Swansea Astronomical Society Blog
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
M81, LRGB image with an Atik camera and an SCT
This image was captured with an 8" SCT fitted with a 6.5 focal reducer.
Click on the image to get a larger view
M81
Click on the image to get a larger view
M81
Nikki Mackin
Monday, October 25, 2010
Dumbbell and Ring
An Atik 314L was attached at prime focus to an 8" SCT. The Ring Nebula was imaged by taking 40 x 15s subs, binned at 2x2, through red, green and blue filters. 40 luminance subs were collected at 20s exposures without binning or any filters. The Ring Nebula was imaged under a full Moon.
M57
An f/6.3 focal reducer was fitted to the SCT to image the Dumbbell Nebula. 100 luminance frames, and 40 each of frames imaged through red, green and blue filters were collected. All channels were binned at 2x2
M27
Nikki Mackin
Sunday, October 24, 2010
M13
A Williams Optics Zenithstar 80mm refractor and a Starlight Express MX716 were used to capture this image of M13.:
It is a stack of 20 x 10s exposures.
Click on the image to get a larger view.
Anne Startup
It is a stack of 20 x 10s exposures.
Click on the image to get a larger view.
Anne Startup
Sun and Moon
I imaged the Sun today through an f/5, 6" Helios refractor using a DMK21AS camera. The camera was fitted with a UV/IR cut filter, a Green continuum filter and the lens assembly from a 2x Barlow. This was then stacked in a 2.5x Barlow to yield the following image of AR1117:
Click on the images to get a larger view.
The data were all captured within a 3 minute period so that the structure of granules was preserved.
A compact camera was used to make an afocal image through a 15mm eyepiece:
Although the image is not as good as the earlier image, it contains lots of detail and was well worth trying.
I made an afocal image of part of the Moon using a 5", F/10 Maksutov through a 30mm eyepiece and a compact camera:
This shows what a simple, handheld exposure can achieve.
Steve Wainwright
Click on the images to get a larger view.
The data were all captured within a 3 minute period so that the structure of granules was preserved.
A compact camera was used to make an afocal image through a 15mm eyepiece:
Although the image is not as good as the earlier image, it contains lots of detail and was well worth trying.
I made an afocal image of part of the Moon using a 5", F/10 Maksutov through a 30mm eyepiece and a compact camera:
This shows what a simple, handheld exposure can achieve.
Steve Wainwright
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Solar activity in H-alpha light and Ca K-line light
I used a DMK21 AS camera at the prime focus of H-alpha and Ca-K PST scopes:
Click on an image to get a larger view
Here is an animation of AR1117 in H-alpha (red) and Ca K-line light (blue)
Click on an image to get a larger view
AR1113 in H-alpha light
AR 1113 in Ca K-line
AR1115 in H-alpha light
AR1115 in Ca K-line light
Prominence in H-alpha light
Steve Wainwright
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Mosaic of Lunation 1087, 11 day waxing gibbous Moon
On 19th October A DMK21AS camera fitted with a 0.5 focal reducer was attached to an 8" SCT fitted with a 6.3 focal reducer. Six areas of the Moon were imaged from approximately 15% of the best frames from 6,000 images captured per area. The six areas were stitched together using iMerge:
Click on the image for a larger view
Nikki Mackin
Click on the image for a larger view
Nikki Mackin
posted by astroimager # 8:23 PM
Moon and Planet
This image of Jupiter was taken through a 1.5x Barlow with a DBK camera on an 11" SCT
Mosaic using a Trust 1.3Mp webcam and an 80mm APO refractor
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Mosaic using a Trust 1.3Mp webcam and an 80mm APO refractor
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Mosaic using a DMK31AS and an 80mm APO refractor
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Keith Davies
The Moon with a DMK and an 5" Maksutov under bad seeing conditions
Last night the seeing was poor but I was able to capture some fleeting moments of reasonable seeing by capturing 8000 frames per section of the Moon I imaged and using only the best 1500 from which to make the image. Click on an image to get a larger view:
Steve Wainwright
Clavius Region with craters Schiller, Longomontanus, Blancanus, Scheiner and Tycho:
Mare Imbrium, the Bay of Rainbows and Plato Region with Mare Serenitatis and Mare Frigoris:
Monday, October 18, 2010
Solar images on Oct 16th
On October 16th I imaged AR1112 and the associated huge filament with a DMK camera on a PST H-alpha scope. The very bright region near the top of the filament is a flare in progress:
The same active region was imaged in Ca K-line light with a CaK PST:
The very small associated sunspots are visible as well as the magnetic activity in the chromospheric network.
AR1113 and 1115 were imaged togather in H-alpha light:
And the two sunspots are clearly visible in this Ca K-line image:
Steve Wainwright
The same active region was imaged in Ca K-line light with a CaK PST:
The very small associated sunspots are visible as well as the magnetic activity in the chromospheric network.
AR1113 and 1115 were imaged togather in H-alpha light:
And the two sunspots are clearly visible in this Ca K-line image:
Steve Wainwright
Sunday, October 17, 2010
The Sun and Jupiter
This image of the Sun was obtained with a Trust 1.3 Mp webcam at the prime focus of a H-PST:
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A DMK was used for these images
Keith Davies
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A DMK was used for these images
This is a white light image taken with a DMK and an 80mm refractor:
This image of Jupiterr was taken with a DBK camera with a 1.5x and an 11" SCT:
Friday, October 15, 2010
Star Party at Swansea Airport, Fairwood Common.
The sky was mainly cloudy and there were competing sporting events. Nontheless the SAS (Swansea Astronomical Society) put on a show of astronomy at the Airport. The airport opened its cafe and visitors along with SAS members were able to buy hot and cold refreshments from the very friendly airport staff.
This is something that any visitor with a compact camera can do at a star party.
There were exhibitions of telescopes of all shapes and sizes, computer displays of astronomical images taken by SAS members, display boards with printed images of astronomical objects taken by SAS members. Andrew presented a pop-in talk of the solar system where visitors were able to sit for a while and hear about the various planets and asteroids etc in our solar system. The cafe made a focal point for getting warm and talking about what was on display and what had been seen, The following images give a flavour of the star party:
The Moon did put in an appearance and visitors were able to look at it through SAS members' telescopes. This was a simple handheld afocal image taken of the moon through the eyepiece of an 8 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope:
This is something that any visitor with a compact camera can do at a star party.
There were exhibitions of telescopes of all shapes and sizes, computer displays of astronomical images taken by SAS members, display boards with printed images of astronomical objects taken by SAS members. Andrew presented a pop-in talk of the solar system where visitors were able to sit for a while and hear about the various planets and asteroids etc in our solar system. The cafe made a focal point for getting warm and talking about what was on display and what had been seen, The following images give a flavour of the star party:
Steve Wainwright
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Deep Sky with a Nikon D700 and 80mm & 4 inch APO refractors
A light pollution filter was used:
M81 and M82
Keith Davies
Andromeda Galaxy M31 & M110:
M33
M81 and M82
M1, the Crab Nebula
Jupiter and Uranus
Last night I used a Firmware flashed SPC880NC/900NC camera fitted with the lens assembly of a x2 Barlow on an 11" SCT. The seeing was poor but it was possible to capture disks of both Jupiter and Uranus. They have been put together in this montage so that the relative sizes of their disks can be appreciated. The angular separation is not to scale although the angular separation in the sky was only 2 degrees, 14 minutes:
Steve Wainwright
Steve Wainwright
Monday, October 11, 2010
Deep Sky with the SDC-435, an 11" SCT with a 6.3 focal reducer, an f/5, 6" Newtonian and an 80mm, f/5 refractor
A 6.3 focal reducer was fitted to the 11" SCT and the Samsung SDC-435, fitted with a light
pollution filter was usewd to image M27:
The SDC-435 at the prime focus of a 6", f/5 Newtonian was used to image M1, the Crab Nebula:
Also with the 6" Newtonian, The Orion Nebula. A mosaic of two regions of the nebula.
With the f/5, 80mm refractor I captured the Orion Nebula.
M42/43:
Steve Wainwright
pollution filter was usewd to image M27:
The SDC-435 at the prime focus of a 6", f/5 Newtonian was used to image M1, the Crab Nebula:
Also with the 6" Newtonian, The Orion Nebula. A mosaic of two regions of the nebula.
With the f/5, 80mm refractor I captured the Orion Nebula.
M42/43:
Steve Wainwright
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Jupiter with an 11" SCT and a DBK21 camera
Using a x2 Barlow, this image of Jupiter was obtained:
Click on image to see it at full size
Using a 1.5x Barlow:
Keith Davies
Click on image to see it at full size
Using a 1.5x Barlow:
Keith Davies
Jupiter with the 12" Fairwood SCT and a SPC880NC/900NC camera
The clouds were persisitent but I managed to capture 3 minutes worth of AVIs of Jupiter using the SPC880NC/900NC camera fitted with the lens assembly from a x2 Barlow:
Jupiter:
The AVIs were stacked using Registax and then atmospheric dispersion was corrected in Andrew Sprott's CAP software featured in OCT-DEC Popular Astronomy.
Steve Wainwright
Jupiter:
The AVIs were stacked using Registax and then atmospheric dispersion was corrected in Andrew Sprott's CAP software featured in OCT-DEC Popular Astronomy.
Steve Wainwright
Monday, October 4, 2010
Jupiter with an 11" SCT and a SPC880NC/900NC camera
An SCP880NC/900NC Firmware re-flashed webcam was fitted with the lens assembly of a x2 Barlow and placed on an 11" SCT. (This camera is a Philips SPC880NC that we have re-flashed the firmware to an SCP900NC)
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Comet 103P/Hartley 2 in Cassiopeia through a 6" Newtonian
Last night A Mintron camera was placed on a 6", f/5 Newtonian. 15 Minutes of DVD were captured and the BMPs extracted from the DVD using VOB Frame Extractor. An animation of the movement of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 over a 15 minute period was made.
The comet was just visible in 15 x 80 binoculars as a faint object.
Steve Wainwright
The comet was just visible in 15 x 80 binoculars as a faint object.
Steve Wainwright
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