Date: April 28 & 29, 2003

Site: New Mexico Skies, Mayhill, NM

Exposure: 20 Min (1) 60 Min (2) @ f/4.5 (3 exposures total)

Film: Fuji Provia 400F (Pushed +1)

Equipement: Piggybacked Minolta Maxxum 9 Sigma EX 100-300 APO on 10" f/10 SCT on a Losmandy G-11.

Guiding: SBIG ST-4 at 1130mm (A0's - A4's) very windy.

Hardware & Software: Scanned with a Minolta Scan Elite II, Hamrick Software's VueScan (7.6.22). All images were processed with curves and levels using Picture Window Pro 3.1h, smoothed lightly using SBGNR and then stacked using a Registar 1.0.6. After stacking, final image tweaks were made in Picture Window and the resulting image was the size reduced.

Info: Rho-Ophiuchi/Antares Region showing M4, NGC6144, IC4603, IC4604, IC4605, and much more. The darkness and transparency was the best I have ever seen, however, it was very windy. This was a good test of the Sigma lens which showed excellent performance.

Available Background sized images (.jpg)