View allAll Photos Tagged skywatcher

Equipment:

 

Scope: Lacerta 72/432 F6 0.85x reduktorral (367mm F5.1)

Mount: Skywatcher EQ-5 Pro Synscan Goto

Guiding: OAG

Guide camera: ZWO ASI120mm Mini

Main camera: ZWO ASI183MM-Pro cooled monochrome camera

 

Accessories:

 

ZWO ASIAIR Pro

ZWO EFW 8x1.25"

ZWO EAF

ZWO OAG

ZWO 1.25 Helical focuser

Lacerta Dew-heater 30cm

 

Programs:

 

PixInsight

Adobe Photoshop CC 2020

 

Details:

 

Camera temp: -15°C

Gain: 53

Astronomik L-3 UV-IR Block: 200x180s

Astronomik Deep-Sky R: 25x180s

Astronomik Deep-Sky G: 25x180s

Astronomik Deep-Sky B: 25x180s

 

Bortle Scale: 4

Location: Isaszeg, Hungary

Acquisition date(s):

2021.05.09., 2021.05.10., 2021.05.11., 2021.05.12., 2021.05.20., 2021.05.21.

Mount: SkyWatcher HEQ5 Pro

Guiding: ZWO ASI 120MM Mini USB 2.0 Mono Camera - Orion 50mm Guide Scope

Filter: Astronomik CLS CCD EOS APS-C Clip-Filter

Camera: Canon EOS 70D (full spectrum modified)

Askar 80 PHQ F7.5 Quadruplet Astrograph Telescope

Focal length: 600mm

Astronomik CLS CCD Clip Filter

ISO 800 - f7.5

4 hour total Integration (180 sec each frame)

Darks: 20 frames

Flats: 20 frames

Bios: 20 frames

DarkFlats: 20 frames

Bortle 5/6

Apps: N.I.N.A. > PHD2 > ASCOM > EQMOD

PixInsight > Photoshop > StarXTerminator > NoiseXTerminator

imaged using Panasonic micro 4/3 rds GF 6. Attached directly on to Skywatcher star travel 80 achromatic refracting telescope .

this combination results in a effective focal length of 800mm. .

Cloud cover spoilt moon rise but brief clear spell later in the evening enabled imaging with moon high in sky.

 

26th May 2021

Image Gallery

The Moon passes through Earth's shadow.

-----------------------------------------------

ZWO ASI 071 camera

Skywatcher Esprit 120 telescope

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My Flickr Astronomy Album

  

SkyWatcher 70mm SK707AZ2 + Filter Thousand Oaks + super 25mm + barlow 2X.

 

Edited with MS Picture Manager and Photofiltre.

 

It's possible the 2974, 2975, 2976, 2977, 2978 and 2980 spots this time.

NGC 3324 is an open cluster in the southern constellation Carina (the same constellation as our previous image of ETA Carina Nebula)

It is sometimes called the "Gabriela Mistral Nebula" due to its resemblance to the Chilean poet. It is approximately 7560 light years from Earth and is 6.754 million years old.

Once again, this was not our intended target for the night. Trying to resolve the guiding issues of the previous image of ETA Carina Nebula, I decided to remove the counter weight extention bar on the NEQ6 mount and add an extrea 5Kg weight. I slewed to the Resette nebula, calibated the guiding, and then did a 5 minute exposure. Although the result was better than the previous attempt at the Rosette, the stars were still eggy. I found that the tracking was getting gradually worse as I approached the meridian, but then improved the further I tracked away after the meridian flip. Perhaps balancing could be the issue, but I did find some backlash in the DEC, which I have now tuned out. I am now waiting for another clear night to test again and hopefully capture the Rosette Nebula in narroband.a

 

Equipment Details:

•8 Inch Skywatcher Quattro Carbon Fibre F4.0 Newtonian Reflector

•Skywatcher NEQ6 Mount

•SBIG STT 8300m CCD Camera cooled to -20'c

•SBIG FW8G-STT Filter Wheel

•Baader Ha, Oiii and Sii Filters

•SKywatcher BD 102mm Guide Scope

•Meade DSIii CCD Guide Camera

•Polemaster for polar alignment

 

Exposure Details:

•Ha 15X180 seconds - Bin 1x1

•Oiii 15X180 seconds - Bin 1x1

•Sii 15X180 seconds - Bin 1x1

 

Total Integration Time: 2 hours and 15 minutes

NGC 3576 nebula in the Sagittarius arm of our galaxy . A popular name for the nebula is "The Statue of Liberty" because of the distinctive shape in the middle of the nebula.

This is the same data used in the previous image, but processed in the Hubble palette with the stars removed.

 

Equipment Details:

•8 Inch Skywatcher Quattro Carbon Fibre F4.0 Newtonian Reflector

•Skywatcher NEQ6 Mount

•SBIG ST2000xm CCD Camera cooled to -20'c

•SBIG CFW8 Filter Wheel

•Astranomik Ha and Oiii Filters

•SKywatcher BD 102mm Guide Scope

•Meade DSIii CCD Guide Camera

•Polemaster for polar alignment

 

Exposure Details:

•Ha 22X180 seconds - Bin 1x1

•Oiii 25X180 seconds - Bin 1x1

•Sii 22X180 seconds - Bin 1x1

 

Total Integration Time: 3 hours and 27 minutes

New Version of Bode´s and Cigar Galaxy.

Combined Lights of 3 Nights

146 x 90s

52 x 120s

plus Darks, Flats, Bias

Sony a6000a

Skywatcher 150/750 PDS

NGC 3324 is an open cluster in the southern constellation Carina

It is sometimes called the "Gabriela Mistral Nebula" due to its resemblance to the Chilean poet. It is approximately 7560 light years from Earth and is believed to be .754 million years old.

  

Equipment Details:

•8 Inch Skywatcher Quattro Carbon Fibre F4.0 Newtonian Reflector

•Skywatcher NEQ6 Mount

•SBIG STT 8300m CCD Camera cooled to -20'c

•SBIG FW8G-STT Filter Wheel

•Baader Ha, Oiii and Sii Filters

•SKywatcher BD 102mm Guide Scope

•Meade DSIii CCD Guide Camera

•Polemaster for polar alignment

 

Exposure Details:

•Ha 15X180 seconds - Bin 1x1

•Oiii 15X180 seconds - Bin 1x1

•Sii 15X180 seconds - Bin 1x1

 

Total Integration Time: 2 hours and 15 minutes

The Omega Nebula, also known as the Swan Nebula is an area of Hii in the constellation Sagittarius. It was discovered in 1745 by Philippe Loys de Chéseaux and Charles Messier catalogued it in 1764 as M17. It is about 6000 light years from Earth.

Capturing this image in narrowband brings out a lot more detail than that which is visable in broadband imaging.

 

Equipment Details:

• 8 Inch Skywatcher Quattro Carbon Fibre F4.0 Newtonian Reflector

• Skywatcher NEQ6 Mount

• SBIG ST2000xm CCD Camera cooled to -20'c

• SBIG CFW8 Filter Wheel

• Astranomik Ha, Sii and Oiii Filters

• SKywatcher BD 102mm Guide Scope

• Meade DSIii CCD Guide Camera

• Polemaster for polar alignment

• Processed using PixInsight

 

Exposure Details:

• Ha 23 X 180 seconds - Bin 1x1

• Oiii 25 X 180 seconds - Bin 1x1

• Sii 25 X 180 seconds - Bin 1x1

• Cooled at 0'c

 

Total Integration Time: 3 hours and 45 minutes

Skywatcher Evostar Pro 80 ED (w/.85x reducer/corrector & QHYCCD Polemaster), Skywatcher EQM-35, Nikon D3300.

 

125 lights x 90 s @ ISO 800, ~45 dark, ~45 flat, ~100 bias, stacked in DSS and post-processed in Photoshop.

A widefield look at the Constellation Orion. I've been meaning to do this for awhile and I'm pretty happy with the results!

 

Equipment:

Skywatcher EQ6-R Mount

Noct-NIKKOR 58mm f/1.2 Ai-S

Sony a7RIII (unmodified)

Altair 60mm Guide scope

GPCAM2 Mono Camera

 

Acquisition:

Taos, NM: my backyard - Bortle 3

10 x 300" for 50 min and 20 sec of exposure time.

4 dark frames

15 flats frames

15 bias frames

 

Software:

SharpCap

DeepSkyStacker

Photoshop

 

My mount was polar aligned with SharpCap (what an amazing system for aligning). I then mounted my a7RIII and adapted Noct-NIKKOR 58mm f/1.2 Ai-S lens at f/2/8 to the top rail of my scope. I used SharpCap to achieve "excellent" polar alignment. I shot ISO 400, f/2.8 and 300" exposures. I stacked lights/darks/flats/bias frames in deepskystacker. I then processed the TIFF file in photoshop stretching the file, minimal cropping and I used Astronomy Tools Action Set to help bring back star color and to enhance the brighter star colors. Topaz Labs Sharpen and Denoise used as well.

Composit aus 2 Bildern.

Lumix GH5 an Skywatcher Maksutov 127/1500 auf UMi17.

 

8 Bilder aus 200 untere Hälfte

7 Bilder aus 200 obere Hälfte

1/100s, ISO 200, F10, 1500/3000 mm äpuiv.

 

Composite of 2 images.

 

Lumix GH5 to Skywatcher Maksutov 127/1500 on UMi17.

  

8 images from 200 lower half

 

7 images from 200 upper half

 

1/100s, ISO 200, F10, 1500/3000 mm aperture.

Equipment:

 

Scope: Lacerta 72/432 F6 0.85x reduktorral (367mm F5.1)

Mount: Skywatcher EQ-5 Pro Synscan Goto

Guiding: OAG

Guide camera: ZWO ASI120mm Mini

Main camera: ZWO ASI183MM-Pro cooled monochrome camera

 

Accessories:

 

ZWO ASIAIR Pro

ZWO EFW 8x1.25"

ZWO EAF

ZWO OAG

ZWO 1.25 Helical focuser

Lacerta Dew-heater 30cm

 

Programs:

 

PixInsight

Adobe Photoshop CC 2020

 

Details:

 

Camera temp: -15°C

Gain: 53, 111

Astronomik 6nm Ha: 155x300s

Astronomik L-3 UV-IR Block: 132x180s

Astronomik Deep-Sky R: 20x180s

Astronomik Deep-Sky G: 20x180s

Astronomik Deep-Sky B: 20x180s

 

Bortle Scale: 4

Location: Isaszeg, Hungary

Acquisition date(s):

2021.02.28., 2021.03.02., 2021.03.06., 2021.03.07., 2021.03.08.

Skywatcher Equinox ED80

HEQ5 pro

Canon 400d

 

My first attempt at The Andromeda galaxy and its satellite galaxies - taken a few years back with a 400d with no astro mod (no removal of IR filter) attached to a telescope and tracking system, still came out very nicely. Taken from the Peak District, UK

 

I have a later attempt in my photostream - i think different aspects of the galaxy are picked up by the modded cam that can not be seen in this image. Interesting to compare - however this was a longer exposure than the modded cam shot was, so i feel with longer the modded cam would out perform this one.

 

Hard to believe this is an island universe containing hundreds of billions of stars, ancient and vast, lying 2.5 million light years away.

actually, a failed night session as my mount stopped working (batteries not loaded) whilst the fifth shot and i did not recognize it due to sitting in my car and falling asleep pretty soon. as i woke up, it was already dawn :( but after a couple of weeks now, i gave it a try :)

 

Camera: Canon 50Da

Lens: Samyang 14mm f/2.8 @ f/4.5

Mount: Skywatcher HEQ5Pro

 

sky:

4x240sec @ ISO1000

5 darks + 10 flats

 

foreground:

single shot at ISO2000 and f/4.5 (well, this was my calibration image to check the PoV)

 

shot under a bortle 4+ sky at 8% waning moon in may 2021

SkyWatcher 70mm SK707AZ2 + Filter Thousand Oaks + super 25mm + barlow 2X.

 

Edited with MS Picture Manager and Photofiltre.

 

It's possible only the tiny 2822 spot.

November 8, 2022. Canon R, Sigma 150-600mm lens, on sky-watcher eq5 mount for tracking.

 

Yes, another M33! Inevitable at this time of year. 96% Moon!!

This was my first clear night in weeks but of course it coincided with a pretty much full Moon. Back in the year I bought an Altair Astro Tri-Band OSC filter which I had not had occasion to use so thought I'd give it a go. I couldn't find many examples taken with this filter so it was an unknown quantity. Quite pleased with the result.

A bit noisy and there were severe 'light pollution' gradients which required processing persistence to eradicate. APP's light pollution removal tool was excellent but not 100% so the remainder was removed manually in Affinity Photo. I thought processing would be quite involved but APP has a setting for this filter type which made it very straight forward.

Nice to know that I can now make use of those clear but Moon filled nights!!

x13, 300 second exposures along with calibration frames.

SkyWatcher 25cm f4 Quattro. Belt modded EQ6. QHY8L OSC camera.

Capture software. APT, PHD2, Cartes De Ciel.

Processing sofware. AstroPixelProccesor, Affinity Photo. Topaz Denoise.

SkyWatcher 70mm SK707AZ2 + Filter Thousand Oaks + super 25mm + barlow 2X.

 

Edited with MS Picture Manager and Photofiltre.

 

It's possible to see the 3153, 3156, 3157, 3160, 3161 and 3162 spots this time.

SkyWatcher 70mm SK707AZ2 + Filter Thousand Oaks + super 25mm + barlow 2X.

 

Edited with MS Picture Manager and Photofiltre.

 

It's possible to see the 3034, 3035, 3038 and 3040 spots this time.

Nice steady seeing conditions on the evening of the 31/05 allowed me to image the 9 day, almost 70% illuminated, gibbous moon.

 

This is a lunar mosaic of individual section images taken with my ASI 224MC camera ( each 1304x976 pixels). These images were then assembled into the final image shown here using Microsoft ICE ( Image Composite Editor).

 

Imaged with a Skywatcher Esprit 120ED and a ZWO 224MC fitted with an IR cut filter.

 

Colours have been slightly boosted ( like to be as subtle as possible - hate gaudy over saturation!) to indicate different composition of lunar regolith.

 

Thanks for looking!

  

The needle galaxy is an edge-on spiral galaxy in the constellation of Coma Berenices. The galaxy lies at a distance of around 40 million light years.

 

The galaxy's core bulges either side of the comparatively thin galactic disc which shows prominent dark dust lanes.

 

A fainter galaxy NGC 4652 is to the left of the Needle and lies at 75 million light years distance. A faint irregular galaxy IC 3571 lies just to the Needle's right.

 

This image is a combination of data obtained on 15/16 April 2021 & 28/29 April 2022.

 

Imaged with a Skywatcher Esprit 120ED & a ZWO 2600MC camera.

 

Total of 282 x 120s subs.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

I think I'm done with it, with this small scope. The Moon is out again, so I decided to add some Ha too it.

Any comments are welcome!

 

Equipment:

 

Scope: Lacerta 72/432 F6 0.85x reduktorral (367mm F5.1)

Mount: Skywatcher EQ-5 Pro Synscan Goto

Guiding: OAG

Guide camera: ZWO ASI120mm Mini

Main camera: ZWO ASI183MM-Pro cooled monochrome camera

 

Accessories:

 

ZWO ASIAIR Pro

ZWO EFW 8x1.25"

ZWO EAF

ZWO OAG

ZWO 1.25 Helical focuser

Lacerta Dew-heater 30cm

 

Programs:

 

PixInsight

Adobe Photoshop CC 2020

 

Details:

 

Camera temp: -15°C

Gain: 53, 111

Astronomik L-3 UV-IR Block: 199x180s

Astronomik 6nm Ha: 67x300s

Astronomik Deep-Sky R: 20x180s

Astronomik Deep-Sky G: 20x180s

Astronomik Deep-Sky B: 19x180s

Bortle Scale: 4

Location: Isaszeg, Hungary

Acquisition date(s):

2021.03.10., 2021.03.11., 2021.03.15., 2021.03.16., 2021.03.17., 2021.03.24., 2021.03.26.

This is an image of the Messier 78 complex M78 in Orion. It is a difficult object from my location due to the strong light pollution here unfortunately but I decided to try.

 

This is also known as the "Casper The Friendly Ghost Nebula" although I'm not entirely sure where this comes from!

 

Certainly the two Nebula, M78 at right and NGC 2071 left, look like two ghostly eyes peering out from the darkness but I wouldn't say they looked friendly, more sinister I would say lol!!

 

However, M78 was discovered in 1780 by Pierre Méchain who passed on its location to Charles Messier who catalogued it as M78.

 

M78 is a reflection nebula, showing the typical sky blue colour and the brightest in this complex. We only see these structures because of the associated stars illuminating the clouds of dust by reflecting their light. The whole complex is surrounded by dark, thick dust and gas adding a sense of mystery. The dust has a slight reddish hue.

 

The complex consists of M78, the brightest at left. Above it are NGC 2067 (l) and NGC 2064(r). The bright nebula to the left of M78 forming the other eye is NGC 2071.

 

Image with a Skywatcher Esprit 120ED scope and a ZWO 2600MC camera.

 

A total of 3hr exposure calibrated with temp. matched darks, flats and dark flats.

 

Thanks for looking!

   

M20 the Trifid nebula on the right and M21 open cluster on the left. M20 is both an emission and reflection nebula hence the two contrasting colours.

This is very low in the sky for me at the moment and I was only just able to get the telescope down lown enough!

25cm Skywatcher Quattro. QHY8L camera at -21°c. EQ6 with PHD & QHY5II autoguiding. 6x5 minutes and flats.

APT for plate solving,framing and camera control. DSS and Photoshop to process the image. Gradient XT saved me on this one!

I wanted to go longer but cloud piled in from the west. Of course by the time I'd done the flats and put everything away it was crystal clear again!!

Shotdate: 13-8-2016

Camera: Nikon D4s

Optics: NIKKOR 24-120mm f4.0 @ 35mm f4.0

Mount: SkyWatcher NEQ6 Pro

Exposure: 60 seconds

ISO-speed: 3200

Lights: 250

Darks: 25

Flats: 18

Bias: 105

 

Stacking in DeepSkyStacker

Post-processing of the background in PixInsight

Adding the meteors in PhotoShop, for a grand total of 29 Percoids and one other.

Taken on the night of 11th April. The planetary nebula M97 aka The Owl and the galaxy M108. M97 is a planetary nebula at a distance of about 2000ly and the galaxy M108 is around 46 million ly! A lovely pairing. There are myriad other galaxies in the frame if studied carefully.

Skywatcher 25cm Quattro CF. Skywatcher EQ6 mount auto guided with PHD. QHY8L camera.

Software used at scope - APT, Carte du Ciel, PHD.

Image processing - Astro Pixel Processor and Photoshop.

10 x 8 minute exposures plus all calibration frames

I've finally given up on Deep Sky Stacker - I know it's free but it just doesn't give the same quality of result that APP does.

NGC 6188 is an emission nebula located about 4,000 light years away in the constellation Ara. The bright open cluster NGC 6193, visible to the naked eye, is responsible for a region of reflection nebulosity within NGC 6188.

 

Equipment Details:

• 8 Inch Skywatcher Quattro Carbon Fibre F4.0 Newtonian Reflector

• Skywatcher NEQ6 Mount

• SBIG STT 8300m CCD Camera cooled to -20'c

• SBIG FW8G-STT Filter Wheel

• Baader Ha, Oiii and Sii Filters

• SKywatcher BD 102mm Guide Scope

• Meade DSIii CCD Guide Camera

• Polemaster for polar alignment

 

Exposure Details:

•Ha 8 X300 seconds - Bin 1x1

•Oiii 6 X300 seconds - Bin 1x1

•Sii 9 X300 seconds - Bin 1x1

 

Total Integration Time: 1 hours and 55 minutes

Equipment:

 

Scope: Lacerta 72/432 F6 0.85x reduktorral (367mm F5.1)

Mount: Skywatcher EQ-5 Pro Synscan Goto

Guiding: OAG

Guide camera: ZWO ASI120mm Mini

Main camera: ZWO ASI183MM-Pro cooled monochrome camera

 

Accessories:

 

ZWO ASIAIR Pro

ZWO EFW 8x1.25"

ZWO EAF

ZWO OAG

ZWO 1.25 Helical focuser

Lacerta Dew-heater 30cm

 

Programs:

 

PixInsight

Adobe Photoshop CC 2020

 

Details:

 

Camera temp: -15°C

Gain: 111

Astronomik 6nm Ha: 23x300s

Astronomik 6nm Oiii: 12x300s

Astronomik 6nm Sii: 18x300s

 

Bortle Scale: 4

Location: Isaszeg, Hungary

Skywatcher 150/750 PDS - 2x Barlow - 1.4 TC - Crop

Equipment:

 

Scope: Lacerta 72/432 F6 0.85x reduktorral (367mm F5.1)

Mount: Skywatcher EQ-5 Pro Synscan Goto

Guiding: OAG

Guide camera: ZWO ASI120mm Mini

Main camera: ZWO ASI183MM-Pro cooled monochrome camera

 

Accessories:

 

ZWO ASIAIR Pro

ZWO EFW 8x1.25"

ZWO EAF

ZWO OAG

ZWO 1.25 Helical focuser

Lacerta Dew-heater 30cm

 

Programs:

 

PixInsight

Adobe Photoshop CC 2020

 

Details:

 

Camera temp: -15°C

Gain: 111

Astronomik 6nm Ha: 62x300s

Astronomik 6nm Oiii: 30x300s

Astronomik 6nm Sii: 25x300s

 

Bortle Scale: 4

Location: Isaszeg, Hungary

Acquisition date(s):

2021.06.04., 2021.06.22., 2021.06.23., 2021.06.24., 2021.06.25., 2021.06.26., 2021.06.27.

Skywatcher 80 T. plus 2x Skywatcher Barlow .Telescope mounting ,Celestron AZ3 .

Atmospheric conditions good.

Total equivalent focal length on 35mm

1,600mm.

a6000a - Skywatcher 150/750 PDS

50 x 90s

NGC 3576 nebula in the Sagittarius arm of our galaxy . A popular name for the nebula is "The Statue of Liberty" because of the distinctive shape in the middle of the nebula.

 

Equipment Details:

•8 Inch Skywatcher Quattro Carbon Fibre F4.0 Newtonian Reflector

•Skywatcher NEQ6 Mount

•SBIG ST2000xm CCD Camera cooled to -20'c

•SBIG CFW8 Filter Wheel

•Astranomik Ha and Oiii Filters

•SKywatcher BD 102mm Guide Scope

•Meade DSIii CCD Guide Camera

•Polemaster for polar alignment

 

Exposure Details:

•Ha 22X180 seconds - Bin 1x1

•Oiii 25X180 seconds - Bin 1x1

•Sii 22X180 seconds - Bin 1x1

 

Total Integration Time: 3 hours and 27 minutes

Close up of the Center of the Very large Nebula. Still not Drunk enough to see a chicken any where in this nebula but I can see a Lioness in profile. A lot of learning editing between these two photos some two years worth and it getting a little easier.

 

QHY 183C -10c 45 shots 10 min each over three nights.

MeLE Mini PC

Pegasus Astro Pocket Mini power box

Prima Luce Essato Focus

Optolong LeNhance filter,

Skywatcher Black DiamondED80 OTA

Skywatcher NEQ 6 Pro Hypertuned

SVbony 50MM Guide scope

QHY5L-II-M Guide camera

Guided PHD2, Nina

Pixinsight, Ps .

Another aspect of the beautiful gibbous moon of the 4th April here.

 

Slight enhancement of subtle variations of colour on the moon's surface. These highlight the difference in mineral composition between the more iron rich regolith areas (brown coloured) and those regolith areas richer in Titanium (blue coloured).

 

Imaged with a Skywatcher ED72 and a Nikon D5300 camera.

  

Part of the Large Magellanic Cloud area but a part I have not taken before. N70 is the unmistakable Circular nebula top right. this was taken over two night to test out the New power supply box and how stable it is. The other effect of the power box was to reduce the number of cords that have to go from the top to the bottom to lessen the weight on guiding. the number of cord has reduced to two a far cry from the heavy load of the original 9. Now its fine tuning PHD2 to get the very small movement of guiding and better round stars.

 

ZWOASI071MC Pro -10c 90 shot 10 min

MeLE Mini PC

Pegasus Astro Pocket Mini power box

Prima Luce Essato Focus

Optolong LeNhance filter,

Skywatcher Black DiamondED80 OTA

Skywatcher NEQ 6 Pro

SVbony 50MM Guide scope

QHY QHY5L-II-M Guide camera

Guided PHD2, Nina

Pixinsight, Ps PTGui.

Panorama haute résolution avec 400 images empilées.

Canon r7 / Newton Skywatcher 200/1000 / Barlow Televue Powermate 2x

This galaxy is found in the constellation of Coma Berenices. A spiral galaxy it lies about 17 million light-years from us but the most striking aspect is the dark band of absorbing dust.

 

This dark dust is partially in front of the galaxy's bright nucleus giving the galaxy its nickname of the "Black Eye Galaxy". It is also known as the "Evil Eye" or "Sleeping Beauty" galaxy. Rather like an eye with mascara applied!!

 

A type 2 Seyfert galaxy the whole system has a diameter of around 54,000 light-years.

 

Imaged with a Skywatcher Esprit 120ED Triplet Apo and a ZWO2600MC camera.

 

Processed with AstroPixel Processor and Photoshop 2021.

 

100x120s Subs Gain 100 and cooled to -10

 

Temp. matched Darks, Dark Flats and Flats. Imaged using APT.

 

Thanks for looking!

   

Several clear nights here have allowed myself and others some imaging time under the stars.....A real revelation given our mostly hopeless weather here in Northern Ireland.

 

This image taken during the night of 2-3 April is of Markarian's Chain - a stretch of Galaxies which form part of the Virgo Cluster. Named for Benjamin Markarian who discovered their common motion in the 1960's.

 

M84 & M86 are the two large elliptical galaxies on the left - both galaxies discovered by Charles Messier in 1781. The other galaxies seen in the chain were discovered by William Herschel and are primarily identified by their NGC (New Galactic Catalogue) No.

 

Imaged with a guided Skywatcher Esprit 120ED Triplet Apo and a ZWO2600MC camera.

 

100 x 120s Subs

With Flats, Darks and Dark Flats.

 

Processed with Astro Pixel Processor and Photoshop 2021.

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Will post an annotated version later.

Pentax K-3

Sigma 150-500mm

Aperture ƒ/6.3

Focal length 440.0 mm

Shutter 1/1600

ISO 200

I have always known there was a Christmas tree in space but it never seemed to come up in time to post for Christmas.

 

You cant mistake the White/ Greenish Christmas tree with the big bright star at it top in the image. It is surrounded in a lot of red but I have tried not to over do the red.

 

Along with the Christmas tree there is the Cone nebula and the Fox Fur nebula in this shot.

 

So this is a real Merry Christmas from Space to everybody

 

QHY 183C -10c 38 shots each night 10 min each over Three nights.

MeLE Mini PC

Pegasus Astro Pocket Mini power box

Prima Luce Essato Focus

Optolong LeNhance filter,

Skywatcher Black DiamondED80 OTA

Skywatcher NEQ 6 Pro

SVbony 50MM Guide scope

QHY QHY5L-II-M Guide camera

Guided PHD2, Nina

Pixinsight, Ps .

NGC 5128 - Centaurus A is a galaxy in the constellation of Centaurus. It was discovered in 1826 by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop from his home in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia. It is approximately 10–16 million light-years away,and is one of the closest radio galaxies to Earth. It is the fifth-brightest in the sky, but is only visible from the southern hemisphere and low northern latitudes.

At the center of the galaxy is a supermassive black hole with a mass 55 million times greater than the our Sun.

 

Equipment Details:

•8 Inch Skywatcher Quattro Carbon Fibre F4.0 Newtonian Reflector

•Skywatcher NEQ6 Mount

•SBIG ST 2000xm CCD Camera cooled to -20'c

•SBIG CFW8 Filter Wheel

•Custom Scientific Lum, Red, Green, Blue Filters

•SKywatcher BD 102mm Guide Scope

•Meade DSIii CCD Guide Camera

•Polemaster for polar alignment

 

Exposure Details:

•Lum 20X300 seconds - Bin 1x1

•Red 10X300 seconds - Bin 1x1

•Green 10X300 seconds - Bin 1x1

•Blue 10X300 seconds - Bin 1x1

 

Total Integration Time: 4 hours 15 Mins

M42 Orion and Running Man Nebula

30x120 RGB

ZWO ASI2600MM

Skywatcher Esprit 100ed

Skywatcher Evostar Pro 80 ED (w/.85x reducer/corrector & QHYCCD Polemaster), Skywatcher EQM-35, Nikon D3300. 1200 total frames shot over 1 minute. Stacked in PIPP & AS!3, post-processed in Photoshop

This deepscape image shows the sword of Orion rising over a scenic mountain formation in central Switzerland. The famous Orion Nebula, the Horsehead and Flame Nebula and part of Barnard's Loop are coloring the sky in a stunning way.

 

Deepscapes are an attempt to take landscape astrophotography to the next level. This image is not a digital art collage of an unrelated sky and foreground, but a real alignment. A snowshoe hike with a mobile deep sky imaging rig to a carefully planned site on a mountain slope was required to capture this scene. Foreground and sky were captured back to back during the same night and from the same tripod position.

 

Capturing and processing the image required both deep space and landscape astrophotography techniques. The foreground and RGB color image of the sky were captured with an astro-modified Canon EOS 6D and a 200mm lens. The sky image was enhanced with 55min of H-alpha data captured with a cooled monochrome astrophotography camera through a narrowband filter.

 

Prints available: ralf-rohner.pixels.com

 

EXIF

Canon EOS 6D, astro-modified

ZWO ASI 1600MM Pro

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L @ f/4

Skywatcher AZ-GTI controlled with ASIair

ZWO ASI 385MC autoguide camera

 

Sky:

- for RGB:

- astro-modified Canon EOS 6D @ISO1600, f/4, 200mm

- 50 x 40s

- 7 x 20s

- 7 x 10s

- 7 x 5s

- for H-alpha

- ZWO ASI 1600MM Pro @ Gain 220

- 11 x 300s with Baader 3,5nm ultra-narrowband H-alpha filter

- 96mm to match the FOV of the 200mm full frame image for foreground and RGB

 

Foreground:

Single exposure of 60s @ ISO1600, f/2.8, 200mm taken during the same night and at the same tripod position

Imaged during the early hours of the 20th March 2022.

 

It was very early in the season to image this object (I was actually imaging another object) but when I saw the familiar cross of Cygnus rising in the NE I thought I would turn the scope to the Pelican to finish the session and just to see how it would turn out.

 

Consequently this is a bit of a test image and represents only 1.6hrs of total exposure with my Ha filter. I tried to get some OIII data as well and I may post an early HOO image later.

 

The Pelican Nebula, catalogued as IC 5070 & IC 5067 is an emission nebula in the constellation of Cygnus. The various gaseous patterns within the nebula give the overall appearance of a Pelican hence the name.

 

The nebula lies at a distance of 1,800 light-years.

 

24 x 250s Ha Total 1.6Hrs

 

Skywatcher Esprit 120ED with Skywatcher Focal reducer and ZWO 1600MM cooled camera.

Baader Ha filter

 

Thanks for looking!

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