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Veil Nebula - testing new smaller mount. Scope: TSAPO65Q with TV NVR-1073 0.8X Reducer. Mount: SkyWatcher EQM-35 Pro. Camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro. 5x4 Mins. Captured in SharpCap Pro 3.2. Processed in APP. Finished in Adobe CC.
Object Details: Sunspots (right) AR2740 & (left, on limb) AR2741 as they currently appear from our home's observatory in upstate, NY. Both are larger than the Earth and AR2740 is actually the return of the same region which transited a few weeks ago and has survived fairly intact. (Images of it from the previous rotation, when it was numbered as AR2738, can be found at the following links www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/46738306615/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/40615502103/ ).
Not very active during it's last transit, this one may differ in that although having just rotated into visibility during the last few days, it has already released an M1 class flare. Hopefully it, or AR2741, will become reasonably geo-effective and bring us an auroral display in the near future - stay tuned!
Update May 10, 2019 - Images taken on May 8, 2019 can be found at the attached link - www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/33943442198/
Image Details: Image Details: Taken by Jay Edwards at the HomCav Observatory on May 6, 2019 using a ZWO ASI290MC planetary camera / auto-guider through (left) an an Orion 80mm, f/6 carbon-fiber apochromatic triplet refractor (i.e. an ED80T CF). and (right) an 8-in, f/7 Criterion newtonian reflector. The 8-inch scope used a homemade off-axis Baader material white-light solar filter, while the 80mm was fitted with a full aperture Kendrick white-light filter. These scopes were tracked using a Losmandy G-11 mount running a Gemini 2 control system.
As presented here the images have been processed & cropped slightly colorized for aesthetics, and the entire composite has been resized down to HD resolution.
IC1396 shows on starmaps as a large area of nebulosity in Cepheus, to the north and east of the North America nebula. On the western (right hand) edge can be found the Elephant's Trunk nebula.
Tech Stuff: First light for a combination of a nebula enhancing light pollution filter with a mono camera. Borg 71FL/Baader MPCC corrector/QHY163m/IDAS LPS-V4/Ioptron Cubepro 8200 guided. 20 minutes each of 8 second exposures for L, R, G and B, captured with SharpCap live stacks; processed with PixInsight. Several layers showed a frustrating amount of noise, likely a camera or camera settings issue. Unclear if there was any benefit here to the mono approach versus using the equivalent capture time with a color camera. Imaged from my yard 10 miles north of New York City.
Object Details: Eight numbered sunspots are currently on the Sun's Earth facing side, the most in over 4 years. The attached composite shows how four of the largest appeared last Friday thru both a shorter focal length & a long focal-length scope, albeit with the seeing varying somewhere between terrible & horrible - lol.
At the time, the newest, AR2911, had just became visible on the limb and displayed quite a lot of faculae (i.e. the brighter, hotter areas surrounding the spot), while sunspots AR2907, AR2908 & AR2909 formed a 'chain' over 240,000 miles (nearly 400,000 km) long !
Image Details: Taken as short video clips from which selected frames are stacked and processed, given the camera sensor's crop factor, the 80mm 'full-disk' image is a composite of two fovs while that, and all the 8-inch images, are resized down to approximately half their original size / resolution.
In addition to the Baader white-light solar filters and luminance filters, as can be seen at bottom, I also utilized Methane (CH4), Ultraviolet, & Infrared filters (in place of the lum filter) for additional shots thru the 8-inch newt.
As is often the case in our observatory, the scopes were mounted on and tracked with a Losmandy G-11 running a Gemini 2 control system. Processed using a combination of Registax & Paint Shop Pro, as presented here the entire composite has been resized down to 3x HD resolution.
It should be noted that Spaceweather reported today (Dec. 21) that on December 20th at 11:36 UT sunspot AR2908 released an M1.9-class solar flare which seems to have produced a somewhat Earth-directed Coronal Mass Ejection. Impact from this CME is expected to make a glancing blow of Earth's magnetic field and thus MAY produce minor G1-class geomagnetic activity on December 23rd - stay tuned !
Wishing a Happy Solstice To All !!!
Similar composites using multiple wavelength filters can be found at the links attached below:
Solar:
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/51747214403/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50815383151/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50657578913/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/51027134346/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/51295865404/
Saturn:
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/51489515877/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/51345118465/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/51007634042/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/51316298333/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50347485511/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50088602376/
Jupiter:
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/51405393195/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/51679394534/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/51307264271/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50303645602/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50052655691/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50123276377/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50185470067/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50993968018/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/51090643939/
Mars:
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50425593297/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50594729106/
with a Coronado PST, Celestron 3x Barlow and ASI120MC camera. Video captured with SharpCap. I was dodging cloud trying to capture this! Best 45% of a 4,000 frame video was stacked in Autostakkert! 3 then processed in Lightroom, Photoshop CS2 and Fast Stone Image Viewer. The first step in processing was to remove all colour, then false colour was added back in after processing because I find I get a better result that way.
Located in the constellation of Vulpecula.
M: iOptron EQ45-Pro
T: Celestron Nexstar C8SE
C: ZWO ASI1600MC-Cooled
G: OAG and PHD2
GC: ZWO ASI120mini
RAW16; FITs
Temp: -20 DegC
Gain 200; Exp 60s
Frames: 50 Lights; 4 Darks; 20 flats
80% Crop
Capture: SharpCap
Processed: DSS; PS, Gradient Exterminator.
Sky: Gibbous moon, calm, no cloud, fair seeing.
1,360 light years distant.
Taken on 27 Aug 2017 at 23.22 UTC with ZWO ASI224 MC Camera and Celestron NexStar 6 SE Telescope, using SharpCap.
Processed twice in AS!2, Registax (wavelets) and PS CC. Right is the normal image, left is wavelets sharped. Both enlarged in inset. The sharpened image appears to show cloud bands revolving around its south pole, but it could be telescope/camera artifact.
Uranus is an ice giant and is the 7th major planet from the Sun. Uranus' beautiful cyan colour is due to methane in its atmosphere. The planet often appears uniform, but does occasionally have major convective storms. It also has a faint ring system.
Philips Toucam Pro II 2.5 minutes video (10fps) > SharpCap > PIPP > Registax 6 > Photoshop. Sky-Watcher 150P Explorer Newtonian, 2x Barlow, Baader Neodymium filter.
Muchas nubes y pocos claros, conseguimos capturar 9 segundos de vídeo para al menos sacar adelante esta foto de la Región Activa 2738
Telescopio: Skywatcher Refractor AP 120/900 f7.5 EvoStar ED
Cámara: ZWO ASI178MM
Montura: EQ5 Bresser EXOS2 motorizada sin goto
Filtros: - Baader Neutral Density Filter 1¼" (ND 0.9, T=12.5%)
- Baader Solar Continuum Filter 1¼" (540nm)
Accesorio: Baader 2" Cool-Ceramic Safety Herschel Prism
Software: SharpCap, AutoStakkert, Registax y Photoshop
Fecha: 2019-04-09
Hora: 15:44 T.U.
Lugar: 42.615 N -6.417 W (Bembibre Spain)
Vídeo: 9 segundos
Resolución: 1024 x 768
Gain: 5
Exposure: 0,000032
Frames: 1155
Frames apilados: 8%
FPS: 121
Object Details: As weather allows I continue to follow the progression of the two large sunspots currently visible. To that end, the attached is a composite of images showing the Sun as it appeared two days ago from our home's observatory. At the time these images were taken, AR2741 was moving toward a more potentially geo-effective position, while AR2740 continued to break apart with a light bridge visible between the two largest portions of the umbra.
Note: Although even when not raining here, the transparency & seeing conditions have naturally varied greatly from day to day for those times that I have been able to image these groups during the past month. Although some of the images taken on days of better seeing could have been processed more aggressively to bring out additional detail, I've purposely tried to keep the post-processing fairly similar for all solar images taken during this period. Albeit, this has also somewhat limited the processing's ability to enhance detail to that of the lowest common denominator of atmospheric conditions, I believe it is best from the standpoint of comparison.
Therefore, with the goal of illustrating differences in appearance over time in mind; additional images of these groups over the last few weeks using the same equipment can be found at the following links:
May 6, 2019 - www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/32848846177/
(Note: Having survived an entire rotation around the Sun fairly intact, the following images were taken when AR2740 was visible during the previous rotation, and as is traditional, carried a different designation (i.e. AR2738))
April 16 & 17, 2019 - www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/46738306615/
April 9, 2019 - - www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/40615502103/
Image Details: The images which make up the attached composite were taken by Jay Edwards at the HomCav Observatory on May 8, 2019 using a ZWO ASI290MC planetary camera / auto-guider through (left) an an Orion 80mm, f/6 carbon-fiber apochromatic triplet refractor (i.e. an ED80T CF). and (right) an 8-in, f/7 Criterion newtonian reflector. The 8-inch scope used a homemade off-axis Baader material white-light solar filter, while the 80mm was fitted with a full aperture Kendrick white-light filter. These scopes were tracked using a Losmandy G-11 mount running a Gemini 2 control system.
As presented here the images have been processed & cropped slightly colorized for aesthetics, and the entire composite has been resized down to HD resolution.
Messier 63 - Sunflower Galaxy
Taken 31-03-2019
Equipment:
Skywatcher 150PDS
Celestron Advanced VX Mount
ZWO ASI 183MM-Pro
Baader RGB 1.25'' filters
Baader Neodymium Filter
Touptek Guide Cam
Orion Mini 50mm Guide Scope
Software:
Sharpcap
PHD2
Photoshop CS2
Astrotortilla
Stellarium
Location:
Northern Jutland - Denmark
Exposure:
31 subs (Luminance) 111 Gain
8 minute exposures
64 minutes of each RGB.
Total exposure 7 hours, 20 minutes.
Personally one of my favorite galaxies in the northern sky.
Equipment
Imaging Telescopes Or Lenses
Meade LX65 6" MAK OTA
Imaging Cameras
ZWO ASI224MC
Mounts
Celestron Advanced VX
Filters
SVBony UV/IR Cut
Software
Adobe Photoshop · AstroSharp Ltd SharpCap · Cor Berrevoets et al. Registax · Emil Kraaikamp Autostakkert
Acquisition details
Date: July 19, 2022
Time: 02:37
Frames: 3000
FPS: 80.600
Exposure per frame: 3.11 ms
Focal length: 1800
Resolution: 986x721
File size: 488.3 KB
Locations: Sassari, Sassari, Sardegna, Italy
Data source: Backyard
Object Details: The attached composite shows the Sun as it appeared on May 19, 2021 through two of the scopes in our observatory at my home here in upstate, NY.
As luck would have it, a huge sunspot group (catalogued as AR2824) had just began to transit the visible surface the day prior. Although the seeing was not great, & with high cirrus clouds plaguing our area the transparency left a lot to be desired, I was fortunate to have enough of time to utilize all wavelengths I've been using lately before the Sun was totally clouded over.
As can been seen, at this time AR2824 consisted of a huge single spot, larger in diameter than the Earth, surrounded by a few smaller sunspots and a great deal of faculae (i.e. the brighter and hotter areas surrounding the group - most easily visible when near the limb and very apparent around this group, especially in the UV wavelengths). I was lucky to also be able to capture images the day prior when this group was nearer to the limb, but have yet to process those files.
Image Details: The attached was taken by Jay Edwards at the HomCav Observatory at my home here in upstate, NY on May 19, 2021. The top images were taken with a lum filter, while those at the bottom used infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV) and methane (CH4) filters (all in addition to an over-the-aperture' off-axis home-made Baader material white light solar filter).
The full disk image, utilizing a Canon 700D controlled by APT & a full aperture Kendricks light light filter on an ED80T CF (i.e. an Orion 80mm, f/6 carbon-fiber triplet apochromatic refractor), and a 0.8X Televue field flattener / focal reducer, is meant merely as a reference for location and it is a single frame shot at 1/640 and ISO 100. For additional reference a sample image of the Earth was added to show size comparison to the 8-inch shots.
The 'closeup' 8-inch shots were taken using an ASI290MC 'planetary camera / auto-guider' controlled by SharpCap Pro on a vintage 1970, 8-inch, f/7 Criterion newtonian reflector with the above mentioned homemade, off-axis Baader white-light solar filter. Taken as video clips, each is a stack of best several hundred frames out of approximately a thousand taken for each clip.
Both of these scopes are mounted on and tracked by a Losmandy G-11 running a Gemini 2 control system and the images were processed using a combination of AS3, Registax & PSP. The UV, IR & CH4 images have also been duplicated and having then had their luminance channels extracted, are placed next to their corresponding 'one-shot-color' images.
Processed in a combination of Astrostakkert, Registax & PaintShopPro, as presented here the composite has been resized down to HD resolution and the bit depth lowered to 8 bits per channel.
Descripción:
Telescopios u objetivos:Skywatcher Explorer 200P
Cámaras fotográficas o CCD:ZWO ASI 1600MM-Pro
Monturas:Skywatcher EQ6-R PRO
Telescopios u objetivos de guiado:Starguider 60/240 F4 Guidescope
Cámaras de guiado:ZWO ASI 120 MM Mini
Reductores de focal:Skywatcher 0.9x coma corector
Programas:Sharpcap Pro 3.2 , Photoshop CC , SGPro3 Seqence Generator Pro 3.0 , Pleiades Astrophoto Pixinsight 1.8 PixInsight 1.8.6
Filtros:Optolong H-alpha 7nm 2" , Optolong Oiii-CCD 6.5 nm 2"
Accessory:ZWO EAF
Tomas:
Optolong H-alpha 7nm 2": 121x180" (gain: 139.00) -15C bin 1x1
Optolong Oiii-CCD 6.5 nm 2": 147x180" (gain: 139.00) -20C bin 1x1
Tiempo de integración: 13.4 horas
Darks: ~100
Flats: ~100
Edad lunar media: 25.67 días
Fase lunar media: 16.53%
Escala de Cielo Oscuro de Bortle: 9.00
Temperatura: 21.33
Ubicaciones: Casa, Córdoba Capital, Córdoba, Argentina
Our star today captured with an 80mm APO Refractor at F/6. Artesky Herschel Wedge and ASI290MM. Sharpcap has been used for the capture, then Autostakkert, Registax and PS for the post-processing. Active regions 2778 and 2779 are now very near the limb.
Comet 21P / Giacobini-Zinner currently near Cassiopeia.
Orion Mini Guide Scope
Rising Tech RT224 w/ ZWO IR Cut filter
Skywatcher Star Adventurer
Sharpcap 64 x 8 sec @ 2000 Gain. Later stacked in DSS. DBE in Pixinsight LE and levels/curves in PS.
Telescopi o obiettivi di acquisizione: Orion Mini Guidescope
Camere di acquisizione: SVBONY SV305
Montature: Celestron SLT
Telescopi o obiettivi di guida: Celestron 127/1500 Maksutov-Cassegrain
Software: SharpCap Pro 3.2 Sharcap · photoshop
Date:06 Dicembre 2020
Pose: 19x8"
Integrazione: 0.0 ore
Giorno lunare medio: 20.58 giorni
Fase lunare media: 66.33%
M42 Great Orion Nebula
poor seeing conditions
Integration 90 frames 2h14'
Lights 22x180 (1h06') + 68x60 (1h08')
Darks 10x180 + 20x60
Bias 55x
Flats 55x
GT81
CEM25P
ASI533mc
L-Enhance
ASI224mc guide
PHD2 v2.6.9dev4
Sharpcap 3.2
DSS 4.2.5
GIMP 2.10.20
180 second exposures
===================
[ZWO ASI533MC Pro]
Debayer Preview=On
Pan=0
Tilt=0
Output Format=FITS files (*.fits)
Binning=1
Capture Area=3008x3008
Colour Space=RAW16
Hardware Binning=Off
Turbo USB=100(Auto)
Flip=Both
Frame Rate Limit=Maximum
Gain=101
Exposure=180
Timestamp Frames=Off
White Bal (B)=95
White Bal (R)=52
Brightness=0
Temperature=-10,3
Cooler Power=7
Target Temperature=-15
Cooler=On
Auto Exp Max Gain=300
Auto Exp Max Exp M S=30000
Auto Exp Target Brightness=100
Mono Bin=Off
Banding Threshold=35
Banding Suppression=0
Apply Flat=None
Subtract Dark=None
#Black Point
Display Black Point=0
#MidTone Point
Display MidTone Point=0,5
#White Point
Display White Point=1
Notes=
TimeStamp=2021-02-11T20:33:27.9191892Z
SharpCapVersion=3.2.6433.0
60 second exposures
===================
[ZWO ASI533MC Pro]
Debayer Preview=On
Pan=0
Tilt=0
Output Format=FITS files (*.fits)
Binning=1
Capture Area=3008x3008
Colour Space=RAW16
Hardware Binning=Off
Turbo USB=100(Auto)
Flip=Both
Frame Rate Limit=Maximum
Gain=101
Exposure=60
Timestamp Frames=Off
White Bal (B)=95
White Bal (R)=52
Brightness=0
Temperature=-15
Cooler Power=14
Target Temperature=-15
Cooler=On
Auto Exp Max Gain=300
Auto Exp Max Exp M S=30000
Auto Exp Target Brightness=100
Mono Bin=Off
Banding Threshold=35
Banding Suppression=0
Apply Flat=None
Subtract Dark=None
#Black Point
Display Black Point=0
#MidTone Point
Display MidTone Point=0,5
#White Point
Display White Point=1
Notes=
TimeStamp=2021-02-11T21:43:41.2679641Z
SharpCapVersion=3.2.6433.0
First time using ASI294MC on the Moon. Scope: TSAPO65Q, Mount: SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro, Camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro, Filter: ZWO IR Cut. Best 50 Frames of 27. Shot between clouds and trees. Processed in PIPP, AS!3, Registax and Adobe CC. Captured with SharpCap Pro.
Título de la imagen: Saturno desde Duitama
Equipo usado: Telescopio Celestron EDGE HD 8", cámara QHY183C, barlow 2x, Montura Celestron Advanced VX
Autor: Daniel Espitia
Lugar: Duitama, Boyacá
Procesamiento realizado: Captura con Sharpcap, Debayer en PIPP, selección de mejores frames, apilado y procesado en Registax, procesamiento final en Photoshop.
Fecha: 31/07/2019
NGC 6960 - Western Veil
Here is the Western Veil nebula in HOO. NGC 6960, sometimes called the Witch's Broom is a supernova remnant that make up the larger Cygnus Loop.
I can't believe the colors. I did not edit the colors; these are how they came out once combining the Ha and OIII images. My goal was to get the tip but ended up having to crop some of it.
Total Integration: 9 hours 29 Minutes
Equipment: #skywatcher Evostar 100 ED, Sky-Watcher reducer/flattener for Evostar
#zwo ASI533MM, ZWO AM5, EAF, EFW
#chroma 3nm Ha, OII, Red, Green, Blue Filters
Acquisition: NINA, Sharpcap for PA
Stacked in APP, bias, flats, flatdarks
Processed/edited in PI, very minor editing in PS/LR
High Resolution Image: www.astrobin.com/52041x/
IG: jlratino
I decided to create this collage of 3 of our celestial neighbors, the moon, Jupiter with it's 4 moons, and Mars. All taken with my ZWO planetary cam using Sharpcap through my 6 in telescope
If you look towards the bottom of my pic you can see the Lunar X, which occurs for only a few hours when the moon approaches first quarter. Also the two flat plains at the top of the pic are the Sea of Serenity and the Sea of Tranquility where Apollo 11 landed and Neil Armstrong took his first step onto the moon
Hoping to complete my attempt to image sunspot AR2741 as it traversed the visible surface of the Sun, I was fortunate to catch it between clouds this afternoon as it hung right on the limb prior to losing visibility due to rotation. Therefore, as per the previous images linked below, please find a quick screen shot of how it appears through (upper left) an 80mm apo. & (right) an 8-in., f/7 newt., both using an ASI290MC.
Using a 16mm eyepiece in the 8-inch (yielding ~90x), the view was wonderful, with the light-bridge separating the two segments of the umbra (core) just barely discernible. Hopefully by processing the clip associated with the attached 8-inch screenshot the bridge will be visible in the resulting image.
Although the last several weeks has brought more rainy days than not over the past month, it was well worth the effort to follow this sunspot group as it transited the Sun. I hope others have been able to catch AR2741, or it's cousin the previously transiting AR2740, over the past month. Some of the views were they presented were fabulous!
Additional images taken with the same equipment over the past several weeks can be found at the following links:
May 16, 2019 - www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/40898960503/
May 15, 2019 - www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/33986658228/
May 11, 2019 - www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/47785001622/
May 8, 2019 - www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/33943442198/
May 6, 2019 - www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/32848846177/
April 16 & 17, 2019 - www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/46738306615/
April 9, 2019 - - www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/40615502103/
Image Details: The images which make up the attached composite were taken by Jay Edwards at the HomCav Observatory on May 18, 2019 using a ZWO ASI290MC planetary camera / auto-guider through (left) an an Orion 80mm, f/6 carbon-fiber apochromatic triplet refractor (i.e. an ED80T CF). and (right) a (vintage 1970) 8-in, f/7 Criterion newtonian reflector. The 8-inch scope used a homemade off-axis Baader material white-light solar filter, while the 80mm was fitted with a full aperture Kendrick white-light filter. These scopes were tracked using a Losmandy G-11 mount running a Gemini 2 control system.
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. It is among the star clusters nearest to Earth, it is the nearest Messier object to Earth, and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky.
The cluster is dominated by hot blue and luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Reflection nebulae around the brightest stars were once thought to be left over material from the formation of the cluster, but are now considered likely to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium through which the stars are currently passing.
AT60ED F/3.8, EVO mount on wedge
ASI533MC Pro
300x_8.0s_2400s
Bortle 8 skies
Saved as viewed in Sharpcap + Topaz DeNoise AI
NGC 6914 in HaRGB
NGC 6914 is a reflection nebula located approximately 6,000 light-years away in the constellation of Cygnus.
My first mono image. Learned a lot processing this image.
Total Integration: 14 hours 3 Minutes
Equipment: #skywatcher Evostar 100 ED, Sky-Watcher reducer/flattener for Evostar
#zwo ASI533MM, ZWO AM5, EAF, EFW
#chroma 3nm Red, Green, Blue, Ha Filters
Acquisition: NINA, Sharpcap for PA
Stacked in APP, bias, flats, flatdarks
Processed/edited in PI, very minor editing in PS/LR
High Resolution Image: www.astrobin.com/3ewc9z/
FB JL Ratino
M51 with the Rokinon lens 135mm
Zwo ASI071MC Pro cooled color camera
Had clear skies last night, but windy
Pegasus Power Box and EAF
Zwo IR/cut filter 2"
#SharpCap Pro, PoleMaster
Orion Skyview Pro EQ mount
100 Gain offset 20, 0c cooling,
M51 was 55 minutes, 30 seconds exposure each
50 darks 50 flats and 50 bias frames
Astro Pixel Processor and PS
Plus the moon, Orion 102mm Mak-Cass telescope Zwo 290MC camera AS3 RegiStax6 and PS
M: iOptron EQ45-Pro
T: Celestron C8 SCT
FR: Celestron F6.3 Focal reducer
C: ZWO ASI1600MC
G: No Guiding
Gain: 200; RAW16; FITs
Temp: -15 DegC
Frames: 200 Lights; 0 Darks; 60 flats
Exp: 200 x 20s
70% Crop
Capture: Sharpcap
Processed: DSS; Lightroom Classic; PS.
Focus and Collimation, I know, is not good.
Antares y NGC 6144, WO SpáceCat 51, QHY 183C, 91.5 minutes integration time, SharpCap, DSS, PxI+GIMP.
This was the last imaging session before the Coronavirus lockdown made imaging impossible. This image was taken exactly a week after a previous shot of Venus for what was going to be a sequence of images showing the planet getting bigger, brighter and more crescent-shaped. Although that sequence is now unlikely to happen, I was able to do some very rough calculations to see how much bigger the planet seems as it gets closer. In one week its size appeared to increase by about 4 pixels which translates as 1.25 arcseconds. So when converted to km, Venus was 8,188,482.03 km closer than the previous week and the amount of surface illuminated by the Sun decreased by 3.1% to 59.3%. These figures are, of course, just approximations based on measurements of the final processed image but they are broadly similar to the figures given by Stellarium and Wikipedia.
Captured with SharpCap
Processed in PIPP, AutoStakkert and Registax
Post-processed in Photoshop
Image made from 6,877 stacked video frames out of 11 x 1000 videos:
Gain 100% and 50%
Various exposures from 0.000213 seconds to 0.000667 seconds
Equipment:
Sky-Watcher Explorer-150PDS
Sky-Watcher EQ5 Mount
ZWO ASI120 MC camera
x2 Barlow with extension tube (equivalent to x3.3)
Object Details: With thunderstorms plaguing our area this week, I thought I'd try to process some data I gathered last summer and had not yet examined.
Therefore please find attached a composite consisting of images of Jupiter taken in succession, approximately fifteen minutes apart, on the UT morning of 20th while varying the filter used from Luminance ('natural color'), through Infrared ('pinkish'), to Methane ('purplish').
As can be seen, the appearance of the features in the Jovian atmosphere varies greatly depending on the filter utilized. Although both the seeing and the transparency were far from ideal that evening, by examining the differences in detail when comparing one image of given wavelength with it's counterpart, it's apparent that they both varied quite a bit as well. At the time of this sequence the Jovian moon Europa was visible to the left of the planet, and during the second half of the series it's moon Callisto can be seen re-emerging from behind the planet while the Great Red Spot began to rotate onto the visible side of Jupiter's disk. Throughout the entire time there were also quite a few darker storms visible in the upper (northern) equatorial belt, one of which at first glance resembles a Jovian moon shadow transit - particularly apparent in the luminance image of 01:44 UT.
Image Details: This composite was compiled from a selection, and subsequent stacking & processing, of a few thousand frames from a total of a few tens of thousands of frames shot over a 75 minute period by Jay Edwards on the of August 19, 2020 (UT date Aug. 20, 2020) at the HomCav Observatory. Like some of the previous planetary composites linked below, these were also taken using a (vintage 1970) 8-inch, f/7 Criterion newtonian reflector with a 3X Televue barlow and an ASI290MC 'planetary camera / autoguider'. As usual, the scope was mounted on and tracked with a Losmandy G-11 running a Gemini 2 control system and the camera was controlled by SharpCap Pro.
Since humans tend to see detail in images via the brightness & contrast, as opposed to the color, I have included a version beneath the 'one-shot-color' images which shows just the lightness channel, which has been separated from the Hue & Saturation.
As presented here, the individual shots have been processed using a combination of Reistax & PaintShopPro and have been resized down to approximately 30 percent their original resolution.
I'm looking forward to seeing how the appearance of Jupiter and Saturn may have changed since last year as they return to our Northern hemisphere evening skies over the next few of months.
Wishing clear, dark & calm skies to all !
Similar composites can be found at the links attached here:
Jupiter:
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50303645602/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50052655691/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50123276377/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50185470067/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50993968018/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/51090643939/
Saturn:
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50347485511/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50088602376/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/51007634042/
Mars:
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50425593297/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50594729106/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50069773341/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50223682613/
Solar:
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50815383151/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/50657578913/
www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/51027134346/
Gear:
Imaging Camera: ASI294MM- Pro w/ EAF, EFW
Filters: Astrodon 1.25" 3nm Ha, OIII
Main Scope: Meade LX85 8" SCT @ 1530mm FL f/7.5
Guidescope: Williams Optics 50mm Uniguide
Guidecam: ASI120MM mini
Mount: SW EQ6R Pro
Optec Lepus reducer
-
Image details:
90x300s, Ha, Gain 200, -10c, bin 2x2
50x300s, OIII, Gain 200, -10c, bin 2x2
40x300s, SII, Gain 200, -10c, bin 2x2
20 darks, flats, darkflats
15 hrs total integration
Bortle 5/6 sky
-
Acquisition/Edits:
SharpCap, NINA, PHD2, Stellarium, Pixinsight, Photoshop
First attempt at this. Tricky to capture and process, but a decent result, perhaps (?).
The Flaming Star Nebula, also known as IC 405, is a mixed emission and reflection nebula located in the constellation Auriga. It is situated approximately 1,500 light-years away from Earth and spans around 5 light-years across.
Image Details:
- Imaging Scope: William Optics 61mm Zenithstar II Doublet
- Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI183MC Color
- Guiding System: Celestron Starsense Autoguider
- Filter: ZWO Duo Band (HA & OIII)
- Acquisition Software: Sharpcap
- Guiding Software: Celestron
- Capture Software: SharpCap Pro (LiveStack mode with dithering)
- Light Frames: 40*5 mins
- Dark Frames: 15*7 mins, 10*5 mins
- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
- Processed in PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom, and Topaz Denoise AI
This is a still frame from a 13 second video which you can see here:
Date: 13th June 2014
Camera: QHY5L-II Mono
Image capture type: Still frame capture from a 30 sec video shoot
Prime Focal (2.5X TV Powermate projected replacing eyepiece barrel with TV Powermate T-Ring)
Frames per sec: 30
OTA: Coronado PST
Mount: Nexstar Alt-Az Goto
Filters: Coronado PST
Seeing:
Wind:
Light Pollution:
Capture software: Sharpcap
Post processing: No stacking, just a still frame abstract, only used gamma adjustment in PS5 to increase contrast and effectively rid of some speckles.
Pre-shoot prep: Focus on PST using Laptop Sharpcap
Location: From my Living Room window, Peckham, inner London.
File: Capture 13_06_2014 19_02_59
William Optics Zenithstar 73
Optolong L-Pro broadband filter
ZwoASI2600MC Pro
PHD2 guiding
SharpCap
DeepSkyStacker
Adobe Photoshop CC 2021
36-180 second subs
IC434 Horsehead Nebula
poor seeing conditions
Integration 1h30'
Lights 45x120
Darks 10x
Bias 55x
Flats 55x
GT81
CEM25P
ASI533mc
L-Enhance
ASI224mc guide
PHD2 v2.6.9dev4
Sharpcap 3.2
DSS 4.2.5
GIMP 2.10.20
[ZWO ASI533MC Pro]
Debayer Preview=On
Pan=0
Tilt=0
Output Format=FITS files (*.fits)
Binning=1
Capture Area=3008x3008
Colour Space=RAW16
Hardware Binning=Off
Turbo USB=100(Auto)
Flip=None
Frame Rate Limit=Maximum
Gain=101
Exposure=120
Timestamp Frames=Off
White Bal (B)=95
White Bal (R)=52
Brightness=0
Temperature=-15
Cooler Power=18
Target Temperature=-15
Cooler=On
Auto Exp Max Gain=300
Auto Exp Max Exp M S=30000
Auto Exp Target Brightness=100
Mono Bin=Off
Banding Threshold=35
Banding Suppression=0
Apply Flat=None
Subtract Dark=None
#Black Point
Display Black Point=0
#MidTone Point
Display MidTone Point=0,5
#White Point
Display White Point=1
Notes=
TimeStamp=2021-02-12T21:03:23.9738961Z
SharpCapVersion=3.2.6433.0
Telescope: C9.25'' F6.3
Camera: ToupTek 585MM Pro
Filters: Baader H-alpha 7nm
20 minutes (40 frames of 30secs)
Captured, stacked (+dark frame) with SharpCap, processed with GraXpert
Another Solar session today with the Lunt 50 and QHY5III 178.
Two 100 frame AVI recorded using SharpCap (one for proms,one for solar disk) stacked in Registax and using layers in Photoshop to combine images adding false colour.
Image taken 01/12/17
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.
Solar activity on October 28, 2021 between 10:15 am and 11:00 am UTC
I had been observing the sun for several days, and I had the idea to photograph it for 5 hours, 450,000 photos, 110 GB of data
while processing the photos to make a video, I realized that I had captured a solar flare in the AR2887 area
so i cut my video to target this solar flare which started around 10:24 UTC
Activité solaire du 28 octobre 2021 entre 10h15 et 11h00 UTC
ça faisait plusieurs jours que je surveillais le soleil, et j'ai eu l'idée photographier le soleil pendant 5h, 450000 photos, 110 Go de données
lors du traitement des photos pour en faire une vidéo, je me suis aperçu que j'avais capturé une éruption solaire au niveau de la zone AR2887
j'ai donc coupé ma vidéo pour cibler cette éruption qui a commencé vers 10h24 UTC
matériel :
Lunette solaire : Lunt LS60Ha/BF1200
caméra ZWO224MC avec réducteur de focale Kepler x0,5
Monture : NEQ6 pro Goto
vidéo de 74000 images
pilotage monture avec Skychart (Carte du ciel) via ASCOM
Acquisition avec Sharpcap
traitement : Virtualdub
First light: =first time using the new camera.
ZWO ASI174MM-Cool (mono)
Explore Scientific 80ED on CGEM-DX (Saddle mod to hold Vixen mount)
ProPlanet 742 IR-pass filter
Ambient temperature 15*C Operating temperature 25*C
Cooled to -5*C
Captured with Sharpcap 2.8 stacked in Registax 5.1
[ZWO ASI174MM-Cool]
Pan=568
Tilt=308
Output Format=AVI files (*.avi)
Binning=1
Capture Area=800x600
ColourSpace=MONO8
High Speed Mode=Off
Turbo USB=80
Flip Image=None
Frame Rate Limit=Maximum
Gain=240
Exposure (ms)=0.032762
Timestamp Frames=Off
Brightness=0
Gamma=50
Sensor Temp=-5.5
Cooler Power %=10
Target Temperature=-5
Cooler=On
AutoExpMaxGain=211
AutoExpMaxExp=32
AutoExpMaxBrightness=105
Subtract Dark=None
Display Brightness=1
Display Contrast=1
Display Gamma=1
Gear:
Imaging Camera: ASI1600MM- Pro w/ EAF, EFW
Filters: Astrodon 3nm Ha and 3nm OIII 1.25"
Main Scope: Orion 8" f4 Newt
Guidescope: Williams Optics 50mm Uniguide
Guidecam: ASI120MM mini
Mount: SW EQ6R Pro
Coma Corrector: Skywatcher Quattro
Image details:
90x300s, Ha, Gain 139, -15c, bin 1x1
80x300s, SII, Gain 139, -15c, bin 1x1
25 darks
14 hrs total
Bortle 5/6 sky
Acquisition/Edits:
SharpCap, NINA, PHD2, Stellarium, Pixinsight, Photoshop CC 2020
To complete my attempt to image sunspot AR2471's transit, please find attached the final 80mm & 8-inch composite as I was fortunate to catch it just as it was rotating off.
as per the previous images linked below, please find a quick screen shot of how it appears through (upper left) an 80mm apo. & (right) an 8-in., f/7 newt., both using an ASI290MC.
Using a 16mm eyepiece in the 8-inch (yielding ~90x), the view was wonderful, with the light-bridge separating the two segments of the umbra (core) just barely discernible. Being stacked & purposely highly processed, the cropped from the 8-inch (far right) shows the umbra still split into multiple sections as well as quite a bit of focculi in the are surrounding the sunspot itself.
Although the last several weeks has brought more rainy days than not over the past month, it was well worth the effort to follow this sunspot group as it transited the Sun. I hope others have been able to catch AR2741, or it's cousin the previously transiting AR2740, over the past month. Some of the views were they presented were fabulous!
With the sun now blank (i.e. no sunspots), I need to get back to processing the last deep-sky images I took during the final week of March (which unfortunately was the last time we had the sky conditions which allowed for the imaging of DSOs :( ).
Additional solar images taken with the same equipment over the past several weeks can be found at the following links:
May 16, 2019 - www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/47111272724/
May 15, 2019 - www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/33986658228/
May 11, 2019 - www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/47785001622/
May 8, 2019 - www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/33943442198/
May 6, 2019 - www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/32848846177/
April 16 & 17, 2019 - www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/46738306615/
April 9, 2019 - - www.flickr.com/photos/homcavobservatory/40615502103/
Image Details: The images which make up the attached composite were taken by Jay Edwards at the HomCav Observatory on May 18, 2019 using a ZWO ASI290MC planetary camera / auto-guider through (left) an an Orion 80mm, f/6 carbon-fiber apochromatic triplet refractor (i.e. an ED80T CF). and (right) a (vintage 1970) 8-in, f/7 Criterion newtonian reflector. The 8-inch scope used a homemade off-axis Baader material white-light solar filter, while the 80mm was fitted with a full aperture Kendrick white-light filter. These scopes were tracked using a Losmandy G-11 mount running a Gemini 2 control system.
After imaging the Rosette Nebula, decided to quickly sneak in these two galaxies since it's going to be cloudy the next week or so.
Bortle Scale 7
Equipment
- Explore Scientific ED80CF
- ZWO ASI294MC Pro
- ZWO ASI290MM Mini (for guiding)
- WIlliam Optics 50mm Guidescope
- Telrad RDF
- Skywatcher EQ6 R Pro Mount
- Polemaster
Software
- Sharpcap Pro
- PHD2 Guiding
- Photoshop CC 2019 for post processing
Settings / Exposure Time
- Gain: 400
- Light Frames: 10 @ 180 sec
- Dark Frames: 10 @ 180 sec
- Bias Frames: 10
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.
Another page from observations log
Saturn.
Imaged on June 26th 2020.
Tech details:
1000 frames, 24% gain, 120ms exposure
Equipment:
Scope: Skywatcher 150/750 F5 Newtonian
Mount: NEQ6
Imaging camera: ZWO ASI120MM
Software: SharpCap 3.2, AutoStakkert, Registax, Lightroom, Photoshop
Moon, 95.2% Waxing Gibbous. Lots of high cloud moving over. Scope: Altair 102ED-R with 0.8x Reducer. Mount: SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro. Camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro IR/UV Cut. 200 Frames Captured in SharpCap Pro. Processed in PIPP. Best 35 In AS!3. Wavelets in Registax. Finished in Lightroom CC.
Solar Prominence in Hydrogen Alpha. This is my first ever attempt at Ha solar photography as I just received my Daystar Quark today and of course was itching to try it out. Quite challenging is an understatement. This is a blurry soft mess, but I like to keep track of progress, so I can only do better from here. I'm aperture limited for this level of magnification. Equipment: Daystar Quark (Ha filter), Orion ED 80mm APO, Baadar UV/IR Cutter in diagonal (ERF), recorded with an ASI178MC with SharpCap. Stacked with Autostakkert!2 and processed in CS5.
Taken from Oxfordshire, UK on the evening of 22nd March 2021 during a 62% Waxing Gibbous Moon. Image was taken with a William Optics 70mm refractor, 3x Barlow and ASI120MC camera. The set up was on an EQ5 Pro mount on a permanent pier. I had set up to capture the ISS lunar transit that was visible at 20:08 GMT, and between 18:48 - 18:59 I captured a load more videos.
2,000 frame video was captured using SharpCap, then the best 50% were stacked using Autostakkert! 3. Processing was done in Lightroom and Fast Stone Image Viewer.
.
I'm always blown away by how much detail this little telescope / camera combo can produce when you put a Barlow in the imaging train. There was a fair bit of thin cloud around during this imaging session so I've even more impressed by the images!