The Moon

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

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

     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

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

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.