Using the ASE’s new facility at Trevinca Skies in Spain that I set up.
| Object ID | Sadr region of Cygnus |
| Details | 2023-08-24 |
| Telescope | 94EDPH f4.4 JTW Trident P75 mount |
| Camera | ToupTek 2600 colour |
| Filters | L-eNhance |
| Exposure(s) | 60 x 180s subs for each of 2-pane mosaic |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | Final in Photoshop |
Using the ASE’s new facility at Trevinca Skies in Spain that I set up.
| Object ID | LBN 487 Iris Nebula |
| Details | 2023-08-08 |
| Telescope | 94EDPH f4.4 JTW Trident P75 mount |
| Camera | ToupTek 2600 colour |
| Filters | L |
| Exposure(s) | 300 of 354 60s subs |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop |
Annual pilgrimage to M42. This time a 4-pane mosaic and an R-photometric filter.
| Object ID | M42 Orion Nebula |
| Details | 2022-12-19/20 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian, MPCC |
| Camera | Atik 460Ex @-10°C |
| Filters | Baader R photometric |
| Exposure(s) | 10x180s each pane |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop |
Still mono Ha
| Object ID | Sh2 101 |
| Details | 2022-10-12 22:04:33 -UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC |
| Camera | Atik 460EX @-10°C |
| Filters | Baader 7nm Ha |
| Exposure(s) | 18 x 300s |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop |
Clouds stopped more frames. Inverted looks less noisy and better.
| Object ID | IC 63 & IC 59 Ghosts of Cassiopeia |
| Details | 2022-10-02 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC |
| Camera | Atik 460EX @-10°C |
| Filters | Baader Ha |
| Exposure(s) | 6 x 300s d,f,b |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop |
Ha view of this interesting star forming region at the heart of the Heart Nebula. Various designations for the open cluster including Melotte 15 and IC 1805. The emissions from the Heart Nebula are driven by radiation from the young stars in this cluster.
| Object ID | Collinder 26 IC 1805 Melotte 15 |
| Details | 2022-09-26 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC |
| Camera | Atik 460EX @-10°C |
| Filters | Baader Ha |
| Exposure(s) | 20 x 300s d,f,b |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop |
Taken over 2 nights: 10-11/08/2022. The old CCD still does a great job of Ha imaging.
| Object ID | Cygnus Wall in NGC 7000 |
| Details | 10 – 11/08/2022 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian |
| Camera | Atik 460EX @-10°C |
| Filters | Baader Ha |
| Exposure(s) | 4 panes each 10 x 300s |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop |
More Tribbles… from left to right:
IC 2162, Sh 2-257 and Sh 2-254
Sh 2-256 is just below the middle one and Sh 2-258 is faintly to the left of the left-hand one.
| Object ID | Nebulae Orion |
| Details | 2022-01-03 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC IDAS D3 |
| Camera | QHY168C @-15°C |
| Exposure(s) | 15 x 300s darks, flats, bias |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP Photoshop |
A reflection nebula in Perseus. No. 1 on the HOYS target list. Tricky one to process because of all the dust around which is easy to lose in the background. As always, more subs would help.
| Object ID | NGC 1333 |
| Details | 2022-01-04 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC IDAS D3 |
| Camera | QHY168C @-15°C |
| Exposure(s) | 20x240s darks, flats, bias |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop |
Was setup for an exoplanet transit but cloud got in the way, so took 4 frames M42 with the R-Cousins filter and CCD camera again. Not bad!
| Object ID | M42 |
| Details | 2022-01-05 20:51 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC |
| Camera | ATIK 460EX mono Baader Rc filter |
| Exposure(s) | 5x180s darks, flats, bias |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop |
Strong Moonlight interfering but an unexpected clear night so all good. Nice sharp open cluster and 7129 is a HOYS object I image a lot.
Below is a less processed image showing the Moon gradients. By processing them out you definitely lose details.
| Object ID | NGC 7142 Open Cluster NGC 7129 Cepheus |
| Details | 2021-12-16 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC IDAS D3 |
| Camera | QHY168C @-15°C |
| Exposure(s) | 20 x 280s darks, flats, bias |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP Photoshop |
Another Tribble visible in this one. As well as the main Sh2-157 nebula, there are other interesting objects in this picture:
Open Cluster NGC 7510
Open Cluster Cl Mrk 50
And the Tribble is LBN 111.14.00.72
| Object ID | Sh2 157 part of Lobster Claws NGC 7510 Cl Mrk 50 LBN 111.14.00.72 |
| Details | 2021-12-10 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC Altair Astro Tri-band filter |
| Camera | QHY168C @-15°C |
| Exposure(s) | 25x300s darks, flats, bias |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop |
Not the famous ones in the Eagle Nebula, but still areas where stars are being created. These cold molecular pillars, generically known as elephant trunks, are areas of cold, dense gas, often associated with star formation. Research suggests they rotate, over periods of a few million years, as a semi-rigid structure, causing them to twist and change shape over time.
I thought I’d gather some closeups of them together from my recent images. The Pelican and Elephant Trunk nebulae are areas that I study along with the Hunting Outbursting Young Stars (HOYS) Project.
Homebrew false colour palette to help bring out the different regions. Interesting “pillars of creation” shown in the inset. Not the famous ones in the Eagle Nebula, but this object, along with the Elephant trunk nebula, also have similar features. A young star forming region in Cepheus, contains Sh2-171 and cluster Berkley 59.
It contains one of the hottest known local stars (marked) BD+66°1673, a O5V eclipsing binary. This star illuminates much of this nebula and forms the “pillars”. It is 45,000K and 100,000 time more luminous than the Sun.
| Object ID | NGC 7822, Sh2-171, Berkeley 59 |
| Details | Emission nebula Cygnus 2021-12-05 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC Tri-band |
| Camera | QHY168C @-15°C |
| Exposure(s) | 20x300s d,f,b |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop |
Another Sh2 object. Clouds stopped imaging so only 8 captured.
| Object ID | SH2-237 (left-fly) IC 417 (right-spider) Spider and Fly nebulae |
| Details | Nebulae, Auriga 2021-12-01 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC Tri-band |
| Camera | QHY168C @-15°C |
| Exposure(s) | 8x300s d,f,b |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop |
Looking for more obscure objects again. This is a young star forming region, contains masers too. Very close to the Bubble Nebula but just across the constellation boundary in Cepheus. In the Perseus arm of the Milky Way.
| Object ID | NGC 7538 |
| Details | Open Cluster and Nebula Cepheus 2021-11-24 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC Tri-band |
| Camera | QHY168C @-15°C |
| Exposure(s) | 28x300s d,f,b |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop |
A star forming region I often image for the HOYS project. Bright moonlight but narrowband keeps most of it out of the image.
| Object ID | IC5070 Pelican Nebula |
| Details | Emission nebula Cygnus 2021-11-20 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC Tri-band |
| Camera | QHY168C @-15°C |
| Exposure(s) | 30x300s d,f,b |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop |
An obscure one in Perseus. The larger is open cluster inside an emission nebula NGC 1624, also known as emission nebula Sh2-212, the smaller Sh2-211. Now known as the Tribble Nebulae after “Star Trek: The Trouble with Tribbles”. The dark patch top right is the dark nebula Barnard 20.
| Object ID | The Tribble Nebulae NGC1624/Sh2-212 and Sh2-211 Dark nebula Barnard 20 |
| Details | Open Clusters Emission nebulae Perseus 2021-11-12 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC Tri-band |
| Camera | QHY168C @-15°C |
| Exposure(s) | 15x300s d,f,b |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop |
Contains a pillar
| Object ID | Sh2-86 with cluster NGC 6823 Vulpecula |
| Details | 2021-11-03 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC Altair Astro triband filter |
| Camera | QHY168C @-15°C |
| Exposure(s) | 18x300s darks, flats, bias |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop |
Horizontal banding sorted. Camera into USB 2 not 3, and not through a USB hub.
Not very happy with the processing.
| Object ID | Sh2-155 / C9 Cave Nebula |
| Details | 2021-09-02 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian Tri-band filter |
| Camera | QHY168C @-15°C |
| Exposure(s) | 20x300s darks, flats, dark-flats |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop |
One I often observe for HOYS but purely for imaging this time. Some horizontal banding noise from somewhere – to be resolved.
| Object ID | IC 1396, Elephant Trunk Nebula |
| Details | 2021-08-14 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian Tri-band filter |
| Camera | QHY168C @-15°C |
| Exposure(s) | 15x300s darks, flats, bias |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop |
First DSO for a while
| Object ID | IC 5146 Cocoon Nebula, C19 |
| Details | 2021-08-13 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian Tri-band filter |
| Camera | QHY168C @-15°C |
| Exposure(s) | 15x300s darks, flats, bias |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop |
Another for the ASE Caldwell Project. Horrible gradient to deal with but background is messed around with to bring out all the dust around it. Makes the rest of the background messy though.
| Object ID | C4 NGC7023 Iris Nebula |
| Details | Mag. 6.8 Size 18′ x 18′ 2021-04-09 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian, MPCC |
| Camera | QHY168C @-15°C IDAS P2 |
| Exposure(s) | 25 x 240s darks, flats, bias |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop, Topaz Denoise AI |
Well the Soul Nebula Mosaic anyway. 5 panes in the end. First 4 panes (see below) should have done it but I suspect platesolving failed and I had to do another pane the next night. APP is brilliant at stitching together and blending in panes – even from different sessions.
| Object ID | IC 1848 Soul Nebula |
| Details | Size 150′ x 75′ 2021-04-01 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian, MPCC |
| Camera | QHY168C @-15°C Tri-band filter |
| Exposure(s) | 9x300s per pane darks, flats, bias |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop, Topaz Denoise AI |
Didn’t expect to get too much out of this because of the high wispy cloud and only got 9 subs, but not too bad.
| Object ID | M51 Canes Venatici |
| Details | Mag. 8.4 Size 11.2′ x 6.9′ |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC |
| Camera | QHY168C @-15°C IDAS P2 |
| Exposure(s) | 29x180s 10/50 gain/offset darks, flats, bias |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop, Topaz DeNoise AI |
