Embedded Files
Steve Boerner
Chesterfield, MO 63017
AL Member-at-Large
Before starting the program I wondered what I might expect to see. The Program's web page does say things like "in many cases you will probably only see a very faint smudge", "there are individual galaxies in some of the groups that are beyond almost all amateur observers " and "You will be able to see at least some galaxies in all of the groups". I shook my head and knew my 12" dob was out but what about imaging? From experience with asteroids and comets, I knew how deep I could go with Slooh scopes. Using SkySafari I investigated how deep I needed to go to be able to see a fair number of the galaxies in the targets. Using the charts in the book and SkySafari I looked at Abell 2152 (randomly picked). This page gave me an idea of what I could expect.
The needed 120 targets for this observing program were imaged using Slooh telescopes. Various Slooh scope/camera combinations were used based on the listed size provided in the AL's Program's book for the groups/clusters and the availability of the scopes. In all cases, the image views are vastly superior to what I could expect to see with my 12" Dobsonian telescope under the typical Bortle 4-6 sky available to me.
See the Slooh Scope tab above or click here for information on Slooh locations, scopes, presets, and weather/sky condition descriptions.
Note: I'm very red/green colorblind so all of the images are monochrome.
Take the link to see:
Once on a page the links to other pages can be found at the bottom.
Image formats and post processing:
Slooh saves images in two formats: fits and jpgs. Slooh calibrates, stacks, and adjusts gamma based on the preset before saving the image as a jpg. Fits are calibrated, and saved but not stacked. For all non OSC images, the generic preset was used.
The Slooh images were post-processed with PhotoShop utilizing curves, sharpening, noise removal, burning, and Carboni's Astro Tools on an as-needed basis. In many cases, the images were severely stretched to bring out fainter members of the group. All images are non-linear.
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