Jupiter a day before it reached opposition. This is the time when Jupiter is closest to Earth (a mere 588 million km away compared to 968 million km at its furthest) and so it appears bigger and brighter making it the perfect time to image it even though it is quite low in the sky compared with other years. Conditions were not ideal with lots of high cloud to contend with but the forecast for the following days was significantly worse so this seemed like the best night to try for a shot. Three of Jupiter's Galilean moons are visible in this shot; on the left is Ganymede and on the right, closest to the planet is Io. Europa is on the far right of the image. Callisto was much further to the right and doesn't appear in this image. Also visible in the image is Jupiter's Great Red Spot, a persistent high-pressure region in the atmosphere of Jupiter, producing an anticyclonic storm with wind speeds at the edge of about 432 km/h. It is the largest storm in the Solar System and one that has been observed for at least 350 years.

Created from a 1000 frame video with all frames stacked

Captured with SharpCap

Processed in AutoStakkert, Registax and Photoshop

Gain 100%

Exposure 0.04495 seconds

Equipment:

Sky-Watcher Explorer-150PDS

Sky-Watcher EQ5 Mount

ZWO ASI120 MC camera

x2 Barlow with extension tube

Messier 63, the Sunflower Galaxy, taken from a Bortle 4 site in Landers, CA, USA on a New Moon night. Telescope: TPO Ritchey-Chretien 6 inch with a FL 1370mm. Guiding was with Orion 50mm Guide Scope FL 242mm with a ZWO ASI183MC for the guide camera. Mount: SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro. Main imaging camera: ASI294MC PRO cooled to -5C. Exposures: 15 x 240s with Gain at 120. No darks, flats or bias frames. Processed in PixInsight. Slight crop. Polar alignment was with SharpCap Pro.

New processing, better than the last iteration. Some stars appear green to me, which seems wrong. Oh well.

First attempt at this. Quite mysterious looking in my humble opinion.

The Western Veil Nebula is a supernova remnant consisting of oxygen, sulfur, and hydrogen gas. This area of Cygnus is densely populated with stars and includes regions of heated gas that make up the Cygnus Loop.

As APOD so eloquently puts it, the Western Veil Nebula is “an expanding cloud born of the death explosion of a massive star”. NGC 6960 (Caldwell 34) is often referred to as the Witch’s Broom as its delicate filamentary structure resembles this memorable shape.

Image Details:

- Imaging Scope: William Optics 61mm Zenithstar II Doublet

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

- Guiding Scope: William Optics 31mm

- Guiding Camera: Orion Starshoot Autoguider

- Acquisition Software: Sharpcap

- Guiding Software: PHD2

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

- Light Frames: 20*6 mins @ 100 Gain, Temp -20C

- Dark Frames: 20*6 mins

- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker

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

SAMYANG 135mm F2

ASI662MC 31.5mm IR/UV block filter

AZ-GTi

ASILive,SharpCap for Plate solving

2 days to go!

Transparency (4/5)

Seeing (3/5)

C9.25 EDGEHD (F=2350mm)

ZWO120MC

SharpCap

Winjupos

AutoStakkert

PixInsight

This is my first serious attempt at Mars.

Taken with a Celestron C6 SCT, Celestron AVX mount, 2.5x Televue PowerMate, and ASI120MC. Captured with SharpCap, stacked with AutoStakkert, and processed with Astra Image Pro and Photoshop.

Telescopio Celestron Newton 114/900, Montatura eq2 Camera planetaria Qhy5L-II Software Sharpcap per l’acquisizione di 15 video da 10 secondi a 15 fps Autostakkert 3 e Registax 6 per l’elaborazione di ciascun video Autostitch per unire 15 foto Camera raw per luminosità e contrasto Dimensioni della foto:2406 x 2449

Date: July 24, 2021

Location: Cabras, Italy

NGC2264 and IC1848 with the ES 80mm ED triplet APO refractor, Orion Field Flattener and Zwo ASI1600MM Pro cooled mono camera...

The Pegasus power box was a good buy, Got rid of 3 power adapters and 1 control box

Had clear skies last night, ok tracking

Astronomik 1 1/4" 12nm Ha filter

#SharpCap Pro, PoleMaster

Ioptron i45 Pro EQ mount, PHD2 guiding

Orion 60mm guidescope SSAG

200 Gain offset 50, -10c cooling,

IC1848 was 80 minutes, 1 minute exposure each

NGC2264 was 125 minutes, 1 minute each

40 darks 40 flats and 40 bias frames

Astro Pixel Processor and PS

21x30 sec, Gain 42, Offset 15, -20C, QHY183c, UHC-S filter, Televue TV-85 at F/5.6. Bortle Red zone. SharpCap 3.2 livestack w/dither.

The very nice Active Region 2835 (along with the smaller 2836 and 2837). Sharpstar 61 EDPH with Artesky Herschel Wedge and ASI290MM. Skywatcher Star Adventurer. Best 20% of 1000 frames acquired with Sharpcap and processed with Autostakkert, Registax and PS.

Seeing 3/5 T

ransparency 2.5/5.

10 min video derotated. 1.5X drizzle

C9.25 EDGEHD (F=2350mm)

ZWO120MC

SharpCap

Winjupos

AutoStakkert

PixInsight

Aberkenfig, South Wales

Lat +51.542 Long -3.593

Skywatcher 254mm Newtonian, Tal 2x Barlow, ZWO ASI 120MC. Captured using Sharpcap.

Processed with Registax 6 & G.I.M.P.

m82-333x8-g2098-imx224-85f5_6-v2.

M82, a.k.a. the Exploding Cigar Galaxy is a prime target early in the morning. I managed to stay up late on a work night and take advantage of some transparent skies.

Technical:

333x8 sec @ 2098 Gain (100-5000 range), scaled up in size 200% after stacking.

Televue TV-85 at F/5.6

Rising Tech Sony IMX224 Eyepiece/Guider Cam

Atlas EQ-G w/EQMOD

Orion 30mm Ultra-Mini/Orion Starshoot, PHD Guiding2

Sharpcap 2.9

Bortle Red zone conditions and last quarter moonlight.

Waxing Gibbous Moon at 61.9%. 300 frames capturing using a QHY163 mono camera attached to an Altair Wave 115ED scope. Captured using SharpCap Pro and edited using Autostakkert2 and Registax6.

Genova, Italy (24 Aug 2023 01:23 UT)

Planet: diameter 42.8", mag -2.5, altitude ≈ 45°

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 168)

Best 25% frames of ≈15000

Alignment/Stacking: AstroSurface U4

Wavelets/Deconvolution: AstroSurface U4

Final Elaboration: GIMP 2.10.34

Image réalisée le 18 juillet 2021 lors de l'observation The Moon Again, matériel Petite Ourse : lunette 102/500 sur AZ3, capture ZWO asi 120MM avi 10s avec SharpCap, images total 161, retenues 60, traitement AutoStakker et RegiStax6.

Lieu : Rue Roger Richard parking du groupe scolaire 88300 Martigny-les-Gerbonvaux.

WO RedCat 51 Zwo 071MC Pro cooled color camera, 1 minute exposure 90 total time, SharpCap Pro, Astro Pixel Processor

Uncropped Image

M81 is a large spiral galaxy in Ursa Major that is reasonably local to us at 12 million light years. Its companion, M82 has been disrupted by an encounter with M81 in the past.

M82 is a starburst galaxy with intense star formation triggered by the gravitational influence of M81. The red fan-like filaments at right angles to the axis of the galaxy are formed by a "superwind". The intense star formation has resulted in multiple supernovae explosions occurring about once every 10 years - the explosions power the super wind. The filaments are expanding outwards at about 600 miles a second and glow brightly in hydrogen alpha (red). They are also a very strong source of radio emission, listed as 3C 231 in the 3rd Cambridge catalogue of radio sources.

A very, very faint patch of blue between 3 triangular stars under M81 is Holmberg IX - a small irregular dwarf galaxy under the gravitational influence of M81 - a bit like our Magellanic Clouds.

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

EQ6 R 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

60 flat frames (electroluminescent panel A, 3500ms exposure @ 0 gain).

Post processed in PixInsight 1.8.9.

Light Pollution and Weather:

SQM (L) =20.3 mpass

Clear throughout.

Polar Alignment:

Using a new William Optics GuideStar 61 to guide this large scope. 360mm focal length.

Error measured by PHD2= 2.6 arc minute.

RA drift - 0.23 arcsec/min

Dec drift - 0.24 arcsec/min

Guiding:

PHD2 guiding with ZWO ASI290mm/WO GuideStar 61.

Every 6th sub dithered.

RA RMS error 0.53 arcsec

Dec RMS error 0.54 arcsec

Astrometry

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

Rotation ................. -78.853 deg

Focal distance ........... 861.62 mm

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

Field of view ............ 1d 33' 43.9" x 1d 2' 38.9"

Image center ............. RA: 9 55 42.256 Dec: +69 21 19.63

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.

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 e riduzione rumore (pochissimo)

Luogo: Cabras, Sardegna, Italia

Data e ora della ripresa: 14 luglio 2022 da 01:29 a 01:48 UTC

Nice little galaxy, but probably need more frames and better processing. Still at the bottom of the learning curve with this!

55 frames livestacked in Sharpcap, total 447 s capture time. Post-processing in Photoshop. Celestron Evolution 9.25 scope with focal reducer.

...in the Leo Constellation. About 31-36 million light years away.

I'm on the fence with this. My image acquisition was good, but this was hard to process and tease out color. Still a bit noisy, too. Maybe good enough for a first attempt.

Image Details:

- Imaging Scope: William Optics 61mm ZenithStar APO

- Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI183MC Color with IR Cut filter

- Guiding Scope: William Optics 31mm Uniguide

- Guiding Camera: Orion Starshoot Auto Guider

- Acquisition Software: Sharpcap

- Guiding Software: PHD2

- Light Frames: 25*5 mins @ 50 Gain, Temp -10C

- Dark Frames: 25*5 mins

- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker

- Processed in PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom and Topaz Denoise

Well, this is my first attempt at an image using both Luminance and Ha+OIII frames combined. There's a lot of data here, and my luminance frames were offset to my filtered frames, thus the odd cropping/framing. I'll get a wider field image next year.

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: 100*2 mins @ 100 Gain, Temp -20C

- HA + OIII Frames: 25*3 mins @ 100 Gain, Temp -20C

- Dark Frames: 100*2 mins for light frames, 25*3 mins for HA + OIII frames

- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker

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

Jellyfish Nebula - IC 443

Ha - 57 x 600 secs

OIII - 52 x 600 secs

SII - 55 x 600 secs

27.3 Hours total

EQ8-R | SW Esprit 100ED | ASI6200MM | Antlia 3.5nm Ha,SII,OIII

SW 50ED | ASI290MM Mini

SharpCap | NINA | Pixinsight | Photoshop

Telescopi o obiettivi di acquisizione: Orion Mini Guidescope

Camere di acquisizione: SVBONY SV305

Montature: Celestron SLT

Software: SharpCap Pro 3.2 Sharcap · PixInsight 1.8 Ripley Pisinsight 1.8 · photoshop

Date:23 Gennaio 2021

Pose: 186x10"

Integrazione: 0.5 ore

Giorno lunare medio: 9.70 giorni

Fase lunare media: 73.71%

Taken from Oxfordshire, UK

White Light:

William Optics 70mm refractor + Thousand Oaks glass solar filter and Baader Continuum Filter. Camera was an ASI120MC.

H-alpha:

Coronado PST with 2x Barlow and ASI120MC

Video captured using Sharpcap and the best 250 frames stacked using Autostakkert! 3

Just a single snapshot from Sharpcap using a Sharpstar 50 ed on the SW Solar quest mount

This is my portable astro rig for wide field astrophotography. The setup includes the "one-shot colour camera" ASi 294 MC Pro and Voigtlander 25mm lens, Star Adventurer mount and Pole Master for quick and easy polar alignment.

The ASI 294 is a very sensitive CMOS camera and takes a bit of getting used to after using a traditional "DSLR" based camera.

The guide scope and guide camera (ASI 120 MC-s) are opposite to the camera to reduce weight. I don't really need guiding when doing wide field but use this setup with heavier telescopes and like the configuration.

Guiding is done via PHD2, so I take a laptop as well. Imaging software is SharpCap Pro.

This cluster, located just outside of our galaxy, is about 80 light years across and contains around 100,000 stars. It contains at least 105 variable stars as well as two millisecond pulsars! It is also older than 12 BILLION years!

First attempt at this object through a combination of clear skies and high-level clouds last night. I find Globular Clusters fascinating and super interesting that we can detect variable stars within them.

Image Details:

- Imaging Scope: William Optics 61mm ZenithStar APO

- Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI183MC Color with IR Cut filter

- Guiding Scope: William Optics 31mm Uniguide

- Guiding Camera: Orion Starshoot Auto Guider

- Acquisition Software: Sharpcap

- Guiding Software: PHD2

- Light Frames: 17*3 mins @ 50 Gain, Temp -20C

- Dark Frames: 17*3 mins

- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker

- Processed in PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom and Topaz Denoise

ASI071MC plus 200p Newt with baader coma corrector and Skywatcher LP filter. -15c. Tenerife sea level. Sharpcap. best 160 frames stacked.

Interesting double loop solar prominence on the Sun yesterday. High temperatures and poor seeing didn't allow for any type of details to be captured.

Tech Specs: Sky-Watcher Esprit 120ED, ZWO ASI290MC, Daystar Quark Chromosphere + Daystar 2" UV/IR filter, SharpCap Pro v3.0, best 15% of 5k frames, AutoStakkert, Registax. Image date: 27 July 2019. Location: The Dark Side Observatory in Weatherly, PA, USA.

Tried to align the R G and B stacks as best I could but there was always some amount of color fringing on the craters. Captured July 29th, 2020.

---

**[Equipment:](i.imgur.com/6T8QNsv.jpg)**

* TPO 6" F/4 Imaging Newtonian

* Orion Sirius EQ-G

* ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro

* Skywatcher Quattro Coma Corrector

* ZWO EFW 8x1.25"/31mm

* Astronomik LRGB+CLS Filters- 31mm

* Astrodon 31mm Ha 5nm, Oiii 3nm, Sii 5nm

* Agena 50mm Deluxe Straight-Through Guide Scope

* ZWO ASI-120MC for guiding

* Moonlite Autofocuser

**Acquisition:** (Camera at Unity Gain, -15°C)

* R - 1000 x 0.39ms

* G - 1000 x 0.34ms

* B - 1000 x 0.52

**Capture Software:**

* Captured using Sharpcap and [N.I.N.A.](nighttime-imaging.eu/) for mount/filterwheel control

**Processing:**

* Stacked the best 15% of frames in Autostakkert (autosharpened, 2X resample)

* R G and B stacks manually aligned in photoshop and autocolored

* **In PixInsight:**

* Shitloads of [Curve](i.imgur.com/WengIOh.jpg)Transformations to adjust saturation, lightness, and hue

* Extract luminance, LRGBCombination for chrominance noise reduction

* Invert, SCNR, Invert to remove magentas

* SCNR to remove greens

* LocalHistogramEqualization for added contrast

* More curves

* ACDNR (noise reduction)

* ChannelMatch to try to eliminate color fringing

* HistogramTransformation to clip background to black

* DynamicCrop to 16x9 aspect ratio

* Annotation

Nel pomeriggio del 26 luglio, con difficoltà e un po’ di fortuna, sono riuscito a riprendere con la camera planetaria e il piccolo telescopio newtoniano il brevissimo transito della Stazione Spaziale Internazionale davanti al Sole. La durata totale del transito è stata di poco più di un secondo a causa dell’elevata velocità con cui la stazione orbita intorno alla Terra. La ISS è grande circa come un campo da calcio, orbita a circa 400 km di quota e viaggia alla velocità di quasi 28000 km/h compiendo un’orbita in circa 92 minuti. Al momento l’equipaggio è composto da 7 astronauti tra cui anche Samantha Cristoforetti.La ripresa contiene 1059 fotogrammi, in soltanto 8 è presente la sagoma della ISS e tra questi ho preso quello migliore. L’ho poi tagliato per mostrare meglio la parte più interessante:

in quest’immagine sono abbastanza visibili gli enormi pannelli solari della struttura e sono presenti alcune macchie solari nelle regioni attive AR3062 e AR3066, tra cui una più grande ed evidente.

Dati:

Telescopio Celestron 114/910 Newton

Montatura Eq2 con motore AR con pulsantiera

Camera QHY5L-II-C

Filtro UV-IR cut

Filtro Astrosolar

Sharpcap per acquisire un video da 1059 fotogrammi a 17 fps con tempo di esposizione di 1/2000 sec

Pipp per scomporre il video in immagini TIFF

GIMP per tagliare l’immagine originale, scrivere i nomi degli oggetti visibili e modificare leggermente la nitidezza e il contrasto.

Luogo: Cabras (OR)

Data: 26-07-2022

Ora esatta del transito:17:41:06.75 ora locale

Brisbane, Australia January 2021

Telescope: Explore Scientific ED80 APO Triplet

Mount; HEQ5 Pro

Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI533 MC Pro

Guide Camera; ZWO ASI290 Mini

15 x 240s

15 x Darks

12 x Flats

10 x Bias

Sharpcap Pro Polar Alignment

PHD2, Stellarium, APT, Deepsky Stacker, Photoshop.

Sadr region with the Kitcat 135mm Rokinon lens

Zwo ASI071MC Pro cooled mono camera

Pegasus EAF, 10X7 degrees FOV

Had clear skies last night, Full moon, some clouds

Optolong L eNhance 2" filter

#SharpCap Pro, PoleMaster

Ioptron CEM 25 Pro EQ mount

200 Gain offset 20, 0c cooling,

Sadr region was 2 hours, 5 minutes exposure each

24 frames total

12 darks 12 flats and 12 bias frames

Astro Pixel Processor and PS

Was out at Starr ranch

M: iOptron EQ45-Pro

T: WO GTF81 Refractor

C: ZWO ASI1600MC

G: 200mm Finder and PHD2

GC: ZWO ASI120MC

Gain: 240; RAW16; FITs

Temp: -10 DegC

Frames: 20 Lights; 6 Darks; 40 flats

Exp: 6 x 180s; 14 x 120s

30% Crop

Capture: Sharpcap

Processed: DSS; PS, Gradient Exterminator.

Celestron NexStar 6SE

Zwo Asi224mc with IR cut filter

Zwo ADC

Tele Vue 2.5x Powermate

FireCapture for ADC tuning.

SharpCap for Capturing.

2 minute video, exposure-4.5ms, gain-360

Processed in AutoStakkert, RegiStax and Lightroom.

10 X 1 minutes de-rotate.

60% gain

Transparency (3/5)

Seeing (3/5)

C9.25 EDGEHD (F=2350mm)

ZWO120MC

SharpCap

Winjupos

AutoStakkert

PixInsight

Captured with SharpCap and an Asi183 through a Lunt 60 shooting at 1/1000s and 20 fps.

Tycho Crater – diameter is 86 km and it is about 4.8 km in depth, located in the southern region of the moon. The crater was named after Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546–1601). From Wikipedia, “The crater is sharply defined, unlike older craters that have been degraded by subsequent impacts. The interior has a high albedo that is prominent when the Sun is overhead, and the crater is surrounded by a distinctive ray system forming long spokes that reach as long as 1,500 kilometers. Sections of these rays can be observed even when Tycho is illuminated only by earthlight.

Tech Specs: ZWO ASI290MC camera and Meade 12” LX90, best 20% of 5k frames. Software used included Sharpcap Pro v3.1 and AutoStakkert!3. Photographed on February 16, 2019 from the Dark Side Observatory in Weatherly, Pennsylvania, USA.

Tycho Crater – diameter is 86 km and it is about 4.8 km in depth, located in the southern region of the moon. Starting to get more details in the finished photos, this one is starting to show details on the mountains inside the main crater.

Tech Specs: Meade 12” LX90, Celestron CGEM-DX mount, ASI290MC, best 2.5k of 5k frames, AutoStakkert! V3.0.14 (x64), FireCapture v2.5.10 x64 and Registax v6. Software used included Sharpcap v2.9 and AutoStakkert! Alpha Version 2.3.0.21. Photographed on July 4, 2017 from Weatherly, Pennsylvania.

I've imaged M13 in Hercules before. This Globular Cluster is bright enough that it is one of the few Messier objects I was able to track down visually through a small telescope from my suburban yard. This makes it a fat target for astro-imaging. This is "first light" for a new field flattener that enables me to get pretty, round stars all across the image field. Click into the image to confirm that it's working nicely. When you do, take note of the small smudge above and to the left of the cluster -- that's galaxy NGC 6207, 30 millon light years away (compared with M13 just across the street at 22,000 ly).

Tech Stuff: Borg 71FL/Borg 1.08X MultiFlattener/ZWO ASI1600MC cam/IDAS LPS-D2 filter/iOptron CubePro 8200 mount unguided/56 minutes total exposure time using 8 second exposures captured with SharpCap Pro/processed with PixInsight, GIMP and ACDSee. SQM-L reading about 18.7. From my yard 10 miles north of New York City March 27, 2019.

The Sturgeon Moon - Gérgal - 2021-08-24

Captured from my home in Gérgal, Almeria, Spain on the 24th of August 2021.

Weather conditions were cloudy with a lucky break for a few minutes around 1:00 AM to capture the frames.

Best 500 images out of 1,000 images captured.

Camera: ZWO ASI183-MC Pro cooled to -10 C

Telescope: William Optics GT81 385mm f/5.6

Telescope mount: Celestron CGX Equatorial mount.

Capture software: Sharpcap Pro

Processed in Autostakeert, Topaz Labs GigaPixel and Adobe Lightroom

#moon #astrophotography #topaz

NGC 2264 and the associated Cone Nebula are part of a huge nebular complex in Monoceros. This lies about 2,700 light years away. The cone shape (at upper left) is formed by a dark absorption nebula positioned in front of a faint nebula of ionized hydrogen. The entire region is an active site of new star formation.

First attempt at this part of this sky. Found it pretty tricky to process as there is a lot happening here. I will try for more, longer exposures next month.

Image Details:

- Imaging Scope: AstroTelescopes 80mm ED 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: 27x4 mins @ 40 Gain, -10F, Offset 40

- Dark Frames: 25*4 mins

- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker

- Processed in PixInsight, Photomatix Pro HDR and Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop

M13, also known as the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules or NGC 6205, is one of the most prominent globular clusters in the Northern Hemisphere. It contains an estimated 100,000 to 300,000 stars, packed into a region about 145 to 150 light-years in diameter. The cluster’s core is dense, with stars spaced only a few light-days apart, creating a brilliant, concentrated appearance.

M13 has an apparent magnitude of 5.8, making it faintly visible to the naked eye under dark skies and easily observable with binoculars or a small telescope. It appears as a bright, fuzzy ball with a denser core, and larger telescopes can resolve individual stars.

I captured this last week over a couple of nights.

Swipe left for close up

Total Integration: 4 hours 6 mins

Equipment:

#stellarvue SVX102T and Flattener

#zwo ASI533MM, ZWO AM5, EAF, EFW, ASI120 guide cam

#wandererastro Rotator Lite

#williamoptics 50mm Uniguide

#chroma 3nm RGB

Acquisition: NINA, Sharpcap for PA

Stacked in APP, bias, flats, flatdarks, darks

Processed/edited in PI, PS

High Resolution Image:

app.astrobin.com/i/pwu9h9

IG jlratino

FB JL Ratino

A timelapse of the Great Red Spot transiting the face of Jupiter, compressing 4 real hours down to 3 seconds. I deleted moments obscured by clouds, causing the appearance of accelerated movement during the first third of the transit. Ganymede (L) and Io move outwards.

Questar 3.5"/TV 5X PowerMate/QHY 5iii 178/ IR-cut filter/RST 135E mount. Captured with SharpCap; processed with AS4/AstroSurface/PixInsight and PIPP. From my yard in Westchester County, NY.

Taken from Oxfordshire, UK with a William Optics 70mm refractor, Celestron 3x Barlow and ASI120MC camera, when the Moon was a 40% illuminated Waxing Crescent. A 2,000 frame video shot with SharpCap Pro, the best 75% percent were stacked with Autostakkert! 3 then processed in Lightroom and Fast Stone Image Viewer

The large escarpment running across the image is Rupes Altai. It is about 427km long and at its northern end it reaches a height of nearly 1km. The crater at the southern end of Rupes Altai is Piccolomini. The large crater to the upper right of it is Catharina.

Great Globular Cluster in Hercules: M13 (NGC 6205)

Exposure: 38.5 minutes

stacked the best 578 light frames (4s each @ 198 gain) out of 709

+ 5 dark frames

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

Mount: EQ5 with ST4 hand controller (no GoTo)

Reducers: Celestron 0.63x + Svbony 0.50x (@0.74x)

Camera: QHY5III462C Color (@FullHD RAW16)

recording Visible + Near Infrared light (no filters)

Guide: 70/280 Guidescope + QHY5L-II Color Camera

Recording scale: 0.634 arcsec/pixel (plate solved)

Equivalent focal length ≈ 950mm F/4.7

Plate Solving data:

Center (RA, Dec):( 250.412, 36.456)

Center (RA, hms): 16h 41m 38.974s

Center (Dec, dms): +36° 27' 21.953"

Size: 14.4 x 11.2 arcmin

Pixel scale: 0.634 arcsec/pixel

Orientation: Up is -92.7 degrees E of N

Recording: SharpCap 4.0 (Live Stack mode)

Guiding: PHD2 2.6.11

Stacking/Alignment: AstroSurface T3

Final Elaboration/Crop: GIMP 2.10.30

Genova, Italy (29 Apr 2022 - 00:50 GMT+2)

M13 is a great astro target this time of year and I recently posted an image based on a single night's captures. My Questar telescope has a slow focal ratio -- f/16 -- which leads to big differences in images based on the total amount of capture time. In this case you can clearly see the differences in color and detail for 3 hours versus 35 minutes of exposure time. See adjacent image www.flickr.com/photos/124244349@N07/48069056958/in/photos... for comparison.

Tech Stuff: Questar 3.5" telescope at native 1400mm focal length (f/16)/QHY 163 mono camera/guided/8 second exposures captured in SharpCap live stacks/ L 14 min; R 65 min; G 36 min; B 55 min/Processed with PixInsight and AcDSee. Captured over 5 nights in June, 2019 from my yard in Westchester County, NY.

Target:Sun during partial solar eclipse.

Location:10/06/21 @ 11:17 St Helens UK.

Aquisition 160x 0.772mS

Equipment:Altair 60EDF, Skywatcher AZGTi, ZWO ASI120MC, Baader Solar filter.

Software:Sharpcap, Synscan iphone app.

Processing:AutoStakkert, Registax, Affinity Photo

Memories:100% cloud cover but set up anyway and took advantage of a fleeting gap in the clouds.

Managed a single scan of the solar disk during a break in the clouds using my 72ED,Herschel wedge with Sol'Ex SHG, QHY5III 178M and 7nm Ha filter attached to nose of the Sol'Ex. 16x sidereal speed used on CEM60 to force the slit across the Sun whilst recording a 16 bit SER file in Sharpcap. Being a single scan no processing except rotation and flipping to correct orientation and resizing of image.