2018

  

The disappointing December weather continued into January with a static cloudy high pressure system sitting over the British Isles. But this eventually cleared with a windy night on 7th January 2019. Despite the wind, I was able to capture King 20, a pretty Open Cluster in Cassiopeia. QSI 683wsg on RC10 with SX AO unit (which compensated for the gusty conditions, although my Observatory gave good shelter). Luminance 10 x 5 minutes, RGB each 5 x 5 minutes, all unbinned. Larger size A pity I didn't capture this before Christmas. With enhancements it's a pretty Christmas Tree! This image along with the enhanced version was published in the January 2020 issue of Astronomy Now

The night remained clear for another couple of hours before clouds returned, so I turned my attention to NGC663, another bright Open Cluster, also in Cassiopeia. Same optics as King 20, Luminance 9 x 5 minutes, RGB each 5 x 5 minutes all unbinned. Larger size

The night of 13th January 2019 started off with broken cloud and moonlight. I needed to try an experimental setup, so occasional clouds didn't matter. But as midnight approached and the Moon lowered in the West, the sky cleared beautifully! As usual it wasn't forecast, but I had the ancient open cluster M67 (in Cancer) on my repeat list, and as it was well placed and would just fit I reverted to my normal setup and went for it - too late for the longer exposure time required for a 'faint fuzzy'. Clouded over fully around 0300 but I had enough data by then. Luminance 7 x 5 minutes, RGB each 5 x 5 minutes, all unbinned with QSI683 and SX AO unit on RC10 Truss. This replaces an earlier image taken with my Artemis 285 camera in 2005. Larger size

     

NGC2281 is a medium sized magnitude 5.4 open cluster in Auriga. As bright as the better known Auriga clusters, but not as dense. I first imaged it in 2009 as a test of my Canon 350D DSLR camera, but resolved to give it closer attention with the QSI camera in January 2019. A couple of false starts due to inclement weather, but eventually a clear night on 30th January finished the job. QSI683 on Meade 127 refractor. Luminance 14 x 5 minutes, RGB each 6 x 5 minutes,all unbinned. Larger image

 

IC 426 is a small reflection nebula tucked away in Orion just above the 'belt', and generally overlooked in favour of its more famous neighbours. A rare(!) clear night was forecast for 4th February 2019, so I took the opportunity to visit this attractive object. Orion is relatively low in the sky for me, and unfortunately I had equipment problems so did not capture as much data as I would have liked. But more data had to wait - there was not much prospect of clear sky the next few nights, and then I had a hip replacement operation scheduled which put me out of action for a few weeks. QSI 683wsg on RC10 with SX AO unit. Luminance 7 x 10 minutes, RGB each 4 x 10 minutes all binned 2x2. Full size

As Orion sank into the murk, I then turned my attention to Messier 95 barred galaxy in Leo. I had captured a monochrome image in 2008, but felt it deserved some colour attention. Unfortunately data capture was cut short by cloud cover, but I got just about enough for a reasonable image.of this relatively bright object. Optics as above, luminance 9 x 10 minutes, RGB each 4 x 10 minutes all binned 2x2. Full size

 

NGC3486 is a slightly barred magnitude 10.3 spiral galaxy in Leo Minor. Very attractive with its multiple arms. The weather during the latter part of February 2019 was unseasonably warm and dry with record temperatures and some moorland fires, most unusual in February. There were some clear albeit hazy skies during this time, but they coincided with a bright Moon. Fortunately, just before the weather broke the night of 27th was nicely clear and dark for several hours, in fact the arrival of clouds coincided with moonrise! I'd been well out of action for a couple of weeks - my right hip joint was badly worn and was replaced on 9th February. But by 27th I was fairly active and able to do an imaging run with this result. Although the sky was clear, seeing was poor, so finer detail was not going to be available, and I binned all images 2x2. QSI 683wsg on RC10 with SX AO unit. Luminance 15 x 10 minutes, RGB each 6 x 10 minutes. North is up. The small galaxy mid way between 3486 and the bright star is 15.5 mag PGC 33184. Full size

NGC4395 is quite a large Seyfert galaxy in Canes Venatici just on the border with Coma Berenices. Large in the sky, but actually a dwarf galaxy 'only' 14 million light years away. Thought to have an unusually small black hole at its core, so of particular interest to astronomers. At mag 10.2 it would seem to be fairly bright, but it is very diffuse with a surface brightness of only 15.4. Consequently a bit of a challenge to imagers. Rather disturbed but classified as SBm, a galaxy with one single spiral arm. It also appears to me to be slightly barred. I first imaged this in April 2009 but only monochrome. A very poor season this year (2019), but a long clear night was forecast for 7th March, so I decided to revisit this interesting galaxy with this reasonably satisfying result. QSI683 on RC10 with SX AO unit. Luminance 18 x 10 minutes, RGB each 7 x 10 minutes, all binned 2x2 Full size

NGC4449 is quite a bright (mag 9.4) dwarf galaxy in Canes Venatici, also known as the 'Box Galaxy'. Not often imaged, the preference being for its famous neighbour M51. I'd never imaged it before and decided to remedy that omission before it was too late in the season. While searching for examples I came across R. Jay Gabany's superb image. Anyone familiar with his work will know that with his high altitude observatory (4600 ft) and 1/2 metre telescope he specialises in detecting tidal streams. Indeed he found one associated with this galaxy, which made it even more of a challenge for me. Of course I don't have his superb location, equipment or for that matter pristine skies. But a couple of reasonable nights on 29th and 31st March 2019 gave me enough data to be fairly happy with my own effort which *just* shows the tidal stream in the lower left of the image to the right of the two distant galaxies. QSI 683 on RC10 with SX AO unit. Luminance 23 x 10 minutes, RGB each 7 x 10 minutes, all binned 2x2. In my image, North is up, Gabany's has North to the left. Full size. This image appeared in the 'Deep Sky' section of the April 2020 issue of Astronomy Now and the 'Caldwell Catalogue' feature in April 2021 Astronomy Now

   

   

I initially imaged this, the Draco Trio, a repeat of a much earlier image, over 27th & 28th March 2019, and it was only when I came to process it that I realised I was slightly out on the framing - I found that I had just clipped the left hand edge of galaxy NGC 5985. With this result. Seeing was also poor for both nights, so it was my intention to redo the whole set. Fortunately a couple of clear nights, although 9th April had passing cloud but I managed some data, and 10th April was beautifully clear, so I started imaging well before the Moon set, with decent results. So now I have the positioning the way I wanted it in the first place. Seeing was also better on both nights, so improved detail. QSI683 on RC10 with SX AO unit. Luminance 12 x 15 minutes, RGB each 6 x 15 minutes, all binned 2x2 . Quite long exposures needed because none of the galaxies are brighter than mag 11. NGC 5985 is the beautiful face on spiral, the centre elliptical galaxy is NGC 5982, the edge on to the right is 5981, then little 5976 near the lower right side - it was my attempt to make sure 5976 was included that led to the original mis framing. North is approximately up. Full size

Messier 102 in Draco is also catalogued as NGC 5866, and the naming as a Messier object has always been controversial. Be that as it may, I first imaged it in 2003 under poor conditions, only obtaining a small ill defined image. I recently determined to return, and roamed the internet looking for examples. There are of course superb Hubble images, but many others only show the core and a hint of the dust lane. However I was particularly inspired by this image from Adam Block showing the extended cloud of stars. Dark nights were in short supply towards the end of April 2019, but a run of three, although only 3 hours of full darkness on each night, gave me the opportunity before twilight nights returned for the Summer. Despite the occasional passing cloud and late night fog I managed to acquire luminance subs on 27th and 28th, and 29th gave me yet another clear night to capture colour. Of course I don't have the exceptional contrast of Adam's skies, and my telescope is a 1/3rd of the size. But I'm well pleased that I have managed to show much of the star clouds as well as the dust lane. Luminance 16 x 15 minutes, RGB each 4 x 15 minutes all binned 2x2. QSI 683 on RC10 with SX AO unit. This image appeared in the July 2019 Astronomy Now magazine Gallery Full size

The magnitude 10.8 galaxy NGC 3079 in Ursa Major is very interesting in its own right, being somewhat disturbed with a bubble in its centre nicely imaged by the Hubble Space and Chandra telescopes. But the local area is also of interest because it contains the double quasar QSO 0957+561 A/B, which was discovered in 1979 and was the first identified gravitationally lensed object. A clear night on 1st. May 2019 got me out imaging. But this image at the moment is monochrome - lack of dark sky time this time of the year, but hopefully a couple more clear nights before all twilight until August will get me some RGB data. I may also try for some H-alpha data, hopefully to show the 'bubble'. At my 55 deg N latitude, NGC 3079 transits at 89 degrees - right overhead. But I missed the best chance this year. Next February/March will be my best bet. If I get an exceptionally stable sky, I'll try again unbinned and see what transpires although I doubt my equipment and sky conditions will have the necessary definition to show the bubble. Fingers crossed! I got a small amount of colour data in April 2020, but it wasn't until January 2021 that I finally completed this image with more colour data. Although I captured some Ha in 2020, it did not show the 'bubble' so has not been used in this image. Close examination of the centre of the galaxy just shows the star which Hubble imaged sitting at the top of one of the arms of the bubble. The two smaller galaxies to the right are (top down) magnitude 15.5 PGC 28990 and mag 13.0 NGC 3073. Luminance 10 x 15 minute subs, RGB each 7 x 15 minute subs all binned 2x2 with QSI 683 and SX AO unit on RC10 truss telescope. North approximately up. Full Size This image was published in the Night Sky section of the March 2024 issue of Astronomy Now, with particular emphasis on the Double Quasar

Very few imaging opportunities over the Summer - often hazy or cloudy and of course twilight nights. But I managed to eventually get enough data to finally finish this capture of Sharpless 91. Some sunny days, but the Sun is extremely quiet, so no solar images either. Part of the much larger supernova remnant G65.3+5.7 in Cygnus, from NE England this very faint target has proved elusive, in fact has been on my list with occasional visits for a few years. But with more data on the nights of 25th and 26th August 2019, enough was enough, so here is the result. Narrow band, H-alpha 13 x 20 minutes, OIII and SII each 4 x 20 mins, all binned 2x2. QSI 683 on TS65 Quad refractor. Two different colour mappings to RGB, HOS and SHO (Hubble palette), H-alpha as luminance. With the return of dark skies, moving on to easier targets! Full size HOS, SHO

 

  

IC 342 in Camelopardalis is known as the 'Hidden Galaxy' because it is viewed through our own Milky Way galaxy and is obscured by clouds of gas and dust which give it a reddish hue. At around 75,000 light years in diameter it is not particularly large as galaxies go, but it is quite large in the sky - approximately 20 arc-minutes in diameter (2/3 full Moon), and if it was not obscured might be visible to the naked eye in dark skies. I first imaged it in 2006, but felt this wonderful face on spiral deserved another visit. The night of 31st. August 2019 was particularly clear with a decent interval of fully dark sky, so gave me the opportunity. QSI 683 on RC10 with SXAO unit. Luminance 14 x 10 minutes, RGB each 6 x 10 minutes, all binned 2x2. This image was Picture of the Month in the November 2019 Astronomy Now Gallery and featured in the 'Night Sky' section of the November 2022 Astronomy Now. Full size

NGC7510 is a fairly bright (mag 7.9), compact open cluster in Cepheus, quite pretty with the curving string of stars. Often imaged as part of the much larger emission nebula Sharpless 157 - 'The Claw' nebula. I have an image here, the cluster is situated at the top centre of the image. A clear night on September 6th 2019 gave me the opportunity to image it . My main consideration in this image is to show the star field, but there is a hint of the nebulosity towards the lower left of this image. The general area shows a slight reddish tint due to the nebula. QSI 683 on RC10. Luminance 14 x 5 minutes, RGB each 7 x 5 minutes, all unbinned. Larger image

I imaged the bright open cluster Messier 52 in Cassiopeia in 2005, but it was due for a revisit. The night of 7th October was forecast to be very clear, and so it was. There was a bright Moon, but that set shortly before 1 am local  time, and I was able to capture this image with Cassiopeia high overhead. QSI on RC10, Luminance 10 x 2 minutes, RGB each 5 x 2 minutes, all unbinned. Larger size

Sharpless 187 is an emission nebula situated 1.5 degrees North of the bright star Ruchbah in a star rich area of Cassiopeia, enveloped in interesting dust clouds. The emission area responds well in Hydrogen alpha light, nevertheless it is bright enough to show up nicely in ordinary RGB imaging. The data for this was collected over two nights, 5 luminance on 26th Octber 2019 before the clouds rolled in, the remaining luminance and all the RGB on 27th - a beautiful clear night all night. QSI 683wsg with TSFLAT2 and Starlight Xpress AO unit on Meade 127 refractor. Luminance 17 x 20 minutes, RGB each 5 x 20 minutes, all unbinned. North is up. Larger size

NGC 7242 is a fairly faint (mag 12.9) elliptical galaxy, notable for being the main member of a small group of galaxies in Lacerta. The nights of 29th and 30th of October 2019 gave me the opportunity to capture enough data. Only just enough colour - clouds moved in towards the end of the RGB run in the small hours of 31st. QSI 683 on RC10 with SX AO. Luminance 13 out of 16 (clouds!), R & G 4, B 3 subs all 10 minutes binned 2x2. Full size image here, mouse over the medium size (as usual click on the thumbnail) for names of most of the galaxies - there are some very faint ones unnamed.

In early November 2019 I was browsing in Skymap Pro, and spotted an interesting asterism a degree or so South of M33. The human brain is quite good at seeing shapes in the stars - witness the constellations. And at first I could see a giraffe. Then after another look, a chicken! And had a bit of fun playing with images. At least I was making use of cloudy nights! Anyway, after a long period of cloud and rain, which brought extensive flooding to parts of Yorkshire, there was a nice clear sky on 18th November with a few hours of full darkness before the Moon rose. So I set to with my QSI683 on my Meade 127 refractor (950mm fl), and imaged the asterism with this result. Luminance 16 x 5 minutes, RGB each 8 x 5 minutes, all unbinned. There are a few very distant galaxies in the image, the easiest to spot is UGC 1154 near the bottom left corner. 'Mouseover' the medium star image for identifications. Near full size image.

I'd already set up image overlays using a screen shot from Skymap, so here are the results using the actual star image. I'm not sure which is the better of the two creatures - of course we already have a 'giraffe' constellation, so although I'm sure it's not a true cluster, the 'Giraffe Cluster' might be appropriate. The Giraffe is more elegant, but maybe the Chicken is a better fit. For now I'll call it the Giraffe Cluster. Click on the thumbnails as usual for larger images.   I had started a thread about this on the Stargazer's Lounge user group, and one member suggeted using an image of a velociraptor. His image didn't fit too well - most of the tail was lost, but I found another one on the 'net which I rather like. Because the star 'cluster' is really an asterism, I call this image 'Rapterism'! Well, so much cloudy weather at the time, it helped to relieve the boredom :-)

Our annual autumn weekend on November 22nd 2019 at Calvert Trust Kielder was a total washout - a brief glimpse of Deneb and Vega on the Friday evening was all we saw of the sky - no more stars, no Sun during the day. Just endless heavy cloud and rain. Hope for better luck in Autumn 2020 when we are going in October. Typically after even more bad weather, the following weekend saw a dramatic change to cold northerly winds and a clear sky. So I decided to revisit Messier 103 in Cassiopeia, first imaged by me in 2003. 10 Luminance subs and 5 each RGB, all 5 minutes unbinned with the QSI683 and RC10 on the night of 29th November produced this pleasing result. Larger image

I'd finished M103 (above) by 10:30 pm, so changed telescopes and spent the rest of the night imaging Van den Berg 72 and nearby bright nebulae in Monoceros. The object is very low for me, never rising above 28 degrees altitude, so difficult in even the best conditions. Pretty good that particular night, and this is the result. QSI683 on Meade 127 with TS FLAT2 and SX AO. Luminance 12 x 10 minutes, RGB each 7 x 10 minutes, all unbinned. 'Mouse over' the medium image for identifications. I hope to acquire more data over the winter, but calm clear nights are always in short supply! The interesting dark tendrils of dust have been named 'The Angel Nebula', and the reddish area in which they are immersed is Lynd's Bright Nebula (LBN) 999. Larger image

Before the clouds returned in early December 2019, the night of 1st. was also clear, so I decided (long overdue!) to revisit Messier 38 - the large open cluster in Auriga. Previously imaged in 2001 afocally with my first digital camera. How things have moved on! So this is my QSI683 on Meade 127 refractor with Teleskop Service TSFLAT2 flattener and SX AO. Luminance 14 x 5 minutes, RGB each 6 x 5 mins, all unbinned. Larger image

No sooner said than done! As I mentioned in a cluster-comet image I felt NGC 1528 in Perseus was worthy of a closer look. And the (following) night of 17th December 2019 was again clear for long enough before Moonrise to capture this nice cluster. So QSI 583wsg camera on 10" RC truss telescope with Starlight Xpress Active Optics unit. Luminance 12 x 5 minutes, RGB each 6 x 5 minutes. Larger image

Magnitude 6.1 bright open cluster Messier 46 in Puppis has always been on my hit list, but never imaged. Until the night of 30th December 2019 which was unexpectedly clear for a few hours after many cloudy nights. M46 is very low in the South for me, never getting higher than 20 degrees, so generally hazy and disturbed, leading to a certain amount of star bloating, although the Starlight Xpress AO unit did it's best - the guide star was bright enough for 5 frames per second. Conditions were not good and I had to scrap some subs due to thin cloud, but managed to get usable 9 Luminance and 6 each RGB. All 5 minutes binned 2x2, QSI 683 on RC10. The cluster pretty well fills the field of view, but I wanted also to capture the planetary nebula NGC2438 in the foreground. All things considered I'm reasonably pleased with the result. Full size

There is another Nebula in M46, the Calabash Nebula (OH 231.84 +4.22). This is a protoplanetary nebula - a planetary in early stage of formation. It is believed to be part of M46, not superimposed.   Barely visible in my image, this is a highly stretched monochrome crop, but just identifiable when compared with Adam Block's image, which of course was taken with a 32" telescope at 9000 ft above sea level! I may return to M46 and try for some Hydrogen-alpha data to bring up the fainter parts of NGC2438 and perhaps the Calabash, but because of the low altitude it will need data from more than one night. And the way the weather has been, it doesn't look very promising.             The Hubble image is absolutely gorgeous. Click on all the images for larger versions.

More difficult than I expected, the Witchhead nebula in Eridanus has always been on my must do list, but always eluded me apart from a disappointing attempt in 2007. Until New Year's Eve 2019 when a clear sky which had been forecast for several days actually materialised!! Although I was out at friends to see the New Year in, I was able to leave things running from around 9.30 pm with the dome drive doing it's business, and got an uninterrupted flow of images for around 6 hours starting with the target on the 'wrong' side of the Equatorial mount. Had to scrap a couple from the end of the run - too low in the sky. But this is the result of 11 luminance and 6 each RGB, all 10 minutes binned 2x2. QSI 683 on TS65 quad refractor. But as I say, difficult - it's a faint target and low in the sky for me, never rising above 28 degrees altitude so lacking in contrast. I might have another go this winter if the weather is kind for more data around the transit. But for now (and maybe for ever for me!) this will have to do. North is down to show the profile at its witchiest. Full size.

2020