20 NGC objects from last night - Just the start!

[rogerg]

G'day all,

I've been working on astro a new project of mine lately. I've decided to photograph every NGC object visible from my location. Crazy perhaps, but like my other crazy project (Hubble Deep Field South for example) it has a purpose - build better skills.

To make it happen will require a high level of automation, forcing me to go beyond the lazy attempt I've had so far and methods I have been using for the last couple of years and resulting in being able to better utilise clear nights (hopefully).

Last night and the night before I had my first shot, and acquired 20 galaxies in the hours that I was out there. Couldn't leave it going the first night due to wind, and last night due to thunderstorm risk.

Lots of progress yet to make in improving automation to make it a reality. Have managed to make some progress though.

Each object gets 10 exposures of 30 seconds each, all unguided. Inbetween each exposure is of course a slew, and plate solve attempt. Every 10 or large slew is a re-focus. I should be able to acquire data for about 50 objects each night at this time of year, so I'm trying to ramp up to that.

The processing so far is done as follows:
- reduction and alignment in CCDSoft - somewhat manual task.
- batch processing in photoshop via actions/automation
- 'contact sheet' batch via photoshop to create the final image 'sheets'.

I'm attempting to make some sense out of Iris in the hope that it's command structure will allow automation of reduction and alignment. I suspect I'll give up soon :( never have understood Iris :screwy:. I'm also hoping to find a better method than 'contact sheet' in photoshop such that the file names (NGC designations) can be included in the final image.

Due to the batch nature, I haven't indivudually optimised the image for each individual object.

A nice side effect (if successful) is that I will become more familiar with what objects I should later come back to (that suit my setup), and what all the NGC's actually look like in my setup.

Due to some plate solve issues and data sequence issues in these early batches not all objects are in the centre of the images, but they are all there. The next night will be a good improvement on these I think (with regard to pointing accuracy).

There are 869 currently viewable from my location at 10:00 I think (still perfecting the data query), and I hope to end up with around 3000 out of the 7840 total NGC objects ableto be acquired.

:)

Roger.

[rogerg]

Oh, should have at least included what the NGC's are in one way or another.

From left to right, top to bottom:

1163, 1172, 1179,
1180, 1181, 1185,
1187, 1189, 1190,
1201, 1205, 1217,

2632, 2637, 2642,
2644, 2645, 2648,
2659, 2660.

Oh, and one more thing... it's taken with my ST7 at 1x1, so actual processed images are about 750 x 500 (varies slightly from image to image).

And one last thing: No, I don't expect to post them all here and bore you guy's to tears with 3000 x 30 sec images :lol:

[Dennis]

Brilliant work and a very eye catching presentation Roger. Good luck with the project!

Cheers

Dennis

[Phil]

great start there Roger well done
Phil

[leon]

Gee Roger that is going to keep you off the streets at night, what a great idea.

Leon

[Terry B]

Roger
Have you tried to use Audela (http://www.audela.org/english_audela.php) as your capture program?
It will run the ST7 and most mounts and it is free.
It has a supernova survey function that would automate the slew, capture and simple reduction of the images. You would have to edit the galaxy list that it uses to only include the NGC items but this would not be too hard.
Great project you have started and maybe you could also look for supernovas at the same time.;)

[rogerg]

Perhaps, but ideally once it's running smoothly I'll be back on the streets while it's running :). Nice theory anyhow :)



Interesting, I didn't know about that program - thanks! I am reluctant to move off CCDCommander and start a new learning curve, but I will check it out. The automated processing is what most appeals.



That thought did occur to me :) but I think I'll tackle that learning curve later, after the 5 I have to deal with right now :lol:

[jase]

Good start to the project Roger. If you do intend to start acquiring the data for scientific purposes, keep tools that change pixel values out of the automation sequence. This is the reason why dedicated astronomy software like CCDsoft and MaximDL have screen stretch functions that don't modify pixel values, but stretch the image using a different buffer. As soon as you tamper with the real pixel values, it will be impossible to determine absolute star magnitudes in the data - rather important as you could imagine!

[EzyStyles]

great project you're working on roger. you're gonna be one busy man . :) nice images indeed.

[Ingo]

Brilliant. I'd love to do that sometime, but looks like my equipment wont let me!

Only suggestion would be to label each one.

Great.

[rogerg]

Interesting - I had wondered by CCDSoft did that.

No scientific aspirations with this project, but sometime I'll get to that level of capabilities :)




Yeap, when I work out a quick enough way to do it :)

[Ric]

Hi Roger, a great project you are undertaking. I can see it becoming a useful reference library for those of us who are supernova searchers seeking a second image for comparison.

Cheers