Quick Little Post Because I Am Annoyed

Ok, so...last semester I did my final Pchem project on two dimentional crystal diffraction of latex beads. I was basicly using laser techniques to determine the diameter of tiny latex beads (0.99micrometer diameters).

It was a pretty hard project that I had to do all by myself. The procedure was hard to do by myself, the data analysis was kind of hard, the write up was really hard, and the presentation was really really hard. Part of my project was to take some pictures of the diffraction patters I obtained.

Well I just found out that my professor wants copies of the photos I took because he is writting up a journal article on the lab I did to publish in the Jounal of Chemical Education. So basicly, I did a shit ton of work, got some really really good results (0.101% error! Are you freaking kidding me!? That is UNHEARD OF! Other people were getting like 30% error.) and HE IS WRITTING IT UP. And am I going to get my name on it? WHO KNOWS! He hasnt said anything to me about it, and I dont know how the process works. He is kind of intimidating so I dont really want to be like "hey can I get my name put on that journal article you are writting?" but I mean he is going to be gone all year next year so it isnt like there will be any weird ackwardness if he says no.

So I want to email him and say something about it but I dont know what. I dont know if I should say something like :

"Hey Niko, I was thinking about how interested I was in the diffraction lab I did last semester and I was wondering since you were writting it up if maybe I could help you with that in my spare time? I dont know how the procedure on getting things published works, but I would be more than interested in working on it with you. I dont know if the data and pictures I collected last semester is enough for the article, or if you would like me to do some more trials, or if you would need a hand in doing article research or something. If it is something you are supposed to do because you were the professor than I totally understand. Let me know if maybe I can help with getting it written up and published because that would be something really neat to be involved in."

What do you guys think?

Update:
So I sent him an email. It basicly said the exact same thing I wrote in this blog post (with some proof reading changes). I also added a sentence at the end that said :"It would also be really cool to see my name printed on an article :-)"

I feel kind of gross. I hate feeling like I am asking for something, or begging for something. And I have a feeling he is going to say no because Niko tends to be really secretive when it comes to his publications of stuff. Which blows. But hey, best case senario I get published. Worse case senario, he says no, I get pissed and feel exploited for my work without getting credit (welcome to being a scientist :-P) and things are akward until he goes to Europe for the next year so I dont have to see him or anything.