Rosette Nebula.

The long winter nights have gone but some of those iconic targets are not forgotten, had a reprocess on this winters attempt of the Rosette Nebula. I think over the years my processing style has changed and improved, I like a more natural colour palette. Saying that I am looking at a full mono set up with LRGB HSO filters. Just 45 minutes worth of data here captured using the Optolong L-enhance filter in my ZWO filter draw.

 

Heart & Soul Nebula Nebula

I am fascinated by the latest Hubble palette processing for OSC cameras. I thought I would have a go with the Heart & Soul nebulas in Cassiopeia. There are more and more videos on You Tube. Both images are a little over 4 hours of exposure time captured with the Optolong L-enhance filter. This is solely my creative interpretation of that style as I have not figured out yet how to extract the Ha & Oiii from the master and recombine. Every time I have tried it in APP I only get a black & white image despite what the You Tube videos show, something I am doing wrong somewhere..

As always comments are welcome.

M27 The Dumbell Nebula

I never get bored of the Dumbell Nebula. I love the way it just floats there in the cosmic abyss. It was the first planetary Nebula discovered by Charles Messier in 1764 so not a lot has changed in the last 250 years or so. In 1970, its velocity was estimated at 31 km per second giving an expansion of about  2.3" per century. 

My equipment is still quite new to me so getting used to things more each session. However guiding tonight was erratic at just over 1' RMS.  I am hoping to start on the new observatory soon still though deciding on the design.

A night of two targets

The California Nebula 

The California Nebula  NGC1499 is an emission nebula located in the constellation of Perseus located along the Orion arm of our galaxy roughly 1000 light years away. Energetic particles exciting gas are creating a huge nebula, all created by that little blue fellow just below the centre of the image. I say little Menkib is actually about 20 times more massive than our sun and burns hotter than 25,000 degrees.  Captured with the Optolong L-Enhance 2" filter perfect for those faint Ha regions.

The Iris Nebula 

The Iris Nebula NGC7023 a faint reflection nebula. Dust & gas illuminated by the bright star in the middle of the nebula. Filter removed for this one and refocussed m anually via the ASIAIR pro and my Bhatinov mask. Just a couple of hours of 3 minutes sub frames for this one.

Testing Testing Testing

 Testing the new Kit.

IC1396, The Elephants Trunk Nebula. So called because of the dark patch with a bright sinuous rim resembling the tip of the trunk. Yes you got to love where some of these names come from.. One star in this image (well actually three, two of which orbit each other every four days create violent out bursts of ultra violet radiation that strip electrons from the hydrogen gas and illuminate it in this wonderful colour. This in turn causes compression in the clouds of gas and starts star formation. The dark areas you see are the nurseries formed. 

This officially is the first target from the new set up. I spent the day setting up and balancing all seemed to go well and the guiding shown an RMS of just under .80. I am quite happy with this for a start. 3 minute sub frames were used and guided using the Altair Astro 60mm guide scope and ZWO ASI 1120MM for a total of four hours integration time.

The Optolong L-Enhance duoband filter was used using the ZWO filter drawer a fantastic and clever way to introduce and replace filters. 

Overall I am more than pleased with the new set up.

5 Years is a longtime

The astro Geek has returned.
Hello and welcome back to everyone out there, I hope you have all been staying safe with your families and keeping well.  How surreal is this situation we are all facing not just as a country but globally. A battle we need to fight together, stay strong and stay safe people. I could rant on about the governments here and around the world in dealing with this unprecedented pandemic but I will leave the politics out for today.

It has been 5 years to the day since my last post. I am not ashamed to say in that time I suffered a mental health breakdown from the job I was doing at that time. I was very ill and went to some very dark places. I required mediation to make me sleep, put on some serious weight, became type 2 diabetic and developed sleep apnoea. I stopped breathing 23 times an hour. I was wearing a Darth Vader mask each night and suffered panic attacks for the fear of stopping breathing again. I had hit rock bottom.  Sad to say during that sad time my passion for astronomy withered, I was angry that I would never again enjoy the feeling and contentment from being under the stars. In that darkness I thought I would never use the observatory again so I sold everything, yes everything.

Fast forward 5 years. 
Without the support of my amazing family I know I could not have done this, their love, support and guidance I am coming through the other side, I am not the same person I was I know that and makes me sad, I have plenty of faults and there is still plenty to fix around self confidence and self worth. But regular exercise and diet has now reversed the type 2, I have lost 3 stone , I can run 10K when the knee is ok and no longer do I need the dark lords mask to breathe at night. I found myself too stopping and reading Facebook posts from my friends at Breckland Astronomical society who are posting amazing images and felt that longing again to be part of what I have loved had since childhood I was soo happy it had not gone forever.

Life has changed a great deal for us all in that time. The last 5 years are a bit of a blur to me, probably a good thing and sad too I feel I have missed out on my girls growing and being a proper dad for them during that time. I am sure you know what I mean by that, just hard to put it into the right words. We lost too Katie's Dad Alwyn a wonderful kind man whom we all miss so much. I also learnt recently the sad loss and poor health of some of the clubs members, I also see some friends too who are fighting the same fight and battle with mental health. My thoughts, best wishes and love I send to you all. Please remember I am here for a chat anytime if you need it.

A new hope. 
Got to love a Star Wars reference. More really a new start or beginning. Wow has astro kit changed over recent years. I have spent months looking, reading reviews, youtubing and putting together a modest set up again. The usual battle between wide field and super long focal length was the choice. I have always been a wide field imager and love that cinematic view of a faint fuzzy won the day.

The New Set up.
The mount is the Sky-Watcher Eq6r pro. I believe the heart of any good rig is the accuracy and precision of the mount. I was tempted by the Ioptron CEM60 but just a tad to far out of reach this time. Quiet stepper motors and a hefty 44lb payload will be more than enough for many years to come.

Main scope Sky-Watcher Esprit ED100 Triplet. An amazing scope with a proven reputation for quality of image reproduction. Incredible flat field with the specifically designed .85 focal reduced / field flattener reducing the focal length to a wide field 468mm @f4.7.

Imaging Camera ZWO ASI294MC Pro. I must admit I am a fan of Trevor Jones from the Astrobackyard a fantastic You Tuber who's adventures I follow regularly. He uses this camera with a similar set up and produces amazing results, so much more sensitive than my Starlight Express MC25 of just a few years ago. Zwo have an amazing line up of cameras and I have been using them for many years as a guider and planetary imager. 

                                                                                              

Image control ZWO ASIair Pro. A truly unique piece of hardware that has revolutionised image capture. ASIAIR PRO is a smart WiFi device that allows you to control all ASI USB 3.0 cameras, ASI Mini series cameras, DSLR cameras and an equatorial mount to do plate solving and imaging with your phone or tablet/iPad when connected to ASIAIR PRO via WiFi.

Dual bandwidth WiFi Control: 5G & 2.4G supported. 

Independent Guiding & Imaging: Standalone guiding & Imaging without the need of PC. Everything is under control with your phone!

Preview in real time: Preview: with the help of WiFi network, ASIAIR PRO can preview images in nearly real-time. Auto & manually histogram stretching is always useful for dark deep sky imaging.

Plate Solving: Offline plate solving can be done in a few seconds.

Supported cameras: ASI USB3.0 camera, ASI cooled camera, ASI mini cameras, DSLR cameras 

USB Hub: ASIAIR comes with 4 USB ports, you can connect up to 4 USB devices and don’t need USB Hub.

Power Supply and Power Hub: ASIAIR PRO needs 12V DC input. It also serves as power hub for up to four other devices - thanks to four 12V DC outputs!

Guide Scope & Camera. Altair Astro's 60mm guide scope and again a ZWO camera this time the 120 MM are the perfect lightweight partners for guiding.

Filters.  ZWO have designed a magnetic drawer that accepts 2" filters that eliminates the necessity for the removal of camera to add or change a filter. At 22mm depth it forms part of the 55mm back focus. So simple..

Optolong L-eNhance dual bandpass filter enables narrowband photography with color cameras and significantly reduces light pollution too.

The spectral lines H-Alpha, H-Beta and O-III are let through almost unhindered.

Periferals. Lynx Astro EQ Mod cable. Provides connection to the EQ mod software and connects directly to the ASI air pro for mount control and guiding. No more ST4 cables ( I savoured every minute of cutting into little pieces).

The next project a new home for them all.

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