Comet 2020/ F3 Neowise

Imagine the year 4491. That's 2471 years from now. We certainly wont be here but comet 2020/F3 Neowise will be back. An absolutely beautiful sight visible to the naked eye. Unfortunately for me it is obscured by the houses opposite for a shot with the telescope. So a few images taken with the DSLR to show you.

C/2017 T2 Panstarrs

 When we think of comets we instinctively think of Halley's Comet that swings by once every 75 and a bit years. Halley's comet sweeps in from an orbit that takes it out to the planet Neptune and back. This little one  C/2017 T2 Panstarrs has a little longer journey to make of nearly half a million years. So truly a once In a lifetime look at this cosmic interloper.

 

Pelican Nebula/ North American Nebula

A favourite summer target has always been the Pelican Nebula IC5070. A wonderful target for us astrophotographers. As technology improves it forces us back for longer exposure, improved guiding building mosaics. But the one thing we always seek is a better image smoother, sharper better contrast. Looking at back at my early images through the DSLR's it's hard to believe we were happy with them. Always seeking those small improvements to create the perfect image.

New and old

Old and new

A mosaic of just 3 images has created this image. My first real attempt at bringing multiple long exposures into one. A total of approx 12 hours in total captured over a couple of weeks.

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.

M13

A beautifully clear night on Saturday in Saham.  M13, a globular cluster composed of several hundred thousand stars tightly bound by gravity and at a ripe old age of 11.66 billion years old some of the oldest stars in the galaxy. I am getting used to the new set up now, better balance and thus better guiding numbers. RMS 0.4 for 30 1 minute exposures.

The Crescent Nebula.

The Crescent Nebula (also known as NGC 6888, Caldwell 27, Sharpless 105) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, about 5000 light-years away. It was discovered by Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel in 1792. It is formed by the fast stellar wind from the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 (HD 192163) colliding with and energizing the slower moving wind ejected by the star when it became a red giant around 250,000 to 400,000 years ago. The result of the collision is a shell and two shock waves, one moving outward and one moving inward. The inward moving shock wave heats the stellar wind to X-ray-emitting temperatures.

Captured with the new ZWO ASI294MC Pro and Esprit ED100 and controlled via the ASI air pro. An amazing piece of kit, Those of you who are thinking about one to use with their ZWO cameras and many DSLR's I cannot put into words as well as a cut and paste. Coped from the website from Widescreen-Centre where Simon & Julian have been amazing with my questions and ultimate order from them, throughout their service, advice and professionalism has been superb.

ZWO ASIair PRO Smart WIFI Accessory for Portable Astro Photography with ZWO ASI Cameras and dSLRs

NEW FEATURES OF THE ASIAIR PRO

PRO SOFTWARE FEATURES

The new Asiair Pro comes with amazing new features such as Live Stacking, Automated Meridian Flip and more!
The Asiair app is compatible with iOS, iPadOS and Android, plus through emulator software you can run it on Apple laptops or computers as well.

IMPROVED STORAGE

A 32GB TF card provides 20GB free space for the user, plus the included 64GB U-Disk (USB memory) provides additional storage. If necessary, further storage can be added by user provided external storage.

POWER OUTPUTS / INPUTS

DC 12V@5A (Min voltage is 11.5V; Max supported current is 6A).
4 output ports; 12V input is recommended, but do not to exceed a total of 6A on all ports, as too high current will cause overheat problem.
The voltage and current of power outputs are 12V@3A.
The port type for the power outputs is 2.1*5.5mm center positive.

IMPROVED MOUNTING

ZWO redesigned the case for easier and more stable mounting by using the dovetail bar on your scope or a clamp.

NEW CNC-MACHINED ALU CASE

A beautifully designed and machined CNC case contains the new electronics. Aluminium is excellent for dissipating heat, whilst there is almost no effect on the WIFI signal.

So after that I am sure you have convinced yourself that is an amazing bit of kit. 

33x 5 minute guided exposures using the Optolong Lenhace narrowband filter has brought out details never capture previously by me. Stacked in Deep sky stacker and processed in Photoshop. 

M81 & M82

I have set the scope up and all is working well, One piece however was sent incorrectly, a critical piece to the optical train, Sky-Watcher manufacture a dedicated field flattener for the ED100. Unfortunately the one sent was for the Equinox 100 refractor. 

5 Hours total integration time in 3 minute sub frames calibrated and integrated in Deep SkyStacker. A very smooth result showing incredible detail in Ha from the cigar starburst galaxy. Estimated to be 100 times more luminous than our own Milky Way. 

It's incredible amount of star birth is though to have started with interaction with M81 in the distant past. 

_______________________

Who remembers the type1a supernova observed in 2014. I was lucky enough to capture it. I believe also it was the closest type 1a recorder in the last 40 years.

                      _______________________

 

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.

Add caption

Part 1 of the delivery is here.

 Well it is officially my fault that the clouds will be with us for the next few weeks. Part 1 of the new set up has arrived.

ZWO ASI 294 MC Pro

ZWO ASI 1120MM Guide camera

ZWO ASIIR Pro

2" Optolong L-Pro (light pollution filter)

2" Optolong L-Enhance filter ( Dual Band Ha Flter)