Welcome

I'm trying to keep track of my observing / imaging, but this may just end up reminding me how little I actually get to use all the kit that I have! Please have a look through my galleries.

29 May 2010

It's been a while! But this winter just gone wasn't the best - and the driving long distances hasn't helped. I seem to be constantly knackered!

But I have managed to get out a few times. I attempted M97 (the Owl Nebula) for the first time. I got it but it wasn't exactly my crown and glory :). Also had a few attempts at M51 and M13. Thanks to fellow AA members Steve and Jon I managed to get things working again and the guiding up to 20 minute subs, but it's a little hit and miss. But as always you don't get a chance to test things out much! Now the camera has packed up and I've had to send it back to Starlight Xpress for fixing.

I've also decided to stop being lame and collimate the 6" Newt. I hate collimating scopes and even though last year I installed a nice DS Crayford, I've not really moved it much. The M13 image above was taken through the 6" with a CLS light pollution filter. The Owl and Whirlpool through the ED80, Owl was with a 7nm Ha Filter and the Whirlpool with a CLS filter.

I also attended the SGL5 Star Party in Lucksall, Hereford. It was great to meet old friends, and meet some new ones. See the Starparties page for a few pictures.

I've also added a page for the Venus Transit images that I managed to get back in 2004, and a widefield gallery, you forget how many images you have so there is more to go on that one!

2nd October 2009

The weather has been pretty dire again! So only managed to get out for one session since Kelling. I have a couple of projects for this winter. I have started using the 6" F5 combo with the SXV-H9. The F5 is nice and fast and gives a smaller FOV than the ED80. So I'm going to really try and get a nice load of data on M1 and the Bubble.

I have three channels to get Ha, OIII and Hb. According to some sources the ratio of exposures should be 1:2:4. But I've also been advised to just get as much data in each channel as you can. I have 5 hours on the Bubble in Hb already. Anyway that's for the winter.

Kelling Heath Star Party was really good this year. We had 2 clear nights out of 4! Click on the image below to see more images.

5th September 2009

We'll set up again last night to let the scopes cool down, we then went out for dinner and half way through had to rush home to cover it up as once again the weather men have got it wrong. It was supposed to be clear from around 6pm and stay clear all night. Bloody weather men - totally useless.

Had some really good news today, a friend of mine is returning to the hobby after local conditions forced him out. Welcome back buddy!

3rd September 2009  

Had quite a nice evening today. My wife's sister and family came around and we spent half an hour looking through the scopes (which is extremely rare for me) at the moon and Jupiter. The three children really enjoyed seeing the moons of Jupiter and craters of the moon. I doubt that they will ever be astronomers, but they have at least seen the cloud bands and moons of Jupiter and the craters of the moon. That makes me happy.

26th August 2009

I had a clear night, set up and spent time polar aligning (for a change). Then proceeded to image throughout the night. My first target was M74 a spiral galaxy. The wasn't an issue so decided to use the CLS light pollution filter. I took 80 x 5 minute exposures through the ED80/H9 combo. I have been told that this is the hardest of all the Messier's to image. Not sure of that's true or they just said to make me feel better...

I generally set the scopes going and then go to bed, this night was no different. I work out how long I can leave the scope running for before it needs flipping or will snag on the mount and set the alarm to wake up. I set the alarm for 3:30am and got up to find a lovely clear sky with Taurus and Orion rising in the East. M42 was behind some tree's so I decided to have a go at another object that I've never tried before, M1 the Crab Nebula. This is image is a quick one just to pass the time really but I was really chuffed with the way that it came out.

M42 is a fantastic beginner object but one that one day I hope to do justice to. The camera that I have is mono, but this object really needs colour. Maybe I can do a false colour narrowband shot some time over the winter! It was great to see again!

8th August 2009

I had a little expedition into Narrowband imaging this evening. I've bought a 7nm Ha filter and a OIII  filter. Managed to get 18 x 10 minute exposures. M27 really does look different in Hydrogen Alpha. The lobes that are next to invisible in RGB are very visible very quickly. Very happy indeed with this.

I then took a couple of hours of OIII, which really isn't enough, it should be double the time spent on Ha, so should have been 6 hours. I used Noels Actions in Photoshop to create a synthetic green channel. Ha was used for Red and OIII used for Blue. Because of the lack of OIII data the resulting image is way too red but it's a start! 

25th July 2009

I had some fun tonight. It was my first my attempt at serious narrow band imaging. I used the Ha filter and the OIII then used Noels Actions in photoshop to create a synthetic green channel. Talk about steep learning curve :)

14th July 2009

NLC's. Very eerie, silvery blue clouds. Extremely high up, only visible during the summer months and quite rare. We have had a couple of night where these clouds have been visible, last night was the best display I'd seen. A nice complex display low down in the north. I managed to get some nice shots.

I took 178 images in 33 minutes and managed to make a nice animation. First I converted all the images to JPG's, then I created an action in Photoshop to crop and resize the images. Once I had all the images the right size an shape I opened then all in Image Ready and started to sort the animation. I was very happy with the end result. Click here for the animation.

We had a very rainy day on the 14th and I happened to glance out of the window and was totally unprepared for the site that I saw. NLC's are usually visible only in the north and quite low down - as the picture above shows - the display on the 14th went right over head. It was truly astounding...I took 5 portrait shots in an attempt to show the height of this display - it actually went right up to the zentih and beyond. I made a reasonable attempt at stitching them together, but the image below was stitched together by a friend Peter Smith from SGL. He made a better job of it than me - cheers Peter.

08th July 2009

Well even though it still doesn't get dark and the moon has been out I managed to make use of a clear night. Managed to grab 20 x 3 minute and 26 x 5 minute subs on NGC7635 - the Bubble Nebula. It was good to get out again, I'm really looking forward to some longer darker nights.

I've also picked up a QHY5, but I much prefer the DMK. So may pop it back up for sale in a week or two... I might also sell on the ED100. This will release fund to buy some narrowband filters, which I think I need - badly.

24th June 2009

I hate this time of year. I set up last night and waited for it to get dark, went out at midnight and it was still light! But on the upside I have a new camera coming in the next few days: a Starlight Xpress SXVF-H9C!

I

2nd June 2009

I think my Deep Sky imaging is over until the end of July now. It's just not dark enough and now the moon will be in the way for another 10 days or so. It' just not worth it for an hour of subs.

Managed to get out a couple of times recently and got a new object "in the bag" M56 an odd globular cluster in Lyra. Also created web pages for M13 and M57.

Really chuffed with the ED100!

30th May 2009

Had a great day yesterday, met up with ***Space Hopper*** (Ian) from SGL and bought an ED100 [nice to have met you Ian, look forward to seeing you again at Kelling?] I spent the afternoon moving scopes around and getting the feel of the ED100 - it's lighter than I expected, but the focuser is quite nice, the optics seem clean and I'm happy with it.

I have no idea what happened to the tube, there are a couple of really nasty scratches... they don't affect the optical performance in the slightest, and Ian made me completely aware about them. So it's just a decision to re-spray or not...

The ED100 had already proved itself on the Moon, had fun with that - you can see the image here. Also managed a couple of hours out with M57, see thumbnail above. 

28th May 2009

Had a bit of a disastrous evening night before last. Set everything up and took 3 hours of subs of M5, spend time taking Darks, Flats and Bias frames only to find out that I forgot to check focus on the camera and I have 85 2 minutes subs of out of focus stars!!! Grrrrr.

But I've added some images to the DSO page and I've just bought an ED100 - a scope that I've wanted for a while. Turns out it's a small world, my mate Russ used to own it and I'm pretty sure I've looked through it!

25th May 2009

How long? It's been nearly a month since I last got out with the scope... It just just doesn't get dark now. I managed to grab a few hours out on Saturday and Sunday nights.

I've processed the first of the three targets M27. Quite happy with this one. I've also created and uploaded the M27 Page.

18th May 2009

Got to do something on these short nights, so I've created a new template for the DSO's that I capture and made a start on the Deep Sky Gallery page. Only got M104 done so far

8th May 2009

Added to the solar section and a page on the August 2008 eclipse. Also equipment gallery is now complete.

8th May 2009

Been to a funeral today, a friend of the family that I have known for over 25 years. He was only 59 - no age at all. Very sad day.

7th May 2009

Finally getting around to sorting out the thumbnail images for the galleries. Planets and Lunar sections are now done. Next on the list is the DSO section, then Equipment and Widefield. I haven't done a great deal of Solar work so I guess it'll be things like eclipses and transits in there. 

29-04-09

Determined to get some decent data on M104, which is so low in the sky. I set up in a different area of the garden and estimated that I'd get around 3 hours of data. Need to try and bag this one earlier in the year, maybe mid march would be better. The weather forecast said the same as the previous night, so I wasn't to hopeful that the session would result in anything worth while. But I managed to get 43 x 3 minute subs. Upon closer examination, I had trailing on one and plane trail through another and the very last image had my own house in about a third of the image. I really did squeeze out every minute of available imaging time this time. I stacked 40 x 3 minute subs, used flats, darks and bias frames in the processing and used a new technique for removing the gradient. Really chuffed with this one. The difference the that extra [almost] 2 hours of data made is amazing.

28-04-09

Had a sudden urge to image M104 the Sombrero Galaxy. It was the first object that I viewed through the 107" scope at the McDonald Observatory in Texas in 1989. The galaxy is quite small when compared to the FOV with the 300D and to be honest didn't think it would come out very well. I started imaging, guiding through the Skymax127 and imaging through the 6" I was quite happy to see the three minute subs coming in. I went back in doors to tidy up a little and went back out to the scope about 30 minutes later to find that it had clouded over and I actually only got 3 x 3 minute subs. Very Annoying. But I managed to get it and you could clearly see what it was supposed to be.

26-04-09

Managed to get set up for another evening, and I actually spent time outside - which is becoming quite unusual - lets face it when the scope is automated and in the middle is a 3 hour run, you can't touch it. But I've now bought a EQ2 for my little boy and have put on top a nice ED80 with dual speed crayford. Probably the most expensive scope ever given to a 6 year old! I will start using that for some visual observing while the main set-up is imaging.

I managed to bag two objects tonight. Firstly M101, a couple of hours of data on that in 6 minute subs. Again I've used Flats (first time with those), Darks and Bias frames. Then when M101 moved from the East to the West I moved over into M52, with the vane hope of picking up the Bubble. The bubble is an Molecular Hydrogen (H II) area and is in wavelengths of light (red) that the camera just doesn't pick up very well. I was not really expecting anything and was overjoyed when the bubble started to show up. I think that I could really have done with extra time on this object, but it was around 2 hours (18 x 6 minute subs) and it was starting to get light. I will have another go in the Autumn when I should be able to get 5 or 6 hours - and with the new camera :). 

23-04-09

The evening of the Lyrid meteor shower. Having work the next day does make staying up all night rather difficult. But I set the camera up on a static tripod and ran the control cables in through the window so that it wouldn't be affected by Dew or rain. (sod the camera :) ). I took 3 minute exposures throughout the night with the vain hope that I would get at least one meteor - the odds must surely have been on my side! But no, I managed to get none at all. I managed to get some lovely clouds between around 1:30 and 3am.

Using a piece of software called "startrails 1.1", I stitched all the images together and made a nice star trails shot. This is going to be a fun thing to do for SGL5.

02-02-09
I managed to get outside for an hour between clouds on Saturday 31-01-09. The moon was looking very nice and I decided that, after looking at the forecast, to have a bash at lunar imaging and leave Deep Sky for another evening.

I set up the Slymax180 on the HEQ5, did a rough polar alignment. Next job was to connect up all the power and dew straps etc and make sure everything worked ok.

It did, so I then left everything as it was for an hour to cool down to ambient.

At 6pm I went back out and started to frame and focus the DMK. By this time there was the odd small puff of cloud appearing in the East, but it was nothing to worry about.

I managed to take 76 AVI's of the moon,  4 of which were discarded during the stacking merging process due to quality. The wind was blowing a gale and during several captures the wind blew the moon right out of the FOV.

I am quite pleased with the result, but there are area's on the full size version that the poor quality panes do show through. I think that going forward I need to adjust the Gamma during capture. As I do not know what Gamma is that could be fun.

The image on the right is a link to the full resolution version of the image. Roughly 50 - 55 minutes to capture the information and between 10 and 11 hours to stack, merge and process to the final image!