2023

This emission nebula, Sharpless 284 in Monoceros is fairly large - the central circular area is similar in diameter to the Moon, and is accompanied by other areas of emission. But is faint and requires quite a lot of exposure, not easily acquired in England of late, particularly the very cloudy and stormy weather in December and January! Fortunately a few clear nights in early January 2024 although limited by time constraints due to other engagements and the low elevation of the target here in NE England gave me an opportunity and this is the result. Imaged over nights of the 5th, 14th and 18th of January. Narrowband Ha 22 x 10 minutes, OIII and SII 12 x 10 minutes. Also LRGB for the stars, Luminance 10 x 3 minutes, RGB each 4 x 3 minutes. All binned 2x2 with QSI683 camera and Starlight Xpress AO on TS65 quad. Processed as Hubble palette (SHO) then some quite enjoyable messing about to end up with the final colours. The original stars in the SHO image were removed using StarNet, and later replaced with the LRGB stars. Full Size This image appeared in the March 2024 Astronomy Now Gallery

Magnitude 10.3 galaxy NGC 2336 in Camelopardalis as I stated in a much earlier image in 2007, is one of the nearest reasonably sized galaxies to the North Pole, lying only 10 degrees from it, so accessible all the year round for Northern observers. Quite small in the sky at 7 x 4 arc-minutes, but physically very big - approximately 200,000 light years across, twice the size of our own Milky Way galaxy. As I say, a long time since that earlier image and well overdue for an update. The tiny galaxy just above the main one is mag 17.4 PGC 213387. Although January and February 2024 were predominantly cloudy, the nights of 11th and 12th February relented, although with occasional cloud and slight haze which probably contributed to the halos on the brighter stars. But I was able to collect a worthwhile amount of data with this pleasing result. Luminance 22 x 10 minutes, RGB each 13 x 10 minutes. All binned 2x2, QSI 683 on RC10 with SX AO unit. Full size

NGC 3675 is an infrequently imaged 'flocullent'galaxy in Ursa Major. It is quite small in the sky, and at 10th magnitude not particularly bright overall but has a bright core and considerable dusty areas. A clear night was forecast for 3rd March 2024, but did not clear for me until around 11 pm, by which time a bright aurora had been and gone unseen - typical! So with the clear window cut short this is the result of around 5 hours of data. Luminance 11 x 10 minutes, RGB each 7 x 10 minutes. QSI683 on RC10 with SX AO unit, all binned 2x2. A somewhat 'twinkly' sky so not the best of seeing and some loss of fine detail. A good guide star was available but using it put the galaxy off centre, so this is cropped from the full image. North is up. What appears to be a processing artifact - a faint shadow visible to the upper left of the galaxy, is in fact a broad band of dust, more clearly visible in images taken with larger telescopes under better skies than mine, for example this image by Adam Block. Full size (cropped)

The Leo Trio is of course well known and a favourite target. But the tail of stars spreading East from NGC3628 is on a different level altogether. I've always wanted to capture it - there are some beautiful images around. But I suspect the vast majority were taken under very dark clean skies. The UK weather this Spring has been dreadful - wet and cloudy almost all the time. But a clear sky was forecast for 30th March even here in North East England. The Moon became obtrusive by 3 am on 31st, but I managed to collect 17 Luminance and 6 each RGB subs, all 10 minutes, binned 2x2 with my QSI683 camera on my TMB 105 refractor (650 mm fl) . Unfortunately although the image showed the tail, it had to be highly stretched and was very 'noisy'. I don't think I've had a single night this season with steady transparent Arctic air. Sometimes I wonder if it's worth continuing imaging the way the weather is going, particularly when I look at an image I took of NGC3628 in 2010. Maybe more data will help to reduce the noise, but the forecast for the next week or so is also rubbish, and before we know it the twilight nights will be here.  BUT... there was a decently clear night on 7th April, and although windy the shelter of my Obsy dome and the high speed Starlight Xpress guider took care of that. So I was able to capture another 16 luminance subs, giving a total of 33 x 10 minutes binned 2x2. I also got a bit more colour data, but have stayed with the original which for some reason came out better with minor tweaks. So at last I can just show the tail without too much noise. That's that for the tail in my muzzy UK sky. Not the best of the Trio, but they would be better with my longer focal length SharpStar 140. Or even a mosaic with the 2 metre RC10 to really grab the galaxy details. Maybe next year.... Full Size

Despite the generally poor weather this Spring, another clear night was forecast for 9th April, so I tackled the unusual and seldom imaged mag 9.9 lenticular galaxy NGC 4753 in Virgo. This recently was featured as a Gemini South telescope image, described as a 'Train Wreck' galaxy! With my modest equipment and less than pristine skies, I did not expect too much, but managed to bring up the unusual dust lanes, so reasonably pleased with the image. QSI 683 on RC10 with SX AO unit. Luminance 15 x 10 minutes, RGB each 5 x 10 minutes all binned 2x2. Full Size

Magnitude 10.7 NGC 5474 is a small (4.7 arc-minutes) disturbed galaxy in Ursa Major, close to the well known Messier 101. I browsed the 'net for images of it, and came across this beautiful rendering by Cedric Ragenaud. On Astrobin here. You will see that this image is almost 21 hours of data using a one-shot colour camera in France, or possibly a remote Observatory in very good skies. Most other images on the 'net are inferior. But at my latitude this time of year it culminates almost directly overhead, so despite its relative faintness I deemed it a worthwhile target. BUT This 2023-24 season has had very few clear stable nights, and the end not only of April but of fully dark skies was fast approaching. Out of three nights of trying, only one, the night of 30th April was clear enough to capture some moderately decent data. Even then seeing was poor and there were occasional thin clouds which spoiled a number of subs. So in the end I had to settle for 8 Luminance and 4 each RGB subs, all 10 minutes binned 2x2. QSI683 on RC10. So a total time of a little over three hours. No wonder my image is a very poor relation of Cedric's beauty. 'Noisy', lacking detail and the unexpectedly faint outlying areas only just visible. Hopefully I will be able to try again in early Spring 2025 with more time and better conditions. We shall see .... maybe! Full size