s Uinta Mountains. Located about 10 miles up the Trout Creek drainage at about 9400′, we’re prepping for what would turn out to be an amazing night of observing. That’s me and the ObDob posing in front of a gorgeous alignment (moon, regulus, mars and saturn).

Skies above Trout Creek were easily mag 7… with amazing transparency and pretty nice seeing. We spent the night visiting with old friends (M13, M51, M57) and enjoying the wonders of the summer Milky Way.