M42 combining RGB and HA images a year apart.

I really like this image of the Orion Nebula. Using images shot in 2015 before my camera was astro modified with images from 2016 after the Canon 40d was modified allows me to add some blue oxygen colours back into the image that are missing in the HA image. On my wish  list is an Astronomik OIII- CCD clip filter which block light pollution and lets on blue oxygen light. The new filter should allow me to shoot say 30 subs using each filter then combine them in post processing.
This image contains 7 minute subs and 2 minute subs as the very bright central region is blown out in the longer exposure for the faint clouds.

Tadpole nebula IC410

The Tadpole nebula IC410 is a faint dusty emission nebula (magnitude 7.8) over 100 light years across.
Its found in the constellation of Auriga (the Charioteer) some 12,000 light years away and 4 million years old.
In order to get this image I shot 35 exposures of 6 minutes each (That's 3.5 hours).
I chose a moonless night so that the sky was as dark as possible.
The longer the exposure the more detail, and I wanted to pic up the two Tadpoles which name the nebula.
If you look closely just below the centre of the picture you can see the enormous tadpoles (10 light years long) where new stars are being born.

The Crab Nebula. Messier 1

On July 4th 1054 Astronomers in China Reported a star so bright it could easily be seen during the day for 23 days.
We now know that they were witnessing a Supernova which could be seen with the naked eye for almost 2 years. The exploding star is today still travelling outwards at over 3 million miles an hour creating the beautiful Crab Nebula in the constellation of Taurus. Its now 10 light years across and 6,300 light years away. What remains of the star that exploded is called the Crab Pulsar and can be found at the centre of the nebula. Spinning at 30 times a second its now a tiny Neutron star, 1.5 times the mass of our Sun crushed into an object just 6 miles across. Can you imagine that!!!!!
I find it hard.
No longer visible to the naked eye, binoculars will reveal a small smudge but a telescope and a dslr sensor can reveal some of its beauty.
The image was taken using only 36 minutes of data with poor seeing (that's when you look up and can only see the bright stars because of the moisture etc in the air) so I will be revisiting this object when conditions are better.

The California Nebula

The California nebula is in the constellation of Perseus and is an emission nebula that is supposed to resemble the state of California. Its glowing red due to the large star at the top of the image named Menkhib, which is one of the hottest stars in the night sky at six times the temperature of the Sun. Its relatively close, between 1000 and 1500 light years away and only just fits in the frame.
I use an ASTRONOMIK CLS VISUAL Light pollution CLIP-FILTER in front of my Canon 40d astro-modded sensor which blocks light pollution like street lights but allows H-Alpha wave lengths which are red in colour such as ionised hydrogen.

M33 Triangulum galaxy or NGC 598

M33 Triangulum galaxy is sometimes called the Pinwheel galaxy. Its a spiral galaxy 3 million light years away in the constellation of Triangulum. It contains some 40 billion stars and is about 60,000 light years across.Triangulum is the third largest galaxy in our local group after Andromeda and The Milky Way. It is just visible to the naked eye but only with very good vision and  very dark skies.Its currently interacting with Andromeda and in a few billion years may collide with it and us.

NGC 891 (Caldwell 23) Edge on Barred Galaxy

Whilst the Andromeda Galaxy is only 2.5 million light years away, this little gem is 30 million light years away (so the light hitting my telescope has travelled for 30 million years to reach me). Scientists believe that this galaxy closely resembles our own galaxy The Milky Way.
Discovered in October of 1784 by William Herschell its found in the constellation of Andromeda and is part of a group of galaxy's called NGC 1023. Its very faint with an apparent magnitude of 10.8, so cannot be seen with the naked eye.
This image was taken at ISO 800 with a total exposure time of 1hr 44 minutes.

Moonrise at Knowlton Church Ruins

 Knowlton Church is a ruined Norman church built within a neolithic henge monument. Its a beautiful place a short distance from Wimborne. Supposedly one of the most haunted places in Dorset with stories of a galloping horse and rider as well as a praying nun kneeling within the church.

Andromeda Galaxy M31

It was a moonlit night so I decided to aim the scope in the other direction and chose this beautiful Galaxy. I always shoot deep sky at ISO 1600, normally around 240 seconds but on this night I thought I would change the ISO to 800 and extend the exposure time accordingly.

After a few test shot I decided 6 minutes (360 secs) brought the histogram peak to just past a third of the way along the base line.I normally expose like this at the start of the session.

As the sky gets darker the peak moves slightly back past the third point.






Reducing the ISO value reduces the sensitivity of the sensor and decreases the noise in the image.
As the scope was guiding accurately and the wind was minimal, tracking a star for 6 minutes was easy. After stacking 16 x  6 minute sub together with Flats, Darks and Bias frames there seemed to be more data in the image for stretching. This could be because my camera has been astro modified and has a light pollution filter but I will definitely be using ISO 800 again.

The Pelican Nebula (IC5070 & IC5067)

The Pelican Nebula taken this morning. Its 1800 light years away and 22 light years across in the constellation of Cygnus. Millions of years from now this enormous, hot, gas cloud will look completely different from the way it looks now. I wonder what it will look like then?
13 x 240 second exposures (52 minutes). 20 of each darks, Bias and Flat frames.
Equipment :
* Sky-Watcher Evostar-80ED DS PRO telescope with 0.85 focal reducer.
* Modified Canon 40D with Astonomik CLS light pollution filter.
* Sky-Watcher ST80 Guide scope & ZWOASI120mc camera.
* DIY Dew heaters and DIY Controller with dew sensor.
* Sky-Watcher HEQ5 PRO SynScan mount.
* EQASCOM software for remote mount control.
* Backyard EOS imaging software.
* Stellarium Scope & Stellarium software for Scope control  .
* PHD Guiding, Guiding Software
* Team Viewer to enable sitting indoors with you feet up!!

Lake Pier, Hamworthy with Milky Way

I had been planning this shot for some time and would have preferred to take a few weeks earlier when the Milky Way was in line with the pier but the weather or other commitments got in the way.
On the 22nd of August I decided to set my scope up at home and shoot the North America nebula and leave it running for an hour or so whilst I drove 5 or 6 miles to this location. The roads were very quite at midnight so it didn't take me long. When I arrived it was dark and very peaceful. The sea was very still with virtually no wind. It wasn't easy focusing as I couldn't see much in the viewfinder. Framing the image was just as difficult as I wanted to get the Pier in the middle. I was at the pier about 35 minutes then made my way back home to find the telescope still guiding perfectly and just coming up to a meridian flip. It all worked out well but next time I'm going to only do one thing at a time so I could spend more than 35 minutes here. I also want to use my home made tracking device so that I can improve the star trailing when using a tripod.

Western Veil nebula

Sometimes called the witches broom, this nebula is on the opposite side of the previous post the eastern Veil.
It is made from 72 minutes of data and for the first time I have mixed two separate days  and 6 minute and 4 minute exposures.
As usual with nebula images I have used my modified 40d and ED 80 scope guided with an ST80 scope with ZWO camera and PHD2 guiding software.

The Eastern Veil Nebula NGC 6992/95

The Eastern Veil Nebula is part of the Cygnus Loop. The loop is a remnant of a Supernova which exploded between 3000 and 6000 years BC. Its estimated to be 1470 light years away and was discovered in 1784 by William Herschel.
Using my Skywatcher ED80 I managed to get only 11 x 240 second (44 minutes) exposures due to some inconsiderate clouds so I'm really pleased with the detail in the nebula. I wonder what this object would look like with over 2 hours worth of data?  There is only one way to find out!!

Mars take two

The previous post was a bit disappointing. Mars is currently only about 15 degrees above the horizon so the image is "wobbling" a lot due I think to the thick warm atmosphere. This image was taken a couple of hours later so the sky was darker and the atmosphere a little cooler. I used Registax to stak 65% of 2000 frames exposed at 0.0512 seconds each (about 20 fps) with my 105mm etx scope and my zwoasi120mc camera.

Mars at Perigee

Poor seeing conditions for this one. Mars through some thin cloud means a loss of detail but I'm pleased with the result. Taken using my old Meade 105 Etx pe and a ZWOasi120mc camera shooting a 1200 frame AVI shows how good this camera is. I only wish I had and 8" scope.

M92 Globular Cluster in Hercules

Situated in the constellation of Hercules, it is one of the oldest cluster and is often overlooked due to its more spectacular neighbour M13. Its 26,700 light years away and is positioned close to M13 high above the disc of our galaxy. Its diameter is 218 light years and is packed with 330,000 stars.

M13 revisited

M13 Globular Cluster in the constellation of Hercules taken early this morning. One of the 152 known clusters in our galaxy. A ball of 300,000 stars some 22,200 light years away 145 light years in diameter.
Stacking 5 minute exposures @ ISO1600 
If you can see the tiny galaxy just left and down from centre that's NGC 6207 which is 200 times more distant at 46 million light years away.
I have had some positive feedback (from twitter) on the white drop shadow frame and I like the way it can be used to add a title. A lot of time and effort goes into an astrophoto so I think it deserves a frame and a title.

Mare Crisium, Sea of Crisis

Stacked in Registax from an AVI shot with my Meade Etx on an HEQ5 pro mount using a ZWO120ASI120MC camera. A x2 barlow lens was used to achieve the magnification.

I can imagine the amazing view that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had all those years ago when I was 10 years old.

Messier 53 (NGC 5024) Globular Cluster

This cluster of over 500,000 stars is one of the more distant clusters known.
Imagine our galaxy as a flat disc and we are about a third of the way out from the centre.
M53 lies some 58,708 light years above (or to the north) of us and way above this disc.
Discovered in 1775 by Johann Elert Bode, its some 220 light years across and is about 12.67 million years old.
There are 158 know clusters in the milky way at present (I'm sure there are many more to be discovered that are currently hidden by are own galaxy) and at first glance they appear a bit boring, but when you look at them closely they are all different and are quite beautiful.

This image is made from 13 x 180 second exposures @ ISO 1600, stacked in Deepskystacker with 35 each of Darks, Lights and Bias frames.

White Mill Sturminster Marshall

This old 14th century water mill was used to grind corn and animal feed.
It was rebuilt n 1776 and is now owned by the national trust.
This image was taken at sunset but unfortunately the sky stayed dull so I will try again another day.

M82 Bodes galaxy & M81 The cigar galaxy

Both of these superb galaxies are nearly 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major.

Messier 81 on the left (also known as Bode's Galaxy) is a spiral galaxy first discovered by Johann Elert Bode in 1774. Its 90,000 light years across and contains more than 250 billion stars.

Messier 82 on the right (also known as the cigar galaxy) is a starburst galaxy.
From our point of view the smaller cigar galaxy is almost side on. Its 38,000 light years across and contains more than 30 billion stars.

Our galaxy The Milky Way is 120,000 light years across and contains around 400 billion stars (one of which is the Sun).

Both galaxies cannot be seen with the naked eye as they are just too faint.
I think its such a shame that these wonders cannot be seen by just gazing at the sky.

Image details include 45 light frames @240 seconds (3 hours) plus 36 dark frames, 34 flat frames and 34 Bias frames. Camera was Canon 40d astromodified and scope was a field flattened skywatcher Evostar ED80 pro. Guided with a Skywatcher ST80 fitted with a ZWOASI120MC camera, software was PHD guiding. Stacked in Deepsky stacker and finished in Photoshop CC.

Jupiter, Callisto transit

Jupiter is 365 million miles away and is so big that 1300 Earth's could fit inside.
The black dot showing on Jupiters surface is the shadow cast by Callisto just to the right of the shadow,
one of its 62 moons. Callisto has a diameter 1.4 times bigger than our moon.
To the left of Jupiter is the moon Io which is almost the same size as our moon.
Our Moon orbits the Earth every 27 days, however, Io orbits Jupiter in just 1.8 days
so I could see it travel across Jupiter in just 3 hours.

The image was made from 1201 frames taken using my ZWOASI120MC camera
and my Meade Etx 105 Maksutov Cassergrain telescope.
Captured using Sharpcap and stacked with Registax. The mount was a Skywatcher Heq5 pro.

Messier 3 Globular Cluster (NGC 5272)

Messier 3 is a globular Cluster in the constellation of Canes Venatici.
It is not possible to see with the naked eye and appears as a faint smudge in binoculars.
Discovered in 1764 by Charles Messier it contains 500,000 stars like our Sun.
The Earth is 4.5 billion years old but this cluster is much older at 11.4 billion years old.
Its over 200 light years in diameter and 34,000 light years away.
To put this distance into perspective:
Light takes just 4.1 light hours to travel from the Sun to the farthest planet Neptune.
Oh and by the way M3 is hurtling towards us at 331,200 mph.

This image took 2hrs of exposure at ISO1000.

The Horsehead Nebula

Also known as Barnard 33 this dark nebula is 1500 light years away in the constellation of Orion, just below Alnitak (the left hand star in Orion's belt). The horse head is easily recognisable and is made up of thick black dust. Just below and to the left is the Reflection Nebula NGC 2023 and to the left of that is the amazing Flame Nebula.
Imaged with only 20 minutes of data very near to a full moon its my first go at this amazing object with my astromodified dslr. Hopefully I can do better next year when Orion comes around again!!

The Rosette Nebula NGC 2237

TThe Rosette nebula is about 4700 light years away in the Perseus Arm of our Galaxy in the constellation Monoceros. Its about 130 light years in diameter.

The young open star cluster at the centre is NGC 2244 is only a few million years old and is only visible using binoculars or a small telescope. However the red Nebula can only be shown in detail using modified cameras with light pollution filters. The hot bright stars in the centre are super heating the gas cloud of hydrogen gas, ionising it and making it emit red light in a specific wavelength.

Object: Rosette Nebula NGC 2237(and central star cluster NGC 2244)

Distance to Earth: 4700 light years

Age: 4 million years

Magnitude: 9

Constellation: Monoceros (Unicorn)

Discoverer: (NGC2244 John Flamsteed 1690) (NGC 2237 John Herschel 1840)

Imaging telescope/lens: SKY-WATCHER EVOSTAR-80ED DS-PRO + 0.85x focal reducer.

Imaging camera: Astro modified Canon 40d.

Guiding telescope or lens: Sky-Watcher Startravel-80T

Guiding Camera: ZWOASI120MC

Mount: Sky-Watcher HEQ5 PRO SynScanTM GOTO Equatorial mount

Guiding Software; PHD2, Stellarium Scope, Stellarium.

Image Software: Backyard EOS, DSS, Photoshop cc.

Filter: Astronomik CLS EOS clip filter for deepsky/light pollution.

Accessories: DIY dew heater bands and Arduino contoller. Bahtinov Mask.

Dates: Feb. 14, 2016

Frames: 9×240″

Integration: 0.6 hours

Moon phase: 40.4%

Location: Home observatory, Poole, UK.

Comet C/2013 US10 (Catalina)

Just managed to catch Comet C/2013 US10 (Catalina) last night before it gets ejected from the solar system forever.
























The comet is 68 million miles away travelling at 132,000 miles an hour and was  near the star Alkaid in Ursa Major.

M108 Galaxy & The Owl Nebula M97

Two amazing deep sky objects in one image taken in the Constellation of Ursa Major.

TOP LEFT - M108 (NGC3556) is a barred spiral galaxy discovered in 1781. It is 46 million light years away and has a mass 125 billion times that of the Sun with a diameter of 100,000 light years. Its often called the Surfboard Galaxy as from Earth its seen edge on.
BOTTOM RIGHT - M97 (NGC3587) is a Planetary Nebula about 8000 years old and also discovered in 1781. Often called the Owl Nebula its about 2600 light years away and if you look closely two owl eyes can be seen, The centre star in this nebula is a white dwarf star.

NGC 2903 Barred Galaxy

NGC 2903 is a beautiful, faint barred spiral galaxy similar to our own Milky Way Galaxy but about half the size in the constellation of Leo. NGC 2905 is a bright star cloud within this galaxy.

Its about 25 million light-years away.

That sounds a long way away and it is.

If you could travel at 671 million miles per hour ( the speed of light) it would take 25 million years to get to this Galaxy which is about 80,000 light years across.