[meteorite-list] Vesta, Ceres, Jupiter, AND a meteor

From: Jodie Reynolds <spacerocks_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2012 01:35:54 -0800
Message-ID: <516883533.20121231013554_at_spaceballoon.org>

Hi Charley,

Thanks for the kind words!

MaxIM-DL from Cyanogen has Photometry that can do auto recognition of
guide stars from the catalogs. When I'm trying to find a really dim
comet or nova in a deep star field from the telescope, I'll use MaxIM.

For something like this with a wide star field and lots of bright
guides, I prefer to just do it by hand with even Stellarium (free) or
any other capable planetarium software. By doing that I learn the
sky deeper and deeper each time. Ultimately it makes me a better
observer and helps me walk a big dob in without computerized aiming.

Sometimes dim objects, like these two, require me to dig a bit deeper
into the minor asterisms, hence the excessive annotation.

In the open source space, you might find some useful tools or at
least start places, here: http://tdc-www.harvard.edu/astro.software.html

--- Jodie

Sunday, December 30, 2012, 9:20:19 AM, you wrote:

> Hi Jodie,

> Very nice!

> Timing IS everything, isn't it?

> As a budding astrophotographer, may I ask what you used to annotate the
> shot?

> Best regards,

> Charley

> "Well, squids don't work. Hey! Let's
> try elephants !"

> Hannibal

> Message: 2
> Date: Sat, 29 Dec 2012 20:33:28 -0800
> From: Jodie Reynolds <spacerocks at spaceballoon.org>
> Subject: [meteorite-list] Vesta, Ceres, Jupiter, AND a meteor
> To: 'Meteorite List' <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Message-ID: <1859240655.20121229203328 at spaceballoon.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

> I was out just before moon-rise trying to see if I could catch Vesta, Ceres,
> and Jupiter together.

> Just after I opened the shutter for a 6" exposure, I saw a meteoroid streak
> across the sky apparent heading towards Ain. Very short and dim, I hoped
> it'd be enough to expose at 1000ISO.

> It did! Vesta, Ceres, Jupiter, and a meteor trail in the same frame!

> Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good!

> Here it is with the red channel processed up a little bit to expose it.
> Sorry about the sky noise, I was shooting through a sucker-hole in the
> clouds and the moon was already brightening the sky. No other processing
> other than resize to 1280x1024.

> http://www.spaceballoon.org/vesta-ceres-jupiter-meteor.jpg

> (Canon 50D,17-40L _at_ 40mm,6",f/4, ISO1000, 18:37:04 - 18:37:10 PST
> [02:37 UTC])

> P.S. Pardon the annotations, I needed them for registration to find the
> darned minor planets. ;)



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-- 
Best regards,
 Jodie                            mailto:spacerocks at spaceballoon.org

Received on Mon 31 Dec 2012 04:35:54 AM PST