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Horsehead Nebula
Images were taken using various CCD cameras, astronomical telescopes from an AP155, Celestron 11 to a Meade 16 inch apertures and using an AP 1200 GTO mount for precision location and tracking.
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Horsehead Nebula
The programs used for all images were; MaxIm DL CCD, Photoshop, TheSky and Tpoint. Telescopes used were; Astro-Physics 155 EDF, Meade 178ED, Meade LX200 16 inch, Celestron 14 inch and 11 inch and a Leica 180/360 mm camera lens. The mount used was an Astro Physics 1200 GTO. The CCD cameras used were an SBIG ST5c, a Pictor 1616xt (ST8), Maxcam CM10, Pentax 6x7 and a Leica R8. A Feather Touch focuser made by Starlight Instruments was used to achieve focus within .001 inch.
The imaging process involved taking several images of each object and co-adding them together using MaxIm DL. A single dark frame was used for all images of the same exposure time and camera temperature. Temperatures were typically -15C to -20C. When the imaging time was longer than 5 min MaxIm DL CCD was used to guide the telescope, otherwise the telescope was unguided. The long unguided exposures where made possible by the outstanding pointing and tracking ability of the AP1200 mount and a Particle Wave Technologies pier. Film images were guided by an ST5C mounted on a AP 800mm guide scope.
The images were processed in MaxIm DL CCD using FFT, unsharp masking, kernal filters and digital development techniques. The seeing ranged from 2.3 to 2.5 arcsec FWHM.