NOTES ON THE PROGRAM
Over the years I have completed many AL Observing Programs by imaging. When I first read about this program, I realized that I likely had many of the photos listed in the program material. The task would be annotating them – which took several forms.
I was greatly helped by Huey’s Observing Extragalactic Objects Within Host Galaxies book. In many instances he annotates objects on photos or sketches. In some cases, when I could see an object in my photo, I annotated it by hand, often with the help of Sky Safari. Host Galaxy 9 – NGC 2537 is an example of this.
In other cases, however, I used the AnnotateImage script in Pixinsight to annotate photos. Host Galaxy 5 – Messier 83 is an example of this. To make this work, you need to have RA and Dec info for each target. And in many cases, obtaining that data proved a challenge. You also need to have the photo plate solved, which sometimes proves difficult. I turned to Chap GPT in a number of cases to find the articles or databases that had the RA and Dec data I needed. I would say this was the most time consuming and difficult part of the program. But I was pleased with the results.
I have done this program using imaging from several scopes, cameras, and locations. I identify the scope and location in each photo. Two rigs (Warrumbungle and Sonoita) are from the now defunct SSON remote network. Another is from the Slooh Network (also remote), in this case in the Canaries. I also used a Canon T1i camera and a Seestar S 50 smart scope. Tech data on the equipment and locations follow:
SSON – Warrumbungle in New South Wales, Australia
- Scope: PlaneWave Instruments 20″ CDK20 (Corrected Dall-Kirkham) at f/6.8
- Camera: SBIG STL6303E
- Latitude: 331:16:30.6 South
- Longitude: 149:11:40.3 East
SSON – Gemini in Sonoita, Arizona, USA
- Scope: PlaneWave Instruments 17″ CDK17 (Corrected Dall-Kirkham) at f/6.8
- Camera: Apogee CG42 camera
- Latitude: 31° 39′ 56.08″ North
- Longitude: 110° 36′ 06.42″ West
SLOOH – Canary Islands
- Scope: Celestron 11″ Rowe-Ackermann Schmidt Astrograph (RASA) at f/2.2
- Camera: Celestron Nightscape 8300 One Shot Color (OSC)
- Latitude: N28° 17′ 58.92″ N28.29970
- Longitude: W016° 30′ 29.736″ W016.50826
Canon shots were taken at Deerlick Astronomy Village, about 100 miles east of Atlanta. Location is 33.561, -82.7638. Seestar shots were taken from my home in Verona, Wisconsin. Location is 42.968, -89.524.