2016

            

This image of the Medusa planetary nebula (Abell 21 or PK 205+14.1) in Gemini was a work in progress for a few weeks. Luminance 21 x 20 minutes captured on 28th and 29th December 2016, RGB each 6 x 20 minutes on 23rd January 2017. Also overlaid with Hydrogen-alpha, 9 x 20 minutes. All binned 2x2. Even with all that data it's a faint object at mag 14.1, surface brightness 16.4 and relatively low in the sky for me. So apologies for any remaining noise. QSI 683 with SX active optics on GSO10" f8 RC Truss. This image appeared in the March 2017 Astronomy Now Gallery Full size. Time I had a look at something brighter and easier!

Now February 2024, and a bit of a play with this. I used StarNet to remove the stars, then subtracted the result from the original to leave the stars only. Reduced their size and increased their colour then pasted back the nebula also recoloured. Possibly a more pleasing image. Full size

            

NGC 2169 in Orion is a small bright open cluster. Probably relatively obscure if it wasn't for its remarkable resemblance to the number 37. I'd never imaged it before, so the night of 25th January was the night, before moving on to something more challenging. Nice to go for an easy target for once . QSI 683 on RC10 Truss with SX AO. Luminance 15 x 5 minutes, RGB each 6 x 5 mins, all unbinned.  Larger image

Inextricably linked by a gravitational bond, Galaxies NGC 3166 and NGC 3169 in Sextans have been disrupted by their mutual attraction. Reasonably bright at 10th magnitude, but the faint clouds of disturbed stars are not so easy. My location isn't too bad, but they never get very high from here (max altitude 40 degrees) and to show them well needs seriously dark skies. But I'm reasonably happy with this image. Anyway, the night of 28th February 2017 was the best long clear spell for ages, so worth a go and very welcome after a total washout at Kielder the previous weekend. The much smaller lower right galaxy is 14th magnitude NGC 3165. Full size QSI683wsg and SX AO unit on GSO RC10 truss. Luminance 18 x 10 minutes, RGB each 7 x 10 minutes. All binned 2x2.

It has been many years since I imaged the quite small but bright open cluster, Messier 36 in Auriga, in monochrome with an SX MX716 camera! So although there was a bright Moon on the night of 12th April 2017, they were well separated and the sky was nicely clear, so indulged myself! QSI 683 with Starlight Xpress Active Optics unit on RC10 Truss. L 13 x 2 minutes, RGB each 6 x 2 minutes, all binned 2x2. Full size.

This interesting galaxy NGC 4151 (also known as ' Eye of Sauron') is situated in Canes Venatici, so nicely high at this time of year (Spring). But capturing the faint outlying areas was quite a challenge and with the limited number of clear skies I thought I might not finish it this season. But the weather smiled on me on the night of 24th April and I was able to get the rest of the colour data to add to that captured the week before. Luminance captured over two nights a month previously! So the final total was Luminance 24 x 20 minutes, RGB each 7 x 20 minutes, all binned 2x2. QSI683 on RC10 with SX AO unit. The two obvious smaller galaxies are NGC 4156 (the spiral) and UGC 7188 (mag 17.1) Full size This image appeared in the June 2017 Astronomy Now Gallery

This 11th magnitude barred spiral galaxy, NGC 6951 in Cepheus, caught my attention when I saw an image showing it surrounded by galactic cirrus. So I decided to have a go. Needed a lot of data, initially I started off with 15 minute subs, but eventually added 20 minute subs. The luminance was captured in August, but I had to wait until the end of September to get some colour data. So : Luminance 26th August 14 x 15 minutes, 30th August 9 x 20 minutes. RGB 29th September each 4 x 20 minutes. All binned 2x2, QSI 683 on RC10 with SX AO unit. (North is up). I think it was worth the effort ! This image appeared in the November 2017 Astronomy Now Gallery Full size

LDN 673 is an interesting dark nebula in Aquila, fairly close to Altair. Relatively faint, but lots of exposure in the dark Kelling Heath sky during the Star Party in September 2017 did a reasonable job. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get enough colour data during the week, and hoped for a chance at home before it was too late in the year. So this is a monochrome image. QSI 683wsg with SX AO unit and TSFlat2 on TMB 105 refractor. EQ6 Pro mount. 19th September 14 x 15 minute subs unbinned. Larger size

Persistent poor weather and other commitments prevented me getting more colour data before the target became too low in the West. I will have to try again in 2018. But for now I have used the limited colour data I did manage to acquire at Kelling Heath on 22nd September. Red 3 x 10 minutes, Green and Blue each 2 x 10 minutes. All unbinned. Larger size

LDN1622 dark nebula is situated in Orion about 3 degrees North East of M78. The night of 29th October 2017 was forecast to be clear, but with the Moon around until after midnight, earlier targets were off limits, and anyway I was going to be out until around 11pm. So this was nicely placed for a wee small hours capture. Proved more difficult than I expected, and I will certainly try for more data over the Winter. And it doesn't help that for me it never rises higher than 37 degrees, so affected by a certain amount of light pollution and atmospheric haze, particularly in the East. Anyway this will do for now! Luminance 9 x 10 minutes plus 1 x 20 minutes (wrong setting initially!) RGB each 5 x 10 minutes. All binned 2x2. QSI 683 on TMB105 (650 mm fl, f6.2) withTSFlat2 flattener which does a great job. Enhanced using Astroflat Pro and Star Spikes Pro from ProDigital Software. Full size

The night of 16th November 2017 was beautifully clear most of the night, and gave me the opportunity to image NGC672 (the upper) and IC1727 magnitudes 10.7 and 11.4 galaxies in Triangulum, generally overlooked in favour of the nearby huge Messier 33. The small distant edge on galaxy near the centre of the image is magnitude 16.3 PGC1803573. The two other distant galaxies at the top left corner are PGC 1811565 mag 17.2 (upper), and PGC 6632 mag 15.87 (lower). A 'fuzzy' star to the left of 672 is another one, PGC 1801703 mag 17.54. It is thought that the larger galaxies are interacting, certainly IC1727 is very disturbed. QSI 683 camera with SX AO unit on RC10. Luminance 4 x 10 minutes plus 10 x 15 minutes. RGB each 5 x 15 minutes. All binned 2x2. This image featured in the 'Deep Sky' section of the October 2021 issue Astronomy Now magazine. Full size

The weekend of November 17th saw a group of us at Calvert Trust, Kielder. Only one night was clear, Saturday 18th, but it was clear all night (and very cold and frosty!) There appeared to be a slight haze reducing clarity and contrast. So LBN 534 in Andromeda proved difficult to really show the nebulosity - so many stars! The bright cluster on the right edge towards the top is NGC 7686. Larger image. Luminance 13 x 15 minutes unbinned, RGB each 5 x 15 minutes binned 2x2. QSI683 and SX AO unit on TS65 quad and EQ6 mount

Later that night when I had enough data for LBN 534 I had a short session on NGC752, also in Andromeda but further East. Previously imaged with my Artemis 285 in 2006. Very long exposures not necessary for this large and relatively bright cluster, so a straightforward run. Luminance 8 x 5 mins, RGB 4 x 5 mins, all unbinned. Larger image. Same setup as LBN534

LDN 1551 is a dusty nebula in Taurus with the bright nebula SH239 at its heart. Imaged on 26th November 2017 with the QSI 683 on the Meade 127 refractor with the usual TSFlat2 flattener and SX AO unit. Luminance 14 x 5 minutes, RGB each 5 x 10 minutes. All binned 2x2 Full size

NGC2174, 2175, 2175S and IC2159 are all lumped together in Sharpless 252 in Orion. The Monkey's Head nebula is well known, and fairly bright, but I'd never imaged it before, and with very clean sky forecast for the night of 29th November 2017 it was on with the narrowband filters and get cracking. The North East coastal area clouds didn't clear until 11 pm, but after that it was all go. Despite an 82% illuminated Moon, the sky was so clean and steady that in conjunction with the filters all went very well. QSI 8300 with SX AO on Meade 127 (950 fl) refractor. SHO 'Hubble palette'. Luminance and Green, H-alpha, 9 x 15 minutes. Red and Blue respectively SII and OIII each 5 x 15 minutes. All unbinned. Processed mainly in Photoshop, using Bob Franke's method for colour. Displayed with North down - the usual orientation for this subject. Larger image

With clear (cold!!) nights weekend of 2nd December 2017, but a Moon around I went for a narrow band image of the interesting Sharpless 132 in Cepheus. And found that I already had a substantial amount of H-alpha data from 2016 which had never been taken further - no colour. So incorporated that in my image. Hubble palette (SHO). H-a 17 x 15 minutes, SII and OIII each 10 x 20 minutes, all binned 2x2. QSI 683 on TMB 105. Full Size

 

There is an interesting area of bright and dusty nebulae in Monoceros a couple of degrees West of the well known Cone nebula, containing a number of catalogued objects. I've called it IC447, but as you can see there are several alternatives! Much of the large blue area bottom right is also catalogued as Collinder 95. All names from Skymap Pro. Mouse over the intermediate sized image (click on thumbnail as always) for the identifications. I obtained the luminance data on the night of 27th November 2017, but had to wait until the night of 11th December for the colour data - other targets intervened ;) QSI 683 on Meade 127 refractor with TS Flat2 and SX AO. Luminance 10 x 15 minutes, RGB each 5 x 15 minutes, all unbinned. Larger size

Looking at the image, the right hand figure reminds me of a 'Triffid' - the one from the book and film 'Day of the Triffids', not of course the sometimes mis spelled Trifid nebula, M20. Triangular base and long 'neck' with the stinging head on top. The author John Wyndham's sketch. Pity I can't call it the Triffid nebula - that would lead to even more confusion!

 

The night of December 17th saw me imaging the area containing (in order left to right) Sharpless 232, 235, 231 and 233 emission nebulae in Auriga. Quite faint, needing long exposures, and predominantly Hydrogen-alpha. So this is a composite Hubble Palette SHO. QSI on TMB105 with TS Flat 2 and SX AO. H-alpha 16 x 15 minutes, OII and SII each 5 x 15 minutes, all binned 2x2 Full size

 

Van den Berg 31 is a fairly small reflection nebula in Auriga, but is associated with dark nebulae Barnard 26, 27 and 28. Also a much fainter dusty area stretching to the West. The night of Dec 18th 2017 started off with thin cloud, but eventually that cleared allowing me to capture enough data to produce a reasonable image albeit with poor seeing and limited contrast. But I had to go for it - lousy weather forecast here for the rest of that week and the Moon waxing. QSI 683 on TMB105 with TSFlat2 and SX AO. Luminance 10 x15 minutes, RGB each 4 x 15 minutes, all unbinned. Larger image Adam Block has a superb image here. With of course the 32" Schulman at 9000 ft. in Arizona. Still, might be worth a closer look with my 10" RC. It will have to be an exceptional night, but there's plenty of time yet. Watch this space...

This is Sharpless 171 and its little friend SH170. A very large (around 3 degrees square) emission nebula in Cepheus, well placed for the lovely clear night on 27th December 2017 which although well moonlit allowed narrow band filters to do their job. I've messed around with colour quite a lot, but I think the monochrome stands up pretty well on its own. So here are both. Colour started off as the Hubble palette SHO for RGB.  Incidentally the boundary between Cepheus and Cassiopeia passes right across 171, so 170 is in Cassiopeia. QSI 683 on Canon 70-200 f4 L zoom lens at 200 mm, with external mask to stop down to approx. f6 for crisper stars without 'starburst' diffraction spikes. Ha 16 x 20 minutes, SII and OIII each 5 x 20 minutes, all unbinned. Larger images: Monochrome, Colour  The colour image appeared in the February 2018 Astronomy Now Gallery  I also imaged SH171 several years ago with my Artemis camera, but only monochrome, here. More recently a closer look here. Also more recently a close up of Sharpless 170, here.

2018