Out of the cold

With a rise in temperature it was time to come out of hibernation and attempt some imaging again. During the period of intense cold the sky had moved round a bit with some fresh targets coming into my window. Last year I had noticed this patch of nebulosity but never got to image it. This time around it made a suitable target with a return to the Newtonian. What initially looked to be a good sky didn't have the transparency I hoped for and the fainter areas of the subject escaped me despite some heavy processing. Known as the Medusa Nebula, Sh2-274 is a large planetary nebula in Gemini which was originally thought to be a supernova remnant. Worth another go in better conditions. Details: 10" f4.3 Newt. 15 x 10 minute exposures @ iso1600 with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT.

And then M67

With the transparency starting to improve again after M44 I noticed that not far away was the more condensed open cluster M67, also in Cancer. To my surprise I found that I hadn't ever imaged this attractive group before so I was soon up and running again on another set of subs. This time the transparency held and I acquired 15 before calling time. I was thinking of another spell of aurora hunting but cloud was fast appearing and a cup of soup was very appealing. M67 contains a good number of red giants and is one of the closest older clusters. Details: Megrez 88 apo. 15 x 5 minute exposures @ iso1600 with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT.

M44 and auroral disappointment

The next clear opportunity came with the intention to try for the Witchhead Nebula in Orion. This proved to be less than successful when I discovered that my current positioning of the guidescope wouldn't allow me to acquire a guide star for sufficient duration to expect a decent result. An unexpected visitor then occupied a couple of hours before I could return to any imaging. I noticed I hadn't previously tried M44 (Praesepe) with the apo so now was as good a time as any. The TV news had mentioned a chance of some auroral activity being visible so once I had started the imaging run I took myself off down the local fields where a decent north horizon was available. After 30 minutes peering at the sky with no signs of aurora I returned home to find the transparency had deteriorated a fair bit due to some washed out contrail drifting through so I stopped exposing after a dozen subs. Details: Megrez 88 apo. 12 x 5 minute exposures @ iso1600 with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT.

Something brighter

While set up with the apo a look at M42 was an obvious choice. At least there are no difficulties finding the Orion showpiece as just a few seconds exposure show it clearly and hard processing is definitely not neccessary. Indeed it allows so many options that choosing a version to post is the biggest problem. I took a variety of subs from 10 seconds to 10 minutes. Details: Megrez 88 apo. 15 x various exposures @ iso1600 with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT.

Conical

After Sh2-199 I moved on to NGC 2264 and The Cone Nebula in Monoceros. Although well away from any stray floodlight a dark sky is still required to make much of it so another subject requiring some fairly hard processing. Hubble's Variable Nebula is prominent at lower right. Details: Megrez 88 apo. 15 x 10 minute exposures @ iso1600 with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT.

Sh2-199 by floodlight

Continuing with the apo I made an attempt at Sharpless 2-199 (The Soul Nebula) which is adjacent to The Heart Nebula in Cassiopeia. Although I have now lost the Christmas lights the floodlight on the church tower continues to wash across the sky at higher elevations so there seems no benefit going for my usual 10 minute subs on targets in that part of the sky. I did half the subs @ 7 minutes and then increased to 8 as the subject moved away from the worst affected area. Details: Megrez 88 apo. 8 x 7 + 8 x 8 minute exposures @ iso1600 with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT.

A lengthy Rosette

Following M45 the Rosette Nebula in Monoceros had become well placed. This also fitted nicely in the field of the apo. It isn't very often my setting circles put an object precisely where needed in the field of the scope but in this case it did so I was snapping again with hardly a break after imaging the Pleiades. This ended up as one of my longer exposures as I clocked up 20 subs before deciding that a warm bed was becoming attractive. Details: Megrez 88 apo. 20 x 10 minute exposures @ iso1600 with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT.

M45 yet again

With a continuing run of clear nights maintaining some good transparency I decided to give M45 another attempt. This time I went with the apo which has a nice field for The Pleiades. At last I seem to have captured a good amount of the nebulosity for which the cluster is noted. I think I might need some exceptional conditions to get much deeper under MK skies with my present equipment so quite a pleasing result for what has been a challenging target up until now. Details: Megrez 88 apo. 15 x 10 minute exposures @ iso1600 with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT.

Comet 78P/Gehrels

I had noticed that Comet 78P/Gehrels was fairly close to Jupiter so might make a worthwhile early evening target despite being small and quite faint at around mag.10. It took me a while to be sure that I had found it but once underway I aquired a series of 40 x 3 minute exposures covering a period of just over 2 hours (a couple of exposures had to be dumped with guiding errors which show as small breaks in the star trails early on in the stacked image). It was the observatory roof that halted any more exposures. Details: 10" f4.3 Newt. 38 x 3 minute exposures @ iso1600 with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT (stacked in Nebulosity).

Quick check on an old favourite

After IC 342 I quickly set up the Tair 300mm to check out its field with M42. I managed a few short subs before it was obscured by the observatory roof. The result encourages me to try for something deeper when the opportunity arises. Details: Tair 300mm@5.6. 5 x 2 + 5 x 4 minute exposures @ iso1600 with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT.

Bit of a challenge

With the Christmas lights now extinguished and the moon rising late I thought I might try for the difficult galaxy IC 342. This large face-on spiral is only surpassed by M31 & M33 for angular dimension but at Mag.9 is very faint due to dust obscuration at its location in Camelopardalis. The transparency was a bit mediocre so I could have picked a better evening to try it but I think its definitely a target for skies somewhat better than MK can offer. It was barely detectable on the final stack and I had to push the processing very hard to make much of it. Worth a try though. Details: 10" f4.3 Newt. 15 x 10 minute exposures @ iso1600 with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT.

M78 - better luck this time

My next session was a return to M78 in Orion, this time with better fortune getting it in the field of the scope. Patchy cloud eventually cleared and I obtained an untroubled set of subs after the CLs had been switched off. Transparency was a bit mediocre so I didn't get quite as deep as I hoped but the result was an improvement on my earlier attempt nonetheless. Details: 10" f4.3 Newt. 12 x 10 minute exposures @ iso1600 with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT.

Not a comet

With the Christmas lights problem any serious deep sky has to be a post midnight affair. With the moon now very late rising I decided to try for M78 as my previous attempt at it was in need of improvement but getting it into the field of the scope proved very troublesome. After a fair bit of frustration I eventually discovered the declination pointer was badly out of adjustment. Not quite sure how this had happened but after rectifying the problem time had marched on so I abandoned M78 as it was getting a bit too far over. I looked for something brighter and decided on NGC 2261 (Hubble's Variable Nebula). Residing in Monoceros the comet resembling nebula was discovered in 1861. It is a reflection nebula illuminated by R Monocerotis. Its noted variable brightness is believed to be a result of dust cloud obscuration. The session ended a bit prematurely when cloud appeared and ruined the good transparency. Details: 10" f4.3 Newt. 8 x 7 minute exposures @ iso1600 with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT.

Video 2 - California transit

A video of the California transit. It reveals how the transparency varied and eventually got worse.

Eunomia reaches California

Anyone with an interest in astronomy, especially in Britain, gets hardened to the disappointments of significant events being clouded out. So when I looked out and saw a superbly clear sky on probably the best evening that Eunomia would be transitting The California Nebula I almost had to rub my eyes in disbelief! It was also the day when the asteroid was at opposition at magnitude 7.9....My last few posts seem to have been a rehearsal for attempting a transit image that I never really expected to get.....The only thing I changed from the last Eunomia image was the interval between taking the subs which I reduced from 10 minutes to 5 minutes, the subs themselves I kept at 5 minutes. This time I got slightly over 5 hours worth of images before the transparency became too murky to continue. Getting another full 5 hours of good sky seemed too good to be true as just one failed sub would have marred the final image. With one slight glitch the guiding remained sociable throughout and even the CLs didn't seem quite as ruinous as expected (perhaps some of them were out!). One of my more memorable sessions with a pleasing result which I'm posting at a higher resolution than usual. Details: 10" f4.3 Newt. @ iso1600 with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT.

Eunomia video

I have now made a short time-lapse video from the the Eunomia subs.

All pink and a long look at Eunomia

With a nicely clear evening it was easy to ignore the added light pollution and attempt some images. The broadband illumination from the Christmas lights isn't that obvious to the naked eye above what is already there but the moment I start imaging it appears in all its bright pink glory!
I started by attempting M74 which for whatever reason I have somehow overlooked before. Being a fairly bright face-on galaxy I was hoping for a useable result but after taking 18 subs the final stack wasn't worth processing. Christmas lights sub enclosed shows how severe the problem (and this was a very transparent sky!). I moved on to 15 Eunomia's approach to The California Nebula which I hoped might be a more successful venture than M74 as it would be less affected by the CLs. I achieved nearly 5 hours of continual imaging of the asteroid taking 5 minute subs at intervals of 10 minutes before the guiding began to fail and the transparency deteriorated. I include two versions of the image as the trailed version doesn't give a true impression of its brightness owing to the averaging of the stacking (It was brighter than the adjacent star to its upper left). Details: 10" F4.3 Newtonian @ iso 1600.

Potential photo

A follow up comment on my last post....It looks as though this asteroid will pass across the front of the nebula in the near future so an interesting image possible with a spread out series of subs to show the maximum trailing. Unfortunately after tonight my own chances of a decent result are much reduced by the town's Christmas lights. Worth a try if anyone out there feels like attempting it. ( P.S. Found enclosed path prediction here).

California & something unexpected

Another surprise clear opportunity gave me a chance at The California Nebula with the 300mm. Though the transparency was very variable with thin cloud drifting through I managed to obtain 10 mediocre subs before it clouded over completely . Of interest on the final stack was an obvious trailed star which I have indicated. I include crops from the first and last subs which show the movement over approximately 100 minutes. I have now managed to identify it as Minor Planet 15 Eunomia....an unexpected bonus! Details: Tair-3S 300mm@F5.6 . 10x 8 minutes @ iso1600 with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT.

Into Auriga

A bit unexpectedly another pre- Christmas lights opportunity arose last night so I stayed with the Tair 300mm and made an attempt at these fairly bright nebulae in Auriga. To the right is IC 405 (The Flaming Star Nebula) and lower left is IC 410. The transparency varied quite considerably through the session so it was a bit of a mixture regarding quality that were stacked for the final image. Details: Tair-3S 300mm@F5.6 . 15x 10 minutes @ iso1600 with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT.

300mm Pleiades

The last few weeks have been fairly unproductive with any clear opportunities being scarce. I did make an attempt at Jupiter while the moon was around but got nothing worth posting. With the town's Christmas lights being switched on this coming weekend and a 5 week spell of broadband illumination making things difficult oncemore I made an extra effort to get an image of some sort before the festive period starts. I haven't had much success with the Pleiades so far irrespective of scope or lens so I decided to try the group with my 300mm Tair lens this time. Despite intermittent cloud the transparency remained quite good and I was able to obtain a dozen reasonable subs. I was hoping for a bit more nebulosity but better conditions and deeper exposures required it seems. Details: Tair-3S 300mm@F5.6 . 12x 10 minutes @ iso1600 with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT.

Return to NGC 7822

After NGC 7510 I moved on to another attempt on the large nebula NGC 7822. My earlier effort on this was with the apo so this time I tried for some more detail with the Newtonian. I was hoping the moon would be less of a problem by the time I took the subs for this but it was only marginally so. Mediocre transparency and severe dew problems with the guidescope prevented the deep subs needed for a good result. It is therefore only the brighter central regions that are showing. NGC 7822 is a young star forming region in Cepheus. Details: 10" f4.3 Newt. 14 x 8 minute exposures @ iso1600 with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT.

NGC 7510

With a bright moon at first quarter washing the sky I sought out a cluster to image. I had noticed this quite unusual example on the edge of the field while imaging my last target (Sh2-156). It is open cluster NGC 7510 in Cepheus and is notable for its distinctive star chains which I find quite attractive. Details: 10" f4.3 Newt. 12 x 7 minute exposures @ iso1600 with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT.

A troublesome Sharpless

Obtaining the subs for this image proved to be rather difficult as an extended period of sky clarity refused to appear. For the first time the somewhat variable subs were spread over 3 different evenings as cloud and wind conspired to cut short consecutive sessions.....At mag 8.1 Sharpless2 - 156 (IC 1470) is another small and bright nebula in Cepheus. As a result of the difficulties I decided to try and modify the observatory to reduce the problem of sudden wind gusts buffeting the scope so hopefully a sheet of plywood and my doubtful carpentry skills will have effected an improvement....time will tell! Details: 10" f4.3 Newt. 14 x 7 minute exposures @ iso1600 with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT.

A larger Pacman

With the moon now rising much later a return to deep sky was possible again. I noticed that my previous attempt at NGC 281 (The Pacman Nebula) had been with the apo so I thought I would try the Newtonian on it for a more detailed view. NGC 281 is in Cassiopeia and contains the open cluster IC 1590 and a number of Bok globules (according to Wiki). Though the transparency was good I didn't quite capture the fainter extremes so I think a darker sky away from MK would have been needed to do much better. The guiding was working well throughout the session so quite a pleasing result. Details: 10" f4.3 Newt. 15 x 10 minute exposures @ iso1600 with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT.

Plus some moons

Staying with Jupiter the following evening didn't offer so much in the way of good seeing. However three of its moons were nicely placed so I went for a wider view. Left to right the moons are Europa, Ganymede & Io. The Red Spot was hiding around the back at this time. Details: 10"Newtonian F4.3, Canon 550D with EOS Camera Movie Record using 2x Barlow together with a 2x teleconverter processed in Registax, FIV & XAT.

Jupiter for a change

With Jupiter now well placed and a bright moon preventing serious deep sky I thought I would have another try at some planetary imaging and getting to grips with the Registax software. As usual the seeing looked quite poor but after a bit of patience a calmer spell arrived around 2am which coincided with the Red Spot being nicely placed. It was good to see both equatorial belts have returned to normal since I last attempted an image of the planet. Although my fast Newtonian is hardly the ideal planetary instrument it does seem capable of yielding a reasonable result at times. This is a stack of the best 800 frames taken from a 2000 frame video. Details: 10"Newtonian F4.3, Canon 550D with EOS Camera Movie Record using 2x Barlow together with a 2x teleconverter processed in Registax, FIV & XAT.

Something different

A bit of a surprise while viewing the moon with the Newtonian.

A wider M 33

Following NGC 7789 I continued with another widefield galaxy view. There aren't many galaxies large enough to be worth imaging with 300mm after M 31. The Pinwheel Galaxy (M 33) in Triangulum is one exception. This large face-on spiral is claimed to be a naked eye object but I have never been able to detect it. Details: Tair-3S 300mm@F5.6 . 12x 10 minutes @ iso1600 (full field) with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT

NGC 7789

With a run of clear nights continuing I carried on with the 300mm and aimed at NGC 7789. This attractive dense cluster lies in the rich star fields of Cassiopeia. Details: Tair-3S 300mm@F5.6 . 10x 7 minutes @ iso1600 (full field) with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT

A wider Andromeda

After the bubble area I moved on to the Andromeda galaxy (M.31) which was in a more favourable part of the sky and allowed some deeper subs to be obtained. I explored some new avenues while processing this and am quite satisfied with the result. The 300mm field gives a pleasing view of this spectacular subject. Transparency remained good throughout the session. Details: Tair-3S 300mm@F5.6 . 15x 10 minutes @ iso1600 (full field) with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT

Wider but floodlit

The next opportunity I returned to the 300mm for some wider views of familiar objects. I selected the area centered on The Bubble Nebula but found that the spill from the the church tower floodlight was at its worst in this area of sky so the subs were badly washed out despite an otherwise decently transparent sky. The resulting image is therefore lacking in depth but shows the cluster M 52 quite well. Details: Tair-3S 300mm@F5.6 . 12x 8 minutes @ iso1600 (full field) with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT

A group of Sharplesses

At last an evening with uninterrupted good transparency and no moon arrives, though it was well past 10pm before the cloud finally relented. I had noticed this pair of small bright nebula in Cepheus some time ago and decided to image them with the Newtonian when conditions were right. The group comprises of Sh2-147, 148, 149, 152 & 153 the two brighter components being 152 & 148 (Sh2-152 at top). The very faint Sh2-147 is just detectable at lower right. They are all components of the same giant molecular cloud. It made a welcome change to obtain a good set of subs without any problems. Details: 10" f4.3 Newt. 15 x 8 minute exposures @ iso1600 with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT.

Another in Lacerta

What looked to be a clear sky tempted me to a session on returning from the MKAS meeting. With a bright moon still much in evidence I decided to try for another of Lacerta's clusters. The target was NGC 7209 but constant patches of cloud arrived to prevent a run of decent subs and I had to settle for only 10 of very variable quality before the clarity disappeared completely. A hint of the Cocoon Nebula can just be detected towards the upper right which would have been far more obvious under better conditions. Details: Tair-3S 300mm@F8 . 10x 4 minutes @ iso1600 (full field) with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT

A pair of clusters

The next clear evening seemed a long time coming and when it did the moon was prominent and only just past full. Under the conditions I decided to add a couple more clusters to my collection. M 39 (Cygnus) & NGC 7243 (Lacerta) were suitably placed so became the targets for the session. Neither are very spectacular as clusters go and are barely noticeable at the centre of each image being in such rich star fields. I continued using the 300mm Tair lens which has a nice field for this type of subject. I am finding its performance very pleasing both for astronomy & normal photography....M 39 is at top. Transparency was good and both are full field images. Details (for both) : Tair-3S 300mm@F5.6 . 20x 2 minutes @ iso1600 with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT

Another attempt at 300mm

The next clear opportunity suffered from poor transparency so my next attempt with the Tair 300mm wasn't expected to be very exciting. I went for the very large IC 1396 nebula in Cepheus which more than filled the field of the lens so perhaps more suited to the field of a 200mm. The lack of transparency resulted in the processing being pushed hard with only the brighter regions showing well including the well known Elephant's Trunk Nebula and Herschel's Garnet Star at the top. Details: Tair-3S 300mm@F5.6 . 12 x 8 minutes @ iso1600 with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT.

A Russian addition

After acquiring my 200mm Takumar which is giving pleasing results I began looking for a decent cheap 300mm prime lens that might be suited to astro work. Research led me to the Russian Tair-3 which got favourable reports from several users. After seeing some quite impressive examples of photos taken with the lens I decided to visit eBay and found a good example in the Ukraine which I duly purchased and received in 7 days. The lens is built like a tank and is very heavy given its aperture of F 4.5. It has some unusual features including being part of a system that was mounted like a rifle using a gun trigger to fire the shutter....It came complete with the gunlike attachments though I would feel a bit conspicuous using it in that way!.... Keen to try it on the stars I gave it a go under abysmal conditions with continuous patches of cloud and poor transparency. I was only able to obtain half a dozen murky subs of around 5 minutes which have little depth but were sufficient to reveal how well the lens performs. It produces very little CA and is nicely coma free round the edges so I'm looking forward to trying it more seriously. This image is just a random area in Cygnus a bit above Deneb. Details: Tair 3s 300mm F5.6 6 x 5 minutes @ iso1600 (full field) with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT.

A Lacerta planetary

After imaging Collinder 433 the sky remained nicely transparent so I moved on to attempt Abell 80 which is a fairly faint planetary nebula in Lacerta. The rising moon began to affect the later subs but probably not enough to make much difference to the final result. Details: 10" f4.3 Newt. 12 x 10 minutes @ iso1600 with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT.

A Cygnus cluster

With the moon now rising much later a darker sky is available oncemore. I had noticed this attractive faint cluster in Cygnus not far from the North American Nebula. It was difficult to find its ID but I eventually located it on the Collinder list as Collinder 433 / NGC 7044 (Collinder's list can be found here). It seems to contain a high percentage of reddish stars. The transparency was good though it was a bit frustrating waiting for persistent patches of cloud to clear. Details: 10" f4.3 Newt. 14 x 5 minute @ iso1600 with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT.

31 Cygni group

Continuing with the star theme this group in Cygnus is another delight through the eyepiece or binoculars with its contrasting colours. Situated between Deneb & Rukh the brightest components are 30 & 31 Cygni with 31 Cygni dominating. This is itself a spectroscopic binary of type K0 @ 4th magnitude. Details: 10" f4.3 Newt. 20 x various exposures (up to 3 minutes) @ iso1600 with CLS in DSS, FIV, CS2 & XAT.