2019

January 2020 was effectively a no-go for imaging - a succession of low pressure systems bracketed a high pressure system which unfortunately was also full of cloud. But a four hour window on 18-19th of the month gave me an opportunity to capture this (cropped) image of Messier1. It's made up of 8 x 30 minute Oxygen III subs, QSI683 on RC10, binned 2x2. I went for it following an observation by Olly Penrice of the 'tail' at the top which had not generally been imaged, and is mainly visible with an OIII filter. I hoped to get more data to complete a colour image, but even into February the skies were disappointing, and Taurus was rapidly westering! Watch this space! Full size

There are a number of Messier objects which are low in the sky for me. The bright large open cluster M48 in Hydra is one of these, and I had never imaged it. Although the weather at the start of 2020 was extremely unsettled, there was a clear spell forecast for the night of 4th February, so despite the presence of a bright (77%) Moon I decided to have a go, with this quite pleasing result. QSI683 on TMB105 with TSFlat2 and SX AO unit. Luminance 12 x 5 minutes, RGB each 7 x 5 minutes, all unbinned. This image featured in the Deep Sky section of the March 2021 Astronomy Now magazine, in the Clusters section of the February 2023 Astronomy Now and again in the Night Sky section of the March 2024 issue of Astronomy Now Larger image

The bright globular cluster Messier 53 in Coma Berenices has a fainter and much less dense globular neighbour NGC 5053. The night of 24th February 2020 was briefly clear, and in between passing clouds I was able to capture just enough data for this image. QSI683 on TMB105 refractor with SX AO unit and TSFLAT2 flattener. Luminance 7 x 5 minutes, RGB respectively 5, 4 and 3 images of 5 minutes, all unbinned. This image slightly cropped for better positioning of the targets - they were off centre because of the guide star position. This image featured in the 'Night Sky Highlights' section of April 2021 Astronomy Now Larger image

NGC2506 is a dense quite bright (mag 7.6) open cluster in Monoceros. Unfortunately at my location it never rises above 24 degrees altitude, so is always seen through fairly thick atmosphere. Although the night of 10th March 2020 included an almost full Moon, it was the only clear night for several days, so I took a chance. Clouds arrived earlier, so imaging didn't start until shortly before transit, so most of the time the target was descending into thicker atmosphere which took its toll on the star sharpness. I was set up with my reducer for another target - maybe later, watch this space! And because of back focus issues couldn't use my SXAO unit which might have helped. Nevertheless with a fair amount of processing I'm reasonably happy although I feel the moonlight may have washed out some of the colours. I may pay it another visit this season without the reducer, depends on the weather! QSI 683 on RC10 with AP67. Resultant focal length 1540 mm. Luminance 6 x 10 minutes unbinned, RGB each 5 x 5 minutes binned 2x2 Larger image

Messier 85 in Coma Berenices is a large elliptical galaxy with an extended halo of stars, and appears to be interacting with a nearby smaller neighbour NGC 4394. I had never imaged them, and a crisp clear night on 22nd March 2020 gave me an opportunity. Unfortunately the seeing was very poor - even stars overhead were twinkling, so the stars are somewhat bloated and fine detail is lacking in NGC 4394 despite using the Starlight Xpress active optics unit. Hopefully I will get another opportunity this season, although the weather has generally been very poor. The small galaxy to the right of M85 is mag 14.8 IC 3292. QSI 683 on RC10 with AO unit. Luminance 11 x 15 minutes, RGB each 4 x 15 minutes, all binned 2x2. Full Size.

The 10th magnitude edge on spiral galaxy NGC 4244 in Canes Venatici is also known as the 'Silver Needle' galaxy. This is the first time I have imaged this beautiful galaxy. At approximately 13.5 million light-years away it is relatively close to us being within the M94 1 Group (Canes Venatici 1 Group), a galaxy group near the Local Group containing the Milky Way, and so has quite a large angular size. It would almost fill this field of view if it was face on. A rare clear night on 25th March 2020 gave me the opportunity to image it. Good clarity and moderate seeing. QSI 683 on RC10 with SX AO unit. Luminance 16 x 10 minutes, RGB each 6 x 10 minutes, all binned 2x2. This image appeared in the Caldwell Catalogue feature in April 2021 Astronomy Now magazine Full Size

NGC 5248 is a beautiful slightly barred magnitude 10.1 spiral galaxy in Bootes, particularly noticeable for the extended clouds of stars in the spiral arms. Imaged over two nights, 13th and 15th April 2020. QSI 683 on RC10 with SX AO unit. Luminance 17 x 10 minutes, RGB each 8 x 10 minutes, all binned 2x2 Full size

I seem to have a perverse death wish at times! I see a marvellous image such as this one which was imaged with a 14.5" telescope 4000 feet above sea level in an Arizona dark sky park, and attempt to capture similar quality with a 10" telescope from my home observatory 680 feet up in North East England under semi rural skies. Well, I can't match it of course. This beautiful group of galaxies is in Virgo. The largest is NGC5566 (Arp 286, mag 10.7), NGC5569 (mag 13.7) above it and NGC 5560 (mag 12.4) to the right. The much smaller galaxy looking like a fuzzy star towards the left of the image is 16th magnitude PGC 51269. Twilight nights were rapidly approaching, but after a very poor 2019-2020 season I resolved to have a go at this, even though full dark hours were limited and quite long exposures were required for these fairly faint galaxies. First attempt on 22nd April 2020 was partly spoiled by high haze earlier on in the sequence leading to high background levels and the loss of 8 frames (2 hours worth!). Fortunately the night of 25th April was kinder and I captured enough extra subs to produce a reasonable image. Unfortunately seeing was rather poor on both nights, so the finest detail is lost. Can't win them all! QSI 683 on RC10 with SX AO unit. Luminance 11 by 15 minutes, RGB each 4 x 15 minutes all binned 2x2 Full Size

NGC 6940 is a large bright (mag 6.3) open cluster in Vulpecula on the border of Cygnus and only 4 degrees from the well known Veil Nebula. But as it is immersed in a bright area of the Milky Way it is not easily distinguished from the background. The first deep sky target of the 2020-2021 season, on the night of 22nd August, but limited exposure time due to very unseasonable weather. However the sky was particularly clear for a short time, so I feel the image has sufficient clarity to be acceptable. If I have the opportunity I will gather more data. QSI 683 camera with SX AO unit and TSFLAT2 on Meade 127 refractor. Luminance 5 x 5 minutes, RGB each 3 x 5 minutes all unbinned, Larger image (1.13MB)

Sharpless 188 is a large (9 arc-minutes) diffuse planetary nebula in Cassiopeia. Fortunately it responds well to imaging with a Hydrogen-alpha filter. Because this Autumn has been an almost total washout for deep sky imaging. Hardly any clear nights, and most of them limited by passing clouds. Fortunately Mars was around in all its glory and easily imaged in moonlight and between clouds, but deep sky imaging was pretty well a no no. So the image of NGC6940 on 22nd August was my first of the season and I had to wait until 27th October when I was able to collect enough data on Sh188 to make a start. Again I had to wait until 3rd November for enough to construct this image. Even so, although narrow band filters were used, since both nights were moonlit the fainter extensions to the North are barely discernible and the 'noise' level is higher than I would like. I may try for more data when there is no moonlight, but with so few opportunities that may have to wait until next year. QSI camera on RC10 telescope, HOS as RGB. Ha 17 x 10 minutes, OIII and SII each 9 x 10 minutes, all binned 2x2. Full size

I first imaged the bright open cluster Messier 50 in Monoceros in 2004, and it was long overdue for a second look.  The Autumn of 2020 was beset with bad weather, but a clear night was forecast for 21st November. M50 is low in the sky for me and I had to wait until the early hours of 22nd before I could start imaging. But it was worth it in the end! I first did a set of binned images, but reverted to unbinned - binned was overly saturated to obtain good star colours. QSI on RC10. Luminance 11 x 5 minutes, RGB each 5 x 5 minutes. Larger image

NGC 2419 is a globular cluster in Lynx. Quite small and with a magnitude of 10.3 relatively insignificant. Until one takes into account that it is 300,000 light years distant both from Earth and from the centre of the galaxy. Almost twice as far away as the Magellanic Clouds. So in fact it is large and intrinsically as bright as such well known clusters as Omega Centauri, and its popular name of 'Intergalactic Wanderer' is richly deserved. Because we generally view these distant objects in only two dimensions it's particularly interesting to note that the distance for the bright star nearest to the cluster in this image is given as 313 Light Years. So although they appear to be next to each other, the cluster is almost a thousand times further away! On 21st December after the clouded out closest approach of Jupiter and Saturn for the Great Conjunction, the sky cleared around midnight. The Moon had set, so I was able to get the data for this target. QSI683 camera on RC10 telescope with Starlight Xpress AO unit. Luminance 15 x 5 minutes, RGB each 9 x 5 minutes all binned 2x2 Full size

2021