An evening
with the Centurion 18
On December
18, 2001
The Centurion 18 was rolled out at sun down and the imaging and navigation computers were turned on. At dark, Diptha (Beta Cetus) was centered in the finder and also in the ST-8, then the control system was synced. Fine focus was already to within a few units of ideal from previous nights. Scope was slewed to IC 342 in Camelopardalis. Object was centered in dim focus mode with a 1 second exposure. A guide star was selected from many and exposure began. Focus is re checked as needed during the evening.
You can click on these images to zoom to full size with notations. CCDOPS for DOS was used to obtain images which were saved in SBIG native format. An ST-8e (parallel port) camera was used in a horizontal position. North is up for all images. 5 of the 9 below images are of image of the month or S&T comparison quality.
.
6:40 thru 7:23 PM
Object
IC 342 Camelopardalis
Luminance exposures of 3 @ 5minutes + 3 min each rgb.
8:18 thru 9:01 PM
Object IC 1396 Cepheus
Luminance exposure of 3 @ 5 minutes + 3 min each rgb.
Darks were taken after this for luminance at full resolution and then medium resolution for rgbs.
9:27 thru 9:32 PM
Object NGC 1365 Fornax
One exposure of 5 minutes. Seeing choppy in south. Move on to next object.
9:38 thru 9:43 PM
Object NGC 1232 Iridanus
One exposure of 5 minutes. Seeing is real choppy.
HIGH CLOUDS MOVE IN.
Clouded out to the T.V.
It is clear again
11:35 thru 12:34 AM
Object IC 434 Orion
Horsehead Nebula
Luminance = 5 @ 5 minutes + 5 min each rgb
Darks redone since air temp dropped over 20 F since last set.
1:04 thru 1:47 AM
Object NGC 2264 Monoceros
Cone Nebula
Luminance = 4 @ 5 minutes + 3 min each rgb
1:55 thru 2:21 AM
Object NGC 2537 Lynx
Bear Paw Galaxy
Three exposures at 5 minutes
2:25 thru 3:45 AM
Object M65 & M66
Leo
Luminance = 4 @ 5 minutes + 5 min each rgb
3:59 thru 4:12 AM
Object NGC 3628 Leo
Two exposures at 5 minutes
HIGH CLOUDS MOVE IN
Park scope due south, put mirror cover on and power down. Sleep well.