M88 and M99

 M88.

Taken using a ten inch F/.8 reflector, a vixen atlux mount PHD auto guiding, An Atik 383L mono CCD camera and a set of Astronomik RGB filters.

The data was taken on two separate evenings under poor sky conditions with intermittent cloud cover. I was only able to capture 60 second sub frames in the breaks between the clouds.

The total exposure time was ten minutes using a red filter, twelve minutes using a blue filter and fifteen minutes using a green filter.

M99.

Taken using a ten inch F/4.8 reflector, a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding, an Atik 383L mono CCD camera and a set of Astronomik RGB filters.

I captured five minute sub frames with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of noise and vignetting in the final image.

The total exposure time was 30 minutes for each filter.

M3

M3 .

Taken using an F/4.8 ten inch reflector, a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding, an Atik 383L mono CCD camera and a set of Astronomik RGB filters.

I captured 60 second sub frames with matching dark frames combined with flat field frames to reduce noise and vignetting for the final result.

The total exposure time was 12 minutes for each filter.

M90

Taken under very clear sky conditions with stars visible down to about magnitude 5.3. Taken using a ten inch f/4.8 reflector, a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding, an Atik 383L mono CCD camera and a set of Astronomik RGB filters.

I captured five minute sub frames with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of noise and vignetting in the final image. The total exposure time was 40 minutes for each filter.

 M90

The Virgo Cluster.

This ten section mosaic was taken on ten separate evenings,on the first six I set the camera on X 1 bin mode because the sky conditions were very clear with stars visible down to about magnitude 5. The other four evenings there were intermittent clouds and moon light so I set the camera on X 2 bin mode.

The telescope was my ten inch f /4.8 reflector mounted on a Vixen Atlux mount,  PHD  auto guiding, an Atik 383L mono CCD camera and a set of Astronomik RGB filters.

I captured five minute sub frames with the camera set on x1 bin mode and sixty second sub frames with the camera set on x2 bin mode.

The total exposure time was 60 minutes for each filter on x1 and 20 minutes on x2.

10 section mosaic

Annotated mosaic

Cropped

Virgo cluster 4 panel mosaic

This four section mosaic image of the Virgo cluster was taken on four separate evenings under very clear sky conditions with stars visible down to about magnitude five.

Taken using my ten inch F4.8 reflector, a vixen atlux mount, PHD auto guiding, an Atik 383L mono CCD camera and a set of Astronomik RGB filters.

I captured five minute sub frames with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of noise and vignetting in the final image.

The total exposure time was sixty minutes for each filter on each  evening I was out imaging.

Virgo cluster 4 panel mosaic

The Virgo Cluster.

This two section mosaic was taken on two separate evenings under very clear sky conditions with only light pollution from Newport to contend with, stars were visable down to about magnitude 5.  

Taken using my ten inch F4,8 reflector mounted on a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding, an Atik 383L mono CCD camera and astronomik RGB filters.

I captured five minute sub-frames and combined them with matching dark frames and flat field frames to reduce the effect of noise and vignetting in the final image.

The total exposure time was sixty minutes for each filer.

The Virgo Cluster.

Cropped image

Orion over Aberthaw power station.

A friend and I were invited to take images of the night sky over the closed power station before it is demolished. 

The first image was taken using a Canon 50D with an 18mm lens set up on a tripod. The exposure was 7 seconds 8 sub frames were captured with the camera set on ISO 3200.

The second image however has the addition of H Alpha data taken from Newport South Wales using a 50 mm lens, an Atik 383L mono CCD camera and an Astronomik H Alpha filter with a total exposure time of 120 minutes. 

Orion over Aberthaw power station.

IC410 and IC405. The Flaming Star nebula and the Tadpole nebula.

Taken by piggybacking a 135mm lens with Astronomik narrowband filters attached to the front of the lens mounted on a Vixen Atlux mount and an Atik 383L mono CCD camera.

I captured 3 minute sub frames with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of noise and vignetting in the final image. The exposure time was 60 minutes using H Alpha filter , 15 minutes using an O111 filter on X2 bin mode, 15 minutes using an S11 filter on X2 bin mode and 10 minutes using a blue filter.

RGB

RGB + Hubble palette

Hubble palette

This image contains data from a 135mm lens and an 80mm refractor.

IC443 and NGC 2174.

IC443 and NGC 2174.

The Jellyfish and Monkey head nebulae.

This image was taken on two separate evenings under very clear sky conditions with stars visible down to about magnitude 5.

I piggybacked an Atik 383L mono CCD camera with a Pentacon 200mm lens  on my ten inch reflector with Astronomik filters attached to the front of the lens.

This was mounted on a Vixen Atlux mount.

I captured 3 minute sub frames with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of noise and vignetting in the final image.

The total exposure time was 120 minutes using a H Alpha filter, 30 minutes using an O111 filter, 30 minutes using an S11 filter and 10 minutes using a blue filter. 

Hubble Palette

RGB

RGB + Hubble Palette

Orion's, lower limb

This image is a five section mosaic taken on five separate evenings using a 135mm lens. The lens was piggybacked on my ten inch reflector with Astronomik filters attached to the front of the lens. I was also using a Vixen Atlux mount and an Atik 33L mono CCD camera.

I captured 3 minute sub frames with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of noise and vignetting in the final image. 

Section 1, 114 minutes using a HA filter,  103 minutes using a S11 filter, 92 minutes using an O111 filter, 41 minutes using a blue filter, 11 minutes using a red filter and 12 minutes using a green filter.

Section 2 had exposure times of 40 minutes using a Ha, 30 minutes using an O111 filter, 30 minutes using a S11 filter and 10 minutes using a blue filter .

The total exposure times for section 3,4 and 5 was 90 minutes using a HA filter, 30 minutes using an O111 filter, 30 minutes using a S11 filter and 10 minutes using a blue filter.

Red

Green

Blue

Hubble Palette

Hubble Palette + RGB

RGB

Individual sections 1 through 5

1

2

3

4

5