fealeybob14

Thanks Josef. I did use Stellarium as you mentioned and aligned my photo with the position of M82 and M81 in Stellarium at the approximate time of photo. At 7:40 pm StarLink # 1176 passed through the field of view at the same angle as indicated on the photo! As above I don’t know if this caused the stacking process to ignore subsequent images.

M81and M82 plus a StarLink (?) trail from a cold last night in the observatory. After the satellite passed the stacking routine began to ignore frames so I stopped the stacking at 155 frames with 70 ignored! Don’t know if the satellite streak made that happen or not.

Another photo taken tonight of the horsehead nebula area. Fortunately there was little to no streaking artifact likely due to efforts to reduce any condensation on optical elements in scope and camera and a lower relative humidity (in 55-65 range). Results are more satisfactory. Star sizes and color are not optimum but I’m just a beginner at…[Read more]

Another view of the Horsehead Nebula taken the night of February 6. The ZWO ASI183MC camera was rotated a bit and the 384 frames were 10 sec each. Image processed in the ASI studio (contrast stretch) and Photoshop elements. While I like this view the best the light streaking across the image is still evident. Will contact ZWO to see if they can…[Read more]

Thankful for some mild nights lately especially with the winter constellations in view. Below is an attempt to photograph the astounding area of Orion near the bright ‘belt’ star Alnitak. The Horsehead nebula and Flame Nebula are in the area and both appear with Alnitak in the photo below. An artifact {stacking?, light leak?, CMOS chip related?)…[Read more]

Thank you Josef. Below is another view of M 101 supernova change processed a bit more (dark frame subtraction done)

M 101 (Pinwheel Galaxy) taken last night, 2-1-2024 is blink compared with an image taken in May 2023 to see change in supernova of 2023. While still visible is has attenuated quite a bit. Last night’s image was taken with the AT80ED scope with ZWO M183C camera, live stacking 1147 5 second frames.

Will take a look John. Also check out the Gemini meteor shower later tonight!

Thank you Jim!

A tale of two Messiers: M 97 also known as the Owl Nebula and M 108 a starburst galaxy also known as the Surfboard galaxy are within a degree of each other in Ursa Major. The image was taken with the AT80ED refractor and ZWO 183MC camera on 12/7 at midnight (or so). I used Stellarium as a source for the star labels.

Must say I am obsessed with the galaxy M33 in Triangulum especially the structural detail one can obtain using a small refractor (AT80mmED) and live stacking images taken with a modest astronomy camera (ASI ZWO183MC) and an accurate, polar aligned tracking mount (Sky Watcher Star Adventurer Gti). In the image below (a live-stack of 501, 5 second…[Read more]

Just noted a paragraph that’s repeated on page 13, concerning filters and M57!

What a superb newsletter Bill; I think it beautifully portrays all the contributions from our members and makes one excited about winter observing (yes even here in MN). Congratulations to all!

Nice eclipse pics Mike. Bill, see my post above.
Last night I took another look at M 33 in Triangulum; it is well placed for imaging. Good article in Nov Sky and Telescope too. Below image is 307 5 second live stacked frames with dark frame correction taken with the 80mm ED refractor and ASI 183MC camera. A light cloudiness was present at the…[Read more]

To Bill Davidson above! Yes Bill I would be honored to have you publish the pictures. Details for the Crab Nebula are as follows:
Scope: Astro-Tech 80 mm ED refractor (AT80ED)
Mount: Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi
Camera: ZWO ASI183MC color astronomy camera
Exposure: Live stack of 137, 5 second frames (11.4 minutes)
Processing: Dark frame…[Read more]

The same photo with a dark frame subtraction and Photoshop Elements processing is shown below.

Of course I had to take a look and photo of the magnificent Orion Nebula M 42 that was rising early am of Oct 10. The photo also taken with the ASI 183MC camera was 58 frames of 5 seconds each stacked and saved as FITS file.

In the early morning of October 10th I finally observed and photographed M1 the Crab Nebula with my 80mm refractor. The photo below was taken with the ASI 183MC camera; 137, 5 second frames were stacked.

There are still a of artifacts in my pictures. I wonder if Mike C might comment on processing a FITS image file. When I try to do deep sky stacking of Light and Dark files I get an error message in ASI studio that it can only process one channel when I input the FITS color image file taken with the ASI color camera?! Also I couldn’t get DSS…[Read more]

The November Sky and Telescope issue features M33 a galaxy in Triangulum. Presently it is high in the eastern sky around midnight and its large size and galactic detail provides a good target for small telescopic astrophotography. Below is an image I obtained on 9-13 with AT 80ED mm refractor and ZWO 183M camera. 400 5sec frames were live…[Read more]