M27 The Dumbell Nebula

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

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

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

Lulin Animation

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

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)

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

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 & NGC1977 Over Processed

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

Object: Rosette Nebula NGC 2244, NGC 2237
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.
NGC 2237 is generally the name given to the whole of the nebulous region & NGC 2244 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 initiate's 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

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.