Texas Star Party - 2004
 Prude Ranch

Kent Francis Milky Way

Kent Francis

Astrophotography Award
Best Wide Field Shot

Kent Francis

Kent Francis Milky Way (Full size 243KB) Kent writes: Dear all, I just got back from the Texas Star Party and Ken Miller and I had a wonderful time imaging and visually observing. The weather was great, as it only rained one night, and we had a ball working on the lower field. I was very humbled to be receive one of the several astrophotography awards, for the best wide field shot of TSP 04. Thanks for the congrats, Randy, Bill, Steve and Jeff. Here’s the photo taken Thursday morning 5/20/04 at 2:23 am. The shot was taken with my Canon Digital Rebel 300D SLR using my 50mm f/1.8 lens working at f/2 for 180 seconds at ISO 800. I piggybacked the camera on top of my Tak FSQ 106N using my EM-10 mount and unguided. The picture shows a 27 X 18 degree field of view and in the lower part you can see the tail of the Scorpion and M 6 and M 7, with the Milky Way leading up to Sagittarus and M 8 and M 20 towards the top of the picture. I feel very flattered that my photo was chosen. I hope you enjoy it.

Here are some more pictures that I took with my Canon 300D Digital Rebel DSLR using my Tak FSQ 106N and EM-10 mount taken this past week at the Texas Star Party near Ft Davis (about 650 miles West of home). All shots were taken at iso 800 and unguided. Hope you enjoy: click here.

Ed Szczepanski

Ed writes: Attached are some of the images I took at the TSP. All images were taken with the SBIG ST2000XM. The wider field image of Comet Neat was taken through a Nikon 300mm ED f/4.5 lens (at f/5.6). The closer image of Comet Neat was taken through my Takahashi FSQ. All other images, except M13 and M5, were taken through the FSQ. The images of M13 and M5 were taken through a C8.

Comet Neat FSQ3 (Full size 84KB) Comet Neat FSQ3     Comet Neat TEL3 (Full size 103KB) Comet Neat TEL3     Wild Duck (Full size 92KB) Wild Duck

Omega Centauri (Full size 101KB) Omega Centauri     Lagoon Nebula (Full size 104KB) Lagoon Nebula     Owl Nebula (Full size 83KB) Owl Nebula

Cocoon Nebula (Full size 116KB) Cocoon Nebula     M 13 (Full size 112KB) M13

Attached are more images from the TSP. The two photos of Comet Neat and M44 were taken with a Nikon F2, Fuji Superia 800 film. The wider field was through a 135mm lens at f/4. The closer was through a 300mm lens at f/5.6. The other images were through the Takahashi FSQ and the SBIG ST2000XM.

Comet Neat (Wide) (Full size 112KB) Comet Neat (wide)   Comet Neat (close) (Full size 109KB) Comet Neat (close)  Swan Nebula (Full size 475KB) Swan Nebula

Veil Nebula (Full size 681KB) Veil Nebula   Veil (East) (Full size 667KB) Veil Nebula (East)

Allen Gilchrist

NGC 5128 (Full size 227KB) NGC 5128 Information at the bottom of the picture.

M 20 (Full size 720KB) M 20 -"Trifid Nebula" I have an image of the Trifid that I took from Ft. Davis during the TSP. The image is annotated with details.
 

James Benton

TSP Thunderstorm Click on the picture to visit James Benton's web page or click here.

Loyd Overcash

M 82 (Full size 293KB) M82 Loyd writes: Here is a image of M-82 taken last week while in Ft. Davis. Image was taken with a 16" RCOS and the ST-8XE. L=60min RGB=20min. Processed in Maxim DL and Photoshop. Sky conduction was fair.

NGC 4274 (Full size 182KB) NGC 4274 Loyd writes: Here is another image from TSP. NGC-4274 was taken with a 16" RCOS, ST- 8XE and an AO-7. Time was 10 X 5 min exposures. Combined in Maxim and processed in Photoshop.

M 20 (Full size 646KB) M-20 taken with a 16" RCOS and the ST-8XE. This is a RGB image combined in Maxim DL and processed in Photoshop. Exposure time was 20min. each for Red, Green, and Blue.

M 15 (Full size 394KB) Here is another image taken at TSP. This is a single 2 min. exposure of M-15.

M 97 (Full size 379KB) M-97 taken at TSP. This is 12 X 5 min. Shots combined in Maxim and processed in PhotoShop for a 60 min exposure. Note the 17.4 mag galaxy PGC 2490291 below M-97.

M 27 (Full size 445KB) M-27  Here is another image taken at TSP. Exposure was L=40min. & RGB=15min. Combined in MaxIm and processed in Photoshop.

M 57 (Full size 72KB) M-57 taken from TSP. Exposure time was L=50min. RGB=15min. Combined in Maxim and processed in Photoshop.

Randy Brewer

NGC 4274 (Full size 87KB) Randy writes: This is a really neat field of cool little galaxies all around NGC-4274 (center) in Coma Berenices The Galaxy in the lower left is NGC-4314 and NGC-4245 on the top right. Taken with the FCT-150 @ F/5 and ST-10XME at TSP on 5/19/2004. To see more of Randy Brewer's images, click here.

Omega Centari (Full size 259KB) Omega Centauri - NGC-5139

Centaurus A (Full size 209KB) Centaurus A - NGC-5128 - This is really cool galaxy just above Omega Centauri. I quickly grabbed this image of it just before packing my scope and leaving TSP. One of these days I will shoot it long and deep to get a better image of it. Taken from TSP 2004 in Ft. Davis with the FCT-150 @ F/5. LRGB = (15:15:15:15) minutes.

Todd Hargis

Milky May (Full size 131KB) Todd writes:  Hey Steve, I had a great time at TSP again this year….thanks again for your support with keeping it going. I have some astrophotos uploaded to my web page for you to see. Feel free to display some on the HAS page for the other members to see. Click here to view Todd's page.

Dick Locke

Dick Locke writes: While I'm by no means done, I've put together a number of images and real web pages from my West Texas trip. The "thin moon" page has updates and corrections. Check out the DSLR galaxy shot vs. the film shot...   Dick continues to post new images from West Texas to his main astrophotography page. To view his images, click here.

Antares-Pipe Nebula (Links to Dick Locke's Milky Way web site) Pictures of the Milky Way Galaxy by Dick Locke, May 2004, Davis Mountains, TX.

Quentin Hinds

M 51 (Full size 204KB) M51 Quentin writes: This image I acquired the luminance a year ago and got the RGB data the star party. It was well worth the wait.

NGC 5033 (Full size 217KB) NGC 5033--Interesting galaxy in Canes Venatici.

NGC 3628 (Full size 227KB) NGC 3628--NGC galaxy of Leo Trio.
To visit Quentin's Web site, click here.

Ken Miller

Hello Club Members, Well, I finally got some time to construct two web pages on my website, and have posted the TSP pictures that I took out there this year. I have provided a link for your enjoyment. Hope you enjoy, and plan to attend next year if you didn't go this year.
Click here: Texas Star Party 2004

Prude Ranch Gate (Full size 22KB) Entrance to Prude Ranch

Upper Field (Full size 22KB) Upper Field

Sleeping Telescopes (Full size 20KB) Sleeping Telescopes

Judy Dye

Here are a few pictures from Judy Dye at TSP

Prude Ranch Historical Marker (Full size 429KB) Prude Ranch Historical Marker   Upper Field (Full size 406KB) Upper Field--Larry Mitchell's 36 inch Telescope in center

RV Area (Full size 375KB) RV Area   Tent Camping Area (Full size 387KB) Tent Camping Area

Otto Struve (Full size 381KB) Otto Struve 2.1 Meter Telescope   Hobby-Eberly Telescope (Full size 433KB) Hobby-Eberly 9.2 Meter Segmented Mirror

Last updated 7/2/2004
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