Technical data:

Celestron 114/900 Newton

Planetary camera QHYCCD QHY5L-II-C

filter UV IR cut

Sharpcap, Autostakkert 3, Registax 6, Autostitch, Adobe Photoshop, Camera Raw

Cabras - Sardinia - Italy

39°55'50'' N 8°31'49'' E

2021-11-18 23:17 UTC

Facebook profile: www.facebook.com/roberto.ortu.7509/

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Copyright: Roberto Ortu

Telescopio: Celestron C8 Edge HD

Montatura: iOptron CEM60

Camera di ripresa: ZWO ASI 174 mono Cooled

Filtro: Optolong Red CCD 50,8 mm

Software:SharpCap 3.2 Pro, Emil Kraaikamp Autostakkert 3.0.14, Zoner Photo Studio X v. 19, Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight 1.8, Astra Image 4 SI

Focuser: Moonlite CF 2,5" focuser with high resolution stepper DRO

Pose: 1007 a 150 ftgs

Lunghezza focale: 2032 mm

Seeing: 3 Trasparenza: 5

Another trip completed around this big bright boi today, managed to get about 25 images to stack in Autostakkert for the disk detail, and another overexposed one for the shine, so this is a composite image.

Sunspots have moved around slightly as the sun rotates, and they are a little clearer, always mad to me when I see they've moved!

Taken with an 8" Richie-Cretien telescope with focal reducer and Canon 1100D on an EQ5 Pro mount

ISO-800 1/400 sec

200 images shot in RAW, cropped and tweaked in Lightroom and exported as TIFFs. Best 60 out of 200 TIFF files stacked using Autostakkert! 2 then processed in Lightroom and Focus Magic

There is a conspicuous chain of large craters which lines up along the same meridian on the Southeastern limb of the Moon, as seen here. They start on the southeastern shore of the Sea of Fertility and continue south (to the right in this image). The chain consists of, from left to right, Langrenus, Vendelinus, Petavius, and Furnerius. The craters formed at different times, separated by gulfs of millions, even billions of years.

• Langrenus & Vendelinus: These craters are the first two links of the Great Eastern Chain. Langrenus and Vendelinus are two large 90-mi. craters located on the southeast shore of the Sea of Fertility. One is considerably older than the other. It should be easy for you to decide which that is. If you cannot tell, take note of the terraced walls and central peaks of Langrenus, standing out with clear detail. Note also the pattern of craterlets that radiate away from Langrenus. These are features of younger craters. Vendelinus, in contrast, has a smooth floor, where lava and rubble from later impacts filled its basin. The central peaks have been buried by this debris. The rim of Vendelinus is overlain by younger craters, and its surrounding rampart is battered down. These are the signs of great age. Indeed, these two craters may differ in age by a billion to as much as 3 billion years.

• Petavius: This is an example of a floor-fractured crater, a type of crater that has been modified by later volcanism, uplift, and consequent fracturing. The floor of Petavius is nearly 1,000 feet higher near its center than around the edge! Turbulence and volcanic upheaval from below split the central mountain (which rises to nearly one mile above the floor) and formed the rilles. The principal rille, Rima Petavius, is quite prominent: it extends from the central peak to the southwest wall. Petavius falls between Langrenus and Vendelinus in age. While it retains a notable central peak and its walls are terraced, its walls are also slumped and battered by secondary craters.

• Furnerius: This is the southernmost of the craters that make up the Great Eastern Chain and it is very old, perhaps as old as Vendelinus. The walls have been battered down, and there are several craterlets of varying sizes on the floor, which also shows no central peak and some backfilling by lava and rubble.

The imaging system used was a Celestron EdgeHD SCT, 8" aperture, f/10, 2032mm on a Celestron Advanced VX mount. I used a ZWO ASI290MM camera. I collected 4000+ video frames, then stacked 10 percent of them into a single image using AutoStakkert! 3. I applied some mild wavelets processing with Registax 6 and a final buff in Photoshop.

I want to acknowledge the work of Andrew Planck and his wonderful blog posts which first directed my attention to this (and many other) fascinating lunar features. I borrowed his organization and blended some of his text with my own for this post.

My astro rig is not particularly well suited for an event like this, but it made for an entertaining evening.

The Mars images were spaced by about 5 minutes. The final moon image was output from Autostakkert -- the best 50% of 217 pics.

Rio Rancho NM Bortle 5 zone,

January 30, 2023

William Optics Redcat 51

ZWO 183mc pro

ZWO 30mm f/4 mini guide scope and ZWO 120 Mini

ZWO ASI Air Pro

Sky-Watcher HEQ5

215 X 0.01s

Gain 111 at -10C

Processed in Autostakkert and PS

Photographing the last full Moon of 2016 was much fun because I had a pretty clear sky the whole night. I had an idea what to do with this shot so I think all played in my favor. This is how the Moon looks like when you enhance the colors of the surface. It has blue, cyan, purple and brown colors that represent the elements of titanium and iron on the surface of the Moon. It’s surely not a big grey ball on the sky.

Telescope: SkyWatcher ED 80

Camera: Canon 550D

Mount: SkyWatcher EQ3

Software: Autostakkert!3, Pipp, Lightroom, Photoshop.

Stack of 86 photos.

In this photo I attempted to isolate four lunar craters that lie close to the southwestern limb of the Moon. This position makes it difficult to see them from an Earthly perspective, as we see them greatly foreshortened. They are imaged here soon after sunlight first shines into their exteriors. Areas of the Moon to their west are still hidden in the shadows of the two week lunar night. Only a few high points of these features are illuminated. The low angle sunlight emphasizes the relief of the lunar landscape, and heightens the three-dimensional structure of our planet's partner.

The largest crater is Schickard. This crater is among the largest lunar craters that we can see from Earth. It is a circular basin of 227 km diameter. Close examination shows that it has a two-toned floor. This effect has been explained as follows: the light material was blasted out by the gargantuan impact that formed a ringed basin beyond the bounds of this image. That material was partially covered some time later by darker lava that erupted onto the floor in the north and the southwest. This difference in shading is more striking as it is more directly illuminated.

Below Schickard lies a trio of adjoining craters. Two I will mention in passing. The largest is Phocylides, roughly half the diameter of Schickard, and having a depth of 2.1 km. The northern rim of Phocylides overlaps the much smaller Nasmyth crater. Nasmyth crater is only 1.4 km deep, so the two craters appear to rise like steps out from the Moon. This step-like effect continues with the third crater of the trio, Wargentin. Not only does the floor of Wargentin lie higher than its two close neighbors, the floor of Wargentin is actually higher than the surrounding lunar surface. Wargentin is one of a very small number of craters that have this characteristic. The explanation is fascinating. While many lunar craters have had their floors flooded by lava that has upwelled from the lunar interior, in Wargentin's case this flooding continued to the point that it overtopped portions of Wargentin's western rim, perhaps spilling over and out across the regions to the west. That would have been an incredible sight. Streams of lava many kilometers across might be seen cascading over the crater's rim and down a thousand or more feet to the plains below. From inside, Wargentin might look like a lava infinity pool 84 km wide!

Instrumentation:

Celestron EdgeHD 8 telescope, ZWO ASI290MM monochrome camera, Celestron Advanced VX mount.

Processing:

Video data captured with Firecapture software as a 60-sec .ser file. Pre-processing of the .ser file with PIPP. Best 10% of 4919 video frames were stacked with AutoStakkert!3, wavelets processing done with Registax 6, and final processing in Photoshop CC 2020.

Anaxagoras Crater – diameter is 52 km and it is about 3.0 km in depth. It is located in the north polar region of the moon. Named after the Greek astronomer (500-428 BC). It is a relatively recent crater that has rays extending down to the crater Plato.

Tech Specs: ZWO ASI290MC camera and Meade 12” LX90 telescope mounted on a Celestron CGEM-DX mount. Software used included Sharpcap v2.9 and AutoStakkert! Alpha Version 2.3.0.21. Photographed on February 6, 2017 from Weatherly, Pennsylvania.

Here is a view on Earth’s moon in a region called Sinus Iridum (Bay of Rainbows), there are two capes, or points, named Promontorium Laplace and Promontorium Heraclides. This area has also been called the “jeweled scimitar” because of its resemblance to the scimitar sword (or sabre). If you look close, you can see some “wrinkle ridges” on the flat surface area. These were caused when lava cooled and contracted, they are also referred to as veins.

Tech Specs: Sky Watcher 120ED Esprit, Celestron CGEM-DX mount (pier mounted), ZWO ASI290MC, best 15% of 2500 frames, unguided. Captured using SharpCap Pro v3.2 and stacked in AutoStakkert! 3.0.14. Image date: December 7, 2019. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA.

Just left of center are two large and similarly sized craters, Klaproth and Casatus. Klaproth in the foreground is overlapped by the more recent Casatus. They are about 120km in diameter and roughly 3km deep. They are located in the ancient and rugged southern lunar highlands.

ZWO ASO290MM (best 300 of 5000 frames in IR)

Meade LX850 (12" f/8 with 2.5x PowerMate)

Losmandy G11

Processed in Autostakkert!, Registax, and GIMP

Kept best 5% of frames from each movie of 5000 frames

---Hardware---

Mount : Skywatcher AZ-EQ-6 GT

Camera : PointGrey Grasshopper GS3-U3-23S6M

Tube : AstroPhysics 130 EDF GT

Barlow : Televue 4x

Effective focal length : 3120 mm

Effective aperture : ~ F/24

---Software---

Acquired with FireCapture

Stacked with AutoStakkert

Processed with Lightroom

This is image was captured using a 60mm Hydrogen-alpha (Hα) telescope. It is showing the Sun's chromosphere.

There were very interesting features on August 18, 2022. At the top is a filament in the shape of a circle. It is also raised quite a distance above the chromosphere. Going down to the right thee is a very large and thick filament. Just to the left of that filament is a sunspot (AR3081) surrounded by a plage.

Capture location: Elkridge, Maryland USA

Telescope: Lunt LS60T Hα

Double Stack: LS50F Hα

Camera: ZWO ASI178MM

Processing software:

Autostakkert, RegiStax6, Lightroom Classic, Photo Shop

Previously unprocessed image from May 15, 2019. Keeping busy on a dark, stormy night, while sheltering in place.

Celestron EdgeHD 8 telescope, f/10, 2032 mm focal length

ZWO ASI290MM Camera

Celestron Advanced VX Mount

I do not know how many video frames were stacked for this image. The video was captured with Firecapture software, followed by pre-processing with PIPP, stacking with AutoStakkert!3, wavelets processing with Registax 6 and finally post-processing with Photoshop CS 2020

Image cropped to a 2x3 ratio and rotated.

Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer mount (it has a lunar tracking mode available) + Sky-Watcher Evostar 72ED (72/420mm) + filter wheel with Baader LRGB filters set (for the transit UV/IR filter was used) + Barlow 2x + ZWO ASI174MM camera. To get the color shot R, G and B channels, 3000 frames per each (and 3000 more through UV/IR filter, which was used as L channel later on). As the Moon doesn't fit the field in this configuration, two panels were shot. ISS cropped out manually using Gimp; stacked and sharpened using cvAstroAlign (25 frames out of 70 went into stack); later on got ISS out using Gimp. Moon stacked using AutoStakkert! 3, then aligned the channels using PlanetarySystemLRGBAligner, then combined to obtain RGB using ImageMagick; L channel added in Gimp. Then assembled the panorama using Hugin. Post-processing in RawTherapee. Added ISS back using Gimp (excluded 37 out of 75 frames)

Earth-orbiting satellites detected an X1.1-class solar flare from sunspot AR3217 on Feb. 11th @ 1548 UTC. (upper right). These images were taken a few hours after the event.

Although this X1-class solar flare attracted all the attention, it did not produce a CME (coronal mass ejection). Five hours before the X-flare, a filament of magnetism erupted from the sun's northern hemisphere and hurled a CME into space. This produced the G1 aurora show last night (2023-02-14)

Three versions of the same image each provide different views of the solar surface. Black and white (native), inverted black and white, and false colour.

Best 12% of 1,000 frames.

Equipment details:

Orion 80mm refractor

Quark Chromosphere filter

ZWO2600MM Pro using ROI

Processed in Autostakkert, IMPPG and Photoshop

Tycho is the crater at center.

This was taken with a Celestron C8 SCT telescope and ZWO ASI183MC Pro color camera. About 1000 frames at 40 frames per second were taken, with the best 30% being stacked in AutoStakkert. The image was further processed in Pixinsight using the newer BlurXTerminator module which REALLY brought out some terrific detail!

Aberkenfig, South Wales

Lat 51.542 N Long 3.593 W

16 single shot RAW images 1/400s @ ISO 200 obtained with a 254mm Skywatcher Newtonian & Olympus E410 at prime focus.

Images converted to TIFF format then stacked with AutoStakkert! 3.1.4.

Wavelets processed with Registax 6.

Final processing with G.I.M.P.

Lunar south uppermost.

The atmosphere became very still for about 20 minutes on this night. The raw video coming from the camera had so much detail.

This from 16 30 s SER files taken with a ZWO ASI224MC camera with 3x Barlow and a ZWO UV/IR cut filter through the C14 at Cerritos College. I used FIreCapture to take this data. SER files were used to create stacks of the best 35% of about 600 frames in AutoStakkert, and those stacks were processed in PixInsight. The resulting images were registered and derotated in WinJUPOS, with the result undergoing some final tweaks in GIMP.

CM I: 308.4°

CM II: 81.2°

CM III: 232.2°

Jupiter and Ganymede, photographed from my backyard in Long Beach, CA

Autostakkert did a better job of tracking Ganymede when it was closer to the disk of Jupiter. I was able to get some surface detail on the Galilean moon in this image.

30 s SER files were taken with a ZWO ASI120MM camera through Optolong CCD RGB filters on a Celestron Edge HD 925 telescope using FireCapture. The top 75% of frames went into 7 stacks of each color filter. These stacks were made in AutoStakkert, then sharpened in PixInsight. Stacks were combined and derotated in WinJUPOS, and the resulting R, G, and B images were combined in WinJUPOS to make a de-rotated single color image. Color balancing in Registax, then final touches in Photoshop.

Autostakkert didn't seem to pick up Ganymede in these images, thus rendering it featureless.

CM longitudes:

System I: 103.1°

System II: 256.9°

System III: 181.2°

ZWO ASI178MC

Meade LX850 (12" f/8)

Losmandy G11

3000 frames captured in FireCapture

Best 50% stacked in AutoStakkert!

Intial wavelet sharpening and noise reduction in RegiStax

Final sharpening and noise reduction in PhotoShop

Obtained with my Skywatcher 254mm Newtonian, Tal 2x Barlow and a recently purchased ZWO ASI 385MC.

On each image about 1500 to 1700 frames stacked with AutoStakkert! 3.1.4. Wavelets processed with Registax and final adjustments with G.I.M.P.

Lunar south is uppermost.

Tycho crater on the moon. Yesterday I put my Celestron C11 telescope outside to take some moon imagery again since a long time. This was my first telescope and I'm still so happy with it... Taken at f/10 (2.8m focal length).

Mosaic made with an ASI174mm @ 60fps 1024x768 (larger my computer can't handle ) Stacked with autostakkert and sharpened using astra image software.

Instrument de prise de vue: Sky-watcher T250/1000 Newton F4

Caméra d'imagerie: QHY5III462

Monture: Skywatcher AZ-EQ6 Pro Goto USB

Instrument de guidage: sans

Caméra de guidage: Sans

Logiciels: Stellarium - ScharpCap - AutoStakkert - RegiStax 6 - Darktable - FastStone Images Viewer

Filtres: IR-Cut / IR-Block ZWO (M48)

Accessoire: GPU coma-correcteur Sky-watcher + Barlow Keppler x2.5 (x3.5 réel suivant mon montage)

Dates: 9 Avril 2022- 20h55

Images unitaires: SER (1000x82.49ms) 10% retenues - Gain 0

Intégration: --

Échantillonnage: 0.17 arcsec/pixel

Seeing: 2.06"Arc

Echelle d'obscurité de Bortle: 4.50

Phase de la Lune (moyenne): 52% - 7,8 jours

A stacked view of yesterday’s sun showing quite a few sunspots. Imaged in white light (glass filter), best 20% of 500 images. Solar cycle 25 is the current solar cycle, the 25th since 1755, when extensive recording of solar sunspot activity began. The peak solar activity month is currently estimated to be July 2025.

Tech Specs: Sky-Watcher Esprit 120ED Telescope, ZWO ASI2600MC camera, best 20% of 500 images, Sky-Watcher EQ6R-Pro pier mounted, ZWO EAF and ASIAir Pro, captured with SharpCap Pro and processed in Autostakkert. Image Date: July 31, 2023. Location: The Dark Side Observatory (W59), Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).

Genova, Italy (28 Oct 2022 21:25 UT)

Planet: diameter 48.0", mag -2.8, altitude ≈ 44°

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

Mount: EQ5 with ST4 hand controller (no GoTo)

Camera: QHY5III462C Color

Barlow: GSO APO 2.5x

Filter: QHY UV/IR block

Recording scale: 0.150 arcsec/pixel

Equivalent focal length ≈ 3990 mm F/19.7

Image resized: +50%

Recording: SharpCap 4.0

(640x480 @ 60fps - 120 sec - RAW16 - Gain 120)

Best 25% frames of 7233

Alignment/Stacking: AutoStakkert! 3.1.4

Wavelets/Deconvolution: AstroSurface T5

Final Elaboration: GIMP 2.10.30

Sony FE 100-400 GM + 1,4 TC

Stack of 200 pics

Processed with Autostakkert, LR, PS & Astra Image

R,G,B color composite image using IR650nm Longpass filter instead of Red. Images captured at 02:24, 02:26 and 02:29 UT July 6.

Software used, SharpCap, Autostakkert, Winjupos, Registax, Topaz Sharpen AI.

Blue channel only

ZWO ASI290MM/1.25" EFW

TeleVue 2.5x PowerMate

Meade LX850 (12" f/8)

Losmandy G11

FireCapture

PIPP

Autostakkert!

Registax

GIMP

Taken with a Willam Optics 70mm refractor on an EQ5 Pro mount, and Canon 1100D at prime focus

ISO-400 1/3200 sec

Best 65% of 150 images, stacked using Autostakkert! 2, and processed in Adobe Lightroom

ZWO ASI178MC

Meade LX850 (12" f/8)

Losmandy G11

3000 frames captured in FireCapture

Best 50% stacked in AutoStakkert!

Intial wavelet sharpening and noise reduction in RegiStax

Final sharpening noise reduction in PhotoShop

ZWO ASI178MC

Meade LX850 (12" f/8)

Losmandy G11

1100 frames captured in Firecapture

Best 60% stacked in Autostakkert

Finished in Photoshop

Skywatcher 130/900 f/7

QHY 5L-II mono

Filter: Astronomik, planet IR pro 807

Barlow: 5x

9 panels panorama

Processing: AutoStakkert 2.1.0.5, Registax 6, Photoshop

Location: Vironas, Athens, Greece

Date: 26-03-2021

My first image of Jupiter in its 2022 apparition. This image is based on a single 30s run on a RGB filter set. The G channel was added a second time as luminance. Note Jupiter's gibbeous apperance with the eastern limb in shadow.

ZWO ASI290MM/EFW 8 x 1.25"

Meade LX850 (12" f/8) with 2.5x PowerMate

Losmandy G11

On set of 30s x RGB captured with FireCapture

Preprocessed with PIPP

Best 10% of frames stacked in Autostakkert

Wavelet sharpening in Registax

RGB combination and finishing in Photoshop

Mars sets over Schüter and Grimaldi as the moon occults Mars. Since events precluded a realtime capture, I produced this composite from data shot 4 hours before the Occultation.

Location: 8-12-2022 St Helens UK.

Acquisition:Mars- best 5% of 5000x 2.5ms each RGB gain 400.

Moon- best 20% of 200x 1ms each RGB gain 400.

Equipment:Skywatcher 200P, EQ6R-Pro. Altair H183Mpro. ZWO EAF, EFWmini with RGB filters.

Software:Sharpcap Pro, EQMOD.

Processing:AutoStakkert, Registax 6, Affinity Photo2 with Topaz DeNoiseAI plug in.

The position of Mars with respect to the lunar craters was obtained from Stellarium. Since the data was obtained 4 hours before the time of the occultation, the details on the surface of Mars will be different due to its rotation.

Buenos Aires 2018-06-27 22:51 UT -3

Equipo: Star Adventurer - Mak 102 f/12,7 - Canon 6D - Telextender 3x

Video RAW Magic Lantern - ISO 6400 - 1/64s - 640 x 480 px

Apilado 75% de 1940 frames - Drizzle 1,5x

Procesado: MLV_DUMP - PIPP - AutoStakkert/3 - Photoshop - Lightroom

Hardware: ZWO-ASI174MM, EOS-90D, Meade SN10, iOptron CEM60

Software: Firecapture, Autostakkert! & Photoshop 2020

I thought I would opt for something a little less grey !

Télescope Schmidt Cassegrain F/D = 10 Celestron NexStar 6 SE + APN compact Nikon Coolpix S200 en mode vidéo en projection à l'oculaire. Photos extraites d'un film AVI, empilées et traitées avec AutoStakkert et Registax 6

Single image panorama of the day-night terminator on last night's moon. Please explore at higher resolutions via "view all sizes".

1,340 video frames sacked into a single image with AutoStakkert!3 software, 3x drizzle. Wavelets applied in Registax 6. Post-processing and cropping in Photoshop CC 2018.

Celestron Omni XT 1000/100mm refractor

Ioptron ZEQ25GT mount

Solarscope DSF 70mm dual stacked etalons

ZWO ASI174MM CMOS camera

Processed in AutoStakkert!3 and RegiStax 6 and Photoshop

Celestron C11, Tele Vue 2.5x Powermate, ZWO ASI462MC, Pierro Astro ADC

6 single shot colour captures taken over 8mins; de-rotated in Winjupos - Firecapture, Autostakkert, Registax & Photoshop

another attempt at processsing, the same data, but this time using much finer wavelets in Registax :D

Merseyside, UK

Used 8in Dob with ASI174MM camera with 642nm bandpass filter. Four image stitch, each stitch 4,000 images stacked. Processed in Autostakkert, Registax, Faststone Image Viewer and ICE.

What a difference stacking makes! I tried using AutoStakkert for once (sorry Registax!) using the drizzle option and the results are brilliant.

Taken at the eclipse event at Earlsdon Primary on March 20th 2015 - the partial solar eclipse across Britain!

This image is about comparing Photoshop processing (my customary tool) of lunar data to PixInsight processing. This image, processed in PixInsight, is rendered from the same data as the Crater Copernicus image processed in Photoshop and posted on 2022-08-22.

My impression of this image is that although it reveals more detail than the one originally posted, there seems to be some remaining softness that can be improved by better seeing and use of a UV-IR cutt filter

After registration and stacking in Autostakkert, all follow on processing to this image was in PixInsight instead of Photoshop.

PixInsight processes used:

ChannelExtraction to pull out separate RGB channel images

LinearFit to normalize channel levels

ColorCombination to reassemble into a single RGB image

UnsharpMask for sharpening

CurvesTransformation for RGB, saturation and CIE c* component stretches

Saturn, about a month before opposition. This was the night of the Mars-Jupiter conjunction.

I shot this with the C14 on Cerritos College campus with a ZWO ASI224MC, 3x Barlow, ADC, and UV/IR cut filter. SER videos were captured using FireCapture 2.7. This image is produced from 9 separate 60 s SER files taken between 0916 and 0926 UTC. Elsa Anaya and Carlos Leiva were capturing the data for this image. Videos were stacked in AutoStakkert, and the results were processed in PixInsight. WinJUPOS was used to register the images and derotate them. The result from WinJUPOS underwent some small adjustments in PixInsight and GIMP.

I imaged Bailly Crater on February 25, 2021, luckily the illumination provided enough shadow for a decent image. The unstable atmosphere and winds only allowed me to grab about 2000 frames during each run, so the final image is not as crisp as I would like it. From Wikipedia - One of the largest wall-surrounded plains on the moon, almost a "sea" in miniature, extending 150 miles from N. to S., and fully as much from E. to W. Named in honor of Jean Sylvain Bailly; French astronomer (1736-1793).

TECH SPECS: Meade 12” LX-90, Celestron CGEM-DX pier mounted, ZWO ASI290MC, Antares Focal Reducer. Captured using SharpCap v3.2, stacked in Autostakkert (best 20% of 2000 images), sharpened in Registax, final image processed in Corel Paintshop Pro. Image Date: February 25, 2021. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA.

Jupiter, photographed from Long Beach, CA

30 s SER files were taken with a ZWO ASI120MM camera through Optolong CCD RGB filters on a Celestron Edge HD 925 telescope. The top 45% of frames went into 7 stacks of each color filter. These stacks were made in AutoStakkert, then sharpened in PixInsight. Stacks were combined and derotated in WinJUPOS, and the resulting R, G, and B images were combined in WinJUPOS to make a de-rotated single color image. Color balancing in Registax, then final touches in Photoshop.

This is the side of Jupiter opposite the Great Red Spot.

CM longitudes:

System I: 100.1°

System II: 228.7°

System III: 141.4°

Acqusition time: 09.08.2016 around 09:20 MSK

TIS DMK 23U274 via Daystar Quark on Meade series 6000 80 mm ED triplet

145 out of 1000 frames were stacked in AS!2, deconvolved AstraImage 3.0 PRO (Richardson-Lucy aggressive, Cauchy-type, 0,3 pixels, 10 iterations). Contrast enchancement masking-blending, coloration and composing were done in PS.

First Quarter Moon

Taken May 29, 2020 in Seattle, WA.

Telescope: TEC 180 @ f/5

Camera: QHY600M ROI to 3212 x 3212 pixels

Mount: Astro-Physics 900

Processed in Autostakkert (align and stack) and PixInsight 1.8 (wavelet sharpening)

In questa foto, due grandi macchie solari segnano il progressivo aumento dell’attività solare, che viene misurata in cicli di undici anni a partire dal 1755. Attualmente il Sole si trova nel venticinquesimo ciclo, iniziato a fine 2019, e sta progressivamente raggiungendo il massimo, che avverrà nel 2025. Con l’aumento dell’attività si manifestano forti perturbazioni magnetiche, con la comparsa di regioni attive sulla superficie. In questa immagine della cromosfera solare, ripresa il 19 Gennaio 2023 alle 12.26 (Tempo Medio dell’Europa Centrale, TMEC), sono visibili due grandi regioni attive catalogate come AR3190 (in basso) e AR3191/AR3192 (in alto). Quando osserviamo la cromosfera con un filtro che isola la lunghezza d’onda dell’idrogeno ionizzato (H-alpha) queste regioni appaiono come una complessa associazione di zone brillanti (facole) e scure (macchie). La macchia associata alla regione 3190 è una delle più grandi apparse nell’attuale ciclo solare: è grande quattro volte la Terra è potrebbe essere vista ad occhio nudo, naturalmente utilizzando una adeguata schermatura per gli occhi.

Scope: LUNT LS60T Ha

Mount: 10micron GM2000 hps II

Camera: ZWO ASI 174mm

Processing: Autostakkert!3 - PixInsight