Old and new data of M42 from two scopes.

Old and new data of M42 from two telescopes A 4 inch refractor and a ten inch reflector, A total of about 30 hours of data.

The Orion nebula

M42 and its surrounding nebulosity

M42 and its surrounding nebulosity. This image of the Orion nebula was taken on four separate nights with very clear sky conditions. On the first two evenings the sky was very bright with the moon being almost full so I used my Astronomik H-alpha filter. On the third evening I used an O111 filter and on the fourth evening I used an S11 filter with RGB filters. I captured 60 second and five minute sub frames with matching dark frames and combined them with bias frames and flat field frames reducing the effect of nose and vignetting in the final image. The telescope was a 4 inch f/6.3 refractor with a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding , a set of Astronomik narrowband and RGB filters. and an Atik 383L mono CCD camera. The total exposure times were ten minutes for each RGB filter, six hours and ten minutes using a H Alpha filter, two hours and 45 minutes using an O111 filter and two hours and ten minutes using an S11 filter giving  a total exposure time of 11 hours and 35 minutes. Notice the faint surrounding nebulosity in the background

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Hubble Palette

Hubble Palette with enhanced background

OIII, SII, H-alpha luminance RGB colour

Hubble Palette RGB colour

The Pelican nebula and the North America nebula

IC5070, IC5067. the Pelican nebula . This patch of nebulosity lies just west of the North American nebula in the constellation of Cygnus the Swan. I took this image under very clear sky conditions with full moon light to contend with. Stars was only visible down to magnitude 4. The telescope I was using was a 4 inch f/6.3 refractor with a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding, a set of Astronomik narrowband filters and an Atik 383L mono CCD camera. I captured five minute sub-frames with matching dark frames and combined them with bias frames to reduce readout nose and flat field frames to reduce the effect of vignetting in the final image. The total exposure times were 60 minutes using a H Alpha filter, 35 minutes using an O111 filter, then the clouds rolled in and I only managed to capture 15 minutes using a S11 filter.

NGC700 was similarly imaged

The two images were combined into a mosaic

B33 and NGC7000

NGC7000. The North America nebula.  This large patch of nebulosity lies about one degree east of the bright star Deneb in the constellation of Cygnus the swan. On this particular evening the moon was full and stars were only visable down to magnitude 3. I was using my 4 inch f/6.3 refractor, a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding, an Atik 383L mono CCD camera and a set of Astronomik narrowband filters, S11, O111 and H-alpha. I captured five minute subframes with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames and bias frames reducing the effect of noise and vignetting in the final image. The total exposure times were 60 minutes using an O111 filter, 60 minutes using a H-alpha filter, 50 minutes using a S11 filter and five minutes using a blue filter.

Hubble Palette

RGB

B33 data from two telescopes: a 4 inch F/6.3 refractor and a ten inch F/4.8 reflector.

More data on NGC2024 and B33. The Horsehead and Flame nebulae.

NGC2024 and B33. The Horsehead and Flame nebulae. I took this image on four separate evenings  under very clear sky conditions stars were visible down to magnitude 5.2.  The total exposure times were 30 minutes using a blue filter, 45 minutes using an S11 filter, 65 minutes using an O111 filter and six hours using a H Alpha filter. I captured five minute sub frames with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of vignetting in the final image. The telescope I was using was a 4 inch f/6.3 refractor, with  a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding, A set of Astronomik narrowband, RGB filters and an Atik 383L mono CCD camera.

Hubble palette

Hubble palette + RGB colour

RGB colour, narrowband luminance

Final composition

The Horsehead and Flame nebulae

B33 and NGC2024. The Horsehead and Flame nebulae. The sky was very clear on this evening, stars were visible down to magnitude five with only light pollution to contend with. I was using a 4 inch f/6.3 refractor, a Vixen Atlux mount PHD auto guiding, Astronomik filters H Alpha for image luminance combined  with RGB for colour data and an Atik 383L mono CCD camera. I captured five minute sub frames with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of vignetting in the final image. The total exposure times were 120 minutes using a H Alpha filter and ten minutes for each RGB filter. 

RGB

RGB stars eroded

IC1318 The Butterfly nebula

IC1318 The Butterfly nebula . The patch of nebulosity lies in the constellation of Cygnus the Swan . The bright star in this image is Gamma Cygni . The sky was particularly clear on this evening with stars visible down to magnitude five. I was using a 4 inch F 6/3 refractor , a Vixen Atlux mount,, PHD auto guiding , an Atik 383L mono CCD camera a set of Astronomik narrowband filters S11, HA , O111 and RGB filters. I captured five minute sub frames with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of vignetting in the final image. The total exposure times was 60 minutes using a H Alpha filter 20 minutes using an S11 filter and 20 minutes using an O111 filter. 

Hubble Palette

RGB

Final result of NGC6888 and the Soap Bubble nebula

Here we have the final result of NGC6888 and the Soap Bubble nebula. An extra four hours of H Alpha luminance has been added giving a total exposure time of twelve and a half hours.

NGC6888 the Crescent nebula and PNG75.5+ 51.7 the Soap Bubble nebula.

NGC6888 the Crescent nebula and PNG75.5+ 51.7 the Soap Bubble nebula.  I consider this as a very challenging target because of its low surface brightness. It was first discovered in June 2007 from the Mount Wilson Observatory in California using a six inch refractor, a CCD camera and a H Alpha filter. I took this image on four separate evenings with no moon light to contend with under very clear sky conditions. Stars were visible down to magnitude five. The telescope was using was a 4 inch f/6.3 refractor on a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding, an Atik 383L mono CCD camera and Astronomik filters, H Alpha , O111 for the luminance data. I also used RGB filters to reveal the colours of the stars. I captured five minute  sub-frames with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of vignetting in the final image. The total exposure times were four hours for each narrowband filter, H Alpha and O111, and ten minutes for each RGB filter.

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Hubble palette

Hubble palette + RGB

RGB colour narrowband luminance

Soap bubble super enhanced

NGC6992 The eastern Cygnus Loop

NGC6992  The eastern Cygnus Loop. This image was taken under hazy sky conditions with bright moon light and light pollution to contend with, stars were only visible down to magnitude 3.5. I was using a set of Astronomik narrowband filters S11, O111 and HA combined with RGB filters . I was also using a 4 inch f/6.3 refractor, a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto-guiding and an Atik 383L mono CCD camera. I captured five minute sub-frames with matching dark-frames and combined them with flat-field frames to reduce the effect of vignetting in the final image. The total exposure times were 50 minutes using a HA filter, 40 minutes using an O111 filter, 30 minutes using a S11 filter, and 10 minutes using each RGB filter.

Bi-colour image

Hubble Palette

RGB + Hubble Palette

Narrowband luminance RGB colour

NGC 6960 and NGC 1805

NGC6960. On this particular evening stars were visible down to magnitude 4.7. The total exposure times were 40 minutes for each narrow band filter S11, O11 and HA . I captured five minute sub frames with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of vignetting in the final image. The telescope I was using was a 4 inch f/6.3 refractor, a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding , a set of Astronomik narrowband filters and an Atik 383L mono CCD camera.

RGB

Cropped and eroded

Hubble palette

NGC1805 the Heart nebula.  These images were taken under bright moon light with stars only visible down to magnitude 3.5. I was using a 4 inch f/6.3 refractor, a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding, an Atik 383L mono CCD camera and a set of Astronomik narrowband filters HA , S11 and O111 . I captured five minute sub frames with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of vignetting in the final image. The two images had total exposure times of 60 minutes using a H Alpha filter, 30 minutes using an O111 filter and 30 minutes using an S11 filter .

Combined images

Hubble palette

The Elephant Trunk nebula and the Soul nebula

IC1396 The Elephant Trunk nebula. This image was taken under hazy sky conditions through high cirrus clouds. Stars were only visible down to magnitude 4.   I  was using my set of Astronomik narrowband filters HA , O111 and S11. The telescope I was using was a 4 inch f/6.3 refractor mounted on a Vixen Atlux mount with PHD auto guiding. The camera was an Atik 383L mono CCD camera  set on times one bin mode. I captured five minute sub frames with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of vignetting in the final image. Total exposure times of the Elephant trunk nebula;  75 minutes using a H Alpha filter, 35 minutes using an O111 filter and 25 minutes using an S11 filter.

The Elephant trunk nebula

IC1848 The Soul nebula. This image was taken under clear sky conditions using a 4 inch f/6.3 refractor , a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding, a set of Astronomik narrowband filters and an Atik 383L mono CCD camera. I captured five minute sub frames with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of vignetting in the final image. The total exposure times were 40 minutes using a H Alpha filter, 20 minutes using an O111 filter and 20 minutes using an S11 filter.

The Soul nebula

M16, the Eagle nebula

M16, The Eagle nebula. This image was taken using my 4 inch f/6.3 refractor, a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding, an Atik 383L mono CCD camera and an Astronomik HA filter. I captured five minute sub frames with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of vignetting in the final image. The H-alpa luminance data had a total exposure time of 40 minutes whereas the colour data was taken from an old image taken two years ago with a ten inch f/4.8 reflector.

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Narrowband with the 4 inch refractor

Narrowband with colour from an old image taken with the 10" reflector

The Markarian chain

The Markarian chain. This group of galaxies lies in the constellation of Virgo the virgin. I captured five-minute sub frames with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of vignetting in the final image. The total exposure time was 95 minutes using an IDAS filter for the image luminance. The colour data was taken from an old image . I was using my 4 inch f/6.3 refractor, a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding and an Atik 383L mono CCD camera.

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Using data from two scopes

The Leo Triplet

This new processed image has added 90 minutes of luminance data using an IDAS filter. A total exposure time of 150 minutes.

The Leo Triplet

M65, M66, and NGC3628. This group of galaxies lies in the constellation of Leo the Lion. I was using my 4 inch f/6.3 refractor, a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding, an Atik 383L mono CCD camera and an IDAS light pollution filter for the luminance data. The colour data however was taken from an old image using RGB colour filters. I captured five minute sub frames with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of vignetting in the final image. Total exposure time was 60 min.

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The Leo Triplet

M81 and M82 with two telescopes

 M81, M82 Data from two  telescopes, a ten inch reflector and a four inch refractor.

M81 and M82

Galaxies M81, M82. I took this image under hazy sky conditions with stars only visible down to magnitude 4.3. I was using my 4 inch f/6.3 refractor, a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD autoguiding and an Atik 383L mono CCD camera. I captured five-minute sub frames with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of vignetting in the final image. The total exposure time was 90 minutes using an IDAS filter, ten minutes using a H-alpha filter and ten minutes using an O111 filter.

M81 and M82

M78

M78 . In Orion . This image of M78 was taken under clear moonless sky conditions with stars visible down to magnitude 4.7. I was using my f/4.8 reflector, a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding and an Atik 383L mono CCD camera. I captured five-minute sub-frames with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of vignetting in the final image. The total exposure times was 60 minutes using a blue filter , 40 minutes using an O111 filter and 30 minutes using a H-alpha filter.

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NGC2346

NGC2346. This butterfly-shaped planetary nebula lies in the constellation of Monoceros. I captured five minute sub frames with matching dark frames and combined them with flat field frames to reduce the effect of vignetting in the final image. I was using my ten inch f/4.8 reflector, a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto-guiding, an Atik 383L mono CCD camera and a set of Astronomik narrowband filters, S11, O111, and H-alpha. The total exposure times were 35 minutes for each filter.

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Bi-colour image

Hubble Palette

Lunar mosaic.

This image was taken under steady seeing conditions with stars still visible down to magnitude 4. I was using my ten inch f/4.8 reflector, a Vixen Atlux mount, an Atik 383L mono CCD camera, a Tele-Vue x2 Barlow lens and an Astronomik H-alpha filter. I captured twenty, one thousandth of a second exposures and averaged them together using Registax software.

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