M1

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

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

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

ASTRONOMER:

When you rearrange the letters:

MOON STARER

Does anyone know any more that are astro related??

See if this works

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

Object: NGC884 & 889

Type: Open Clusters

Distance: 7300Light Years

Constellation: Perseus

Date: 30th August 08

Equipment: William Optics Megrez 90 Canon EOS 40DSubframes: 19 x 30 second exposures unguided at ISO1600Processed: 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

Persied Meteor Through Andromeda

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

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

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

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

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.