Forthimage – Amateur Astronomy from Edinburgh
This website is an observing log and a place where I can post my images and observations. You can find more information about the equipment I use on the About/Equipment page as well as papers I am co-author of.
Having imaged many of the obvious objects I find it more satisfying now to contribute data to various projects.
I am currently President and Webmaster of the Astronomical Society of Edinburgh and some of my pictures are displayed on their Flickr page.
I contribute data to the HOYS citizen science project, ExoClock, BAA Mars, Solar and VSS sections, AAVSO, GOSA, GMN, UKMON, as well as others. You can now see my meteor camera data on the Meteor Camera page.
Mark
Recent posts
C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) 2023-05-14
Stacked on the comet so the stars trail and the comet remains still. Very faint at a mag of 16.9 CV and coma size < 0.4′
| Object ID | C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) |
| Details | 2023-05-14 23:24 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC |
| Camera | QHY168C @-10°C |
| Filters | IDAS D3 |
| Exposure(s) | 7x180s |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, ASTAP, Photoshop |
Sun May 2023
Video using the QHY168C.
| Object ID | Sun |
| Details | 2023-05-13 11:08 UT (banner) |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC |
| Camera | QHY168C |
| Filters | Black polymer UVIR |
| Exposure(s) | .ser videos |
| Capture | FireCapture |
| Processing | AS3!, Registax, Photoshop |
2023-05-15-1449
2023-05-16-1254
2023-05-19-1134
2023-05-22-1338
2023-05-22-1318 Skymax180
Sun 2023-05-11
Video using the QHY168C. Only 40fps but still better than single shots
| Object ID | Sun |
| Details | 2023-05-11 13:48 UT / 14:41 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC |
| Camera | QHY168C |
| Filters | Black polymer UVIR |
| Exposure(s) | 120s .ser 40fps |
| Capture | FireCapture |
| Processing | AS3!, Registax, Photoshop |
Markarian 421 Blazar
Markarian 421 – which is actually a Blazar, at an easier than most mag. of 13.4, right next to a really faint galaxy (LEDA 33453) at mag 19.6. This one is only 411 million light years away.
| Object ID | Markarian 421 |
| Details | 2023-04-13 21:36 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC |
| Camera | ATIK 460EX @-10°C |
| Filters | V |
| Exposure(s) | 5x180s |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, ASTAP, Photoshop |
C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)
The comet “meant” to put on a naked eye show in 2024. Still very far away and faint at about magnitude 17. Stacked on the comet so the stars trail and the comet remains still. Very faint at a mag of about 17 and come size 0.5′
| Object ID | C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) |
| Details | 2023-04-20 22:38 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC |
| Camera | ATIK 460EX @-10°C |
| Filters | V |
| Exposure(s) | 10x180s |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, ASTAP, Photoshop |
M3 first one back colour imaging
First one after finally (8 months) getting my QHY168C back from China – actually a replacement because they said they’d fixed the old one but hadn’t. New replacement which works fine.
| Object ID | M3 Globular cluster Canes Venatici Mag. 6.2, Size 18′ |
| Details | 2023-04-26 21:15 – |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC |
| Camera | QHY168C @-10°C |
| Filters | UV/IR |
| Exposure(s) | 20 x 180s d f df |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop |
3 Crescent Moon views
From right to left:
- 2023-04-21
- 2023-04-23 with Venus
- 2023-04-24
NGC 5248 Caldwell 45
It’s been a while since I did any of this sort of image processing.
| Object ID | NGC 5248 C45 Spiral galaxy Bootes Mag 10.2 |
| Details | 2023-04-20 21:20 – 22:21 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC |
| Camera | ATIK 460EX @-10°C |
| Filters | V |
| Exposure(s) | 20 x 180s s f b |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop |
Thin crescent Moon
Very think and nice Earthshine
| Object ID | Moon |
| Details | 2023-04-21 20:40 1.64 days 3.2% illuminated |
| Telescope | 300mm lens @ f7.1 |
| Camera | Canon 600D |
| Filters | – |
| Exposure(s) | 0.8s |
| Capture | – |
| Processing | Photoshop |
Sun 2023-04-8 – 11
Over 3 days
| Object ID | Sun |
| Details | 2023-04-08 11:47 UT 2023-04-10 13:28 UT 2023-04-11 11:46 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC |
| Camera | Atik 460EX |
| Filters | R |
| Exposure(s) | 0.0022/0.0025s |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | Photoshop |
Rupes Recta and Catena Davy craterlet trail
An interesting craterlet trail:
“This linear string of 23 tiny craters runs from the midpoint of Davy Y towards the walled basin Ptolemaeus, following a slightly curving course to the east-northeast. It is located at selenographic coordinates 11.0° S, 7.0° W, and has a length of 50 km.
This formation is not believed to be due to secondary cratering because it is not radial to a suitable source crater. The most likely cause is believed to be a single body that broke apart prior to impact due to tidal effects. High resolution images have demonstrated that the craters formed at about the same time since the ejecta from each crater does not overlay neighboring craters. However, there are still some scientists who believe that this chain of craters may be volcanic in origin.” Wikipedia
| Object ID | Rupes Recta, Catena Davy et al |
| Details | 2023-03-30 17:45 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian |
| Camera | ZWO ASI290MC |
| Filters | R |
| Exposure(s) | 90s 90fps .ser |
| Capture | FireCapture |
| Processing | AS3!, Registax, Photoshop |
Mare Crisium, Nectaris and Janssen
Just some random areas but decent seeing for here. Main banner image Mare Crisium.
| Object ID | Moon |
| Details | 2023-03-27 18:35 – 19:54 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian |
| Camera | ZWO ASI290MC |
| Filters | L |
| Exposure(s) | 90s .ser 30 – 50% frames |
| Capture | FireCapture |
| Processing | ASI3!, Registax, Photoshop |
Mare Nectaris and craters Theophillus, Cyrillus and Catharina
Crater Janssen with fault on floor and other craters invading its space
Sun in Ha 2023-03-27
Nice arc again today
| Object ID | Sun in Ha |
| Details | 2023-03-27 11:44 UT / 11:50 UT (close-up) |
| Telescope | Coronado NearStar |
| Camera | ZWO ASI290MC |
| Filters | Built in Ha |
| Exposure(s) | 50 – 90 fps .ser 40 – 50% frames |
| Capture | FireCapture |
| Processing | ASI3!, Registax, Photoshop |
Sun in Ha 2023-03-21
ASE’s Coronado NearStar. Mounted on the back of my main telescope now, dodging clouds and rain.
| Object ID | Sun in Ha |
| Details | 2023-03-21 11:41 UT / 11:44 UT (full disc) |
| Telescope | Coronado NearStar |
| Camera | ZWO ASI290MC |
| Filters | Built in Ha |
| Exposure(s) | 50s 108 fps .ser (close-up) 40% frames 70s 55 fps .ser (full disc) 50% frames |
| Capture | FireCapture |
| Processing | ASI3!, Registax, Photoshop |
Plato, Alpine Valley and Imbrium Basin -99.8% Moon
Tricky at Full Moon
| Object ID | Plato, Alpine Valley, Imbrium Basin |
| Details | 2023-03-07 21:05 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC |
| Camera | ZWO ASI290MC |
| Filters | L |
| Exposure(s) | 120s .ser 80fps |
| Capture | FireCapture |
| Processing | AS3!, Registax, Photoshop |
Copernicus and Plato 99.5% Moon
Quick videos between clouds
| Object ID | Moon ray craters Copernicus, Plato |
| Details | 2023-03-06 20:19 / 20:22 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC |
| Camera | ZWO ASI290MC |
| Filters | L |
| Exposure(s) | 120s .ser, 90s .ser |
| Capture | FireCapture |
| Processing | AS3!, Registax, Photoshop |
Aurora caught on UK007J meteorcam 26-02-2023
Points to high to get all of it but this short clip shows how active it was. Blue colour is artificial to make it easier to see as it was captured in mono.
From 21:22:11 to 21:27:19
Conjunction Moon, Jupiter, Venus 20223-02-22
Beautiful conjunction last night. Gained lots of interest when I posted on the ASE’s Twitter feed and local WhatsApp group. Nice Earthshine and you can just make out some of the moons of Jupiter too.
NGC 436 Cassiopeia
No real reason for doing this, just a nice open cluster in Cassiopeia and thought I’d do some photometry on some of the cluster stars using ASTAP, which I did. I chose a Be star (2MASS J01154089+5849021 / Cl* NGC 436 BOD 54) but nothing revealed on that, or any of the other stars I chose. But then again it would have been lucky!
| Object ID | NGC 436 |
| Details | 2023-02-22 22:15 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian MPCC |
| Camera | Atik 460EX @-10°C |
| Filters | V photometric |
| Exposure(s) | 20 x 180s |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop, ASTAP |
Very bright fireball over Scotland 2023-02-05 UK007J
Details here: https://archive.ukmeteornetwork.co.uk/reports/2023/orbits/202302/20230205/20230205_022512.269_UK/index.html
Data from UKMON
Mark McIntyre of UKMON says on the GMN forum:
Bright visual mag -5.9 fireball over Scotland last night. Abs mag at least -9. Asteroidal in origin, travelled about 50km over NE Scotland between Aviemore and Dufftown.
Unfortunately going too fast I think – entry velocity 24 km/s, slowed down to ~15km/s before disintegrating at ~35km, so not much chance of ground debris which anyway would probably have gone into the sea north of Elgin.
We are getting a lot more coverage of Scotland now, several cameras onboarded in the last few months and more to come.
Those are mostly ASE cameras that we’ve been adding. At an abs mag of almost -9, that’s brighter than the brightest from 2022, caught by my UK006E during the Perseids at -6.77.
C/2022 E3 (ZTF) in R
Brighter still. 3 tails including sunward pointing one. Ion tail is twisting having suffered a “discontinuation event” caused by CMEs from the Sun.
| Object ID | Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) |
| Details | 2023-01-25 23:13 – 22:22 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian |
| Camera | Atik 460EX @-10°C |
| Filters | R |
| Exposure(s) | 20x60s |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop |
Moving very fast now. 20 minutes, each step 60s.
C/2022 E3 (ZTF)
Getting brighter. 2 tails
| Object ID | Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) |
| Details | 2023-01-16 23:13 – 23:38 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian |
| Camera | Atik 460EX @-10°C |
| Filters | V |
| Exposure(s) | 20x60s |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop |
GK Persei outburst
A new outburst in this former nova, Nova Per 1901. Has short terms variation as well as long term.
| Object ID | GK Persei |
| Details | 2023-01-09 17:54 – 20:13 UT |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian |
| Camera | Atik 460EX @-10°C |
| Filters | V |
| Exposure(s) | 440 x 30s |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | ASTAP, Vstar |
EdinburghW Station report 2022
During this period, 26054 single station detections were collected by cameras in EdinburghW. including 22672 sporadics. 2955 of the detections matched with other stations. Orbit and trajectory solutions were calculated for these matches. The brighest up to ten confirmed matches are shown below.
| DateTime | Magnitude | Shower |
| 20220802_232136.430_UK | -6.77 | PER |
| 20220803_015529.918_UK | -3.77 | PER |
| 20220809_015122.862_UK | -3.58 | PER |
| 20221103_195720.568_UK | -3.18 | SLD |
| 20221015_002822.743_UK | -2.95 | ATI |
| 20221121_012849.458_UK | -2.87 | spo |
| 20220808_224828.459_UK | -2.83 | PER |
| 20221005_223628.837_UK | -2.81 | OCT |
| 20221206_011845.088_UK | -2.73 | DAD |
| 20220812_011324.904_UK | -2.71 | PER |
29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann
Hard to get a magnitude with so many star in and around but still in outburst. Removed as many using ASTAP and got V mag. of 12.0.
| Object ID | 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann |
| Details | 2022-12-20 23:00 UT V 12.0 |
| Telescope | 250mm f4.8 Newtonian, MPCC |
| Camera | Atik 460EX @-10°C |
| Filters | Baader V |
| Exposure(s) | 10x180s |
| Capture | NINA |
| Processing | APP, Photoshop |