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On 21st. January 2006 a clear early evening gave me the opportunity to try my new Canon 350D DSLR camera on the TMB refractor . I chose M45 - the Pleiades in Taurus as the target. With very pleasing results. I took RAW frames, but these led to later processing 'hiccups' I may try normal jpeg files next time! But in the end, a pleasing result. This is cropped from the full frame. The Large Image is reduced somewhat from the original size. |
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In mid June 2006 my Artemis 285 'died'. It had for some time exhibited an occasional fault, but this time it did not return to life. I was going on Holiday to Norfolk, and Asteroid 2004XP14 was due to make a relatively close and fast pass (around Moon orbit distance). I brought my Canon 350 D into service and with it mounted on my AT1010 refractor and EQ3-2 mount was successful in obtaining numerous frames in the early hours of 4th. July 2006. 90 second frames were chosen to show up the background stars clearly, but this means that the fast moving asteroid appears as a streak. A suitable area of the originals was cropped out for the final result.A single frame is shown opposite, with the asteroid streak in the centre, but a DivX video is available here. Note the size is 399 KB. Daylight approached towards the end of the sequence, this is clearly seen in the lightening of the frames. 50 frames in total over a time span of 80 minutes. |
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After a temporary repair with a secondhand board from Steve Chambers, the Artemis died again. It proved to be a dry joint on the replacement board, but while Steve was finding and fixing it, I decided to try my Canon 350D on the Mirage. First time and about time! M13 was an obvious choice, and although it was only astronomical twilight just after midnight on the night of 18th. July 2006, the bright globular showed up well. Mirage 8 at f6.3, 1 minute subs. I used the useful DSLRFocus program to assist in focussing the camera and control the exposures. |
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The success of M13 prompted me the following night (19th. July 2006 - crisp and clear) to go for a more difficult object - the nebulosity around NGC 6910 in Cygnus. This is an open cluster with emission nebula. The nebulosity was not captured, probably because of the inbuilt IR filter in the 350D, but the cluster and surrounding stars in the rich star field make a nice picture anyway. 5 minute subs in this case, Mirage at f6.3. It is clear that the Celestron 0.63 reducer is very well matched to the Mirage, with round stars right to the edge of the field of the large chip in the Canon (22.5 x 15 mm) |
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Steve's repaired board unfortunately failed again after a few hours, and a replacement new board was ordered. So with the Artemis again out of action it was back to the Canon 350D on the Mirage at f6.3 for an attempt at the Double Cluster, NGC869 & 884 in Perseus. This was taken in the small hours of August 29th. 2006. 17 frames x 1 minute. Larger Size (305 KB) |
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The turn of the year from 2006 to 2007 proved to be one of the warmest and wettest on record, with gales and rain lasting for weeks. And typically it coincided with the apparition of one of the brightest recorded comets, 2006 P1 McNaught. It approached the Sun above the plane of the ecliptic, but never very high, brightened hugely as it rounded the Sun inside the orbit of Mercury, then shot away South at right angles to the ecliptic. It was bright enough to be naked eye visible in the Northern hemisphere twilight skies, estimated at magnitude -4 or brighter. Alas the weather in my part of theUK was very unkind. But 10th. January cleared up nicely in the early evening, and I set up my Canon 350D camera on my William Optics ZS66 refractor, and aligned it on the comet which was visible in my finder 'scope after sunset This first picture was taken before it became naked eye visible and at that time everything looked very promising, but see that patch of cloud in the lower corner...... |
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Then everything started to go pear shaped. As the comet dipped lower, two banks of dense cloud formed near the horizon, and hid it for fully 20 minutes or more. Indeed I removed my camera from the telescope and took this wide field shot. X marks the location of the comet - well and truly hidden! |
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Eventually it reappeared sandwiched in the narrow gap between the two cloud banks. The head occasionally popped into view, and was clearly visible to the naked eye. But I never got to see the full tail, indeed this photo was the only half decent one. Larger photo. The comet rounded the Sun over the next few days, always clouded in for me, and with the extra heating as it rounded the Sun, the apparition in the Southern Hemisphere was amazing, with a long curved tail and associated streamers. |
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Alas the full apparition was not for me, but here is a stunning picture taken by the discoverer. And at least one man from North East England got to see it in its full glory. Jack Newton emigrated from Sunderland to New Zealand in the Autumn of 2006, and he had a superb view. This is his photograph, taken on 22nd. January. Canon 350D and 28 mm Nikon lens. Larger version here |
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For some weeks over the turn of 2006/7 I'd been trying to get a wide field image of Messier 31 - the Great Galaxy in Andromeda, but was always thwarted by weather or time. But eventually on 18th. January a window opened and I was able to snatch a few frames with my Canon 350D and WO ZS66 with 0.63 reducer. 6 x 3 minute exposures. This image is cropped from the full field. And quite pleasing - certainly my best to date. Eventually I hope to produce a large high resolution mosaic using my Artemis camera. But that will have to wait now until the Autumn. |
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While on a ski holiday in Zermatt, I saw the 3rd. March 2007 Lunar Eclipse, and a couple of days later, although with thin cloud, from my hotel balcony I obtained this photograph of the superb Matterhorn lit by moonlight, with the constellation of Orion to the right.
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While on a trip to La Palma in June 2007, I obtained this photograph of the most southern section of the Milky Way visible from our villa - a stack of just two frames taken with my Canon 350D and 17 mm lens on a driven mount. The faint black bars to the left are overhead wires, blurred by tracking during the 5 minute exposures. Even on La Palma, despite local laws, there is light pollution , in this case from the town of Los Llanos situated a few miles to the south. But it's all relative, and although visible in this wide angle shot, it was not noticeable to the naked eye, nor did it affect the longer focal length shots. The medium size image (click on the thumbnail) shows with 'mouseover' the constellation figures and most of the targets also imaged during the trip. See the La Palma page. This image was used in the July 2007 BBC TV 'Sky at Night' programme, and also used again around November 2009 (not sure of the month), in June 2010, in February 2011 and yet again in March 2012! |
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The night of August 12th. 2007 was forecast to see the peak of the annual Perseid Meteor shower. And as luck would have it I was blessed with a reasonably clear sky. Not crystal, and occasional clouds moving over, but a decent show with some quite brilliant meteors spanning up to 30 degrees of sky. I had my Canon 350D set up on my EQ3 tracking mount, centred on Cygnus. Of course that meant that the best meteors were anywhere BUT Cygnus, and out of 104 x 1 minute frames there were only 3 captures, 2 of which were just a touch on the edge of the frame! But one particularly brilliant one favoured me around 23:44 UT on the 12th. And to add to the interest there was a satellite trail which continued in the following frame. Identified almost certainly as Lacrosse 5, a US Military Reconnaissance satellite. Median stacking 5 frames improved the Milky Way background and then pasting back the meteor and satellite trails at full brightness gave this decent image. Mouse over the medium size image for constellation and star names. Large Size |
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Comet Holmes continued to thrill into December 2007, but on 3rd, after capturing an image of the comet with my Canon 350D and William Optics ZS66 at prime focus I turned my attention to Messier 45 - the Pleiades - which nicely fitted into the frame with room to crop out the majority of coma'd stars from the edges. 10 x 3 minute subs. |
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Comet 8P/Tuttle is a regular visitor to the Inner Solar system. First discovered in 1790 by Pierre Méchain, it was not then recognised as a short period comet. But it was rediscovered and studied in greater depth by Horace Tuttle in 1858, when he confirmed its identity. It's orbital frequency is 13.6 years, and it is recognised as being the source of the debris for the December Ursid meteor shower. This was the closest approach of the comet since its discovery in 1790. It was expected to attain a maximum brightness of around 5 during its pass by the Earth on 1 January 2008 at a distance of 0.25AU. Then on 26 January 2008 the comet was closest to the Sun at a distance of 1.03AU. On 30th December 2007 it was due to pass close by the 'Pinwheel' galaxy Messier 33. Unfortunately the weather that evening in the UK was totally clouded out, but I was able to capture a wide field shot on the previous evening. 7 x 2 minutes RAW frames at ISO800, stacked using Deep Sky Stacker with the special comet processing feature - works very well! |
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The same session I obtained an image of 17P/Holmes (on my Holmes page). Here it is superimposed on the Tuttle shot at the same scale. Holmes was 3.5 million miles across the coma at this stage in its extraordinary outburst. 'Mouseover' the medium size image (click on the thumbnail). Both images taken with my Canon 350D and William Optics ZS66 telescope with Astrophysics 0.7 reducer. |
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Other images I've seen of the Great Nebula area in Orion taken with a Canon 350D seem to come out well, so on 10th January 2008 I attempted it using my ZS66 refractor at native 388 mm focal length. Clouds were being a nuisance, but I managed 8 x 2 minute frames at ISO800. I'd hoped to get some shorter and longer ones to blend together, but no joy, so the core is a bit burnt out, and the fainter detail noisy. The Canon and Deep Sky Stacker are a great combination - it's actually fun! |
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A Moonbow! Taken around 7.30 pm 23rd January 2008 . The almost full Moon was in the East at approx. 12 degrees altitude, and produced this faint rainbow in the Western sky :-) It lasted for a full 20 minutes, but I was on my way out, so just hastily set up my camera and grabbed a few frames. Made me late anyway!! Single 30 second exposure, Canon 350D at ISO400, 18 mm lens. Noise reduction in Neat Image, levels in Photoshop. A car went along the road during the exposure - you can see brake lights, and some illumination of the trees from the headlights. The camera was only slightly tilted - the ground does actually slope away to the North. The star in the top right corner is Deneb. |
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My camera lens although 18 mm (equivalent on the Canon 28.8 mm) still wasn't wide enough to capture the full arc in one frame. I took a second frame of the rest of the arc, but the camera wasn't quite level, (working in a hurry, in the dark, in a field!) and the stitching program had a bit of trouble with lack of detail high up. Also slight problems with brightness levels. But for what it's worth....... This image appeared in the April 2008 issue of Practical Astronomer |
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During the 2008 Spring Kielder Star Camp while staying at Calvert Trust, the Sunday (6th. April) night promised a very young New Moon, but unfortunately the sky never cleared. And remained mostly cloudy for the rest of the stay at Kielder. But a brief glimpse of the New Moon the following evening yielded this nice Earthshine photo. Canon 350D, single 4 second frame at ISO400 and 170 mm focal length. Larger image. |
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Not only cloudy as mentioned above, but we had a few snow flurries - enough to coat the ground. Here is a panoramic view of the new Kielder Observatory, taken on 7th April. Still under construction at this time. Larger image |
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On 6th May 2008 there was a close conjunction of a young (approximately 30 hour old) Moon and Mercury. I was out in the early evening, but on my journey home saw the beautiful fine crescent Moon lowering in the West. I had forgotten about the conjunction, but determined to photograph the Moon anyway, and there of course was Mercury in the frame as well! This shot was only a 1 second exposure with the Canon 350D at ISO 400 and camera lens at 200 mm zoom. Larger image. |
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As the sky darkened I tried a 5 second exposure, hoping to improve the Earthshine. But as can be seen the Moon was sinking into a murky western sky, and there was no real improvement. The camera was tripod mounted, not tracking the sky, and in the larger versions the trailing of Mercury over the 5 seconds can be clearly seen. Larger image. |
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During my visit to Les Granges in Provence in August 2008, I had my Canon 350D with me. One of the party had brought his Astrotrac with him, and with it set up on Olly's spare undriven mount on the night of 3rd - 4th August, I was able to fit the Canon to it with its 18 mm lens and get some Milky Way shots, all of which showed up some of the better known targets. |
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The most southerly part visible appeared through a col across the valley from the farmhouse. Even though the site was some 70 miles North of Marseille and Aix, nevertheless light pollution was very evident. But a pleasing shot anyway. Larger image. |
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Moving up the sky, the Cygnus region was next on the list. Larger image.
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Finally the region around Cassiopeia. In all cases, I used 5 x 5 minute RAW frames, processed in Deep sky Stacker and Photoshop. Larger image. |
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The early evening of 1st December 2008 promised an occultation of Venus by a crescent Moon, commencing just on Sunset (15:43), and clearing at 17:12 A further attraction was the close proximity of Jupiter, only 2 degrees away above Venus. The previous evening was reasonably clear, and I took a preview photograph . But sadly after a clear morning the following day, the skies clouded over and I only obtained the faintest glimpse of a clouded Moon and red Venus just as they set - no photo although I was all set. Then of course Sod's law struck with a vengeance and the following night was clear again! So before and after, but nowt in between. Both photos single frames, Canon 350D with zoom lens, 1/10th second at f5, ISO200. |
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The evening of 4th April 2009 was reasonably clear and I resolved to test my Canon 350D on the Meade 127 refractor. I expected the edges of the field to be distorted on the large Canon chip, but was pleasantly surprised to find very little coma. The target was the area around NGC 2281, an open cluster in Auriga. Only 7 x 1 minute subs at ISO 800, unguided on my Gemini mount, moonlight and fairly low, but the only image I have of this cluster, and good enough to keep. For now! |
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I rarely use my little EQ3-2 mount for imaging - my Observatory Gemini and 'Star Party' EQ6 Pro are far more accurate. But it guided well during my visit to Les Granges in 2008, and I plan to take it on a trip in 2010 to the Southern Hemisphere, hopefully to photograph a Total Eclipse of the Sun near Tahiti, then some Southern sky objects both from Tahiti and further South during my trip which includes Tasmania. Due to weight and power supply requirements I won't be taking my SBIG or Artemis cameras, but will use my Canon 350D as the main imager. So I purchased a QHY5 guide camera which is powered direct from a USB port and will guide the mount via a standard ST4 system. Here is the full setup (wires omitted) using my Meade Series 5000 80 mm refractor and a 200 mm camera lens. |
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It seems a long time to go of course, but the light UK Summer nights are not conducive to deep sky faint object imaging, so a good time to experiment. Collinder 399 - the Coathanger or Brocchi's Cluster in Vulpecula is a beautiful binocular object and well suited for the fairly wide field of the setup, which includes a William Optics 0.8 reducer/flattener giving a focal length of 390 mm. And on the night of 3rd/4th July 2009 I obtained this image. 4 x 5 minute subs at ISO800. No darks or flats, but processing improved the background although it is still a little patchy. Hardly surprising considering a bright Moon and twilight. But satisfactory guiding, although not perfect - a full size image shows some trailing, but the resolution of the telescope is pleasing - the central hook star is resolved into a triple on one of the individual frames. This image featured in the March-April 2013 Popular Astronomy magazine |
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The open cluster NGC 457 in Cassiopeia is also known as the E.T. or Space Invaders cluster - easy to see why from its shape. Always a pleasure to observe visually and one I often return to. But the last time I imaged it was in November 2003, monochrome with my MX716 camera. about due for a revisit! The weather in November 2009 had been appalling, but the night of 30th was clear and cold. My ST-10 would bloom horribly on the main bright star in the cluster, 5th magnitude phi Cas, so I used my Canon 350D. Despite the almost full Moon, I managed a reasonable image with 12 x 3 minute sub frames, darks and flats, f7 on the 12" LX200R. Guided using a Celestron radial guider and QHY5 camera. |
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The weather in December 2009 was very poor, culminating in a heavy fall of snow on 19th. And in the rare clear intervals, the Moon was brightening so no deep sky work. But on New Year's Eve there was the second full Moon of the month - a 'Blue' Moon. And to add interest there was also a partial eclipse. Only a small Umbral effect, and because of clouds I only managed to capture a few frames. This was the best, taken with my Canon 350D on the Meade 80 mm f6 refractor at prime focus (cropped from the full frame). Single frame, 1/640sec at ISO200. |
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