Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner near M37

Here's my take on Comet 21P.   Data taken from my backyard with a Tak E130D reflector through the old Canon T3i.   72 x 60 seconds lights, 20 darks, 40 flats, 60 bias frames.   Processed though PixInsight.   Lights collected on 9/10/2018.

It was my first sojourn with the Tak E130D.   I spent the whole day (4-5 hours) trying to the get
the collimation figured out.    It's a horrible system.   When you move one of the three rear screws, it CHANGES what the other two screws do.  If one screw moved the laser up and down, after you change another screw, that prior screw then moves the laser right and left.   There is a chance it will work predictably, then with one more turn, it moves un-predictably.

It took me a week of trying to figure out how to get "CometAlignment" to work in PixInsight.  Like all new processes in PI, the learning curve was steep and I had to redo portions of the image over and over.   Online tutorials are awful as they cover a previous version of the process.  I took 7 pages of notes trying to understand the setttings.   Toward the end, I figured out I could improve the image by starting all over again, but at this point, that's not going to happen.   Hopefully, I can apply what I learned to 46P/Wirtanen in December.

The comet was barely visible through 8x40 binocs.   The head of the comet was quite apparent as a large fuzzy and faint star.   The tail was not apparent at all visually.

Solar Oven

Back in May I gave a presentation at Basis for a Solar Astronomy Day event.

One of the projects was to build a solar oven to make smores.   I tried 3 different designs -- all were painted black with flat black enamel from Home Depot.  The most successful design is pictured above. 

I recycled a box of caulking (yay for never ending house projects) by cutting a large hole, then covering the hole with saran wrap which was taped to form a rough seal.   After I placed the goodies in the box, I also taped it shut.   After 30 minutes in the mid-day sun, I had some nice smores.   The other two boxes did not have windows and they were generally 10 degrees cooler than the cellophane window box.   I was a little surprised as I assumed that the closed black box would be the hottest.   I guess good ole direct infrared energy is the most efficient way of delivering heat.

Schroter's Valley and Aristarchus

Data acquired on 8/6.  Through the 13.4" f/4.7 dob handheld.   Used the QHY5L-II, my guide camera.   Shot around 40 minutes of video, but had only maybe 2-3 minutes of usuable frames.   Stacked with Autostakkert, processed in PS.

Initially, I tried using wavelets in Registax to enhance the sharpness, but I found that it blew out details more readily than using the Raw Camera Filter in PS.

There is a sharp drop-off in detail outside the central 1/3 area.   Partly, this is due to the fact the
central area is raised like a mesa.   I found the focus to be extremely shallow -- the slightest movement made it unusable.  I also think the outer areas are suffering from coma as well.  So, I definitely plan to use the Paracorr next time.    Another thing to mention is that the dynamic range of the QHY5L is awful.   All the peripheral areas of the original frame are either blown out or in complete darkness.

Closest I'll ever get to Chile

 VS

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