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Was promised a little longer gap than I got, but manged one sequence that was ok ish C11 Chameleon cam and IR742 rgb filters, the plan was to run the x2.5 powermate but the clouds beat me.

Well I managed to do some imaging over the last two nights it's been a couple of months since I've seen a clear night!! I've been setting up my dual rig after purchasing a baby 6" version of my GSO 12" RC so I now have that attached piggy back style to the big one. The goal is to try and acquire faint detail with the L data from the big scope and some RGB data from the QHY8L OSC color attached to the 6". I figured this would be OK as the eye apparently mainly perceives intensity rather than colour so less photons in the colour data probably wouldn't be to big an issue. The previous owner of the 6" scope had had problems collimating it but I identified the problem as the kendrick secondary heater that spilt out into the main optical train and created some 'orrible diffraction issues. I started trimming it back but in the end removed it completely and it solved the problem. Th 6" is now 'perfectly' collimated and producing images that it is renown for. Not much visible in my tiny slice of sky except a few globs and I have imaged M13 so many times I thought I would have another bash at M92. I say another bash as I have tried it before and it's a tricky one to capture as the core is so bright, not sure if there are some foreground stars in front of it but it always burns out. 10 Mins saturated it, so I went for a load of 5 min subs. In the end I bolted the whole lot together so this is 3 hours worth in total of L data - 1 hour of 10 min subs and 2 hour of 5 min subs through the QHY11 on the 12" RC. This next image is a combination of the above and 1 hours worth of RGB data from the OSC QHY8L attached to the 6" RC. The color data was before I managed to identify the diffraction issue associated with the heater but even so the two seem to match up quite well and prove the concept works Okish.

Back to an old favourite tonight. Managed a few hours on this tonight but had to bin a shed load of subs as Blobby had washed them out. GT 81 Atik 414 EX No filters 23 subs at 300 seconds Captured and stacked in Maxim Quick polish in PS 6

Jupiter captured 24 April 2017 Sw200p, 2.5x powermate, asi120mc 3150 frames stacked from 5000 captured.

Managed a couple of targets tonight. Started off with M 63 the Sun Flower Galaxy. GT 81 Atik 414 EX with Lum filter. 33 subs at 200 seconds. Captured and stacked in Maxim Polish up in PS 6. Moved on after Blobby got too bright to IC 1848 GT 81 Atik 414 EX 6 Subs at 600 seconds in HA Captured and stacked in Maxim Beaten to death in PS 6.

mainly jackdaws

just over 2 hours of 300s subs unguided (still having trouble with Maxim and the MyT) This is the Nii filter which is supposed to be good for some planetary nebulae Seem there is quite a bit there. Tak 130 extended

Had a bit of a mock up today with the 20" mirror cell in the mirror box. There's no room to spare, but then I really didn't want too much extra baggage/weight, so it will be fine. Very pleased.

This is a totally new target for me. I came across this whilst scouring through the pages of the Sky Atlas. It was a bit of a pain to locate as it is not on the CDC charts. GT 81 Atik 414 EX 24 subs at 600 seconds in HA Captured and stacked in Maxim Only the lightest of touches in PS 6 Click on image for full res.

This is going to take a while.... Nice touch by Lego, the set contains 1969 pieces!! Also got to find somewhere to put it, it stands over 3 feet tall once built.

Very rusty on DSO's 35 x 600 s with 8"RC and sx 694 guided with new to me lodestar Soft focus and rusty processing cropped and reduced in size click for full res

1 hour 40 minutes of luminance subs, i think it is my best M13 to date, hoping to add some colour later, processed in deep sky stacker, startools and tweaked in photoshop cs3. http://astrob.in/298471/0/

Took a trip to Strumpshaw Fen in Norfolk on Sunday and had a fantastic day. We saw 6 Swallowtails but not many landed, I managed a few shots. There are loads of dragonflies as well, even got a shot of a Norfolk Hawker in flight. Dragonflies are really hard to catch if they don't land. The place it self is a great place for kids, plenty to do including pond dipping. Not sure what the blue dragonfly is any suggestions?

Keep forgetting to put this on here, the longest solar stretch I've had

A quick 5 minute grab through the itelescope Tak 150 in New Mexico

Thought this was a really unusual Juno image. Orion through Jupiter's rings...

Tonight at 9pm BBC 4. Horizon Secrets of the universe.

Nature is cruel we know but I just had to take a photo of this titanic battle. How this tiny ant managed to grab hold of this fly is a mystery but it did. For over two hours it hung on to its victim and eventually managed to drag the fly back to the nest. Talk about your Friday night take away Taken with my phone on high zoom.

ir742 rgb with C11

Got him yesterday at last. This chap has been visiting the front yard feeder on and off for sometime, yesterday whilst playing with the Olympus OM D EM10 and Samyang 300mm both he and I were at the right place at the right time.

Quick Moon tonight before the clouds rolled in. MN190 HEQ5 Canon 1000d modded ISA400 1/200

IR rgb with the C11

Another month gone by and the start was quite good sky wise then went a bit pants. But some stalwarts have been out there capturing the heavens, well done to them. A quick round up this month with mentions to those in each category which caught my eye. Deep Sky I do like Brady's Rosette in Halpha, for his 1st go its a good one, plenty of detail. https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/12849-1st-h-alpha/ I know Wolmans NCG7331 is a revisit and was probably taken in a different month but it was submitted this month and I like the new processing, shows loads of galaxy structure. https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/12870-star-tools-ngc-7331/ Glad to see Ron is up and imaging from his new base https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/12869-m101/ Graham was out too with an Ha image of IC1848 https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/12867-ic-1848/ Lunar SunnyPhils image of Copernicus caught my attention. A good image with an electronic eyepiece. Lunar imaging aint easy and takes practice and Phil is getting there https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/12864-copper-knickers/ Wolfmans 1st quarter shot shows good sharp focus https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/12854-moon/ Ibbo gave us an impressive ISS transit https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/12853-iss-luna-transit-2-4-2017/, well caught Steve Nice work from Al Grant https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/12877-moon-4-apr-7-apr/ And Bottletopburly was showing us lunar at different phases https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/12837-lunar-25/ Planetary Jupiter has been high on the imaging list this month due to its favourable elevation. Dean Watson got a good shot of the GRS https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/12873-jupiter-from-last-night-sat-night-sunday-morning/ Bottletopburly gave us a nice sharp Jupiter https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/12861-jupiter/ https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/12924-2324jupiter/ Solar Graham was out during the day and night with his Ha of the sun and visible light of the moon https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/12865-a-day-and-a-night/ Just a note about our new member Ewan's stunning solar images in the Solar Astronomy section, all taken with his Quark set up. There are some superb images in there, showing just what can be done with these bits of kit. Keep them coming Ewan and if you wish for images to be included in the POTM round up just drop them in the Solar Imaging section. Widefield I doo like Orions twinkling Sirius. Intentionally OOF to show the colours due to atmospherics and it certainly shows it well. https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/12859-twinkling-sirius/ Plus congrats on getting a close up of the ISS https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/12875-international-space-station-8th-april-2017/ After much deliberating and cogitating I decided the POTM for April 2017 goes to Wolfman_55 and his NGC7331. The galaxies and detail in that picture can keep entertained for ages Wolmans NCG7331 is a revisit and was probably taken in a different month but it was submitted this month and I like the new processing, shows loads of galaxy structure. https://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/12870-star-tools-ngc-7331/

Had a request to do this target. Completely new one to me. I had to wait for it to emerge from behind a neighbours Fir tree so could only manage an hour and a half on it tonight. I will be back time and time again to get a shed load more data on this. I can see this turning into a full blown Tri colour narrow band image in a Hubble palette as I just love all the contrasting details in it. GT 81 Atik 414 EX 9 subs at 600 seconds in HA Captured and stacked in Maxim Very slight brush up in PS 6.

Commonly known as the Cave Neb. GT 81 Atik 414 EX 21 subs at 600 seconds in HA Captured and stacked in Maxim Brush up in PS 6 Click on image for full res.

With the lack of suitable target due to trees and houses I have gone for this one. It turned out to be an incredibly clear night, by far the best for ages. So many stars its incredible. GT81 Atik 414 EX 21 subs at 600 seconds in HA Captured and stacked in Maxim Only the slightest of touches in PS 6. Had to reduce it in size to post. Click on the image for full res.

Back on another old favourite tonight. The Bubble GT 81 Atik 414 EX 21 subs at 600 seconds HA filter Captured and stacked in Maxim Slight polish in PS 6.

Finished at last...... There are some really nice touches the designers have thought of, it's took ages, but worth it. Just need to find somwhere to put it now.

Yes it will track anything the camera puts on the screen. Once the target is on the screen you lock onto it. It then automatically centers it on the screen and keeps it there. Well that's the theory anyway.

Suposed to be an ISS transit capture but at the cricical moment the laptop started buffering and dropping frames, never mind lesson learned. Tak FS102 PGR Chameleon

Still trying out my points with the iTelescope set up in New Mexico. This is about one hour of imaging with their 106mm ED scope: Shame you can't rotate the camera like you can at home. Dave

First chance I've had to build some more since Thursday....

What a place, pretty awesome. Lovely hot day once again. This was an East Midlands Butterfly Trip and we went to see the Duke of Burgundy butterfly. Well we saw at least 25 of them. The first few were in excellent condition but the last ones were very tatty. Also seen were: Common Blues, Small Blue, Holly Blue, Brown Argus, Green Hairstreak, Peacock, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Green Veined White, Brimstone, Small Heath, and Large White. Lovely day a few photo's of the burgundy's below.

Sorry this is a bit late, a report from Monday night (mostly) 😊... just sharing the joy! After a few false starts over the last few days the clouds were finally absent along with the moon! So I opened up the dome at 11.00pm. My intentions were to knock off a few more outstanding Messier objects, mostly globs, have a good look at the fireworks galaxy NGC 6946, then have a look at a few favourites... Went to Jupiter first and tried a few eyepieces on same to see how much I could push the magnification aspect, then, due to viewing constraints... or windows of opportunity (caused namely by time, trees and houses), I moved on to some outstanding Messiers. These were all very low, and south (ish), but doable. M4, glob M9, glob M19, glob M62, glob, tried for same, but it was too low and behind a house at first, so I had to wait until 01.15am before it fell between houses, but I nabbed it in the end albeit through the foliage of a tree! So 4 down, 9 more M's to go...🙂 Moved on to the flavour of the month, a supernova in NGC 6946, the fireworks galaxy, I studied this for ages but could not discern the right pattern of features in which to look! I conceded I was not prepared enough. To have a chance, I needed a printed vertical flip view of same, and not view it on the iPad, with just the left eye and then using my right eye to view!!! 👁! I will be ready next time. M27, Dumbbell neb, Vulpecula , mag +7.6, big, bright, this looked amazing! M57, Ring neb, Lyra, mag +9.3, These were my first views of both this year, WOW! both of these were so bright and fabulous to gaze upon. To me they appeared the best I can remember! Saturn was next, it was very low, lying around 12 degrees above the horizon, so it was boiling a tiny fraction, still, a lovely sight and again the first time through the scope this year. Could not even see the Cassini division but hey ho! The Milky Way way evident when looking at Cygnus so I went outside the dome to have a gander through my Vixen 2.1 bins. I swear the Milky Way seemed to resolve itself into millions of stars. I worked my way across the sky studying the rich background, the coat hanger asterism jumped out, the American neb, M39, all good stuff! That's it, a long awaited decent session! Things are looking up! ps also managed a session last night too! Unreal! picked off another messier, M102, an interesting galaxy to see, M49, M3, M53, M56, M71 and the ISS twice! Thanks for reading, 👍

Did the crop again with not so much pushing so the Pillars stand out more

good stuff. I saw Miri a couple of years ago just after environment testing. I am on an ESA course in about 4 weeks down at RAL Space near Oxford to learn more about JWST, it's all getting rather exciting now!

https://player.vimeo.com/video/24410924?color=000000&title=0&byline=0&portrait=0 You prolly all seen this. But just in case. Cassini mission composite video. Most impressive

I have been experimenting this afternoon with an old type QHY 5 in the Solar scope. I have found by adding an IR block filter and an HA Narrow band filter to the front of the QHY 5 it reduces the brightness to enable me to use it. Lunt 60mm double stacked QHY 5 1000 frames. Captured in Fire capture Assembled in Registax False colour added in PS 6

Been awhile since I imaged so had a look around this am at NGC3199 down in aus with the FSQ 106 8 minutes

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9aHac2P5RgVNWdVenFPZ2lTMzA/view?usp=sharing

New target for me tonight. GT 81 Atik 414 EX 21 subs at 600 seconds in HA Captured and stacked in Maxim Slight polish in PS 6

I got a copy of Dave Eagles guide to Deep sky stacker www.eagleseye.me.uk , £7 plus delivery £1.50 Easy to understand ,step by step, guides you through from start to finish ,pamphlet style of book 36 pages nicely presented ,good for a quick reference covers all you need to know to stack your photos , tells you all about the settings within DSS ,covers comets too ,highly recommended

The Nagler 31 is a massive and superb eyepiece, but it can be made to look almost average.

In the garden just when I was playing with canon 100d and extn tubes on SW st80 - as I say out a focus LOL https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9aHac2P5RgVQzVvWFg1dDJZUkE

This is fantastic to watch and listen to. I think the music is from the soundtrack to 2001 A Space Odyssey. Lux Aeterna or Atmosphères perhaps. Still have the soundtrack on cassette, but have nothing to play it on. https://www.wired.com/2017/06/juno-jupiter-video/

Jupiter from a different view point, courtesy of Juno. https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/a-whole-new-jupiter-first-science-results-from-nasa-s-juno-mission