The Leo Trio...

Objects: NGC 3628 (top), Messier 65 (NGC 3623, lower right), Messier 66 (NGC 3627, lower left)
Type: Galaxies
Distance: 25 million light years (NGC 3628), 24 million light years (M65), 21.5 million light years (M66)
Constellation: Leo
Date: 08 April 2008
Equipment: SXV-H9, Vixen ED114S (f.l. 600mm)
Subframes: 60 x 120 second 2x2 binned subframes, 16 darks, 16 flats/flat darks, calibrated and stacked in AIP4Win. Final processing in AstroArt and PSP7.

A very clear, almost moonless night and the AstroArt maximum entropy deconvolution filter both played a part in obtaining crisp, tight star images and a good level of detail in these three galaxies that comprise this well-known grouping.

The refractor's 600mm focal length was ideally suited to the framing of all three galaxies on the SXV-H9 chip without having to resort to a mosaic.

Click on the image to enlarge.

Moon...

Date: 24 January 2008

Equipment: SXV-H9, Vixen f5.3 ED refractor (f.l. 600mm)

Subframes: 20 x 0.001 second subframes in OIII, stacked in Registax 2.1. Final processing in PSP7.

Another simple moon shot from a night of terribly unsteady seeing. The OIII filter has generated some excellent contrast of the marias from the highlights and crater debris, especially with the great crater rays of Copernicus and Tycho.

Messier 35

Object: Messier 35 (NGC 2168)
Type: Open Cluster
Distance: 2800 light years
Constellation: Gemini
Date: 24 January 2008
Equipment: SXV-H9, ATIK manual filter wheel with Astronomix LRGB filters, Vixen ED114S (f.l. 600mm)
Subframes: 20 x 120 second (luminance), 20 x 60 second 2x2 binned subframes each for R,G and B channels, 16 darks, 16 flats/flat darks, calibrated and stacked in AIP4Win. Final processing in PSP7.

Using my usual "false colour" processing methods for colour renditions of open clusters doesn't work too well. To prepare the above image (click on it to enlarge if you so wish), I used data from monochrome images obtained through colour filters. To try and get realistic colours, I scanned the filters I used into a reference frame, and produced colour masks for each colour channel that were exactly the same colour as that of the filter as scanned in to PaintShop. I then layered each colour channel over the luminance frame, and adjusted the intensity of each layer based on the spectral response for the Sony ICX285AL chip in the SXV-H9.

The result was a load of odd-coloured stars against a dark green sky, so I stopped trying to be clever and just blended the LRGB channels in PSP7 until I got something that looked about right, which is what you see above. The red colour of M35's "neighbouring" cluster, NGC 2158 (a line of sight effect - it lies six times further away) has not been exaggerated compared to the bluish tinge of M35's stars: that's just how they have turned out relative to each other in processing. Looking at other images of this pair of clusters (e.g. such as Rob Gendler's effort here), the colours I obtained seem geniune enough, although "colour" in astrophotos is always a subjective thing. Fans of the "Hubble Pallette" have their very own preference for the psychedelic, after all.

This was the first time I had tried to do "proper" LRGB imaging with a resasonable number of subframes and it's worked out OK. I can see why "one shot" colour CCDs are so popular though, (although I think my skies are too sodiumed-up to allow subjective colour imaging and I prefer the increased sensitivity of the monos as well): gathering the input for separate subs and pasting them all together for a colour composite was quite time consuming.

The of M35 image below is a much earlier one from January 2004:

A single 60 second frame taken by afocal projection through a 25mm eyepiece using a Casio QV-3500EX digital camera gives a reasonable impression of what the cluster looks like under dark skies through an eyepiece, although a hint of star colour is seen in the image. NGC 2158 is barely discernable. Click on the image to enlarge.

Moon...

Date: 16 January 2008

Equipment: SXV-H9, Vixen f5.3 ED refractor (f.l. 600mm)

Subframes: 20 x 0.01 second subframes in H alpha, stacked in Registax 2.1. Final processing in PSP7.

After I had finished gathering the subs for my NGC 2175 image, I swung the telescope around to the Moon in Gemini, and shot some subs at full resolution. The SXV-H9 perfectly frames the whole lunar disc at a 600mm focal length. Click on the above image to enlarge - bear in mind it has been compressed to around 140K from the 1.3Mb original.

The hydrogen alpha filter is a good anti-glare device and sharpens up the lunar contrast quite nicely.

The Bubble Nebula...

Object: NGC 7635 (Caldwell 11)

Type: Emission Nebula

Distance: 7100 light years

Constellation: Cassiopeia

Date: 6 December 2008

Equipment: SXV-H9, Vixen VC200L (f.l. 1800mm)

Subframes: 22 x 120 second 2x2 binned subframes in H alpha, 16 darks, 16 flats/flat darks, calibrated and stacked in AIP4Win. Final processing in AstroArt and PSP7.

The final image above was salvaged from a catalogue of mini-disasters on a freezing cold and unbelievably soggy Saturday evening.

My first mistake was to attempt to get my SXV-H9 autoguider going. Having found my target and identified a guide star, I spent a frustrating 45 minutes or so trying to get the autoguider to talk to the Skysensor.

First of all, I had forgotten to select the "autoguide" command in the SXV-H9 "default" menu (a step the instruction guide neglects to tell you to do). When I still couldn't get the computer to drive the scope, I tried swapping the cable connection between the "autoguide" socket on the Skysenor and the SXV-H9 (the Skysensor uses a "crossed" signal cable and it's therefore possible - so I thought - to get the cable the wrong way around). To get the guide cable out of the back of the SXV-H9, I had to pull out the signal cable from the autoguider camera to give myself room. When I plugged it back in, I got a white screen on the autoguider image read-out, which I eventually overcame only by rebooting the computer.

I then found that the scope now responded in three directions to guide commands, but not all four, at which point I gave up in disgust. The "crossed" cable was a home build job and I guess I must have missed a wire somewhere.

Meanwhile, clear skies belied the amount of dew that was collecting on every available surface. The VC200L is an open tube scope but I had never had trouble with it dewing up until then. The couple of hours I had spent fannying around with the autoguider had nevertheless allowed dew to completely fog both primary and secondary mirrors.

Ten minutes with a hair-dryer hastily borrowed from the wife's dressing table sorted that out, but by torchlight (an unfair test I know), dried-out clumps of dust were now glued firmly to the previously unsullied surface of the primary mirror, making it look like the surface of the moon.

Having now wasted a couple of hours, I decided to go for 2 minute subframes (I had wanted 5 minute subs, way out of even the GP-DX's capabilities at an 1800mm focal length), which the PEC seemed to allow without significant trailing. I set the camera running to acquire 30 subs, knowing I would probably lose a few to wind or vibration, and that I would have to return to reverse the scope as Cassiopeia would be crossing the zenith, although the GP-DX mount is pretty generous in that respect

When I returned after an hour, the scope was just starting to dew up again. Another blast with the hair-dryer sorted that, and I then spent another 30 minutes reframing the nebula in the field. I decided to put a heating tape around the end of the scope, to try and avoid dewing up. By now, it was bitterly cold, damp and frosty. I set the scope up to gather another 70 subs, and sloped off indoors.

I returned two hours later to find that I hadn't switched the heating tape on, and that I had a scope full of ice and water. Arrrrgh!

Out of 100 frames, only 22 were usable in the end, and I definitely think the dew and dust combination had robbed the stars of their sharpness in those images that were free from trailing or not totally fuzzed by dew later on.

Anyway, the final image, although noisy through lack of subs, shows the full extent of the gas bubble blown from the young blue giant parent, as well as some of the outlying clouds of nebulosity. North is roughly in the 10.00 position.

I now have a scope to clean and a wire to fix. I don't intend to let either beat me, and I WILL get that damned autoguider going...

The "Monkey Head" Nebula...

Object: NGC 2175
Type: Emission Nebula
Distance: 7200 light years
Constellation: Orion
Date: 16 January 2008
Equipment: SXV-H9, Vixen ED114 refractor (f.l. 600mm)
Subframes: 80 x 120 second 2x2 binned subframes, 16 darks, 16 flats/flat darks, calibrated and stacked in AIP4Win. Final processing in AstroArt and "photographic unsharp mask" and colours applied in PaintShop Pro7.

I hadn't come across the nickname "Monkey Head" for this particular object until I saw this post by "Paramount" on the Society of Popular Astronomy's Gallery page. I think I can just make out an enigmatic simian grin under the central star of a nose, with the darker areas either side of the star representing two eyes. Maybe.

The tracking was a little off but the deconvolution tool in AstroArt rounded the slightly elliptical stars up quite well - this time, I'd taken enough subs so that the deconvolution process didn't introduce all sorts of artifacts into the image by amplifying high levels of background noise.

I also had a play with Jerry Lodriguss's "unsharp mask" technique (link as above). This boosted the contrast in the image quite nicely, without increasing graininess or putting dark rings around the stars, and it's a technique I'll definitely be looking to use for extended objects like this in future.

I couldn't resist colourising the monochrome result and this worked out quite well on an image compiled from a smaller stack of subs that gave a slightly wider field (the object had drifted quite a way in the field during the course of the evening).

Click on either image to enlarge.

In the literature, there seems to be some confusion over whether the designation of NGC 2175 is referring to the cluster or its nebula. Stephen O'Meara puts us straight in his excellent book, Hidden Treasures: an excerpt that gives lots of interesting information about this oft-overlooked object can be found here.

The Running Man Nebula...

Object: NGC 1977
Type: Emission and Reflection Nebula
Distance: 1500 light years
Constellation: Orion
Date: 07 January 2008
Equipment: SXV-H9, Vixen ED114 refractor (f.l. 600mm)
Subframes: 50 x 60 second 2x2 binned subframes, 16 darks, 16 flats/flat darks, calibrated and stacked in AIP4Win.

Original image above, with a false colour image prepared in PSP7 below. North is up. Click on either to enlarge.


Rob Gendler gives us a breathtaking image of this object, with the adjacent Orion Nebula in the same field.

The Pac-man Nebula...

Object: NGC 281
Type: Bright Nebula
Distance: 9400 light years
Constellation: Cassiopeia
Date: 12 November 2007
Equipment: SXV-H9, Vixen ED114 refractor (f.l. 600mm)
Subframes: 25 x 120 second 2x2 binned subframes in H alpha, 16 darks, 16 flats/flat darks, calibrated and stacked in AIP4Win.

A moon-free evening and excellent seeing conditions allowed trouble-free imaging of this well-known imaging target in Cassiopeia. The principle features of this nebula are clearly seen, including the striking dark dust lane and dust globule that form the "mouth" and "eye" of the Pacman that lends its name to the nebula's popular moniker.

Below is a false colour version of the above monochrome image, just because I can. Click on either for a larger view.

Johannes Schedler gives us a deeper image of this object and some more information here.

Comet 17P Holmes...

I imaged this remarkable exploding comet on October 29th. last year (above, 60 x 15 sec subs - click to enlarge). It was clearly visible to the naked eye in Perseus as a bright fuzzball, about a quarter of the Moon's diameter in binoculars. The "double nucleus" was very apparent and shows up quite well above.

Two weeks later on November 12th. (above, 60 x 45 sec subs - click to enlarge), the comet was still just visible to the naked eye as a faint disc, slightly brighter towards its centre, and whose full extent had now expanded to about three-quarters the size of a full Moon. Both images have been processed in a similar way, but the lower one is the product of longer exposures, which is why it appears to be of comparative brightness

Both images are composites of full frames from the SXV-H9 and 600mm f5.3 refractor.

Lunar occultation of Saturn

Date: 22 May 2007, (time 21:18:45 local time)
Equipment: Phillips TouCam, Vixen VC200L (f.l. 1800mm)
Subframes: 300 frames at 20fps, with flats, calibrated and stacked in Registax 2.1.14.0

The above image is a bit of a pastiche as the bright evening twilight, added to the huge difference in brightness and contrast between the Moon and Saturn, rendered Saturn pretty much invisible in my first processing efforts. I shot some more frames of Saturn once the Moon was out of the shot, processed these separately and then "dropped" a layer in Paint Shop Pro containing the processed Moon image over it such that the faint image of the emerging Saturn exactly matched the underlying brighter shot of the planet.

Merging the layers and adjusting the final contrast gave the above "idealised" shot of what the event would have looked like in a dark sky.

I guess the imaging purists might sneer, but I like it.

NGC 7380

Object: NGC 7380 (cluster), Sh2-142 (nebula)

Type: Cluster with Bright Nebula

Distance: 10400 light years
Constellation: Cepheus
Date: 11 November 2008
Equipment: SXV-H9, Vixen ED114 refractor (f.l. 600mm)
Subframes: 50 x 150s 2x2 binned in H alpha, 16 darks, 16 flats/flat darks, calibrated and stacked in AIP4Win.

I'd love to be able to say that the above image was a product of LRGB imaging, but after acquiring the H alpha frames that I planned to use as the luminance contribution, clouds started making an appearance, so I decided to call it a night (especially as I had to work next day) and "fake it" in PSP7.

The image below is the "real" monochrome one. North is up. Click on either to enlarge.

Rob Gendler, as ever, shows what someone can achieve with skill and dedication (and some rather nifty equipment). As well as a wonderful image, he also gives us some useful information about one of Caroline Herschel's remarkable discoveries and its associated nebula.

I wasn't too sure that the RGB frames would have worked out too well anyway, given the glare of a moon just a couple of days away from full. Moonlight doesn't seem to trouble imaging through an H alpha filter, but I'm pretty sure I would have noticed a loss of contrast on the broader band colour filters.

Incidentally, I use an ATIK manual filter wheel, and find that it "leaks light" rather badly, both around the thumbwheel area and through the casing joint itself. I noticed it when I was shooting some flats, but I can get around the problem by wrapping some foil around the edge of the wheel housing and thumbwheel area. Has anyone else come across the same problem?

And talking of equipment, one of the most useful bits I've bought for ages consists of a pair of battery-powered heated insoles for my shoes (£9.99 from Maplin - 50% off until Xmas). It was pretty chilly on Tuesday night while I was setting up, but these little beauties kept my feet toasty warm.

The cold may no longer be an excuse for not imaging during the forthcoming freezing winter evenings!

Galaxies in Pegasus...

A wide field view of the region around NGC 7331, showing Stephan's Quintet (lower right) and numerous other galaxies visible in the same field. Click to enlarge - I've tagged the galaxies I could identify.

The image was taken on 20th October 2007, and comprises of an average of 35 subframes of 120 second duration, taken with the SXV-H9 and the Vixen ED114 refractor.

The Swan Nebula

Object: Messier 17, NGC 6618

Type: Bright Nebula

Distance: 4890 light years
Constellation: Sagittarius
Date: 04 August 2007
Equipment: SXV-H9, Vixen ED114 refractor (f.l. 600mm)
Subframes: 40 x 100s full frame in H alpha, 16 darks, 16 flats/flat darks, calibrated and stacked in AIP4Win.

This was one of those rare nights when everything went perfectly. The polar alignment appeared to be spot on at the first attempt and the sky stayed crystal clear with a steady atmosphere for the hours around midnight that it took to acquire the frames.

Even though this object never gets much more than about 20º above my southern horizon and the summer sky wasn't truly dark, this effort turned out to be one of my best ever and one of the few that I felt was worthy of a large scale print.

I think it holds up pretty well against deeper images produced by masters such as Johannes Schedler, shown here.

M101

Object: Messier 101, NGC 5457
Type: Galaxy
Distance: 17.5 million light years
Constellation: Ursa Major
Date: 17 April 2007
Equipment: SXV-H9, Vixen ED114 refractor (f.l. 600mm)
Subframes: 60 x 90s 2x2 binned subframes, 16 darks, 16 flats/flat darks, calibrated and stacked in AIP4Win.

My notes record that this wasn't the greatest night for imaging, as a high haze set in whilst I was setting up. Nevertheless, the brighter inner coils of this galaxy (whose full apparent diameter in the sky is nearly that of the full moon) can be seen quite well.

Deeper exposures, such as this one by Johannes Schedler, give the impression of a celestial catherine wheel struggling to hold on to its outer reaches.

The Iris Nebula...

Object: NGC 7023, Caldwell 4
Type: Reflection Nebula
Distance: 1400 light years
Constellation: Cepheus
Date: 27 October 2008
Equipment: SXV-H9, Vixen ED114 refractor (f.l. 600mm)
Subframes: 25 x 100 second 2x2 binned subframes, 16 darks, 16 flats/flat darks, calibrated and stacked in AIP4Win.

Visible through the eyepeice as a mere fuzzy star, this image shows the clover-shaped outer area of dusty obscuring matter that surrounds the bright reflection zone. For some reason, the false colour image below seems to emphasise this slightly better (click on either to enlarge).

Rob Gendler shows us a much deeper and more detailed image here, and also provides a nice chunk of information about this fascinating object.

The Pinwheel Galaxy

Object: Messier 33, NGC 598/604
Type: Galaxy
Distance: 2.3 million light years
Constellation: Triangulum
Date: 24 October 2008
Equipment: SXV-H9, Vixen ED114 refractor (f.l. 600mm)
Subframes: 40 x 120 second 2x2 binned subframes, 16 darks, 16 flats/flat darks, calibrated and stacked in AIP4Win.

From last Friday's moon, cloud and dew-free evening (two within a couple of days - you can bet that'll be it for a while now), I was taken aback by how much of the outlying areas of this old favourite appeared upon image processing, given the relatively short exposures (click on the above to enlarge). I have clearly got the framing of the image about 90º out, as the faint outer edges of the galaxy are just off frame. Rotating the camera would have filled the field a bit better.

I plan to revisit M33 soon using RGB/H alpha filters, for an extended project to try and grab a colour image in a bid to finally produce something along the lines of Richard Best's image here. I particularly like this one as other images I have seen of this object have either burnt-out cores, or have garishly exaggerated the numerous H-alpha regions that are within M33's spiral arms.

NGC 2403

Object: NGC 2403 (Caldwell 7)

Type: Galaxy

Distance: 14 million light years
Constellation: Camelopardalis
Date: 13 March 2007
Equipment: SXV-H9, Vixen ED114 refractor (f.l. 600mm)
Subframes: 25 x 150s 2x2 binned subframes, 16 darks, 16 flats/flat darks, calibrated and stacked in AIP4Win.

This faint fuzzy, barely distinguishable through a 25mm eyepiece on the above refractor from my light-polluted location, reveals itself to be a miniature of the great spiral in Triangulum (Messier 33) when imaged with the magic of CCD.

My notes at the time didn't give a reason for only shooting 25 subs as, coming back to the image, it looks like everything else, such as tracking, quality of flats etc, was pretty much OK. The image therefore suffers from noise which a larger number of sub-frames could have helped beat down.

The loose-limbed nature of this galaxy is clearly distinguishable, however (click on the above image to enlarge). Rob Gendler gives us a much more detailed view of this object here.

NGC 7331

Object: NGC 7331

Type: Galaxy

Distance: 50 million light years
Constellation: Pegasus
Date: 21 October 2008
Equipment: SXV-H9, Vixen VC200L (f9, f.l. 1800mm)
Subframes: 30 x 60s 2x2 binned subframes, stacked in AIP4Win.

A crystal clear, moon free evening allowed me to attempt imaging this fuzzy in Pegasus. A slim lens shaped glow with a bright central star-like centre was clearly visible through a 25mm eyepiece on the VC200L.

Swopping the eyepiece for the SXV-H9, I thought I'd have a quick play at checking the scope's collimation using the free trial download of CCDWare's CCD Inspector. It's dead easy to use and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the VC200L appeared to be spot-on. Not sure I'm advanced enough yet to want to fork out for a "keeper", though...

Getting a polar alignment that was accurate enough to avoid tracking errors at an 18oomm focal length was a bit more of a challenge. The GPDX mount's polar alignment scope usually puts me pretty close, but that isn't good enough for imaging with the VMC, and I have to resort to repeatedly downloading 30 second frames and iteratively adjusting the mount alignment until no trailing is evident and the stars stay in exactly the same position for a few minutes. It took me about 40 minutes to get an alignment I was happy with.

Running the periodic error correction then seemed to remove the last few jitters from the otherwise pretty smooth drive. I had planned to take at least a hundred 60 second subs, and then try my luck with some longer ones afterwards. I watched the first few download and then left the equipment to do its stuff.

Mistake. I had clumsily let the lead to the RA drive trail over the counterweight shaft, and as the mount tracked, it pulled the lead tight and then out of the motor! I returned after a couple hours to find I had only got about 30 subs of the 100 I wanted, and as it was now past midnight and I had to work the next day, I gave imaging up as a bad job. A stack of what I got is what you see, a lot noisier than I would have liked, but still showing a moderate amount of detail (click to enlarge).

Ace astroimager Rob Gendler brings out slightly more detail in his effort here, showing structure in the associated "Deer Lick" group of galaxies (also nicknamed "the Fleas", so I gather) that show up as mere fuzzy blobs on my more humble effort.

Frustrations aside, the night really was too clear to miss out on though, so I dropped the 25mm eyepiece back in and spent 30 minutes or so getting some knock-out views of open clusters M52, NGC 884 & 869 (the Double Cluster, each of which fitted nicely into the field of view) and NGC 457 (the Phi Cas cluster, which I had never seen before and which almost appeared three dimensional it was so bright) before finally calling it a night.

It's not all about gadgets...

Work and sleep - the twin curses of amateur astronomers everywhere.

The Jellyfish Nebula...

Object: IC 443

Type: Supernova remnant

Distance: 5000 light years
Constellation: Gemini
Date: 09 March 2007
Equipment: SXV-H9, 400mm Vixen guidescope
Subframes: 33 x 300s 2x2 binned subframes in H alpha (unguided), 16 darks, 16 flats/flat darks, calibrated and stacked in AIP4Win.

A dark, clear evening allowed me to have a crack at imaging this supernova remnant in Gemini. To frame the object on my SXV-H9, I used a 400mm focal length Vixen guide scope which is of surprisingly reasonable optical quality.

The result above was OK-ish (click on the image to enlarge), but I'm starting to think I need to sort out some sort of permanent polar alignment, master autoguiding and get a good quality lens in the 300-400mm focal length range as the stars still show a trace of trailing.

I could then go for longer subs at full resolution without star trailing or other aberrations, which limits my current efforts.

Master astrophotographer Johannes Schedler of Panther Observatory fame provides a gloriously detailed wide-field image of this object here.

The Egg and Spoon Nebula...

Object: NGC 7822 & Cederblad 214 (Sharpless 2-171)

Type: Bright Nebula

Distance: 2750 light years
Constellation: Cepheus
Date: 11 October 2008
Equipment: SXV-H9, 135mm telephoto lens
Subframes: 40 x 300s 2x2 binned subframes in H alpha (unguided), 30 darks, 30 flats/flat darks, calibrated and stacked in AIP4Win.

Ace astroimager Rob Gendler tells us in his wonderful book "A Year In The Life Of The Universe", that "the faint northern arch of nebulosity is designated NGC 7822, and the brighter southern cloud is designated S 171, from naval astronomer Stewart Sharpless' 1959 catalogue of HII regions." The SkyMap Pro software I use to plan imaging sessions indicates that the lower cloud is denoted as Cederblad 214, the whole area of nebulosity being designated Sh2-171.

Whatever the "proper" designations, the brighter parts of this complex always (photographically at least) remind me of an egg (the C-214 portion) and spoon (NGC 7822), so I've decided to call it that.

A gibbous moon just a couple of days off full coupled with an ever-increasing soggy mist didn't aid particularly detailed imaging, but the main bright and dark features of the area are nevertheless visible in the above image (click for a larger view, for what it's worth). Mr. Gendler's expert rendition can be seen here. Something to aspire to, I guess...

A false colour image is appended below.

IC 434

Object: IC 434

Type: Bright Nebula

Distance: 1300 light years
Constellation: Orion
Date: 02 February 2007
Equipment: SXV-H9, 300mm telephoto lens
Subframes: 42 x 120s 2x2 binned subframes in H alpha (unguided), 16 darks, 16 flats/flat darks, calibrated and stacked in AIP4Win.

The telephoto lens used was another junk store purchase and close examination of the star images shows some distortions. This was the same lens used to produce the image of the Rosette Nebula I posted earlier. Image processing can clean up the worst defects and the lens (of unknown make - probably Russian as the name appears in Cyrillic) is perfectly acceptable for use on extended nebulousity.

Below is a false colour image, compiled using data from above, from an earlier shot of the "Flame Nebula" portion (NGC 2024) and also from a shot I took of the Horsehead region to provide more detail of the adjacent small patch of nebulosity NGC 2023.

Click on either for a larger view.

The California Nebula

Object: NGC 1499

Type: Bright Nebula

Distance: 7300 light years
Constellation: Perseus
Date: 16 December 2006
Equipment: SXV-H9, Zeiss 135mm telephoto lens
Subframes: 16 x 180s 2x2 binned subframes in H alpha (unguided), 16 darks, 16 flats/flat darks, calibrated and stacked in AIP4Win.

False colour image below (from a crop of the above). Click on either for a bigger view.

Never sure about the popular name. I think it looks like a squid...

The Double Cluster

Object: NGC 884 & 869 (Caldwell 14)
Type: Open clusters
Distance: 7300 light years
Constellation: Perseus
Date: 16 December 2006
Equipment: SXV-H9, 400mm focal length Vixen guidescope
Subframes: 20 x 60s subframes in RGB, 16 darks, 16 flats/flat darks, calibrated and stacked in AIP4Win.

Note: Must refocus between red, green and blue filter changes as 400mm spotting scope is not well-corrected. Hence the bloated redder stars.

The Pleiades

Object: Messier 45
Type: Open cluster
Distance: 407 light years
Constellation: Taurus
Date: 09 December 2006
Equipment: SXV-H9, Soligor 200mm telephoto lens
Subframes: 20 x 180s subframes at full resolution, 16 darks, 16 flats/flat darks, calibrated and stacked in AIP4Win.

The stars are rather bloated and I think it may be down to the lens really not being too good in terms of chromatic aberration (see Great Andromeda Nebula). And whilst some of the famed nebulosity is visible, there isn't as much of it as the experts can show us.

Longer subs and colour filters may bring out more detail and sharpen up the stars, and I will give it a try before I give up on this lens.

An afocal view (single one minute exposure) with my old Casio digital camera, afocally coupled to a 25mm eyepice on my Vixen ED 114mm aperture/f5.3 refractor, gave this result in 2004.

No nebulosity, but nice stars.

Gamma Cygni nebulae

Object(s): IC 1318, 1318A (bright nebulae), NGC 6910 (cluster)
Type: Nebulae and open cluster
Distance: 5000 light years
Constellation: Cygnus
Date: 14 August and 18 September 2008
Equipment: SXV-H9, Zeiss 135mm telephoto lens
Subframes: 2 frame mosaic prepared from two lots of 30 x 300s 2x2 subframes in H alpha(unguided), 16 darks, 16 flats/flat darks, calibrated and stacked in AIP4Win, mosaic in AstroArt.

At last, a spell of clear weather in this miserable year has allowed me to finish off a project I started a month ago. The area spanning nearly 4° across, centred around Sadr (gamma Cygni), consists of a complex mass of bright and dark nebulosity that can pretty much only be detected by photography (at least, from my neck of the woods).

IC 1318 forms one wing of the "Butterfly Nebula" and is the bright patch in the lower left hand corner of the above image (click on the image to enlarge -about 200K). IC 1318A is the wedge-shaped nebula in the top right hand corner. North is up and east is to the left, just how you'd see it in the sky.

The tiny cluster just above Sadr is NGC 6910, which is very much further away than the nebulae itself. Sadr is a foreground star "only" 1500 light years away, the nebulae being powered by a more distant star buried in the dark clouds of obscuring matter.

Both sessions were hampered by a bright moon, but the magic of a Hα narrow band filter eliminated any gradients or poor contrast arising from moonlight.

Needless to say, the resolution in this image can't compare with equivalents taken with big chip CCDs and wide-field Apos set on equally expensive mounts, but I'm pretty pleased with the result of my more modest set-up.

Above is a false colour image of the monochrome original, just because I can, really (click on it to enlarge if you so desire). My technique has rather clipped the fainter traces of luminosity and I think I prefer the monochrome one...

The Great Andromeda Nebula

Object: Messier 31 (NGC 224)
Type: Galaxy
Distance: 2.3 million light years
Constellation: Andromeda
Date: 09 December 2006
Equipment: SXV-H9, Soligor 200mm telephoto lens
Subframes: 50 x 90 second full frame (unguided), 16 darks, 16 flats/flat darks, calibrated and stacked in AIP4Win.

I was quite pleased with this although the brighter stars are a little bloated and have halos - I don't think the lens is a particularly good one with respect to chromatic aberration. It may be OK on narrowband or with colour filters. I'll get around to trying this one again using a filter wheel.

The Helix Nebula

Object: NGC 7293 (Caldwell 63)
Type: Planetary Nebula
Distance: 522 light years
Constellation: Aquarius
Date: 28 September 2006
Equipment: SXV-H9, Vixen 114mm f5.3 ED refractor
Subframes: 16 x 180 second full frame (unguided), 16 darks, 16 flats/flat darks, calibrated and stacked in AIP4Win.

This really was a game of "how low could I go?" The Helix Nebula never gets more than 17 degrees above my cluttered horizon, and even then only between a gap in two close-by houses (hence only 16 subs). Add to that a horrendous light pollution gradient, and it makes for some challenging processing problems.

Nevertheless, it's possible to determine some structure in the final somewhat noisy image, and it showed to me that getting a half-decent low elevation shot was possible even under my limited viewing conditions. Had the weather been kinder this year I would have aimed for the Trifid Nebula (M20) and Lagoon Nebula (M8) which lurk in Sagittarius at 15 and 14 degrees respectively. The H-alpha filter (not used here) will certainly help with M8, I think.

Comet C/2006 M4 (Swan)

Object: Comet C/2006 M4 (SWAN)
Constellation: Corona Borealis
Date: 24 October 2006
Equipment: SXV-H9, Vixen 114mm f5.3 ED refractor
Subframes: 20 x 120 second full frame (unguided, tracked on comet nucleus), 16 darks, 16 flats/flat darks, calibrated and stacked in AIP4Win.

This object unexpectedly brightened to around 4th magnitude and was easily visible to the naked eye, even from my light polluted corner of the world. Having learned from earlier efforts, I went for longer subs to catch detail in the tail, and also tracked using the comet orbital parameters (entered into the GPDX SkySensor hand controller) rather than simple sideral tracking. The tracking was virtually perfect, more by luck than judgement, enabling me to get my best shot of a comet to date.

Once again, I wished I'd taken more subs as the image is still a bit noisy, but as this one was on a hyperbolic orbit, it won't be coming back to let me have a second go...

The Cygnus Loop

Object: Veil Nebula and Witch's Broom Nebula (NGC 6992-6995 & NGC 6960, Caldwell 33 & 34)
Type: Supernova remnant
Distance: 2500 light years
Constellation: Cygnus
Date: 03 September 2006
Equipment: SXV-H9, Astronomix H-alpha filter, 135mm Zeiss telephoto lens
Subframes: 2x2 binned, 22 x 180 second (unguided), 16 darks, 16 flats/flat darks, calibrated and stacked in AIP4Win.

Whilst the resolution in this image can't match that offered by wide-field Apos and big-chip CCDs, I think I've got value for money out of my rather more modest set-up. The filamentary structure of both the eastern Veil portion and the western "Witch's Broom" can be seen, along with the fainter central wisps of nebulousity between the two (click on image to enlarge).

Not bad for a lens picked up for a few quid at a boot sale. Longer subs would probably have shown more detail in the fainter wispy stuff.

The Eagle Nebula

Object: Messier 16 (NGC 6611)
Type: Open cluster with nebula
Distance: 9000 light years
Constellation: Serpens Cauda
Date: 15 July 2006
Equipment: SXV-H9, Astronomix H-alpha filter, Vixen 114mm f5.3 ED refractor
Subframes: 16 x 120 second (unguided), 16 darks, 16 flats/flat darks, calibrated and stacked in AIP4Win.

I was restricted to only 16 subframes as the low altitude of this object means I can only catch it for about an hour as it passes between a gap in two houses that block out my view of the lowest regions of my southern sky.

The amount of detail in the final image was therefore quite pleasing.

M81

Object: Messier 81 (NGC 3031)
Type: Galaxy
Distance: 4.5 million light years
Constellation: Ursa Major
Date: 01 April 2006
Equipment: SXV-H9, Vixen 114mm f5.3 ED refractor
Subframes: 50 x 80 second (unguided), 16 darks, 16 flats/flat darks, calibrated and stacked in AIP4Win.

This came out OK, despite some star trailing due to poor polar alignment. The low noise in the final image allowed me to get away with using a deconvolution filter in AstroArt 4 to round up the star images and sharpen the whole thing up to an acceptable standard.

I had planned to take a second series of images just north of the field shown here to catch M82 as well, the plan being to mosaic the two outputs together. Needless to say, the clouds rolled in just as I was framing M82.

One for another evening, then. According to my calculations, the field of view available with the 600mm focal length refractor/SXV-H9 combination should just be able to fit M81 and M82 on the same frame, so I'll be trying that next spring.

The Christmas Tree Cluster

Object: NGC 2264
Type: Cluster with Nebula
Distance: 2500 light years
Constellation: Monoceros
Date: 03 March 2006
Equipment: SXV-H9, Vixen 114mm f5.3 ED refractor
Subframes: 20 x 180 second (unguided), 16 darks, 16 flats/flat darks, calibrated and stacked in AIP4Win. Colours added in PSPv7

Maurice Leyland's "Christmas Tree Cluster" (NGC 2264) can readily be made out here. The "tree" is upside down even though it's the right way up, if you see what I mean - an eyepiece normally inverts the view giving the cluster its striking resemblance to the proverbial Christmas tree

I used the magic wand tool and some masking layers in Paint Shop Pro to add the red colour to the faint nebulousity that enmeshes the cluster, and to give a blue halo to the brighter stars. The false colours actually help to highlight the nebula for some reason, which is why I've posted this image rather than the usual monochrome output from the SXV-H9. Click to enlarge.

The Cone Nebula can be made out at the southern end of the nebulousity. The whole of the nebula associated with NGC 2264 is just the brighter part of a vast cloud of nebulousity in this region of sky. I had a semi-successful attempt at imaging this cloud in hydrogen-alpha, using the SXV-H9 and a 135mm telephoto lens, giving a theoretical field of 2.8 x 3.8 degrees (see below).


Unfortunately, the tracking seems to have been a bit off for the duration of the 300 second subs used, hence the rather bloated-looking stars. I can and will do better on this one.

Partial Solar Eclipse

From 3rd October 2005. I used the Vixen 114mm f5.3 ED refractor fitted with Baader solar film and a Casio digital camera afocally coupled to a 15mm eyepiece. The exposures were 1/400th of a second. As these eclipses are fairly leisurely affairs, I simply took single frames every five minutes

It's said that all but the least partial of partial eclipses aren't really noticeable if you aren't actually looking at the Sun. At around 10.00 for this one however, I felt that the autumn sunlight had a washed-out quality and that it was distinctly cooler for a while. Maybe it was just psychological...

The Flame Nebula

Object: NGC 2024

Type: Nebula

Distance: 1300 light years

Constellation: Orion

Date: 28 January 2006
Equipment: SXV-H9, Vixen 114mm f5.3 ED refractor

Subframes: 15 x 180 second, unguided, no darks or flats.

Apparently this object is part of the same molecular cloud that encompasses the M78 complex (see previous post), which is some 2 degrees to the northeast. I recently reprocessed these subs in AstroArt 4 and I think they have scrubbed up quite well, even without the benefit of a flat frame.

This object has been saddled with several names, some of them quite inappropriate for its delicate beauty. Some US (who else?) astromoners have called this the "Burning Bush Nebula" (clumsy, but at least understandable), the "Lips Nebula" (ugh!) or even the "Tank Track Nebula" (good grief...).

"Flame Nebula" is just fine for me...

M78

Object: Messier 78 (NGC 2068)
Type: Nebula
Distance: 1630 light years
Constellation: Orion
Date: 28 January 2006
Equipment: SXV-H9, Vixen 114mm f5.3 ED refractor
Subframes: 17 x 180 second, unguided, no darks or flats.

Same old mantras (mantrae?) of "more and longer subs" and "could do with a flat field". At the time I took this image though, I didn't have any image stacking software, other than the clunky package that came with the SXV-H9 camera itself, so I tended to shy away from flat fields.

This curious mixture of dark and reflection nebulae still shows up reasonably well though. It's another one I plan to revisit now I have more experience, better software and a colour filter wheel.

M78 is the nebulousity in the bottom half of the frame - the upper one is NGC 2071. The smudges just to the northwest and southwest of M78 also have their own NGC designations, NGC 2067 and 2064 respectively.

Mercury and Venus conjunction...

This one caught me by surprise on the evening of 27 June 2005. By chance I happened to look at the western horizon and noticed that Venus had a dimmer companion very close by. A quick look at SkyMapPro showed that Mercury was only about 5 arc-seconds from Venus and wouldn't appear any closer than that until December 1st 2070, (and that during the day from the UK too).

Figuring that I was very unlikely to get this weird photo-oppportunity again, I grabbed the VC200L, the Toucam and my lap-top and set up to grab a few frames. The image above is a Registax of 30 seconds-worth of 15 frames/second images taken at around 21.00 BST. The blue sky is not an artifact. The phases of Venus (91%) and Mercury (61%) show up reasonably clearly.

In hindsight, I wish I'd used the wider field refractor to give an impression of just how close the pair looked. Oh well, I'll guess I'll try and aim to stick around for 2070..

Comet C2001-Q4 NEAT, Venus

Object: C2001-Q4NEAT

Type: Comet

Constellation: Cancer

Date: 19 May 2004
Equipment: Casio digital camera, 25mm eyepiece afocal, Vixen 114mm f5.3 ED refractor

Subframes: 8 x 60 second, unguided, no darks or flats.

This little blue fuzzball was an early evening binocular object low in the western sky for a few days in the summer of '04. The above image is horribly vignetted and a bit noisy but nonetheless doesn't do too bad a job at portraying the comet's telescopic appearance. More talented imagers than I produced some wonderful images showing all sorts of long tails, but I'm just "glad I was there"...

A 12% phase Venus was also brilliantly on show lower on the horizon, so I rattled off forty or so 0.1 second frames and Registaxed them. I quite like the enigmatic feel of the result...