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
Cocoon nebula IC5146 / Caldwell 19 RGB
“IC 5146 (also Caldwell 19, Sh 2-125, and the Cocoon Nebula) is a reflection/emission nebula and Caldwell object in the constellation Cygnus. The NGC description refers to IC 5146 as a cluster of 9.5 mag stars involved in a bright and dark nebula.”
Wikipedia
| Object ID | Cocoon Nebula IC 5146 / C19 |
| Details | Cygnus Mag. 7.2, 12′ |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian |
| Camera | Atik 460EX |
| Exposure(s) | 9 or 10 x 180s each RGB 1×1 |
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | Nebulosity, Photoshop |
NGC 6888 / Caldwell 27 Crescent Nebula SHO
A new one for me
| Object ID | NGC 6888 Crescent Nebula |
| Details | Cygnus Mag. 7.4, 18′ x 12′ |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian |
| Camera | Atik 460EX |
| Exposure(s) | 7 x 300s each Ha, OIII, SII |
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | DSS, Nebulosity, Photoshop Mapped SII, Ha, OIII -> RGB |
Wizard Nebula HOO NGC 7380
After doing HOYS-CAPS data on a very murky, moonlit night, decided to try narrowband on this.
| Object ID | NGC 7380 Wizard Nebula |
| Details | Cepheus Mag. 7.2, 25′ |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian |
| Camera | Atik 460EX |
| Exposure(s) | 10x300s Ha, 5x300s OIII |
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | DSS, Nebulosity, Photoshop |
Pelican Nebula HaRGB IC 5070
A by-product of doing HOYS-CAPS data for V1490Cyg in HaRGB, decided to make a colour image out of it even though only 3 subs for each filter.
| Object ID | IC 5070 Pelican Nebula |
| Details | Cygnus Mag. 8, 60’x50′ |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian |
| Camera | Atik 460EX |
| Exposure(s) | 3x180s RGB, 3x300s Ha |
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | DSS, Nebulosity, Photoshop |
Wide angle Milky Way shots from the Languedoc
So – because there’s no night in Scotland from May to August, I went south to the Languedoc hills. Sainte-Polycarpe in the Aude region to be precise. First real use of my Skywatcher Star Adventurer mount. Great fun, still a lot to learn, but got some decent images. Also made a fun little video story of my holiday in a beautiful region of France.
Cygnus Wall – red channel only
After gathering HOYS-CAPS data thought I’d give this a quick go in red channel only.
| Object ID | Cygnus Wall |
| Details | “Mexico and Central American” part of North America Nebula |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian |
| Camera | Atik 460EX IDAS P2 LP filter |
| 8x180s 2×2, darks, bias, flats -11C |
|
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | Nebulosity, Photoshop |
2MASS J21383981+5708470 in IC1396A
Been gathering HOYS-CAPS data on 2MASS J21383981+5708470 in IC1396A recently because of a possible increase in brightness. This has been stretched and processed to show details. Normal submitted data wouldn’t be.
| Object ID | 2MASS J21383981+5708470 |
| Details | In IC1396A 21 38 39.8 +57 08 47.1 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian |
| Camera | Atik 460EX IDAS P2 LP filter Baader tri-colour red filter |
| Exposure(s) | 3x180s, darks, bias, flats -16C |
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | Nebulosity, Photoshop |
Summer Solstice Noctilucent Clouds
23:15 UT 21 June 2019
Samsung S8 mobile camera
Jupiter colour / infrared
Jupiter is so low that only half of the telescope could see over the lip of the dome, so effectively only a 125mm telescope – not 250mm! Surprised I got anything at all at this altitude.
Not much detail visible but the infrared version is much sharper, cutting through the atmospheric turbulence better, and shows the Great Red Spot as white. The SEB is clearly changing and shows white in the colour image. Is this part of the unravelling of the GRS that is reportedly happening?
Diameter=45.89″
Magnitude=-2.61
| Object ID | Jupiter |
| Details | Diameter=45.89″ Magnitude=-2.61 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian |
| Camera | ZWO ASI290MC |
| Exposure(s) | 120s videos each |
| Capture | FireCapture |
| Processing | PIPP, Autostakkert, Registax 6 |
Sunspot groups 2019-05 14/15/16/17
Sunspot groups over 4 days
| Object ID | Sunspot 2741 |
| Details | 2019-05-14/15/16/17 |
| Telescope | 80mm f7.5 refractor, Meade glass solar filter |
| Camera | ZWO ASI290MC |
| Exposure(s) | 120s AVIs @60-80 fps, 10% frames |
| Capture | Firecapture |
| Processing | PIPP, AutoStakkert, Registax, Photoshop |
Sunspot groups 2019-05-06
Done as live stream on the Astronomical Society of Edinburgh Facebook page
| Object ID | Sunspot AR2740 |
| Details | 2019-05-06 |
| Telescope | 80mm f7.5 refractor, Meade glass solar filter |
| Camera | ZWO ASI290MC |
| Exposure(s) | 120s AVIs @45 fps, 10% frames |
| Capture | Firecapture |
| Processing | AutoStakkert, Photoshop |
Sunspot group
Sunspot developing over several days
| Object ID | Sunspot AR2738 |
| Details | 2019-04-13, 2019-04-18, 2019-04-20 |
| Telescope | 203mm RC8@f8, Baader solar film filter |
| Camera | ZWO ASI290MC |
| Exposure(s) | 120s AVIs, 20% frames |
| Capture | Firecapture |
| Processing | AutoStakkert, Photoshop |
NGC4565 / Caldwell 38 Spindle Galaxy
Processed 3 different ways – give different results, not sure which I like best. Still too noisy – need many more exposures.
Interesting edge-on spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices, surprisingly large (14.9′ x 2′) but faint (9.60 but surface brightness 13.3). It is actually intrinsically more luminous than the Andromeda Galaxy. First seen by William Herschel in 1785. Also visible lower right is NGC 4562.
| Object ID | NGC 4565, Caldwell 38 Spindle Galaxy |
| Details | 2019-03-31 |
| Telescope | 203mm RC8 f8 |
| Camera | Atik 460Ex @-20C Badder RGB filters IDAS P2 LP filter |
| Exposure(s) | 10x240s 2×2 RGB Darks |
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | Nebulosity, Photoshop |
M37 in Auriga
Only 2 subs of each colour before clouds rolled in.
| Object ID | M37 Auriga |
| Details | 2019-03-27 |
| Telescope | 203mm RC8 f8 |
| Camera | Atik 460Ex @-20C Badder RGB filters IDAS P2 LP filter |
| Exposure(s) | 2x120s 1×1 RGB Darks |
| Capture | APT |
| Processing | Nebulosity, Photoshop |
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 |