Aberkenfig, South Wales

Lat +51.542 Long -3.593

A sequence of images taken over a period of 9 years which display the proper motion of this well known binary star system. It's apparent movement is about 5" (arc seconds) per year.

Images captured using a Skywatcher 254mm Newtonian with a modified Philips SPC 900NC Webcam. Exposure time 10s on LX Mode. The telescope was initially mounted on an EQ6 HD then EQ6 Syntrek for the later captures.

I am pleased to say that the webcam used is still in working order after all these years.

Hot pixels removed before final levels slightly adjusted with G.I.M.P.

G.I.M.P. layers tool used to align, slightly crop, arrange images and add annotations.

Another page from my observations log.

Best viewed in intermediate expanded mode.

Webcam Settings using an old version of Sharpcap:

[Philips SPC 900NC PC Camera (LX Mode)]

Resolution=640x480

Colour Space / Compression=YUY2

Exposure (s)=10.0466495818267

Output Format=PNG files (*.png)

Brightness=90

Contrast=40

Saturation=72

Gamma=3

ColorEnable=255

BacklightCompensation=0

Gain=30

crab-122x30-g37-o15_-20C-qhy183c-uhcs-85f5_6-v3a.jpjg

Taken on Feb 22, 2020. 122x30 seconds, Gain 37, Offset 15, QHY183c cooled to -20C, UHC-S filter, Televue TV-85 at F/5.6. SharpCap 3.2 LiveStacking with Dither for acquisition. Metro area location (Bortle Red Zone.)

You have to zoom in on this one to appreciate the amount of detail an 85 mm objective can deliver when aggressively enhanced with modern image processing software.

While scanning the night sky in search of Saturn in August of 1665, the German amateur astronomer Abraham Ihle made an amazing discovery: the globular cluster M22. It was one of the first objects of its kind ever detected. Located 10,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius, the cluster’s relatively bright apparent magnitude of 5.1 makes it a popular target for today’s amateur astronomers.

Image Details:

- Imaging Scope: Astrotelescopes ED 80mm Refractor

- Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI183MC Color with UV/IR Blocking filter

- Guiding Scope: William Optics 66mm Petzval

- Guiding Camera: Orion Starshoot Auto Guider

- Acquisition Software: Sharpcap

- Guiding Software: PHD2

- Light Frames: 14*3 mins @ 100 Gain, Temp -15C

- Dark Frames: 14*3 mins

- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker

- Processed in PixInsight and Adobe Lightroom

Luna 2018-08-21 - 22:10 T.U.

Mare Imbrium, Plato, Sinus Iridum

Telescopio: Celestron C6-A XLT 150/1500 f10

Cámara: ZWO ASI120MM

Montura: EQ5 Bresser EXOS2 motorizada sin goto

Filtros: Astronomik ProPlanet 742 IR-pass filter

Software: SharpCap, AutoStakkert, Registax y Fitswork

Fecha: 2018-08-21

Hora: 22:10 T.U.

Fase lunar: 82.2% 10.7 días Creciente

Lugar: 42.615 N -6.417 W (Bembibre Spain)

Vídeo: 4 minutos

Resolución: 1280 x 960

Gain: 50

Exposure: 0,006726

Frames: 4383

Frames apilados: 20%

FPS: 18

Ecco il pianeta Giove del 15 dicembre 2023 con i satelliti Europa, Ganimede e Io visibili sulla sinistra. In una serata con turbolenza elevata ho approfittato dei pochi momenti di calma per fare qualche ripresa. L'immagine comunque sembra di buona qualità e sono visibili alcuni dettagli sulle bande e la grande macchia rossa.

Telescopio Celestron 114/910 Newton

Montatura eq2 motorizzata Sky-Watcher

Camera QHY5L-II-C

Barlow 2,5X Tecnosky

Filtro UV IR cut

Sharpcap 4 per la ripresa

PIPP, AS!4, Registax 6, Astrosurface V1 per l'elaborazione

Data e ora: 15-12-2023 19:31 UTC

Luogo: Cabras, Sardegna, Italia

Messier 31 The Andromeda Galaxy. Our Closest Galaxy Neighbor. This object never gets old to me. The things it reveals to us are amazing. The small lighter colored area in the left side of the galaxy is NGC 206. It is a star cloud of more than 300 large blue stars. Zooming in to the feature can reveal some of the individual stars. M31 has many such intriguing discoveries to explore.

Technical Information: This image was taken from a Bortle 4 site in Landers, CA, USA on a New Moon night. Telescope: Explore Scientific ES80 APO Refractor with a FL 480mm and an Orion .67 Reducer. Guiding was with Orion 50mm Guide Scope FL 242mm with a ZWO ASI290MC for the guide camera. Mount: Celestron Advanced VX. Main imaging camera: ASI294MC PRO cooled to -5C. Exposures: 24 x 120s with Gain at 120. No darks, flats or bias frames. Processed in PixInsight with use of Masked Stretch, Star Masks, Inverted and Non-Inverted Range Masks. Slight crop. Polar alignment was with SharpCap Pro.

The strongly shining, waxing gibbous moon was too hard to ignore last night. I had again intended to do some deep sky work but a combination of strong moonlight and annoying clouds made this very difficult!

So I decided I had to image our beautiful natural satellite which was now over 97% illuminated.

Towards the left of the image the blue colour of the bright crater Aristarchus is very noticeable.

I have slightly boosted the natural colour of the lunar surface to highlight the different mineral composition present in the lunar regolith. Trying to keep the colour variations and transitions as subtle as possible.

Regions which are a muddy brown are more rich in iron compounds in comparison to those areas which have a more blue cast being richer in titanium compounds.

The prominent lunar highland crater Tycho's huge ray system is well displayed.

Many thanks for looking!

Imaged with a Skywatcher Esprit 120ED scope and a ZWO 2600MC camera.

Captured using SharpCap PRO. Sharpened in Registax with final processing being done in Photoshop 2021.

= Acquisition info =

William Optics Zenithstar 73ii (FL 430mm)

Risingcam IMX571 color

iOptron CEM26

Sharpcap

= Séance photo =

13 juillet 2024 à 20h10

Filtre UV/IR

Best 450 de 3000 x 10ms

= Traitement/processing =

PIPP, Autostakkert, Registax & Gimp

@Astrobox 2.0

St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec

Bortle 9

AstroM1

This galaxy lies approximately 21 million light years away. It is interacting/colliding with another galaxy (smaller object to the top, NGC 5195) which has been continuing for millions of years. Several supernovas have been spotted here in recent years.

Several hours of data taken over two nights. I tweaked PHD2 Guiding to be a little more aggressive and really worked on focusing for both sessions. A pleasing result.

Image Details:

- Imaging Scope: Astrotelescopes ED 80mm Refractor

- Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI183MC Color with UV/IR Blocking filter

- Guiding Scope: William Optics 66mm Petzva

- Guiding Camera: Orion Starshoot Auto Guider

- Acquisition Software: Sharpcap

- Guiding Software: PHD2

- Light Frames: 41*5 mins @ 50 Gain, Temp -25C

- Dark Frames: 41*5 mins @ 50 Gain, Temp -25C

- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker

- Processed in PixInsight and Adobe Lightroom

First attempt at this object from last night, which was clear and wonderful! Another tricky one to process but a decent end result. Some nice dusty action here.

This beautiful, blushing nebula is unique amongst its counterparts. While many of the nebulae visible in the night sky are emission nebulae — clouds of dust and gas that are hot enough to emit their own radiation and light — Caldwell 4, otherwise known as the Iris Nebula or NGC 7023, is a reflection nebula. This means that its color comes from the scattered light of its central star, which lies nestled in the abundant star fields of the constellation Cepheus. Located some 1,400 light-years away from Earth, the Iris Nebula’s glowing gaseous petals stretch roughly 6 light-years across.

Image Details:

- Imaging Scope: Astrotelescopes ED 80mm Refractor

- Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI183MC Color with UV/IR Blocking filter

- Guiding Scope: William Optics 66mm Petzval

- Guiding Camera: Orion Starshoot Auto Guider

- Acquisition Software: Sharpcap

- Guiding Software: PHD2

- Light Frames: 20*5 mins @ 100 Gain, Temp -15C

- Dark Frames: 20*5 mins

- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker

- Processed in PixInsight and Adobe Lightroom

M8 The Lagoon Nebula

I haven't done any imaging since March....on Friday, despite the bright moon, I took some close up images of M8 using "Live Stack" in Sharpcap, 10 minutes with a QHY462C. I added this to a previous image of M8 and also added some OIII

Setup#1(for FOV)

Camera: QHY163M

Telescope: 11" Celestron Edge HD w/V4 Hyperstar

Mount: Orion HDX-110

Optolong LUM filter: 50x30sec

Setup#2(for star color & OIII)

Camera: QHY128C

Telescope: Astrotech AT65EDQ

Mount: Orion HDX-110

8x600sec Optolong LUM filter

11x480sec Optolong OIII filter

Setup#3(for core area) LIVE STACK

Camera:QHY462c

Telescope: 11"Celestron Edge HD

Mount: Orion HDX-110

LUM:30x20sec

Images processed in PixInsight, combined and tweeked in PS2020. Qhy 128 OSC data cropped and combined with QHY163M Luminance data, QHY462C LUM added for core area

The Lagoon Nebula is 8 in Charles Messier's "not a comet" list, 25 in the Sharpless catalog and 6523 in the New General Calalog.(NGC) It is a cloud of ionized hydrogen estimated to be 4000-6000 light years from earth. It can be seen with the naked eye as a gray/green patch in the constellation of Sagittarius..Almost in the center of the photo can be seen NGC 6530, an open cluster of young stars formed from material within the nebula. The entire nebula is roughly 110 x 50 light-years wide.

Messier 1 ... The Crab Nebula Supernova Remnant

The Crab Nebula (catalogue designations M1, NGC 1952, Taurus A) is a supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula in the constellation of Taurus. The common name comes from William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, who observed the object in 1842 using a 36-inch (91 cm) telescope and produced a drawing that looked somewhat like a crab. The nebula was discovered by English astronomer John Bevis in 1731, and it corresponds with a bright supernova recorded by Chinese astronomers in 1054. The nebula was the first astronomical object identified that corresponds with a historical supernova explosion. (Wikipedia.org)

Technicals:

Telescope: Orion 8 inch f4 Astrograph

Mount: Skywatcher HEQ5

Imaging Camera: ASI294MC Pro cooled to -5C . Gain 120. Captured 34 exposures of 180 seconds each.

Used the excellent Televue Paracoor Type-2 corrector.

Guiding: PHD2 with ASI178MC Camera on a ZWO 30mm, 120mm focal length, guidescope.

Filter Used: STC Astro Duo Narrowband

No Darks or Calibration Frames.

Processed in Pixinsight with Finishing Touches in Corel Paintshop Pro. Captured with APT. Polar Aligned with Sharpcap Pro.

Site: Landers, California, USA. Bortle 4 zone.

Did a little comet hunting last night. This chap is currently magnitude 14, so a tricky target. It's approximately 211,500kms away from Earth.

Image Details:

- Imaging Scope: Astrotelescopes ED 80mm Refractor

- Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI183MC Color with UV/IR Blocking filter

- Guiding Scope: William Optics 66mm Petzval

- Guiding Camera: Orion Starshoot Auto Guider

- Acquisition Software: Sharpcap

- Guiding Software: PHD2

- Light Frames: 14*3 mins @ 100 Gain, Temp -15C

- Dark Frames: 14*3 mins

- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker

- Processed in PixInsight and Adobe Lightroom

Here is a view of the most distant globular cluster in the Milky Way, NGC 2419, some have postulated that this may be an extra-galactic object. I have seen distances listed as high as 285,000 light-years away from Earth. It appears small and dim, but it is actually very large and very bright (if it was a bit closer to us), there are estimates of 300-400 million solar masses in this cluster.

You can also make out the galaxy NGC 2424, a barred spiral galaxy with a magnitude of 12.6. The view is dominated by the red giant star HD61294 in the lower right, magnitude 5.75, and 41 times larger than our Sun.

Tech Specs: Sky-Watcher Esprit 120mm ED Triplet APO Refractor, Celestron CGEM-DX mount (pier mounted), ZWO ASI071MC-Pro running at -25C, 30 x 60 second exposures, GAIN 200, guided using a ZWO ASI290MC and Orion 60mm guide scope. Captured using SharpCap v3.2. Image date: December 20, 2019. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA.

The Great M13 Hercules Globular Cluster. This cluster contains over 300,000 stars and lies around 25,000 light years away, situated just outside of our galaxy. It is about 11.65 billion years old, making it almost three times older than our Earth.

This is one of my sharpest images of this object I have made so do zoom in and check out the resolution of the stars in the cluster itself.

Image Details:

- Imaging Scope: Astrotelescopes ED 80mm Refractor

- Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI183MC Color with UV/IR Blocking filter

- Guiding Scope: William Optics 66mm Petzval

- Guiding Camera: Orion Starshoot Auto Guider

- Acquisition Software: Sharpcap

- Guiding Software: PHD2

- Light Frames: 20*3 mins @ 100 Gain, Temp -40C

- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker

- Processed in PixInsight and Adobe Lightroom

Messier 47 (M47) is a bright open cluster that can be found in the constellation Puppis, to the upper left of the star Sirius in Canis Major. The cluster is about 1,600 light years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 4.2, there are about 50 members in this cluster.

Tech Specs: Sky-Watcher Esprit 120mm ED Triplet APO Refractor, Celestron CGEM-DX mount (pier mounted), ZWO ASI071MC-Pro running at -25C, 7 x 120 second exposures, GAIN 200, guided using a ZWO ASI290MC and Orion 60mm guide scope. Captured using SharpCap v3.2. Image date: January 21, 2020. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA.

Very happy with this image! I have been focusing on removing noise from my images over the last couple of weeks. My images are okay but have been plagued with noise even right after initial stacking, which has been annoying and seemed to get worse the further along the processing flow I got. So I revised my approach. First, more exposures! I have always been tempted to use just one night and get whatever images I can, so I'm now forcing myself to get as much data as possible over multiple nights. This image is a composite of 64 raw files taken over two nights. I also learned about dithering, which helps remove noise from time of capture and is frankly something I should have been doing all along. It slows down the acquisition timeframe but is worth it. I also purchased and utilized Topaz Denoise AI, which does a terrific job of removing noise and preserving detail. A combination of these three factors has made for a very clean image here, and I'm looking forward to revisiting with some other objects soon.

The Pleiades, also known as The Seven Sisters and Messier 45, is an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. The cluster is located 444 light years away and is about 17.5 light years across.

Image Details:

- Imaging Scope: William Optics 61mm Zenithstar II Doublet

- Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI183MC Color with UV/IR Blocking filter

- Guiding Scope: William Optics 66mm Petzval

- Guiding Camera: Orion Starshoot Auto Guider

- Acquisition Software: Sharpcap

- Guiding Software: PHD2

- Capture Software: SharpCap Pro (LiveStack mode with dithering)

- Light Frames: 30*2 mins @ 100 Gain, Temp -20C, 36x3 mins @ 150 Gain, Temp -20C

- Dark Frames: 32*4 mins, 40x2 mins

- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker

- Processed in PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom and Topaz Denoise AI

The Trifid (M20) is a combination emission (red) and reflection (blue) nebula that is located in the constellation Sagittarius. It gets its name because the main section of the nebula is divided by dust lanes into roughly three parts.

Taken over two nights from a relatively dark site on the slopes of Palomar mountain, this image consists of 1022 sub-exposures that were each exposed for 5 seconds using an uncooled QHY5-III 178C camera and a Stellarvue SV80ST2 telescope (the latter operating at f/4.8 using a 0.8X reducer/corrector, total exposure integration time about 85 minutes). Using such short exposures greatly simplifies the image capture process since there was no need to guide the Celestron AVX mount that carried the scope and camera.

Image capture was done with SharpCap, image processing was done in PixInsight and Photoshop CC2015.

This photo is best seen against a dark background or in the Flickr light box at full size (1920 x 1242 pixels).

Here is a link to the full-sized image:

Full-sized Image

All rights reserved.

It's always something right? Why can't we just go out, polar align and start snapping away? Guide camera kept cutting out, traced back to the new el cheapo usb hub I got from the dollar store lol. Also, APT would not platesolve this image at all, had to run in the house to check it. Stayed up later than I should have but earlier than usual image nights.

Elephant Trunk Nebula

Got 5 @ 10 minute subs ISO 400. Nikon D5300/AT65EDQ/QHY5LII-M guide camera/Orion mini guidescope/CG5 mount with OnStep upgrades/homemade auto-focuser.

Software: APT/PHD2/Sharpcap/CdC/Pixinsight/PS-ACR.

Surprised I got anything as the subs were just a bunch of stars.

Coronado PST

ASI183M

x2 barlow

best 25% of 500 frames for surface

best 50% of 500 frames for prominences

captured in Sharpcap

stacked in Autostakkert!3

sharpened in imppg

blend and color in Photoshop

M: iOptron EQ45-Pro

T: WO GTF81 Refractor

C: ZWO ASI1600MC-Cooled

G: 200mm (FL) Finder and PHD2

GC: ZWO ASI120MC

RAW16; FITs

Temp: -20 DegC

Gain 187; Exp 300s

Frames: 19 Lights; 4 Darks; 50 flats

100% Crop

Capture: Sharpcap

Processed: DSS; LR, PS, Gradient Exterminator.

Sky: Last Quarter moon, no breez, no cloud, good seeing.

23.16 million light years distant.

Hidden Galaxy

IC 342 (also known as Caldwell 5) is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Camelopardalis, located relatively close to the Milky Way. Despite its size and actual brightness, its location in dusty areas near the galactic equator makes it difficult to observe, leading to the nickname "The Hidden Galaxy",[4][1] though it can readily be detected even with binoculars.[5] If the galaxy were not obscured, it would be visible by naked eye. The dust makes it difficult to determine its precise distance; modern estimates range from about 7 Mly[6] to about 11 Mly.[2] The galaxy was discovered by William Frederick Denning in 1892.[7] It is one of the brightest in the IC 342/Maffei Group, one of the closest galaxy groups to the Local Group. Edwin Hubble first thought it to be in the Local Group, but it was later determined not to be a member.[8]

In 1935, Harlow Shapley found that it was wider than the full moon, and by angular size the third-largest spiral galaxy then known, smaller only than the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and the Triangulum Galaxy (M33).[9] (Modern estimates are more conservative, giving the apparent size as one-half to two-thirds the diameter of the full moon).[1][5]

It has an H II nucleus. The galaxy has a diameter of 75 000 light-years.[10]

120 each RGB filter @ 15 seconds each Gain 200 offset 5

30 darks at 31F

Scope: Orion 8" f4 Astrograph with Baader Coma Corrector

Mount: iOptron iEQ45 pro

Camera: ZWO ASI183M non cooled

ZWO 8 position 1.25 filter wheel filter wheel

ZWO LRGB

Moonlite focuser CR2

Moonlight Hi Res stepper motor

MyFocuser Pro v2 (Robert Brown) controller

Home Observatory

Software: N.I.N.A., PHD2, Sharpcap, CdC, Pixinsight, Photoshop, Team Viewer,

Ghost of Cassiopeia

HA 145@ 60 seconds Gain 200 offset 5

30 darks

Blue channel from Digitized Sky Survey

Scope: Orion 8" f4 Astrograph with Baader Coma Corrector

Mount: iOptron iEQ45 pro

Camera: ZWO ASI183M non cooled

Guide camera: QHY5Lii

Guide Scope: Stellarvue 50mm

ZWO 8 position 1.25 filter wheel filter wheel

Schuler HA 9nm,

Moonlite focuser CR2

Moonlight Hi Res stepper motor

MyFocuer Pro v2 (Robert Brown) controller

Home Observatory

Software: N.I.N.A., PHD2, Sharpcap, CdC, Pixinsight, Photoshop, Team Viewer

Something a little different today! This is a composite image of the sun, showing the surface detail and prominences, while being photobombed by a passing plane.

The image was taken using an Altair GPCAM 290M with a 0.5x focal reducer, attached to a Lunt LS50Tha 600B PT solar scope. The image was captured using SharpCap Pro, pre-processed using AutoStakkert2 and Registax6, with final processing done using Photoshop CC.

Taken with Canon 400mm lens and ASI2600MC camera with Optolong L-Pro filter to manage my Bortle 7 skies. Consists of 60 x 3 minute exposures Live Stacked in SharpCap Pro.

The Sadr Region is the diffuse emission nebula surrounding Sadr at the center of Cygnus's cross. The Sadr Region is one of the surrounding nebulous regions; others include the Butterfly Nebula and the Crescent Nebula. It contains many dark nebulae in addition to the emission diffuse nebulae.

The ZWO Duo Band (Ha and OII) wavelength filter is really helping to draw out some nebulosity in various parts of the sky. Love it!

Image Details:

- Imaging Scope: William Optics 61mm Zenithstar II Doublet

- Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI183MC Color with ZWO Duo Band filter

- Guiding Scope: William Optics 66mm Petzval

- Guiding Camera: Orion Starshoot Auutoguider

- Acquisition Software: Sharpcap

- Guiding Software: PHD2

- Capture Software: SharpCap Pro (LiveStack mode with dithering)

- Light Frames: 20*7 mins @ 100 Gain, Temp -20C

- Dark Frames: 20*7 mins

- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker

- Processed in PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom, Photmatix Pro HDR and Topaz Denoise AI

Took these pictures last night, M13 and NGC6888

Orion 80mm ED refractor, Zwo 294MC Pro cooled color camera

Zwo IR/cut filter

#SharpCap Pro PoleMaster

Ioptron i45 Pro EQ mount PHD2 guiding

Orion 60mm guidescope SSAG

120 Gain offset 10 0c cooling, 1 minute exposure, 75 minutes, for M13, NGC6888 was 90 minutes,1 minute exposure each

50 darks 50 flats and 50 bias frames

Astro Pixel Processor and PS

86% moon....

Today was the day. 20191111

Solar transit.

Short video of the capture at

youtu.be/mSDb7ExcoGU

Technical card

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

Imaging camera:ZWO ASI174 Mini

Mount:Skywatcher AZ-GTi

Software:Emil Kraaikamp Autostackert! 3, SharpCap

Resolution: 1828x1543

Date:Nov. 11, 2019

Time: 14:00

Frames: 4000

Data source: Backyard

Went out Wednesday night, M45, M57 and IC434

WO SkyCat 51, Zwo 183MC Pro cooled color camera

Zwo IR/cut filter

#SharpCap Pro PoleMaster

Ioptron i45 Pro EQ mount PHD2 guiding

Orion 60mm guidescope SSAG

120 Gain offset 20 0c cooling, 1 minute exposure, 60 minutes for M57, IC434 was 22 minutes, 1 minute exposure each, M45 was 2 hours, 1 minute each, Had problems with the wind, clouds and storms north of me

50 darks 50 flats and 50 bias frames

Astro Pixel Processor and PS

Date: April 20, 20121

Our Sun continues to get more active as we move further into Solar Cycle 25. Here is a very nice grouping that is identified as AR2817. AR = Active Region

This picture was captured using an Astro Physics 5", 1100 mm focal length refracting telescope and a ZWO monochrome camera.

Capture Software: SharpCap

Processing Software: AutoStakkert, RegiStax6, Lightroom, Photoshop

A reprocessed image with stars removed using Starnet V2. Makes for an eerie yet beautiful view of this amazing nebula.

The Rosette Nebula spans a distance of about 100 lightyears across and is located 5,000 lightyears from Earth in the Monoceros constellation.

Image Details:

- Imaging Scope: William Optics 61mm Zenithstar II Doublet

- Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI183MC Color with UV/IR Blocking filter

- Guiding Scope: William Optics 66mm Petzval

- Guiding Camera: Orion Starshoot Auto Guider

- Filter: ZWO Duo Band (HA & OIII)

- Acquisition Software: Sharpcap

- Guiding Software: PHD2

- Capture Software: SharpCap Pro (LiveStack mode with dithering)

- Light Frames: 15x5 mins @ 100 Gain, Temp -20C

- Dark Frames: 15*5 mins

- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker

- Processed in PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom and Topaz Denoise AI

Reprocessed in Astro Pixel Processor 1.063. Scope: TSAPO65Q, Mount: SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro, Cam: ZWO ASI294MC Pro, Filter: CLS-CCD. Captured in SharpCap Pro: 10 x 5 mins guided. Processed in APP 1.063 and Adobe CC.

Narrowband image captured September 2024, tawdry Hubble palette variation.

Tech Stuff: Borg 71FL/Borg 1.08 flattener/ZWO ASI 533Mono/ Astronomik NB filter set HA 8 second exposures X 150 min; SII 15 second exposures X 115 min; OIII 8 seconds X 180 min. Unguided RST 135E mount with SharpCap Livestacking, captured over 5 nights from my yard in Westchester County, NY.

Sunspot AR2846

Images with a ZWO ASI120MC Astro Camera (in monochrome mode) with a Baader Solar Continuum filter, mounted on a Questar 3.5-inch (89mm) f/14.4 Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope.

Best of 500 frames captured in SharpCap 2.9 and stacked using Autostakkert!2. Wavelets applied using Registax 6.

Un piccolo mosaico composto da 5 pannelli che mostra la Luna in fase crescente illuminata al 17%.

Telescopio Celestron 114/910 Newton

Montatura eq2 motorizzata Sky-Watcher

Camera QHY5L-II-C

Filtro UV IR cut

Sharpcap 4 per 5 video contenenti 500 fotogrammi ciascuno

AS!3 e Astrosurface U3 per le elaborazioni

Autostitch per assemblare le parti

Luogo: Cabras, Sardegna, Italia

Data e ora delle riprese: 23 maggio 2023 dalle 21:10 alle 21:16 UTC

Aberkenfig, South Wales

Lat +51.542 Long -3.593

Skywatcher 254mm Newtonian, EQ6 Syntrek Mount & Modified Philips SPC 900NC Webcam.

Captured using Sharpcap

25 frames @ 25s

10 Dark frames

Processed using Deep Sky Stacker.

Levels slightly adjusted with G.I.M.P.

Sharpcap Settings:

[Philips SPC 900NC PC Camera (LX Mode)]

Resolution=640x480

Colour Space / Compression=YUY2

Exposure (s)=25.2476670702873

Brightness=90

Contrast=40

Saturation=72

Gamma=3

ColorEnable=255

BacklightCompensation=0

Gain=30

81% Moon.

Camera: ZWO ASI120MC-s Colour camera

Telescope: TS Imaging Star 63mm F/6.5 420mm Focal Length 420 mm

Capture software: SharpCap

Process Software: Autostakkert, Microsoft ICE, Photoshop

This was made up of 2x20 second video. 1 north and 1 south. For some reason Registax would not process the video. Begining to feel I will use Autostakkert as the prime stacking software from now on. The sharpening in Autostakkert was way to strong so I turned that feature off. Stacking set to use best 50% of frames. Both panes put into ICE to stich. This software is brilliant, It just works! Stiched image adjusted in PS using adjustment layers. Exposure, Brigtness, Curves and Saturation.

Different processing with data I captured a few weeks ago.

This galaxy looks very similar to how our own Milky Way galaxy would look from the same distance, which is about 2.5 million light years away. Actually, this galaxy is naked-eye visible from darker skies, and if the human eye could detect it completely, it would appear 5-6 moon-lengths in size! Another interesting tidbit is that this galaxy is on a collision course with the Milky Way, expected to “touch” in about 4.5 billion years from now!

.

Image Details:

- Imaging Scope: William Optics 66mm Petzval

- Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI183MC Color with UV/IR Blocking filter

- Guiding Scope: AstroTelescopes 80mm ED Refractor

- Guiding Camera: Orion Starshoot Auto Guider

- Acquisition Software: Sharpcap

- Guiding Software: PHD2

- Light Frames: mins @ 100 Gain, -25F

- Dark Frames: 24*5 mins

- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker

- Processed in PixInsight and Adobe Lightroom

Just about 1.4 hours. High clouds cut night short but having the semi permanent set up makes things so much easier.

28@180seconds Gain 50 LUM

50 darks, 50 bias, 30 flats.

Scope: AT65EDQ

Mount: iOptron iEQ45

Camera: ZWO ASI183M non cooled

Guide camera: QHY5Lii

Guide Scope: Meade 60mm achro fl 300

Orion 5 position manual filter wheel

ZWO LRGB

Schuler HA 9nm, Schuler 9nm Sii

MyFocuer Pro v2 (Robert Brown)

Software: APT, PHD2, Sharpcap, CdC, Pixinsight, Photoshop, Nic Dfine 2, Astronomy Tools plug in, Google Chrome Remote Desktop

monkeyhead-100x30-g42-o42-qhy183c_-20C-lenh-85f5_6-v2

"NGC 2174 (aka, Monkey Head Nebula) is an H II emission nebula located in the constellation Orion. Is associated with the open star cluster NGC 2175. It is located about 6,400 light-years away from us."

I used an Optolong L-eNhance filter to shoot through bad LP in a metro area for this shot. Live Stacking in SharpCap 3.2 with dithering, 100 x 30 seconds sub-images. Gain was 42 (1 to 54 scale,) offset was 42, and the camera, a QHY183c, was cooled to -20C. Televue TV-85 at F/5.6, Atlas EQ-G w/EQMOD.

A complex region of glowing HII ions, dark nebulae, open clusters and reflection nebulae in Monoceros. My favourite part is the Cone nebula which is easy to spot.

Technical Card

480/80mm f/6 Altair Starwave triplet refractor.

Altair Planostar 1.0 x FF with 2 inch L-eNhance filter

ZWO ASI2600MC; 44 x 360 second subs, Gain 100, Offset 25, Temp = -15c.

EQ6 R mount . EQMOD control. Primalucelab Sesto Senso electronic focuser.

Session control; SharpCap 4.1 on miniPC attached to scope. Ethernet cable to home network.

Automated plate solving GOTO.

20 dark frames

61 flat frames (electroluminescent panel A, 6500ms exposure @ 0 gain).

Post processed in PixInsight 1.8.9.

Light Pollution and Weather:

SQM (L) not recorded - 60% Moon

Clear throughout. Session ended when target reached roof level.

Polar Alignment:

Still adjusting to my new mount - guiding not as good as I would wish:

Error measured by PHD2= 1 arc minute.

RA drift + 0.95 arcsec/min

Dec drift + 0.27 arcsec/min

Guiding:

PHD2 guiding with ZWO ASI290mm/Altair Starwave 206/50mm guider. Every 8th sub dithered.

RA RMS error 1.1 arcsec

Dec RMS error 0.76 arcsec

Astrometry

Resolution: 1.609 arcsec/px

Observation start time ... 2025-02-05 20:40:55 UTC

Observation end time ..... 2025-02-06 02:04:24 UTC

Focal distance ........... 481.86 mm

Pixel size ............... 3.76 um

Field of view ............ 2d 47' 36.2" x 1d 52' 1.3"

Image centre ............. RA: 6 41 00.659 Dec: +9 53 45.22

Spiral galaxy M101 in the constellation of Ursa Major. The spiral arms are a little distorted due to encounters with some nearby dwarf galaxies - two were in my field of view.

Technical Card:

900/120mm f/7 Skywatcher Esprit 120 triplet refractor.

0.85 x Field corrector with 2 inch IDAS P3 LPS filter

ZWO ASI2600MC; 60 x 300 second subs, Gain 100, Offset 25, Temp = -15c.

EQ6 R pro mount . EQMOD control.

Pegasus Astro FocusCube 2 electronic focuser.

Session control; SharpCap 4.1 on laptop.

Controlled from inside house with iPAD

Automated plate solving GOTO and focusing. 8 secs at gain 635.

60 dark frames

50 flat frames (electroluminescent panel A, 3600ms exposure @ 0 gain).

Post processed in PixInsight 1.8.9.

Light Pollution and Weather:

Night 1: SQM (L) =20.3 m/as2

Clear throughout

Polar Alignment:

Error measured by PHD2= 4.1 arc minute.

RA drift +0.32 arcsec/min

Dec drift +0.63 arcsec/min

Guiding:

PHD2 guiding with ZWO ASI290mm/WO GuideStar 61.

Every 7th sub dithered.

RA RMS error 0.66arcsec

Dec RMS error 0.59arcsec

Astrometry

Resolution ............... 0.900 arcsec/px

Observation start time ... 2025-03-23 20:52:58 UTC

Observation end time ..... 2025-03-24 02:35:13 UTC

Focal distance ........... 861.81 mm

Pixel size ............... 3.76 um

Field of view ............ 1d 33' 42.7" x 1d 2' 38.1"

Image center ............. RA: 14 03 25.884 Dec: +54 19 13.67

Taken from Bortle 7 skies using an ASI294MC Pro camera and L-eNhance filter.

Taken through 150mm refractor scope. 15 X 10 minute exposures median combined. Image taken using Live Stacking mode in Sharpcap Pro.

Messier 37 is a large open cluster found in the constellation of Auriga. It has an apparent magnitude of 6.2 and covers about 24 arc-minutes of sky, the distance from Earth is about 4,500 light-years. Did you know M37 has at least a dozen red giant stars included in the cluster?

Tech Specs: Sky-Watcher Esprit 120mm ED Triplet APO Refractor, Celestron CGEM-DX mount (pier mounted), ZWO ASI071MC-Pro running at -25C, 20 x 60 second exposures, GAIN 200, guided using a ZWO ASI290MC and Orion 60mm guide scope. Captured using SharpCap v3.2. Image date: December 20, 2019. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA.

Imaging telescope or lens:Astro-Tech AT-65EDQ

Imaging camera:ZWO ASI183MM

Guiding telescope or lens:Meade 277

Guiding camera:QHY 5 L II M

Software:SharpCap Pro 3.1, Photoshop CC 2017, Team Viewer, APT - Astro Photography Tool, PixInsight 1.8 Ripley PixInsight, ProDigital Software Astronomy Tools Actions Set

Filters:ZWO Green 31mm, Schuler Hydrogen-Alpha 9nm

Accessories:Orion Filter Wheel (5x1.25"), Arduino Focuser DIY FocuserPro2 arduino focus motor ( Robert Brown)

Resolution: 5027x3576

Dates:Feb. 9, 2019

Frames:

Schuler Hydrogen-Alpha 9nm: 3x300" (gain: 111.00) bin 1x1

ZWO Green 31mm: 12x300" (gain: 111.00) bin 1x1

Integration: 1.2 hours

Darks: ~5

Bias: ~50

Avg. Moon age: 4.14 days

Avg. Moon phase: 18.20%

Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: 4.00

Temperature: -5.50

Astrometry.net job: 2533838

RA center: 98.013 degrees

DEC center: 5.004 degrees

Pixel scale: 1.174 arcsec/pixel

Orientation: 344.951 degrees

Field radius: 1.006 degrees

Locations: Home, Limington, maine, United States

Data source: Backyard

The sun today. Small prominences, spots, and filaments. Taken with Esprit 80mm, Daystar Quark Hydrogen Filter, QHY 174 camera, Sharpcap acquistion, taking 500 frames and using best 15%, processed in Auto-Stakkert, PixInsight, Photoshop, and Lightroom. Looks a T-Rex in there, or Sasquatch?

Equipo Principal: ZWO ASI 1600 mm-pro + SW Explorer 200p + SW Coma Corrector 0.9x + EQ6-R-Pro + ZWO EAF

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

*Gain 139, -20 º C, Ha 7nm 2" Optolong, 107x180"

100 Darks

100 Flats por filtro

Polar Align: SharpCap 3.2

Adquisición: SGP 3.1

Procesado: Pixinsight 1.8.8, PS

Found in the constellation of Vulpecula.

M: iOptron EQ45-Pro

T: WO GTF81 Refractor

C: ZWO ASI1600MC-Cooled

G: 200mm (FL) Finder and PHD2

GC: ZWO ASI120MC

RAW16; FITs

Temp: -25 DegC

Gain 200; Exp 180s

Frames: 16 Lights; 4 Darks; 0 flats

60% Crop

Capture: Sharpcap

Processed: DSS; LR, PS, Gradient Exterminator.

Sky: No moon, calm, no cloud, good seeing.

1,360 light years distant.

Here is a view of the planet Venus captured during mid-day. Venus is currently only 6% illuminated and getting a bit harder to image with the heat causing a lot of shaking.

Tech Specs: Meade 12” LX-90, ZWO ASI290MC, best 10% of 5,000 frames, UV/IR filter, unguided. Captured using SharpCap Pro, stacked in Autostakkert, processed in Registax. Image date: May 21, 2020. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA.

This picture was captured using a telescope with a Hydrogen-alpha (Hα) filter. This lets us see the Sun's chromosphere. There are some nice prominences in view today. Although only one sunspot is visible, there are many filaments on the solar disc.

Telescope: Lunt 60mm Hα with double stack

Camera: ZWO I178MM monochrome

Capture Software: SharpCap

Processing Software:

AutoStakkert, RegiStax6, Light Room Classic, Photo Shop