Lynn van Rooijen

[1] [2] [3-Dutch] [Eclipse]

Lynn is a member of the KNVWS (Royal Dutch Association for Meteorology & Astronomy) and its Workgroup Astrophoto-graphy, as well as chairman of the 't Gooi Chapter of the KNVWS.

Her interest in Astronomy goes back as long as she can remember, but she has only been an active amateur for the past 12 years. She made her first attempts at astro-photography in 2006/7.

After a busy business career, she is now completing a MSc (Astronomy). Her main (astronomical) interests are exoplanet systems, globular clusters and astrophoto-graphy. She also gives presentations for schools & clubs and is the first NASA-JPL "Solar System Ambassador" for the Benelux.

Equipment

Telescopes

Telescopes & mounts:

Lynn started with a 12.5cm telescope (an original version Nexstar 5) but now has 5 telescopes varying from 6cm to 28cm:

Nexstar 5" - one of the first and still going strong. A great travel-telescope!
Meade 8" LX200-ACF on a Losmandy Gemini 8 mount
Televue 60 , serving as finder on the 8" and stand-alone scope for Solar and eclipse observations
Celestron 11" Nexstar GPS, on a wedge for astro- photography or in alt-az for visual use
Stellarvue Nighthawk 80as finder on the 11" and also stand-alone scope for astrophotography and use with the AstroTrac
AstroTrac with wedge: handy (& lightweight!) mount for traveling and wide-field astrophotography.Can be used with Canon DSLR & (tele)lenses or with the Televue 60 or Stellarvue 80, (although that is pushing the weight limit)

Cameras:

Canon 20Da, a model Canon produced briefly, especially for astrophotography
Starlight Xpress SXV-M25C
Atik 16 & Lodestar as guiders
Canon 10D - an old favorite, pressed into service when photographing with both telescopes and AstroTrac at the same time

Software:

MaximDL
Photoshop CS4
DSLR Focus
StarryNight Pro
DeepSky (planning)

October 15, 2009: M33, M45, NGC 6960 & NGC 7331 & Stephan's Quintet

m33

M33, 86 minutes; taken with 11" Celestron Nexstar GPS with Hyperstar 3, Starlight Xpress SXV-M25C. Stacked with Maxim, finished with Photoshop. Click here for larger version.

M45, Pleiades, 25 minutes; taken with 11" Celestron Nexstar GPS with Hyperstar 3, Starlight Xpress SXV-M25C. Stacked with Maxim, finished with Photoshop. Click here for larger version..

NGC 6960, Veil West, 81 minutes; taken with 11" Celestron Nexstar GPS with Hyperstar 3, Starlight Xpress SXV-M25C. Stacked with Maxim, finished with Photoshop. Click here for larger version..

The galaxy cluster around NGC 7331 with Stephan's Quintet in the same FOV, 55 minutes total; taken with 11" Celestron Nexstar GPS with Hyperstar 3, Starlight Xpress SXV-M25C. Stacked with Maxim, finished with Photoshop. Click here for larger version. So many galaxies, they're almost impossible to count!

The backyard comes through again... three weeks after returning from France, we again had a couple of relatively good nights, or rather, a couple of good hours per night. Here are the results, all with Celestron Nexstar GPS on wedge with Hyperstar 3, Starlight Xpress SXV-M25C and guided with my Atik16IC, & with Lumicon Deep Sky filter (used because dark as it seems here, it is still at least 2 to 3 magnitudes darker in France!).

September 23 - 25, 2009: NGC 253, NGC 7293, NGC 7635 & M52, M42 HyperStar3 - Celestron 11" photos

NGC 253, Sculptor

NGC 253, Sculptor Galaxy, 40 minutes; taken with 11" Celestron Nexstar GPS with Hyperstar 3, Starlight Xpress SXV-M25C. Stacked with Maxim, finished with Photoshop. Click here for larger version.

NGC 7293, Helix Nebula, 16 minutes; taken with 11" Celestron Nexstar GPS with Hyperstar 3, Starlight Xpress SXV-M25C. Stacked with Maxim, finished with Photoshop. Click here for larger version.

M52, Scorpion Cluster & NGC 7635, Bubble Nebula, 15 minutes; taken with 11" Celestron Nexstar GPS with Hyperstar 3, Starlight Xpress SXV-M25C. Stacked with Maxim, finished with Photoshop. Click here for larger version.

M42 & M43 (Orion) & NGC 1977 (Running Man Nebula): 4200s, a combination of exposures taken in France & the Netherlands; taken with 11" Celestron Nexstar GPS with Hyperstar 3, Starlight Xpress SXV-M25C. Click here for larger version.

Back in Pradines in southern France for a week of (I had hoped!) sun by day and astrophotography by night. Unfortunately both weather and equipment were temperamental and in the end, I only had 2 1/2 nights of photography, all of which were troubled by either water vapor in the atmosphere or light clouds and mist, or wind (or all of the above!). The result was that I threw away many of the exposures. Still, I was able to get a few photographs, but with shorter exposures than I would have liked in most cases.

To make things worse, the Sculptor Galaxy, and Helix & Eagle Nebulae were really too close to the horizon to be imaged, but since they are not visible from my normal 52N viewing location, I gave it a try. The Hyperstar again proved its worth in the less-than-optimal atmospheric conditions, and its results were better than the Meade's at the cost of some loss in resolution.

September 23 - 25, 2009: M16, NGC 253, NGC 7293, NGC 891 taken with Meade 8" LX200-ACF

NGC 253, Sculptor

M16 (Eagle Nebula): 1260s @ ISO 1600. Taken with 8"Meade LX200-ACF and Canon 20Da. Stacked with Maxim, finished with Photoshop. Click here for larger version.

NGC 253 (Sculptor Galaxy): 1920s @ ISO 1600. Taken with 8"Meade LX200-ACF and Canon 20Da. Stacked with Maxim, finished with Photoshop. Click here for larger version.

NGC 7293 (Helix Nebula): 1680s @ ISO 1600. Taken with 8"Meade LX200-ACF and Canon 20Da. Stacked with Maxim, finished with Photoshop. Click here for larger version.

NGC 891: 900s @ ISO 1600. Taken with 8"Meade LX200-ACF and Canon 20Da. Stacked with Maxim, finished with Photoshop. Click here for larger version.

These photos were also taken in Pradines, France. The Losmandy was acting up, despite careful balancing and clutch readjustment - and was slipping horribly. The result was sloppy guiding and shorter exposures than I'd have liked. On top of that, with the exception of NGC 891, all objects were close to the horizon and suffering the effects of extinction. Reason to go back and try again!