Malc's Astro Page

Horsehead Nebula

2012-01-17T00:20:00.000Z

Stargazing Live from my own back garden this evening. My telescope & camera pointing towards the heavens to image the amazing Horsehead Nebula.

The red glow originates from hydrogen gas predominantly behind the nebula, ionized by the nearby bright star Sigma Orionis. The darkness of the Horsehead is caused mostly by thick dust, although the lower part of the Horsehead's neck casts a shadow to the left. Streams of gas leaving the nebula are funneled by a strong magnetic field. Bright spots in the Horsehead Nebula's base are young stars just in the process of forming.

1 hour only of exposure Approx 40 mins @ Iso 3200 and 20 Mins @Iso 1600 using 2 minute guided sub frames. My collection of darks are proving useful with a dark frame subtraction. DDP and levels adjustment and aquisition provided from images plus and Deep sky stacker combining the frames.

M42

2012-01-06T13:12:00.000Z

The last week or so has left us all a bit battered by the winds.
The moons phase equally annoying for a deep sky imager. I wanted to just test everything was still working as it has been over a month since rolling back the dome roof. Last year I was able to test my UHC filter on ngc7000 on a series with and without. So last night I pointed towards Orion and done a series of 3 minute images at Iso 800. I love the colour rendition that the filter gives. A more natural look from unfiltered. M42 I think. Just wish we were a few light years closer!!!!!!!

M38

2011-11-29T21:06:00.001Z

Sunday night saw a few hours free from the winds thats been hounding us Brits.

So I took the opportunity to look East. M38 (NGC 1912) is a lovely target with plenty to fill the field of view.

M38 (left of centre) as you know lies approx 4200 light years away in the constellation of Auriga the Charioteer.
Dead centre in my image is NGC1907 about 4700 light years distant. Above and to the right is IC 417 a faint patch of Hydrogen gas spawning a new cluster. Down and right towards the right corner of the image is another fuzzy NGC1931 also known as the small Orion nebula, again a region of starbirth illuminating the surrounding dust and gasses.
The image was taken last sunday approx 60 x 1 minute unguided exposures at ISO1600 No darks or flats taken. The library is steadily building, and stacked in deep sky stacker. A little DDP stretch later and a few pretty star spikes has produced I think a pleasing wide field image to add to the collection.

Orions Belt

2011-11-29T21:00:00.001Z

I am happy I was able to capture all 3 stars of Orions belt.

On the left ζ Ori (Alnitak) 800 light years away and 100,000 brighter than our sun.
In the centre ε Ori (Alnilam) 1340 light years and 375,000 times brighter than our sun.
On the right lies Mintaka a mere 915 light years away and just 90,000 times brighter than the sun.

Mintaka is also a double star and takes less than 6 days to orbit around each other.
This is a 45 minute exposure at Iso 800 on my Canon 40d

Thank you Visitor 5000

2011-11-21T20:13:00.001Z

Have a glance to the right and check if you are visitor 5000 to my Astro blog. If it's you say hello and tell me where you are blogging from.

Thank you to all my visitors and I look foward to posting lots of new pics

Malcolm

La Luna

2011-11-20T13:07:00.001Z

At a mere 241,390 miles our nearest neighbour cast's it light onto a cold November evening. 1/13th Sec at Iso 100 has captured some lovely detail. Despite being only a few degrees above the horizon. I have removed the atmospheric colouring and returned the image to black and white. I have just had a thought here is the original pic too. I think it takes a more romantic quality in B&W. Which one do you prefer?.

First Light M1

2011-11-19T00:24:00.001Z

It has been a long time waiting. But here it is first light from the new Hills Observatory. I thought I would pay homage to Messier's no 1 in his collection of fuzzies to avoid the great Crab Nebula M1. The last two nights have been clear if somewhat damp. A good test or the new home of my scopes. Water has been dripping off the outside of the dome and the grass is soaked you can feel the damp in the air. But I still wanted to have a play. The observatory has worked incredibly well no damp on the internal walls or inner dome. Now moisture build up on the mount or Pier. The optics remained clear too. I didn't even power up the dew heaters. So here is the pic. A wide field shot of M1 in all its glory. A 3 hour guided exposure over 2 nights of 2.5 minute subs at ISO 800 Dark's subtracted. I will do a series of flats over the weekend and re post if I get an improvement. Let me know what you think.

"Ordo Ab Chao"

2011-11-03T10:02:00.000Z

Well folks the time has arrived the observatory is complete. It has taken four and a half months of hard work. Sorry about the delay in posting I have been a little greedy on the overtime at work managed to do over 120 hours in the last few weeks. Katie is surprised I even know where I live. The kids only recognise me from the family pictures on the wall!!!!!
A few friends have asked was it a tough project. Answer no not really the only difficult part has been not having a workshop to allow me to continue working when the weather changed which it did frequently. Covering and unplugging power tools packing them away wasted time. I have learnt numerous new skills including routing, fibreglassing. Oh and the Maths required to work out all the dome sections I thought I had long since forgotten.
My club www.brecklandastro.org.uk
has asked me to do a membership talk on the construction I am looking forward to presenting in January.

I has been a really great experience and the title of this post says I think I have achieved Order From Chaos If anyone has any questions please feel free to message me and I will be glad to offer any assistance.

I hope you have enjoyed following the build and I am looking foward to posting first light.

Just a few more things to do

2011-11-03T09:46:00.000Z

I have the skirt in place. I used 4mm ply to give a good strenth and supported also by two layers of fibreglass, I will give at least one gel coat tomorrow and get a picture done.

I also continued work on the main shutter, I have added a bit of weight with 2 coats of fibreglass aswell as overlapping seams to go around the corners. I also have fiitted the roller wheels. An ingenious idea that was made possible by a local company. I have also fitted the front and backstops for the main shutter and a long hook allows and simple opening mechanism without too much fuss. Today also allowed me to add a few security features for which I wont go into detail but it does stop the shutter being removed from the outside as well as stooping gusts of wind to ripping it off. Bolts are also positioned to stop unwanted rotation when not in use. And the inside of the dome got a coat of black paint. My daughter has a few of those glow in the dark stars on her ceiling and has donated some for me to add to my ceiling when complete.
I took a pile of scrap wood to the dump today and a chap next to me was dumping the cut off carpet he had spare he kindly let me have it and that was laid this afternoon along wit a good quality underlay. Now the shutters are in place I have installed the scopes, balanced and realigned them. Numerous power supplies and leads have been cable tidied.

Up, Up and away

2011-09-30T19:09:00.000+01:00

The time has come and that horrible feeling in my stomach has returned. Have my measurements been accurate enough has my routing beed steady can I glue and screw a perfect circle. Will the fibreglass peel away the second we start to lift. Anyway my two neighbours are here and it now or nothing. I am going to look and feel so stupid after all the banging and noise they have had to put up with.

1...............2...............3.............. lift.

It fits perfectly.

I cannot believe how far this project has come along and how proud I am of my achievement.

I still have not finished the main shutter so I have covered it till my next day off. I have also added a very temporary skirt to keep things water resistant. The small hinged door is also to be completed before I can say I am done. But for today I am one very happy chap.

Fibreglass.

2011-09-30T18:57:00.002+01:00

The day had finally arrived. I was not looking foward to doing the fibreglass. Have read a great deal and so many contradicting statements had left me a little unsure as to whether I wanted to undertake the task myself. A good conversation at work with a colleague and I felt much better about doing it. The plan really was going to be a little at a time. So here we go. Started off a little shaky by trying to press out the air bubbles to hard and spreading the matting across the surface, I ripped that piece off and tried again. Once you get used to what you are trying to do it was plain sailing. Overall I am very happy with what I have done. I give my thanks to the guys at J.W Morris Mouldings for their help and supply of a few gallons of resin

It has taken me two and a half days to give a couple of coats of matting and to help with a smoother finish I have laid the tissue paper matting on top. This pic shows the first of two coats of gel coat with the missing part at the bottom as I have decided to add the skirt after the dome is in position. There are a few lumps and bumps that can be sanded back quite easily. Looking good I think?

Before I can get the dome raised I need to get the main roller wheels on and aligned. Quite a simple job. The not so easy job was to align the lateral guide rollers to exactly 1800mm end of wheel to wheel apart and aligning them centrally to the structure so when the dome turns all wheels are in contact with the inner part of the ring. With these in place I waited for my neighbour Mark to come home as he offered to help raise the roof.

Dome ready for Fibreglass

2011-09-22T21:12:00.001+01:00

As you can see the dome is ready for the fibreglass. It has been a long slog to get to this part especially as I have done everything myself, the template making of the gores was sometimes difficult as I needed often more hands than I currently own. Clamps help but the size often required a little extra help to hold things in place. Still I am very happy with the result so far.

I have spent the day today making the shutter and the hinged door. The plan is to allow the door to close into position and the shutter slide down over the top.A will post a pic or two when its all in place as hard to descibe without seeing the finished item. I couldn't wait to see what it looked like ontop of the dome. As Rolph Harris would say "can you tell what is is yet"
Shame you can't see the grin on my face at this moment.

Slowly Slowly the work progresses

2011-09-16T22:12:00.000+01:00

Managed to fit all my hours into 4 days of graft at work so I could have today off. Didn't start too well though having to take the cat to the vets. He has a scratched eyeball. 2 hours wasted, it's healing well nothing more they can do but I will charge you £38 for looking. As you can see I have managed to get the back panel on. Previous pics show some bracing pieces at intervals these provided excellent spacers to allow the curve to run smooth. I think it looks really good. Two gores also in place. These were much more difficult than I expected. I have studied other designs and they suggest using wall paper to make a template. Easy enough I thought until the wind took the first piece across the road. The second piece tore itself away from the pins holding it as another gust came along. Only to find when I did get a template piece and transferred it to the hardboard. Cut it out really carefully BINGO it doesn't fit. When you stretch the wall paper tight it stretches across the shortest distance not taking in curvature the that thicker more solid hardboard needs. So I spent a great deal of time offering up and clamping a piece and trimming it until I have a good fit. Thankfully as the structure is square or round the template spun around has cut the gores for the opposite side. Before I picked the kids up I also managed to finish the corner gore. This one was really tricky as I can only clamp it from one side. Needed an extra set of hands to hold it in place against the rib so I could draw the angle directly on to the panel. Well I am happy with what I done today I think it looks really good. What do you think?

Miracle it hasn't rained today

2011-09-12T20:50:00.000+01:00

I said yesterday I wont hold my breath for a good day. Maybe I did but didn't know it as despite all weather reports today we have not had a drop of rain. The wind is very strong though we are getting the tail end of Hurricane Katia. As you can see progress has been made today I have completed all the arc sections. Last piece to do is the shutter sections. There will be a hinged shutter piece at the bottom the will drop down when required, the sliding section will roll back to the backstop of the shutter opening there will be an overlap to stop the ingress of water.

You will see what I mean
when they are done.
But for now it is time to baton
down the hatches and try and
protect my work from the
unrelenting power of Katia.

Bloody weather

2011-09-12T20:27:00.000+01:00

All I seem to do these last few days is dodge showers. As I have no workshop to work in I am constantly covering things up and unplugging extension leads. When I do get a few minutes I have managed to install a first of the arcs and hope to get them all done and finished tomorrow, amidst dodging yes more showers. I am not holding my breath for clear skies.

Taking Shape

2011-09-10T21:24:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone. Have been a little busy at work for the last week but this weekend is my weekend off. Spent the morning in Norwich buying curtains and insulating liners aswell as roman blinds for the doors and windows in the garden room. Getting ready for the winter. Which leads me back to the observatory. Had a few hours this afternoon and with a few extra helping hands, thank you Katie and Erin for your assistance in holding things steady. I have managed to get the two main arches in place and level and temporarily secured with some batons. Pic 2 gives a close up of the secondary arch that will be cover in hardboard ready for the fibreglass, and of course the upper arch will allow for the shutter to run on a smooth and true path backand forth. Hopefully tomorrow I can get the rest of the arcs cut and have myself a dome. If I say so myself this is looking fantastic. First light will be a momentus occasion. I hope I am inspiring a few to have a go too. You can do it I am not an engineer and using just the normal domestic tools in my back garden. Give me a shout and send me a link to your ideas and constructions. ( I was going to say erections but I wont) Ha ha.

Polar Alignment

2011-09-02T11:49:00.000+01:00

You know that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you you are about to do someting and you are not sure if it is going to work. I had that feeeling this evening. It was the first clear sky since the pier was installed and I wanted to get the mount fitted and do a polar alignment. From day one when I dug the hole I had been relying on the fact that I had found north accuratly. When I poured the concrete and set the bolts that hold the pier. The shape of the building was also set the the north alignment give allow an easy access when scopes are parked. So I cannot put it off any longer it was time to carry out the mount attatch to the new top plate and level it to the pier. It was an agonising 45 minute wait to see polaris. Finally the wait was over and I nervously I peered through the finder scope and wow there she was right there where it needed to be.Success I didnt have any doubts at all what was all the worrying about.Dont know what all the fuss was about.

Pier pressure

2011-08-31T20:59:00.001+01:00

Have been recovering in bed from a broken back. Not really. Here are the before, during and finished pics of my behemoth of a pier. Having moved it from observatory to shed for prep work and priming. I dont intend moving it again until it is installed permenantly.

The weather has not been very kind today.
So I just wanted to get a quick pic with the first of the two final coats of gloss black. Dark clouds has hindered progress. I also took the opportunity to mount the top plate. My LXD 75 mount will be attatched to this piece.

The pier

2011-08-23T21:38:00.001+01:00

What phrase is it the kids are using these days OMG. I think that sums it up.
Today I looked rather suspicious in the car park at work doing what looked like a dodgy deal from the back of 2 open car boots. Let me put your minds at rest. I havent turned to the dark side but I was collecting the custom made pier made by a work colleague Nathan.

Taking us both to lift it in to my car I rushed it home. I had to wait though till I got home this evening to get it out from the dining room floor and into position. I just had to know if it fits.

Oh My God it's huge. It's heavy and a hernier later lifting it on, yes it fits perfectly onto 3 feet of cured concrete. From the state of the weather forecast It may not be till next week until I can get the scope attatched and do a polar alignment. But for this minute I am one happy man. It will get several coats of primer and a nice Glossy black finish before it takes up permanent resisdence at the new Hills Observatory. (I am sure you can picture the huge smile on my face as I typed this tonight)

My sincere thanks Nathan for a fantastic job. Our best wishes, thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family at this time.

Looking Good

2011-08-16T08:14:00.001+01:00

Good morning all, things have moved at pace this week. The base ring has been completed . Just a couple of coats of protection before bolting into place.

As you can see the dome ring is nearly there. A small upgrade to the jig had made the cutting process smoother. This job really takes time as each piece is glued and screwed and clamped. I lost several clamps during the move so having to make do. Millimeter perfect on it's shape and looks fantastic on to of the base ring giving me a 30mm clearance for rotation. I was going to use the 6 castor's from the previous roll off roof but they look just to darn big and out of place. I know they will never be on show externally just not happy with them.

THE DOOR. A few days ago Tony our chairman from our society Breckland Astronomical Society delivered and installed the steel door. He had to make a small alteration to the frame as it was just off square. Fits like a glove and now has 2 coats of red oxide primer. The inside has been painted black and the front hopefully today will have the first of its gloss white coats to match the siding.

Yesterday I received a text from Nathan to inform me the pier is now ready for collection. Cant wait to see it and get it up for a test run. Pics to follow soon I promise.

Dome ring

2011-08-04T19:24:00.001+01:00

Tues 2nd What a lovely few days of sunshine we have had apart from the freak downpoor this morning. Time well spent in finishing off the interior. The pier base is totally isolated from the observatory and my steel pier is currently under construction from Nathan a welding tutor where I work. I cant wait to see it.

Probably the only tool I do not own is a router and a fellow Breckland Astronomical Society member Barry has lent me his. I have used 12mm external grade ply and carefully cut out the ring that will fit to the top of the walls I built a little jig and used a steel plate with a 4.5" gap to give a consistent sizing of the pieces cut. The castors will be mounted ontop of each upright so distrubuting the load quite effectively. I have cut 10 pieces that will be glued and screwed to give be a firm base ring on 24mm. Haven't taken a pic of a pile of arc sections but all they need is a sanding before construction. Unfortunately I am working now till next monday so a new set of pics to follow soon. Please feel free to comment or ask me any questions. Cheers.

Insulation and flooring

2011-08-04T19:13:00.000+01:00

It has been a good week since anything has been done. A few well deserved days off work has allowed me to crack on. I have used 50mm Polystyrene insulation in the wall cavaties and under the floor as well as some security measueres to give added protection. This gave me the opportunity to install the cables to the light fittings, switches and get the heater cables and enough mains sockets for future add ons!!

Loft boards were used for the flooring and a layer of hardboard for the inner walls. All will be painted black in due course. A fellow society member Tony Fox Carter is currently making me the steel door similar to the style that graced my previous observatory. Probably overkill but security is my business and it never pays to cut corners on what is the most vulnerable part of the structure.

Cladding

2011-07-15T15:35:00.001+01:00

To my surprise the cladding arrived this morning and not Saturday as arranged (not complaining). So another chance to get on, 5 sides have been done. Very simple to do just attatch the end strips and slide the 300mm pieces in, therefore aligning perfctly with the top that will soon support the fixed ring. I have also battoned at each 300mm intersection to provide additional strenth and support.I am nearly ready for a fellow society member Tony to measure up for the steel door. He is the same chap who made the door for the last observatory. The doorway in will be on the left side nearest the fence (north facing) this affords easy acces when scopes are parked.

Framework

2011-07-15T09:56:00.001+01:00

The wind was a bit fierce and luckily the rain cleared to allow long enough for me and my daughter to get the framing up. It gave her 40 minutes away from essay writing so I think she didn't mind helping. So what have we got I decided that the observatory would be hexagonal in shape. I have used 3" x 2" for the general structure and used the same for the flooring, once. Not a bad morning's work. Apologies to "Nutty" and "Jack" I had arranged to get a days golf in today but the bad weather has left me a little behind schedule. I have the cladding coming tomorrow for the exterior sides so todays job is to cut the batons and to get rid of the rubbish.

What conservatories were made for

2011-07-14T12:07:00.001+01:00

When the weather is foul and the work still needs to be done do I don the wet weather gear and wellies and slog it out like a true Brit, NO WAY that is what conservatories were made for I have spent the last few hours glueing and screwing the framework together in comfort and watching the first day of the British Open Golf. It has eased up a bit so I think will brave it and get on. More pics soon.

Groundbreaking for the new Hills Observatory

2011-07-11T13:57:00.003+01:00

Welcome back to all my fellow bloggers. Apologies for the delay but I am back, and pleased to announce that groundworks are under way on my new observatory.
I have decided to have a go at a dome. Gasps I hear all around. I just dont have the space for a roll roof. It will be a six sided wooden framework below a 6 foot dome. Dome concepts are still developing at present fibreglass is the preferred option. I have taken some ideas from many of the amateur domes I have seen and will post some links to the shortly to some of the amazing projects out there.
My view has somewhat improved with an almost to the horizon view to the south.

Above is a shot of the garden where Hills Observatory is to be built. I was quite lucky in the respect that huge patio slabs have been laid previously and are level. I have removed 2 slabs for the hole for the pier. A work colleage is making me a custom made pier. I have dug a reasonable depth but hit solid clay and rock. so the pier fixing bolts will be raised a couple of inches higher on the observatory floor after the flooring is fiited. No great worries really better that than a bad back trying to excavate another 6 inches.

Everthing is nice and level and now waiting the concrete pour. Hopefully this afternoon! fingers crossed.

Times Up

2011-05-10T21:18:00.000+01:00

I knew the time was looming fast. We move in 3 weeks now and I have to work a nine day stretch. So I have spent this evening Stripping out cables and power supplies. So Saham observatory has seen its last photon. It has served me well. Never once leaked or failed to operate as it was designed. A testament to my over engineering me thinks. There own trumpet blown. So goodbye and thank you for the service you provided. However I shall utilise as much as I can into the new Hills Observatory opening ???????. Just missed out a 2.1m dome too 24 hours too late (gutted). So it will be a while before any new pics posted but I will be posting the new build project, In whatever form it may take. Cheers everyone and keep looking in from time to time.Clear skies to you all while I am out of action.

M13

2011-05-04T10:23:00.002+01:00

We have been graced recently with some great clear nights. 5 in a row at last count but tonight was the 1st without the wind. So on goes the canon. I have said now a couple of times this may be the last pic for a while as I am moving, but the clear skies just keep on coming!!!

Anyway onto the good stuff. This is a slightly cropped and DDP processed image of 20 x 300 second exposures at ISO400.

It never fails to amaze me the sensitivity of the cameras just seems to get better. We can now image detail in the nearby 12th mag ngc6207. No longer just a fuzzy blob next to it.

About 124 light years in diameter M13 contains a few hundred thousand stars.

M3

2011-04-27T08:45:00.001+01:00

I was not going to give up on the chance of was last imaging run before we move and be without a working observatory over the summer months.

A few outside lights left on by my soon to be ex neighbour caused a few issues so I reduced the ISO to 400 and let off a few 5 minute exposures. This image was a total of 1 hour 20 minutes with a DDP stretch and star spikes. I am quite pleased with result despite the fact it is not the perect focus I have achieved before.

Last Light

2011-04-23T21:49:00.000+01:00

Sad news fellow bloggers from Saham Observatory. Last light from my observatory maybe anyday now. For four years I have viewed the heavens from what is a reasonable, dark sky. Equipment has performed almost flawlessly giving me some wonderful images I have posted here. But alas all good things come to an end.

Now for some good news. We have a new house, bigger than the last one for our expanding family. and a better view of the southern sky from which to observe. No more trying to observe Orion from behind our roof. No more searching for a cosmic clouds of smoke, but instead imaging smoke from the neighbours wood burner at two in the morning.

So it is back to the drawing board for me to come up with a new design for the new Hills Observatory. Bigger better, and for heavens sake Malcolm remember the the difference between external wall and internal wall measurements!!!!!!!

So a moving date of the first of june is on the cards. Whether I can get something built before the winter is another thing.

I will keep you all posted as to progress and will be sure to have a detailed photo blog to see the progress throughout construction.

M84 & M86

2011-04-15T19:53:00.001+01:00

This was the last of the imaging runs last friday. I wanted to feature markarians chain. A slight error on my part was to angle the camera in the wrong orientation thus imaged only part of the chain. I was still amazed at this composite of 57 x 2 minute exposures at ISO 800. I have managed to capture 35+ galaxies down to mag 16 the deepest yet for me and the 90mm refractor. If you can spot any more let me know!!!

Earthshine

2011-04-10T15:14:00.001+01:00

The same image as below this time with a 1/2 second exposure to capture the earthshine. I didn't want to go to overboard with the exposure.

The Moon

2011-04-10T14:50:00.002+01:00

mThursday the 7th April saw the first of a few good but rare nights. To set up the camera and achieve a good focus I saw this bright thing in the sky and took a few pics. Iso 200 @ 1/25 The best of the buch I think.

The cosmic shiner

2011-04-10T14:17:00.000+01:00

The last few nights has seen some lovely clear skies, despite light pollution from the local town of Watton approx 3 miles away and a 30% illuminated moon. I thought I would have a go at M64 The Blackeye Galaxy

This cosmic punchbag of a galaxy has taken a recent pounding well about a billion years ago as experts believe, a small galaxy collision has left its mark. Messier added it to his collection despite it's discovery a year earlier. Resting a mere 24 million light years away. This is a combination of 1 hour 40 minutes of exposures @ ISO 1600. A final crop just show the bruise.

Partial Solar Eclipse

2011-01-04T10:02:00.000Z

Good morning everyone. My last day before I return to taining. Haven't done a great deal of astronomy since November. I had the chance to go to our club observatory at Great Ellingham last night as we are hosting open evening's for Stargazing Live. A good turn out considering the cloud cover was 100%. Still visitors had the chance to see scopes set up on our astro pad and some visitors even bought their own scopes and asked for help in getting the best from them. A tour of the control room and gallery before we went upstairs to see the monster 20". Earlier that evening jupiter was visible so we had the webcam set up and showing a live view through a laptop. That was until the visitors and the clouds arrived. Anyway everyone I met was impressed with our set up and already looks like we may have a few new members from the first night.

I was tasked with a small errand this morningas Kate left for work. Looking east was again clouded out but I took the camera with me just in case of a break as it was already 08.30 as the partial eclipse was well under way. I had just returned and parked up when I saw a gap in the clouds. I dumped everything on the lawn and fired up the camera. Just enough time to take a couple of images before we were clouded out again.

Taken with the 40D Iso 100 1/160 sec for both images. Hope you like them

Sorry Everyone

2010-11-18T21:16:00.000Z

Hello everyone,

I start a new job role in the middle of Jan and I am required by Her Majesty The Queen to be suitable trained and proficeint in which to excecute my duties. I will be away for 8 weeks of gruelling training and exams. Only coming home at the weekends to be with my family. I dont think astronomy will be very high on my list I am afraid. So I will miss imaging most of those winter delights. However if I can get into my suitcase I will tuck away the 20 x 50's and a few mags (space porn as Katie calls it) although not holding a great deal of hope for mag 6 clear skies over the Isle of Sheppey like here in Norfolk.

I have loaded the hard drive with lots of Master frames to re process and play with between revision breaks.

So please bear with me and enjoy / comment on my current posts and hope to be imaging again in the spring.

Best wishes and Merry Christmas to all my visitors from all over the globe.

Clear skies and wish me luck

Malcolm

The Moon

2010-10-27T23:46:00.000+01:00

Well this is the first clear night in the first 12 days of my holiday, so I thought I would have a go at the moon. I thought I might take 100 shots crop them in Images plus and Registax them together.
Just a small reduction in brightness and an increase in contrast.

Result 76 frames. Images taken ISO 100. 1/160 sec each. At a mean distance of 236.305 Miles

M33 The Pinwheel galaxy

2010-10-23T10:26:00.000+01:00

I took this pic on the same night as M45 (below). With a great deal of humidity in the air. This was taken before M45 and is just a small stack of 35 x 1 minute exposures at Iso 800 Unguided. It was really just a test of focus and balance really so I wasn't serious about this set. As the night previous I had run a sequence on M37 and M38, having taken a couple of hours worth of photons on processing to find focus was out by probably one tenth of a mm "gutted" Me thinks an electronic focuser is on my christmas list?

With a diameter of about 50,000 light years, the Triangulum galaxy is the third largest member of the Local Group, a group of galaxies which also contains the Milky Way Galaxy and the Andromeda Galaxy, and it may be a gravitationally bound companion of the Andromeda Galaxy. Triangulum may be home to 40 billion stars, compared to 400 billion for the Milky Way, and 1000 billion stars for Andromeda.

M 45 Revisited

2010-10-11T15:46:00.001+01:00

As I mentioned previously I am returning to those treasures that I had previously captured using my Canon 300D. After a wonderful clear sky day at the zoo with my family. I wanted to get what could be the last trip outside before my training starts, and that will mean well into Jan before another opportunity comes along.

So here is the result.

There was a 86% humidity last night so the dew heaters were working overtime but did their job well.

This image is a stack of 61 x 1 minute Iso 800 unguided exposuress in RAW. No darks or other calibration files used.
I may even have another go with the Lumicon deep sky filter on too?

I can see a gradient across the image but do not posess the gradient remover tool. Contains a good DDP stretch . This is the first run of this set so I may return and update it if I get chance to look at what else I can do in Images plus. I have the untouched master Tiff file is anyone wants to have a go with it too just drop me an email.

I am quite pleased with the result the wispy tendrills are much more pronounced around Merope and Maia. Everything about the image is a good deal more natural I also like the horizontal shock waves under Electra.

PS poor jpeg compression . I will look at it when I can.

NGC 891

2010-10-07T10:22:00.001+01:00

NGC 891 is an edge-on unbarred spiral galaxy about 30 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. It was discovered by William Herschel on October 6 1784. The galaxy is a member of the NGC 1023 group of galaxies in the Local Supercluster. It has an H II nucleus.

I am not sure if things are working correctly you know?

Since I done a custom white balance using the Deep Sky Filter. When I return to auto white balance and remove the filter the results are very blue and a significantly reduced number of stars are recorded almost as if the filter was still in place. I had to almost remove blue from the processing to get a reasonable pic. I also get blue halos around stars!! Is there some step I am missing. It has been a while since I have been doing any telescope time but I just cannot get my head around this. Next step is to reset the camera back to factory status. ( daylight pics seem fine though aghhhhhhh !!!!!

I have to disappear on the 15th Nov for 8 weeks training so I fear this winter is not going to be as productive as I had hoped.

Heavens door

2010-10-05T10:55:00.004+01:00

Mrs Rae Diane Dent

31st Oct 1930 - Sept 1st 2010.

Mum, I will see you face in the stars forever.

Be safe and happy with your son Andrew and husband Raymond.

Until we all meet again Goodnight and Godbless.

The sun came up this morning;

It wasn't vey bright.

My dark mood cast a shadow;

It's hard to see the light.

We all have just one mother

And, now that her life on earth is done,

The emptiness and loss I feel

Make it hard to see the sun.

Tomorrow is a brand new day;

May the pain and sadness lighten.

I will remember all her love,

And the sky will brighten.

Gone is not forgotten;

Her love remains behind;

She's traveled in a new direction,
Love know no space and time.

Mum you know I love you.

She will care for me from above.

She will send me starlight and rainbows

To remind me of your love.

Persied Meteor 2010

2010-08-14T11:32:00.000+01:00

We have spent the last few days down in Yeovil, Somerset visiting family far away from the clear skies of Norfolk.
We all had a wonderful day at Longleat safari park too as I watched the skies clear above us on the drive back. The plan was to just sit the camera on the tripod and shoot from the back garden. A few test shots revealed a lovely orange sky. I decided there and then to get away. About 6 miles from Yeovil is a beautiful and reasonable dark site on top of Ham hill in Stoke Sub Hamden. I arrived at 11.30 pm to a car park full of meteor watchers. I found a quiet corner and started to shoot. We had an amazing view to the south Sagittarius was easily visible as the teapot sank below the hill and the milky way arched across the entire sky. Most of the cars disappeared about midnight and left me and another chap clicking away and chatting. We saw some amazing meteors that left a trails of smoke for sometimes 15 seconds after but annoyingly never in the direction of where our cameras we pointed. However I did capture this one flashing through Camelopardalis at 01:16:56 again leaving a trail of smoke behind it. I did capture about 30 others but none as bright as this one.

Cant decide if its worth sending to one of our publications.

In a galaxy far far away

2010-08-06T20:45:00.000+01:00

I was saying the other night to a fellow member at our societies observatory that I shall spend the rest of the summer taking obscure faint fuzzies as most of the big and bright objects have been covered. Then Barry says well there is always room for improvement. True I said especially as I now have the field flattener so I think it may be the time to improve on a few of the objects previously imaged and cropped considerably because of coma. I was going to image the Cocoon nebula last night then realised that imaging at the near verticle will cause the camera to hit the mount. I could see the Andromeda galaxy naked eye well above the neighbours rooftop so I thought yeah lets have ago. Seven seconds later I was focused and set up a run of 90 pics. I didnt bother firing up the guider as I have no problems with 60 second exposures when facing east.

Comparing it to the previous image a bit further down the blog I am very pleased that there has been no cropping and a greater depth of focus has returned a very pleasing result.

Object: M31 The Andromeda Galaxy

Type: Galaxy

Constellation: Pegasus

Instrument: William Optics Megrez 90mm, William Optics MkIII field flattener.

F/stop: 5.52

Exposure: 1 hour 23 minutes

IS0: 1600

Date: 05/06/Aug/2010

Location: Saham Toney Norfolk.
Enhancement: Images Plus 3.82 DDP stretch and 3 Sharpening iterations.

NGC 7000 With UHC Filter

2010-08-01T14:58:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone,

I am enjoying my 3 weeks off 1 down 2 to go Daddy day care is fun!!(most of the time) although last night was the first night outside since last Saturday. First off I have solved the little mystery of the failure of guide camera and dew heaters. The power supply / charger for the power tank had broken. So each time I thought I was charging nothing happened and of course the voltage dropped below usable and caused equipment failure. All working fine now.

Went out at about 9.00 pm to test the bahtinov mask kindly supplied by fellow member and manufacturer of these fine items. Made to a professional standard with precise laser cutting of the material providing extremely sharp focus spikes to allow quick and easy focus. Less than 10 seconds I think. Please see Keiths page on my list of fellow bloggers and get ordering they are worth every reasonably priced penny.

This time I thought I would complete my little task of taking NGC7000 again this time with the UHC filter in place. I was very pleased with the result showing the true colour of the Hydrogen Alpha line emissions.

This stack is of 38 X 1 minute unguided subs with no dark calibration / flats or bias frames used.
Stacked in deep sky stacker and a DDP stretch in Images Plus. No additional colour enhacement but I will have a play and if its worthy of posting I will let you see in due course. Let me know what you think comments are always welcome.

Ngc 7000 North American Nebula

2010-07-18T23:22:00.004+01:00

I have a couple of weeks holiday at the moment and Saturday was the first night with a decent clear stable sky. Powered up everything to find the red dot finder battery flat. (oops that was me) the Atik guide camera stopped working. Unable to download an image??? and the dew heaters stopped working just a yellow light .Great night this is going to be. Done a quick 2 star alignment and had a quick look at a few deep sky delights via the Canon. Started with some favourites to ease my pain like M27 and M71. Took a slow slew over to M11 and M26 found a couple of lovely ngc open clusters. Then headed towards M16 damn just obscured by the roof of the observatory. Not a good time of night to see it for me. So I headed back to Cygnus and had a good look at Everybody's favourite Alberio. finally moved across to The North American Nebula. I took about 10 minutes worth of data a month or so ago done a quick process to it and nothing highly dissapointed with the lack of colour. So I set up a quick run of 20 x 5 minute exposures, as I have no guiding capability tonight, and done a little deep sky stack on them. No lats or darks and I even took them in JPEG I know stop swearing at me. I didnt really have any intention of doing anything with them after last time so wasnt really expecting a great deal. Any way enough rambling from me here are a couple of pics. i think I like the negative better very pleased with the accuracy of the mount giving round stars. and a good flat field. Enjoy

M81 & M82 Again

2010-06-05T22:00:00.003+01:00

I never get bored of these beautiful galaxies nestling themselves about 12 million light years away M81's (ngc 3031 Bodes Galaxy) A near perfect arm structure circles all the way to it's core. I can also see a 3 dimensional structure like water going down the plug hole to be swallowed up by a raging black hole of about 70 million solar masses. However only one super nova found in recent years found in 1993.

M82 (cigar galaxy ngc3034) also positions itself at the same distance. Recently well about 200 million years ago the pair were interacting resulting in a large amount of gas being funneled into its core. Also known as the starburst galaxy as it produces stars at a rate 10 times faster that our own Milky Way.

The 3rd member of the group the much smaller and fainter NGC 3077 @ mag 10.6 has a very fine wispy structure this is a result of again tidal interaction between its parents many millions of years ago.

I can also confirm a few more faint fuzzies as you can see from my labelled picture.
down to an amazing mag 15.6 Unheard of from an amateur just 10 years ago.

Comet 2009 R1 McNaught

2010-06-05T19:50:00.005+01:00

Congratulations go to Rob McNaught this is his 51st comet discovery during the course of the Siding Springs Survey. Expected to get another couple of magnitudes brighter by the end of the month just about when us Brits lose it.

I had a quick go the other morning around 2.45 when the moon was up and it had just risen over a neighbours rooftop. Knowing my luck the next week set of nights off I get will all be cloudy so get it while yuo can!!

Here is a stack of 6 x 30 second exposures at ISO400

Not an amazing pic but just glad to have seen it. Enjoy while you can.

M81 & M82 2 Hours

2010-06-05T15:56:00.008+01:00

Hi again all,
Had a great night of clear skies again last night so from midnight I captured another 1 hours worth of photons. Again we have 60 x 1 minute exposures unguided and a master produced. I then combined both masters and done a little cropping due to camera alignment. Had to remove as we had our daughters 8th birthday party to capture. I am preety amazed at the result stars image is a little smoother and stars rounder too?

M81 & m82

2010-06-03T14:30:00.008+01:00

Hi Everyone,
Had some good news on the work side of life. I will moving my shift pattern onto days by July. Finally I will become an astronomer again. Have a new nickname from the family too bless em I am now known as Astro Geek. On a week of rest this week cant get my sleep pattern right either probably due to an enormous wisdom tooth excavating through the side of my face. Good news is its coming out Monday morning after a 12 hour shift.

Enough of my woes. Here's the good stuff.

Went outside last night and the weather man said it was going to be clear so I believed him and rolled back the roof of the observatory and let the scopes equalize

I had a re balance and alignment done a month or so ago. I done a couple of test shots to focus etc. I set Images plus to 60 x 1 minute unguided exposures.

I lost a couple of shots over the course so here is a 58 minute taken in JPEG no flats no bias or darks as I had to bin them all due to the new field flattener.

My aim is to go out tonight and do another hours worth and see what that looks like when co added. So here is the first hours worth. Beware this could fall flat on its face and all I end up with is this image.

Dynamic Duo Venus & Mercury

2010-05-07T20:14:00.004+01:00

Had a break in the cloud coverage to take this pic of Venus & Mercury
taken @ 85mm with a .5 second exposure on the 8th April at 20.14
I would have liked to wait a little longer for a darker sky, but the clouds kept rolling in.

Sorry there has'nt been much activity here recently still stuck doing nights. Hopefully a light at the end of the tunnel coming soon though.

Good to see my fellow bloggers are producing some great work while I am locked (literally) inside. Take a few minutes to look at their stirling efforts please.

M51 Whirlpool Galaxy NGC 5194

2010-04-16T20:43:00.006+01:00

After many hours of adjusting and checking the cameras are fixed correctly and square to the scope I have come to the conclusion that the generic Field flattener I had bought just doesn't work I know it was for a f5.5 to f6 scope and my scope is f6.7
but I lived in the vein hope that it wouldn't be that bad. Alas to no avail.

Last week I put out a cry for help on UK Astro Ads and asked if anyone had a William Optics Mk3 field flattener which is dedicated for my scope. I had a reply from a really nice chap who said he had one, and a generic William Optics field flattener for refractors as well. He offered the mk 3 to me at a good price and offered to post both of them for me to test. I like so many others have had a few bad transactions on such sites so I as of course a little unsure when I clicked the pay pal button and duly paid up. A couple of days later a package arrives and you know that feeling you get in your stomach when you think things are about to go hideously wrong. I sat staring at the box while I drank my coffee and reluctantly opened it.

What a surprise 2 immaculate field flatteners. Having hurdled our youngest happily playing on the carpet in front of me I grabbed the keys to my observatory and had a play. I attached my Canon T fitting to it and connected to scope focussed on a neighbours chimney and checked it out for defects.

Last night we had a fantastic clear night despite the fear of a few hundred tonnes of Icelandic volcanic ash about to land on me I set about focusing using my live view and one of my fellow members who makes superb quality Batninov Masks see Keiths Astro over to your right. Now lets try this thing out. a quick 30 seconds to see if everything was there. I took 7 x 3 minute guided exposures and a few darks and started to stack. Here below is the summation of those Images of M51. Slightly over processed I know for a short duration image. BUT

Astounded, Amazed, Totally shocked I have star shapes to the edge of the field I am so pleased to finally have an image that doesn't need 80% cropping.

Now the bad news. I have had to dump my entire collection of Darks,Flats and Bias frames to start a new with the new Flattener.

My Sincere thanks goes to Dr John and his faith and trust in mankind.(the flattener I didn't require now posted back)

NGC6939 NGC6946

2010-03-23T15:22:00.012Z

After Spending some time in the realm of Hercules I let a finger decide in what direction I should travel. I headed north skimming slowly across the underbelly of Draco when a globular caught my attention. Near to it was the wispy tendrils of a galaxy. It was very faint but as the moon was setting behind the trees skies were lovely and dark. After confirming where I was I took a quick test shot and yippee a lovely little face on galaxy lent me a few photons of it's light.
now the tekkie stuff

Spiral Galaxy NGC 6946 and Open Cluster NGC 6939 are located about 2 degrees southwest of Eta Cepheus.
NGC 6946 is a 9.7 magnitude spiral galaxy that was discovered by William Herschel on September 9, 1798 and is about 10 arc minutes in diameter.

It is a relatively close galaxy at a distance of about 10 million light years, and was once suspected by Edwin Hubble of being a member of the Local Group of galaxies that includes the Milky Way, but today it is not believed to be a member. Because we are looking at it through the plane of our own galaxy, it is highly obscured by dust.

NGC 6946 is sometimes called the Fireworks Galaxy because of the number of supernovae that have been discovered there and the galaxy's prodigious rate of star formation.

By contrast, open cluster NGC 6939, seen about 40 arc minutes northwest of NGC 6946, is located inside of our own galaxy at a distance of approximately 5,800 light years. It is just by coincidence that these two objects lie close to each other in the same line of sight.

NGC 6939's total brightness is about 8th magnitude and it contains about 80 stars in its 8 arc-minute diameter and its brightest member is about 12th magnitude.

We have here 92 30 second unguided frames No Flats or darks. total 46 Minutes

It feels so good to get out there again!!!!!

M92, NGC6341

2010-03-23T15:04:00.006Z

I dont really believe what I saw last night but from dusk till dawn we had a clear night temp hovered around +2. At around midnight i could see the old summer favourites coming into view. Dew heaters on and I focused on M92 somewhat overlooked because of its proximity to its big sister M13, I dont really know why because it's a wonderful sight in my 90mm.

At a distance of 26,000 light years only 900 Light years futher on than M13

16 variables have been discovered in this globular, 14 of which are of RR Lyrae type, while one of them is one of the very few eclipsing binaries in globular clusters.

Late last year I purchased one of the generic field flatteners. I have to say it doesnt work. will just have to save a few pennies for the Williams mk111 version.

Anyway Here is a cropped and stacked set of 76 unguided 30 second JPEGS Images giving a total of 38 Minutes. No darks of flats used.

It was just great to get outside and let some of the stresses of work float away

Just My Luck

2010-03-05T18:18:00.003Z

Well the title say's it all. As a defender of her majesty's realm, I have been dealt a rather long series of night duties, probably going to extend till june! But what really bugs is that for the last 7 nights we have had lovely clear crisp cold skies and yes I am working. Every week I am off on rest week is cloudy damp and miserable you can see where I am coming from now. Here's hoping for a clear hour or so next week . I want desperatly to try the 50mm f1.8 lens and capture some photons.Oh well better get in the shower and get ready for another 12 hour stint. Hope to post something a little more interesting soon. Many thanks to all my followers and visitors from all over our little blue spot (as seen by voyagers 1 & 2. So enjoy the clear skies for the next few days because its me who jinx's the whole thing and finds us cloud not you.

Aurora from 42,000 feet

2009-12-30T19:35:00.002Z

40th Birthday Pressie

2009-12-30T18:43:00.006Z

What an amazing day we had. Myself and fellow Breckland astronomical society member John Gionis (link to his blog to your right) Set off at 3.00pm in the pouring rain, anticipation high and nervous at the same time. Our mission as we chose to accept it was to take a little flight in a specially converted 737 fly up to about 32,000 ft and do a few loops around the Orkney Islands to view the most spectacular event of the Aurora Borealis. The trip was arranged through the only company offering such tours http://www.auroraflights.co.uk/

We were treated to talks from "The Sky At Nights" imaging specialist Mr Pete Lawrence and the magazine's reviews editor Mr Paul Money. Pictured Paul Lawrence.

[Photo]The pre-flight presentations were held in Radisson Blu Hotel, Stansted Airport. Paul Money provided a 30 minute talk on the stars and constellations that would be visible during the flight while Pete Lawrence explained the connections between the Sun and the Aurora.The activity predictions for tonight were fairly subdued. The vertical component of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), known as Bz, had swung south earlier in the day and this gave us some hope for the flight. If Bz points south, the IMF and Earth's magnetic field can connect and auroral displays are more likely to occur. If Bz is north, the fields oppose one another and the aurora tends to be quiet.During the flight, the stars looked beautifully crisp and clear with Paul Money and Pete Lawrence providing an enthusiastic commentary on what could be seen in terms of the stars, constellations and any auroral activity outside the plane. Fortunately, on this occasion, the southerly Bz did work for us and a display was seen. We did make a small course correction by climbing a bit higher and travelling a little futher up to the Faroe Islands at 62°00’N. Although rays and curtains were not very evident this evening, the display did show a lot of horizontal banding and this was seen to change throughout the flight. Pete attempted to photograph the aurora and a couple of his images are shown here.

Andromeda Revisited

2009-09-27T12:49:00.013+01:00

A revisit to the great Andromeda spiral galaxy on thursday took another 40 minutes worth of images including some 5 minute guided. About 60 minutes worth of darks subtracted aswell. Have had a play withe the processing to get a more pleasing colour. I dont think there was enough detail on shorter exposures on the previous image. Now i think it has become a great deal smoother. I do have a stock of flats and bias frames, so I may be back with another. I do have a few issues with coma however so I have cropped as best I can Let me know what you think.

Object: The Great Andromeda Galaxy
Type: Galaxy
Constellation: Andromeda
Date: 24th - 25th September 09 11.40 01.40am
Equipment: William Optics Megrez 90 Canon EOS 40D guided using 66mm William Optics refractor & Atik 16IC camera.
Subframes: 15 x 1 minute exposures at ISO1600, 4 x 5 minute ISO 1600 and 8 x 2 minute exposures approx 60 mins of darks subtracted
Stacked: by Deep Sky Stacker.
Processed: In Images Plus 3.75 with a DDP stretch.

M31 Andromeda Galaxy

2009-08-29T21:28:00.006+01:00

With the new job requiring many hours of my time. I finally had the opportunity go go outside last night. Things didnt go well. I went through the usual processes polar align scope, check balances, focus DSLR, connect guide camera (bugger) I think I have broken it. In connecting it up I power up first as required then tried to plug the USB into the ST4 port I heard an electrical crack sound and immediatly removed the plug connected to the USB socket and nothing. I powered down and reconnected several times but to no avail.

I continued the evening by just taking about 20 x 30 second exposues at ISO 1600. Deep sky stacker co added the images and Images plus has processed with a DDP stretch. Unfortunatly by now I had lost all interest it what I was doing but I this is my first shot of Andromeda so I wanted to post it anyway. I have emailed Atik and awaiting a reply as to what to do with my poorly camera.

Apologies

2009-07-29T21:21:00.003+01:00

Hi fellow bloggers.

An apology to make to followers of my blog, The last couple of months have been pretty hectic with our new arrival. Aswell as awaiting conformation of my new job that was finally confirmed to me last week. It has been a long time coming. Now stress levels are beginning to subside i can make efforts into producing some new images. I am hoping for a clear night on the 12th/13th Aug hoping for a good meteor shower. I will Have the Canon piggy backed onto the mount for some nice constellation shots controlled by the laptop, as my 6 year old daughter Erin is going to stay up till midnight with me wrapped up in a sleeping back and pillows in our back garden in Norfolk.I bet she doesnt make it past 10pm I'll let you know how that one turns out.

PS Safe trip home Endeavour.

M27 The Dumbell Nebula

2009-05-30T00:08:00.008+01:00

Object: Dumbbell Nebula M27
Type: Planetary Nebula
Constellation: Velpecula
Date: 30 May 09 01.30am
Equipment: William Optics Megrez 90 Canon EOS 40D guided usin 66mm William Optics refractor & Atik 16IC camera.
Subframes: 1 x 8 minute exposures at ISO800, 1 x 8 minute dark, Bias & light frame calibrated
Stacked: by Deep Sky Stacker.
Processed: In Images Plus 3.75 with a DDP stretch.

Notes: This is the first opportunity to guide using my new Atik 16IC camera. I was able to guide using what I estimate to be a 9th Mag star. I am seeing a much better signal to noiseratio by generating a longer exposure rather than 16 x 30 seconds. I look foward to future tests.

Sinus Iridium

2009-04-30T22:15:00.004+01:00

I thought I would give the Toucam a last go before I get the DMK ,

Here is a registax stack of 144 frames of the Mare Imbrium region and the distinctive semi-circle known as Sinus Iridium (the so-called "Bay Of Rainbows,"

Auto Guiding works On M57

2009-04-27T22:48:00.007+01:00

Before I send my LXD 75 mount for a service I wanted to have a go myself. Stripped & rebuilt, remounted and a perfect polar alignment later. I thought lets put the DSLR on and test PHD as it was tracking very badly (the fault of the mount by the way)and see what I get.
I wanted a target that was nebulous to also put to the test my new Lumicon 2" deep sky filter. Generally considered the best all purpose nebula filter on the market.With a transmission of 486nm Hydrogen-Beta @ 94%, 656nm Hydrogen-Alpha @ 92% & the double ionised lines of Oxygen III of 496nm to 501nm @92%. The Deep Sky Filter also passes infrared light, making it an excellent filter for photographing most deep space objects through light-polluted skies.
Enough of the tech stuff did it work?. The simple answer is the pic above. This Image was a 20 minute Phd guided exposure. My jaw hit the floor as everything performed flawlessly.

Lulin Animation

2009-03-18T00:14:00.005Z

Lulin Animation

2009-03-17T23:21:00.006Z

Wow it worked I downloaded a simple AVI creation programme added the files and hey presto Comet Lulin zipping across our skies.
This small animation is from stacking 10 frames and repeated

Fellow Bloggers

2009-03-15T22:09:00.004Z

A notice to all the bloggers around the world

To all the visitors recent & old to my blog.
I have been up and running now for a year and I am amazed to see all my visitors from around the world. I would like to say a little thank you for your visit and I hope you have enjoyed my attempts at astrophotography. As a thank you I would like to reciprocate and have a look at your web pages if you so have one. Please send me a link to your page via my email malcolmdent@tiscali.co.uk

Please dont forget to have a look at my fellow societies members blogs too they are also producing some amazing shots see their links on the right hand side. I would be happy to add your site aswell.

clear skies to all my friends and thanks

malcolm

Comet Lulin (C/2007 N3)

2009-03-01T17:45:00.006Z

Object: Comet Lulin (C/2007 N3)
Type: Comet
Constellation: Leo
Date: 1st March 09
Equipment: William Optics Megrez 90 Canon EOS 40D Subframes: 11 x 30 second exposures unguided at ISO1600
Processed: No darks or flats were captured. Processed in Images Plus 3.75 with a small non linear stretch or DDP
Having just given our newborn her midnight bottle and tucked her safely in her crib. I looked out the window.

Guess What I Saw ??

Finally we have had a few hours of clear sky and this was my first view of comet Lulin. I spent 15 minutes or so looking at it through my 26mm 2" meade eyepiece through the 90mm refractor. I couldnt see any colour as in the west south west direction is our local town of Watton (only 3 miles away) and a significant amount of skyglow was creeping higher and higher as the clouds and moisture content increased. .

As Lulin is composed of frozen ice, dust and gases. Cyanogen gas and diatomic carbon present in it, when irradiated by sunlight, make it appear green.

I quickly connected up the camera and for the first time used Images plus 3.75 DSLR control for a series of exposures. This image was taken between 1.50 am and About 2.15 am Several frames removed from stacking as cloud passed by. I stacked them to keep the stars at pinpoint so the comets nucleus looks a little elongated. I also used the windows picture viewer and flicked through all the frames at high speed and it was amazing to see how fast the comet is now now moving across the fixed background stars. If I can find a simple animation programme I will will make an animation of its motion.

I am amazed there was a secondary point of interest here. The tail of the comet has passed across 4 NGC galaxies marked on the frame. The faintest of which is mag 15.00 and I can just confirm its there. Not bad for 5 and a half minutes of exposure.

Not the best pic I have taken by far simply because of the sky quality and all I kept was 11 subs from the 30 or so I had taken, A fraction on the heavy side of processing to see the tail and those 4 galaxies.

For fear of no more clear nights I reflect on another beautiful looking comet and the thought of its journey and possible return in 50 million years time.

God speed comet Lulin.

A new Star

2009-02-25T19:04:00.004Z

WOW AMAZING

I saw the birth of a new star last night.

Things went supernova from nebulous region in the constellation of the Norfolk & Norwich Hospital at 22.58 UT. It was subsequently named by it co discovers Katie & Malcolm to the name of Daisy Grace Dent. As new born stars go she was a bit of a lightweight at 6lb 7oz but already showing signs of a cavernous black hole at her centre. A rocket trip returned to her to starbase at dawn this morning after a final countdown of nearly 20 hours. All crew members are well and doing fine.

M42 & NGC 1977 Over Processed

2009-02-14T22:55:00.008Z

This image is the same as the one below but i used some very aggressive processing using images plus 2.5. I have done this to see what info I could tease out from the stacked master image. Personally I like to keep the images clean with realistic dark backgrounds so if anything I am happy to under process to get a more pleasing result. I am certainly no expert in imaging but I enjoy the challenge of having a go.

So what did I do.

well within images plus there is a video file with a set of typical preset adjustments for a M42 found in the file named "deep sky image set" you can copy and paste these settings upon your own image , the processes include Pixel Maths, Digital Development, Brightness & levels, Saturation & brightness.

I wouldnt be happy with this as a final result but what amazes me is that the information is there. I love the way the running man leaps from his own nebula and M42,s wings completely encirle and join hands. No colour adjustments were made & I love to see the true colours shine through.

Please your comments are welcomed what do you think

Rosette Nebula

2009-02-12T23:11:00.010Z

Object: Rosette Nebula NGC2244, NGC2237
Type: HII Emission Nebula
Constellation: Monoceros
Date: 3rd february 09
Equipment: William Optics Megrez 90 Canon EOS 40D
Subframes: 27 x 30 second exposures unguided at ISO800 & 10 x 30 second darks. No filters were used. Stacked by Deep Sky Stacker.
Processed: In Images Plus 2.0 with a DDP stretch.

Notes: Image taken under moonlit conditions.
NGC2237 is generally the name given to the whole of the nebulous region & NGC2244 is the cluster thats believed to be responsible for the stellar winds from a group of O and B stars are exerting pressure on interstellar clouds that cause compression, this initiates star formation in the nebula. This star formation is currently still ongoing.

Back In Time: At a distance of 5200 light years. It was a time when Unification of the first ancient Egyptian states marked the beginning of the Ancient Egyptian civilization.

M42 The Great Orion Nebula

2009-02-04T14:03:00.011Z

What an amazing night transparency excelent apart from the 62% moon in the way.

I thought I would have another go at M42. I wasnt happy with the previous posted image, well that was really just a test to get the PHD to work ( still no luck ). Apologies for slightly elongated stars.

Object: M42
Type: Reflection & Emission Nebula 1270 Light Years Distant.
Constellation: Orion
Date: 24th January 09
Equipment: William Optics Megrez 90 Canon EOS 40D
Subframes: 30 x 30 second exposures unguided at ISO800 and
Processed: 10 x 30 sec darks were captured & subtracted. Stacked using Deep Sky Stacker,
Processed in Images Plus 2.0 with a DDP stretch. 10 Iterations on a adaptive Richardson Lucy deconvolution filter.
Notes: This cropped Image was taken under a 62% illuminated moon.

Any exposure over 30 seconds was badly washed with moonlight so I kept it to that and the result is excellent. I also used Deep Sky Stacker programme for the calibration and stacking it was very easy to use and a great deal quicker than manual registration of each image. I used med fine quality JPEG as I have a small problem when I ask it to use RAW even with an empty card the camera says it is full and will not take an image.

Leo Triplet

2009-02-04T02:02:00.007Z

Object: M65, M66, NGC3628
Type: Galaxy Cluster
Constellation: Leo

Date: 3rd february 09

Equipment: William Optics Megrez 90 Canon EOS 40D

Subframes: 98 x 30 second exposures unguided at ISO800 & 19 x 30 second darks .

Processed: In Images Plus 2.0 with a DDP stretch. 6 Iterations on a adaptive Richardson Lucy deconvolution filter.
Notes: This cropped Image was taken under a 62% illumination from the moon hovering by the pliedies. I will play with the processing a little more I am sure I can tease a little more from the structure from the galaxies.

Back In Time: Light from these 3 started its journey 35 million years or so ago give or take an eon or so.

Occasional killer asteroids could have spawned temporary rings of debris around Earth and played a major role in changing the world climate, according to scientists. Resembling the rocky halos that encircle Saturn, one such terrestrial ring might have chilled the globe considerably about 35 million years ago.
The geologic record indicates that Earth endured a brutal cold spell at the time, possibly sparked by a debris ring that persisted from 100,000 to several million years, the New Mexico researchers said. (courtesy of newsfinder)

Comet Lulin (C/2007 N3)

2009-01-31T15:20:00.006Z

What might be the best naked-eye comet of the year is approaching the Earth and growing brighter every day. It’s Comet Lulin, named for the Chinese observatory where it was discovered in 2007.

Comet Lulin currently is in the constellation of Virgo passing the star Spica in the next couple of days, rising about 1 a.m., but as we progress through February, the comet will move with pace into the constellations of Virgo and Leo and will rise at the much more reasonable hour of 7 p.m.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Comet Lulin is its unusual orbit around the sun. Although it orbits in nearly the same plane that the Earth does, it does so backwards. Earth and all of the major planets orbit the sun counterclockwise as viewed from above Earth’s North Pole, but Comet Lulin is going against the flow, moving around the sun in a clockwise direction. Because it is moving in the opposite direction that Earth moves, the two will pass each other at the breakneck speed of nearly 40 miles per second, or 140,000 miles per hour.

On the night of closest approach to Earth, Feb. 24, Comet Lulin will be moving at an astounding 5 degrees per day across our line of sight. Its motion against the background stars will be evident through a small telescope or even binoculars. The comet will pass 0.41 Astronomical Units from earth and reach its closest distance to Earth on February 24, about 14.5 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon.

Another fascinating aspect of Comet Lulin’s orbit is that it is parabolic rather than elliptical. That means that Comet Lulin doesn’t make regular, periodic visits to the inner solar system, but it is in an orbit so large that this might be the very first time it has passed through the inner solar system and felt the warmth of the sun on its solidly frozen ices. Consequently, predicting the behavior of this newcomer is speculative at best. So far, it has been at or slightly ahead of its theoretical brightness curve. If this trend continues, Comet Lulin is expected to reach fourth magnitude at its peak. That’s bright enough to be seen with the unaided eye from dark, rural locations.

A pair of ordinary binoculars always enhances your view of a comet, and on the night of closest approach, Feb. 24, Comet Lulin and the bright planet Saturn will be in the same binocular field of view, providing an unforgettable sight.

A soon as possible from my location attempts will be made to photograph this newcomer to our solar system.

Long Live Comet Lulin.

M42 The Great Orion Nebula

2009-01-25T14:30:00.006Z

Object: M42

Type: Reflection & Emission Nebula 1270 Light Years Distant.

Constellation: Orion

Date: 24th January 09
Equipment: William Optics Megrez 90 Canon EOS 40D
Subframes: 4 x 30 second exposures unguided at ISO800 and

Processed: No darks or flats were captured. Processed in Images Plus 2.0 with a Moderate non linear stretch or DDP. 5 Iterations on a adaptive Richardson Lucy deconvolution filter.

Notes: This cropped Image was taken under heavy light pollution of my neighbouring town of Watton in Norfolk. M42 is the brightest nebula in the night sky buried within Orions sword and is the closest region of star formation.

Back In Time: That means when we look up in the winter sky at the nebula- a star making factory, the light started towards us in the year 739AD... For those of you who are history buffs, that is roughly five years after the death of the Venerable Bede- the monk who wrote the first history of Britain- before the Vikings started plundering their way around Europe!

More Observatory

2009-01-13T13:06:00.008Z

The weather is cold the skies are certainly not clear so I thought I would take a few pics of the observatory and the inside.

How About a few more pics

Pic 1 Shows the new 120 watt tube heater. The 1st one died.

Pic 2 The laptop connected via underfloor cables.

Pic 3 One of the wheels that rolls the roof.

Pic 4 I have 2 of these bolts holding the roof in place.

Pic 5 The Imaging set up Guider & Canon in place.

The Moon

2009-01-13T10:16:00.007Z

I have been sifting through images on my observatory laptop and found this lovely image of our closest neighbour.
A few facts

Object: Waning Gibbous 15.4 Day Old Moon
Distance: 231094 Miles

Date: 15th September 08

Equipment: William Optics Megrez 90 Canon EOS 40D Subframes: 1 x 1/8th Second

Notes: Magnitude -12.79. Pictured in the constellation if Pisces.

Bad Weather

2008-11-12T21:51:00.005Z

Unfortunatly we have had some really luck with the weather recently and I have not done a great deal of photography.

I am In the process of designing a new website which has all my imaging aswell as a detailed construction of my observatory aswell as other things.

I am seeing a good number of visitors from other countries . I would appreciate any comments or suggestions you might have or even just say hello.

M1

2008-10-29T21:32:00.009Z

Object: Messier 1 (M1, NGC 1952),

Type: Super Nova Remnant

Distance: 6500 Light Years (Approx) Constellation: Taurus
Date: 27th October 08
Equipment: William Optics Megrez 90 Canon EOS 40D
Subframes: 41 x 30 second exposures unguided at ISO800
Processed: No darks or flats were captured. Processed in Images Plus 2.0 with a non linear stretch or DDP. 7

Notes: Observed by a Chinese astronomers on July 4th 1054 AD, the Guest star was seen in daylight for 23 days and visible to the naked eye in the night sky for a staggering 653 nights.

Approx 10 Light years diamater expanding at 1,800 km/sec.

At the center of the nebula lies the Crab Pulsar, a rotating neutron star, which emits pulses of radiation from gamma rays to radio waves with a spin rate of 30.2 times per second. The nebula was the first astronomical object identified with a historical supernova explosion.

I am not entirely happy with this shot a bit more processing perhaps or a new series without frosty optics I really wanted to glimpse the Pulsar.

Back In Time: As the light left M1 we travel back to the year 4493BC. Chronicles suggest early Mesopotamian cultures in present day Iraq and Egyptian civilizations on the Nile. In England the Neolithic period was just commencing and Stonehenge wasn't far off being constructed.

M45 The Pliedies

2008-10-28T00:09:00.007Z

Object: M45Type: Open Cluster
Distance: 380Light Years (Approx)
Constellation: Taurus

Date: 27th October 08

Equipment: William Optics Megrez 90 Canon EOS 40D

Subframes: 6 x 30 second exposures unguided at ISO800 and 1 x 3.5 Minute Autoguided exposure again at 800 ISO

Processed: No darks or flats were captured. Processed in Images Plus 2.0 with a Moderate non linear stretch or DDP. 7 Iterations on a adaptive Richardson Lucy deconvolution filter.

Notes: The Pleiades nebulae are blue-colored, which indicates that they are reflection nebulae, reflecting the light of the bright stars situated near (or within) them.

Back In Time: As the light left back in 1627, back on earth a Dutch ship sighted the coast of southern Australia, while the English were colonising the island of Barbados. An earthquake devastated southern Italy and astronomer Johannes Keppler published his laws on planetary motion The Rudolphine Times

Phd guiding test

2008-10-04T00:39:00.005+01:00

03/10/08

This has been the first opportunity to test the rebuilt mount.

The above image is cropped and FOV approx 40' x 30' This is a 5 minute phd guided exposure.

Ignoring the flare around the Maia. There was an great deal of moisture in the air. The aim of the test was to get the guiding working. It passed with flying colours.

Get a load of this

2008-09-08T14:16:00.000+01:00

ASTRONOMER:

When you rearrange the letters:

MOON STARER

Does anyone know any more that are astro related??

See if this works

2008-09-05T20:29:00.003+01:00

Well this week saw rain rain rain here in Norfolk. So time to try something. A complete dismantle ,clean and rebuild of my LXD 75 mount. I cannot seem to get PHD to guide with my setup. The mount is Balanced the scopes are tight , but I did notice the Dec mount seemed a little stiffer than the RA. Maybe here lies the problem. Everything seemed to go ok it is definatly smoother than it was so I will wait till the stars shine to test. Its now Sat 5th Sept and we still have rain so polar aligning and testing will have to wait. Watch This Space

Double Cluster In perseus

2008-08-31T21:50:00.011+01:00

Object: NGC884 & 889

Type: Open Clusters

Distance: 7300Light Years

Constellation: Perseus

Date: 30th August 08

Equipment: William Optics Megrez 90 Canon EOS 40D
Subframes: 19 x 30 second exposures unguided at ISO1600
Processed: No darks or flats were captured. Processed in Images Plus 2.0 with a Moderate non linear stretch or DDP.
Notes: Well for a few hours last night it was clear. Transparency good So I rolled back the roof and took a few images.

Having problems with PHD it just wanders off after about 20 seconds

2008-08-28T20:38:00.006+01:00

Eclipse of the century, Solar Eclipse 09 , Amateur astronomy, Astronomy Norfolk. Xrays. Solar system. Radiation, Galaxies. Nebula. Globular clusters. Moon ionised gas. Nasa. Deep space . Astrophotography. Breckland Astronomical society. Venus. mars. saturn. neptune. uranus. pluto.
jupiter. satellite. comets. dark matter. super nova. canon DLSR. canon eos 40d astronomy. william optics. orion optics. celestron. skywatcher telescope. registax. schmidt-cassegrain . long exposure. hubble. magnitude . space science. nebulae. stacked exposures. ip blocking filter. ha filters. o111 filter. red, green . blue.

Persied Meteor Through Andromeda

2008-08-13T21:38:00.005+01:00

After a couple of hours at our Great Ellingham observatory. We saw 4 or 5 meteors.

Came home and set up the Canon EOS40d on a tripod and connected the remote shooting software. I cought this fine meteor at 00.43 13/8/08. You will notice it perfectly disects the Andromeda galaxy.

30 second image ISO1000 Delicatly processed by Barnfield Bob (thanks Bob)

M27 The Dumbell Nebula

2008-07-31T19:26:00.006+01:00

This is the first image from my new Canon EOS40d DSLR
A 30 second exposure ISO 1600 through a Celestron 9.25" Schmidt-Cassegrain with XLT coatings.
STUNNING STUNNING STUNNING what more can I say.
This image is unprocessed. I cant wait to stack a couple of dozen images.

M81 & M82

2008-05-21T23:36:00.004+01:00

I took this image at approx 1.20 am Tues 20th May 2008 with a near full moon in the sky.

This is a small stack of 8 x 30 second exposures combined and processed using Images Plus 2.0

Taken through William Optics 90mm Megrez refractor and Canon EOS300d

M13 The Great Hercules Cluster

2008-05-12T21:12:00.006+01:00

Monday 5th May.

An historic day. My finished observatory has seen first light and to celebrate the event I pulled an all nighter ( well Very nearly).

The first target was M13 in the constelation in Hercules. I was initially happy to spend the evening just being able to achieve focus and get everything working. Having achieved this reasonably quickly I set about some imaging.

28 x 30 second unguided exposures using

Canon EOS300D / William Optics Megrez 90mm refractor / Processed Using Images Plus 2.0

I am very pleased with this first attempt.

Your comments are appreciated.

Rebuild Of Roof Structure

2008-04-25T17:43:00.015+01:00

Its been a long wait. A measurement error made by me on the internal measurements of the observatory meant that the scope when facing south hit the door of the observatory.

Two options available to me were rebuild the structure or the more favourable raise the scope.

Option two was the preferred choice,

I needed to raise the scope by 14" to allow the counterweight arm to miss the door frame.

I did not have any more of the tubing so I upended a bucket and added some concrete to raise by the appropriate amount. cut some more M12 bar to accept the mounting plate.

The more difficult task was to raise the roof. Again I could completely rebuild a new roof or raise the existing. Due to many factors such as work commitments, WEATHER, I opted for the raise.

I had booked a week off work for this week to do the job.

I had asked 3 members of Breckland AS to lend a hand . Very kindly Barrie Sherrington, Mike Butcher and Gerald North, said yes and to them I am grateful for their help and advice on the the day.

In preparation I had build a framework for the roof to rest upon and eagerly awaited their arrival. Luck prevailed and the weather was fine. So we lifted the roof off and removed the wheels lifted and tested the new framework in place (all OK it fitted perfectly) Reattached the wheels and lifted the roof onto its new home.

The next couple of days were dodging rain and cladding and doing.

As the photo's show the roof is taller than originally wanted but it does mean the scopes do not have to be removed after an imaging session.

Mercury Transit

2008-03-05T22:38:00.002Z

Mercury Transit 7th May 2003

The transit or passage of a planet across the face of the Sun is a relatively rare occurrence. As seen from Earth, only transits of Mercury and Venus are possible. On the average, there are 13 transits of Mercury each century.

On Wednesday, 2003 May 07, We were indeed treated to another transit of a lifetime when Mercury's transit of the Sun was seen for the first time since 1999. The entire event was widely visible from the Europe, Africa and Asia,. Japan Australia, and New Zealand and witnessed the beginning of the transit but the Sun had set before the event ended. Similarly, observers in western Africa, eastern North America and eastern South America saw the end of the event since the transit will already be in progress at sunrise from those regions. But luckily here in the UK we were treated to a cloud free entire transit.

Lightning

2008-02-28T22:00:00.001Z

Lightning at Saham Toney

Me and my 5 year old daughter love to watch a good thunder storm we sit under the porch and watch the lightning steak across the sky.

Saham Sunset

2008-02-28T21:56:00.001Z

Saham Toney Sunset.

This is again a favourite image of mine A wonderful sunset Using a canon 300mm zoom Lens on the EOS300d. A 1 second exposure was enough to capture an amazing sky colour.

Vega Spectrum

2008-02-28T21:51:00.002Z

Vega Spectrum

I love this image. This is the light spectrum of the star Vega. Taken on the societies 20" with a home made Diffraction Grating. (you know what we used Gerald) ha ha!!.

A 5 second exposure using a Canon EOS300d DSLR.

Deep Sky M13

2008-02-28T21:43:00.001Z

M13 The Great Hercules Globular Cluster.

This Image was Taken through The 10" Orion Optics reflector at principle focus with a Canon EOS300d DSLR. A stack of 6 x 30 Second exposures stacked in Images Plus V2

This as my first attempt a deep sky Imaging.

Comet Holmes

2008-02-28T21:32:00.001Z

Comet Holmes

Here we have an image of Comet Holmes.
I was testing the camera on the societies 20" reflector. I have not quite achieved perfect focus. But this 20 second image has given a pleasing pic.

Solar

2008-02-28T21:23:00.001Z

As this is a new site for me I have found a few of the nice images I have taken in the past.

Here are a couple of my Images from the Venus Transit of 8th June 2004.

On this beautifully clear summer morning we experienced a once-in-a-lifetime rare astrological and astronomical event. Approximately every 121 years, the planet Venus moves between the Sun and our line of vision so that Venus passes directly across the face of the Sun. When the Moon passes across the face of the Sun it's called an eclipse. When a planet passes across the Sun's face it's more precisely known as an occultation.

Telescope used was my 10" Orion Optics F4.8 reflector on a Vixen Polaris GP mount.

I used a baader solar filter on the scope and a yellow filter over the camera lens.

I was very pleased with the results.

Lunar

2008-02-28T21:14:00.001Z

Lunar Eclipse March 3rd 2007

I purchased a Skywatcher Ed80 at Astrofest in the feb of 2007 and its first serious task was the lunar eclipse. This image was taken with the ED80 and a Canon Eos300d. Image was taken at 400 Iso at 4 seconds.

I am very pleased with the colouration on the South Eastern Limb a wonderful copper colour.

Observatory

2008-02-27T07:12:00.001Z

I like many of my fellow members of Breckland Astronomical Society have a great deal of kit that needs careful setup and aligning, before you can even contemplate taking a picture. Here is where the dilemma begins.

Dilemma 1 ..To find a practical and easy solution to minimise set up procedure.

Dilemma no 2.. I have a small back garden with a garden shed & my daughters Wendy house and we didn't want another shed losing even more space.

The solution was to have something as small as possible just to house the scopes for imaging.
as my observing is generally done at our Society's Great Ellingham observatory I didn't mind and was happy to compromise on a small observatory.
The conclusion as then to build a purpose built roll on roll off roof shed. I have no experience with fibreglass to consider a dome,
so this was the easier option as all the work will be done by myself.

Observatory

2008-02-26T23:18:00.001Z

The observatory would be small I planned a 5 foot x 3 foot in size just enough
to house the scopes. I first dug a nice deep hole for the pier, and cemented in the corners using concrete blocks. Mixer kindly loaned by and transported by family.

For the pier I used a piece of 10" industrial drainage tube it was buried into
the ground by just over 2 and half feet. I reinforced the hole with re bar.

The pier is completely isolated from the shed so free from vibration, you will soon see I have a custom made platform for the mount which I also use on a Steel pillar that is concrete mounted
at Great Ellingham.

The framework for the observatory was made with treated 3 x 2 clad then with OSB board after being filled with polystyrene then finally shiplap was clad on the the outside.

I designed a roll off roof structure that again I built myself again cladding and felt to complete.

2008-02-26T22:36:00.000Z

Hello Fellow Bloggers.
I have created this site for the purpose of sharing my interest in astronomy with the world.

Malc's Astro Page

Horsehead Nebula

M42

M38

Orions Belt

I am happy I was able to capture all 3 stars of Orions belt.

On the left ζ Ori (Alnitak) 800 light years away and 100,000 brighter than our sun. In the centre ε Ori (Alnilam) 1340 light years and 375,000 times brighter than our sun. On the right lies Mintaka a mere 915 light years away and just 90,000 times brighter than the sun.

Mintaka is also a double star and takes less than 6 days to orbit around each other. This is a 45 minute exposure at Iso 800 on my Canon 40d

Thank you Visitor 5000

La Luna

First Light M1

"Ordo Ab Chao"

Just a few more things to do

Up, Up and away

Fibreglass.

Dome ready for Fibreglass

Slowly Slowly the work progresses

Miracle it hasn't rained today

Bloody weather

Taking Shape

Polar Alignment

Pier pressure

The pier

Looking Good

Dome ring

Insulation and flooring

Cladding

Framework

What conservatories were made for

Groundbreaking for the new Hills Observatory

Times Up

M13

M3

Last Light

M84 & M86

Earthshine

The Moon

The cosmic shiner

Partial Solar Eclipse

Sorry Everyone

The Moon

M33 The Pinwheel galaxy

M 45 Revisited

NGC 891

Heavens door

Persied Meteor 2010

In a galaxy far far away

NGC 7000 With UHC Filter

Ngc 7000 North American Nebula

M81 & M82 Again

Comet 2009 R1 McNaught

M81 & M82 2 Hours

M81 & m82

Dynamic Duo Venus & Mercury

M51 Whirlpool Galaxy NGC 5194

NGC6939 NGC6946

M92, NGC6341

Just My Luck

Aurora from 42,000 feet

40th Birthday Pressie

Andromeda Revisited

M31 Andromeda Galaxy

Apologies

M27 The Dumbell Nebula

Sinus Iridium

Auto Guiding works On M57

Lulin Animation

Lulin Animation

Fellow Bloggers

Comet Lulin (C/2007 N3)

A new Star

M42 & NGC 1977 Over Processed

Rosette Nebula

M42 The Great Orion Nebula

Leo Triplet

Comet Lulin (C/2007 N3)

M42 The Great Orion Nebula

More Observatory

The Moon

Bad Weather

On the left ζ Ori (Alnitak) 800 light years away and 100,000 brighter than our sun.
In the centre ε Ori (Alnilam) 1340 light years and 375,000 times brighter than our sun.
On the right lies Mintaka a mere 915 light years away and just 90,000 times brighter than the sun.

Mintaka is also a double star and takes less than 6 days to orbit around each other.
This is a 45 minute exposure at Iso 800 on my Canon 40d