Amateur Astronomy from Edinburgh
This website is a place where I can post my images purely for the fun of it. You can find more information about the equipment I use on the About/Equipment page.
To give me something to aim for, I have set up pages to get as many Messier and Lunar 100 objects as I can. The Deep Sky page is for objects not in Messier’s catalogue and includes some more recent lists such as the Caldwell and Finest NGC catalogues.
Light pollution is a serious problem for amateur astronomy here on the edge of Edinburgh, Scotland, so this is a battle of photons vs sodium! Please come back and visit as the site develops, I make lots of mistakes, the weather gets worse and the skies get brighter.
I am a member of the Astronomical Society of Edinburgh and some of my pictures are displayed on their Flickr page.
Mark
Recent posts
M81 LRGB
Lots of gradients and stray light from somewhere coming in. Hard to process and as a result have lost the fainter outer arms.
| Object ID | M81 Bode’s galaxy Mag. 6.94, Size 26.9′ x 14.1′ Ursa Major |
| Details | 2018-11-1 21:59 – 22:47 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian, MPCC IDAS P2 LPR filter Guided |
| Camera | Atik 460EX, Baader LRGB filters |
| Exposure(s) | L 20x120s 1×1, RGB 10x60s 2×2 each darks, flats were no good |
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | Nebulosity 4, Photoshop |
M31 first test of old 10 inch Newt
First test of the old 10 inch Newtonian I picked up. Focuser and dovetail were a mess, but with some work it could be good. Optically pretty sound though.
| Object ID | M31 Andromeda galaxy Mag. 3.44, Size 3.1 x 1 degrees Andromeda |
| Details | 2018-10-11 22:26 – 23:49 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian, MPCC IDAS P2 LPR filter Guided |
| Camera | Atik 460EX, Baader LRGB filters |
| Exposure(s) | L 16x120s 1×1, RGB 10x60s 2×2 each darks |
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | Nebulosity 4, Photoshop |
NGC 281 (Pacman nebula) in RGB
Few things wrong. Poor seeing, bloated stars, gusty wind,…
| Object ID | NGC 281 Pacman nebula (IC11) Mag. 10, Size 35′ H II region emission nebula Contains open cluster NGC 1590 Cassiopeia |
| Details | 2018-10-10 Poor seeing and transparency |
| Telescope | 200mm f5 Newtonian, MPCC IDAS P2 LPR filter Guided |
| Camera | Atik 460EX, Baader RGB filters |
| Exposure(s) | 15 x 120s each colour darks, flats |
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | Nebulosity 4, Photoshop |
NGC 281 (Pacman nebula) in Ha
Best night for ages.
| Object ID | NGC 281 Pacman nebula (IC11) Mag. 10, Size 35′ H II region emission nebula Contains open cluster NGC 1590 Cassiopeia |
| Details | 2018-10-06 22:03-23:41 UT No moonlight and good transparency |
| Telescope | 200mm f5 Newtonian, MPCC IDAS P2 LPR filter Guided |
| Camera | Atik 460EX, Baader 7nm Ha filter |
| Exposure(s) | 19 x 300s darks, flats |
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | Nebulosity 4, Photoshop |
NGC 281, IC 11 or Sh2-184 is a bright emission nebula and part of an H II region in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia and is part of the Milky Way’s Perseus Spiral Arm. This 20×30 arcmin sized nebulosity is also associated with open cluster IC 1590, several Bok globules and the multiple star, B 1. It collectively forms Sh2-184,[3] spanning over a larger area of 40 arcmin.[4] A recent distance from radio parallaxes of water masers at 22 GHz made during 2014 is estimated it lies 2.82±0.20 kpc. (9200 ly.) from us.[5] Colloquially, NGC 281 is also known as the Pacman Nebula for its resemblance to the video game character.
E. E. Barnard discovered this nebula in August 1883, who described it as “a large faint nebula, very diffuse.” Multiple star ‘B 1’ or β 1 was later discovered by S. W. Burnham, whose bright component is identified as the highly luminous O6 spectral class star, HD 5005 or HIP 4121. It consists of an 8th-magnitude primary with four companions at distances between 1.4 and 15.7 arcsec. There has been no appreciable change in this quintuple system since the first measures were made in 1875.
Wikipedia
Bubble nebula project 2 (NGC 7635)
Added 18 frames of Ha. Much more detail and less noise.
| Object ID | NGC 7635 Bubble nebula (C11) Mag. 10, Size 15’x8′ H II region emission nebula Cassiopeia |
| Details | 2018-09-23 21:15-23:07 UT Bright moonlight |
| Telescope | 200mm f5 Newtonian, MPCC IDAS P2 LPR filter Guided |
| Camera | Atik 460EX, Baader 7nm Ha filter |
| Exposure(s) | 18 x 300s darks, flats |
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | Nebulosity 4, Photoshop |
I did take some RGB colour but as you can see below there is a huge dust mark in it. Normally not a problem as flats will remove it. But when I went to create flats, the dust had disappeared so very difficult to remove. Unless it’s not dust but an out of focus reflection of the bright star? If it is I’ve never seen anything like it in my images before.
Bubble nebula project (NGC 7635)
One of my favourite objects. Trying to do this over a series of nights. Ha first of all then add colour channels. Only 2x300s exposures in Ha so far.
| Object ID | NGC 7635 Bubble nebula (C11) Mag. 10, Size 15’x8′ H II region emission nebula Cassiopeia |
| Details | 2018-09-22 21:40-21:45 UT Bright moonlight |
| Telescope | 200mm f5 Newtonian, MPCC IDAS P2 LPR filter Guided |
| Camera | Atik 460EX, Baader 7nm Ha filter |
| Exposure(s) | 2 x 300s darks, flats |
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | Nebulosity 4, Photoshop |
NGC 752
Heavy processing to remove moonlight background. First entry in the SAA 100 catalog.
| Object ID | NGC 752 Open Cluster, Andromeda Mag. 5.7, size 50′ |
| Details | 2018-09-21 Bright 90% Moon |
| Telescope | 200mm f5 Newtonian, MPCC IDAS P2 LPR filter Guided |
| Camera | Canon 600D |
| Exposure(s) | 10x40s, ISO 800, darks, flats |
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | Nebulosity, Photoshop |
M40 (Winnecke 4)
Messier 40, also known as Winnecke 4. Basically it’s a double star, and an optical double at that!
It was discovered by Messier while he was looking for a nebula reported in the area by Johannes Hevelius. He couldn’t find it so he catalogued this double star instead. Most have been a slow night or something…
And why did I bother imaging it? Well it was in the only patch of clear sky there was and I only had a few minutes before it clouded over. Still, it’s another Messier object to add to my list 🙂
| Object ID | M40 / Winnecke 4 Double star, Ursa Major Mag. 8.4, Size 0.8′ |
| Details | 2018-09-14 through gaps in cloud |
| Telescope | 200mm f5 Newtonian, MPCC IDAS P2 LPR filter |
| Camera | Canon 600D |
| Exposure(s) | 5x20s darks, flats |
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | Nebulosity 4, Photoshop |
M103 (NGC 581)
Tighter open cluster, quite remote at 8,000 light years away.
| Object ID | M103 (NGC 581) Open cluster Cassiopeia Mag. 7.4, Size 6′ |
| Details | 2018-09-08 Not very transparent. |
| Telescope | 200mm f5 Newtonian, MPCC IDAS P2 LPR filter Guiding c80ED, ASI 290MC |
| Camera | Canon 600D |
| Exposure(s) | 10x60s, darks and flats |
| Capture | APT, PHD |
| Processing | Nebulosity, Photoshop |
M39 (NGC 7092)
Nice wide open cluster with a deep Milky Way background too.
| Object ID | M39 (NGC 7092) Open cluster Cygnus Mag. 4.6, Size 32′ |
| Details | 2018-09-08 Not very transparent. |
| Telescope | 200mm f5 Newtonian, MPCC IDAS P2 LPR filter Guiding c80ED, ASI 290MC |
| Camera | Canon 600D |
| Exposure(s) | 10x60s, darks and flats |
| Capture | APT, PHD |
| Processing | Nebulosity, Photoshop |
M15
First proper imaging session of the season. New mount (EQ6-R) is guiding well with an RMS error of about 0.6″, Coma corrector is working well too. Stars are sharp right to the edges.
| Object ID | M15 (NGC 7078) |
| Details | 2018-09-08 Not very transparent and the remnants of twilight too. |
| Telescope | 200mm f5 Newtonian, MPCC IDAS P2 LPR filter Guiding c80ED, ASI 290MC |
| Camera | Canon 600D |
| Exposure(s) | 10x60s, darks and flats |
| Capture | APT, PHD |
| Processing | Nebulosity, Photoshop |
Albireo – now it’s officially NOT a binary
Everyone’s favourite double star is now officially not a binary system according to the latest GAIA data release. This is just to show that I don’t care – it’s still the best.
| Object ID | Albireo, Beta 1,2 Cygni |
| Details | 2018-08-23 20:57 – 21:00 UT |
| Telescope | 200mm Newtonian f5 |
| Camera | ZWO ASI290MC, IR/UV block |
| Exposure(s) | 21 x 5s with 5s delay between |
| Capture | SharpCap 3.1 |
| Processing | Nebulosity 3, Photoshop |
Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner brightening and tail developing
Tail starting to develop and definitely getting brighter
| Object ID | 21P/Giacobini-Zinner |
| Details | 2018-08-16 22:09:30 – 22:23:23 UT |
| Telescope | 200mm Newtonian f5 |
| Camera | ZWO ASI290MC |
| Exposure(s) | 20 x 15s, 30s delay between exposures |
| Capture | SharpCap |
| Processing | Nebulosity, Photoshop |
Comet 21P/Giacobin-Zinner animation
Moving through the constellation of Cassiopeia
| Object ID | 21P/Giacobini-Zinner |
| Details | 2018-08-03 22:12 – 22:25 UT Approx. mag. 9 |
| Telescope | 200mm Newtonian f5 |
| Camera | ZWO ASI 290MC |
| Exposure(s) | 20 x 10s exposures, 30seconds apart |
| Capture | SharpCap |
| Processing | Photoshop |
Saturn 1 day after opposition – infrared
Very low and in the trees but just managed to image it – just…
| Object ID | Saturn |
| Details | 2018-06-28 23:31 UT and 23:45 UT Seeing III / V but very low altitude |
| Telescope | 200mm Newtonian @f5 and @f10 |
| Camera | ZWO ASI290MC Infrared pass filter |
| Exposure(s) | 60s 30fps AVI and 90s 30fps AVI |
| Capture | FireCapture |
| Processing | AutoStakkert3 (beta), Registax 6, Photoshop |
Lunar Mosaic in infrared 11.06 days
That annoying moment when you realise you’ve missed a tiny bit from the mosaic. Always better to overlap the frames more for safety. I though I was!
| Object ID | Lunar mosaic 7 frames |
| Details | 2018-06-24 21:07 – 21:16 UT Low down and seeing II (I-V) |
| Telescope | 200mm f5 Newtonian |
| Camera | ZWO ASI290MC ZWO Infrared pass filter |
| Exposure(s) | 7 x 60s AVIs, 20% stack |
| Capture | FireCapture |
| Processing | AutoStakkert, Photoshop |
6 pane lunar mosaic
Mosaics are simple using the new camera.
| Object ID | Lunar mosiac, 6 panes |
| Details | 2018-06-20 22:14 – 22:22 UT 7.15 days 55.9% illumination Seeing: II (I-V) |
| Telescope | 200mm f5 Newtonian |
| Camera | ZWO ASI290MC unfiltered |
| Exposure(s) | 6 x 60s AVIs at 20fps |
| Capture | FireCapture |
| Processing | AutoStakkert and Photoshop |
Amazing NLC display over Edinburgh
One of the best I’ve seen. Almost overhead too.
| Object ID | Noctilucent Clouds |
| Details | 2018-06-18 23:12 UT |
| Telescope | – |
| Camera | Canon 600D |
| Exposure(s) | 1.6s @ f3.5 ISO 400 |
| Capture | In camera |
| Processing | Lightroom |
Infrared Lunar mosaic
Put the 200P back on the mount to use with ZWO camera. Seems like a good combination – I’d forgotten what a nice telescope it is. I didn’t plan to do a full mosaic but didn’t realise just how close I was.
| Object ID | 7 frame incomplete lunar mosaic 5.12 days 33.6% illumination |
| Details | 2018-06-18 20:24 – 20:41 UT Poor seeing (over neighbour’s chimney smoke) and gusty conditions which shook the telescope occasionally. |
| Telescope | 200mm f5 Newtonian |
| Camera | ZWO ASI 290MC ZWO infrared pass filter |
| Exposure(s) | 7 x 60s AVI @ 20fps |
| Capture | FireCapture |
| Processing | AutoStakkert, Photoshop |
Sunspots 2018-06-13
The Sun has been very featurless for a while now but this just beginning to appear round the limb.
Poor seeing but testing out the new ZWO ASI 290MC. Getting a frame rate of almost 100 fps. Heavy processing required to get anything out of the turbulence. No matter how fast the frame rate, or how sensitive the camera, if the seeing is bad you still won’t get much.
| Object ID | Sunspots |
| Details | 2018-06-13 09:58:05 UT Poor seeing: I-II (I-V) |
| Telescope | 180mm Mak-Cass at f15 Baader solar film – gives blue colour |
| Camera | ZWO ASI 290MC |
| Exposure(s) | 60s video at 97 fps ROI 800×500 |
| Capture | FireCapture |
| Processing | Photoshop CC |