NGC2264, The Christmas Tree Cluster

NGC2264, The Christmas Tree Cluster.

This image was taken under moonless clear sky conditions with stars visible down to about magnitude 4.7. I was using a 135mm lens piggybacked on a ten inch reflector  mounted on a Vixen Atlux mount  with PHD auto guiding. I also used an Atik 383L mono CCD camera with Astronomik filters attached to the camera lens. I captured five minute subframes 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 H Alpha filter, ten minutes using an O111 filter and twenty minutes using a blue filter.

Two images stitched together using Paint Shop Pro software.

NGC 2244 , The Rosette Nebula

This image was taken on two separate evenings under clear sky conditions, stars were visible down to magnitude five.

I was using a 130mm lens piggybacked on my ten inch reflector, an Atik 383L mono CCD camera , a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding and  a  set of Astronomik narrowband filters.

I captured five minute seb 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 HA filter, 30 minutes using an O111 filter, 30 minutes using a S11 filter and 10 minutes using a blue filter.

The Rosette Nebula

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Hubble palette

Orion over the East Usk Lighthouse.

Orion over the East Usk Lighthouse.

On the 28th of Feb 2025 me and a friend walked through Newport wetlands.

I carried my tripod and camera and took these images using an 18mm lens on a Canon 50D.

The settings were 10 second exposures set on ISO 3200. I took an average of 8 exposures on the constellation of Orion and and average of 4 exposures on the planet Venus. 

Venus

Orion

Orion

Orion's Lower Limb .

This six section mosaic was taken on 8 separate evenings . 

I was using an Atik 383L mono CCD camera piggybacked on my ten inch reflector with a 200mm lens and  Astronomik  narrowband filters attached to the front of the lens, HA , O111 and Blue, 

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 for each section was 90 minutes using a HA filter , 15 minutes using an O111 filter and ten minute using a blue filter .

Click on an image to get a closer view

SH 2-276 Barnard's Loop.

This  three section mosaic image contains Barnard's Loop , NGC2024 the Flame Nebula  and Horsehead Nebula, IC434 . B33  and M78 .

I took these images on two separate evenings under bright moon light sky conditions with stars only visible down to magnitude 4.5. I was using a 200mm lens piggybacked on my ten inch reflector mounted on a VIxen Atlux mount.

I was also using PHD auto guiding, a set of Astronomik narrowband filters. A HA filter, an  O111  filter. and a blue with 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 90 minutes using a HA filter  15 minutes using an O111 filter and 10 minutes using a blue filter.

Click on the image to get a closer view

Barnard's Loop SH2-276 and M78, NGC2068

Barnard's Loop SH2-276 and M78, NGC2068.

This lies in the eastern limb of Orion at a distance of about 1,600 light years.

I took this image on two separate evenings with no moon light , stars were visible down to magnitude 5 .

I was using a 200mm f/4 lens attached to an Atik 383L mono CCD camera, piggybacked on my ten inch reflector mounted on a Vixen Atlux mount. I was also using PHD auto guiding and a set of Astronomik RGB and Narrowband 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 100 minutes using a H Alpha filter, 15 minutes using an O111 filter, 20 minutes using a H Beta filter, 15 minutes using a S11 filter and 10 minutes using a blue filter.

Clicking on the image will give an even closer view

Barnard's Loop and M78

M42, The Orion Nebula.

This image of M42 was taken on two separate evenings under bright moonlight. On the first evening the sky was reasonable clear  with stars visable down magnitude 4.5 however on the second the sky was effected by fog.

I was using a Pentacon 200mm lens piggybacked on my ten inch reflector mounted on a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding was used with astronomik narrowband filters and RGB filters attached to the camera lens. The camera was an Atik 383L mono CCD camera Set on x1 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 and noise in the final image.

The total exposure time was  140 minutes using a H Alpha filter , 20 minutes using an O111 filter , 30 minutes using a S11 filter and 15 minutes using a blue filter.

M42, The Orion Nebula .

Hubble Palette

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Orion's lower limb . 

This image of the lower limb is a mosaic, two images stitched together using Paint Shop Pro software.

Hubble Palette

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This image mosaic is a composition of data using a Pentacon 200mm f/4 lens with added data using an 80mm f/6.3 refractor and a 4 inch f/6.3 refractor.

RGB

Hubble Palette

Nebulae in Orion's lower limb.

This image was taken on two separate nights under bright gibbous moon light ,stars were only visible down to about magnitude 4.

I was using a 200mm F/4 Pentacon lens piggybacked on my ten inch reflector mounted on a Vixen Atlux mount with PHD auto guiding. The camera was a Atik 383L mono CCD combined with Astronomik RGB and narrowband filters attached to the camera lens.

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 four hours and 45 minutes using a H Alpha filter, 20 minutes using a blue filter, 30 minutes using an O111 filter and 30 minutes using an S11 filter. A total exposure time of six hours and five minutes. 

Hubble Palette

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RGB plus narrowband

Barnard's loop

This image of Orion contains  lots of nebulousity, Barnard's loop. M42 the Orion nebula, The Horeshead Nebula,  The Flame Nebula ,M78 and the Rosette Nebula .

I piggybacked an Atik 383L mono CCD camera with a 35mm camera lens on my ten inch reflector mounted on a Vixen Atlux mount. I captured 60 second sub frames with matching dark frames to reduce the effect of noise in the final image  .

I also attached filters to the lens .

The total exposure time was 90 minutes using a H-Alpha filter, 120 minutes using a S11 filter, 30 minutes using an O111 filter, 25 minutes using a H-Beta filter and 35 minute using a blue filter .

The equipment

Orion nebulosity with Barnard's loop

VDB152 . or Barnard 175.

This cloud of nebulosity lies in the constellation of Cepheus the King. The sky conditions were very clear with no moonlight, stars were visible down to about magnitude 4.7. I was using my ten inch f/4.8 reflector, a Vixen Atlux mount, PHD auto guiding, a set of Astronomik narrowband and RGB filters and an Atik 383L mono CCD camera. I captured five minute sub frames, dark frames, flat field frames and dark flat frames with the camera set on X2 bin mode.

This increases the sensitivity of the camera, therefore reducing the total amount of exposure time.

The exposure time was 80 minutes using a blue filter, 30 minutes using an O111 filter and 150 minutes using a H-alpha filter .

A total exposure time of four hours and twenty minutes.

Barnard 175