Kathy's Journey, vol 2

[davina61]

Happy "Susan's" birthday my dear.

[Pema]

@KathyLauren, I'd love to know more about how you got into astrophotography. If you've already written about it here, please feel free to point me to an existing post(s). And no rush; I have plenty of time (or so I believe).

Thank you.

[KathyLauren]

@KathyLauren, I'd love to know more about how you got into astrophotography. If you've already written about it here, please feel free to point me to an existing post(s). And no rush; I have plenty of time (or so I believe).

Thank you.

I have always been interested in astronomy, since I was knee-high to a grasshopper.  I have heard an audio tape of me, at age 4 or thereabouts (yes they had audio tape way back then), talking about the Sun and planets.  However, as I learned more about astronomy, the one thing that stood out is that you can't really see the good stuff just by looking through a telescope.  I knew that I needed to do astrophotography to see the really interesting objects.

I didn't really act on that until, in my 50s, I was living in a truly dark place, an island off the west coast of BC.  There was a tiny bit of light pollution from Vancouver, 100 km or so away, but not much else.  And I had just received an inheritance, so I could afford some decent equipment.

Pretty soon, I was out in the yard every clear night, freezing my butt off and taking pictures.  Digital photography had revolutionized astrophotography, and it was possible for an amateur to get really good pictures.

When we moved to Nova Scotia (because my wife was born here and Nova Scotians are like salmon: they have to return to their place of birth), I insisted that we move to somewhere with dark skies, and that I would build an observatory.  We have moved twice since then, still within NS, and each time, i had the observatory picked up and moved to the new location.

As I got more proficient, I upgraded my equipment.  So, instead of a DSLR, I now use a dedicated astronomy camera, with filters for the primary colours and for some common chemical elements that are found in nebulae.  There is no shortage of interesting targets out there.  I have tried more and more challenging targets.  The dimmest target I have imaged to date took about 24 hours of exposure time.

[Stottie Girl]

I have always been interested in astronomy, since I was knee-high to a grasshopper.  I have heard an audio tape of me, at age 4 or thereabouts (yes they had audio tape way back then), talking about the Sun and planets.  However, as I learned more about astronomy, the one thing that stood out is that you can't really see the good stuff just by looking through a telescope.  I knew that I needed to do astrophotography to see the really interesting objects.

I didn't really act on that until, in my 50s, I was living in a truly dark place, an island off the west coast of BC.  There was a tiny bit of light pollution from Vancouver, 100 km or so away, but not much else.  And I had just received an inheritance, so I could afford some decent equipment.

Pretty soon, I was out in the yard every clear night, freezing my butt off and taking pictures.  Digital photography had revolutionized astrophotography, and it was possible for an amateur to get really good pictures.

When we moved to Nova Scotia (because my wife was born here and Nova Scotians are like salmon: they have to return to their place of birth), I insisted that we move to somewhere with dark skies, and that I would build an observatory.  We have moved twice since then, still within NS, and each time, i had the observatory picked up and moved to the new location.

As I got more proficient, I upgraded my equipment.  So, instead of a DSLR, I now use a dedicated astronomy camera, with filters for the primary colours and for some common chemical elements that are found in nebulae.  There is no shortage of interesting targets out there.  I have tried more and more challenging targets.  The dimmest target I have imaged to date took about 24 hours of exposure time.

You should share some pics on the photography section, I would love to see some of your images.

I am fascinated by Astrophotography and have had a keen interest in the cosmos and all things beyond our planet for most of my life. As someone who loves photography it is something I would like to try as I have gear that would be capable, trouble is I'm a big wuss and am scared of the dark! There's no way I'm going out there on my own! I probably need to find a local group but I'm not really much of a joiner! one day though.

[Pema]

Wow, Kathy. I could ask you questions about this every day. I'll do my best to pace myself.

I live in western Washington State and have been to Vancouver island many times. Victoria is lovely, but the more remote parts of the island to the north are spectacular. Whereabouts did you live?

What telescope(s) do you have? How big is your observatory? Dome and all?

Do you have a gallery somewhere? Do you have photos of your gear and observatory?

Are you mostly a nebula girl or do you do planets and galaxies, too?

OK, I'll stop (for now).

Thank you for sharing this!

[KathyLauren]

Whereabouts did you live?

We lived on Denman Island, one of the northern Gulf Islands, near Courtenay.  I think there was one streetlight on the whole island.

What telescope(s) do you have?

I have a 90mm Mak, a 200mm SCT, and a 280mm SCT.  My main imaging scope is a 200mm f/4 Newtonian.

How big is your observatory? Dome and all?

The building is 10' x 10'.  It has an 8' dome on top.

Do you have a gallery somewhere?

The best gallery of my images is on Astrobin, at: https://www.astrobin.com/users/KathyNS/ 🔗

Do you have photos of your gear and observatory?

Here is one of the observatory:

Are you mostly a nebula girl or do you do planets and galaxies, too?

Nebulae, galaxies and star clusters, mostly.  Sometimes a comet or eclipse if one comes along.  I don't do planets very much because they need different equipment and software.  It's hardly worth the effort, since there are only seven of them.  Eight if you include the Moon.

[Lori Dee ✅]

Wow, Kathy!

Those are great photos. Thanks for sharing!

[Pema]

Oh, my goodness, Kathy. Your gallery is going to keep me busy for quite a while. What an amazing collection. I was pleased to see my old friend M15 there, but I also love the nebulae, galaxies, open clusters... They're all fantastic.

And your observatory... Again, just wow. You're living one of my fantasies. If only I could operate several concurrent lives.

How much time do you spend processing the photos? I see that you're using NINA, and I love that free, open-source software exists for everyone. What a great thing to devote one's time to.

Do you have a wish list of targets?

Thank you!

[Paulie]

Awesome photos Kathy!

[KathyLauren]

How much time do you spend processing the photos?
Do you have a wish list of targets?

My latest photo, which I finished last night / this morning, took about two hours to process.  *This time!*

The first time I processed it, with about 2 hours of exposure time, I realized that I needed a whole lot more time on it.  The second time, with about 4 hours of exposure time, I realized that I needed still more.  This time, with nearly 10 hours, I thought, "That's more like it".  Each time, the processing took about two hours.  And that trial-and-error is part of the process.  So really, it was more like six hours of processing.

I do have a wish list.  Somewhere.  However, during long periods of cloudy nights, such as this winter, my "next" target may have moved out of range.  So mostly, I monitor what other people are photographing and shoot whichever of those targets appeals to me.  That is a great way to learn about new targets.  This one is a perfect example of that.  It is one I had never heard of before.

I also wrote an app that can display on a map of the night sky all the objects of a particular type.  (At least all that I have in my database.)  I can see at a glance from the map which ones are favourably placed.  I use that quite a bit for target selection.

This image is Sharpless 2 - 184, an emission nebula.  The palette is HSO-RGB, meaning that the nebula is displayed using mostly hydrogen light in the red channel, sulfur light in the green channel, and oxygen light in the blue channel.  The stars are in RGB, or natural, colour.

🔗 [Link: astrob.in/88gkk6/0/]

I was pleased to see my old friend M15 there

If you like my globular cluster images, my best is from June 2018, of M-13.  It is probably my best image ever.  It has won several imaging contests, and has been reproduced in two of the best-know amateur astronomy books: The Backyard Astronomer's Guide and NightWatch.

[Lori Dee ✅]

I also wrote an app that can display on a map of the night sky all the objects of a particular type.  (At least all that I have in my database.)  I can see at a glance from the map which ones are favourably placed.  I use that quite a bit for target selection.

@Jessica_Rose has an app or two that identify objects in the sky that I thought were pretty cool. Just point your phone at it, and it shows you what it is and the neighboring objects.

She can tell you more about that and their capabilities.

[Northern Star Girl ✅]

The "sky" iPhone Apps that I use are:
                      Star Chart    and      Sky Guide

As  @Lori Dee  mentioned, just point your phone in the sky, move it around and you
get up to date information and pictures of what you are seeing on your phone screen.

Certainly a wonderful tool for amateur astronomers and sky watchers.  The super bright
skies here where I live, with ZERO light pollution are absolutely stunning.... and add
the bight and where I am the almost overhead displays near the Arctic Circle of the
Aurora Borealis can be so brilliant and colorful,

HUGS, Danielle [Northern Star Girl]