JonW

NGC1499 California Nebula

JonW — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:15:19 GMT

NGC1499 California Nebula

NGC 1499 California Nebula 1

JonW — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 18:11:37 GMT

NGC 1499 California Nebula 1

Can't wait till the next opportunity to get some RGB frames...

M1 Crab Nebula 7

JonW — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 19:05:21 GMT

M1 Crab Nebula 7

M1 Crab Nebula 6

JonW — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 19:56:48 GMT

M1 Crab Nebula 6

M33 The Pinwheel Galaxy 3

JonW — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 21:00:51 GMT

M33 The Pinwheel Galaxy 3

TMB 80/480 Piggybacked on a 8" Meade LX-90 GPS with standard wedge QSI 583ws with Tele Vue TRF-2008 Focal Reducer spaced at 57mm. Baader LRGBHa Filter set. Tccd -25C.

Autoguided using LX-90 with Meade 3.3 FR and DSIIc with 1.0S update rate in MaximDL (via QSI relays & APM)

L:8 960S un-binned subframes, RGB:10 240S 2x2 binned subframes, dark, flat frame, bias calibration and stacking done in MaximDL. Luminance frame sigma-scaled, wavelet iterative filter applied, and then gammalog stretched. RGB frames sigma scaled, and wavelet iterative noise filter applied. LRGB image then formed in AIP4Win2.2 using the join colours tool. Final curves tweak and slight unsharp mask in Photoshop.

Taken on 27-11-2010

Notes: Taken in one session. Seeing not particularly good but this has been the first clear night with no moon for several months here.

NGC 7000 North America Nebula and IC5071 Pelican Nebula Take-3

JonW — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 19:55:21 GMT

NGC 7000 North America Nebula and IC5071 Pelican Nebula Take-3

TMB 80/480 Piggybacked on a 8" Meade LX-90 GPS with standard wedge QSI 583ws with Tele Vue TRF-2008 Focal Reducer spaced at 57mm. Baader LRGBHa Filter set. Tccd -25C.

Autoguided using LX-90 with Meade 3.3 FR and DSIIc with 1.0S update rate in MaximDL (via QSI relays & APM)

Ha:12 960S un-binned subframes, RGB:8 480S 2x2 binned subframes, dark, flat frame, bias calibration and stacking done in MaximDL. Ha frame sigma-scaled, wavelet iterative filter applied, and then gammalog stretched. RGB frames sigma scaled, and K-Sigma noise filter applied. HaRGB image formed in AIP4Win2.2 using the join colours tool. Final levels adjust and slight unsharp mask in Photoshop.

Taken in two sessions RGB 28-09-2011 and Ha 15-10-2011

Notes: re-processed again, correct colour balance this time...

NGC 7000 North America Nebula and IC5071 Pelican Nebula Take-2

JonW — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 18:17:07 GMT

NGC 7000 North America Nebula and IC5071 Pelican Nebula Take-2

TMB 80/480 Piggybacked on a 8" Meade LX-90 GPS with standard wedge QSI 583ws with Tele Vue TRF-2008 Focal Reducer spaced at 57mm. Baader LRGBHa Filter set. Tccd -25C. Autoguided using LX-90 with Meade 3.3 FR and DSIIc with 1.0S update rate in MaximDL (via QSI relays & APM) Ha:12 960S un-binned subframes, LRGB:8 480S 2x2 binned subframes, dark, flat frame, bias calibration and stacking done in MaximDL. Ha & L frames sigma-scaled, wavelet iterative filter applied, and then gammalog stretched. RGB frames sigma scaled, and K-Sigma noise filter applied. HaLRGB image formed in AIP4Win2.2 using the join colours tool. Final levels adjust and slight unsharp mask in Photoshop. RGBL taken 28-09-2011, & Ha 15-10-2011 Notes: Ha frames taken in better conditions, plus about 25% from the luminance filter

NGC 7000 North America Nebula and IC5071 Pelican Nebula

JonW — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 14:45:33 GMT

NGC 7000 North America Nebula and IC5071 Pelican Nebula

M101 Showing Supernova PTF 11kly, Wide Field Image

JonW — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 20:31:38 GMT

M101 Showing Supernova PTF 11kly, Wide Field Image

TMB 80/480 Piggybacked on a 8" Meade LX-90 GPS with standard wedge QSI 583ws with Tele Vue TRF-2008 Focal Reducer spaced at 57mm. Baader LRGBHa Filter set. Tccd -25C. Autoguided using LX-90 with Meade 3.3 FR and DSIIc with 5.0S update rate in MaximDL (via QSI relays & APM) L:3 480S, un-binned subframes + L:2 960S un-binned subframes, R:2, G:2, B:2 240S 2x2 binned subframes. All frames: dark, flat frame, bias calibration and stacking done in MaximDL. Luminance frame sigma-scaled then wavelet iterative noise filter applied, and then brightness gamma-log scaled in AIP4Win.2. LRGB plates joined in AIP4Win2.2 using the join colours tool. Final levels adjust and slight unsharp mask in Photoshop. Taken in one session 03-09-2011 The best frames hand selected from the batch, very difficult to image through gaps in the cloud cover.

M101 & Supernova SN 2011fe (PTF 11kly)

JonW — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 19:30:58 GMT

M101 & Supernova SN 2011fe (PTF 11kly)

TMB 80/480 Piggybacked on a 8" Meade LX-90 GPS with standard wedge QSI 583ws with Tele Vue TRF-2008 Focal Reducer spaced at 57mm. Baader LRGBHa Filter set. Tccd -25C. Autoguided using LX-90 with Meade 3.3 FR and DSIIc with 5.0S update rate in MaximDL (via QSI relays & APM) 28-08-2011: Just 2 subframes of each RGBL (L:480s, RGB: 120s) 3-09-2011: RGBLL (L1 9:480s L2 2:960s RGB 3:240s) 14-09-2011: RGBL (L1 3:960s RGB 3:240s) 28-09-2011: RGBL (L1 5:960s RGB 3:240s) All images processed identically, bias, dark and flat frame calibration, then stacked in MaximDL. Stacked frames then wavelet noise filtered, luminance frame gamma-log brightness scaled and then colour frame produced using join colours tool in AIP4WIN2. No other processing applied. Supernova 2011fe marked on the left hand frame. I've been collecting images whenever possible, and managed to get few frames on the 14th September to add to this frame. Due to the near full moon on the 14th, have had to fix the background gradient, and unfortunately the contrast is lower. A few more frames taken on the 28th September as the supernova starts to fade.

M101 + Supernova

JonW — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 21:51:55 GMT

M101 + Supernova

TMB 80/480 Piggybacked on a 8" Meade LX-90 GPS with standard wedge QSI 583ws with Tele Vue TRF-2008 Focal Reducer spaced at 57mm. Baader LRGBHa Filter set. Tccd -25C.

Autoguided using LX-90 with Meade 3.3 FR and DSIIc with 5.0S update rate in MaximDL (via QSI relays & APM)

L:2 480S un-binned subframes, dark, flat frame, bias calibration and stacking done in MaximDL. Sigma-scaled then wavelet iterative filter applied, and then exponentially stretched. Final levels adjust and slight unsharp mask in Photoshop.

Taken in one session 28-08-2011
Finally, a break in clouds, rain and neighbours' bonfires, only to find the GPS module was broken and the LNT battery was flat... Still managed to get a handful of frames (colour to follow) after setting the scope up manually. Note: this is just the central third of the image, no resampling applied.

M5 Globular Cluster in Serpens

JonW — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 19:02:51 GMT

M5 Globular Cluster in Serpens

TMB 80/480 Piggybacked on a 8" Meade LX-90 GPS with standard wedge QSI 583ws with Tele Vue TRF-2008 Focal Reducer spaced at 57mm. Baader LRGBHa Filter set. Tccd -25C. Autoguided using LX-90 with Meade 3.3 FR and DSIIc with 5.0S update rate in MaximDL (via QSI relays & APM) L:9 120S, un-binned subframes, R:11, G:11, B:9 60S 2x2 binned subframes. All frames: dark, flat frame, bias calibration and stacking done in MaximDL. Luminance frame sigma-scaled then K-sigma filter applied, and then brightness gamma-log scaled in AIP4Win.2. LRGB plates joined in AIP4Win2.2 using the join colours tool. Final levels adjust, slight unsharp mask, and residual coma removed in Photoshop. Taken in one session on 02-07-2011 Notes: It's been a long wait for clear skies here, this is the first reasonable attempt at imaging a cluster...

M64 Black-Eye Galaxy Region

JonW — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 10:54:20 GMT

M64 Black-Eye Galaxy Region

Note: this is just the central two thirds of the image taken. I needed to apply a background fix to remove a sky gradient (escaped my observation on the initial post due to high ambient light). This was also the first attempt with a fully automeated capture including focusin (just wish for a permanent observatory now...). Ha didn't buy much apart from some nebulosity around some of the stars.

M51 Whirlpool Galaxy - 2

JonW — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 00:21:21 GMT

M51 Whirlpool Galaxy - 2

IC405 Flaming Star Nebula + IC410 + NGC1893 - Colour

JonW — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 22:24:51 GMT

IC405 Flaming Star Nebula + IC410 + NGC1893 - Colour

Moon - Montes Apenninus and Mare Serenitatis

JonW — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 23:21:23 GMT

Moon - Montes Apenninus and Mare Serenitatis

10" Meade LX-200 Classic Alt-Az Mounted, unguided

Meade DSI IIIc at the prime focus.

54 0.001S Subs, captured and stacked on the fly in Envisage. Wavelet sharpening/sun flash removal applied in AIP4WIN 2.2. Final finishing in Photoshop with a slight unsharp mask and levels tweak..

Taken on 13-03-2011

Notes: First real attempt to image with the LX200. I was surprised how obvious the the extra resolution of the 10" was in practice. The DSI III has also failed again, so this may well be the last image ever captured with this camera...

M42 Region

JonW — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 20:11:16 GMT

M42 Region

IC405 Flaming Star Nebula + IC410 + NGC1895

JonW — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 22:10:05 GMT

IC405 Flaming Star Nebula + IC410 + NGC1895

IC434 Horse Head Nebula 8

JonW — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 01:53:44 GMT

IC434 Horse Head Nebula 8

TMB 80/480 Piggybacked on a 8" Meade LX-90 GPS with standard wedge QSI 583ws with Tele Vue TRF-2008 Focal Reducer spaced at 57mm. Baader LRGBHa Filter set. Tccd -25C. Autoguided using LX-90 with Meade 3.3 FR and DSIc with 5.0S update rate in MaximDL (via GPUSB & APM) Ha:7 900S un-binned subframes, R:18 G:18 B:18 240S 2x2 binned subframes, dark, flat frame, bias calibration and stacking done in MaximDL. Ha Sigma scaled and Wavelet noise filtered followed by exponential stretch in AIP4Win 2.2. Colour plates re-sampled and K-Sigma noise filtered, regsitered and joined in AIP4WIN 2.2 using join colours tool. Final levels adjust and slight unsharp mask in Photoshop. Taken over 3 sessions 8-01-2011, 26-02-2011 and 3-03-2011.

M99 Region

JonW — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 21:01:50 GMT

M99 Region

TMB 80/480 Piggybacked on a 8" Meade LX-90 GPS with standard wedge QSI 583ws with Tele Vue TRF-2008 Focal Reducer spaced at 57mm. Baader LRGBHa Filter set. Tccd -25C. Autoguided using LX-90 with Meade 3.3 FR and DSIc with 5.0S update rate in MaximDL (via GPUSB & APM) 9R-10G-6B 480S 2x2 binned subframes, dark, flat frame, bias calibration and stacking done in MaximDL. RGB plates K-Sigma noise filtered, gamma-log scaled and joined in AIP4Win 2.2. Final levels adjust and slight unsharp mask in Photoshop. Taken in one session 26-02-2011 Notes: The detail buried in here is just incredible... Have a look for the trail of Christine 628 (complete with gaps where I had lost frames) just above and to the right of M99, this was in the shot by pure luck, and not planned!