NGC7292, The Helix Nebula.

This patch of nebulosity lies in the constellation of Aquarius  commonly named The Eye of God.

It is about 2 light years across at a distance of 650 light years.

In late August 2025 I drove to the Gower Peninsula looking for dark sky conditions. I was very lucky with  the weather. The sky was clear with stars visible down to about magnitude 6.5. Looking to the south the sky was superb however light pollution was visible looking towards the east from Swansea and Port Talbot. It was windy, therefore using the auto  guiding camera was not possible, however I managed to capture 60 second and 120 second sub frames on some exposures. 

I was using my four inch refractor mounted on a Vixen DX mount, an Atik 383L mono CCD camera, a set of Astronomik narrowband filters and a blue filter. After capturing my sub frames I captured some dark frames and took flat field frames in the predawn sky using a white shirt stretched over the front aperture of the telescope. This reduces the effect of noise and vignetting in the final image. The exposure time was 75 minutes using a H Alpha filter, 26 minutes using an S11 filter, 30 minutes using an O111 filter and 6 minutes using a blue filter.

The equipment used

The Sky conditions looking south south west

The Helix Nebula

Hubble palette

Hubble palette + RGB

RGB

Bi-colour

Reprocessed image: Hubble Palette + RGB

NGC6992, NGC6979, NGC6960, The Cygnus Loop.

NGC6992, NGC6979, NGC6960, The Cygnus Loop.

This area of the night sky is commonly named the Veil Nebula. It lies south east in the constellation of Cygnus the Swan.

I was using my ten inch reflector piggybacking an Atik 383L mono CCD camera with a 200mm F4 lens. Astronomik filters was placed in front of the lens mounted on a Vixen atlux mount.

I captured 2 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 60 minutes using a H Alpha filter, 30 minutes using an O111 filter, 30 minutes using an S11 filter and 6 minutes using a blue filter. 

Bi-colour image

Hubble Palette

Hubble Palette + RGB

RGB

NGC7000. The North America Nebula.

NGC7000. The North America Nebula.

This patch of nebulosity lies about one degree from the bright star Deneb in the constellation of Cygnus the Swan. From a dark sky site it can be seen with the naked eye covering an area of sky about the size of the full moon.

The conditions were very warm and  humid  with poor transparency. Stars were only visible down to about magnitude 3.5  to mag 4 with bright moonlight to contend with rising in the east.

I was using my ten inch reflector piggybacking my Atik 383L mono CCD camera with a 200mm F4 lens,  Astronomik  filters were  placed in front  of the lens mounted on a Vixen Atlux mount.

I captured two 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. Thet total exposure time was 40 minutes using a H Alpha filter, 30 minutes using an O111 filter, 20 minutes using an S11 filter  and ten minute for each RGB filter.

RGB

Hubble Palette

Hubble Palette + RGB

NGC1396, Sh2-129. The Elephant trunk and Flying Bat Nebulae.

These two patches of nebulosity lie in the constellation of Cepheus the King.

I was using an Atik 383L mono CCD camera piggybacked on my ten inch reflector mounted on a Vixen Atlux mount with a 135mm lens. I attached narrowband filters to the front of the lens and captured two minute sub frames. I then combined them with matching dark frames with flat field frames to reduce the effect of noise and vignetting in the final image.

The total exposure time was 56 minutes using a H Alpha filter, 46 minutes using an O111 filter, 16 minutes using an S11 filter and 6 minutes using a blue filter.

Hubble Palette

RGB

Hubble Palette + RGB

Mosaic image

M31, The Andromeda Galaxy

This image was taken from the Gower Peninsula under clear sky conditions with stars visible down to about magnitude 5.8. I was using a Vixen DX mount, an Atik 383L mono CCD camera, a 200mm lens with  a set of astronomik narrowband and RGB filters. I took two 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 20 minutes using an O111 filter, 60 minutes using a H Alpha filter, 60 minutes using an IDAS filter, 45 minutes using a blue filter and 30 minutes using green and red filters.

Equipment used

 M31, The Andromeda Galaxy 

SH2-129 The Flying Bat nebula in Cepheus.

This image was taken on two separate evenings under clear sky conditions with only light pollution to contend with. I was using a Vixen Atlux mount, a ten inch reflector piggybacking my Atik 383L mono CCD camera with a 135 mm lens attached to it. The filter was placed on the front of the lens using H Alpha, S11, O111 and RGB  filters. I captured two 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 two hours using a H Alpha filter, Two hours using an O111 filter, 20 minutes using an S11 filter and ten minutes for each RGB filter.

RGB

Narrowband

M8 and M20

M8 and M20. The Lagoon and Trifid Nebulae.

Taken from the Gower peninsula under very clear windy sky conditions. Looking towards the east the light pollution was clearly visible from Swansea, however looking to the south over the Bristol channel and Exmoor National park the sky was superb with stars visible down to about magnitude 6.3.

I was using a 135mm lens with astronomik RGB and narrowband filters attached to the front of it. The camera was an Atik 383L mono CCD mounted on a Vixen DX mount. I captured two 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 35 minutes using a H Alpha filter, 20 minutes using an O111 filter, 7 minutes using an S11 filter, and 15 minutes for each RGB filter. 

Click on an image to get a closer view

The Lagoon and Trifid Nebulae.

The Pipe Nebula

Barnard 59, 65-67, and 78, The Pipe Nebula.

Taken under the dark skies of the Gower peninsula. The conditions were cold and windy with good sky transparency, stars were visible down to about 6.5. 

I was using  a Vixen DX mount. An Atik 383L mono CCD camera, a 135 mm lens, with Astronomik RGB filters attached to the front of it.

I captured 60 second sub frames with matching dark frames and combined them to reduce the effect of noise in the final image. 

The exposure times were two minutes for each RGB filter and ten minutes for the unfiltered  luminance data.

M8,M20, The Lagoon and Trifid Nebula mosaic.

On the 19th of May 2025, I drove my camper van to the Gower peninsula in South Wales. The weather was hot and sunny during the daytime, however a cold wind at night. The sky conditions were very clear with light pollution clearly visible looking towards  Swansea in the east. Looking towards the south the sky conditions were beautiful and very dark with stars visible down to about magnitude 6.5. I was too windy to use PHD auto guiding so I set the camera on X2 bin mode to increase the camera's sensitivity. I captured one and two 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 telescope was a 4 inch F/6.3 refractor mounted on a Vexen DX mount , the camera was an Atik 383L mono CCD with a set of Astronomik RGB and narrowgand filters.

The total exposure time of each image was 30 minutes using a H Alpha filter, 15 minutes using an O111 filter, ten minutes using a S11 filter and 5 minutes using a blue filter.

M20 Hubble Palette

M20 RGB

M8 the Lagoon nebula RGB

M8 Hubble Palette

M8 M20 mosaic Hubble Palette

M8 M20 mosaic RGB

M8 M20 mosaic Hubble Palette plus RGB

The Milkyway from the Gower peninsula.

Looking to the south the sky was nice and dark and very clear, however light pollution was visible looking east towards Swansea. I tested out a 50mm f/2.4 lens piggybacked on my Vixen DX mount. I was also using an Atik 383L mono CCD camera with a set of Astronomik RGB filters attached to the front of the camera lens.

I captured 60 second sub frames with matching dark frames and combined them to reduce the effect of noise in the final image. The total exposure time was only 60 seconds for each RGB filter and 4 60 seconds for the luminance data without using a filter.