11/04/2007 Remote Imaging in New Mexico

Here is an image I took from the JMSM Observatory, located in the mountains of New Mexico. It was an unexpected surprise for me when the observatory's owner, Mike, offered to let me control the observing plan for the night last Saturday while we were attending the AIC conference in San Jose. So there I was, an Arizonan visiting California, imaging in New Mexico!
This observatory has incredibly dark skies and also some very high-end amateur equipment. So I was pretty excited to be able to grab some data, even though the moon was nearly full. Dean and I set up CCD Commander to use a 6" refractor and an SBIG 6303 camera to image two objects all night long, the first being NGC896 and the second, NGC1893. Due to the moon we only used the Hydrogren Alpha filter. The image above is a mean combine of the best 10 images, each one 10 minutes long. I dark subtracted but didn't have a flat field. I'm hoping to get some color data, either from the JMSM or perhaps even with my 105mm here in Tucson, and I also need to process it a little more carefully, but for now this is still a decent result. Click here for a larger version of this image. There is some fascinating detail in this object, which Pam calls "The Cracked Egg Nebula".
It sure was fun using this setup. IP cameras at the site allowed us to watch the dome, mount, and scope in action. There are a large number of amateurs with observatories in the nearby hills (this site is right next to New Mexico Skies), and it's easy to see why they set these up - the seeing is sub-arcsecond, and darkness is better than just about anywhere.
I've been using CCDAutopilot lately to help in managing my imaging runs right here in my backyard. I've written before about the use of technology to enhance astronomy, as well as the risks of losing sight (forgive the pun!) of what attracted me to the hobby in the first place. There truly is no match to being outside under the stars on a cool evening and enjoying the quiet majesty of our universe. One reason I am using CCDAP is to allow me to spend less time staring at the red computer screen and more time staring up and contemplating the heavens above.