Swansea Astronomical Society Blog

Constellation Cygnus the Swan. Settings were 15s 1600ISO at f/2.8, with a 24mm Canon lens, and it was attached to a 4000D DSLR Canon camera and a static tripod. 

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posted by astroimager  # 10:53 PM 0 Comments

NGC3599 (mag 12.02 spiral at 66 Mly), NGC3605 (mag 12.27 elliptical at 67 Mly) and IC2703 (mag 15.81 spiral at 51 Mly) were captured using an Altair 60EDF doublet refractor fitted with a 0.8 FR using an Atik 320e camera. Auto guiding was carried out with an SVBony SV165 guide scope fitted with a QHY5L-II-M mono camera, with auto focusing done via a Primalucelab Sesto Sensor 2 focuser. Some 47 x 2 min subs were captured in NINA giving a total exposure time of 1 hr 34 minutes. Images were stacked in DSS and processed in Adobe CS2.

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Chris Bowden

posted by astroimager  # 10:42 PM 0 Comments

Martin Lunn MBE FRAS gave a spellbinding lecture of the development of Astronomy in the Mediterranean over thousands of years. The information and presentation was fascinating and informative. The contributions of various cultures from that part of the world to the understanding of Astronomy was explained as well as the very possible origins of certain Biblical stories such as the great flood. Altogether a surprising and thoroughly enjoyable lecture.

posted by astroimager  # 9:20 PM 0 Comments

A Panasonic Lumix DMCFZ72, 60x optical zoom bridge camera, fitted with a Baader solar filter and mounted on a static tripod was used to capture 132 images of the Sun. The images were precisely cropped in Nicola's AstroCrop and the best 119 images were stacked and wavelet processed in Registax 6. The resulting image was post-processed in the Gimp 2.10.

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Steve Wainwright

posted by astroimager  # 3:50 PM 0 Comments

Constellation Lyra, settings were 20s f/2.8 800ISO and a 24mm Canon lens, attached to a Canon 4000D DSLR camera and a static tripod location Loughor riverside park. 

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Constellations Lyra and Cygnus the Swan, settings were 15s ISO800 at f/2.8 and a 24mm Canon lens, attached to a 4000D DSLR Canon camera and a static tripod, location Loughor riverside park. 

Startrails, settings were 30s ISO400 at f/2.8 and a 24mm Canon lens attached to a Canon 4000D DSLR camera and a static tripod. Location Loughor estuary fourshore. 

Chris Playle

posted by astroimager  # 3:26 PM 0 Comments

I used my 8” f/8 Richie Cretian and ultrastar camera as an electronic eyepiece. The sun is from this morning using our modified PST

The Sun in H-alpha

Deep Sky sketches

Jim Startup

posted by astroimager  # 8:39 PM 0 Comments

Abell 31, SH2-290, captured over 4 nights using my Atik 428 and Altair 70EDT mounted on the Ioptron CEM60ec.

31x600s Ha and 29x600s Oiii. Total 10 hours exposure, my longest yet. This is a very faint object, magnitude 12.

Stacked in Astropixelprocessor then processed in Pixinsight and Photoshop CS3.

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Abell 31

Anne Startup

posted by astroimager  # 4:27 PM 0 Comments

M81 and M82 galaxies imaged with AstroDMx Capture on the morning of 23rd March taken with an Altair 60EDF doublet refractor fitted with with a 0.8 x FR. Image was derived from 15 x 4 min subs totalling one hour exposure.

Chris Bowden

posted by astroimager  # 10:47 AM 0 Comments

Star trails around Polaris, 200 images were taken for the star trails then transferred over to the star trail app to create the image, settings were 20s 800ISO at f/2.8, attached to a Canon 4000D DSLR camera and a static tripod 

Star trails over Pennard Castle, 200 images were taken and then transfered over to the star trail app to create the image, settings were 20s 400ISO and a 24mm Canon lens attached to a Canon 4000D DSLR camera and a static tripod. 

Chris Playle

posted by astroimager  # 9:52 AM 0 Comments

An f/5.9, 66mm ED Apochromatic refractor was mounted on an iOptron CubePro AZ GOTO mount. An SVBONY SV305M Pro monochrome CMOS camera fitted with an LeNhance narrowband filter was placed at the focus and 60 x 20s exposures were captured of the Orion nebula with AstroDMx Capture.

55 of the exposures were stacked in Affinity Photo and Post processed in the Gimp 2.10, Fitswork and Neat Image.

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M42/43

Steve Wainwright and Nicola Mackin

posted by astroimager  # 11:21 PM 0 Comments

Solar disk in H-alpha light with A Solarmax 60 II, BF15, an SVBONY 305M Pro and AStroDMx Capture. 2 pane mosaic. Each pane a stack of the best 1000 of 2000 frames. The 2 panes were merged in Microsoft ICE, wavelet processed in Registax 6 and post processed in the Gimp 2.10.

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Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture capturing H-alpha SER files of the Sun

posted by astroimager  # 3:54 PM 0 Comments

200 images were taken then transferred to the star trail app on my phone to create the image. Settings were 20s ISO400 at f/2.8, using a 24mm Canon lens attached to a Canon 4000D DSLR camera on a static tripod. 

Click on the image to get a closer view

Chris Playle

posted by astroimager  # 11:06 AM 0 Comments

I used my 8” f/8 Richie Cretian and ultra star camera as an electronic eyepiece

Click on a sketch to get a closer view

Jim Startup

posted by astroimager  # 10:04 PM 0 Comments

A Panasonic Lumix DMCFZ72, 60x optical zoom bridge camera mounted on a static tripod was used to capture 133 images of the 90.6% waning Moon.

Nicola's AstroCrop was used to precisely crop the images and Autostakkert! was used to stack the best 106 of 133 images.

The resulting stacked image was wavelet processed in Registax 6 and post-processed in the Gimp 2.10

Click on the image to get a closer view.

90.6% waning Moon

Steve Wainwright

posted by astroimager  # 1:16 PM 0 Comments

A Panasonic Lumix DMCFZ72, 60x optical zoom bridge camera mounted on a static tripod was used to capture 135 images of the 96% waning Moon.

Nicola's AstroCrop was used to precisely crop the images and Autostakkert! was used to stack the best 108 of 135 images.

The resulting stacked image was wavelet processed in Registax 6 and post-processed in the Gimp 2.10

Click on the image to get a closer view.

Screenshot of AstroCrop precisely cropping lunar image

Steve Wainwright

posted by astroimager  # 4:11 PM 0 Comments

Startrails image taken down Loughor Estuary, Riverside Park, I used 250 photos then transfered them to a star trail app on my phone to create the image. Settings were 30s, ISO800 at f/2.8, with a 24mm Canon lens attached to a 4000D DSLR Canon camera and a static tripod. 

Click on the image to get a closer view

Chris Playle

posted by astroimager  # 2:07 AM 0 Comments