Every year I shoot this target with the goal of improving.

60mm Altair Astro Scope, Altair Hypercam 183C PRO Fan Cooled Altair Camera. LProMax filter

First light with my new (preloved) EQ6R. 47 x 180s at 121g and 20ofs -15C. 102ED and AA294C plus LProMax. Using NINA.

Just a simple target to get used to the new mount and the newish capture software. My usual processing routine.

Done in a hurry a week ago. Still experimenting with NINA and slowly getting there. Giving myself extra work / problems using the SLCC for deep sky stuff - slight rugby ball stars. Other issues, need dew straps for SLCC, also a field flattener ?

Lastly plate solving is tricky, & need to do NINA darks !

Very nice little Galaxy in Canes Venatici with a bright core and fainter outer disc with spindly arms Stack of 33 x 150s at 600/30.

So back to an old favourite last night, M51, using my 6" Classical Cassegrain ( which is not really meant for DSO's, but in the absence of planets.... ). Continuing to learn the use of NINA for acquisition. Guiding last night was superb, around 0.5 arc seconds. Stack of 41 x 180 secs at 121 gain and 20 offset. Sensor at -15 C

I was tryong to get the Spider and the Fly Nebula in the same FOV but didn't orient the camera correctly so this is just the Spider.

Auriga is in the Milky Way to the huge number of stars is somewhat obscuring the rather faint Nebula.

A stack of 40 subs in the end, before clouds arrived again !

Stack of 26 240sat 121g and 20 offset. Only got half the subs I wanted as clouds intervened.

Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P f/3.5

Player One Uranus-C OSC (Offset:10 / Gain:100)

SkyTech LPRO MAX filter

54 x 60sec. subs (54 mins.)

Processed in Astro Pixel Processor (x2 drizzle), GraXpert and Affinity Photo

M33 on a very dark, clear but humid night Great deal of trouble with guiding, possibly because of dew.

Only 33 stacked out of 76. 150s at 391 gain 20 offset -15C. 105ED, 294C and LProMax filter.

Also known as Caldwell 5 Imaged on a beautiful but windy night. Difficult galaxy due to low surface brightness, caused by ( i think) interstellar dust. In Camelopardalis, estimated to be between 7 -11 million LY's away.

14.09.20 NGC6960 Western Veil Nebula (Witch’s Broom) and Pickering's Triangle.

RGBHOO Process 3hours of data.

Captured with my Altair Astro 72EDF x0.8 reducer fitted and AA183C PROTEC Hypercam.

90 mins of RGB using L-Pro-MAX filter and a similar amount of time using the #AATRIBAND filter.

Ha and OIII mono data extracted from RGB Triband data with Astro Pixel Processor, reintegrated and recombined with the LPro RGB data to generate an RGBHOO integration.

Processed with Pixinsight and Photoshop 2020.

EQUIPMENT:

Altair Astro 72EDF refractor (f/6)

AA Lightwave x0.8 reducer

AA IMX183C PROTEC Hypercam

AA #LPROMAX light pollution suppression filter

AA #TRIBAND filter

AA 50mm Guider with AA GPCAM2 130M

iOptron CEM25P mount and iPolar alignment camera

AA Portable Pier

CAPTURE SOFTWARE:

SharpCap 3.3Pro Beta

PHD2 Guiding

DATA:

All lights captured at unity gain (398)

Black Level = 24

TEC Temp = -10°C

90x 60sec using LPRO-MAX Filter

60x Flats (LPro)

45x Darks

60x Dk Flats

32x 180sec using TRIBAND Filter

60x Flats (triband)

45x Darks

60x Dk Flats

INTEGRATION & PROCESSING:

Astro Pixel Processor 1.080

PixInsight 1.8.8-6 Ripley

Photoshop 2020

My third session using NINA as my acquisition software. Starting to get my head round it a bit and beginning to enjoy it.

Messier 27 - The Dumbbell Nebula

Approx. 2 hours of RGB captured with the LPRO-Max Filter, with a further 1.5 hours of RGB captured with the AA Triband filter. RGB processed with Astro Pixel Processor, Ha and Oiii extracted using APP and recombined with LPro RGB data. One processed using RGBHOO palette and the other RGBHSO palette.

EQUIPMENT:

Altair Astro 72EDF (f/6)

AA Lightwave x1.0 flattener

AA IMX183C PROTEC Hypercam

AA #LPROMAX light pollution suppression filter

AA #TRIBAND filter

AA 50mm Guider with AA GPCAM2 130M

iOptron CEM25P mount and iPolar alignment camera

AA Portable Pier

CAPTURE SOFTWARE:

SharpCap 3.3Pro Beta

PHD2 Guiding

DATA:

All lights captured at unity gain (398)

Black Level = 24

TEC Temp = -10°C

58x 120sec using LPRO-MAX Filter

60x Flats (LPro)

40x Darks

60x Dk Flats

30x 180sec using TRIBAND Filter

60x Flats (triband)

45x Darks

60x Dk Flats

INTEGRATION & PROCESSING:

Astro Pixel Processor 1.080

PixInsight 1.8.8-6 Ripley

Photoshop 2020

After a long summer of no DSO astro, felt rusty doing this one. 35 exposures stacked gain 391, Offset 20, -15C, 102ED, 0.75X reducer. AA294C, APT, APP,LR, MS Photo, Topaz DN.

Imaged using 102 Ed and reducer which perhaps wasn't best for the target. As it is I heavily cropped the image.

Nice little edge on galaxy in Draco. Probably could do with more aperture to image this properly. 33 x 300s at 121/30.

Beautiful night and one of my favourite targets

Image taken on the first extended clear night for a while. Took a while to get PHD2 to settle down. No flats or dark flats as I had no opportunity today to do them. I believe that NGC 1893 refers to the star cluster within the larger emission nebula IC 410.

First guided image with the SrellaLyra 6" Classical Cassegrain at 1836 focal length. 45 x 150s at 391g / 20os. LProMax filter.

Late decision to put the scope out to take advantage of a clear period. Chose the target because it was pointing away from the bright rising Moon. Only managed 34 frames of 120s before the target crossed the Meridian.

Only 6 viable subs (out of 65) on a windy, cloudy night. Experimental gain setting of 900. Don't know that the conditions allow for a judgement on how well that worked...

Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P f/3.5

Player One Uranus-C OSC (Offset:10 / Gain:211 (HCG) )

SkyTech LPRO MAX filter

54 x 60sec. subs (54 mins.)

Processed in Astro Pixel Processor, GraXpert and Affinity Photo

Started on this target quite late. It was very low in the South and I only managed 5 subs before clouds came in. Only one was salvageable.

Only a stack of 10 decent subs before the clouds rolled in.

My first shot at this beautiful nebula in Cygnus. 50 x 150s at 600/30.

Poor image. Only 15 subs of 150s at 391 / 20 102 ED & 0.75x reducer, 294C. Clouds came in & I think dew messed up the guiding.

From last night. NGC 7380 the Wizard Nebula in Cepheus. Classical Cassegrain at 400 gain. The nebulosity is a bit muddy brown so I’m going to reprocess and see what I get. Also imaged M90 but it didn’t come to anything.

First serious attempt using NINA.

tracking was poor so it doesn't bear zooming in ! It was late and got on target in a bit of a hit & miss way so only did 6 short 120s lights.

Lovely little Nebula in Vulpecula with embedded cluster. Stack of 43 x 150s at 600/30.

First clear night for ages. Image is cropped and quite dark.

Taken 030421 60 x 150s at 391/20 -15C. SLCC guided & LProMax. A difficult target with a bright core and faint outer part.

A stack of 22 subs as clouds intervened. 300s at 121/33. I think my use of dithering has actually reduced noise. Probably on the edge of what I can achieve with my 102mm refractor and a 2x Barlow. Might have done better with a higher gain ?

NGC6888 the Crescent Nebula in Cygnus. Stack of 12 x 240s at 121/30 -15C. Rose at 0200 so that Cygnus was well up in the NE and went back to bed leaving the imaging run of 35 subs to itself. Lots of cloud and ran into daylight after 5am so only 13 usable subs & stacked the best 12. 102ED with 0.75x Reducer. First use of dithering and the Skytech LPro max filter.

51 x 60sec

RC6 with 0.6x flattener/reducer

Altair Astro Hypercam 183C PRO (Gain 1600, Offest 48, Bin 2x2)

SkyTech LPRO Max filter

Processed with Deep Sky Stacker and Affinity Photo

Messier 27 - The Dumbbell Nebula

Approx. 2 hours of RGB captured with the LPRO-Max Filter, with a further 1.5 hours of RGB captured with the AA Triband filter. RGB processed with Astro Pixel Processor, Ha and Oiii extracted using APP and recombined with LPro RGB data. One processed using RGBHOO palette and the other RGBHSO palette.

EQUIPMENT:

Altair Astro 72EDF (f/6)

AA Lightwave x1.0 flattener

AA IMX183C PROTEC Hypercam

AA #LPROMAX light pollution suppression filter

AA #TRIBAND filter

AA 50mm Guider with AA GPCAM2 130M

iOptron CEM25P mount and iPolar alignment camera

AA Portable Pier

CAPTURE SOFTWARE:

SharpCap 3.3Pro Beta

PHD2 Guiding

DATA:

All lights captured at unity gain (398)

Black Level = 24

TEC Temp = -10°C

58x 120sec using LPRO-MAX Filter

60x Flats (LPro)

40x Darks

60x Dk Flats

30x 180sec using TRIBAND Filter

60x Flats (triband)

45x Darks

60x Dk Flats

INTEGRATION & PROCESSING:

Astro Pixel Processor 1.080

PixInsight 1.8.8-6 Ripley

Photoshop 2020

Beautiful wee galaxy in Coma Berenices stack of 30 x 150s at 600/30.

63 * 180s in Bortle 8

Taken using:

Altair Ascent 80ED refractor with 0.8x reducer/flatenner at f/5.6

Altair Hypercam 533C PROTEC OSC Binned 1x1

SkyTech LPRO Max filter

52min total (2min subs)

Processed with Deep Sky Stacker and Affinity Photo

Second serious go with NINA. Much better ! Stack of 30 ( out of 35 subs) at 240s 121g 20ofs Very noisy, or is it dew ?

Only a stack of 10 decent subs before the clouds rolled in. slightly more saturated.