Here is a composite image showing how the view of planet Venus is changing just from April 28th the May 13th, each night forming a thinner crescent shape. I’m now at the point where I must image Venus during the day because it is too low after sunset to image from inside the observatory. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and I'll be able to add a few more pics to this series.

Tech Specs: Meade 12” LX-90, ZWO ASI290MC, UV/IR filter, unguided. Captured using SharpCap Pro, stacked in Autostakkert, processed in Registax. Image date(s): April 28 to May 13, 2020. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA.

Another take on this interesting and bright feature a bit off the beaten path in Cygnus, where a nebula filter brings out wide regions of hydrogen clouds, glowing red for our electronically enhanced viewing pleasure.

Tech Stuff: Borg 55FL astrograph/ZWO ASI 1600MC/IDAS LPS-V4/iOptron CubePro. 84 minutes of 8 second exposures captured in 6 minute Livestacks with SharpCap including flat subtraction. Processed in PixInsight and ACDSee. Imaged from my yard 10 miles north of New York City

Equipo Principal: ZWO ASI 1600 mm-pro + SW Explorer 250pds + SW Coma Corrector 0.9x + EQ6-R-Pro + ZWO EAF + ZWO 7x2" EFW

Equipo guía: guidescope 60/240 mm, ZWO ASI 120mm mini

*Gain 100, -25 º C, R-CCD 2" Svbony + L-Pro 2" Optolong, 43x120"

*Gain 100, -25 º C, G-CCD 2" Svbony + L-Pro 2" Optolong, 42x120"

*Gain 100, -25 º C, B-CCD 2" Svbony + L-Pro 2" Optolong, 44x120"

*Gain 100, -25 º C, L 2" Optolong + L-Pro 2" Optolong, 124x120"

50 Darks

50 Flats / filter

Polar Align: SharpCap 3.2

Adquisición: SGP 3.1

Procesado: Pixinsight 1.8.8, PS

Equipo Principal: ZWO ASI 1600 mm-pro + SW Explorer 250pds + SW Coma Corrector 0.9x + EQ6-R-Pro + ZWO EAF + ZWO 7x2" EFW

Equipo guía: guidescope 60/240 mm, ZWO ASI 120mm mini

*Gain 100, -25 º C, R-CCD 2" Svbony + L-Pro 2" Optolong, 45x120"

*Gain 100, -25 º C, G-CCD 2" Svbony + L-Pro 2" Optolong, 45x120"

*Gain 100, -25 º C, B-CCD 2" Svbony + L-Pro 2" Optolong, 45x120"

*Gain 100, -25 º C, L 2" Optolong + L-Pro 2" Optolong, 196x120"

100 Darks

100 Flats / filter

Polar Align: SharpCap 3.2

Adquisición: SGP 3.1

Procesado: Pixinsight 1.8.8, PS

A view of Tycho and Clavius craters on Earth's Moon on December 7, 2019.

Tech Specs: Sky Watcher 120ED Esprit, Celestron CGEM-DX mount (pier mounted), ZWO ASI290MC, best 15% of 2500 frames, unguided. Captured using SharpCap Pro v3.2 and stacked in AutoStakkert! 3.0.14. Image date: December 7, 2019. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA.

Took these pictures Saturday night, M27 and M22 & M28

WO SkyCat 51, Zwo 183MC Pro cooled color camera

Zwo IR/cut filter

#SharpCap Pro

Ioptron i45 Pro EQ mount PHD2 guiding

Orion 60mm guidescope SSAG

120 Gain offset 20 0c cooling, 1 minute exposure, M22 & M28 was 40 minutes, M27 was 80 minutes total, 1 minute exposure each

50 darks 50 flats and 50 bias frames

Astro Pixel Processor and PS

Full moon too...

Genova, Italy (15 Aug 2023 02:32 UT)

Planet: diameter 41.6", mag -2.5, altitude ≈ 50°

Telescope: Celestron CPC C8 XLT (203 F/10 SC)

Camera: QHY5III462C Color

Focal Extender: Explore Scientific 2x (1.25")

Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector: Artesky

Filter: QHY UV/IR block

Recording scale: 0.152 arcsec/pixel

Equivalent focal length ≈ 3940 mm F/19.4

Image resized: +50%

Recording: SharpCap 4.0

(640x480 @ 200fps - 90 sec - RAW8 - Gain 200)

Best 25% frames of ≈ 18000

Alignment/Stacking: AstroSurface U4

Wavelets/Deconvolution: AstroSurface U4

Final Elaboration: GIMP 2.10.34

Taken Sep 11, 2021 (UT.) Astro-Tech AT60ED scope with 0.8X FR/FF (288mm FL, F/4.8,) QHY183c at -15C, Gain 11, Offset 50, Optolong L-eNhance filter. 20x180 sec acquired and stacked in SharpCap 3.2 LiveStack. Metro-area LP conditions, above average transparancy and average seeing.

lagoon-20x180-g11-o50-qhy183c_-15C-lenh-60f4_8

Equipo Principal: ZWO ASI 1600 mm-pro + SW Explorer 200p + SW Coma Corrector 0.9x + EQ6-R-Pro + Long Perng 2" Dual Speed Low Profile Crayford Focuser + ZWO EAF + ZWO 7x2" EFW

Equipo guía: guidescope 60/240 mm, ZWO ASI 120mm mini

*Gain 100, -25 º C, R-CCD 2" Svbony, 120x15"

*Gain 100, -25 º C, G-CCD 2" Svbony, 120x15"

*Gain 100, -25 º C, B-CCD 2" Svbony, 120x15"

*Gain 139, -25 º C, Ha 7nm 2" Optolong, 90x180"

100 Darks

100 Flats / filter

100 DarkFlats

Polar Align: SharpCap 3.2

Adquisición: SGP 3.1

Procesado: Pixinsight 1.8.8, PS

The Great Red Spot has just rotated into view. Here I have used WinJUPOS software which re-aligns images precisely to account for the gas giant's rotation -- fast enough to smear details a bit even with just a few minutes of video.

Tech Stuff: Questar 3.5"/Televue 2.5x PowerMate/QHY5iii178 color. SharpCap/PIPP/AS3/WinJUPOS/RS6/ACDSee

Genova, Italy (10 Oct 2023 00:14 UT)

Planet: diameter 48.5", mag -2.8, altitude ≈ 59°

Telescope: Celestron CPC C8 XLT (203 F/10 SC)

Camera: QHY5III462C Color

Focal Extender: Explore Scientific 2x (1.25")

Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector: Artesky

Filter: QHY UV/IR block

Recording scale: ≈0.15 arcsec/pixel

Equivalent focal length ≈4000 mm F/19.7

Image resized: +50%

Recording: SharpCap 4.0

(640x480 @ 125fps - 120 sec - RAW8 - Gain 189)

Best 25% frames of ≈15000

Alignment/Stacking (Jupiter): AstroSurface U4

Wavelets/Deconvolution: AstroSurface U4

Final Elaboration: GIMP 2.10.34

Equipo Principal: ZWO ASI 1600 mm-pro + SW Explorer 250pds + SW Coma Corrector 0.9x + EQ6-R-Pro + ZWO EAF + ZWO 7x2" EFW

Equipo guía: starguider 60/240 mm, ZWO ASI 120mm mini

*Gain 139, -20 º C, Ha 7nm 2" Optolong, 260x180"

*Gain 139, -20 º C, Oiii-CCD 6.5 nm 2" Optolong, 140x180"

100 Darks

100 Flats por filtro

Polar Align: SharpCap 3.2

Adquisición: SGP 3.1

Procesado: Pixinsight 1.8.8, PS

Rupes Recta, a linear fault line, or rille, appears as a straight shadow during the first quarter phase of the moon giving it the nickname the Straight Wall. This fault has a length of about 68 miles (110 kilometers). The small (11 miles wide) crater Birt lies just to the west.

Tech Specs: Sky-Watcher Esprit 120mm ED, ZWO ASI290MC, Televue Powermate 2.5x, SharpCap Pro v3.1. Image date: January 14, 2019. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA.

Messier 51 (M51), better known as the Whirlpool Galaxy, is a famous grand-design spiral galaxy located in the constellation Canes Venatici. The Whirlpool Galaxy has an apparent magnitude of 8.4 and lies at an approximate distance of 23 million light years from Earth.

The Whirlpool Galaxy is interacting with a smaller companion, NGC 5195 (Messier 51b), a dwarf galaxy connected to its larger neighbour by a tidal bridge of dust. The bridge is visible in images of the pair silhouetted against the central region of the smaller galaxy.

Image Details:

- Imaging Scope: Celestron C8 SCT

- Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI183MC Color with ZWO IR cut filter

- Guider: Celestron Starsense Autoguider

- Mount: Celestron CGEM

- Acquisition Software: Sharpcap

- Guiding Software: Celestron

- Light Frames: 25*4 mins @ 100 Gain, Temp -20C

- Dark Frames: 25*4 mins

- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker

- Processed in PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom, and Topaz Denoise AI

There's a lot going on in this amazing area of the sky. I could go on and on about how interesting this area is, but today, I'll focus on Antares and Messier 4, two objects I enjoy observing.

Antares is a red supergiant star, one of the brightest stars in the sky. Its name means "rival to Ares." It earned this name due to its red color, which often confuses people into thinking it is Mars. Antares is easy to spot with the naked eye and will help you locate the constellation Scorpius, which makes up the "heart of the scorpion."

Messier 4 is a globular cluster and was discovered in 1746. While not visible to the naked eye, it is easy to find with a telescope or binoculars using Antares as a waypoint. In binoculars, it will appear as a faint glowing blob; a telescope will help you resolve more details. This is one of the closest globular clusters to Earth at ~6,000 light-years away and is estimated to be ~12 billion years old.

Shot from my backyard near Taos, New Mexico.

Equipment:

SkyWatcher EQ6-R Mount

Nikon 135mm f/2 AI-S - shot at f/4

Sony a7RIII (unmodified)

ZWO 30mm Guide Scope

GPCAM2 Mono Camera

Acquisition:

Taos, NM: my backyard - Bortle 3

42 x 90" for 63 min of exposure time.

10 dark frames

15 flats frames

15 bias frames

Software:

SharpCap

PHD2

PixInsight

Lightroom

Photoshop

My mount was polar aligned with SharpCap I then mounted my a7rIII and adapted Nikon 135mm f/2 AI-S lens to the top rail of my scope. I used SharpCap to achieve "excellent" polar alignment. I shot ISO 800, f/4 and took 90" exposures. I brought the lights/darks/flats/bias frames into PixInsight for stacking and aligning and then used: STF, Cropping, Dynamic Background Extraction, BlurXTerminator, plate solving, color correction, NoiseXTerminator and then the nebulae were separated from the stars using StarXterminator, and both files processed and stretched separately and then recombined using PixelMath. That file was brought into Lightroom for Metadata and EXIF tags, light post-processing, and cropping. I used Photoshop to sharpen the final image.

Here is a three panel mosaic of last evening's moon at 69% full. I placed the old Meade 12" LX90 back in service for galaxy season, forgot how much detail this scope provides on lunar shots.

Tech Specs: Meade 12" LX-90, Celestron CGEM-DX mount (pier mounted), ZWO ASI071MC-Pro, each panel 500 images at full resolution 4944 x 3284, best 20% of those frames. Captured using SharpCap v3.2 and processed in Autostakkert! 3.0.14. Image date: February 3, 2020. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA.

1,500 light-years away, the famous North America & Pelican nebulae in a star forming region in Cygnus. An integration of 3 1/2 hours of Hydrogen-α, Oxygen III and Sulfur II data that I collected during the short nights of July 2019.

Camera: ZWO ASI 1600MM-PRO USB 3.0 Mono (Type CMOS)

Sensor Cooling Temperature: -15C

Filters: 1.25" 5nm Astrodon Ha, 1.25" 3nm Astrodon OIII, 1.25" 3nm Astrodon SII

Imaging Telescope: Takahashi FS-60CB

Correcting Lens: Takahashi Reducer 0.72x (composite focal length at 264mm and focal ratio at f/4.9)

Mount: iOptron CEM25EC

26 x 180" Ha subs (Unity Gain, Gain: 139, Offset: 21, Binning 1x1)

23 x 180" OIII subs (Unity Gain, Gain: 139, Offset: 21, Binning 1x1)

21 x 180" SII subs (Unity Gain, Gain: 139, Offset: 21, Binning 1x1)

20 Darks, 20 Flats

Total Intregration Time: 3hrs 30mins

Software: PixInsight Core 1.8 Ripley, Photoshop, SharpCap

Waxing Crescent Moon, 47% Full

June 19, 2018

1,393 video frames captured with SharpCap 3.1. Video frames were stacked into a single image with AutoStakkert!3 software, 3x drizzle. Wavelets applied in Registax 6. Post-processing and cropping in Photoshop CC 2018.

Explore Scientific ED 80 APO refractor, 480mm focal length, f/6

Celestron Advanced VX mount

Explore Scientific 3x Barlow

ZWO ASI 290MM camera (monochrome)

Coronado Personal Solar Telescope (PST) 400mm f10 telescope specifically designed to only pass a very narrow slice of the Hydrogen Alpha wavelength.

ZWO ASI183 monochrome USB camera

X2 barlow element

Best 50% of 500 high speed video frames captured using SharpCap software, analyzed and stacked using Autostakkert3! software, sharpened in imppg free software

Telescopio: Celestron C11 XLT Fastar

Montatura: iOptron CEM60

CMOS di ripresa: ZWO ASI 174 mono Cooled

Lunghezza focale: 2800 mm

Filtro: Optolong Red CCD 50,8 mm

Focuser: Moonlite CF 2,5" focuser with high resolution stepper DRO

Software:SharpCap 3.2 Pro, Emil Kraaikamp Autostakkert 3.0.14, Zoner Photo Studio X v. 19, Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight 1.8

Pose: 400 su 1017 riprese a 65 fotogrammi al secondo

Seeing: 1 Trasparenza: 8

Horsehead (Barnard 33) and Flame (NGC2024) Nebulas.

This was shot the first week of Nov 2021. Is one of my first images with my new ASI533 camera.

Acquisition

32 600 second subs @ -10C

5 hours 20 minutes

Gain 100 Offset

NINA

Sharpcap for PA

Equipment

WO Z61 with Flat 61 flattener

ZWO ASI533

Sky Watcher AZ-GTi

ZWO ASI120MC-S, 30mm mini guide scope

Optolong L-eNhance

Editing & Processing

Astro Pixel Processor

PS/LR

Starnet++

Topaz DeNoise

Small sunspot AR2767 imaged on Monday, July 27, 2020.

Tech Specs: Williams Optics Redcat 51, ZWO ASI290MC, Daystar Quark Chromosphere + ZWO 2" UV/IR filter, SharpCap, best 25% of 5k frames, AutoStakkert, Registax. Image date: 27 July 2020. Location: The Dark Side Observatory in Weatherly, PA, USA.

Equipo Principal: ZWO ASI183MC-pro + Askar ACL200 + EQ6-R-Pro + ZWO EAF

Equipo guía: Hercules 32/130 mini guidescope, Player One Neptunce C-II

ASI183MC-pro:

*Gain 111, -15 º C, Optolong L-Ultimate 2", 364x300"

*Gain 111, -15 º C, Optolong Sii-CCD 6.5 nm 2", 97x300"

Tiempo Total de Integración: 38.4 h

50 Darks

70 Flats / 100 Darkflats por filtro

Polar alignment: Sharpcap 4

Adquisición: SGP 3.2

Guiado: Phd2

Procesado: Pixinsight 1.8.9, PS

Genova, Italy (18 Oct 2022 23:54 UT)

Planet: diameter 13.6", mag -0.9, altitude ≈ 44°

Telescope: Orange 1977 vintage Celestron C8 (203 F/10 SC)

Mount: EQ5 with ST4 hand controller (no GoTo)

Camera: QHY5III462C Color

Barlow: GSO APO 2.5x

Filter: QHY UV/IR block

Recording scale: 0.150 arcsec/pixel

Equivalent focal length ≈ 3990 mm F/19.7

Image resized: +50%

Recording: SharpCap 4.0

(320x240 @ 125fps - 90 sec - RAW16 - Gain 120)

Best 25% frames of 11238

Alignment/Stacking: AutoStakkert! 3.1.4

Wavelets/Deconvolution: AstroSurface T5

Final Elaboration: GIMP 2.10.30

Taken on 07/07/2018 Used ED80, 3x Barlow lens, Altair Astro GPCam2, Captured in Sharpcap and processed in Registax

Taken with my ZWO AS120MM-mini guide camera, Skywatcher 130PDS and a a x3 barlow. Video recorded in Sharpcap, processed in Autostakkert and sharpened in Lightroom.

I think the crater to the left is called Pythagoras.

I've not really got into closeup Moon photography before so abit of a first for me. My sister and brother came to visit and stayed in their camper van. My brother in law Nick is interested in taking up the hobby at some point so we set up the equipment. When the Moon is so full you have to take pictures of the Moon.

I'm not sure I sold it very well because there was a lot of faffing about. I've not done it for a while, it was cold, I was using my rubbish laptop and the seeing was terrible.

Anyway, we managed to get some pic's and in the end it wasn't too bad.

I've imaged M13 many times, it's a great spring/summer target, high in sky for many weeks. For this image I used a similar combination to one of my first deep sky images, my 3.5" Questar with an uncooled planetary color camera. I'm happy to say that even I can see my improvement from seven years ago www.flickr.com/photos/124244349@N07/14502445861/in/album-... . What has changed? The newer camera lets me get away with stacking lots of short exposures, and the software I use for capture and processing are much more powerful than the tools I used then. But I guess I have learned a lot about how to use these tools... in many ways this image was "easy" but it wouldn't have seemed easy 2 or 3 years ago.

Tech Stuff: Questar 3.5"/unguided/QHY5iii178 color/Sharpcap/4 second exposures with dark subtraction/captured in 32 2 minute livestacks (64 min total integration time)/Processed in Pixinsight finished in ACDSee. From my yard 10 miles north of New York City.

Happy Easter from this celestial Easter Bunny! Although, many people interested in astronomy will rather recognize NGC 2359 under its more common moniker "Thor's Helmet", and would rather display it rotated by 90° counter-clockwise. However, I prefer this "natural" orientation, where north is up and the horizontal axis is parallel to the equator. It rather appears like a rabbit or bunny looking towards the right this way, don't you think?

Actually, this object is the result of a superhot, giant Wolf-Rayet star (the brighter one in the "eye") that has blown off its outer layers, which are now interacting with the interstellar medium and producing green O-III and red H-alpha emissions.

This image was recorded during a live stacking session performed during a Saturday evening barbecue at the Volkssternwarte München 😁. The optics used was a 16" Meade LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope with the Starizona SC Corrector IV and carried by a MAM-50 equatorial mount. The camera was an ASI 294 MC Pro color camera equipped with the IDAS NBZ-II dual narrowband filter. It was post-processed offline using SiRiL and Luminar 2018.

Image info:

Telescope: Meade LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain @f/6.3

Reducer: Starizona SC Corrector IV (x0.63)

Mount: MAM-50, equatorial, unguided

Camera: ASI 294 MC Pro (-5°C, gain 120)

Filter: IDAS NBZ-II dual narrowband (O-III / H-alpha)

Acquisition: 255x 30s (1h 25 min) using SharpCap Pro (live stacking)

Correction: Flats, Darks

Post-processing: SiRiL (gradient removal, photometric calibration, denoising, binning 2x2, stretching), Luminar 2018 (touch-up)

The cold, crisp evenings has made for some really good nights of lunar imaging. The temperature in the observatory hovered around 10F during both sessions. I took advantage of the last two nights to capture some wide field views using a combination of my Canon 6D and ASI290MC with an Antares Focal Reducer. Here is a view of the Apenninus Mountains, best viewed just after the first quarter moon when they are draped in some shadows. The capture area was 1936 x 1096 and then slightly clipped.

Tech Specs: Meade 12” LX90, Celestron CGEM-DX mount, ZWO ASI290MC camera, Antares Focal Reducer, best 5,000 frames out of 10,000 captured with Sharpcap v3.0 and processed in AutoStakkert! V3.0.14 (x64). Image Date: December 26, 2017. Location: The Dark Side Observatory in Weatherly, PA.

This spiral galaxy is about 25 million light years away. It is 18 x 8 arc min in diameter. Gear setup: Celestron Edge HD 8 @ f/7, iOptron GEM 45, Celestron OAG w/ ZWO 174MM, ZWO 2600MC @0, ZWO EFW 2”, Optolong L-Pro 2”. Lights subs 24 x 300 sec, Flats 20, Darks 20, Bias 50, total exposure 2 hours. Captured by APT, Sharpcap pro, PHD2, Stacked by APP and Processed by PI, PS, Topaz Denise. Bortle sky class 4.

The sun has been very active this year causing auroras galore to be seen much further from the earth’s poles than usual. The cause is huge active regions such as can be seen in this image where multiple sunspots are evident.

We are now in a period known as Solar Maximum; a time during the 11 year solar cycle when the sun puts on its best variety act. We won't know when it will end until features like sunspots and the gas emissions seen on the edge of the sun decrease in number until finally at the end of the current cycle it will go very quiet.

To give you a sense of scale, the largest sunspot you can see on the surface at centre-right of the image is at least the size of the earth and perhaps a bit larger.

A little bit about equipment and processing:

I capture the base data using a SolarQuest mount, Skywatcher 72ED Evo Pro telescope, Quark Chromosphere filter (DayStar refer to this as an eyepiece for some reason) and an ASI174MM camera. Acquisition assisted by using SharpCap via USB link from camera to PC resulting in a 2000 frame SER format video in mono (16 bit).

Processing is relatively straight forward. Video processed/stacked in AuroStakkert 3 before finishing in Photoshop where I mostly work in the Camera Raw Filter. You are welcome to contact me if you are interested in exploring this further and/or producing solar images like this.

Messier 78 or M78, also known as NGC 2068, is a reflection nebula in the constellation Orion. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780 and included by Charles Messier in his catalog of comet-like objects that same year. this nebula is about 1,600 light years away.

What's impressive about this nebula are the really dark dust lanes which seem to swirl in front of the reflection nebula itself. These dust lanes are dense clouds obscuring the light from the surrounding stars, creating a striking contrast against the blue glow of the nebula itself, and are considered a key feature of this celestial object.

Image Details:

- Imaging Scope: Celestron C8 SCT

- Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI183MC Color with ZWO IR cut filter

- Guider: Celestron Starsense Autoguider

- Mount: Celestron CGEM

- Acquisition Software: Sharpcap

- Guiding Software: Celestron

- Light Frames: 25*3 mins @ 100 Gain, Temp -10C

- Dark Frames: 10*3 mins

- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker

- Processed in PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom, and Topaz Denoise AI

Large solar prominences viewed yesterday, Earth is shown as an approximate size comparison.

Tech Specs: Sky-Watcher Esprit 120ED Telescope, ASI462MC camera, Daystar Quark Chromosphere, ZWO 0.5x Reducer, Sky-Watcher EQ6R-Pro pier mounted, ZWO UV/IR Filter (2”), focus with a ZWO EAF, captured with SharpCap Pro v4 and processed using Autostakkert and Registax. Image Date: May 10, 2023. Location: The Dark Side Observatory (W59), Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).

SH2-101 wide field

Agosto/Settembre 2021

Località: San Romualdo - Ravenna

Samyang 135mm F/4

Avalon M1 - QHY5III 174M su OAG Celestron

QHY294C - Gain 1600 - Offset 5 - raffreddata -15

Filtri Optlong L-enhance - 31x5min. + L-extreme 57x10min.

Acquisizione: SharpCap - Calibrata con Dark e Flat.

Elaborazione: Astroart8, StarTools1.6, Paint Shop Pro 2021, Topaz e Nik Plug-in.

www.cfm2004.altervista.org/astrofotografia/nebulose/tulip...

Plato Crater on Earth's Moon. From Wikipedia: Plato is a lava-filled lunar impact crater on the Moon. Its diameter is 101 km. It was named after ancient Greek philosopher Plato. It is located on the northeastern shore of the Mare Imbrium, at the western extremity of the Montes Alpes mountain range.

Tech Specs: Meade 12” LX-90, ZWO ASI290MC, best 25% of 10,000 frames, unguided. Captured using SharpCap v3.2, edited with Registax and PixInsight. Image date: May 31, 2020. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA.

Genova, Italy (15 Oct 2023 05:20 UT)

Planet: diameter 26.6", mag -4.4, altitude ≈ 38°

Telescope: Celestron CPC C8 XLT (203 F/10 SC)

Camera: QHY5III462C Color

Focal Extender: Explore Scientific 2x (1.25")

Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector: Artesky

Filter: QHY UV/IR block

Recording scale: ≈0.15 arcsec/pixel

Equivalent focal length ≈4000 mm F/19.7

Image resized: +50%

Recording: SharpCap 4.0

(360x360 @ 250fps/4ms - 90s - RAW8 - Gain 69)

Best 25% frames of ≈22500

Alignment/Stacking (Jupiter): AstroSurface U4

Wavelets/Deconvolution: AstroSurface U4

Final Elaboration: GIMP 2.10.34

Theophilus Crater – diameter is 100 km and named after the Greek astronomer (c. 412 AD). The rim of Theophilus has a wide, terraced inner surface that shows indications of landslips. The floor of the crater is relatively flat, and it has a large, triple-peaked central crater that climbs to a height of about 2 kilometers above the floor (Wikipedia).

Tech Specs: Sky-Watcher Esprit 120mm ED Triplet APO Refractor, ZWO ASI290MC, best 25% of 5k frames, captured using SharpCap Pro v3.1. Image date: September 15, 2018. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA.

Here is a view of Saturn from August 4, 2018.

Tech Specs: Sky-Watcher Esprit 120mmED Triplet Refractor, Celestron CGEM-DX mount, ASI 290MC, best 25% of 30k frames. Captured with SharpCap, processed in AutoStakkert, refined in Registax and Lightroom. Image Date: 4 Aug 2018. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, Pennsylvania, USA.

www.astrobin.com/y10dl0/

Waiting to confirm if the optimistic predictions for 25th solar cycle are true.

It will be the strongest in the last 50 years?

Will see :D currently is really calm but who knows on the next 5 years.....

Technical card

Imaging telescopes or lenses:Lunt Solar Systems LS60THa/B1200C , Lunt Solar Systems LS60FHa (Double Stack)

Imaging cameras:ZWO ASI174MM

Mounts:Skywatcher AZ-GTi

Software:Emil Kraaikamp Autostackert! 3 , SharpCap

Date:Sept. 5, 2020

Time: 13:55

Frames: 6000

FPS: 170.00000

Focal length: 500

Resolution: 1557x1396

Locations: Berga Resort, Berga, Barcelona, Spain

Data source: Backyard

Mars as imaged on October 30, 2018. Some planet details and almost no sign of the polar region, 86% illuminated.

Tech Specs: Sky-Watcher Esprit 120mm ED Triplet APO Refractor, Celestron CGEM-DX mount, ZWO ASI290MC, Televue 4x Powermate, best 25% of 30k frames captured with SharpCap v3.1. Image date: October 30, 2018. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA.

Test exposure of NGC 2403 using the ASI071MC-Pro camera, no darks or bias frames used. NGC 2403 is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Camelopardalis. NGC 2403 is an outlying member of the M81 Group, and is approximately 8 million light-years distant. Star forming regions can be seen in this galaxy.

Tech Specs: Sky-Watcher Esprit 120mm ED Triplet APO Refractor, Celestron CGEM-DX mount (pier mounted), ZWO ASI071MC-Pro, 11 x 60 second exposures, guided using a ZWO ASI290MC and Orion 60mm guide scope. Captured using SharpCap v3.2 live stacking and saved in FITS format for processing. Image date: November 24, 2019. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA.

Tránsito de Mercurio

Telescopio: Skywatcher Refractor AP 120/900 f7.5 EvoStar ED

Cámara: ZWO ASI178MM

Montura: iOptron CEM40

Filtros: - Baader Neutral Density Filter 1¼" (ND 0.9, T=12.5%)

- Baader Solar Continuum Filter 1¼" (540nm)

Accesorio: Baader 2" Cool-Ceramic Safety Herschel Prism

Software: SharpCap, AutoStakkert, Registax y Photoshop

Fecha: 2019-11-11

Hora: 12:39 T.U. (Tiempo universal)

Lugar: 42.615 N -6.417 W (Bembibre Spain)

Vídeo: 30 segundos

Resolución: 2320 x 1560

Gain: 72

Exposure: 0,000032

Frames: 963

Frames apilados: 26%

FPS: 31.92

Genova, Italy (06 Dec 2022 23:33 UT)

Planet: diameter 17.1", mag -1.9, altitude ≈ 68°

Telescope: Orange 1977 vintage Celestron C8 (203 F/10 SC)

Mount: EQ5 with ST4 hand controller (no GoTo)

Camera: QHY5III462C Color

Barlow: GSO APO 2.5x

Filter: QHY UV/IR block

Recording scale: 0.150 arcsec/pixel

Equivalent focal length ≈ 3990 mm F/19.7

Image resized: +50%

Recording: SharpCap 4.0

(320x240 @ 225fps - 60 sec - RAW16 - Gain 120)

Best 25% frames of about 13500

Alignment/Stacking: AutoStakkert! 3.1.4

Wavelets/Deconvolution: AstroSurface T5

Final Elaboration: GIMP 2.10.30

Nice solar prominence on today’s sun! First light using the Williams Optics Redcat 51 for solar imaging.

Tech Specs: Williams Optics Redcat 51, ZWO ASI290MC, Daystar Quark Chromosphere + Daystar 2" UV/IR filter, SharpCap v3.0, best 15% of 10k frames, AutoStakkert, Registax. Image date: 30 June 2019. Location: The Dark Side Observatory in Weatherly, PA, USA.

It appears the comet's gas and dust production has tapered off from what was seen the previous day. Hopefully it will get better instead of worse, in terms of tail length, since it still hasn't made its closest approach to the sun, yet (not till Jan 3, 2022.)

This was imaged with 1 minute exposures starting at 06:26 local time (00:26 UT) and I took over 50 shots. The first dozen were still in strong twilight, so I left them out. I used 33 of the remainder to make the image.

Equipment: Astro-Tech AT60ED at F/4.8, QHY183c astrocamera cooled to -20C, Gain 20, Offset 50, UV/IR filter, SharpCap 4.x for acquisition in FITS format. Calibrated and stacked in IRIS with dark master (10x60 sec.) PS for final post-processing,

Bortle 4/4.5 location, clear and above average transparency, 55F, light winds.

c2021a1-211222-33x60-g20-o50-qhy183c_-20C-uvir-60f4_8-sf-v2

Image captured using a 1965 quartz Questar 3.5-inch Maksutov Cassegrain telescope, a ZWO ASI120MC camera coupled with a Celestron Ultima 2x Barlow with a capture of 664 frames using SharpCap 3.0 and Registax 6 for stacking and processing, minor adjustments with PS Elements.

m16-160x15-g37-o200-qhy183c_-15C-lnh-85f5_6-v1

40 minutes with 160x15 sec sub-images. TV-85 at F/5.6, QHY183c at -15C, Optolong L-eNhance filter, Gain 37, Offset 200. SharpCap 3.2 LiveStacking w/Dithering, PHD2 Guiding, Atlas EQ-G w/EQMOD.

Metro area, Bortle 7-8 zone, full moon, but with excellent seeing and very clear and transparent skies. Taken on Oct 2, 2020.

Telescopio: Celestron C11 XLT Fastar

Montatura: iOptron CEM60

CMOS di ripresa: ZWO ASI 174 mono Cooled

Software:SharpCap 3.2 Pro, Zoner Photo Studio X v. 19, Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight 1.8, Avistack 2.0

Filtro: Optolong Red CCD 50,8 mm

Moonlite CF 2,5" focuser with high resolution stepper DRO

Data: 12 Giugno 2019 Ore: 20:57

Pose: 500 a 73fps

Lunghezza focale: 2800 mm Seeing: 2 Trasparenza: 8

Equipo Principal: ZWO ASI 1600 mm-pro + SW Explorer 200p + SW Coma Corrector 0.9x + EQ6-R-Pro + Long Perng 2" Dual Speed Low Profile Crayford Focuser + ZWO EAF

Equipo guía: guidescope 60/240 mm, camara guia ZWO ASI 120mm mini

*Gain 139, -20 º C, Ha 7nm 2" Optolong, 120x180"

*Gain 139, -20 º C, Oiii-CCD 6.5 nm 2" Optolong, 180x180"

100 Darks

100 Flats por filtro

Polar Align: SharpCap 3.2

Adquisición: SGP 3.1

Procesado: Pixinsight 1.8.8, PS

A view of last evening's moon at 72% illumination.

Tech Specs: Tech Specs: Meade 12” LX-90, ZWO ASI071mc-Pro, three image mosaic, best 25% of 250 images, unguided. Captured using SharpCap v3.2. Image date: May 31, 2020. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA.