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Featured Astrophotographer

Stefan Seip




Comet Linear as imaged by Stefan Seip Comet LINEAR (C/2002 T7)
May 23, 2004 / 17:30 - 18:20 UT
Farm Okumitundo, Namibia
Optics: Astro-Physics 155mm f/7 working at F/5.2
Tools: Astro-Physics 0.74 Photo- and Visual Reducer
Medium: SBIG STL 11000XM with SBIG RGB filterset
Exposure Time(s): L: 32x 20 seconds (2x2 binning) RGB: 12x 20 seconds (3x3 binning) each color
Mount: Astro-Physics 900 QMD
Guiding: Self-guiding on a star
Processing Info: MaxIm DL, PhotoShop
Notes: Dark and flatframe-corrected
NGC5128 as imaged by Stefan Seip NGC 5128
Centaurus A Radio Galaxy in Centaurus

May 21, 2004 / 20:40 - 1:50 UT
Farm Okumitundo, Namibia

RA: 13h : 25.5m
Declination: -43° : 01'
Distance: 15.0 Mly
Visual Brightness: 7.0 (mag)
Apparent Dimension: 18' x 14'
Optics: Astro-Physics 155mm f/7
Tools: 2.7" Prime Focus Field Flattener
Medium: SBIG STL 11000XM with SBIG RGB filterset
Exposure Time(s): L: 10x 10 minutes (1x1 binning) RGB: 6x 10 minutes (2x2 binning) each color
Mount: Astro-Physics 900 QMD
Guiding: Self-guiding
Processing Details: MaxIm DL,PhotoShop
Notes: Dark and flatframe-corrected
Omega Centauri as imaged by Stefan Seip NGC 5139
Omega Centauri Globular Cluster

May 16, 2004 / 21:45 - 23:40 UT
Farm Okumitundo, Namibia

RA: 13h : 26.8m
Declination: -47° : 29'
Distance: 16.0 kly
Visual Brightness: 3.68 (mag)
Apparent Dimension: 36'
Optics: Astro-Physics 155mm f/7
Tools: 2.7" Prime Focus Field Flattener
Medium: SBIG STL 11000XM with SBIG RGB filterset
Exposure Time(s): L: 9x 200 seconds (1x1 binning) RGB 2x 400 seconds (1x1 binning) each color
Mount: Astro-Physics 900 QMD
Guiding: Self-guiding
Processing Info: MaxIm DL, PhotoShop
Notes: Dark and flatframe-corrected
Venus Transit
June 8, 2004 / 11:05:48 UT and 11:06:20 UT
Stuttgart, Germany
Optics: Astro-Physics 155mm f/7
Tools: Baader-Planetarium Herschel Wedge with grey filters 1000x, 64x and 8x Astro-Physics 2x Barlow
Detector: SBIG STL 11000XM with SBIG RGB filterset
Exposure Times: 0.05 seconds and1 second. Both with red filter in place.
Mount: Astro-Physics 900 QMD
Processing Info: MaxIm DL, PhotoShop Darkframe-corrected
Notes: The atmosphere of Venus is visible. I combined two frames to show the surface of the sun as well as the Venus atmoshpere.
Jupiter
Apr 27, 2004 / 19:02 UT
Stuttgart, Germany
Optics: Astro-Physics 10" f/14.6 working @ f/30 (eff. focal lenght: 7400mm)
Tools: Astro-Physics 2x Barlow
Detector: Philips ToUCam 740K WebCam
Exposure Time(s): 1 AVI-File: 100 seconds, 10 frames per second Exposure time: 1/25 seconds 300 selected and averaged with RegiStax 2
Mount:Astro-Physics 900 QMD
Guiding: no
Processing Info: RegiStax, AIP, PhotoShop
Notes: Reasonable seeing conditions. Many thanks to Roland Kern for his excellent help during image processing.
NGC 253
Sculptor Galaxy

Sep 2, 2003 / 6:50 - 9:20 UT
Astrofarm, Vicuņa, Chile

RA: 00h : 47.6m
Declination: -25° : 17'
Distance: 10.0 Mly
Visual Brightness: 7.1 (mag)
Apparent Dimension: 25' x 7'
Optics: Astro-Physics 155mm f/7
Medium: SBIG ST-2000XM with CFW-8A
Exposure Time(s): L: 5x 15 minutes (1x1 binning) RGB: 5x 5 minutes (2x2 binning) each color
Mount: Astro-Physics 900 GTO
Guiding: Self-guiding
Processing Info: MaxIm DL, PhotoShop Dark- and flatframe-corrected
Notes: A faint trail was visible in the top center of the image. It is caused by the asteroid 1999 TB260 (about 17 mag).
M65, M66 NGC 3628 in Leo
Feb 27, 2003 / 01:00 - 03:45 UT
Stuttgart, Germany

RA (approx): 11h : 19m
Declination: +13° : 00'
Optics: Astro-Physics 155mm f/7 @ f/5.25
Tools: Astro-Physics 0.74 Photo- and Visual Reducer
Medium: SBIG ST-2000XM with CFW-8A
Exposure Time(s): L: 2x 15 minutes and 1x 30 minutes (1x1 binning) RGB: 2x 15 minutes (2x2 binning) each color
Mount: Astro-Physics 900 QMD
Guiding: SBIG ST-4
Processing Info: AstroArt, PhotoShop
Notes: Dark and flatframe-corrected
The Horsehead Nebula as imaged by Stefan Seip IC 434, B33
Horsehead-Nebula

Jan 8, 2003, 22:15 - 23:00 UT
Stuttgart, Germany

RA: 5h : 41.0m
Declination: -2° : 24'
Apparent Dimension: 60'
Optics: Astro-Physics 155mm f/7
Tools: Astronomiks Halpha filter 15nm
Detector: SBIG ST-2000XM
Exposure Time(s): 45 minutes
Mount: Astro-Physics 900 QMD
Guiding: SBIG ST-4
Processing Info: AstroArt, PhotoShop
Notes: Dark- and flatframe-corrected Due to clouds moving in no more/longer exposures were possible
The Orion Nebula as imaged by Stefan Seip M42, M43
The Great Orion Nebula

Jan 12, 2003 / from 00:05 UT on
Hungen, Germany

RA: 05h : 35.4m
Declination: -05° : 27'
Distance: 1.6 kly
Visual Brightness: 4.0 (mag)
Apparent Dimension: 85' x 60'
Optics: TMB 100mm f/8
Medium: SBIG ST-2000XM with CFW-8A
Exposure Time(s): L(Halpha)RGB L=1x 15 minutes (with Astronomiks Halpha filter, 15nm) RGB=1x 4 minutes each
Mount: Astro-Physics 400 CNC
Guiding: SBIG ST-4
Processing Info: AstroArt, PhotoShop
M 103
in Cassiopeia

Dec 23, 2003 / 21:50 - 24:00 UT
Stuttgart, Germany

RA: 01h : 33.2m
Declination: +60° : 42'
Distance: 8.5 kly
Visual Brightness: 7.4 (mag)
Apparent Dimension: 6'
Optics: Astro-Physics 155mm f/7
Detector: SBIG ST-2000XM with CFW-8A
Exposure Time(s): L 9x180 sec., B 4x300 sec., G 5x300 sec., R 8x300 sec.
Mount: Astro-Physics 900 QMD
Guiding: Self-guiding
Processing Info: RGB composite with AstroArt 2.0 MaxIm DL, PhotoShop Dark- and flatframe-corrected
Notes: Cross to produce diffraction spikes on brighter stars
The Southern Cross (Crux)
May 23, 2004 / 0:00 UT
Farm Okumitundo, Namibia

RA: 12h : 15.1m
Declination: -58° : 44'
Optics: Hasselblad/Carl Zeiss 4/120mm
Detector: Kodak Ektachrome E200 Prof. 6x6 cm
Exposure Time(s): 30 minutes
Moun: Fixed mounted on a photo tripod
Processing Info: PhotoShop
Notes: I focussed this image progressive. I started with a totally defocussed setting. During the exposure, I changed the focus every 40 seconds in 'infinity' -direction. Before the end of this sequence I covered the lens for two minutes before I let the light pass again for about 10 seconds. This last exposure time made the sharp star at the end of each trail. This technique shows the constellation as well as the star colors.
Moon near Venus
May 21, 2004 / 16:37 UT
Farm Okumitundo, Namibia
Optics: Astro-Physics 155mm f/7
Tools: 2.7" Prime Focus Field Flattener
Detector: SBIG STL 11000XM with SBIG RGB filterset
Exposure Time(s): Ha: 0.01 second (1x1 binning) H-alpha filter only for light reduction RGB: 3x 0.01 seconds (1x1 binning) each color
Mount: Astro-Physics 900 QMD
Processing Info: MaxIm DL, PhotoShop
Notes: Dark and flatframe-corrected
Milkyway
Scorpius and Saggitarius region

Aug 24, 2003 / 1:00 - 1:45 UT
Chile, near Vicuņa

Optics: Hasselblad/Carl Zeiss Biogon 4.5/38mm
Detector: Kodachrome E200 Prof. 6x6cm
Exposure Time(s): 45 minutes
Mount: Astro-Physics 900 GTO
Guiding: no
Processing Info: PhotoShop
Notes: A view into the heart of our galaxy. Antares in Scorpius is left of the center. Visit Stefan Seip's website and click on the 'Constellations' link. (Due to his site's structure, it can't be directly linked) Click on the 'Milkyway, SCO and SGR region' link, then click 'Enlarge' to see a map of the constellations and a red dot indicating the center of the galaxis as a mouse-over effect.

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