Manufacturer: British Motor Corporation Limited (BMC), Longbridge - UK

Type: Sprite Mk I (AN5) (Frogeye-Bugeye-Froschauge)

Production time: mid-year 1958 - mid-year 1961

Production outlet: 48,987

Engine: 948cc straight-4 BMC Austin A-series 948 OHV

Power: 42.5 bhp / 5.000 rpm

Torque: 71 Nm / 3.000 rpm

Drivetrain: rear wheels

Speed: 133 km/h

Curb weight: 670 kg

Wheelbase: 80 inch

Chassis: all steel mono-construction with front engine subframe and welded all-steel body

Steering: rack & pinion

Gearbox: close-ratio four-speed manual / II, III and IV synchronized / floor shift

Clutch: 6½ inch single dry plate disc hydraulically operated

Carburettor: twin 1 ⅛ " SU H1 semi-downdraft

Fuel tank: 27 liter

Electric system: Lucas 12 Volts 43 Ah

Ignition system: distributor and coil with auto and vacuum control

Brakes front: Lockheed 7 inch hydraulic drums (2-leading shoe type)

Brakes rear: Lockheed 7 inch hydraulic drums

Suspension front: inmdependent wishbones, rapezoidal triangle cross-guides, helical springs + hydraulic Armstrong lever type shock absorbers (no shock absorbers mounted at the very early models)

Suspension rear: beam axle, radius arms, Panhard rod, anti-roll bar, 2 longitudinal links, 4 quarter-elliptic leaf springs + hydraulic Armstrong lever type shock absorbers

Rear axle: live three-quarter floating banjo type

Differential: hypoid 4.222:1

Wheels: 13 inch pressed steel discs four-nut fixing

Tires: 5.20 x 13 4-ply tubeless

Options: 948cc straight-4 BMC Austin A-series 948 OHV with Shorrock-Supercharger (59bhp, 87Nm, twin SU HS2 carburettors, top speed 148 km/h), factory hardtop, tonneau-cover, heater, demister, radio, wire spoke “knock-on” wheels, 6-ply tires, windscreen washer, rev.counter (when fitted incorporates headlamp high beam warning lamp), chromiun plated front bumper (standard on export models), laminated screen

Special:

- Austin-Healey was a British Sports Car maker founded in 1952 through a joint venture between the Austin division of the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and the Donald Healey Motor Company (Healey), a renowned automotive engineering and design firm. Leonard Lord represented BMC and Donald Healey his firm.

- BMC merged with Jaguar Cars in 1966 to form British Motor Holdings (BMH).

- Donald Healey left BMH in 1968 when it merged into British Leyland.

- Healey then joined Jensen Motors, which had been making bodies for the "big Healeys" since their inception in 1952, and became their chairman in 1972.

- Austin-Healey cars were produced until 1972 when the 20-year agreement between Healey and Austin came to an end.

- The Austin-Healey Sprite was designed by Donald Healey as a low-cost Sports Car and production began at MG's Abingdon factory in March of 1958. Later models were also assembled in Enfield, New South Wales and in Australia.

- A few months later, the new car was officially introduced in Monte Carlo, just prior to the Monte Carlo Rally.

- In the UK it's called "Frogeye", in the US "Bugeye" and in Germany "Froschauge".

- The headlights mounted on the top of hood were "lifted" because of U.S. Import legislations.

- Concealed flip-up headlamps were in the original drawings but high production costs canceled those plans.

- To build this little 2-door Roadster they used Austin, MG and Morris parts to keep the costs down.

- The two front chassis legs projecting forward from the passenger compartment mean the shell is not a full monocoque. The front sheet-metal assembly, including the bonnet (hood) and wings, was a one-piece unit, hinged from the back, that swung up to allow access to the engine compartment.

- The engine for example was also used in the Austin A35 and Morris Minor 1000 Series and the rack and pinion steering was derived from the Morris Minor 1000 Series and the front suspension from the Austin A35.

- It has no exterior door handles and no exterior boot lid (the back seats would need to be folded down to get access, incl. the spare tire).

- The entire front hood hinged upwards, allowing easy and convenient access to the engine.

- It was made at the MG works in Abingdon and sold for £669, so the intention of keeping the price low worked.

- By the quarter-elliptic rear springs, a simple self-supporting body and little weight, the Sprite is a rigid car to drive: But real fun to drive ☺☺!

- They are still very popular for club racing.

Total exposure was 2 hours 32 minutes at ISO 800 (61 subframes of 150 seconds were stacked). I used Canon 1000D without IR-filter and telescope-refractor Sky-Watcher ED-80 (F=510mm, D=80mm, f/6.4).

This is a detailed Moon mosaic using an infrared pass filter. The mosaic is made up of 24 individual frames, each one is a stack of the best 40% of 1,200 subframes. Taken in trying conditions with occasional rain causing me to dive for cover and protect the scope and mount before I started. By the time I had finished and closed up my home-built observatory the rain had started in earnest.

Peter

Equipment:

ZWO ASI174MM Cool mono CMOS camera, IR pass filter, 14inch f/10 LX200 SCT OTA, EQ8 mount

This is the nebulosity surounding attractive star cluster NGC 6910 in Cygnus. The image is a stack of eleven five-minute subframes in Hydrogen Alpha.

Peter

Equipment:

Atik 460EX mono CCD, 130mm triplet APO, EQ8 mount. As part of a test of accuracy in RA of my EQ8 all images were captured unguided.

***************************************************************************

Photographed at Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada

(285 km by road north of Toronto)

between 02.44 and 02.55 EDT

* Altitude of the cluster at time of exposures: 38°

* Temperature 15° C.

* Total exposure time: 5 minutes

* 660 mm focal length telescope

___________________________________________

Description:

This large, pretty and bright open cluster of stars - which happens to lie in our line of sight in front of one of the bright and star-dense arms of our Milky Way galaxy - is a favourite observational target of northern hemisphere astronomers on summer evenings.

From Wikipedia:

"The Wild Duck Cluster is one of the richest and most compact of the known open clusters, containing about 2900 stars. Its age has been estimated to about 250 million years. Its name derives from the brighter stars forming a triangle which could resemble a flying flock of ducks (or, from other angles, one swimming duck)."

For a wider angle view of Scutum and M11, made with a 540 mm focal length telescope in September 2016, click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/30487082573

For a version of this photo WITH LABELS, click on your screen to the RIGHT of the photo, or click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/50040538562

___________________________________________

Technical information:

Nikon D810a camera body on Tele Vue 127is (127 mm - 5" - diameter) apochromatic astrograph, mounted on Astrophysics 1100GTO equatorial mount

Five stacked frames; each frame:

660 mm focal length

ISO 3200; 1 minute exposure at f/5.2; unguided

With long exposure noise reduction

Subframes stacked in RegiStar;

Processed in Photoshop CS6 (highlights / shadows, levels, brightness / contrast)

***************************************************************************

24 July 2023; 6:43 am

IC443 is a supernova remnant about 5000 light years distant. For this false colour image I captured light emitting from hydrogen, sulphur and oxygen ions and then combined in a HSO tone map i.e. hydrogen is red, sulphur is green and oxygen is blue. Throughout much of the jellyfish hydrogen and sulphur emissions are equally strong giving yellow, while oxygen is relatively weak and is only visible around the edges.

The image is an integration of 12 hours of H, 13 of O and 14 of S captured in 10 minute subframes on a QHY163M camera with Optolong filters, The telescope was a WO FLT110 with Flat4 and this was mounted on a Skywatcher AZ-EQ6. Imaging was managed by Sequence Generator Pro with PHD2 for guiding and all post-processing was carried out in PixInsight.

Observed from Prachinburi, Thailand

Manufacturer: Chrysler Group LLC for Plymouth, Auburn Hills, Michigan - USA

Type: Fury V8 Series RP2-H27 Convertible

Production time: 1961

Production outlet: 6,948

Engine: 5208cc V-8 Fury V-800 OHV I-head

Power: 230 bhp / 4.400 rpm

Torque: 461 Nm / 2.400 rpm

Drivetrain: rear wheels

Speed: 170 km/h

Curb weight: 1804 kg

Wheelbase: 118 inch

Chassis: box frame with crossbars and unibody body with bolted-on subframe

Steering: worm & three tooth roller

Gearbox: three-speed manual / II and III synchronized / steering column shift

Clutch: 10 inch single dry plate disc

Carburettor: Carter or Stromberg dual troath

Fuel tank: 79 liter

Electric system: Autolite 12 Volts 50 Ah

Ignition system: distributor and coil

Brakes front: 11 inch hydraulic self-adjusting internal expanding drums

Brakes rear: 11 inch hydraulic self-adjusting internal expanding drums

Suspension front: independent ball joints, upper trapezoidal wishbones, upper triangular cross-link, lower simple arm with shock mounted tension strut and along lying torsion bars (Torsion-Aire System) + Oriflow hydraulic telescopic shock absorbers

Suspension rear: beam axle, coil link system, 2½ inch outboard mounted asymmetrical longitudinal leaf springs + Oriflow hydraulic telescopic shock absorbers

Rear axle: live semi-floating type

Differential: hypoid 3.58:1

Wheels: 5K - 14 inch steel discs safety rim type

Tires: 7.5 x 14 4-ply

Options: pushbutton-controlled Torque Flite three-speed automatic transmission, Power Flite two-speed automatic transmission, Sure-Grip differential, power brakes, power steering, DeLuxe steering wheel, power windows, power seats, bucket seats, fold-down armrests, Air Conditioning, pushbutton Hi-Fi radio, rear seat radio speakers, load leveling system, push-button heater / defroster, windshield washer (foot operated), variable speed windshield wipers, outside left mirror, back-up lights, Solex tinted safety glass, bumper guards, colour-matched carpeting, child-guard safety locks, inside “Day/Nigt” rear view mirror, safety-padded sun visors, parking brake warning light, safety seat belts (front and rear), rear window defogger, dual exhaust mufflers, emergency warning lights, custom curb signals,

Special:

- The Plymouth automobile was introduced on July 7, 1928. It was the Chrysler Corporation's first entry in the low-priced field, which at the time was dominated by Chevrolet and Ford.

- The logo featured a rear view of the Mayflower ship which landed at Plymouth Rock, hence the name "Plymouth" as the brand.

- The origins of the first Plymouth can be traced back to the Maxwell automobile. When Walter Chrysler took over control of the trouble-ridden Maxwell-Chalmers car company in the early 1920's, he inherited the Maxwell as part of the package. After he used the company's facilities to help create and launch the Chrysler car in 1924, he decided to create a lower-priced companion car. So for 1926 the Maxwell was reworked and re-badged as a low-end Chrysler model. Then at the end of the decade this model was once again reworked and re-badged, this time to create the Plymouth.

- The word "fury" denotes a type of anger, inspired by the Furies, mythological creatures in Ancient Greek and Ancient Roman mythology.

- From 1960 the name Fury was no longer used for the original Sports Sedans, but for the most exclusive line Plymouth's. The successors of the original type Fury were called Sport Fury since then.

- The 1961 Fury V8 Series RP2-H, with a reskin “below-the-beltline” and its pinched aluminum grille, was available as this 2-door Convertible, as 2-door Hardtop (16,141 units built), as 4-door Hardtop (8,507 units built) and as 4-door Sedan (22,619 units built).

- This second generation mid-sized Fury’s (1960-1961), designed by Virgil Exner, were assembled in Detroit, Michigan (Lynch Road) and in Windsor, Ontario (Canada).

Manufacturer: Daimler-Benz AG, Stuttgart - Germany

Type: 190 SL 121-Serie W121 B II BM121.042 Roadster

Production time: May 1955 - February 1963

Production outlet: 25,881

Engine: 1897cc straight-4 Daimler-Benz M 121 B II SOHC (mounted on a detachable sub-frame)

Power: 105 bhp / 5.700 rpm

Torque: 142 Nm / 3.200 rpm

Drivetrain: rear wheels

Speed: 171 km/h

Curb weight: 1164 kg

Wheelbase: 94.5 inch

Chassis: self-supporting (frame-floor unit with welded unibody), front subframe with front suspension, engine block and steering

Steering: recirculating ball

Gearbox: four-speed manual / all synchromesh / floor shift

Clutch: single dry late disc

Carburettor: twin Solex 44 PHH 2-barrel downdraft

Fuel tank: 65 liter

Electric system: Bosch 12 Volts 56 Ah

Ignition system: distributor and coil

Brakes front: ATE-T-50 power assisted hydraulic 9.1 inch Duplex drums

Brakes rear: ATE-T-50 power assisted hydraulic 9.1 inch drums

Suspension front: independent trapezoidal double wishbones, sway bar, coil springs with rubber auxiliary springs + hydraulic telescopic shock absorbers

Suspension rear: independent single-joint swing axle with longitudinal sliding struts, coil springs with rubber auxiliary springs + hydraulic telescopic shock absorbers

Rear axle: swing axle

Differential: hypoid 3,90:1

Wheels: 5K x 13

Tires: 6.40 - 13 Sport

Options: power brakes (standard from 1956), small third-passenger transverse seat, removable hardtop roof, removable hardtop roof with storage box made of wood, high-gloss paint, safety belts in front (from 1961), cigarette lighter, leather seats, special interior with Becker Mexico radio and automatic antenna, whitewall tires, sealed beam headlights, fog lights, “English” instruments, separate cross seat in the back, bumper overriders, wheel trim rings, chrome stone guards, chrome rocker strip, jack-hole covers, eyebrow chrome on fenders, ski holders, various suitcases, two-tone colouring

Special:

- Established in 1871, Benz & Cie. was the most important of several companies founded by Karl Benz.

- Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) was founded by Gottlieb Daimler and his partner Wilhelm Maybach in 1890. Daimler died in 1900 and Maybach left DMG in 1907.

- By then, Benz & Cie. and DMG were rivals.

- In 1924, owing to economic necessity after World War I, they entered into an "Agreement of Mutual Interest", allowing each company to manufacture and sell their products under their original brand names. After the official merger in June 28, 1926, the firm became known as Daimler-Benz.

- The SL was designed by Karl Wilfert, Friedrich Geiger and Walter Häcker and as prototype introduced at the 1954 New York Auto Show. The production model was revealed at the 1955 Geneva Auto Show.

- The “S” stands for “Sport”/ “Sports” while the “L” meant “Leichts”/ “Light”. Some say “SL” stands for “Sehr Leicht”/ “Very Light”.

- During its first years the 190 SLR was available as a sports-racing model with small perspex windscreen and spartan one-piece leather covered bucket seats and aluminum doors.

- The 190 SL was primarily intended for the US market; a lot of comfort, but little speed.

- Some owners leave the hardtop permanently on their cars, but an official Coupé was never produced.

- All SL's were assembled in Untertürkheim, Stuttgart - Germany.

- From the total of 25,881 units built, 5,245 remained in Germany, 20,636 units were exported, including 10,368 units to the United States.

Nikon F80

Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AF-D

Ilford HP5+

I was lucky enough to have a clear spell as this magnitude 9 comet made its rendezvous with the famous Double Cluster in Cassiopeia last night. I wasn't lucky in another sense as I only had my 80mm triplet refractor without any filters set up for imaging with a colour camera so I couldn't use my larger refractor to pick up the comet a little better in my light polluted skies. I've had to boost the colour to ensure that the comet can be picked out mid-image to the left of the Double Cluster.

This is a stack of 21 two-minute subframes taken with a colour CMOS camera.

Peter

Bangkok

Seestar S50 670 thirty second subframes

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Photographed at Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, between 02.09 and 02.34 EDT

(285 km by road north of Toronto)

* Temperature 7° C.

* Total exposure time: 12 minutes

* 540 mm focal length telescope

___________________________________________

Description:

Visually with the unaided eye, or in binoculars or a telescope, the distinctively-shaped North America Nebula appears as a large but faint white cloud in the middle of our Milky Way galaxy. The digital camera sensor, however, reveals the red glow of ionized hydrogen gas.

This nebula is 1,600 light years distant from our solar system. Clouds of dark gas lie between us and the nebula, blocking the light behind and creating the apparent shape of the nebula.

For a wider angle view of this nebula - photographed with a telephoto lens 9 nights earlier - that also shows the adjacent Pelican Nebula - click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/29220929561

... and for an even wider angle view of the constellation Cygnus (The Swan), including the North America Nebula and other hydrogen gas clouds, click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/27422508523

___________________________________________

Technical information:

Nikon D810a camera body on Teleview 101is apochromatic refracting telescope, mounted on Astrophysics 1100GTO equatorial mount with a Kirk Enterprises ball head

Twelve stacked frames; each frame:

540 mm focal length

ISO 6400; 1 minute exposure at f/5.4; unguided

(with LENR - long exposure noise reduction)

Subframes registered in RegiStar;

Stacked and processed in Photoshop CS6 (brightness, contrast, levels, colour balance, sharpening)

******************************************************************************

This is an open cluster in Orion that, when rotated and flipped, resembles the number 37 written in the stars.

Subframes were shot on 2022-01-20 and 01-21. Taken with Optolong RGB filters and an Atik 414-EX mono camera on a Celestron Edge HD 925 with an 0.63x focal reducer. This gives a focal length of 1525 mm.

R channel: 70 frames of 30 s exposures

G channel: 77 frames of 30 s exposures

B channel: 51 frames of 30 s exposures

After preprocessing and compositing the stacks in PixInsight, color was calibrated using the Photometric Color Calibration tool. I played with the saturation a bit and knocked down the background in Photoshop.

FlickrFriday theme is: #Subframing

This is a close-up of relatively small but bright planetary nebula M57. It is a LRGB where the luminance subframes are all just 1 second each. I admit it was an unintentional error but it worked! I had actually set them for 3 seconds each but a technical problem that froze the camera before I could start recording meant that when I re-set I failed to notice it had reverted to 1 second per frame.

L = 509x1 second

R = 151x4 seconds

G = 176x4 seconds

B = 181x4 seconds

Peter

Equipment:

ZWO ASI174MM mono CMOS camera, LRGB filters, 12inch f/10 LX200 SCT, EQ8 mount.

Photo taken in 1987. Image is a scan off of a 3-1/2” x 5” print.

There are 4 typical features of Britain’s Greeves brand motorcycles that are visible here. The leading arm front suspension, the cast alloy I-beam subframe, the Villiers 2-stroke engine and the blue livery with distinctive Greeves’ script.

I think it’s a beauty!

Many people are familiar with the night constellations, but for some reason I have a mental block and don't organize the sky that way. I prefer taking images like the one above in a wide field to help me understand the positions of deep space objects.

NGC 2903 probably isn't on anyone's dance card. I spotted it while using the Dwarf 3 app on my iPhone (a new feature). Instead of finding a deep space object in a catalog, I held my cellphone to the sky to display objects on the screen in real time. Then I tapped on one (in this case NGC 2903) and let the Dwarf do the rest.

Dwarf 3 Smartscope

300 thirty-second subframes | 60 gain.

Click to zoom in.

1983 Austin Metro 3-door.

Supplied by whoever the Austin Rover dealer was in Holt (name of garage unreadable on this photo!).

Last MoT test expired in December 2018 and last SORN declaration expired in January 2023 (now MoT exempt).

It failed a test in October 2020 -

Nearside front integral body structure corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced floor by jacking point (6.1.1 (c) (i)) - Major

Nearside front subframe mounting prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength front cross member (5.3.6 (a) (i)) - Major

Offside front integral body structure corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced floor by jacking point (6.1.1 (c) (i)) - Major

Offside front subframe mounting prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength (5.3.6 (a) (i)) - Major

Offside rear integral body structure corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced outer sill (6.1.1 (c) (i)) - Major

Rear fog lamp not working (4.5.1 (a) (ii)) - Major

Rear sub-frame corroded and seriously weakened axle beam welded repairs (5.3.3 (b) (i)) - Major

Windscreen washer provides insufficient washer liquid (3.5 (a)) - Major

Anglia Car Auctions, King's Lynn -

"Chassis number: SAXXBANB1BD832552. This 998cc Austin Metro MkI has been off-road for a few years, with its last MoT expiring in December 2018, and a subsequent test in October 2020 producing a fail. The current mileage indicated by the odometer is 64,965 miles and the vehicle was registered in May 1983. The vehicle becomes tax and MoT exempt from April 1, 2024 although work will be required to return the Metro to a roadworthy state; however, it does start and drive well, according to the vendor, who believes the mileage to be correct as he has owned the car for nine years. A new battery has been fitted, while new tyres were fitted four years ago. Three keepers overall are recorded on the V5C.

"Documentation with the Metro includes the V5C, a photo of the car at Sandringham during Drive It Day 2016, various old tax discs and a brochure. There's also a Heritage Certificate, while the MoT certificates date from 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017."

No reserve. Sold for £660 including premium.

This extends the map of the previous image of Sadr pictured below. Sadr now is the bright star near the bottom. The hazy nebula at the top is the butterfly.

This image is made from 842 separate images called subframes. Each subframe is ten seconds long. Seestar started taking the pictures at 10:54 PM and ended the next morning at 3:48 AM. The total amount of exposure time was 2 hours and about 20 minutes, but because of processing time and dropped frames it took nearly five hours. It took Siril the software used in assembling the images about 2 hours and 12 minutes to put all the individual overlapping images in place.

Wednesday night race

Margate, 2021.

Comet C252/P, captured today (2016-04-30) between 0:45h and 2:45h UT in Tenerife, 1180 m altitude. After stacking the subframes I was very surprised by these faint HII regions (unknown to me; perhaps someone can give me some information) at top of the coma and also under the near coma part of the tail (giving false red color to it).

Coma diameter is 37 ' and tail length about 1 degree.

Parallel exposure resulting in a LRGB image.

RGB: 120 x 45 sec, Sony A7s (CentralDS modded), Hyperstar 14"/F1.9, ISO3200, IR block filter

Monochrome: 40 x 180 sec, Starlight Xpress SX-36, RASA 11"/F2.2, L-pro filter

Both mounted at a ASA DDM 85 (unguided)

Moon: Southwestern Quadrant Mosaic

May 8, 2017

This was an experiment to determine a way to create image files large enough for making large, high quality prints. It was also my first use of AutoStakkert!2 (which I LIKE!).

Mosaic of seven subframes, each frame a stack of the best 1666 of 2222 video frames.

Raw video processed in PIPP and converted to .ser files, stacked in AutoStakkert!2, wavelets applied in Registax 6.

Subframes merged with Microsoft ICE. Final processing in Photoshop CC2017.

ASI ZWO290MM Camera

Optolong IR Pass (685nm) Filter - 1.25"

Explore Scientific 3x Barlow lens

Explore Scientific ED80 APO Triplet f/6 Refractor, 480mm focal length

Celestron Advanced VX EQ Mount

This is a colour image of this fascinating region around Orion's belt captured through an 80mm triplet APO refractor using a colour Atik Horizon CMOS camera with a Baader-S filter. I had to wait for both the sky to clear and fireworks displays around me to stop before I could take this image. The image consists of eleven seven-minute subframes stacked. Dark frames have been subtracted but no flats or bias frames used.

Peter

***************************************************************************

Photographed at Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, between 00.44 and 01.05 EDT

(285 km by road north of Toronto)

* Temperature 18° C.

* Altitude of the cluster at time of exposures: 62°, declining to 59°

* Total exposure time: 10 minutes

* 660 mm focal length telescope

___________________________________________

Description:

One of the easiest asterisms (groupings of stars) to spot with the unaided eye - and a lovely object in binoculars or a very wide-field telescope - is Collinder 399, also known as "Brocchi's cluster" or the "Coat Hanger" because of its distinctive shape.

From Wikipedia:

"Brocchi's Cluster (also known as Collinder 399, or Al Sufi's Cluster) is a random grouping of stars located in the constellation Vulpecula near the border with Sagitta. The members of the star cluster form an asterism which has given rise to its name as the Coathanger.

The status of this group as a star cluster has changed in recent years. The group was considered to be a cluster for most of the 20th century. Looking at a variety of criteria, however, a study in 1970 concluded that only 6 of the brightest stars formed an actual cluster. Several independent studies since 1998 have now determined that this object is not a true cluster at all, but rather just a chance alignment of stars. These recent studies have generally based their findings on improved measurements of parallax and proper motion provided by the Hipparcos satellite which were first published in 1997."

To the left of centre is the smaller, richer star cluster NGC 6802, and near the top edge, right of centre is the small hydrogen II gas cloud Sh2-83.

For a version of this photo WITH LABELS, click on your screen to the RIGHT of the photo, or click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/52270260404

___________________________________________

Technical information:

Nikon D810a camera body on on Tele Vue 127is (127 mm - 5" - diameter) apochromatic refracting telescope, mounted on Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro mount

Ten stacked subframes; each frame:

ISO 4000; 1 minute exposure at f/5.2, unguided

(with LENR - long exposure noise reduction)

Subframes stacked in RegiStar;

Processed in Photoshop CS6 (brightness, contrast, levels, colour balance)

***************************************************************************

a child walks in front of a frame

***************************************************************************

Photographed at Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada

(285 km by road north of Toronto)

between 01.50 and 02.14 EDT

* Altitude of centre of frame at time of exposures: ~40°, declining to 37°

* Temperature 17° C.

* Total exposure time: 12 minutes

* 70 mm focal length lens

___________________________________________

Description:

On of the brightest patches in the northern section of our home galaxy, the Milky Way, lies in the constellations Aquila (the Eagle) and Scutum (the Shield). This starcloud contains many open clusters of stars, together with foreground globules of cold dark gas that are the incubators of new star formation.

One of the most prominent star clusters in this area of the sky is M11, the so-called "Wild Duck" cluster, which is a favourite observing target of amateur astronomers with modest telescopes. M11 is the small bright blob in the lower right quadrant in this image. This is a rich open cluster of stars that looks like a duck in flight. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Duck_Cluster for more information about M11.

For a closer in view of M11 and the surrounding area, made in June 2020 with a 660 mm focal length telescope, click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/50039721548

For a version of this photo WITH LABELS, showing constellation boundaries and the many open star clusters and dark nebulae, click on the RIGHT side of your screen, or click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/52277624786

___________________________________________

Technical information:

Nikkor AF-S 70-200 mm f/2.8 G ED VRII lens on Nikon D810a camera body, mounted on Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro mount with a Kirk Enterprises ball head

Twelve stacked subframes; each frame:

70 mm focal length

ISO 5000; 1 minute exposure at f/4.5, unguided

(with LENR - long exposure noise reduction)

Subframes stacked in RegiStar;

Processed in Photoshop CS6 (levels, brightness, contrast, colour balance)

***************************************************************************

A picture in a picture

Will the subframe of this old staple be stable enough for the next storm?

***************************************************************************

Photographed at Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada

(285 km by road north of Toronto)

between 00.48 and 01.11 EDT

* Altitude of centre of frame at time of exposures: ~24°, declining to 21°

* Temperature 11° C.

* Total exposure time: 11 minutes

* 1253 mm focal length telescope

___________________________________________

Description:

This large, pretty and bright open cluster of stars - which happens to lie in our line of sight in front of one of the bright and star-dense arms of our Milky Way galaxy - is a favourite observational target of northern hemisphere astronomers on summer evenings.

From Wikipedia:

"The Wild Duck Cluster is one of the richest and most compact of the known open clusters, containing about 2900 stars. Its age has been estimated to about 250 million years. Its name derives from the brighter stars forming a triangle which could resemble a flying flock of ducks (or, from other angles, one swimming duck)."

For a wider angle view of the region of Scutum surrounding M11, made with a 660 mm focal length telescope in August 2019, click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/48471276616

___________________________________________

Technical information:

Nikon D810a camera body on Explore Scientific 152 mm (6") apochromatic refracting telescope, mounted on Astrophysics 1100GTO equatorial mount

Eleven stacked subframes; each frame:

ISO 5000; 1 minute exposure at f/8

(with LENR - long exposure noise reduction)

Subframes stacked in RegiStar;

Processed in Photoshop CS6 (brightness, contrast, levels), slight sharpening

***************************************************************************

Taken with the C14 and SBIG STXL-6303 at Cerritos College. The moon was still below the horizon, and the sky was cloudless enough for me to do guided shots. There's always moist air to the south from campus, though, and the limiting magnitude was 17.2 for this image. 16 30 s subframes were stacked to create this. An Antlia L filter was used. The position of the supernova is indicated with white line segments.

2024-04-27.222

ASTAP gives a CV magnitude of 11.8

This was essentially maximum brightness for this supernova.

I realize now that I was not setting apertures properly in ASTAP, and all of my previous magnitude estimates are likely too faint.

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Photographed outside Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park, Northern Territory, Australia (440 km by road southwest of Alice Springs), long. 131.04° E., lat. 25.22° S., between 01.53 and 02.26 CAST (Central Australian Standard Time)

* Altitude of centre of frame at time of exposures: 70°

* Temperature 10° C.

* Total exposure time: 16 minutes

* 35 mm focal length wide angle lens

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Description:

The centre of our home galaxy, the Milky Way, lies in the constellation Sagittarius, in the middle of the prominent bulge of stars and nebulae in this view, made with a wide angle 35 mm lens. Numerous star clusters, dark foreground gas clouds, and pink hydrogen gas nebulae are strewn across the frame.

The centre of the Milky Way lies very low on the horizon as seen from the northern hemisphere. Astronomers travel to the south in order to see the magnificence of the Milky Way straight overhead in the months of May-August.

This is the telescope and mount that I used for my astrophotography on this trip:

www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/28602350028

For a version of this photo WITH LABELS, click on your screen to the RIGHT of the photo, or click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/42246055924

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Technical information:

Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM ART Lens on Nikon D810a camera body, mounted on Sky-Watcher HEQ5 equatorial mount with Kirk Enterprises ball head

Sixteen stacked subframes - each frame:

ISO 2500; 1 minute exposure at f/4, 35 mm focal length, unguided (with LENR - long exposure noise reduction)

Subframes stacked in RegiStar;

Processed in Photoshop CS6 (levels, brightness, contrast, colour balance)

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NGC 3718, also know as ARP 214, is a distorted spiral galaxy in the Constellation Ursa Major and is located about 59 Million Light Years away. Its distorted form is thought to be gravitational interaction with the other galaxy seen in this image - NGC 3729 - at some point in the distant past. These are all part of a group of galaxies known as the Ursa Major Cluster.

One interesting footnote - below NGC 3718 you can see a small grouping of elongated shapes, very close together. While not shown very well in this image, this is a small group 5 galaxies known as Hickson 56. These Galaxies are estimated to be about 400 Million Light Years away!

These galaxies are very far away and very small. The largest here only measure 2.9" x 2.4" in size. I mention this because I really don't have a scope that is setup for these very small galaxies. SO why did I chose this target? Well, part of me wanted to see what I could do with it. Another part is that this time of year the number of targets is a bit limited - especially what I can access due to the tree lines on my property.

This is the third and last image to come out of my 3 night imaging cycle starting on June 4th. While we had three clear nights, we also had some bands of thin clouds that came through and the overall sky transparency was far from great. The thin clouds are not enough to lose a guide star and disrupt your runs, but they can ruin the contrast on critical subframes. In this case, I had to remove roughly 1/3 of my subs and it reduced the number of Green frames I ended with to less than half what I had for the other channels.

When first processed this image - it looked pretty bad. So I went back to square one, and this time I spent a huge amount of time working on the image deconvolution step. Some people think of deconvolution as a "Sharpening" step. In fact it does something quite different. Working it the frequency domain, it attempt to restore lost information caused by the optics. This is very tricky to use properly and for my first year of astrophotography I could not get any good results out of this at all. Then I got some help from Gary Optiz and Dan Kutcha and I was able follow a "recipe" and get some small advantage to my images. This time though, I really dug into it - played around with every parameter and saw how it impacted the image. At the end of it all, I had finally figured out how to use it properly, and I had a version of the linear image that had more detail than I had before.

With this I went forward and processed the image doing the bulk of the work in Pixinsight, and then shifting to Photoshop for the last polishing phases. I also used Topaz Denoise AI, on a few trouble spots along the way.

In the end - I was happy with the final result - but I also knew that to get the results I really want here I need a few things: 1) a scope with more focal length and resolution 2) Clearer and more transparent skies. 3) and a lot more integration time.

Thanks for looking!

Pat

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Image Details

*Number of frames is after bad or questionable frames were culled.

53 x 120 seconds, bin 1x1 @ -15C, unity gain, ZWO Gen II L Filter

64 x 120 seconds, bin 1x1 @ -15C, Unity gain, ZWO Gen II R Filter

26 x 120 seconds, bin 1x1 @ -15C, unity gain, ZWO Gen II G Filter

46x 120 seconds, bin 1x1 @ -15C, unity gain, ZWO Gen II B Filter

Total of 6.3 hours

30 Darks at 300 seconds, bin 1x1, -10C, gain 100

30 Darks at 90 seconds, bin 1x1, -10C, gain 0

30 L Flats

30 R Flats

30 G Flats

30 B Flats

50 Bias

Capture Hardware:

Scope: William Optics 132mm F/7 FLT APO

Guide Scope: Sharpstar 66EDPHII

Camera: ZWO ASI1600mm-pro with ZWO Filter wheel with ZWO LRGB filter set,

and Astronomiks 6nm Narrowband filter set

Guide Camera: ZWO ASI290Mini

Focus Motor: Pegasus ZWO EAF 5V

Mount: Ioptron CEM 26

Polar Alignment: Ipolar camera

Software:

Capture Software: PHD2 Guider, Sequence Generator Pro controller

Image Processing: Pixinsight, Photoshop - assisted by Coffee, extensive processing indecision and second guessing, editor regret and much swearing….. Given the problems on this image, more than the usual whining….

I just discovered, triple subframing :D

Taken in Hydrogen Alpha just before 4pm as the sky was beginning to darken.

This is a stack of 29 subframes taken through my 130mm refractor using an Atik 460 EX mono camera and 0.75 reducer.

Peter

In the news today, AR2941 launched a CME that knocked out 40 Starlink satellites.

Canon EOS 60Da (1/640s, ISO 100)

TeleVue NP101is/2x Power Mate (4", f/10.4)

Losmandy G11

100 subframes captured with Backyard EOS (BYE). CR2 files converted to AVI by PPIP. Best 75% of frames stacked in AutoStakkert! Sharpened in Registax and finished in Photoshop.

Dwarf III smart telescope

661 15-second subframes

Soul with a Capital S - www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSCz31lcSxI

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Photographed at Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada

(285 km by road north of Toronto)

* Temperature 12° C.

* Total exposure time: 8 minutes

* 1200 mm focal length telescope

___________________________________________

Description:

From Wikipedia:

"The Dumbbell Nebula (also known as Apple Core Nebula, Messier 27, M 27, or NGC 6853) is a planetary nebula in the constellation Vulpecula, at a distance of about 1,360 light years.

This object was the first planetary nebula to be discovered; by Charles Messier in 1764. At its brightness of visual magnitude 7.5 and its diameter of about 8 arcminutes, it is easily visible in binoculars, and a popular observing target in amateur telescopes."

What we are seeing is the visible remains of a low-mass star's expelled gaseous outer-envelope, leaving an X-ray hot white dwarf at the centre.

Stars to about 17th magnitude are visible in this image. The central star in the nebula is magnitude 14.0.

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Technical information:

Nikon D810a camera body on Explore Scientific 152 mm (6") apochromatic refracting telescope, mounted on Astrophysics 1100GTO equatorial mount with a Kirk Enterprises ball head

Eight stacked subframes; each subframe:

1200 mm focal length

ISO 4000; 1 minute exposure at f/8; unguided

(with LENR - long exposure noise reduction)

Subframes registered in RegiStar;

Stacked and processed in Photoshop CS6 (levels, brightness, contrast, sharpening)

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A widefield shot of the ρ Ophiuchi - Antares region showing red emission nebulae, blue and yellow reflection nebulae and dark clouds and tendrils of gas and dust. At the right, above the bright star Antares, is globula cluster M4 which is the nearest to us.

This image is an integration of 105 x 2 minute subframes taken with a QHY268C OSC camera and a WO Redcat51, Image sequencing was managed via SGP and PHD2, all post-processing was carried out in PixInsight.

Observed from Prachinburi, Thailand

Narrowband (Ha Sii Oiii) combination using SHO palette. Processed in Pixinsight and Photoshop, and enhanced in Lightroom.

The weather has still remained bad, so I have been limited in what I can capture (it doesn't help that it's low in the sky and goes behind houses by midnight). I processed what I managed to capture this week.

Doing 5 min exposures, 100 gain. 12xOiii, 6xHa, and only a couple Sii. Given the results from that amount of subframes, I'm looking forward to what I can do when the weather improves.

Equipment: Skywatcher Esprit 100ED, HEQ5-Pro mount, ASI 2600MM Camera, and I had to temporarily switch to .67x flattener because my SkyWatcher one has issues.

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Photographed at Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada

between 02.24 and 02.44 EDT

(285 km by road north of Toronto)

* Altitude of centre of frame at time of exposures: ~12°

* Temperature 14° C.

* Total exposure time: 10 minutes

* 660 mm focal length telescope

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Description:

North is to the upper right in this image, which contains several objects of note.

M8, the Lagoon Nebula, with embedded star cluster NGC 6530 (right side of the frame)

One of the most prominent, large, bright and well known nebulae in the sky is the Lagoon Nebula (M8), which is a favourite target of amateur astronomers with modest telescopes.

From Wikipedia: "The Lagoon Nebula ... is a giant interstellar cloud ... classified as an emission nebula and as an H II region. [It] was discovered by Giovanni Hodierna before 1654 and is one of only two star-forming nebulae faintly visible to the eye from mid-northern latitudes. Seen with binoculars, it appears as a distinct oval cloudlike patch with a definite core. Within the nebula is the open cluster NGC 6530.

The Lagoon Nebula is estimated to be between 4,000-6,000 light-years away from the Earth. In the sky of Earth, it spans 90' by 40', which translates to an actual dimension of 110 by 50 light years. ... The nebula contains a number of Bok globules (dark, collapsing clouds of protostellar material), the most prominent of which have been catalogued by E. E. Barnard as B88, B89 and B296."

IC 4678 (directly above M8)

This is a tiny nebula composed of emission (pink) and reflection (blue) components.

NGC 6544 (near centre of frame)

This is a small globular star cluster of magnitude ~7.3, lying at a distance of 9,000-10,00 light years from us..

NGC 6553 (left edge of frame, just below centre)

This is a globular star cluster of magnitude ~8.@, with an unusually low star concentration even at its centre, and lying about 19,600 LY from our solar system. Studies show that it underwent two distinct periods of star formation, resulting in two populations of stars with differing compositions, especially in sodium and aluminum.

For a version of this photo WITH LABELS, click on the RIGHT side of your screen, or click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/52229322166

To see a wider angle view this and other adjacent nebulae, photographed in Australia in Sept. 2019, click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/49183970671

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Technical information:

Nikon D810a camera body on Tele Vue 127is (127 mm - 5" - diameter) apochromatic telescope, mounted on Astrophysics 1100GTO equatorial mount

Ten stacked frames; each frame:

660 mm focal length

ISO 2500; 1 minute exposure at f/5.2; unguided

With long exposure noise reduction

Subframes stacked in RegiStar;

Processed in Photoshop CS6 (levels, brightness / contrast, colour balance)

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Conet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) velow the Big Dipper, or in the claws of the Great Bear.

Stack of four subframes, each a 30 second exposure taken with a Canon EOS 550D at ISO 1600, 13mm, f/4.0, Cokin P820 diffusor, tracked with the Vixen Polarie star tracker.

These are two images of Neptune taken in the early evening of 19 November. On the left a LRGB video sequence of the best 40% of frames at 15fps for luminance and 12fps for Red, Green and Blue and on the right a stack of 400 luminance subframes at 5 seconds per frame converted from video to still images and stacked to enable the much fainter Triton to be picked up in the imaging. It has also blown out the size of Neptune in consequence although both images were taken at the same magnification.

Neptune is a tricky target at the best of times for close-up imaging. For a variety of reasons from technical equipment issues to weather conditions this is the first time I've successfully managed to pin down a reasonable image of Neptune and Triton in 2017.

Peter

Equipment:

Cooled ZWO ASI174MM mono CMOS camera, LRGB filters, 300mm f/10 LX200 SCT, EQ8 mount.

February 2021.