2021
After a few days of heavy rain the clouds cleared and the stars shone. So did the moon. Even so I managed a widefield view of the belt of Orion including M42, the running man, the flame nebula, M78 and a few other DSOs.
Canon 6D with 100-400 zoom at 200mm, F5, 60x5s light frames at iso 1600. EQ5 with Drive kit attached.
A few weeks later and the moon was old and rising very late so I reshot Orion this time using a set of darks.
Canon 550D with 100-400 zoom at 100mm F5.6 50x30s lights and 10 darks. Stacked with DSS and processed with affinity photo using the astroflat plugin to neutralise the sky-glow.
EQ5 with drive kit attached and guided with PHD2.
Polar alignment is very important to get successful astro images. So don't cut it short as I did here. Thinking I was aiming for the Leo triplet I set the camera up for 25x120 subs and found a galaxy. So then wondered what had happened to the other two. Well they were 4 degrees away but I didn't realise it; still it gave a shot of a little galaxy NGC3489 in it's own space. It was not until I tried to shoot M81 I realised something was wrong. The built in maps in Kstars/Ekos were telling me one thing and the pictures were saying something different. So I decided to realign to the pole. It was then I saw what I had done; I had cut short the automated PA process in Ekos. Still all the same I had this picture.
On target this time with the Leo triplet.
22x240s subs with darks, flats and Bias frames.
ZWO ASI294 OSC on Skywatcher Skymax 127 - not an ideal combination but was worth a try. HEQ5 Pro mount. Mount control and image acquisition with Stellarmate. Image processing stacked in DSS and finished in Affinity Photo.
The lunar crater Clavius.
I'm not much of a lunar photographer but tried out the video capability of the ASI294 OSC on the moon and the result of a large number 10,000+ of frames was this, using 10% of the best frames.
ASI294 on Skywatcher Skymax 127 on driven EQ5 mount. Processing in PIPP, Autostakkert and Affinity photo.
A widefield image with the Leo triplet just right of centre. 30x4s subs with ASI294 on 100-400 zoom at approx 100mm for those of you in the know not an ideal combination but on this occasion I am happy with the result under Bortle 4 skies in West Wales.
Image acquisition by ASI Studio. Mount EQ5 with drive motors unguided. Processed in Affinity Photo.
Another West Wales image, this time Scorpio over St Anne's head lighthouse. With just a trace of the Milky way also showing.
30s EOS 6D with 24-105 lens at 24mm. Processed in Affinity photo.
Globular cluster M4.
Skywatcher Explorer 200p on HEQ5 pro. 10x10s lights, no darks, flats or bias. ZWO ASI294 mc pro cooled to 10 degrees below ambient, UV/LR cut filter.
Processed in Affinity photo. Guiding and image acquisition with Stellarmate astrophotography tool.
The Lagoon Nebula M8
Skywatcher Explorer 200p on HEQ5 pro. 10x10s lights, no darks, flats or bias. ZWO ASI294 mc pro cooled to 10 degrees below ambient, UV/LR cut filter
Processed in Affinity photo. Guiding and image acquisition with Stellarmate astrophotography tool.
Nova 1405 Cas. With M52 and NGC 7635 the Bubble nebula.
Skywatcher Explorer 200p on HEQ5 pro. 10x10s lights, no darks, flats or bias. ZWO ASI294 mc pro cooled to 10 degrees below ambient, UV/LR cut filter
Processed in Affinity photo. Guiding and image acquisition with Stellarmate astrophotography tool.
M20 The triffid nebula
Skywatcher Explorer 200p on HEQ5 pro. 10x10s lights, no darks, flats or bias. ZWO ASI294 mc pro cooled to 10 degrees below ambient, UV/LR cut filter
Processed in Affinity photo. Guiding and image acquisition with Stellarmate astrophotography tool.
M16 The eagle nebula
Skywatcher Explorer 200p on HEQ5 pro. 20x40s lights, 5x40s darks, no flats or bias. ZWO ASI294 mc pro cooled to 0 degrees, UV/LR cut filter
Processed in Affinity photo. Image acquisition with Stellarmate astrophotography tool.
The crescent nebula.
A single 5 minute exposure was all I had on this occasion.
Skywatcher Explorer 200p on HEQ5 pro. ZWO ASI294 mc pro cooled Altair Astro triple bandpass filter.
Processed in Affinity photo. Image acquisition with Stellarmate astrophotography tool.
NGC6888 or the crescent Nebula. This is my second attempt. This time, even though I say so myself I have a much better image. This DSO sits in a part of the sky where there is a lot of glowing hydrogen gas. That is the reddish cloudiness in the background. I have even managed to get a hint of the blue cloud that surrounds this object.
14x300s triband filter, 15x300s darks, ASI294 MC pro, SkyWatcher explorer 200p, HEQ5 pro mount, guiding and image acquisition by Stellarmate astrophotography tool. Processed in Affinity photo.
The fish head nebula or NGC896 A single 240s shot. A quick shot to see what I could find. Something to return to later in the year.
Skywatcher Explorer 200p on HEQ5 pro. ZWO ASI294 mc pro cooled Altair Astro triple bandpass filter.
Processed in Affinity photo. Image acquisition with Stellarmate astrophotography tool.
The bat nebula, the eastern veil or NGC6992 a single 240s shot. A quick shot to see what I could find. Something to return to later in the year.
Skywatcher Explorer 200p on HEQ5 pro. ZWO ASI294 mc pro cooled Altair Astro triple bandpass filter.
Processed in Affinity photo. Image acquisition with Stellarmate astrophotography tool.
The witches broomstick, the western veil or NGC6960 A single 240s shot. A quick shot to see what I could find. Something to return to later in the year.
Skywatcher Explorer 200p on HEQ5 pro. ZWO ASI294 mc pro cooled Altair Astro triple bandpass filter.
Processed in Affinity photo. Image acquisition with Stellarmate astrophotography tool.
M27. The techie stuff, 21x60s lights, 20x60s darks. ASI294MC pro on a Skywatcher explorer 200p on HEQ5 Pro mount with Triband filter.
Processed in Affinity photo. Image acquisition with Stellarmate astrophotography tool.
A small window of opportunity which became even smaller as the clouds rolled in early. M71 4x120s subs 4 out of 10 that is, as the others were unusable due to the cloud. ASI294MC pro on a Skywatcher explorer 200p on HEQ5 Pro mount with UV IR filter.
Processed in Affinity photo. Image acquisition and guiding with Stellarmate astrophotography tool.
I thought I'd give planetary imaging a try. Now before I go on I am a deep sky imager so my kit is optimised in that direction. Eg a fast Newtonian and a Deep Sky camera so I wasn't expecting a lot. I will admit to being very surprised at the results and a specialist planetary imager would probably get better results as would improved processing technique. That pale dot to the right of Jupiter is probably Europa according to Stellarium.
ASI294MC pro on a Skywatcher Skymax 127 on EQ5 mount with UV IR filter and 2x Barlow.
Processed in Autostakkert, PIPP and Registax, finished in Affinity photo. Image acquisition with ASI Studio.
NGC281 or the pacman nebula.
31x120s UV/IR filter, ASI294 MC pro, SkyWatcher explorer 200p, HEQ5 pro mount, guiding and image acquisition by Stellarmate astrophotography tool. Processed in Affinity photo.
This was also a test of the focus motor I had built. I'm pleased with the results.
The moon over Milford Haven.
Canon EOS 6D 100-400 lens at 160mm 1s at f5.
NGC7023 the Iris nebula. A challenging target to get the dark nebula part of this DSO to stand out from the background especially when shot under Bortle 5 skies. This is only my second attempt at this object.
134 x 120s lights 10 x 120s darks. ASI294MC pro on a Skywatcher explorer 200p on HEQ5 Pro mount no filter.
Image processing in Affinity Photo using the astro flat pro plugin.
Image acquisition and mount control with Stellarmate astrophotography tool.
M33
20 x 60s Lights no darks.
ASI294MC pro on a Skywatcher explorer 200p on HEQ5 Pro mount Tri-band filter.
Image processing in Affinity Photo using the astro flat pro plugin.
Image acquisition and mount control with Stellarmate astrophotography tool.
