KAT-7 Number 7 (Johannes Smit)

Contains: Star trails

KAT-7 Number 7

Myself and a bunch of photographers had special access to the SKA site near Carnavon in the Northern Cape.

So in the name of science I took pictures with my firmware hacked Nikon D800 in Scientific Data Capture mode. These RAW files have false colors as the payoff for much richer shadow details.

So upon arriving home two nights ago, I first had to calibrate these files with Bias and Dark frames, then Debayering the resulting frames and then manually color calibrate every individual frame for absolute color accuracy all done within PixInsight.

So enough science babble, this is my result from around 15 hours of processing.

KAT-7 is a radio telescope constructed in the Northern Cape of South Africa.

Part of the Karoo Array Telescope project, it is the precursor engineering test bed to the larger MeerKAT telescope, but it has become a science instrument in its own right.

The construction was completed in 2011 and commissioned in 2012. It also served as a technology demonstrator for South Africa's bid to host the Square Kilometre Array.

KAT-7 is the first Radio telescope to be built with a composite reflector and uses a stirling pump for 75 K cryogenic cooling, that's -200 degrees celcius!

Thanks Mr. Flowers for the opportunity to go to the SKA site.

Captured using :

Nikon D800(True Dark Current Mode), Nikkor 14-24 at 24mm an aperture of f/2.8, 96 x 30 second exposures shot at ISO 1600.

Please note: The following tables are updated every 24 hours.

Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
Promotions by Submitters When 3 distinct Submitters promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for Top Pick status. This requirement, in addition to anonymization of images and distribution to only a subset of them, prevents biases and ensures that the best images are selected.
Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

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Astrometry.net job	n/a
PixInsight job	n/a
PixInsight queue size	n/a
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KAT-7 Number 7

KAT-7 Number 7

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Image Index:

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KAT-7 Number 7

KAT-7 Number 7

Equipment

Acquisition details

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