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Here is an animated GIF showing the rotation of Jupiter on July 19, 2018. The view shows 28-minutes of rotation time.
Tech Specs: Sky-Watcher Esprit 120mmED Triplet Refractor, Celestron CGEM-DX mount, ASI 290MC, each image in the animation was the best 25% of 20k frames. Captured with SharpCap, processed in AutoStakkert, refined in Registax and Lightroom. Image Date: 19 July 2018. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, Pennsylvania, USA.
Imaging from a Bortle class 2 site makes all the difference but still had a 1/3 moon to contend with. Problems with guiding, could not get ASIair to work, problems with the hand controller.. the list goes on but that's astrophotography for ya, Just push on.
35*30 seconds, total integration time 17 minutes
Gain: 300
Temp: 0
Mount: CEM40
Polar Alignment: Pole Mster
Capture software: SharpCap
Processing: AstroPixel Processor : lights only
Taken with RC8 to test collimation. Using ASI2600MC camera. A total of 43 X 3 minutes exposures using SharpCap in live stacking mode.
Genova, Italy (17 Oct 2020 - 01:24 GMT+2)
Orange vintage C8 (203 F10 SC Telescope) on EQ5 Mount + QHY5L-II Color Camera @ F25 (Barlow APO 2.5x).
Best 15075 frames of 50250 (30%)
Recording: SharpCap 3.2 (320x240 @ 130fps)
Stacking: AutoStakkert! 3.1.4
Wavelets: Registax 6.1
Final: GIMP 2.10.8
Taken around 2am on February 14th with a Celestron C6 SCT, Celestron AVX mount, 2x Barlow, and ASI120MC. Captured with SharpCap, stacked with AutoStakkert, and processed with Astra Image Pro and Photoshop.
I embarked on a mammoth lunar imaging session on 10th February so I could produce an animation showing the sunrise over some prominent craters. I've already shared the video I created with the data but am now sharing the still images. If you didn't see the animation you can watch it here:
I was imaging from15:45 UT until 22:30 UT and during that time the Moon changed its illumination from 69% to 72%.
Taken from Oxfordshire with a William Optics 70mm refractor and ASI120MC camera through a Celestron 3x Barlow. A 2,000 frame video was shot with SharpCap and depending on the quality graph I stacked either 50 or 25% of the frames using Autostakkert! 3. Processing with Lightroom and Fast Stone Image Viewer.
The Moon captured in a clear evening sky on May 22nd 2021
Altair Astro Lightwave 72EDR f/6 refractor.
Altair Astro IMX178C Hypercam
SkyWatcher AZ-GTI goto mount.
The best 25% of frames stacked with AutoStakkert3 of an initial 3000 frames captured with SharpCap Pro 4.0
Post processed in Photoshop 2021
The Triangulum Galaxy is a spiral galaxy 2.73 million light-years (ly) from Earth in the constellation Triangulum. It is catalogued as Messier 33 or NGC 598. The Triangulum Galaxy is the third-largest member of the Local Group of galaxies, behind the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy. It is one of the most distant permanent objects that can be viewed with the naked eye.
The galaxy is the smallest spiral galaxy in the Local Group and is believed to be a satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy or on its rebound into the latter due to their interactions, velocities, and proximity to one another in the night sky. It also has an H II nucleus. (Wikipedia.org)
Technical Info for Image: This image was taken with my Explore Scientific ED102 APO f7, FL 714mm, refractor telescope mounted on a Celestron Advanced VX Equatorial Mount. A ZWO ASI294MC Pro camera was attached to the prime focus of the telescope and cooled to -5C while set to a Gain of 120. An Orion 50mm guide scope (FL 242mm) was connected to a ZWO ASI290MC camera which communicated with PHD2 auto-guiding software to give precision guiding to the rig as the stars marched across the heavens. 18 images of 120 seconds each were taken at Bin 2x2. Image acquisition was through Astrophotography Tool (APT) software. Post processing and editing were done with Pixinsight software. Polar alignment was done with SharpCap Pro. Final touchup of the image and translation into the JPG format was done with Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud software prior to uploading to Flickr. This sequence, was taken under the excellent dark skies of Landers, California USA at the time of a new moon so the stars were shining brightly.
Uno splendido mosaico di Luna Calante, ripresa la notte del 23 settembre
Dati:
Celestron 114/900 Newton
montatura eq2 con motore AR
camera Qhy5L-IIC
filtro UV IR cut
Sharpcap per l’acquisizione di 13 video da 1 minuto
Autostakkert 3 e Registax 6 per elaborare i video
Autostitch per creare il mosaico
Camera Raw per regolare luminosità e contrasto nel risultato finale
Luogo: Cabras, Italia
Data: 23-09-2021 da 00:29 a 00:48 UTC
Copyright: Roberto Ortu
The Leo Triplet (also known as the M66 Group) is a small group of galaxies about 35 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. This galaxy group consists of the spiral galaxies M65, M66, and NGC 3628.
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: 25*3 mins @ 50 Gain, Temp -16C
- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
- Processed in PixInsight and Adobe Lightroom
Taken from Oxfordshire on 1st May 2023 with a William Optics 70mm refractor and ZWO ASI120MC camera fitted with a Powermate 5x Barlow.
The telescope was on an EQ5 Pro mount on a permanent pier, tracking at lunar rate. It was still twilight when I started imaging and I was also dealing with varying amounts of thin cloud. The Moon was 85% Waxing Gibbous. Schiller is on the few genuinely oval shaped lunar craters. Most of the others that appear oval are only that shape because of its position as viewed from Earth, i.e. the crater is foreshortened when located towards the edges so it causes the crater to look slightly squashed.
A 2,000 frame video was captured using SharpCap and the best 25% of the frames were stacked using Autostakkert! 3. Processing was done in Lightroom and Fast Stone Image Viewer, plus a bit of sharpening in Focus Magic.
Jupiter with the Great Red Spot. Imaged @ 00:47 13/09/2022, UK. SW200P Newtonian with Altair H183Mpro. Stacked best 10% of 6000x 6ms for each RGB filter.
Sharpcap, AutoStackert, RegiStax 6, Affinity Photo, DeNoiseAI plug-in.
Genova, Italy (11 Oct 2022 22:14 UT)
Planet: diameter 49.4", mag -2.9, altitude ≈ 45°
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
(640x480 @ 60fps - 120 sec - RAW16 - Gain 120)
Best 33% frames of 7250
Alignment/Stacking: AutoStakkert! 3.1.4
Wavelets/Deconvolution: AstroSurface T5
Final Elaboration: GIMP 2.10.30
Aristarco è un cratere da impatto con un diametro di 40 Km situato a nord-ovest della Luna sull'altopiano di Aristarco, nell'Oceano delle Tempeste (Oceanus Procellarum). L'area del cratere è tra le più chiare di tutta la superficie lunare, come si può vedere anche nell'immagine rispetto alle zone circostanti. A ovest di questo si trova Erodoto (35 Km di diametro) e più a nord la Vallis Schroteri, una rima larga fino a 10 km e con una lunghezza di circa 160 Km.
Dati:
Celestron 114/910 Newton
Montatura eq2 con motore AR
Camera planetaria QHY5L-II-C
Barlow 2x Celestron Omni
Filtro UV IR cut
Sharpcap per acquisire un video da 3000 frames
Autostakkert!3 e Registax 6 per elaborare il 40% dei frames totali
GIMP per luminosità e contrasto nel risultato finale.
Luogo: Cabras, Sardegna, Italia
Data: 13 maggio 2022 alle 22:08 UTC (0:08 ora locale del 14 )
Fase della Luna: Gibbosa crescente al 93%
After a few years of no astrophotography I got a wild hair to try some yesterday. After spending the afternoon digging in closets and boxes, I found most of my equipment. It took about an hour to set it up. I spent another hour figuring out where focus was (and looking for my extension tubes) and getting the moon into frame. After getting a rough focus, my wife arrived with a bottle of wine and declared it "happy hour." I hit the capture button on SharpCap and got this capture before popping the cork and calling it a night. It's not the greatest but I was surprised how well it came out considering I didn't know what I was doing.
South is to top of the image. Mare Nectaris is near the center. The Apollo 11 landing site is towards the bottom of the frame and a little to the right, though it’s not visible. I can’t wait until Musk and Bezos put their logos on the moon in bright LEDs. Each will claim theirs is the biggest and brightest.
November 19, 2023; Tallahassee, Florida
HAE29 (alt-az mode); 80mm/f5.6 refractor; ASI120MC (the original;) SharpCap; PIPP; RegiStax; best 500 frames out of 1000.
231119_Moon_Moon age 6 days
One of my favorite open clusters!
Messier 37 is the brightest and richest open cluster in the constellation Auriga. It was discovered by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Battista Hodierna before 1654. M37 was missed by French astronomer Guillaume Le Gentil when he rediscovered M36 and M38 in 1749. It lies approximately 4,500 light years away.
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: 60*1 mins @ 100 Gain, Temp -20C,
- Dark Frames: 60*1 mins
- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
- Processed in PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom and Topaz Denoise AI
Also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224 and originally the Andromeda Nebula is a barred spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million light-years (770 kiloparsecs) from Earth and the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way. The galaxy's name stems from the area of Earth's sky in which it appears, the constellation of Andromeda, which itself is named after the Ethiopian (or Phoenician) princess who was the wife of Perseus in Greek mythology. (Wikipedia)
The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies are expected to collide in around 4.5 billion years. With an apparent magnitude of 3.4, the Andromeda Galaxy is among the brightest of the Messier objects, making it visible to the naked eye from Earth on moonless nights, even when viewed from areas with moderate light pollution. (Wikipedia)
Also in the picture are the satellite galaxies of M32(NGC 221) just above to the left and M101(NGC 205) which is at the bottom of the picture.
160x180s (8 Hours) with flats and bias. Dithered. Taken over 5 nights between 13th and 20th September 2020.
Telescope: - Skywatcher 130PDS Newtonian.
Camera: - Nikon D3100 with a GuDoQi Wireless Wifi SD Card.
ISO: 400. Automated white balance
Filters: - Baader Mark-III MPCC Coma Corrector. IDAS D2 Light Pollution Suppression Filter
Flats taken with a Huion L4S Light Box and a white t-shirt.
Wireless Remote: PIXEL TW-283 DC2 2.4G.
Mount: - Skywatcher EQ6R.
Guiding: Skywatcher EvoGuide 50ED & ZWO ASI120MM-Mini.
Polar Aligned with SharpCap Pro.
Control Software: - NINA connecting to EQMOD, PHD Guiding 2, and Plate Solve 2. EZ Share to automatically push pictures to the laptop for image centralization. Also used PHD Dither Timer.
Processing Software: Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker, edited in Star Tools and Topaz Denoise AI.
Moon: Between 10% Waning Crescent and 10% waxing crescent. All pictures used had no moon in the sky.
Light Pollution and Location: - Bortle 7/8 in Davyhulme, Manchester. Different websites tell me different things about this. It all depends on the time of night and which way I’m pointing.
Seeing: - What an unusual and amazing run of clear sky’s either side of a new moon. Seeing was mostly good, sometimes fair and sometimes great.
Notes:- This was a major project for me spending more time on this picture than any of the pictures that came before it. It is the object that I have most looked forward to doing and was worried that the sky’s would not clear. They cleared.
I used 5 nights of data however I have actually been shooting Andromeda over 8 nights starting in early August with a half waning Moon. I must have about 20-30 hours of pictures, but I have now deemed the majority of these unusable. The gradients with even a half moon meant I stood no chance and 3 nights had to be written off completely. I stepped down to only include frames with below 3% sky background in DSS but this was not enough and it was only when I dumped all frames over 2% that I started to get some success. In fact 8 hours of below 2% was far better than the 13 hours I had below 3%.
I bought a long USB extender so I could control things indoors, this means my time outdoors is much less these days. The problem is that the wifi on the sd card doesn’t reach indoors so I had to use a wifi adapter I already had to receive the signal. This works for a while but after an hour or 2 the thing keeps cutting out which is very frustrating. Being indoors is such a boon so I have decided to still use NINA to set things up, plate solve and centre but I’m back to using the remote shutter and PHD2 dither timer for the main pictures to make sure I get a full session in. Enough is enough. At some point I will be buying a dedicated astronomy camera. The D3100 has served me well over the years but it won’t connect directly to any astro software and I’m tired of trying to work around this.
It was advised to me in the comments section of another picture to try using Topaz Denoise AI so I set up a free trial. Thanks a lot mate, I’m now going to have to depart with more money because I was impressed. Star Tools does a good job but Topaz is better. It can even improve pics from the noisiest camera in the world. A brief note on the colour, at least its not green. That said red seems to dominate, and I seem to pick up none of the blue that other photographers seem to get. Perhaps that will change with a better camera.
At the 2am meridian flip (a lot of the lights go out around here by then) I tried making out Andromeda with my naked eyes. I know where it is and can easily find it with bino’s. I actually think I saw it; the problem is I cant work out whether I am seeing something because there is something or I’m seeing something because I think I should be seeing something.
Previous pictures of Andromeda for comparison: -
Andromeda through 300mm lens on the D3100.Taken 7 years ago with no light pollution filter.
Milky Way and Andromeda over some trees.Standard DSLR shot taken in the Alps in 2013.
Andromeda and Comet C/2011 Panstarrs.Another standard DSLR pic taken is the Yorkshire Dales in 2013.
NGC 6960 via a DSLR and 8 inch f4 Astrograph Reflector
This section of the Veil Nebula is a favorite subject, but the area is also covered with stars that can overwhelm the supernova remnant image if not careful in post processing. This image was captured with a simple, stock Canon T7 DSLR on an Orion 8 inch f4 Astrograph Newtonian reflector. An STC Astro Duo Narrowband filter was used to somewhat isolate the H-Alpha and O-III emissions. A Televue Paracoor Type-2 Coma Corrector kept the stars at the edge of the frame as pinpoints. This Coma Corrector is somewhat expensive, but it is absolutely worth it. Though I have a cooled camera, I rather enjoy shooting with simply a DSLR on a telescope. It gives me more time to look up at the wonders above while listening to the pleasing sounds of the DSLR mirror being lifted out of the way of the light and then closing back down again. That, and a hot cup of coffee, makes the velvet black sky, and it's uncountable tiny diamonds, a humbling inspiration.
Technicals:
Telescope: Orion 8 inch f4 Astrograph
Mount: Skywatcher HEQ5
Guiding: None Used.
Filter Used: STC Astro Duo Narrowband
50 Exposures of 120 Seconds Each at ISO 3200.
No Darks or Calibration Frames.
Processed in Pixinsight with Finishing Touches in Corel Paintshop Pro. Captured with APT. Polar Aligned with Sharpcap Pro.
A guided image of the Silver Sliver Galaxy (NGC891) in Andromeda taken using a ZWOASI183MC Pro camera in a 6-inch f/4 reflecting astrograph telescope. 60 ninety second images were captured using SharpCap and processed with DeepSkyStacker and Adobe Lightroom.
Better! Found a way to remove the green artifacts in PixInsight (there's no green in space, apparently). Now to get stuck in and pull TONS more data for each object moving forward...
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: 12*2 mins @ 100 Gain, Temp -20C
- Dark Frames: 12*2 mins
- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
- Processed in PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom, Photmatix Pro HDR and Topaz Denoise AI
This ISS solar transit was visible from our garden in Oxfordshire at 14:20:01 BST 15th June 2021.
I captured it from Oxfordshire, UK with a William Optics refractor fitted with a Thousand Oaks glass solar filter. The camera I used was an ASI120MC. The video was captured using SharpCap, then I processed the video using PIPP, extracted frames were processed in Lightroom, stacked in StarStaX then final tweaks in Photoshop CS2.
Today's transit was much easier to capture than yesterday's daytime Moon transit was, but the transit chord was not where the prediction showed, so it just shows that even with the best planning, it's possible than orbital changes to the ISS's orbit can change enough that you could miss the transit entirely. I'm glad I decided to do this without any Barlow lenses in place because if I hadn't had such a large amount of the solar disc in view, I would have missed this! The sunspot you can see on the upper left side is AR12833.
If you want to look for transits from your location, you can use the transit finder website: www.transit-finder.com
PLEASE NEVER ATTEMPT TO OBSREVE OR PHOTOGRAPH A SOLAR TRANSIT WITH A PROPER SOLAR FILTER IN PLACE - IT COULD RESULT IN PERMANENT EYE DAMAGE
If you want to see my VLOG as I captured this transit, you can find it on my You Tube channel here: youtu.be/oLMfIiQADKc
This image is from a Bortle 8 sky in Beaverton OR in my backyard in March and April of 2020 and spring of 2021. This felt like it was kinda like every man for himself! Haha, my first HaLRGB image.
I've been slowly upgrading this set up to improve my dual image acquisition. More image integration vs going to a dark sky and after all this I'm realizing that there is no substitute for dark skies. Its just harder in light pollution and exhausting doing LRGB especially.
Equipment details:
Two SV105T APO's with SV field flatteners and 3" SV focusers.
Baader 36mm filters LRGB and NB on one scope with 7 position FW and Baader 1.25" Lum and NB in the other with a 5 position FW
Two ASI1600mm cooled to -15C
ZWO OAG ASI290mm mini using Phd2
Mount: Takahashi NJP and ADM TGAD with Temma 2 on permanent custom 8" pier.
Pegasus Ultimate Power Power Box V2 for cable management.
Image acquisition with using APT dual camera mode and plate solving. CDC for pointing.
Polar Alignment with Sharpcap!
No auto focus yet but maybe someday.
Photo details calibrated with 25 darks/45 flats/63 dark flats:
Dithered every image and 2x drizzled
Lum 180 sec x 200 =10hrs in March 2020
Lum 60 sec x1500 =25 hrs in March and April 2021
RGB 60 sec x 420 = 7 hrs each channel or about in April 2021
H-Alpha 300x228 =19 hrs in March 2020
Total = 75 hrs ........I dont process my own data, it was painstakingly processed by my friend Tiago Narciso in Pixinsight and Photoshop. I kept feeding him poor data that was not always calibrated properly thanks to lazy calibration files on my part. Thanks to the DBE of Pixinsight the data was usable despite artifacts mostly in my color data which Tiago took care of! Thank you!!! I also wanted to thank Rey Hernandez who helped me figure out alot about dual imaging since he does tri-imaging from a similar light polluted site. Being able to get 10 hrs of data a night really helps!
This lovely sunspot has just rotated into view and is currently nestled in a group of faculae.
Taken from Oxfordshire with a William Optics 70mm refractor fitted with a Thousand Oaks glass solar filter. The camera was an ASI120MC fitted with a Celestron 3x Barlow. The telescope was on an EQ5 Pro mount tracking at solar speed. A 2,000 frame video was captured using SharpCap, then the best 50% of the frames were stacked in Autostakkert! 3. Stacked image was processed in Lightroom and Fast Stone Image Viewer. The colour was removed before processing then false colour added back in using Photoshop CS2 once the image had been processed.
Second day of my new Lunt telescope
Technical card
Imaging telescope or lens: Lunt Solar Systems LS60THa/B1200C
Imaging camera: QHYCCD QHY5III174
Mount: Skywatcher AZ EQ-6 GT
Focal reducer: Celestron 2x Barlow X-Cel
Software: HEASARC fv, Planetary Imaging Pre-Processor PIPP, Emil Kraaikamp AutoStackert! 2 , Astro Capture Software SharpCap, Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight
Resolution: 1893x1236
Date: July 9, 2017
Time: 09:23
Frames: 7900
FPS: 75.00000
Focal length: 1000
Locations: Berga Resort, Berga, Barcelona, Spain
Genova, Italy (06 Oct 2022 23:52 UT)
Planet: diameter 12.5", mag -0.7, altitude ≈ 38°
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 - 60 sec - RAW16 - Gain 120)
Best 25% frames of 7571
Alignment/Stacking: AutoStakkert! 3.1.4
Wavelets/Deconvolution: AstroSurface T5
Final Elaboration: GIMP 2.10.30
Comet E3(ZTF) against the stars of Taurus, 18 Feb 2023. Here I have used a full set of PixInsight processing tools to integrate 1 hour of comet data. The faint tail is perceptible here but it has been elusive for the imaging I've done from my location in the light polluted suburbs of NYC. I could not see the comet with the naked eye or binoculars, but it was bright enough to image using astrophotography techniques.
Borg 55FL/ZWOASI1600MC/ IDAS LPS-V4 filter. 22 X 3 minute stacks of 4 second exposures, captured in SharpCap. From my yard in Yonkers, NY SQM-L reading 18.1 (Bortle 8).
Fairly faint and hardly visually spectacular, Messier 71 is one of the nearest globular clusters to us at 13000 LY and is relatively young at about 10 billion years old.
Admiral Smyth described it in 1844 as… “of a very feeble light”.
It lies fairly close to the edge of the Milky Way so the stellar background is quite crowded which reduces contrast.
For many years, astronomers thought it looked more like an small open cluster than a globular until high resolution spectroscopy confirmed it was a globular.
This was my first image since March with my Esprit 120 scope. I had a lot of trouble with it out of the box back then with a faulty mechanical focuser and pinched optics from an overtightened lens unit - it took me most of last season to sort that out.
Given a 68% waning Moon, scudding cloud, a gusty wind and Saharan sand in the atmosphere (!), I thought I should go for something straightforward and its always nice to bag another Messier object!
I'd planned to get 30 x 2 minute subs over an hour but strong gusts of wind and scudding cloud left me with 25 x subs over 2 hours.
I'm just happy that my stars are round instead of hexagonal and the focuser was flawless.
Technical Card
840/120mm f/7 SkyWatcher Esprit 120ED triplet refractor.
SkyWatcher 1.0 x FF with 2 inch IDAS LPS P3 filter
ZWO ASI2600MC; 25 x 120 second subs, Gain 100, Offset 25, Temp = -10c.
EQ6 pro mount with Rowan belt drives. EQMOD control. Pegasus Astro Focus Cube electronic focuser.
Session control; SharpCap 4.0 on laptop with WiFi link to IPad.
Automated plate solving GOTO via ASTAP (4 secs exp at Gain 350)
FWHM multistar focusing - the best FWHM reading I could get was 4.3 - I didn't know it but next morning, the media had lots of pictures of dusty sunsets all over the UK - Saharan sand suspended in the atmosphere.
40 dark frames
60 flat frames (electroluminescent panel, 3000ms exposure at Gain 0).
Post processed in PixInsight 1.8.9.2.
Light Pollution and Weather:
Gusts of wind and scudding cloud. About half of all subs were discarded.
SQM (L) not measured due to waning Moon.
Polar Alignment:
PoleMaster alignment
Error measured by PHD2= 3.1 arc minute.
RA drift + 3.85 arcsec/min
Dec drift + 0.78 arcsec/min
Guiding:
PHD2 guiding with ZWO ASI290mm/Primalucelab
240/60mm guider.
RA RMS error 0.77 arcsec
Dec RMS error 0.74 arcsec
This deteriorated later in the evening as it got windier.
I'm thinking of changing to a 320mm f4 guide scope - I understand guide FL should be about 1/3 of scope FL.
Astrometry:
Focal distance: 862.40 mm
Pixel size: 3.76 um
Resolution: 0.9 arcsec/pxl.
Field of view:55' 34.6" x 34' 45.5"
Image centre: RA: 19 53 44.124 Dec: +18 46 01.89
A picture of the Blackeye Galaxy (M64) in Coma Berenices over Monticello taken with a ZWOASI183 MC Pro camera attached to a six inch f/4 reflecting telescope. A set of forty six 90 second individual images were captured using SharpCap, stacked with DeepSkyStacker, and processed with Gimp, Adobe Lightroom, and Topaz AI.
Le triplet du Lion (aussi appelé le groupe de M66) est un petit amas de galaxies situé à environ 35 millions d'années-lumière dans le constellation du Lion. Cet amas regroupe les galaxies spirales M65, M66, et NGC 3628.
matériel :
FSQ-106ED, extender x1.6
monture NEQ6 pro goto
caméra ZWO 1600MC-C avec filtre IDAS-LPS-D1
logiciel acquisition : Sharpcap 3.2
logiciel guidage : phd2
traitement avec deepskystacker, PSS
Image issue de 40poses de 180s
Gérard
Questa è l’immagine ottenuta dall’ultima ripresa video del gigante gassoso nella notte tra il 17 e il 18 settembre. Grazie a una migliore stabilità atmosferica ho ottenuto forse il miglior risultato della serata. Poi ho preferito un’elaborazione più leggera e ho aumentato un po’ la saturazione per mostrare meglio la GMR e i colori delle bande atmosferiche.
Il satellite Europa è in basso a destra.
Dati:
Telescopio Celestron 114/910 Newton
Montatura eq2 con motore AR con pulsantiera
Camera QHY5L-II-C
Barlow 2x Celestron Omni acromatica
Filtro UV-IR cut
Sharpcap per un video di 90 secondi contenente 9847 fotogrammi
PIPP, Autostakkert!3 e Astrosurface per elaborarne il 25%
Data: 17 settembre 2022 alle 22:44 UTC
Luogo: Cabras, Sardegna, Italia
The Sun continues to be incredibly active and enjoyable to view. The photo on the left is a view of Our Sun's photosphere and on the right is Our Sun's chromosphere. The photosphere highlights the sunspot activity. You can also see faculae on the surface. The chromosphere captured using a Hα filtered telescope, highlights prominences, sunspots, plages, and filaments. The chromosphere is the layer of the Sun immediately above the photosphere.
The pictures were captured in Elkridge, Maryland USA.
The Sun’s photosphere was captured using:
Telescope: Astro Physics Traveler 105mm f6
Solar Filter: baader planetarium Herschel Prism Mark II
Mount: Celestron AVX
Camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro
The Sun’s chromosphere was captured using:
Telescope: Lunt 60mm Hα – LS60T Hydrogen alpha
-Double stack: LS50Hα
Mount: Orion Solar Starseeker
Camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro
Both images were captured in monochrome.
Capture software:
Sharpcap 3.2
Processing software:
AutoStakkert! 3.1.4
Adobe Light Room Classic
Adobe Photo Shop
Some more processing of data from a few weeks ago, utilizing careful application of HDR to tease out a lot more detail that I hadn't utilized in the last version. Again, TOPAZ Denoise saved the day adding cleanliness to the final product. HA & OIII Filter on the way...
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, Photmatix Pro HDR and Topaz Denoise AI
Sol'Ex spectroheliograph and 72ED apo doublet riding on an EQ6 pro. 16x slew speed was used to force the scan across the solar disk,23 SER files recorded using a QHY5III 178M and Sharpcap,image is a stack of 18 out of the 23.
Taken with a Celestron C6 SCT, Celestron AVX mount, 2x Barlow, and ASI120MC. Captured with SharpCap, stacked with AutoStakkert, and processed with Astra Image Pro and Photoshop.
The M20 "Trifid" Nebula.
This is an object I've been imaging for years, but never to my satisfaction. Tonight under warm, clear Texas skies I obtained about an hour's worth of data, with the same amount of dark frames. I was very happy with the result (which was in part also because I learned something new about processing). Anyway, a decent first image for the season and I'll get more data later.
The Trifid Nebula is an H II region located in Sagittarius. It was discovered by Charles Messier on June 5, 1764. Its name means 'divided into three lobes'. The object is an unusual combination of an open cluster of stars; an emission nebula, a reflection nebula and a dark nebula. It lies approximately 5,200 light years 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: 20*5 mins @ 0 Gain, Temp -15C
- Dark Frames: 20*5 mins
- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
- Processed in PixInsight and Adobe Lightroom
NGC 869 884 in Perseus
William Optics Zenithstar 61 APO refractor, Zwo ASI183MC Pro cooled color camera, Ioptron i45 Eq mount, capture in SharpCap Pro, DSS, PS, dark flats and bias frames, 1 minute exposure, 42 total minutes, 120 gain 0 offset
Here is another image from yesterday's solar imaging - check out all the sunspots!
Tech Specs: Sky-Watcher Esprit 120ED Telescope, ZWO ASI071MC camera, glass solar filter, Sky-Watcher EQ6R-Pro mount, ASIAir Pro, processed in SharpCap Pro v4.1 and Registax, best 20% of 1500 frames. Image Date: April 22, 2024. Location: The Dark Side Observatory (W59), Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).
Una foto del pianeta Saturno con Titano, il suo satellite naturale più grande, ripresi l' 11 ottobre 2023.
Per mostrare meglio la luna ho fatto una seconda ripresa con tempo di esposizione più alto.
Telescopio Celestron 114/910 Newton
Montatura eq2 motorizzata Sky-Watcher
Camera QHY5L-II-C
Barlow 2X Celestron Omni
Filtro UV IR cut
Sharpcap 4.0 per un video contenente 8107 fotogrammi con esposizione di 27 ms
Sharpcap 4.0 per un video contenente 320 fotogrammi con esposizione di 553 ms
PIPP, AS!3, Astrosurface V1 per le elaborazioni
GIMP per unire i risultati
Ora delle riprese: 20:55 UTC (22:55 ora locale) e 21:05 UTC (23:05 ora locale)
Seeing buono
Luogo: Cabras, Sardegna, Italia
M45 in the Constellation of Taurus,
M: iOptron EQ45-Pro
T: WO GTF81 Refractor
C: ZWO ASI1600MC-Cooled
G: 200mm (FL) Finder and PHD2
GC: ZWO ASI120Mini
Gain: 300; RAW16; FITs
Temp: -25 DegC
Frames: 14 Lights; 2 Darks; No flats
Exp: 10 x 60s; 4 x 300s
100% Crop
Capture: Sharpcap
Processed: DSS; PS, Gradient Exterminator.
Tried for this lovely planetary nebula despite, perhaps, not having the right filters for it. Came out okay. Some passing high-level clouds made for some additional noise. I'll try agin next month for something better.
The Helix Nebula (also known as NGC 7293 or Caldwell 63) is a planetary nebula (PN) located in the constellation Aquarius. Discovered by Karl Ludwig Harding, probably before 1824, this object is one of the closest to the Earth of all the bright planetary nebulae.650 light years away.
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: 25*5 mins @ 50 Gain, Temp -15C
- Dark Frames: 25*5 mins
- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
- Processed in PixInsight and Adobe Lightroom
The Pacman Nebula, an emission nebula [NGC281] with open star Cluster [IC1590], may be seen in the constellation of Cassiopeia.
M: iOptron EQ45-Pro
T: William Optics GTF81
C: ZWO ASI533-Pro [Cooled]
F: Ha & Oiii Narrowband (ZWO 7nm)
G: PHD2
GC: ZWO ASI120mini
Format: RAW16; FITs
Temp: -10 DegC
Gain 101;
Frames: 24 x Ha Exp 400s; 24 x Oiii Exp 400s
Dark Calibration Frames: 1 Master Dark from 20 Darks
Flat Frames: 1 Master Flat from 50 flats
100% Crop
Capture: SharpCap [Advanced Sequence automation]
Processed: Astro Processor Pro [APP]; Photoshop [PS]
Sky: No moon, calm, No cloud, Bortle Class 5, good seeing.
Taken with a ZWO ASI120MC camera, Celestron C8 telescope and Celestron CGEM mount.
Captured in SharpCap, processed in AutoStakkert and Lightroom.
Captured this morning from my observatory. Not sure how folks are getting a longer tail in their images so will try for a longer exposure next.
Image Details:
- Imaging Scope: William Optics 61mm ZenithStar APO
- Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI183MC Color with ZWO Duo band filter
- Guiding Scope: William Optics 31mm Uniguide
- Guiding Camera: Orion Starshoot Auto Guider
- Acquisition Software: Sharpcap
- Guiding Software: PHD2
- Light Frames: 20*1 mins @ 50 Gain, Temp -10C
- Dark Frames: 20*1 mins
- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
- Processed in PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom and Topaz Denoise
This is a more complete view than my last of the Eagle Nebula, which includes the famous "Pillars of Creation" at the center. It's a nice backyard target but it's very low in my sky. I acquired a new mount this year which also lets me use my older, heavier telescopes like my Televue TV-85 -- actually considered a "portable" refractor but still too heavy for my mounts which I've used with ultralight gear.
In July I set up to image the nebula nearly every evening without rain but I still needed to discard more than half my data due to clouds or Canadian wildfire smoke, frequently present in the New York area in recent months. The image above integrates 108 minutes of capture from July 10 - 21st. More data would be great to fill out more of the faint regions, but this will have to wait for next year as the nebulae is now lost in my trees by the time it is dark.
Tech Stuff: TV-85 telescope/Borg 1.08 flattener/RST-135E mount/ZWO ASI 533MC Pro camera/IDAS LPS V-4 filter. 108 minutes of unguided 4 to 15-second exposures collected in SharpCap livestacks and processed in PixInsight, GraXpert, Starnetv2, and ACDC GemStone. From my Bortle 7 yard 10 miles north of NYC.
Ecco la Luna in fase piena a poche ore dall'istante in cui si trovava al Perigeo ( il punto dell'orbita più vicino alla Terra). Per questo motivo la notte del 13 il nostro satellite appariva leggermente più grande e luminoso con un diametro apparente maggiore del 7% rispetto alla media. Quindi ecco il motivo per cui viene chiamata anche "superluna", ma in realtà la differenza di dimensione è molto difficile da percepire ed è corretto invece chiamarla Luna Piena al Perigeo. Questa di luglio viene chiamata anche Luna Piena del Cervo ed è la più grande e luminosa del 2022.
La foto è un mosaico di dimensioni 2674x2674 pixels e l'ho ottenuto assemblando 16 immagini delle diverse zone della superficie lunare.
Questa è una versione "mineral moon" in cui i colori sono saturati per evidenziare la diversa composizione chimica della regolite lunare nelle diverse zone del nostro satellite.
Dati:
Telescopio Celestron 114/910 Newtoniano
Montatura Eq2 con motore AR con pulsantiera
Camera planetaria QHY5L-II-C
Filtro UV-Ir cut
Sharpcap per acquisire 16 video da 40 secondi ciascuno a 17 fps
Autostakkert!3 e Registax 6 per elaborare ogni video
Autostitch per assemblare le immagini
GIMP per luminosità, contrasto, riduzione rumore (pochissimo) e saturazione dei colori
Luogo: Cabras, Sardegna, Italia
Data e ora della ripresa: 14 luglio 2022 da 01:29 a 01:48 UTC
From Wikipedia: The Triangulum Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 3 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Triangulum. It is catalogued as Messier 33 or NGC 598. The Triangulum Galaxy is the third-largest member of the Local Group of galaxies, which includes the Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy and about 44 other smaller galaxies. It is one of the most distant permanent objects that can be viewed with the naked eye.
The galaxy is the smallest spiral galaxy in the Local Group and it is believed to be a satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy due to their interactions, velocities and proximity to one another in the night sky.
Another test shot using the new ZWO ASI071MC-Pro camera and figuring out settings based on the target being captured.
Tech Specs: Sky-Watcher Esprit 120mm ED Triplet APO Refractor, Celestron CGEM-DX mount (pier mounted), ZWO ASI071MC-Pro, 16 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. No darks or bias frames. Image date: November 24, 2019. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA.
A spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici, also in the M51 (whirlpool) group about 29 million light years away.
40 240s lights (2 hours 40 minutes) with flats and bias. Dithered.
Telescope: - Skywatcher 130PDS Newtonian.
Camera: - Nikon D3100.
ISO: 400. Automated white balance
Filters: - Baader Mark-III MPCC Coma Corrector. IDAS D2 Light Pollution Suppression Filter
Flats taken with a Huion L4S Light Box and a white t-shirt.
Wireless Remote: PIXEL TW-283 DC2 2.4G.
Mount: - Skywatcher EQ6R.
Guiding: Skywatcher EvoGuide 50ED & ZWO ASI120MM-Mini.
Polar Aligned with SharpCap Pro.
Control Software: - Stellarium Scope, Stellarium, Poth Hub, EQMOD, All Sky Plate Solver, PHD Guiding 2 and PHD Dither Timer.
Processing Software: Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker, edited in Star Tools and cropped in PS Lightroom.
Moon: Around about new
Light Pollution and Location: - Bortle 8 in Davyhulme, Manchester.
Seeing: - Average/Not Great
Notes: - A difficult target perhaps for my equipment and the time of year. I took it over 2 nights which gave me about 3 hours each night and I had to scrap a load of frames. I don’t think the seeing was as good as previous astronomy sessions. I’m not willing to give this anymore time at the moment and I want to try something else. I will perhaps try again in March or April in the future when there is still actual night time.
The remote shutter cable for the D3100 is flimsy and yet again this broke meaning I had to order a new one. I’ve also ordered one that will go into the snap port in the mount. I really want to consolidate the amount of software I use to take these pictures and improve on the automation. I think I’ve finally found something that may work called NINA so I am excited to try that out.
First light image using a Lunt CaK module with B1200 with an 80mm f6 apo triplet and QHY5III 178 mono camera,also used a 0.5x focal reducer to allow full disk image. 1000 frame AVI captured in Sharpcap stacked in Autostakkert and wavelet sharpened in Registax. Final processing in Photoshop CS2 with false colour added.
Image taken 09/01/20
I got to used my new ES 80mm EDT Apo refractor, Zwo 294MC Pro cooled color camera, Orion Field flattener, SharpCap Pro, Stacked in PIPP & DSS, PS, Dark, flats and bias frames, 1 minute exposure 120 gain, did take 2 hours but satellites and aliens got in some frames, used 99, 1 hour and 39 minutes total time, Ioptron I45 Pro EQ mount, just tracking no guiding
Processing is never ending.....
Second attempt at this object, first with the ZWO ASI183MC.
NGC 7635, also known as the Bubble Nebula, Sharpless 162, or Caldwell 11, is an H II region emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia. It lies close to the direction of the open cluster Messier 52. The "bubble" is created by the stellar wind from a massive hot, 8.7 magnitude young central star, SAO 20575.
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: 25*5 mins @ 50 Gain, Temp -15C
- Dark Frames: 25*5 mins
- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
- Processed in PixInsight and Adobe Lightroom