Friday, 29 November 2024

NGC7023. The Iris Nebula.

This patch of nebulosity lies in the western part of the constellation of Cepheus. The conditions on that evening were very clear and cold with no moonlight, stars were visible down to magnitude 5.

I was using my 10 inch f/4.8 reflector, a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding, an Atik 383L mono CCD camera and a set of Astronomik filters. The filters were H Alpha for red, O111 for green and a blue 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 total exposure time was 90 minutes using a blue filter, 30 minutes using an O111 filter and 120 minutes using a H Alpha filter. 

The Iris nebula


This image contains data from two telescopes , an 80mm f/6.3 refractor and a ten inch f/4.8 reflector. NGC 7023, vdb141



Saturday, 23 November 2024

Vdb 141. The Hanging Ghost Nebula

This patch of nebulosity lies about one degree east of the Iris nebula, NGC 7023 in the constellation of Cephus.

The sky conditions were not very good on the first evening with very high cirrus clouds, however on the second evening it was very clear. There was no moonlight only light pollution to contend with. Stars were visible down to about magnitude 4.5.

I was using my ten inch F/4.8 reflector, a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding, a set of Astronomik narrowband filters, a blue filter 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 noise and vignetting in the final image.

The total exposure time was three hours using a H Alpha filter, 30 minutes using an O111 filter and 35 minutes using a blue filter.



Tuesday, 12 November 2024

The Tulip nebula

Sh2 - 101, The Tulip nebula. This patch of nebulosity lies in the constellation of Cygnus the Swan at a distance of about 6,000 light years. There is believed to be a black hole to the west of it. The sky conditions were very poor  with high cirrus reflecting the moon light, stars were only visible down to about magnitude 3.5.

I was using my ten inch F4/8 reflector, a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding, a set of Astronomik narrowband filters, S11, O111, HA, a blue filter and my 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 noise and vignetting in the final image . The total exposure time was 90 minutes using a H Alpha filter , 30 minutes using an O111 filter , 25 minutes using a S11 filter and ten minute using a blue filter.

RGB



BiColour



Hubble Palette


Saturday, 2 November 2024

NGC891

NGC891 resides in the constellation of Andromeda.

The observing conditions were suboptimal due to poor sky transparency; stars were only visible down to about magnitude 4.3. However, there was no moonlight to interfere, only the light pollution from the city. For imaging, I utilized an Atik 383L mono CCD camera, a ten-inch f/4.8 reflector, a Vixen Atlux mount, and a set of Astronomik RGB and narrowband filters with PHD autoguiding. I captured five-minute subframes and integrated them with corresponding dark frames and flat field frames to mitigate noise and vignetting effects in the final image.The cumulative exposure time was 120 minutes with an HA filter, 40 minutes with an OIII filter, and 20 minutes with a blue filter.