Swansea Astronomical Society Blog

A Seestar S50 was used to capture a 2.5 minute RAW AVI of the Sun. The best 85% of the  frames were debayered and Stacked with 1.5 drizzle in Autostakkert!4. The image was wavelet processed in waveSharp and post processed in Gimp 2.10 and ACDSee.

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posted by astroimager  # 2:40 PM 0 Comments

Cygnus wall in SHO

8" F4 Stella Lyra Newtonian

Player one Ares C Pro mono camera

Antlia 3nm Ha, Oiii and Sii

Pegasus filter wheel

ZWO AM5

3.5 hours of each filter (Ha, Sii and Oiii) over several nights in June and the stars were taken using rgb data. Processed in Pixinsight.

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The Cygnus wall SHO

posted by astroimager  # 9:52 PM 0 Comments

John Beer 

posted by astroimager  # 9:46 PM 0 Comments

I captured a wide-field image of the Iris Nebula region, located in Cepheus, using my Rokinon 135mm prime lens at f/2.8. This lens was attached to my Canon 1300D DSLR camera, which was mounted on a Star Adventurer 2i pro tracking mount. The settings were 50 seconds and ISO 800. I took 50 light frames, 25 dark frames, and 50 flat frames, all stacked in DeepSkyStacker and processed in Siril and GIMP 2.10. Additionally, I used an intervalometer for camera control and a Bahtinov mask to achieve precise focusing on a star. The image was taken under Bortle 5 skies. 

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The Iris nebula region

Chris Playle

posted by astroimager  # 8:41 PM 0 Comments

The Moon I captured last evening - a 75% stack of 64 x ARW's taken with the Sony ZV-E10 Vlogging camera fitted with a 350mm F6.3 Zoom lens at full zoom. Exposure settings used were 1/750s at ISO 500. The images were converted to an SER file using PIPP, stacked in Autostakkert!4, wavelet sharpened in Registax and finished in Adobe Photoshop 2024.

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Chris Bowden

posted by astroimager  # 6:41 PM 0 Comments

The Sun in Ca K-line light. Two overlapping 3000-frame AVIs were captured with AstroDMx Capture through an f/5.5 Ekinox 80mm ED refractor fitted with a Baader OD 3.7 solar filter, with an SVBONY SC432M air-cooled CMOS camera, fitted with a Baader Ca K-line filter and a 5x Balow lens alone (giving 3x increase in focal length). The best 95% of the frames in each AVI were stacked in Autostakkert!4 with 1.5 Drizzle. The two resulting images were stitched in Microsoft ICE. The image mosaic was wavelet processed in waveSharp and post processed in GIMP and ACDSee.

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Equipment used:

Steve Wainwright and Nicola Mackin

posted by astroimager  # 6:23 PM 0 Comments

I took this solar image this morning using an Altair Hypercam 174, a Baader Herschel wedge and G band filter with my new Altair Xwave 80mm refractor. Best 20% of 2000 frames stacked in Autostakkert with a 1.5 x resample as the 174 has quite large pixels. There was quite a lot of high cloud but that was considerably better than recent days! Lightly sharpened in iMPPg then processed further in Pixinsight using the Solartoolbox processes.

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Anne Startup

posted by astroimager  # 4:54 PM 0 Comments

A Panasonic Lumix DMCFZ72, 60x optical zoom bridge camera fitted with an ICE ND100000 solar filter and mounted on a static tripod was used to capture 165 images of the Sun at ISO 100 and 1/1600s. The images were precisely cropped/registered in Nicola Mackin's AstroCrop before being stacked in Siril, wavelet processed in waveSharp and post processed in the Gimp.

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Steve Wainwright

posted by astroimager  # 12:19 PM 0 Comments

A Panasonic Lumix DMCFZ72, 60x optical zoom bridge camera fitted with an ICE ND100000 solar filter and mounted on a static tripod was used to capture 158 images of the Sun at ISO 100 and 1/1000s. The images were precisely cropped/registered in Nicola Mackin's AstroCrop before being stacked in Siril, wavelet processed in waveSharp and post processed in the Gimp.

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Steve Wainwright

posted by astroimager  # 8:42 PM 0 Comments

67 minutes worth of 10s exposures of the Ghost of Cassiopeia were captured with a Seestar S50. The data were stacked and part processed in PixInsight and post processed in Siril, GraXpert and Gimp 2.10 with Starnet++ Presented here in the HOO palette.

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IC 63 The Ghost of Cassiopeia HOO

Steve Wainwright and Nicola Mackin

posted by astroimager  # 6:21 PM 0 Comments

I captured an image of the Double Star Cluster in Perseus using my Rokinon 135mm prime lens attached to a Canon 1300D DSLR camera on a standard tripod. The settings were 5 seconds and ISO 800. The final image is a stack of 25 exposures, processed in Sequator and edited in Gimp 2.10. I also employed a self-timer for image capture and a Bahtinov mask for precise focusing on a bright star. This image was taken under Bortle 3 skies at Fall Bay, Gower.

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The Double cluster

Chris Playle

posted by astroimager  # 10:38 PM 0 Comments

A Seestar S50 was used to capture a 2 minute RAW AVI file through the supplied solar filter. The data were debayered and stacked in Autostakkert!4 with 1.5x Drizzle and post processed in Gimp 2.10, waveSharp and ACDSee.

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Steve Wainwright and Nicola Mackin

posted by astroimager  # 7:26 PM 0 Comments

AstroDMx Capture for Windows was used with a William Optics 80mm APO refractor with FR and Altair Hypercam 533C 14 bit OSC camera. 90 minutes worth of RAW 5 minute exposures were made of the Chinese Dragon nebula through an Altair HaOIII dualband filter, and just 35 minutes worth of 5 minute exposures of M101 through an LPRO-MAX filter. Stacking and part processing in PixInsight and post processing in Siril, GraXpert and Gimp 2.10 with Starnet++. The mount and focuser were controlled by AstroDMx Capture via an INDI server and autoguiding was by PHD2 via the INDI server.

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The Chinese Dragon nebula

RGB image

M101

Steve Wainwright and Nicola Mackin

posted by astroimager  # 7:20 PM 0 Comments

My wide field image of the Garnet star region taken with my Rokinon 135mm prime lens at f/2.8. The lens was mounted on my 1300D DSLR Canon camera and attached to my Star Adventure 2i pro tracking mount. Settings were 45s 800ISO. 100 images were taken, 50 flat frames and 30 dark frames which were all stacked in DSS and edited in Sirl and Gimp 2.10. I used an intervalometer to control the camera and a Bahtinov mask to focus on a bright star. The image was taken under Bortle 5 skies on Loughor estuary foreshore.

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The Garnet Star region

Chris Playle

posted by astroimager  # 10:30 PM 0 Comments

The Moon with Sony E10 and ZWO ASI 533 Montage: Using a Sony ZV-E10 Vlogging camera fitted with a 70mm lens, a single portrait mode image was taken of the Moon as it appeared low over the Gower Peninsular with its reflection shimmering on the high tide of Loughor estuary. A further 41 ARW closeup images of the Moon 's were then taken using a 350mm lens. At the same time I was getting my Altair 60 EDF doublet refractor fitted with a 0.8 x FR scope ready for some DSO imaging, so I first slewed the scope to the Moon for focusing and took the same amount of images with my ASI 533MM Pro camera using a luminance filter with the camera set to its shortest shutter speed and minimum gain. Some 75% of each of the image data sets were then stacked using Autostakkert! 4 and then sharpened in Pixinsight and finished off in Adobe Photoshop 2024.

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The Moon

Blaze Star (T CrB):  In order to check on the status of the so called "Blaze Star" in Corona Borealis that is due to go nova shortly, I took another set of 16 mins LRGB with my ASI 533MM Pro camera using my Altair 60 EDF doublet refractor fitted with a 0.8 x FR, to check with previous captures made in recent weeks. No change was seen to the Blaze Star which is eagerly awaited a rapid brightening and day now!

The Blaze star

NGC 6826 (Blinking Planetary Nebula): Some 50 minutes of RGB data were taken with my ASI 533MM Pro camera attached to my Altair 60 EDF doublet refractor fitted with a 0.8 x FR. Despite the targets small size, the planetary nebula was able to be resolved to show a pale blue disc surrounded by a greenish shell of gas. The wide field image was cropped to show the object in more detail in the centre of the frame. The various DSO images were then annotated using Pixinsight.

The Blinking Planetary nebula

Annotated image

Chris Bowden

posted by astroimager  # 4:17 PM 0 Comments

A Seestar S50 was used to capture a 2 minute RAW AVI of the Sun. The best 90% of the  frames were debayered and Stacked with 1.5 drizzle in Autostakkert!4. The image was wavelet processed in waveSharp and post processed in Gimp 2.10 and ACDSee.

Click on the image to get a closer view

Steve Wainwright and Nicola Mackin

posted by astroimager  # 8:32 PM 0 Comments

The equipment used was a William Optics Zenithstar 81 ED APO doublet refractor, f/5.5 with 0.88 APO flattener-reducer, a ZWO AEF, An Altair magnetic filter holder with an LPRO-MAX filter was mounted on an AVX mount. The mount was placed on permanent marks on the concrete base. An SVBONY SV165 guide-scope fitted with a QHY-5II-M guide camera was mounted on the handle dovetail of the imaging scope. An Altair Hypercam 533C Cooled OSC CMOS camera was mounted at the focus and AstroDMx Capture for Windows was used to capture data and control the Mount and the AEF via an INDI server running on a Linux computer. Autoguiding was by PHD2 running on a separate Linux computer.

One hour's worth of 5 minute RAW fits exposures of M13 were captured along with calibration data.

The data were debayered, calibrated, stacked and partly processed in PixInsight and post processed in Siril, GraXpert and Gimp 2.10 with Starnet++.

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M13

Steve Wainwright and Nicola Mackin

posted by astroimager  # 7:15 PM 0 Comments

My image of M13, the Great Hercules Globular Cluster, was taken with my Canon 75-300mm zoom lens at 300mm. The lens was mounted on my Canon 1300D DSLR camera and attached to my Star Adventurer 2i Pro tracking mount. The settings were 40 seconds exposure at ISO 800 and f/6.3. I took 200 images and 30 flat frames, but no dark frames. All images were stacked in Sequator and edited in Siril and GIMP 2.10. I used an intervalometer to control the camera and a Bahtinov mask to focus on a bright star.

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M13

Chris Playle

posted by astroimager  # 6:51 PM 0 Comments

Veil nebula mosaic from two different telescopes: On the 13th July I was able to add a further 3.3 hours of HO data of the Veil nebula using my Altair 60EDF doublet refractor to fill in the blank areas of the mosaic I did on the 10th July using my William Optics ZS71 doublet refractor. The additional data were then combined with the original data set to produce a seven pane mosaic comprising a total of 5.8 hours of H &O data which was integrated using the HOO palette. The final image covers some 3.3 x 3.3 ° area of sky and encompasses nearly all of the nebula with the mosaic being made using Pixinsight's “Merge by coordinates” script and the “gradient merge mosaic” process. This supernova remnant covers an area of sky almost 6 times the diameter of the Moon and is the left over material from a star believed to have been 20 times larger than the Sun that went supernova some 10 to 20,000 years ago. From the initial supernova explosion the material is expanding at a rate of 1.5 million Km per hour, so from my original data taken three nights previously, the remnants have expanded another 67 million miles! 

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The Veil nebula

Chris Bowden

posted by astroimager  # 4:36 PM 0 Comments

A Seestar S50 was used to capture a 2 minute RAW AVI of the 49% Moon. The best 90% of the frames were debayered and Stacked with 1.5 drizzle in Autostakkert!4. The image was wavelet processed in waveSharp and post processed in Gimp 2.10.

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49% Moon

Steve Wainwright and Nicola Mackin

posted by astroimager  # 3:58 AM 0 Comments

My wide-field image of the Veil Nebulae and star cluster NGC 6940 in Vulpecula was taken with my Rokinon 135mm prime lens at f/2.8. The lens was mounted on my Canon 1300D DSLR camera and attached to my Star Adventurer 2i Pro tracking mount. Settings were 50s at 800 ISO with 130 images, 50 flat frames, and 25 dark frames, all stacked in DSS and edited in Siril and GIMP 2.10. I used an intervalometer to control the camera and a Bahtinov mask to focus on a bright star. The image was taken at Fall Bay, Gower, under Bortle 3 skies.

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The Veil nebulae region

posted by astroimager  # 2:54 PM 0 Comments

A Seestar S50 was used to capture a 2 minute RAW AVI of the 31% waxing Moon. The best 90% of the  frames were debayered and Stacked with 1.5 drizzle in Autostakkert!4. The image was wavelet processed in waveSharp and post processed in Gimp 2.10.

Click on the image to get a closer view

31% Moon

Steve Wainwright and Nicola Mackin

posted by astroimager  # 5:15 AM 0 Comments

 A ZWO ASI533 MM Pro camera and filter wheel were attached to a Field Flattener and fitted to a William Optics Zenithstar 71 doublet refractor for imaging several targets in order to continue commissioning tests. Several objects were targeted using NINA including:

Crescent Moon: Stack of 8 luminance images integrated in Autostakkert!4, wavelet processed in Registax and finished in Adobe 2024

M13 (Great Globular Cluster in Hercules): 9 minutes of luminance data 60s subs integrated and processed in Pixinsight

M57 (Ring nebula): 10 minutes luminance data 60s subs integrated and processed in Pixinsight

Veil nebula montage: 50 minutes each of the Western, Eastern and Central areas of the Veil nebulae (150m minutes total) captured in Hydrogen alpha and molecular oxygen integrated and processed in Pixinsight using the HOO palette with final processing done in Adobe Photoshop 2024.

Chris Bowden

posted by astroimager  # 5:08 AM 0 Comments

A Seestar S50 was used to capture a 2 minute RAW AVI of the Sun. The best 90% of the  frames were debayered and Stacked with 1.5 drizzle in Autostakkert!4. The image was wavelet processed in waveSharp and post processed in Gimp 2.10.

Click on the image to get a closer view

The Sun in white light

Steve Wainwright and Nicola Mackin

posted by astroimager  # 9:42 PM 0 Comments

100 minutes worth of 10s exposures of M27 were captured with a Seestar S50. The data were debayered,  stacked and partly processed in PixInsight and post processed in Siril, GraXpert, Gimp, Starnet++ and ACDSee.

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The Dumbbell nebula

Steve Wainwright and Nicola Mackin

posted by astroimager  # 5:43 PM 0 Comments

On two separate evenings the Pelican nebula was imaged with a Seestar S50, 50mm apochromatic GOTO smart telescope.

The first evening the Seestar S50 was sent to the Pelican nebula, which was imaged for 90 minutes. The resulting image on the Seestar showed what is commonly found, that the coordinates for the nebula do not truly represent the position of the object. The result was an image (and data set) that showed only part of the Pelican nebula.

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Image from the Seestar

On the second evening, the sky map in Seestar was used to position the object exactly where it was wanted on the sensor. The object was imaged for 95 minutes

 

posted by astroimager  # 4:40 PM 0 Comments

I was looking back at the images I took with my Sony ZV-E10 camera last Sunday night of the crescent Moon and it seems I did in fact capture Mercury in one of the images, as I noticed a bright speck low down towards the horizon just below the cloud bank. The image was taken at 22:27 and when I consulted Cartes du Ciel for this precise time, it did indeed show the planet Mercury in this same position. At the time of capture Mercury was less than two degrees above the horizon, but fairly bright at magnitude -0.2.

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posted by astroimager  # 5:30 PM 0 Comments