January 15th saw first light of my new QSI camera. Well, almost first light, a few tests on earlier nights to get my new kit up and running. I'm still struggling with reducer/flatteners - the chip distance from the front of the assembly is markedly different from my SBIG camera. But I'm sure I will prevail! Anyway, after weeks of terrible weather at last we had a fantastic clear frosty winter night. Pity the Moon rose around 11.30 pm. But before it did I managed to capture data for M45, and afterwards narrow band for the 'Jellyfish' nebula IC443 in Gemini. That one is still work in progress needs more H-alpha data (still a bit noisy) then OII and SIII to colour it. So. M45, Luminance 7 x 10 minutes (would have taken more but I'd been playing around with the configuration, and I needed to leave time for the RGB data before the Moon rose). RGB each 5 x 5 minutes binned 2x2. QSI 683 WSG-8 with Lodestar guide camera on Meade 127 refractor with William Optics 0.8 Mk II reducer. Large size

IC 443 is a Supernova remnant in Gemini, just East of 3rd. magnitude eta Geminorum. Although the magnitude is listed as 12, it is quite large at 50 x 40 arc-minutes, so the surface brightness is low, making it a difficult target in skies that are not completely dark. On 15th I got 10 x 20 minutes H-alpha. Same optics. Then on 16th I got a bit more Luminance and some colour of IC443. So here is the SHO (Hubble Palette) version. The halos round eta Geminorum are probably reflections between the filter and reducer - hardly surprising as it's a 3rd magnitude star! But not unpleasant IMHO 16 x 20 minutes Ha luminance, RGB each 7 x 5 minute binned 2x2 SII, Ha, OIII. Large size (660KB)

Still getting used to my QSI 683, and thought NGC 1499 the California nebula deserved attention to see what the little pixels could do for this large object in H-alpha. This version with a William Optics ZS66. Even with the WO Mk 2 reducer/flattener the edge stars are unfortunately distorted although it doesn't look too bad at a reduced scale. A clear night at first on 23rd January 2012, but a weather front was approaching, expected around midnight. Going from the Skymap chart I expected to get it all in comfortably at the reduced focal length of approx. 310 mm. Not so! Quite a bit missing. Maybe it's on with the WS cover and a 200 mm camera lens. Anyway I still need colour - the clouds rolled in earlier than expected, around 2230, so that was that. QSI683wsg, Baader 6nm Ha filter, 10 x 20 minute subs. Larger size

      

In January 2012 a supernova was discovered in the disturbed galaxy NGC3239 (Arp 263) in Leo. I obtained Luminance data in the early hours of 28th January, but then overlooked the files until 27th February 2014 when I obtained RGB data. Again it was forgotten until February 2016(!) when I rediscovered the files and processed them. The supernova is identified in the cropped closeup . Consisting of 18 x 10 minutes Luminance, 4 x 10 minutes each RGB. All unbinned, QSI 683 on Meade ACF12" at f10 with SX AO unit. Unbelievably, a couple of days after discovering my QSI683 images, I discovered I had also imaged this galaxy with my ST4000XCM one-shot colour camera in 2011!! Here. Of course that preceded the supernova as can be seen in the closeup. Larger image

Melotte 15 I think is the correct name for this. It's the cluster surrounding the beautiful column of gas and dust within the Heart nebula in Cassiopeia. I was away from home for a week, and I believe only missed one clear night, but on my return Saturday 18th February 2012 was a beauty, so despite having been up since 4 am, just *had* to image! Didn't help that I'd cracked a rib while away, but that's another story .... I'd never imaged this before, and hoped to get colour data the following night, but as usual the advance weather forecast got it wrong - the clouds arrived at Hexham earlier than expected . So for now it's monochrome. Typically there's a nice version in the March 2012 Astronomy Now, so I've missed the boat there as well . QSI 683, Meade 12" ACF OTA at 2600mm (AP67 reducer) and SX AO unit. 16 x 20 minutes unbinned, Baader H-a filter.

After a number of interrupted sessions due to clouds, and a couple of 'other engagements' I finally managed to complete capturing colour data on 5th March 2012. Although there was a bright Moon, the sky was very clean and the narrow band filters did their stuff! So here is the final image, 'Hubble Palette' version. QSI 683 on Meade LX200R OTA with AP67 reducer. Luminance as above, SHO as RGB, SII, Ha, OIII, all Baader filters, each 10 x 10 minutes binned 2x2. Larger image

One from 18th and 21stMarch 2012, and my first Galaxy shot with my QSI camera. So far processed LRGB. I've got some H-alpha data, but need more, and later nights the seeing was atrocious - I can't remember when I've seen it so bad. Usually with a stable High it's good. Not that time - I don't know whether it was the jet stream or thermals from the ground in the cooling night after the hot day. Also screwing up my attempts to capture M95 >:( And now the Moon is brightening. What a terrible season it's been :( Anyway here it is. Messier 82 in Ursa Major. Luminance 21 x 10 minutes, RGB each 6 x 10 minutes, all binned 2x2. QSI 683 on 12" LX200R OTA at f8 with SX AO unit. Slight ovality on the stars. This happened a year or two ago (with a different camera) and I managed to get rid of it, but it seems to have returned. Specific to my 12", and appears on focus frames, so not a guiding problem. Sometimes altering the mirror lock tension and final mirror focus direction helps, but tricky. I guess I need to check the collimation, but with the seeing at the moment, no chance! Large size

After a spell of inclement weather (at least for deep sky astrophotography with long exposures - too many occasional clouds, a clear late evening on 13th April 2012 gave me the opportunity to collect another 3 hours or so of Hydrogen-alpha data to add to the above and show the extent of the huge outbursts from this active galaxy. So with 14 x 20 minutes of H-a, here is the result. Further images showing a supernova can be found here This image featured in The Sky at Night BBC TV programme, August 2012 Full size

This was from Kielder on the night of 25th March 2012. Comet Garradd with its interesting tails. I wanted to capture as much of the tails as possible, so ended up with 40 x 5 minute subs! All monochrome, QSI 683 binned 2x2 on ZS66 with MkII reducer flattener. With the big 8300 chip, still not fully flattened, but just acceptable. I stacked all 40 aligned on the comet head, giving the first image. Unfortunately even median combination didn't lose the stars altogether, but the tails show up well. The second image is aligned on the stars. In that case the comet was just a pale fuzz, so I overlaid the comet from the first pic (using Lighten in Photoshop). Gives some idea of the relation to the star field. I'm going to do an animation, but need more time. Scaled from my image, the (ion?) tail into the corner is at least 8 million kilometres long!

Messier 63, the flocculent 'Sunflower' galaxy in Canes Venatici has been elusive on the occasions when I have attempted to image it, and this time was no exception. But over the nights of 15th and 20th May 2012 I managed to collect just enough data for a reasonable image, although somewhat seeing limited, and also in Astronomical twilight. So although not quite what I'd hoped for, nevertheless my best attempt so far. 11 x 10 minutes Luminance, RGB each 4 x 10 minutes, all binned 2x2. QSI 683 with Baader filters and SX AO unit on 12" LX200ACF at 2600 mm fl. Full Size

What a dismal end to last season and a pretty dismal summer. But at last, with a decently dark sky albeit a last quarter Moon I was able to fire up my QSI and do some imaging. Two beautifully clear nights on 8th and 9th August - despite the Moon I could nicely see the Milky Way. Narrow band was the order of the nights, and I decided to go for NGC 7635 - the well known and much imaged Bubble Nebula in Cassiopeia. Not much imaged by me however, my last visit was 6 years ago! 16 x 10 mins Ha for Luminance, HOS Palette using the Ha and 5 x 10 mins each OIII and SII, all binned 2x2. QSI 683 on 12" Meade at 2600 mm. Full size

I've been after this for a while, and finally got it. Imaged over a couple of nights around 20th August - plagued by cloud, guiding problems and frost on the sensor! But eventually it all came together. The Cocoon nebula (IC 5146) in Cygnus with the 'tail' of dust and gas forming the dark nebula Barnard 168. QSI683wsg with Lodestar on WO ZS66 with WO 0.8 reducer, cropped to lose distorted corners.. Luminance 8 x 10 minutes, RGB each 5 x 5 minutes, all binned 1x1. Full size (1 MB)

Some years since I imaged Messier 57 - the well known 'Ring' planetary nebula. So I decided to give the QSI camera a look, at full resolution on August 22nd 2012. Unfortunately the seeing was poor, but mild deconvolution improved the slightly misshapen stars and general detail. QSI 683wsg on Meade 12" at 3200 mm focal length. Luminance 12 x 5 minutes, RGB each 4 x 5 minutes. Close up (cropped from full size)

Over a week or so I'd been experimenting with my QSI 683 and Canon 400 f5.6L camera lens. I chose the Double Cluster (NGC 869 and 884) in Perseus for the rich star field to check the performance of the lens. I hadn't managed to get colour data due to clouds, but the night of 30th August 2012 was crystal clear, so despite the bright almost full Moon I had another go with this result. I did have to crop it a bit - over the different nights there was some misalignment, but in the original it was round stars almost to the edges. I used an external mask to reduce the f-ratio to approximately 7.1 - this prevents starburst which would otherwise occur due to the diaphragm blades. Luminance 18 x 2 minutes, RGB each 8 x 2 minutes. Full size (950 KB)

I already have a fairly wide field image of NGC7331 and close up of Stephan's Quintet in Pegasus, but not in the same frame, and during the 2012 Autumn Star Camp at Kelling Heath I decided to capture them using my QSI 683 and Meade 127 refractor, with this pleasing result. Numerous small distant galaxies visible on the full size image. I must get a close up of 7331 this season! 14th September 2012. Luminance 10 x 15 minutes, RGB each 7 x 5 minutes binned 2x2. Starlight Xpress AO unit also used for this image. Full size

While at Kelling Heath, I purchased a Teleskop Service TS65 Quad refractor from Modern Astronomy. This little instrument has a built in field flattener. And it works beautifully! First light using the QSI 683 camera on 16th September was Messier 33 - the 'Pinwheel' Galaxy in Triangulum. Slight blurring of stars in the bottom left corner, but I suspect this may have been due to slight camera tilt - my next image, Barnard 142 below, is very satisfactory! I captured the Luminance at Kelling, but had to wait until back home for the colour information (captured after completing Barnard 142). Luminance 20 x 10 minutes, RGB each 7 x 5 minutes binned 2x2. Larger Size

On returning home from Kelling Heath on 18th September, I was blessed with a clear night. And decided to image Barnard 142 - Barnard's 'E' dark nebula in Aquila. A fairly large object, nicely framed using the QSI683 and TS65 Quad. So many stars! And because of the amount of data the full size image file is really too large to post here. But this larger size shows plenty of detail. The glow lower left is the magnitude 2.7 star Tarazed just out of frame. Luminance 8 x 10 minutes, RGB each 7 x 5 minutes binned 2x2. Larger Size This was Picture of the Month in the December 2012 issue of Astronomy Now

I said above in my wide field image of NGC 7331 and Stephan's Quintet that I must get a close up this season. No time like the present! The night of 21st September was beautifully clear, so I set to. The seeing was not as good as I would have liked, but I was able with processing to tease out a fair bit of detail. QSI 683 with SX AO on Meade 12" LX200ACF at 2600 mm focal length. (I could have gone for a longer fl, but that would have left out the corner galaxy and with the mediocre seeing not gained any advantage). Luminance 14 x 15 minutes, RGB each 6 x 5 minutes binned 2x2. This image appeared in the February 2013 Sky at Night magazine 'Hotshots'. (Disc only - no magazine images due to Sir Patrick Moore Obituary and articles) Larger image

As Autumn took hold, on 12th October 2012 I decided to revisit NGC 6888 - the Crescent Nebula in Cygnus. But it is still work in progress. Already 21x 10 minute H-alpha subs, but still a bit noisy. And too low and turbulent when I started on the SII and OIII. QSI 683 binned 2x2 with Baader H-alpha filter on Meade 12" at 2600 mm fl. Full size Weather and other engagements prevented me collecting futher data on this early evening target until early December! But finally on 5th, even though I had to go out I managed to get just enough. So here is the colour version. Luminance from above, Colour Ha, OIII, SII as RGB. 7 x 10 minutes OIII, 3 x 10 minutes SII. The OIII (green) exaggerated to just show part of the extended shell. I will return next season hopefully to improve the detection of the faint outer shell. Full Size

Comet 168P Hergenrother brightened suddenly in early October 2012, and although it had faded somewhat was still an easy target when I visited it after giving up on NGC 6888 (above) on 12th October. This monochrome offering consists of 20 x 2 minute sub exposures combined by first stacking on the stars (which blurred the comet) then stacking on the comet and pasting the aligned comet from that result onto the star field, overlaying the blurred version. Doesn't always work, but this time looks ok. The little galaxy to the right of the comet is PGC 72751. QSI 683 binned 2x2 on Meade 12" at 2600 mm fl. Full size

These are animated GIFs of the comet's progress across the star field for approximately 40 minutes, one with the image aligned on the stars, one on the comet. Click on the appropriate image for larger (around 800KB) versions

IC 405 - the Flaming Star nebula in Auriga is a nice narrowband target, and after several weeks of poor weather I eventually was able to gather a substantial amount of data on 21st and 23rd November 2012. So this image consists of 27 x 10 minutes H-alpha for luminance and 9 x 10 minutes each OIII and SII combined with H-a for colour. RGB = HOS. All subs binned 2x2, QSI 683 on TS 65 Quad refractor (420 mm focal length). Full size

2013