Kernow night skies

I thought I'd start this blog as I venture into the world of astrophotography. Showing the good, the bad and probably the ugly as I learn how to photograph the night sky from constellaions, galaxies, nebulae to our local neighbours in the solar system all from the backyard.

[kernownightsky]

M44 IC4665 Summer Beehive Cluster

This is a first light from a revamped setup where the camera and mount have been upgraded. The conditions were not ideal, the wind was moderate with gusts up to 16mph and the ambient temperature was in the teens deg C.

Processing didn't go as smoothly as I had originally hoped, with Pixinsight failing to register red and green filter lights. AstroPixelProcessor struggled with the light pollution mainly contained within the luminescence frames, however I was pleased with the the inital performance of the ZWO ASI533MM Pro.

Frames taken on June 6, 2023

Mount: iOptron CEM40G

OTA Imaging: Skywatcher 120ED with x0.85 flattener, f6.35, 768mm

Camera:ZWO ASI533MM Pro, Cooled to -10 deg C

Filter Wheel: ZWO EFW Mini

Focuser: Primaluce Lab ESATTO

Rotator: Primaluce Lab ARCO

Guiding: iOptron iGuide, 120mm : 2.9um

Computer: Primaluce Lab Eagle Pro 2 + ECCO2 (Enviroment)

Light Exposures: Luminescence .. 40 x 60 seconds Red ……….. 40 x 60 seconds (2 rejected) Green ……… 40 x 60 seconds Blue ………. 40 x 60 seconds (5 rejected) Calibration files: BIAS ………. 100 Dark ………. 25 Flat ………. 25 per filter Dark flat ….. 25 per filter

Total integration time: 2.55 hours

Processing AstroPixelProcessor -> Photosphop -> Topaz DeNoise AI -> Photoshop

Center (RA, Dec): (266.608, 5.724) Center (RA, hms): 17h 46m 25.849s Center (Dec, dms): +05° 43' 25.817" Size: 50.5 x 50.5 arcmin Radius: 0.595 deg Pixel scale: 1.01 arcsec/pixel Orientation: Up is -179.1 degrees E of N

[kernownightsky]

IC5146 and Cocoon Nebula (Caldwell 19, SH 2-125, Barnard 168)

It’s been a while since I posted anything and for using my own equipment, however, I’m playing with Pixinsight for processing images. This image of the Cocoon Nebula (IC5146) was created from the tutorial files from Easy Pixinsight (https://www.easypixinsight.com) using date captured by Pete Proulx. Once the LRGB had been created in Pixinsight, some softness was removed using Topaz Sharpen AI before adjusting some of the curves in Photoshop.

Inside the Cocoon Nebula is a newly developing cluster of stars. Cataloged as IC 5146, the beautiful nebula is nearly 15 light-years wide, located some 4,000 light years away toward the northern constellation Cygnus. Like other star forming regions, it stands out in red, glowing, hydrogen gas excited by young, hot stars and blue, dust-reflected starlight at the edge of an otherwise invisible molecular cloud. In fact, the bright star near the center of this nebula is likely only a few hundred thousand years old, powering the nebular glow as it clears out a cavity in the molecular cloud's star forming dust and gas. Thisexceptionally deep color view of the Cocoon Nebula traces tantalizing features within and surrounding the dusty stellar nursery. (Ref NASA APOD https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090305.html, Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell)

[kernownightsky]

NGC3576 The Statue of Liberty Nebula

Located approx. 9000ly away is the nebula NGC3576. The nebula is said to resemble the Statue of Liberty and is approx. 100ly across.

The RGB image was processed from data provided by iTelescope and has a total integration time of 180 minutes. It is comprised of RGB subs each with a 600 second exposure.

Initial processing carried out using AstroPixelProcessor with post processing carried out using Adobe Photoshop 2022.

[kernownightsky]

NGC3324 Gabriela Mistral Nebula

Located in Carina at an approx. distance of 9000 ly is the Gabriela Mistral Nebula. First catalogued in 1826 by James Dunlop, the nebula gets its name from it’s resemblance to the Chilean Poet.

Calibrate lights supplied by iTelescope, which scope that was used is unknown.

Total integration time - 90 minutes

Red - 6 x 300s

Green 6 x 300s

Blue 6 x 300s

The lights were first processed in Astropixel Processor (APP) and further edited using Topaz DeNoise and Sharpen AI before final processing in Adobe Photoshop 2022.

[kernownightsky]

NGC2359 Thor's Helmet Nebula

The nebula is in Canis Major approx. 15000ly away and is approx. 30ly wide. The nebula is more like a bubble inflated by fast winds emanating from the Wolf-Rayet star at the center. This star is thought to be in a brief pre-supernova stage of its evolution. The blueish green colour shows that there is a strong oxygen emission from this nebula.

This image is comprised from pre-calibrated images provided by iTelescope, I’m not 100% which telescope was used. The total integration time is 180 minutes.

Filters and exposure:

6 x 600s Blue

6 x 600s Green

6 x 600s Red

The images were registered and stacked using AstroPixelProcessor before final editing in Adobe Photoshop 2022.

[kernownightsky]

M42 Orion Nebula

It’s been far too long after my last post, I have been using my equipment when the weather allows, however, been very bad ay posting here, something I will improve upon.

After many months of struggling to get my equipment to work remotely, I think the system is now working reliably, unfortunately, the Moon was hanging nearby for my test subject on 26/02/21.

On this night the mount was working fairly well, although guiding was still causing some issues. These issues I think are to do with backlash, to hopefully overcome this I have modified the mount with a belt driven kit (http://www.rowanastronomy.com/productsa1.htm#heq5beltkit). The instructions are good and it’s easy to fit, plenty of videos on YouTube also. The mount is really quiet when tested during the day and hopefully this week I will get some clear skies to test it properly.

I'm not 100% with this image of M42 yet, still getting used to Astropixel Processor and post-production with my own images but I thought I would post anyway. Images: 50 x 12 sec Red 50 x 12 sec Green 50 x 12 sec Blue Total integration time: 30 minutes

Calibration files 100 darks 100 bias 100 flats Stacked in AstroPixelProcessor Processing in AstroPixelProcessor

Equipment: Telescope: Skywatcher 120ED Pro Focal reducer: Skywatcher 0.85x reducer/field flattener Mount: Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro Camera: Atik 314L+ Mono cooled to Temp degrees Focuser: PrimaLuceLab ESATTO2 Guidescope: PrimaLuceLab 60mm Guide camera: ZWO 120mm mono Controller: PrimaLuceLab Eagle 2 Sequencing software: N.I.N.A.

[kernownightsky]

I’ve been having equipment problems for a little while is have taken a bit of time to revisit some of the Aurora images I captured in 2019, trying to improve how they look when I had no calibration files.

The images were caught on the first night of Aurora hunting on Lake Inari. All were taken on a Nikon D5600 with a 35mm prime lens. They have been processed using Topaz DeNoise AI and SharpenAI before further work in Lightroom.

[kernownightsky]

Comet C/2020 F3 Neowise over Hilsea and Cosham, Hampshire.

The image was taken using a Nikon D5600 with a 35mm prime lens, f2.8, 30s at ISO400

[kernownightsky]

*68 Cas

Image session: Monday July 13th 2020

The LRGB image is made up from a single set of RGB at 300s and six luminescence of 300s and two of 600s. The camera was cooled to -15°C, unfortunately due to the problems I was having with Sequence Generator Pro and the Sesto Senso 2 focuser I did not have time to take the correct temperature darks, so used the -7°C darks taken a couple of nights previously, this was the same with the flats and bias calibration files. The images were processed using AstroPixelProcessor.

The image was then plate solved in Astrometry.net (https://nova.astrometry.net/).

68-Cas is a B5V (Blue main sequence) star that is also catalogued as HR 189, HD 4142 and HIP 3478, it is located approximately 701 lightyears from Earth and has a visual absolute magnitude of -1.2.

Location details:

Center (RA, Dec): (11.140, 47.895)

Center (RA, hms): 00h 44m 33.564s

Center (Dec, dms): +47° 53' 40.720"

Size: 34.8 x 26 arcmin

Radius: 0.362 deg

Pixel scale: 1.5 arcsec/pixel

Orientation: Up is -33.8 deg

Sources:

In the sky (https://in-the-sky.org/data/object.php?id=TYC3253-812-1)

Wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stars_in_Cassiopeia)

SIMBAD (http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=*%20%2068%20Cas)

[kernownightsky]

A false colour of our Sun. The image was first compiled from 1000 frames taken using a ZWO ASI120MM-S mono camera mounted on a 70mm SolarMax III before being edited in Photoshop and Lightroom to give the false colour. Unfortunately it was slightly overexposed as can be seen by the whit spot in the middle, the granulation does appear quite clearly.

[kernownightsky]

Taken on the last supermoon of 2020, I think the crater next to the left hand brilliant white impact is Stevinus, though not 100%. The image was compiled from 1000 3ms frames taken with a ZWO ASI1600MM mono camera using my Celestron Nexstar SE5 with a little processing photoshop.

[kernownightsky]

The three most prominent mares or seas of the Moon which can be seen by the naked eye, some of the features are labelled on the second image.

I took this again with the ZXO ASI1600MM mono camera using my Celestron Nexstar 5SE. The image was compiled from 1000 3ms frames with some post processing in photoshop. The seeing conditions on the night (May 6th, last superman of 2020) were ok however the Moon was still reletively low so there was more atmospheric effect. 

The mare are labelled yellow, craters green and mountainous area in grey. 

[kernownightsky]

Two images of the Sun taken using a Coronado Solar Max III 70mm telescope. 

In the first image, although there are currently no visible sunspots, granulation of the suns’s surface can be seen. The image was compiled from 1000 frames taken using a ZWO ASI1600MM-S mono camera.

The second image was taken with a Nikon D5600, no features noticeable on the disk, however at around the 8 o'clock position is what looks to a be a prominence.

"A prominence is a large, bright, gaseous feature extending outward from the Sun's surface, often in a loop shape. Prominences are anchored to the Sun's surface in the photosphere, and extend outwards into the solar corona."

Scope: Coronado SolarMax III Mount: HEQ5 Pro Camera: Nikon D5600 ISO400 1/6s

[kernownightsky]

The crater Tycho one of the more prominent craters on the surface of the Moon. It has a diameter of approximately 85Km (53 miles).

The image has been compiled from 10000 frames taken using a mono ZWO ASI1600MM camera with a Celestron Nexstar 5SE telescope.

[kernownightsky]

The globular cluster M3 imaged in LRGB.

The calibration and preprocessing was done using Nebulosity 4 and post processing in Adobe Photoshop CC2019. The image is comprised of

6 x 300s Luminescence, 6 x 300s Red, 6 x 300s Green and 6 x 300s Blue files giving a total integration of 2 hours.

I have noted some red marking in the image, I suspect this is because of a bad red frame that I missed during processing. This is my first attempt of LRGB that I effectively worked. I will post my method for aligning and calibration separately.

[kernownightsky]

I haven’t posted in a while, mainly because the skies seem to be cloudy when I am not working.

This is a luminosity picture of the globular cluster M3 taken on April 10 2019. It is comprised of 6 300s images captured using my Atik 314L+ and my 4″ Skywatcher refractor took 50 BIAS, 50 Flat field and 6 dark frames, all of which were processed in Nebulosity 4. I will post a quick run through of my process soon along with hopefully a colour composite after the RGB frames have been aligned, stacked and calibrated.

I also 

It is the first time I have been able to get any reliable guiding, albeit using the ST4 port on my mount.

[kernownightsky]

To  the North was the Aurora Borealis but while I was on the Frozen Lake Inari in Finland I could resist a quick pic of Orion, unfortunately thanks to the lens cap becoming part of my snow suit I didn’t grab any dark frames. The picture was taken on a Nikon D5600 with a fixed 35mm f1.8 Nikkor lens, ISO1600 and a shutter speed of 13s.