Leaderboard

Could not resist a few subs on this last night! Half way through the imaging run I got Star Lost on PHD, checked outside and no cloud? It did it again and I checked, no cloud! At the end of the run i went out to put the scope away and found the guide scope pointing at the roof inside the osby!!! I chuckled and still no clouds!! 30 x 60s ISO 800 + Darks and Flats Canon 1000dm Tri band Filter SW 150PDS NEQ6 (mostly un guided!)

Thought I'd give the Canon a try as not been used much, was not expecting much as seeing not brill again but did not come out so bad, around 63 x 90 second sub, 15 darks, 31 flats and 31 bias frames.

Decided to grab the opportunity of a quick imaging session before bed tonight despite the bad seeing and high cloud . 150 Mac with the ZWO 120 MC and a 5X Barlow.

WIth Mars so prominent, I had a go earlier this week with my Skywatcher 1000mm 8 inch reflector. I got an image where I could see a little detail and some colour but it was small, and focussing was so hard because of all of the vibration on the rig. I asked Steve (Ibbo) whether he might have an old reflector he could lend me to have a play with during lockdown, to which he replied he hadn't but would I like to borrow his 8 inch Meade SCT..... 2000mm focal length.. So bonfire night I went out to try the LX200 Lots to learn, not least how to focus it. I had

Just got a Vixen (for Celestron) GP mount, with polar scope and enhanced SW Drives for the Towa to make it a grab and go (ish) mount for dashing out between clouds. Doesn't require goto set up and all that palavah, just point it at Polaris, switch on the drives and go. Had to do a little jiggery pokery on the Berleback to make it fit (nothing drastic just swap the polar pin, the Berlebacks is larger for the HEQ5. The mount suffered slightly from typical Hermes handling, the RA worm got bent slightly but that was sorted by swapping the worm around, luckily Vixen made the

now with 8 hrs of data. Hope you like it 🔭😉

Set up and started to do a run on Mars. The seeing was terrible and the wind was buffeting the Mac so badly I decided the night had very little chance of producing anything. How wrong was I 😮. I only did a single proper run with a SER file of 20,000 frames before packing away. It was only after aligning and stacking this SER in Registax and playing with the wavelets did I realise just how much detail and colour I had captured. It just goes to show that even when conditions look bad you can still be surprised by what you capture.

16.5h total integration over the course of several nights. APP Startools PS Topaz Denoise AI GIMP Cheers, Kev

16 x 10 Minutes in HA over the last two nights, not the most ideal target as it was very close to the Moon and the seeing wasn`t brilliant as usual, but started to get some of the fainter nebulosity to emerge, no darks, flats or bias frames, wanted to get some flats but i have a horrible smudge somewhere in the imaging train.

It's been a hell of a long time since i imaged the old moon so thought i would jump on it last night in between jobs, first is a RGB of 5000 frames each and the second...well i just liked the look of it off centre and just hanging there..although it's mainly black it was 2000 frames at 16bit so cost me 60gb to capture...i think they are clickable...🤔

Ha only with the dual rig Dates:Nov. 3, 2020 , Nov. 22, 2020 Frames: Takahashi FS-102 3nm HA: 10x1800" bin 1x1 QSI690 William Optics FLT 132 Ha 7nm: 14x1200" bin 1x1 Starlight Xpress H694 Mono CCD Integration: 9.7 hours Do the clicky thing for full res.

Taken on the William Optics GT81, ZWO ASI 183MM Pro. 35xHa, 32xoiii, 23xSii, all at 5 minutes. Combined with darks and flats in DSS, Processed primarily in PixIsight, finished off in Photoshop. Click, and click again on the Flickr image for full resolution.

I have finally managed to get this one finished. I started this with the HA on the 22 of September 2020. My next imaging session to get the OIII and SII was last Wednesday the 4th of November 2020. I cannot remember so much rain falling in this part of the country for so many days in my entire life. Williams Optics GT 81 QSI 683 Captured and stacked in Maxim Compiled in PS 6.

90 x 120 second,200 gain -10 deg , 30 darks, no flats. Small adjustment in affinity photo. Thx Chris P again for more help with Pixinsight

A quick lunar Caught this between the branches of a neighbouring Oak tree, just managed 30 subs between branch shadows so its a bit graney. Towa 339 80mm F15, Olympus OM D EM1 at prime, 100 asa, 1/65s each sub. Pipp, Regi 6 and PS. Was nice to get out again, what with hose renovations tiring me out, weather limitations, I've hardly managed any astro lately.

After a bit of planning made an early start this morning to allow time to walk and try and catch teh sun at Crich Stand. Crich stand is a memorial to the Sherwood Foresters regiment and stands atop a hill above Crich, which is South of Matlock in Derbyshire. It was beautiful, but freezing, the sunrise was lovely, I won't forget this morning for a long time.. Click, and click again on the Flickr image for full resolution..

A quick run tonight to test my guiding scope and cam set up, which worked very well considering the high wind!! Usual kit, 40 x 120s Darks, Flats and Dark flats added, Binned 2x2.

Not finished but worth a progress update at least - 90 mins in SHO with the usual kit - cheers

You don’t get many better mornings than this. One of the benefits of finishing an imaging session is the morning after (sometimes) 🔭😉

Although it was clear last night, seeing wasn't great, so I set up my Vixen Sphinx mount with my Canon M5, and pointed the whole lot at the Pleiades area. Timing controlled by an intervalometer, 50 off 15 second exposures with 50 darks. Processed primarily in Photoshop, lincluding using gradient xterminator because of the large moon effect, a little bit of noise reduction in PixInsight. Click, and click again in Flickr for full res..

Had a good day today: playing with my new metal detector I found my first coin in the front garden. OK it's only a 1988 penny, but they all count. Then noticed that the Moon was up and fairly stable, so took some half-moon shots and managed to get the Lunar X.

Hi everyone - hope you're all safe and well. I had a run of clear(ish) skies between 6pm-8pm so I managed to scrape together 6 hrs of data (2 hrs per filter) on The Pelican Nebula. Altair Astro 72ED; Baader filters; ZWO ASI 183 MM - stacked and processed in Pixinsight; polished off in PSCC - cheers 🔭😉

Hi, Posted an image of the Crescent Nebula yesterday, without fully realising that it ws, in fact, well to the blue side of the scale. Thanks for pointing it out guys. So this morning's task was to try and track down how I had managed to produce the blue babe. It took me quite a while to realise what (I think!) is going on. Sharing this as it might be a lesson not to just me!. The data from the three filters, Sii allocated to red, Ha to green, and Oiii to blue actually had a bias in it. The blue, although there was less area under the graph, was actually offset t

Hi everyone - hope #lockdown2 is treating you well - just over 8hrs of data through my Altair Astro 72ED and ZWO ASI 183 MM Pro. Processed in Pixinsight, PSCC and Topaz Labs AI Denoise

Despite the rubbish seeing conditions I managed to grab these Solar images this morning through the high cloud. Good to see some activity for a change. Usual kit and methods. Give an image a couple of clicks to get to full res. False colour added in PS 6. Close up of the sunspots using a 2.5 X Barlow. False colour added in PS 6.

No were near enough data, yet but this was last nights effort. Last sub rolled in just before the mist came in. 60 x 120 lights 200 gain -10 deg, 25 darks.

Tried the heart nebula for first time framing slightly off as I hadn’t a clue if it was in frame until processing usually Apt objects puts it in centre but ended up with the fish head nebula in centre so next time I will platesolve the image and use the cluster of stars as centre lower down on image , approx 3hrs 180 sec subs idas D2 filter, Nikon D5300, tecnosky 70q , stacked in Dss processing in Startools 1.7 .440

Seeing was awful just after lunch and the cam needed a clean then of course the clouds and garage became a problem. I swapped locations and mounts later on and manage to get a run of Cak for full disc and tried the powermate before I swapped to ha to be once more be plagued by clouds. So it was Cak only.

Shame I was not up and about to see this beauty hit at a quarter to two this morning.

Seems like ages since my last view of our local star. At this time of year I need to move the mount around so I can get a chance to view it but from home but it still creeps across the rooftops.I do have a spot earmarked only a few hundred metres away that overlooks the fields and would be much better, but if I forgot something it would be a royal PITA as I could not leave the kit unattended even for a short while. Ha Lunt 60mm double stacked with coronado rich field tuner. Cak Lunt BF600 with the ED80. WL Herschel Wedge continium filter Bresser 127/1200 frac. All take

Taken last month from home.. I know that the Crescent generally gets framed dead centre, but I wanted to try out a more quirky composition and pick up on some of the interesting nebulosity in the region in the rest of the frame.. Five minute exposures, 38Ha, 25Oiii and 23Sii. Stacked with flats and darkflats in DSS, processed in PixInsight and Photoshop.. Click, and click again in Flickr for full resolution..

I caught this yesterday lunchtime but only got round to processing it this afternoon. Usual method with a DSLR and filter.

At long last I have finished stacking and processing this one (I think). Captured with the dual rig of the Tak FS102 SC694 and the WO132 QSI. The WO Sx did the ha @7nm and the Tak qsi did the rest. If I get a chance I might redo the S11. Capture started at the Begining of Aug.

First m42 of the year technosky 70q nikon d5300, idas D2 filter hence bland stars but blobby was up ,approx 2.5hrs

Well they are not the best images I have produced but I will take them. Shot through the clouds this morning. The clouds made focusing near on impossible to achieve which is a shame as there are loads of features visible on the surface as well as one very large prom. False colour added in PS 6. 5 X Barlow added to the mix. Brilliant pair of sun spots and one very large flare which despite my best efforts unfortunately I could not do justice.

First pop at the california nebula ,conditions not brilliant thanks to mr blobby but it's a start approx 7hrs over three nights idas -D2 filter used ,Nikon D5300 , DSS processed in Startools

Just the top, 24 x 180s +Darks and Flats Canon 1000dm SW 150PDS NEQ6 guided and finished in DSS and PS6. Not great but I was testing the Tri band filter and the Moon was nearly full!

I do like a nice sunset after slaving over a hot (pretty damn cooltoday) solarscope. I tried a bit of arty-farty with the moon in a gap in the branches and failed.

One of the biggest issues this time of year is that the Sun comes up before we start work and sets before we finish. With other things to do at lunchtime, such as eat! there isn't time to set up telescopes, etc. I still do drawings under bad conditions but I have proved that a DSLR and zoom lens is a better alternative in clear conditions. So, yes, I,n sure I could have got a better shot with my Mak and DSLR, with a webcam for close-ups but I see this as an opportunity gained rather than lost. I used a Baader filter, 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/4000 second exposure. https://w

Won these on e-bay a little bit more then I wanted to pay but they are pretty hard to find. Will make some nice feet for the pier.

Re done from start using some new techniques one of which is using the autosave fits file deep sky stacker puts in the the lights folder, processed the rgb image in startools, then convert the image to mono and twwek it a little then overlay it to the rgb image, seems to work well, 80 x 90 seconds lights, 15 darks 31 flats and bias calibration frames. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1760920244056452&id=100004154803979

This is a catch 22 situation, some people think that you can buy a piece of equipment that will take you into the depths of the universe and show you all it's wonders. I don't think any of us had an inkling of how much work and patience is involved getting to see these objects. But we are the ones that have been through spending hours freezing our danglies off and still getting no reward. But we didn't give up, no, we went and spent loads more money and spent even more time until we got a glimpse of these faint grey things that took hours to find and still went, "Is that it?" And y

I’ve had this mount for a while and used it mainly as my grab & go setup with Z61 worked perfectly well. With my fixed photography setup in the obs, I didn’t want to strip it down and mount my mak 150 on it so thought I’d try the mak on the Cem25p, as it’s meant to be able to handle 27lbs and the mak is only 17. Major problem’s slipping on both RA and DEC axis, had never been touched so how it was setup direct from the manufacturer. Time to strip it down, found the gears not meshing under load, as the main tension block moving back under tension. Adjusted both axis

Actually managed to see the Sun this morning. Not wanting to miss an opportunity I jumped at the chance to get the Obs open and the Solar scope out. The seeing was abysmal but I did manage to get some half decent images before the clouds rolled in once again. Focusing was near on impossible with the seeing changing in waves of distortion so the images are a bit on the grainy side. This is the view that greeted me when I first started. After she had cleared the trees the activity on the surface emerged.

A few of the better ones from today.

Bury her son ??? Bloody hell Dave thats a bit extreme isn't it ???? If the lad wants to get into Astronomy I say let him do it 😅

Amazing, can't remember the last one... time to get the gear out!

I did a guiding trial using the ST80 scope and my QHY guide cam. It ran very well after I used the Guiding Assistant. Used it on M33 as it was the easiest target and it looked like fog was going to appear any moment. I think I will invest in some guide scope adjustable rings when I can to get a bit more choice of stars. A few dust bunnies that I'll sort today!! 24 x 180s Gain 400 plus Darks/Flats and Dark Flats.

Yes, I could have got a better shot with my Mak but sometimes I only have time for a quick shot. This was a DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/4000 second exposure with a Baader filter.

There was another sunspot: