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Taken with a Skywatcher ED100 Refractor using a Herschel Wedge and a Canon 600D at prime focus ( 900mm )
More commonly known as the Crescent Nebula but sometimes called the Euro Nebula because of its resemblance to the currency.
This is the latest series of data captured and processed over 5 nights from GrandMesaObservatory.com in Purdy Mesa Western Colorado using the Sky-Watcher Esprit 150mm ED F7.0 Triplet APO Refractor courtesy of Sky-Watcher USA.
The data is from “System 2” and available through Grand Mesa Observatory’s Subscription services which you can read more about here: grandmesaobservatory.com/equipment-rentals
The 2 renderings in Hubble Palette (SHO) and the more natural LRGB with H-Alpha and OIII were assembled and processed in Photoshop CC, we acquired the data using the QHY163M Monochrome CCD and all 7 filters LRGB and Narrowband Ha, OIII and SII Filters by Optolong
In the Hubble Palette version the H-Alpha is mapped to Green, SII is mapped to Red and OIII is mapped to Blue and I used the natural stars from LRGB. With the LRGB version H-Alpha is mapped to red and OIII mapped to blue.
57 individual frames make up these images having a total Integration time of 12.8 hours
Image technical and capture details
By: Terry Hancock
Location: GrandMesaObservatory.com Purdy Mesa, Colorado
Dates: captured over 5 nights May 24, 25th, 29th, June 3rd and 8th 2019
H Alpha 19x900
OIII 12x900
SII 13x900
LUM 4x600
RGB 3x600
Camera: QHY163M Monochrome CMOS with 4/3-Inch sensor
Gain 85, Offset 77, Calibrated with Flat, Dark & Bias
Optics: Sky-Watcher Esprit 150mm ED Triplet APO Refractor
Filters by Optolong
Image Acquisition software Maxim DL6.0
Pre Processed in Pixinsight
Post Processed in Photoshop
The Crescent Nebula, located near the middle star that marks the heart of the constellation Cygnus, is a complex arc of gas that’s powered by the machinations of a massive dying star. Called WR 136, this star is just 4-5 million years old, but it’s big enough to have quickly burned through its store of fuel in its core and has now entered a stage where it sheds mass from its outer layer at a prodigious rate, nearly one full solar mass every 10,000 years. This fast-moving hot gas, which moves at a speed of 2,000-3,000 km/s, collides with cooler gas ejected by the star during its quieter days, and the collision excites the gas to emit light. Massive and mass-losing stars like WR 136 are called Wolf-Rayet stars. There are only about 150 such stars known in the Milky Way.
WR 136 will eventually detonate as a supernova when it finally runs of fuel and collapses. The explosion will obliterate the nebula and most other material within several dozen light years of the star. In its place will be a new type of nebula called a “supernova remnant” that consists of a rapidly expanding shock wave that excite the scant atoms lingering in the interstellar medium.
The location of the Crescent Nebula near the star Sadr in the constellation Cygnus, spread out over about 25 light years and lies at a distant 4,700 light years. It’s sometimes called the “Euro” nebula because of its resemblance to the symbol for the currency.
Explanation by publisher and author Brian Ventrudo from one of my ealier images cosmicpursuits.com/275/the-crescent-nebula/
Taken with a Skywatcher ED80 Refractor using a Baader Astrosolar Filter and a Canon 600D at prime focus. Best 20 of 40 images stacked using Autostakkert
Melbourne Australia
Skywatcher ED72 with 0.85 reducer/corrector
ASIAIR Pro controlling the Neq6 mount.
ZWO 294mc pro
90 minutes at 600 secs each
optolong L-Extreme
Astropixel processor and photoshop
24x30s R
30x30s G
29x30s B
Imaging telescopes or lenses: Explore Scientific 127 ED APO Carbon
Mounts: SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Artesky Ultraguide 70mm
Guiding cameras: Orion Starshoot Autoguider Orion Starshoot
Focal reducers: Explore Scientific 0.7 Reducer/Flattener
Software: PixInsight · N.I.N.A · PHD2
Filters: ZWO LRGB 1.25" Filters
Accessory: Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox Advance · Pegasus Astro Focus Cube2 · ZWO EFW 1,25"
Skywatcher Evostar 120
Quark Daystar Chromosphere
ZWO ASI120MM Camera
best 40% of 2000 frames sacked in Autostakkert, wavelets adjusted in Registax6 and colour added in PS
SkyWatcher Explorer-130/900 EQ2, 3xBarlow and Vesta Pro webcam.
Stacked in Autostakkert!2 and post processed with Registax 6 and GIMP.
Skywatcher 72ED apo with field flattener,SX Trius 694/filterwheel/OAG (Lodestar) riding on CEM60.
Six 10 minute subframes captured through Ha and OIII filters,stacked in Deepskystacker and colour combined (Ha,OIII,OIII) in Maxim DL4. Processed in Astroart 8 and PS CS2.
Taken 31/10/21
I did a 16 shot stich on the moon last night but the atmosphere just wasn't playing ball! I just couldn't get the level of sharpness that I wanted! Everything was against me! It was windy and the scope bounced around a lot, there was high level cloud and, well, it came out big but not great!
The Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as Messier 51a (M51a) or NGC 5194, is an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy. It lies in the constellation Canes Venatici, and was the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral galaxy. It is 32 million light-years away and 109,000 light years in diameter.
The galaxy and its companion, NGC 5195, are easily observed by amateur astronomers, and the two galaxies may be seen with binoculars. The Whirlpool Galaxy has been extensively observed by professional astronomers, and its pair with NGC 5195 who study it to understand galaxy structure and galaxy interactions. Its pair with NGC 5194 is among the most famous and relatively close interacting systems.
Skywatcher 200 Quattro f4
Skywatcher EQ6R-Pro
Nikon Z8 with f4 Coma Corrector
Stacked 35 Frames 120s
M97 and M108
The Owl Nebula (also known as Messier 97, M97 or NGC 3587) is a planetary nebula located approximately 2,030 light years away in the constellation Ursa Major.[2] It was discovered by French astronomer Pierre Méchain on February 16, 1781
Messier 108 (also known as NGC 3556) is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781 or 1782. From the perspective of the Earth, this galaxy is seen almost edge-on.
The image consists of the following
23x180S - Red
23x180S - Green
23x180S - Blue
25x180S - Luminance
25 Darks, 25 Flats and 25 BIAS frames have also been applied
Equipment Used:-
Imaging Scope: Sky-Watcher Quattro Series 8-CF F4 Imaging Newtonian
Flattener: Sky-Watcher Aplanatic Coma Corrector
Imaging Camera: Atik Cameras 383L+ Mono CCD -20C
Guide Scope: Celestron Telescopes C80ED Reftractor
Guide Camera: Qhyccd QHY5L-II
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ8 Pro
Filterwheel: Starlight Xpress Ltd 7x36mm EFW
Filters: Baader Planetarium 36mm Unmounted LRGB
Image Capture: Main Sequence Software SGPro
Image Stacking: Maxim-DL
Image Processing: PixInsight
SkyWatcher 70mm SK707AZ2 + Filter Thousand Oaks
Eyepiece: super 10mm.
Edited with MS Picture Manager.
Taken with a Skywatcher ED80 Refractor fitted with a Baader Astrosolar Filter and a Canon 600D at prime focus
Lufthansa A330-343 Detroit - Franfurt flying at 37,000ft
D750 connected to dobsonian 10" skywatcher telescope
Trying out the Skywatcher Star Adventurer Pro tracker.
Polar alignment with QHY PoleMaster.
I've fitted a ZWO miniscope and ASI120 mm s guide camera to the L bracket so will be able to guide in RA in the future. Didn't set that up for this image.
Fairly easy to adjust tracking alignment - some vibration and lost subs if I moved too close or walked near mount - may need a heavier tripod than my Manfrotto 055 - at least for backyard.
Taken with a modified Canon 80D with an IDAS D1 light pollution filter and a Samyang 135mm lens wide open at f/2.
40 x 50 second subs at ISO100.
Light pollution measured at 19.44 mag/arcsec2 - fairly poor for my site - maybe snow on the ground has affected that.
Session terminated by some cloud moving in - I like the idea of letting this tracker run for hours - my AstroTrac tt320x ag could only run for about 100 minutes before reaching end of timing screw.
90 x flat frames
90 x dark frames
90 x bias frames
Image processed in PixInsight 1.8.6 and Photoshop 2019 CC
SkyWatcher 70mm SK707AZ2 + Filter Thousand Oaks + barlow 2X + super 25mm.
Afocal, Lumia 640 IS0250 1/68s f/2,2 Edited with MS Picture Manager and Photofiltre.
Skywatcher 200P ASI1120MC 3xbarlow
Was pretty good 'seeing' conditions and clear sky that night, only slight downside was my scope was out of collimation, but not enough to ruin the image, a rare night where it all came together without incident :) captured using SHARPCAP2, stacked best 20% out of 1000 frames @20fps in registax6
OTA: Newtonian Celestron 130 mm/f5 modified
Mount: Skywatcher Heq 5
Imaging Camera: Canon 700D astro modified
Telescope Guide: Gso 50mm
Camera Guide: QHY5L II Mono
Baader Mk III Coma Corrector
Polemaster Eletronic Polar Scope
Total Exposure: 02:30 hours (subs 300 sec)
Deep Sky Stacker: Calibration and stacking
Adobe Photoshop Cs2 : Data Processing
Guide: PHD Guiding 2
Darks, Dark Flats, Flats and Bias apply
Serra Negra ( Bortle 4) /São Paulo/Brasil . 05/2024
Telescope: Skywatcher 250PDS (Motor Focus)
Camera: ASI178MM Mono
Manual Filter Wheel RGB (Bader)
Capture Software: SharpcapPro
X3 AVI Video clips 15 seconds, just over 1000 frames
Second AVI created in PiPP
Stacked and wavelets in Registax
RGB Combined in Photoshop + layer and colour adjustment.
Finding from previous attempts at this target changing the filter was knocking out the focus. So I had to carefully refocus each channel. I also had to act quickly as I wanted to complete the capture within 90 seconds as Mars turns quite quickly. Unfortunatley halfway through the final capture my scope decided to do a meridian flip. I must find a way of stopping that. Anyway I had to start again. I ran 5 sets of the 3 colours. Number 3 seemed best, So that is what I processed.
I first processed in AutoStakkert but for some reason the Tif files would not "merge Channels" in Photoshop. The option was greyed out. ! I couldn't run them straight into Registax as I find with the resolution I use with this camera Registax locks up. (If anybody knows a way around that let me know please) Anyhow after running through PiPP Registax seems fine.
There are plenty of better Mars pictures out there but this is my best so far. My telescope is in need of the primary mirror being cleaned and I think collomation. I think I will try to do that before opposition in a few weeks time.
DATA from CALSKY
Altitude: 45.012°
Azimuth: 184.398°
Direction: South S
Visual magnitude: -2.3 mag,
Surface Brightness: 4.1 mag/arcsec^2
Phase: 97.1%, Phase Angle: 19.54°
Diameter: 21.77"
Maximum video capture time due to object rotation:
4" apperture: 12.3 Minutes; 6": 8.2m; 8": 6.2m; 10": 4.9m; 12": 4.1m; 14": 3.5m
Illuminated fraction: 97.1%
Skywatcher Skymax 102 OTA
Skywatcher Star Adventurer Pro
ZWO ASI 120MC-S
Processed in PiPP, Autostakkert3 and Registax 6
Nikon d610 camera
Nikkor 80-200 f2.8 AF-D @ 185mm
Tracked with the Skywatcher Star Adventurer
Total exposure time: 6hrs, iso800 f4
Stacked in DSS
Processed in Photoshop
Venus taken using a Skywatcher 200P Telescope and QHY5 camera, from Oldham UK. By Sarah Hall & Colin Campbell on the 23/05/2015
Early start this morning. The insert was taken using a Mono CCD camera 2000 frames of video stacked in Registax and tweaked in photoshop. Scope was a Skywatcher 250 pds. The main picture was with my iphone 7plus.
The Venus close up was taken around 5:15am. The main picture about 20 minutes later. It really was a most beautiful site to see. Very bright in the sky.
SkyWatcher 70mm SK707AZ2 + Filter Thousand Oaks + barlow 2X + super 25mm.
Afocal, Lumia 640 IS0200 1/125s f/2,2 Edited with MS Picture Manager and Photofiltre.
A sequence of the Sun where is possible to see three lined sunspots look alike "Orion's Belt".
Copyright and personal information:
My name: Cornelis van Zuilen
My instagram: www.instagram.com/cvz_astrophotography/
Heiloo, The Netherlands
Equipment used:
Telescope: Askar 103APO
Main camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro
Filters: Optolong L-Pro
Guidescope: SvBony Sv106 50mm
Guide camera: ZWO ASI224MC
Mount: Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro
Exposures:
Optolong L-Pro
3hr 57min
79x 300sec
Calibration frames for each stack:
20 Darks
20 Flats
20 Dark flats
Processed in Pixinsight
Extra information:
I made this image with my own equipment from my balcony here in The Netherlands
Some beautiful limb prominences on our local star. Shot though light cloud.
Skywatcher 120mm Evostar
Quark Chromosphere
PG Blackfly IMX249
Aberkenfig, South Wales
Lat +51.542 Long -3.593
Skywatcher 254mm Newtonian Reflector, Tal 3x Barlow Lens, ZWO ASI 120MC Astronomical Imaging Camera.
9000 frames on each image captured using Firecapture. Then 2000 to 2500 frames processed with Registax 6 for each one.
Final images size scaled up by 150%
G.I.M.P. used for the final levels, montage & annotations.
Seeing conditions good to very good.
The initial images showing The Mare Cimmerium & Syrtis Minor. Then the rotation of the planet revealing The Syrtis Major & Hellas Basin.
Taken through a skywatcher 250 telescope with a canon 500D attached
It was actually taken in daylight just as the sun was setting, that is whats giving the plane all the light.
It was a rushed shot and i didnt have chance to set up the camera up with the right settings, luckily i could recover the picture with photoshop by adding contrast and sharpness
Made it to the front page of the astronomy photographer of the year front page :)
www.rmg.co.uk/visit/exhibitions/astronomy-photographer-of...
Taken with a Skywatcher ED80 Refractor and a Canon 600D at prime focus. Best 20 of 40 images stacked using Registax 6, seeing fairly good tonight. Camera settings were ISO200 1000th second exposure. Focal length of telescope is 600mm at F7.5
This is the latest project of mine captured from GrandMesaObservatory.com in Western Colorado and first light images using the Sky-Watcher Esprit 150mm ED F7.0 Triplet APO Refractor that Sky-Watcher USA have sent to us for testing.
I acquired the data in Color using LRGB Filters and I added H-Alpha to the red channel and as a luminance layer. For the Hubble Palette image these were captured using Chroma 5nm filters, Ha was binned 1x1, OIII and SII binned 2x2.
I’m very impressed with the Sky-Watcher 150 Esprit, using the big chip QHY16200A CCD Monochome camera with an OAG the Esprit 150 gives a very sharp image and a nice flat field, (Sky-Watcher quote a 43mm image circle), although a little slower than the TAK130, image quality is superb and unlike many APO refractors I have owned or tested the Esprit has a dedicated Field Flattener/corrector. For Autofocusing we purchased the Starizona Micro-Touch stepper motor which slips onto the dual speed side of the focuser, I’m using TheSkyX @ focus 3 for autofocus and it works great.
Total Integration time Hubble Palette 9.25 hours
Image capture details
Terry Hancock downunderobservatory.com
Location: GrandMesaObservatory.com Purdy Mesa, Colorado
Hubble Palette Image
Dates: July 7, 24, 26, 2018
H-Alpha 255 min, 17 x 900 sec, bin 1x1
OIII 150 min, 15 x 600 sec, bin 2x2
SII 150 min, 15 x 600 sec, bin 2x2
Camera: QHY16200A
Gain 0, Offset 130, Calibrated with flat, Dark & Bias
Optics: Sky-Watcher Esprit 150mm ED Triplet APO Refractor
Filters by Chroma (Narrowband are 5nm)
Image Acquisition software Maxim DL5
Pre Processed in Pixinsight
Post Processed in Photoshop
The Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635)
NGC 7635, also called the Bubble Nebula, Sharpless 162, or Caldwell 11, is a H II region emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia. It lies close to the direction of the open cluster Messier 52 which can be seen in this image upper left. The "bubble" is created by the stellar wind from a massive hot, 8 magnitude young central star. The nebula is near a giant molecular cloud which contains the expansion of the bubble nebula while itself being excited by the hot central star, causing it to glow. It was discovered in 1787 by William Herschel
SkyWatcher 300PDS, ZWO ASI294MC Pro, Baader solar film and Baader Continuum filter. Processed using AS!3, Registax6 and GIMP.
Shot using Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer + Sky-Watcher Evostar 72ED + field flattener + Nikon D610. 53 shots stacked (180 seconds exposure at ISO200). Pre-processing in SIRIL. Post-processing in SIRIL and RawTherapee; later sent through starfixer
A spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici, also in the M51 (whirlpool) group about 29 million light years away.
40 240s lights (2 hours 40 minutes) with flats and bias. Dithered.
Telescope: - Skywatcher 130PDS Newtonian.
Camera: - Nikon D3100.
ISO: 400. Automated white balance
Filters: - Baader Mark-III MPCC Coma Corrector. IDAS D2 Light Pollution Suppression Filter
Flats taken with a Huion L4S Light Box and a white t-shirt.
Wireless Remote: PIXEL TW-283 DC2 2.4G.
Mount: - Skywatcher EQ6R.
Guiding: Skywatcher EvoGuide 50ED & ZWO ASI120MM-Mini.
Polar Aligned with SharpCap Pro.
Control Software: - Stellarium Scope, Stellarium, Poth Hub, EQMOD, All Sky Plate Solver, PHD Guiding 2 and PHD Dither Timer.
Processing Software: Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker, edited in Star Tools and cropped in PS Lightroom.
Moon: Around about new
Light Pollution and Location: - Bortle 8 in Davyhulme, Manchester.
Seeing: - Average/Not Great
Notes: - A difficult target perhaps for my equipment and the time of year. I took it over 2 nights which gave me about 3 hours each night and I had to scrap a load of frames. I don’t think the seeing was as good as previous astronomy sessions. I’m not willing to give this anymore time at the moment and I want to try something else. I will perhaps try again in March or April in the future when there is still actual night time.
The remote shutter cable for the D3100 is flimsy and yet again this broke meaning I had to order a new one. I’ve also ordered one that will go into the snap port in the mount. I really want to consolidate the amount of software I use to take these pictures and improve on the automation. I think I’ve finally found something that may work called NINA so I am excited to try that out.
Exif:
Mount: Skywatcher EQ-5 Pro GoTO
Scope: Lacerta 72/432 w/ 0,85 reducer
Camera: Pentax K-1 (unmodified)
Guider: Orion 50mm and Zwo 120mm mini with ASIAIR
Exposures:
22x600s, ISO800
28x300s, ISO800
Calibrated with dark and bias.