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 and webmaster of the Astronomical Society of Edinburgh and some of my pictures are displayed on their Flickr page.
Mark
Recent posts
M63 Sunflower Galaxy
Pretty noisy, bad gradients and difficult to process.
RGB combined with L channel from 2015-04-20
| Object ID | M63 Sunflower Galaxy |
| Details | 2019-03-24 |
| Telescope | 203mm RC8 f8 |
| Camera | Atik 460Ex @-20C Badder RGB filters IDAS P2 LP filter |
| Exposure(s) | 10x180s 2×2 RGB Darks |
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | Nebulosity, Photoshop |
18 panel 85% Moon mosaic
18 panels were just enough. This is 3000 pixels reduce from the original 5000.
| Object ID | 18 panel Moon mosaic |
| Details | 2019-03-17 Seeing III/V |
| Telescope | 203mm RC8 @f8 |
| Camera | ZWO ASI290MC, Infrared pass filter |
| Exposure(s) | 30s AVI for each image 17 fps at full resoltion |
| Capture | FireCapture |
| Processing | AutoStakkert 2, Photoshop, MS ICE |
4 Lunar features in infrared
Using the wrong telescope but pretty steady and sharp.
| Object ID | Copernicus, Clavius, Gassendi and Mare Humorum, Plato and J Herschel 85% illumination |
| Details | 2019-03-17 Seeing III/V |
| Telescope | 203mm RC8 @f8 |
| Camera | ZWO ASI290MC, Infrared pass filter |
| Exposure(s) | 90s AVI for each image |
| Capture | FireCapture |
| Processing | AutoStakkert 2, Photoshop |
My pic made it onto the BBC Sky at Night gallery front page
Noticed my picture of the Rat’s Head Nebula – normally known as the Christmas Tree Cluster – made it as the gallery image on the February programme page.
M3 (NGC 5272) RGB just a few exposures
Just a few exposures between gaps in the clouds. L not used because of dust on the filter.
| Object ID | M3 (NGC 5272) |
| Details | Canes Venatici Mag. 6.2, Size 18′ |
| Telescope | 203mm RC8 at f8 |
| Camera | Atik 460Ex @-20C Badder RGB filters IDAS P2 LP filter |
| Exposure(s) | R,G 2x120s, B1x120s, 2×2 |
| Capture | APT, PHD2 |
| Processing | Nebulosity 4, Photoshop |
Medusa Nebula PK205+14.1 / Abell 21 / Sharpless 2-274 Medusa nebula
A new find for me. Just red channel
| Object ID | PK205+14.1 / Abell 21 / Sharpless 2-274 Medusa nebula Gemini |
| Details | 2019-02-26 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian IDAS P2 filter |
| Camera | Atik 460EX, Baader RGB |
| Exposure(s) | 10 x 180s Red filter darks |
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | Nebulosity, Photoshop |
M106 (NGC 4258)
Poor transparency and gradients from passing headlamps. NGC 4248 also in view.
| Object ID | M106 (NGC 4258) Ursa Major |
| Details | 2019-03-04 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian IDAS P2 filter |
| Camera | Atik 460EX, Baader RGB |
| Exposure(s) | 10 x 120s each filter darks |
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | Nebulosity, Photoshop |
M65 M66 RGB
Pretty poor transparency – lots of thin cloud.
| Object ID | M65, M66 Leo |
| Details | 2019-02-26 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian IDAS P2 filter |
| Camera | Atik 460EX, Baader RGB |
| Exposure(s) | 4 x 180s each filter darks |
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | Nebulosity, Photoshop |
M82 RGB
Just a few frames before clouds so a bit grainy.
| Object ID | M82 Cigar galaxy Ursa Major |
| Details | 2019-02-09 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian IDAS P2 filter |
| Camera | Atik 460EX, Baader RGB |
| Exposure(s) | 4 x 180s each filter darks |
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | Nebulosity, Photoshop |
NGC 2174 Monkey Head nebula narrowband
Some guiding problems so couldn’t use all subs.
| Object ID | NGC 2174 Monkey Head nebula Mag. 6.8, Size 40′ Orion |
| Details | 2019-01-31 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian, MPCC |
| Camera | Atik 460EX @-20C Baader Ha, OIII, SII filters |
| Exposure(s) | 8x300s 2×2 each Darks |
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | Nebulosity, Photoshop SHO colour mapping |
NGC 2264 Christmas Tree Cluster narrowband
After a HOYS-CAPS session added narrowband. Rat’s head in there?
No more MPCC and stars are much sharper at the edges.
| Object ID | NGC 2264, Christmas Tree Cluster |
| Details | 2019-01-29 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian, MPCC |
| Camera | Atik 460EX @-20C Baader Ha, OIII, SII filters |
| Exposure(s) | 10x300s 2×2 each Darks |
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | Nebulosity, Photoshop SHO colour mapping |
M42 for 2019 narrowband
This year in narrowband. Two attempts at colour mapping.
Need to get rid of the MPCC with this telescope as the image is better without. Too much star trailing with.
| Object ID | M42 Orion Nebula |
| Details | 2019-01-22 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian, MPCC |
| Camera | Atik 460EX @-20C Baader Ha, OIII, SII filters |
| Exposure(s) | 10x120s 2×2 each Darks |
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | Nebulosity, Photoshop OHS, SHO colour mapping |
Lunar Eclipse 2019-01-29
Images taken while doing a Live Stream for the Astronomical Society of Edinburgh
| Object ID | Lunar Eclipse |
| Details | 2019-01-21 02:30 – 05:45 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian |
| Camera | Canon 600D |
| Exposure(s) | Various |
| Capture | Canon Utilities |
| Processing | Photoshop |
B33 Horsehead in narrowband
First real narrowband image. Strange reflections of the primary, secondary and spider in Ha and OIII images, as well as flats.
Mappings were OHS and HOS. SII didn’t add much to either image but object is strong in Ha and OIII.
| Object ID | B33 in IC343 |
| Details | 2019-01-13 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC Guided PHD2 |
| Camera | Atik 460EX Baader Ha, OIII, SII filters |
| Exposure(s) | 15x200s 2×2 each filter 15 each of darks, flats, bias |
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | Nebulosity and Photoshop Colour mapping: OHS: OIII, Ha, SII HOS: Ha, OIII, SII. |
M44 Praesepe / Beehive cluster
Poor night of transparency and seeing so just got this in the passing. Lots of sky fog that got processed out.
| Object ID | M44 / Praesepe / Beehive cluster, Cancer |
| Details | 2019-01-07 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian, MPCC |
| Camera | Atik 460EX Baader RGB filters |
| Exposure(s) | 10x60s each RGB 2×2 Darks |
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | Nebulosity, Photoshop |
M42 Red channel only
Shows Trapezium stars really well with just Red channel.
Submitted to HOYS-CAPS project.
| Object ID | M42 Orion Nebula |
| Details | 2018-12-09 22:16 – 22:42 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC IDAS P2 Baader Red filter |
| Camera | ATIK 460EX @-20C |
| Exposure(s) | 15x90s darks |
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | Nebulosity, Photoshop |
Comet 46P/Wirtanen
Getting larger and diffuse.
| Object ID | Coment 46P/Wirtanen |
| Details | 2018-12-09 19:30 – 19:56 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian IDAS P2, MPCC |
| Camera | Canon 600D |
| Exposure(s) | 30 x 40s ISO 800 |
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | Deep Sky Stacker comet mode Photoshop |
NGC 1514 Crystal Ball Nebula
A chance find, discovered on the way to finding comet 46P. Telescope was unbalanced so guiding was poor. Very noisy image so no real details. Would like to do more with this.
| Object ID | NGC 1514 Crystal Ball Nebula, Taurus |
| Details | Mag 9.43 Size 2.2′ 2018-12-04 Poor transparency |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC, IDAS P2 LPR |
| Camera | Atik 460EX Baader RGB filters |
| Exposure(s) | 5x60s 2×2 each RGB Darks |
| Capture | APT Guiding PHD2 |
| Processing | Nebulosity, Photoshop |
NGC 1514 is a planetary nebula that was discovered by William Herschel on November 13, 1790, describing it “A most singular phaenomenon” and forcing him to rethink his ideas on the construction of the heavens. Up until this point Herschel was convinced that all nebulae consisted of masses of stars too remote to resolve, but now here was a single star “surrounded with a faintly luminous atmosphere.” He went on to conclude “Our judgement I may venture to say, will be, that the nebulosity about the star is not of a starry nature”.
It has since been conjectured that the nebula in fact envelops a tightly orbiting double star with a period of up to 10 days. Gas is presumably expanding away from the larger star of the pair.
Wikipedia
M1 Crab Nebula Ha-RGB
First time adding in Ha to RGB
| Object ID | M1 Crab Nebula |
| Details | RGB: 2018-12-03 Ha: 2018-11-01 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian IDAS P2 LPR |
| Camera | Atik 460EX @-20C Baader 7nm Ha and RGB filters |
| Exposure(s) | Ha 6x300s 1×1 RGB 10x60s each 2×2 Darks / BPM |
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | Nebulosity, Photoshop |