Monday, 14 November 2022

M108 19th April 2020

 M108 from April 2020.

22 x 240s Lights + Darks and Flats

Scope:     Sky Watcher ED80 DS Pro
Mount:    Sky Watcher NEQ6 Pro
Camera:  AltairAstro 183C

Guide scope: Sky Watcher Evoguide 50ED
Guide cam:   Altair Astro GP-CAM 290M

Image capture: SharpCap
Guiding:           PHD2
Planetarium:    Cartes du Ciel

Stacked in DSS.

Processed in Affinity Photo V1.10.5




M63 April 21, 22 & 23 2020

M63 from three nights in April 2020.

96 x 240s Lights + Darks and Flats

Scope:     Sky Watcher ED80 DS Pro
Mount:    Sky Watcher NEQ6 Pro
Camera:  AltairAstro 183C

Guide scope: Sky Watcher Evoguide 50ED
Guide cam:   Altair Astro GP-CAM 290M

Image capture: SharpCap
Guiding:           PHD2
Planetarium:    Cartes du Ciel

Stacked in DSS.

Processed in Affinity Photo V1.10.5



Friday, 30 September 2022

Jupiter 29th September 2022

Jupiter was at its closest to the Earth (perigee) on Monday 26th at about 367 million miles, the closest for 59 years. The sky was cloudy that night but cleared yesterday 29th.

Combined two images taken about 30 minutes apart, the times on the image are UTC.

Compiled from two 60 second videos.

Scope: Celestron C8

Mount: Sky Watcher NEQ6 Pro

Camera: Altair Astro 183C

Image Capture: SharpCap

Planetarium: Cartes du Ciel

Stacked with RegiStax

Processed with Affinity Photo




Sunday, 20 March 2022

The Rosette Nebula

Latest image of The Rosette Nebula (NGC 2237-39 or Caldwell 49)

March 18th, 20th, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 26th and 27th 2022

461 x 120s Stacked Lights + Darks and Flats for a total integration of 15hrs 22mins

Scope:     Sky Watcher ED80 DS Pro
Mount:    Sky Watcher NEQ6 Pro
Camera:  QHY268C

Guide scope: Sky Watcher Evoguide 50ED
Guide cam:   Altair Astro GP-CAM 290M

Image capture: SharpCap
Guiding:           PHD2
Planetarium:    Cartes du Ciel

Stacked in DSS.

Processed in Affinity Photo V1.10.5



Reprocessed using StarXTerminator and High Pass filtering









Monday, 6 December 2021

New Pleiades M45

 Latest image of M45 the Pleiades taken on 2021/12/02

140 x 60s lights + Darks and Flats

Scope:     Sky Watcher ED80 DS Pro
Mount:    Sky Watcher NEQ6 Pro
Camera:  QHY268C

Guide scope: Sky Watcher Evoguide 50ED
Guide cam:   Altair Astro GP-CAM 290M

Image capture: SharpCap
Guiding:           PHD2
Planetarium:    Cartes du Ciel

Stacked in DSS.

Processed in Affinity Photo V1.10.4



Saturday, 2 October 2021

A new image of M31 (Andromeda Galaxy), M32 and M110

Image compiled over two nights 29th Sept and 1st Oct. Total integration time of 2.5 hours.

Scope:     Sky Watcher ED80 DS Pro
Mount:    Sky Watcher NEQ6 Pro
Camera:  QHY268C

Guide scope: Sky Watcher Evoguide 50ED
Guide cam:   Altair Astro GP-CAM 290M

Image capture: SharpCap
Guiding:           PHD2
Planetarium:    Cartes du Ciel

Stacked in DSS.

Processed in Affinity Photo V1.10.1 and Photoshop Elements 13.


2022-04-21

Reprocessed. Testing RC Astro StarXTerminator Photoshop / Affinity Photo plugin.


StarXTerminator can remove all stars from an image, leaving just the background and object of interest, in this case the Andromeda Galaxy. This tool enables processing the stars separately from the main object, so stars are kept small and more colourful.







Saturday, 18 September 2021

Three nights on NGC7000

Combined sessions from 07, 15 and 17 September 2021.

Scope:     Sky Watcher ED80 DS Pro
Mount:    Sky Watcher NEQ6 Pro
Camera:  QHY268C

Guide scope: Sky Watcher Evoguide 50ED
Guide cam:   Altair Astro GP-CAM 290M

Image capture: SharpCap
Guiding:           PHD2
Planetarium:    Cartes du Ciel

Stacked in DSS.

Processed in Affinity Photo V1.10.1 and Photoshop Elements 13.

07/09/2021 - 95 x 60s Lights + Darks and Flats

15/09/2021 - 120 x 60s Lights + Darks and Flats

17/09/2021 - 120 x 60s Lights + Darks and Flats

Total integration time: 5h 35m.