My Observatory  BBO Canada (Blue Braille Observatory)

     The Observatory was built in 2011 with help from Friends, Family, and encouragement from my wife.  Most of the materials used was reclaimed lumber, and supplies from the local Re-Store.  The total cost was under $1500.00.  It is an 12 x 8 foot structure, with an 8' x 8' roll off roof  open observatory, and a 4' x 8'  ft. heated warm room.     

     The warm room is where all the work is done.  Here I can spend hours in comfort, controlling the telescope, and cameras.

Equipment from Left to Right
Lostmandy Gemini GoTo mount controller,  Samsung 19" LCD monitor,  LG 24" HD LED Monitor, Sony 14" Trinatron TV Monitor(old 1980s TV) below are 2 Moto Focus controllers, Moonlight, and JMI.
There is also a Windows 7 PC to run everything, and Altec Speakers, with Sub for some Kick Ass Sound.

 The open section of the Observatory holds the mount, and telescopes

The mount is a Losmandy G11 with Gemini I  GoTo Computer.

The telescopes
1 -My new Tele Vue NP101 f5.4 APO Refractor It is used for all my wide field photography.
2 - Celestron Ultima C8 f10 SCT.  using it with a f6.3 reducer,  It is perfect for imaging smaller objects like galaxies, and globular clusters.  It is also Fastar compatible which makes a very fast f2.0.
3 - Lunt Solar LS60T Ha.  It is a dedicated 60mm solar telescope.  Used only for viewing, and imaging the sun.

Other equipment includes a Celestron 70mm scope with an attached Orion Starshoot guide camera.  The auto guider enables me to take very long exposures with my camera by correcting the motion of the mount, keeping the target from drifting. 

    Here are a few shots of the moon I captured Tuesday evening.  There was a slight haze, but the seeing was steady.  These images where taken using my C8, Canon XSi, and BYEOS.  The avi's where stacked using Registax with final processing in Photoshop.  I love some of the long shadows.  Looks like I just missed the "Lunar X". 

The Whirlpool Galaxy is located 31 million light years away. It consists of two galaxies that accompany one another, the larger one being M51 (Messier 51) and the smaller one is NGC 5195.

This image was taken last week from my backyard Observatory.  I used my Celestron C8 telescope, with my Canon T3i (600D)

 

8 x 360sec. exp. at 1600iso

 

The RAW images where pre-processed in CS6, The TIFF files where stacked  using Deep Sky Stacker, then the combined image was further processed with Photoshop CS6e, using the NIC Collections "Detail Extractor".  These new tools have become my  favorite for image processing.

Messier 83 (also known as the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, M83 or NGC 5236) is a barred spiral galaxy^[ proximately 15 million light-years away in the constellation Hydra. It is one of the closest and brightest barred spiral galaxies in the sky,

     I was out till 2:00am this morning capturing this image.  M83 is a very elusive object snag.  It is very low in the South.  At it's peak elevation  it is only 21deg. above the horizon, and is only visible above the trees for about 2 hours.
  
Camera:  Canon T3i
Telescope:  Celestron C8 @ f6.3
Mount:  Lostmandy G11 with Gemini GoTo
Guiding:  Orion StarShoot Auto-guider on a 70mm scope. and PHD2.
Image Capture:  BackYard EOS
Processing:  Photoshop CS6e, NIC Collection, and Boundry Noise reduction.

10 x 300sec. axposures @ 1600iso.

This image needs a bit more work, but not to bad for now. 

This image was captured April 20th.

Canon T3i (600D)

TV101 @ f5.4

12 x 300sec. @ 1600 iso.

Images where stacked, and processed using Photo Shop CS6 extended. 

The Leo Triplet (also known as the M66 Group) is a small group of galaxies about 35 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. This galaxy group consists of the spiral galaxies M65, M66, and NGC8.

The Sun  in Ha.  March 2014

I decided to post something closer to home,the Sun.  I captured this image on March 21st. using my Lunt 60mm Ha Solar scope.  I was broadcasting  on NSN (nightskiesnetwork.com) and I decided to capture some video using my new MallinCam Micro EX video camera.  Today I decided to process the video using a RegiStax.  I am quite happy with the results.

Who would have guessed, that March would end on a good note.  2 clear evenings in a row.  I spent both of them in the Observatory imaging Galaxy's.  I decided to dust off my C8 which will help with the small galaxies. 

M64  The Black Eye Galaxy

 Both Images where captured early March 31st.

Celestron C8 @f6.3
Canon T3i
8 x 300sec exposures @1600iso
All image stacking and processing was done using Adobe CS6 extended.

M104  The Sombrero Galaxy