View allAll Photos Tagged Sharpcap
Single shot
AR2880 (right), AR2882 (left)
2021-10-06 10:07:25 UT
250mm f4.8 Newtonian
QHY168C
IDAS-D2 filter and black polymer solar film
Exposure 0.9ms
Capture in SharpCap
Processing inPhotoshop
I'm continuing to experiment with streamlined equipment choices and acquired the data for this image with a 55 mm/ 250mm focal length lens, a mono CMOS camera with manual filter wheel and alt-az mount. Filters provide benefits for managing light pollution, but assembling this color image required many manual processing steps, so I expect that I'll want to stick with a color camera for casual observing and outreach, and save the mono for more serious imaging attempts (which this was not).
Tech stuff: Borg 55FL lens on QHY163 mono camera on Ioptron CubePro in Alt-Az mode.
Broadband (Televue Nebustar) 64 x 5 seconds;
HA 71 X 10 seconds
OIII 325 X 3 seconds
Stacked live in Sharpcap, assembled and processed with PixInsight
IC405 Flaming Star. Framing could be better. Needs more data. Scope: TSAPO65Q. Mount: SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro. Camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro. Guiding: Altair GPCAMv2 130M with Orion 50mm. 9x3 Mins Captured in SharpCap Pro. Processed in APP. Finished in Adobe CC.
Riprese effettuate il 5/7/12/13 Giugno 2024 da Ariccia Provincia di Roma
Zenith sky brightness info (2015)
SQM 19.20 mag./arc sec2
Brightness 2.25 mcd/m2
Artif. bright. 2080 μcd/m2
Ratio 12.2
Bortle class 6
Elevation 302 meters
Luna : da Mezzaluna calante a Primo quarto
Magnitudine visuale: da -5.6 a -11.2
Dimensione: da 0° 32' 35.0" a 0° 29' 54.8"
Illuminazione: da 1.7% a 55.2%
Età: da 28.4 giorni a 7.8 giorni
Dati di scatto, Strumentazione e Software:
Telescopio : Tecnosky LUX60 60mm 360mm F/6 APO FPL53 doppietto
Fotocamera : ZWO ASI 2600MC
Montatura : Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro
Autoguida : ASI 120MMini & Svbony SV165 30mm 120mm F/4
Luci : 148x600s @100 Guadagno, -5°C, 40 Dark, 40 Flat
Acquisizione : SharpCap
Guida : PHD2
Filtri : IDAS NGS1
Elaborazione : SharpCap, Siril, GraXpert, Starnet++, Photoshop CC, NoiseXterminator
Autore: Carlo Mollicone
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NGC7023 / LBN487 (talvolta nota come Nebulosa Iris o con la sigla C4 "Caldwell 4") è una nebulosa diffusa visibile nella costellazione boreale di Cefeo a 1300 anni luce dalla Terra.
All'interno vediamo una calda stella neonata, HD2000775, di 10 masse solari che emerge da un'enorme nube di polvere.
I suoi venti solari hanno ripulito una zona bilobata circostante che misura 5x2,5 anni luce.
La polvere circostante disperde la luce visibile della stella, proprio come la nostra atmosfera disperde la luce solare nel cielo, rendendo la nebulosa blu.
Nei filamenti sopra la stella, la polvere converte la luce ultravioletta invisibile in luce rossa visibile mediante la fotoluminescenza.
La nebulosa blu è circondata da scure nubi di polvere che la oscurano.
Anche se la nebulosa Iris viene spesso chiamata NGC7023, questo non è del tutto corretto.
NGC 7023 si riferisce all'ammasso stellare aperto associato a ovest.
La designazione corretta per la nebulosa stessa è LBN487.
La nube di polvere che circonda la nebulosa è LDN1174.
Storia delle osservazioni
Storicamente c'è stata una certa confusione sulla natura dell'oggetto; William Herschel, il suo scopritore, affermò correttamente che si trattava di un oggetto nebuloso che circondava una stella di settima grandezza, come pure la prima edizione del New General Catalogue che lo catalogò appunto col numero 7023.
La confusione probabilmente iniziò quando Per Collinder, famoso per aver compilato il suo catalogo di ammassi aperti, lo scambiò con uno di questi, inserendolo nel suo catalogo con la sigla Cr 429.
L'errore fu poi ripreso in seguito, al punto che persino il database SIMBAD lo riporta solo come un ammasso aperto.
In realtà l'ammasso si trova all'interno della nebulosa.
Altri oggetti:
The Ghost Nebula vdB141 (nota anche come Sh2-136) è una nebulosa a riflessione nella costellazione di Cefeo.
Si individua nella parte occidentale della costellazione, circa un grado a est della celebre nebulosa NGC7023.
Il periodo più indicato per la sua osservazione nel cielo serale ricade fra i mesi di luglio e dicembre ed è notevolmente facilitata per osservatori posti nelle regioni dell'emisfero boreale terrestre, dove si presenta circumpolare fino alle regioni temperate calde.
Si tratta di un globulo di Bok isolato, situato nel grande sistema nebuloso oscuro che maschera la luce della Via Lattea in direzione della costellazione di Cefeo.
La sua distanza è pari a circa 450parsec (circa 1470anni luce).
Il globulo centrale è noto con la sigla CB230, esso ospita la sorgente di radiazione infrarossa IRAS 21169+6804, associata a un oggetto stellare giovane posto al centro di un getto bipolare.
Assieme a una vicina sorgente visibile nel vicino infrarosso formano una coppia di protostelle che potrebbero costituire un sistema binario. Il getto è orientato in senso nord-sud e ha una lunghezza complessiva di circa 0,06anni luce.
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Approfondimento: Le nebulose oscure
Le nebulose oscure sono nubi interstellari che contengono un'alta concentrazione di polvere.
Hanno masse che arrivano anche al milione di masse solari, e si estendono per centinaia di anni luce.
Se il Sistema Solare fosse all’interno di una nebulosa oscura, occuperebbe meno di un centesimo delle sue dimensioni.
Le nebulose oscure sono per lo più composte da carbonio e idrogeno molecolare, cioè una particolare molecola costituita da 2 atomi di idrogeno che condividono gli elettroni.
In quantità minori contengono anche molecole di acqua, ammoniaca, alcool etilico, e persino zucchero e aminoacidi.
La densità di queste molecole è molto alta rispetto allo spazio interstellare vuoto: si va dalle 100 alle 300 molecole per centimetro cubo.
Le nebulose oscure sono anche ambienti gelidi, in cui la temperatura va dai -170°C ai -260°C, temperature prossime allo 0 assoluto che è di -273°C.
Ma come facciamo a vederle? e perché sono così scure e così fredde?
Le nebulose oscure si presentano a noi grazie a tre scenari.
1 - Il più frequente, e forse meno spettacolare, è quello in cui la nebulosa oscura si staglia tra noi e un campo stellare di fondo.
2 - Un altro scenario è quello in cui la nebulosa oscura si trova tra noi e una luminosa nebulosa ad emissione, filtrando quindi una parte della luce proveniente dalla nebulosa retrostante.
3 - L'ultimo scenario è quello in cui la nebulosa oscura si trova all'interno di una nebulosa ad emissione. Spesso in questi casi parte della nebulosa luminosa ha iniziato ad addensarsi più delle zone circostanti filtrando la luce. La fase successiva a questo fenomeno è l'inizio della formazione stellare.
Le nebulose oscure appaiono così nere a causa delle particelle di polvere che le compongono.
Queste particelle hanno all’incirca le dimensioni di un micrometro: un millesimo di millimetro.
Sono grandi come le polveri sottili che costituiscono il temuto PM10 nei centri cittadini. Un capello umano è largo circa 70 volte una di queste particelle.
Ma soprattutto queste particelle sono ricoperte da monossido di carbonio congelato: lo stesso gas che esce dalle nostre autovetture, e che quando è particolarmente denso rilascia una maleodorante nuvola scura.
Queste condizioni, protratte per anni luce, filtrano la luce delle stelle che hanno intorno.
E ora veniamo alla temperatura.
Abbiamo detto poco fa che le particelle che popolano le nebulose oscure bloccano la luce delle stelle che ci sono intorno.
In realtà non bloccano solo la luce visibile ma tutte le radiazioni dello spettro elettromagnetico, eccetto una parte degli infrarossi.
All'interno di una nebulosa oscura penetra meno di un millesimo della radiazione stellare rispetto allo spazio interstellare, e l'unica forma di riscaldamento è fornita dai raggi cosmici.
Ecco quindi che ai margini più esterni delle nebulose la temperatura resiste ancora intorno ai -170°, ma spingendosi più verso il centro, dove le radiazioni sono sempre più minime, la temperatura arriva quasi allo zero assoluto.
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#astrofotografia #astrophotography #zwo #deepsky #deepspace #universetoday #nebulae #nightsky #astronomy #astrophoto #nightphotography #longexposure #cosmos #space #universe #sky #dark #stars #stargazing
astrofotografia astrophotography zwo deepsky deepspace universetoday nebulae nightsky astronomy astrophoto nightphotography longexposure cosmos space universe sky dark stars stargazing
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The bright double star is 88 Tauri. The comet is not visible by naked eye or binoculars from my yard in the light polluted NYC suburbs.
Borg 55FL/ZWO ASI 1600MC/IDAS LPS-V4. 22 X 3 minute stacks of 4 second exposures collected in Sharpcap, showing 66 minutes of travel. Processed in PixInsightt, PIPP, and ACDSee Luxea. From my yard in Yonkers, NY.
Better seeing than my effort from the day before so this shows some hints of cloud detail. Celestron NexStar 6SE, ZWO asi224mc, Zwo ADC and Tele Vue 2.5x Powermate. Captured in SharpCap.
Taken on 25 July 2017 at 22.51 BST, on a rare clear night, with NexImage 5MP Camera, connected to Celestron NexStar 6 SE Telescope, using SharpCap. I think this is my best Saturn picture so far! :)
Transparency (4/5)
Seeing (3/5)
Exposure 40 X 1.5 sec-ish
C9.25 EDGEHD (F=2350mm)
ZWO120MC
SharpCap
Winjupos
AutoStakkert
PixInsight
Veil Nebula
Eastern Vail (NGC6992)
Pickering Triangle
Witches Broom (NGC6960)
ISO1600
31x245 sec (2h06'35")
16 light
32 bias
12 dark
33 flat
GT81
CEM25P
Nikon Z6
L-Enhance
asi224mc guide
PHD2 2.6.9
Sharpcap polar alignment 3.2
Digicamcontrol 2.1.2.0
DSS 4.2.5
GIMP 2.10.20
2021-08-25-1212_8__pipp_lapl4_ap58_Drizzle15_convRS3 PS3
12" skywatcher dob, 5x Tele Vue Powermate, ZWO224mc, SharpCap, Pipp, AS3
24 Jun 2025, 0240 UT; Spotsylvania, Virginia USA. Bortle 4.5 zone.
Celestron C8 SCT at f/7.2. Orion Atlas AZ/EQ-G mount. QHY294M Pro mono camera, bin 2x2, exposure 16.2s, gain 1750, stack of 305 frames, no filter, no guiding, no calibration frames, sensor -10°C. Captured in Sharpcap Pro. Processed in PixInsight. Image scale: 1.3 arcsec/pixel. SkyCal used to refine focus.
Clouds: clear
Transparency (AL): 5
Seeing (AL): G
Moon illuminated 3%, age 28 days
Description:
Apparent magnitude 7.9
Apparent size 29x27'
Type SAB(rs)cd HII
from Wikipedia
The Pinwheel Galaxy (also known as Messier 101, M101 or NGC 5457) is a face-on, counterclockwise intermediate spiral galaxy located 21 million light-years (6.4 megaparsecs) from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781 and was communicated that year to Charles Messier, who verified its position for inclusion in the Messier Catalogue as one of its final entries.
On February 28, 2006, NASA and the European Space Agency released a very detailed image of the Pinwheel Galaxy, which was the largest and most detailed image of a galaxy by Hubble Space Telescope at the time. The image was composed of 51 individual exposures, plus some extra ground-based photos.
Pierre Méchain described it as a "nebula without star, very obscure and pretty large, 6' to 7' in diameter, between the left hand of Bootes and the tail of the great Bear. It is difficult to distinguish when one illuminates the [grating] wires."
William Herschel wrote in 1784 that the galaxy was one of several which "...in my 7-, 10-, and 20-feet [focal length] reflectors shewed a mottled kind of nebulosity, which I shall call resolvable; so that I expect my present telescope will, perhaps, render the stars visible of which I suppose them to be composed."
Lord Rosse observed the galaxy in his 72-inch-diameter Newtonian reflector during the second half of the 19th century. He was the first to make extensive note of the spiral structure and made several sketches.
Though the galaxy can be detected with binoculars or a small telescope, to observe the spiral structure in a telescope without a camera requires a fairly large instrument, very dark skies, and a low-power eyepiece.
M101 is a large galaxy, with a diameter of 252,000 light-years. By comparison, the Milky Way has a diameter of 87,400 light-years. It has around a trillion stars. It has a disk mass on the order of 100 billion solar masses, along with a small central bulge of about 3 billion solar masses. Its characteristics can be compared to those of Andromeda Galaxy.
M101 has a high population of H II regions, many of which are very large and bright. H II regions usually accompany the enormous clouds of high density molecular hydrogen gas contracting under their own gravitational force where stars form. H II regions are ionized by large numbers of extremely bright and hot young stars; those in M101 are capable of creating hot superbubbles. In a 1990 study, 1,264 H II regions were cataloged in the galaxy. Three are prominent enough to receive New General Catalogue numbers—NGC 5461, NGC 5462, and NGC 5471.
M101 is asymmetrical due to the tidal forces from interactions with its companion galaxies. These gravitational interactions compress interstellar hydrogen gas, which then triggers strong star formation activity in M101's spiral arms that can be detected in ultraviolet images.
In 2001, the X-ray source P98, located in M101, was identified as an ultra-luminous X-ray source—a source more powerful than any single star but less powerful than a whole galaxy—using the Chandra X-ray Observatory. It received the designation M101 ULX-1. In 2005, Hubble and XMM-Newton observations showed the presence of an optical counterpart, strongly indicating that M101 ULX-1 is an X-ray binary. Further observations showed that the system deviated from expected models—the black hole is just 20 to 30 solar masses, and consumes material (including captured stellar wind) at a higher rate than theory suggests.
It is estimated that M101 has about 150 globular clusters, the same as the number of the Milky Way's globular clusters.
M101 has six prominent companion galaxies: NGC 5204, NGC 5474, NGC 5477, NGC 5585, UGC 8837 and UGC 9405. As stated above, the gravitational interaction between it and its satellites may have spawned its grand design pattern. The galaxy has probably distorted the second-listed companion. The list comprises most or all of the M101 Group.
Six supernovae have been recorded in M101:
-SN 1909A (type unknown, mag. 10) was discovered by Max Wolf on 21 February 1909.
-SN 1951H (type unknown, mag. 17.5) was discovered by Milton Humason on a photographic plate taken on 3 February 1951. Analysis of the light curve suggested that the supernova was probably of type II, with maximum magnitude of 11 to 12 occurring around October 1950.
-SN 1970G (type II, mag. 11.5) was discovered by Miklós Lovas on 30 July 1970.
-SN 2011fe (type Ia, mag. 17.2) was discovered by the Palomar Transient Factory on 24 August 2011. Initially designated PTF 11kly, it reached visual magnitude 9.9 at its peak, making it the brightest supernova of 2011.
-M101 OT2015-1, a luminous red nova, was discovered by Dumitru Ciprian Vîntdevară on 10 February 2015.
-SN 2023ixf (type II, mag. 14.9) was discovered by Kōichi Itagaki on 19 May 2023, and immediately classified as a Type II supernova.
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:19 Gennaio 2021
Pose: 84x15"
Integrazione: 0.3 ore
Giorno lunare medio: 6.15 giorni
Fase lunare media: 36.99%
Very ordinary seeing conditions (2/5) and gusty winds meant I should have stayed inside instead of trying to image this. Still, not a bad effort.
ZWO ASI120MC camera, Celestron C8, 2x barlow, Celestron CGEM mount.
41 frames per second and about 1400 frames captured in SharpCap. STacked in AutoStakkert with mild tweaks in Lightroom.
At 15:32 GMT on 10th December, the International Space Station transited the 46% Waxing Crescent Moon. Most of the transit was across the shadow side of the Moon so it can't really be distinguished from the background sky! Given the windy conditions. lots of cloud, the Moon was still quite low above the houses and the fact it was a daytime event I'm pleased to have caught anything at all!
Taken with a William Optics 70mm refractor and ASI120MC. Video was captured in SharpCap. The video was debayered using PIPP then I used Movie Maker to show the real-time speed twice, then at half speed, then at a quarter speed.
There is a VLOG all about this event over on my You Tube channel which you can view here:
Messier 57, the Ring Nebula, is a planetary nebula formed by a exploded shell of gas from a dying star before the star begins its turning into a white dwarf star. An average star is roughly the size of our sun. Our sun is roughly one million times the size of the earth. When a star runs out of the hydrogen gas fuel that powers its nuclear reactions, its matter compresses toward its center driven by its intense gravity. It compresses down to a size about one millionth of its previous dimensions, or about the size of our earth. As it does so, its matter loses their electrons and greatly increases in density. Matter that would normally fit into a teaspoon, and weigh an ounce or two, would then weigh as much as several tons. In this image, the tiny star at the center of the Ring Nebula is the white dwarf remnant core of the explosion.
This image was taken on the Ritchey-Chretien 6 inch telescope with a Canon T7i DSLR attached at the prime focus. Guiding was through a SkyWatcher 50ED Evoguide refractor (Aperture: 50mm) with an ASI183MC camera and PHD2 auto-guiding software. The mount was a SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro. Exposures were 6 x 240s at ISO 800. Polar alignment was with SharpCap Pro.
Celestron NexStar 6SE, ZWO asi224mc with IR cut filter, 2.5x TeleVue Powermate and ZWO ADC. 2 minute video Captured in SharpCap, processed in PIPP, AutoStakkert, RegiStax Wavelets then Lightroom.
Aquí os comparto mi segundo intento con Saturno.
Me gustaría decir que es la 6ª roca desde el Sol, pero Saturno es un planeta gaseoso...
Hace unas noches intenté captar este precioso planeta con mi telescopio Bresser Maksutov 150, pero me fue imposible encontrarlo, a pesar de los 1900mm de focal del telescopio, y de que es el segundo planeta en tamaño del sistema solar (obviamente el tamaño aparente es minúsculo y a simple vista parece una estrella más del firmamento estas noches de verano).
El 25 de agosto volví a intentarlo, porque la astrofotografía es un poco para cabezotas, hay muchas noches de errores, pero hay que perseverar...
En esta seguna ocasión pude centrar mi telescopio, no sin esfuerzo, en este planeta.
Para obtener esta foto usé una cámara planetaria, la QHY5 462C, con un filtro UV/IR Cut, y tomé varios vídeos.
Tras ello, los procesé con varios programas específicos para planetaria: PIPP, Autostakkert, Registax, y Winjupos (en ese orden(, para obtener la imagen final que se ve aquí.
Como siempre usé mi montura Explore Scientific EXOS2 PMC8 wifi, y el soft de captura Sharpcap, para tomar los vídeos.
Espero que os guste.
Saludos.
P.D. La próxima vez intentaré usar una lente Barlow para captar más detalle, aunque el cielo contaminado de El Altet es un obstáculo.
Genova, Italy (12 Aug 2021 - 02:03 GMT+2)
Orange vintage C8 (203 F10 SC Telescope) on EQ5 Mount
QHY5L-II Color Camera @ F25 (Barlow APO 2.5x)
Recording: SharpCap 4.0 (640x480 @ 38fps - 2min)
Best 3686 frames of 4607 (80%)
Stacking+Wavelets: AstroSurface REDSHIFT-1
Final: GIMP 2.10.8
The Crescent Nebula is one of the great features to be found in the constellation Cygnus this time of year. Here I have used my Borg 71FL lens and an IDAS light pollution filter designed to emphasize the H-alpha and O3 wavelengths in one go-round.
Tech Stuff: Borg 71FL at native 400mm focal length; IDAS LPS-V4 filter; Baader MPCC; ZWO ASI1600MC; 97 minutes of 12 second exposures stacked live in SharpCap Pro; iOptron CubePro 8200 mount guided with PHD; Processed with PixInsight. Imaged from my yard 10 miles north of New York City.
Nébuleuse du sorcier NGC 7380.
Zwo ASI224 MC + Leica-R Apo-Telyt 180mm f3.4 (@f4) adapted through DIY 3D printed adapter.
Dual narrowband with Optolong l-Enhance filter in bortle 7 area.
Post-processed with Gimp and Lightroom.
140 x 15 sec light pictures (total time 2100 sec) stacked wth Sharpcap.
The Moon, about 3 days before full moon (Colongitude 61°).
Object: Moon
Colongitude: ~61°
Optics: Celestron 9.25 F10
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ6-R
Camera: ZWO ASI 183MM Pro @-20°C
Filter: ZWO EFW 7x36mm, ZWO 36mm Filters
Panels: 7
Exposure: R 10% of 400 Frames
Date: 2018-10-21 21:50:00Z
Location: Schwaig
Capture: SharpCap 3.1
Image Acquisition: Stephan Schurig
Image Processing: Stephan Schurig
AutoStakkert 3.0.14: Analysis, Stack
Photoshop 20.0.0: Unsharp Masking, Smart Sharpen w. Denoise, HighPass Sharpening, Color Balance
First attempt at this object. Several hours of data here taken during a very cold, clear evening. I guess the monkey is looking up to the upper right here. Okay then...
NGC 2174 is an H II emission nebula located in the constellation Orion and is associated with the open star cluster NGC 2175. It is thought to be located about 6,400 light-years away from Earth.
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: Set One: 10x5 mins @ 250 Gain, Temp -30C. Set Two: 40x2 mins @ 250 Gain, Temp -30C
- Dark Frames: 10*5 mins, 40x2 mins
- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
- Processed in PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom and Topaz Denoise AI
Questar 3.5" / TV 5X PowerMate/ QHY 5iii178 color cam
Captured with SharpCap planetary tracking and livestacking, processed with AstroSurface and PixInsight.
For reference the calculated focal length is 5900 mm, a tad less than the native 1400mm X 5x (scope focal length and PowerMate factor varies with camera position).
Taken with 400mm Canon lens, ASI2600MC camera. Consist of 83 x 3 minutes exposures (4hrs 9m total) live stacked in SharpCap Pro.
Technical data:
Celestron 114/900 Newton
camera QHY5L-II-C
filter Uv -Ir cut
Sharpcap, Autostakkert 3, Registax 5.1
Autostitch, Camera raw, Adobe
Photoshop
Date: 2021 December 16
Location: Cabras, Italy
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 25% were stacked with Autostakkert! 3 then processed in Lightroom and Fast Stone Image Viewer
Only 1.8% of the named lunar craters are named after women, but this segment of the Moon shows two of them.
Hypatia was born sometime around 350 - 370 BC, and she was a very well respected mathematician and astronomer from Egypt who taught philosophy and astronomy at her father's school. She became a martyr for philosophy following her murder.
St. Catharina was a Christian martyr. However, what's interesting is that Catharina was a legendary figure who is thought to have been based on Hypatia, so technically Hypatia has two craters named after her. I find it funny that the mythical figure got the larger of the two craters!
During the total phase of the lunar eclipse on May 15-16, 2022, part of the Moon's Northern Hemisphere intersected the ecliptic, therefore falling very close to the center of the shadow cast by the Earth.
In the above images, the darkest part of our planet's shadow is seen moving from the northwest to the northeast regions of the lunar disk, as the Moon crossed the the path of totality, where no direct sunlight can reach it.
Each image is the result of the stacking of video segments of about 100 frames, comprising 80-120 seconds each, representing different moments of the past lunar eclipse, highlighting the dynamic nature of that particular stage.
The field of view provided by the combination of the camera and the telescope with the attached accessory enabled an optimal use of the sensor dimensions and resolution.
The recordings were made possible due to the collaboration of my friend Romualdo Caldas.
Equipment:
Telescope: Skywatcher 80ED Apochromatic Refractor
Accessory: Televue Powermate 2x
Mount: Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro
Camera: QHY183C
Software:
Capture: SharpCap
Trimming: PIPP
Stacking: Autostakkert!
Processing: Photoshop
Video editing: VSDC
The western edge of the Veil Nebula supernova remnant in Cygnus is known as the Witch's Broom. Its Hydrogen and Oxygen regions are entwined in a lacy red, white and blue structure which flies high in the summer night sky.
Tech Stuff: Borg 71FL at native 400mm focal length; IDAS LPS-V4 filter; Baader MPCC; ZWO ASI1600MC; 99 minutes of 12 second exposures stacked live in SharpCap Pro; iOptron CubePro 8200 mount guided with PHD; Processed with PixInsight. Imaged from my yard 10 miles north of New York City.
Skywatcher 200p on NEQ6 mount. ASI294MC Pro camera. Optolong CLS-CCD filter.
Approximately 2000 0.75ms images at gain 121 and sensor temperature -20C. Recorded as a .ser video and the best 50% of the images used by Registax to align and stack.
30th October 2020
Test image using the new ZWO Duo Band Filter of the Sword of Orion Region. this is in HA and OIII. Getting decent data. There's a lot of "stuff" in this image, so it's hard to tell if the filter is picking up extra dust and gas or if I have some sort of issue. Now I need to learn how to process these (splitting channels etc.) and merge with RGB...
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*5 mins @ 100 Gain, Temp -20C
- Dark Frames: 12*5 mins
- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
- Processed in PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom, Photmatix Pro HDR and Topaz Denoise AI
m31_core-252x8-g2098-imx224-85f5_6
I was playing around here and wanted to see how much of M31 I could pick up in under 35 minutes.
Technical:
252x8 sec @ 2098 Gain (100-5000 range.)
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.
Leo Triplet (M65, M66, NGC 3628) - A cosmic sad face!
5/4/21 and 6/4/21
A triplet of gravitationally bound galaxies approximately 35 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo
Equipment:
- Skywatcher HEQ5-pro (Rowan Belt Mod)
- Canon 800d (modded)
- Explore Scientific ED APO 102mm F7 FCD-100 Triplet Carbon Fibre
- Hotech SCA 1x field flattener
- ZWO ASI-120MM-mini guide camera
- Skywatcher Evoguide 50ED guidescope
- 2 inch mounted Optolong L-Pro
Acquisition:
- Sharpcap polar alignment, ASCOM guiding/dithering with PHD2
- APT image acquisition
- Lights - 67 x 300s ISO400 (5 hours 35 minutes)
- Darks – 25 + 25
- Bias - 30 + 30
- Flats - 30 + 30
Instagram @paradoxctor and @inourcosmos
I have previously imaged this emission/reflection nebula, which like the Rosette shows a circular red region around a cluster of young, hot stars. I had doubts however regarding capturing the dark nebula (Barnard 168) that forms a tail leading off to the west. I generally prefer using a color camera for simplicity but in this case tried a mono astrocam with LRGB filters, which successfully revealed the tail. Conditions in my yard were as good as they get, with my SQM-L meter reading 18.6 to 19.1 during the course of the evening -- still Red Zone (or typical light polluted suburb).
Tech Stuff: Borg 71FL at native 400mm focal length; IDAS LPS-D2 filter; Baader MPCC; QHY163M; 80 minutes of 8 second exposures (20 min each of L, R, G, B) stacked live in SharpCap Pro; iOptron CubePro 8200 mount guided with PHD2; Processed with PixInsight. Imaged from my yard 10 miles north of New York City.
Feb 2, 2020. 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.
I tracked the comet for 2 hours on Feb 1. I could not see it visually, but the camera revealed the comet moving swiftly against the background stars and clouds. Here I have assembled the 90 frames as a 5 second timelapse.
Borg 55FL/ZWOASI1600MC/IDAS LPS-V4/ 90 X 1 minute stacks of 4 second exposures using SharpCap. Processed with PixInsight, PIPP, and ACDSee Luxea. From my yard in Yonkers, NY.
Third attempt at this. Better than the last, but a long way to go. I couldn't tell if there was some high-level cloud in the area, which would have affected quality.
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: 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*5 mins @ 100 Gain, Temp -10C
- Dark Frames: 20*3 mins
- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
- Processed in PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom and Topaz Denoise
M13 is one of the brighter and more prominent Messier objects, found in the constellation Hercules. The cluster includes hundreds of thousands of stars about 22,000 ly from earth. It's a good target for trying new equipment combinations. Here I've tried guided imaging again with my Questar and a mono astrocam. I usually recommend that people try imaging with a color camera because the improvement in image quality that can be achieved with mono imaging comes at the expense of greater capture and processing complexity. Indeed, in this case the target dropped into the trees before I could capture any data with the blue filter, so the colors here may be a bit off from a fully successful imaging session.
Tech Stuff: Questar 3.5" telescope at native 1400mm focal length (f/16)/QHY 163 mono/guided/8 second exposures captured in SharpCap live stacks/ L 14 min; R 14 min; G 7 min/G used in both green and blue channels/Processed with PixInsight and GIMP. From my yard in Westchester County, NY.
Strong winds and way too much cloud made imaging a rare transit of Mercury a challenge but then this is November so we were lucky to capture anything at all. I hadn’t fully appreciated until now just how low the Sun is in the sky at this latitude in early November. The window of opportunity to get a shot was short as the transit started around 12:35 and the Sun set behind houses at around 15:30 after ducking behind chimney pots and trees. After constant, cloud-induced pauses we managed only to get about 3 minutes of video but that was enough to capture Mercury crossing the photosphere of the Sun. We measured Mercury's diameter to be 4802.06 km from a distance of 101.096 million km which is not far off the 4880 km stated in Wikipedia.
377 x frames of video
Exposure - 0.012499 secs
Sensor temperature - 9.5 °C (uncooled)
Gain - 50%
No calibration frames
Captured with SharpCap Pro
Processed in PIPP, Registax and Photoshop
Equipment:
Telescope: Celestron NexStar 127 SLT
Mount: Skywatcher EQ5
Camera: ZWO ASI 120MC
Filters: Baader Solar Filter,
Orange filter (for purely aesthetical reasons)
Celestron NexStar 6SE, ZWO asi224mc with IR cut filter, 2.5x TeleVue Powermate and ZWO ADC. 3 minute video Captured in SharpCap, processed in PIPP, AutoStakkert, RegiStax Wavelets then Lightroom.
NGC 7822
Canon 200mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8
ASI 1600MM-C -20C gain 139
ZWO filters
4 minutes
51x Ha
Sharpcap
Sequence Generator Pro
Cartes Du Ciel
Pixinsight 1.8
Horsehead and Flame Nebulae in HOO
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Gear:
Imaging Camera: ASI294MM-Pro
Filters: Astrodon 1.25" 3nm Ha
Main Scope: Orion 8" f4 Newt
Guidescope: Williams Optics 50mm Uniguide
Guidecam: ASI120MM mini
Mount: SW EQ6R-Pro
ZWO EAF, EFW
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Image Details:
HA-140x180s, gain 120, bin 2x2, -10c
OIII-130x180s, gain 120, bin 2x2, -10c
13.5 hrs total integration
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Location: Parker, CO, USA
Bortle 5/6 sky
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Acquisition/Edits:
SharpCap, NINA, PHD2, Stellarium, Pixinsight, Photoshop CC
Waxing Gibbous Moon at 58%. 200 frames captured using a ZWO ASI071 camera attached to an Altair Wave 115ED scope. Captured using SharpCap Pro and edited using Autostakkert2, Registax6 and Photoshop CC.
Saturn about 3 weeks after reaching opposition (August 1-2). We were hoping to catch it closer to opposition but August 24th was the best we could manage. However, it still appears big and bright in our skies at the moment. Because of Saturn's fast rotation (10.6 hrs), there is a limit of about 2 minutes to get a shot without risking a blurring of details. I exceeded this limit by some margin, trading slight smearing of barely perceptible detail for increased exposure and signal strength. 7,098 frames from 4 videos taken in close succession were stacked to make this image. This was in order to get as much exposure and signal strength as possible in the stack and was worth doing as any blurring seemed negligible.
Captured with SharpCap
Processed in PIPP and AutoStakkert
Post-processed in Photoshop
Image made from 7,098 stacked video frames (75% quality and above)
Average Gain - 67.5%
Average Exposure - 0.067015 seconds
Total integration - 7 minutes 51 seconds
Equipment:
Telescope: Sky-Watcher Explorer-150PDS
Mount: Skywatcher EQ5
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI120 MC
x2 Barlow with extension tube (equivalent to x3.3)
Celestron NexStar 6SE, ZWO asi224mc with IR cut filter, 2.5x TeleVue Powermate and ZWO ADC. 2 minute video Captured in SharpCap, processed in PIPP, AutoStakkert, RegiStax Wavelets then Lightroom.
Capture of Melotte 15 using Sequence Generator Pro, Sharpcap with electronic finder, Cartes du Ciel planetarium software and PHD2 guiding.
This image is a mosaic of 2 panels showing the Sun on 01/04/2022 with active regions called sun spots. We are now in solar cycle 25. Sun cycle happening every 11 years. In the solar cycle, Sun become very active and show dark spots called sun spots. These spots are cooler than the solar surface due to powerful magnetic field. In the picture, there are 4 main regions, a AR 2975, 2976, 2978 and 3981. Gear setup: Coronado PST double stack 0.5Å, TV 2.5x, ZWO 174MM, iOptron GEM 45. Captured by Sharpcap pro, stitched in Microsoft CIE, PIPP, stcked in Autostakkart!, wavelets by Registax and processed in PS.
Hurried shot of partial solar eclipse 25th October 2022. Taken through the back bedroom window. Complete with wispy clouds ! Sharpcap and Autostakkert Starwave 102ED and Altair 294C
IC 2169 is a large reflection nebula in the constellation Unicornus. It forms one of the central regions of the association of massive stars known as Monoceros R1. It is located in the northern part of the constellation, on the border with Orion and west of the Cone Nebula and the "Christmas Tree" cluster
Image Details:
- Imaging Scope: William Optics 61mm Zenithstar II Doublet
- Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI183MC Color with IR Cut filter
- Guiding Systeme: Celestron StarSense Autoguider
- Guiding Camera: Orion Starshoot Auutoguider
- Acquisition Software: Sharpcap
- Capture Software: SharpCap Pro
- Light Frames: 20*4 mins @ 100 Gain, Temp -20C
- Dark Frames: 10*4 mins
- Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker
- Processed in PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom and Topaz Denoise AI