Wish List!

A picture of my wish...Skywatcher Pro ED on an SLT mount. (Not mine!)

It's the twilight season, when it never gets dark, so not much happening at the moment. I'm now thinking about later in the year, when I can sit in the garden on a warm evening with a can of beer imaging around the rich Cygnus area!

Its now time to upgrade my imaging set up and buy myself a Skywatcher Pro ED80!

What can I say...superb APO scope, price reduced, ideal for imaging, fits onto my SLT mount...need I say more?

Phoenix landings

These are even more incredible images!

Click the image to see full size!

The amazing picture was captured on May 25th by the HiRISE camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Though the lander looks like it might be dropping straight into Heimdall, it is really descending about 20 kilometers in front of the crater, in the foreground of the scene. The orbiter was 760 kilometers away from Phoenix when picture was taken, at an altitude of 310 kilometers. Subsequently the orbiter's camera was also able to image the lander on the surface. The parachute attached to the backshell and the heat shield were identified in the image, scattered nearby. Of course, the Phoenix lander itself is now returning much closer views of its landing site as it prepares to dig into the Martian surface.

Why we have not seen these these pictures on the news is beyond me, we see bad news and Gordon Brown every day, but what about celebrating the achievements in technology?

In 1969 images like this made front page news and this was just the Moon!

This is Mars ... amazing!!!

Phoenix has landed!

Two brilliant images here, the first is Phoenix with the chutes open taken from the Mars Orbiter and the second is the Phoenix on the ground.

Watched the Phoenix land live last night on NASA TV, absolutely amazing! The initial images from a polar region of Mars excellent!

Mind boggling to think that I sent my name to Mars as part of the mission along with Melissa's!

For the first time in human history, we have landed in a polar region on another planetary body. Congratulations to the Phoenix team — we are on Mars!
Now — armed with a suite of science instruments and a digging robotic arm — the spacecraft and its team on Earth can begin hunting for water ice and adventure.

My name — along with a quarter million others from around the world — is now on the surface of Mars. Landing with me on the DVD disk is Visions of Mars, a treasure trove of literature and art — from classic works by Arthur C. Clarke and Ray Bradbury to Orson Welles' radio retelling of "The War of the Worlds" to a special audio recording of Carl Sagan delivering a message to the future.

M101 Pinwheel Galaxy

My first attempt at M101, the Pinwheel Galaxy in Ursa Major.
This is one of those objects that is difficult to see because it is quite big with a high surface area. I could not find it with my SkyWatcher 130m. I'm really pleased with my first attempt with a scope and equipment that is really working at it's limit. If you look carefully you can see another feint galaxy to the lower left of M101.
Conditions were not ideal when I took this image, a lot of hight cloud and light pollution, but I managed to filter out some of it to produce an acceptable image.

M45 and Nebulocity

This image was taken on 4th March when the sky was super clear!

I have used photoshop to try to bring out the nebulocity in the cluster. The blue glow is caused by gas that is ionised by the hot, blue stars in the cluster. I had to play with this for quite a while because I kept getting a 'ghosting' effect when the 60 images were stacked.

The result is in fact only 7 images @ 45 sec stacked.

Brings out the nebulocity nicely!

The Crab Nebula

Supernova remanant M1, The Crab Nebula.

Taken on 9th February with the Canon 350D, about 70 exposures at 45 seconds, ISO800.

Again, this is another object that I have not been able to find by just using skymaps and 'star-hopping'. Very frustrating...but now I have managed to image this object a couple of times with help from the SLS GoTo mount and Skywatcher ST80. A feint object really, so I am working at the limit of my present set-up. You can see 'The Crab Nebula' clearly, but does not look much like a crab! I cannot bring out any of the 'filaments' using Photoshop that bring out any detail. I think that longer exposures are needed to capture detail.

I've been investigating buying a Skywatcher 80ED1 Pro (APO Refractor), this seems like the next logical step in order to move on to better imaging with the SLT mount.

Space Shuttle Night Lift-Off

Space Shuttle Endeavour on it's way to the ISS.

Fantastic image of the Space Shuttle this morning on it's way for a 16 day misson to the International Space Station with part of a large Japanese laboratory. The lift-off was about 5.00am here.

Now, when there is a Space Shuttle mission it has always been possible to see the ISS passing overhead, so maybe I will try again to capture some images with the Skywatcher 130 telescope and webcam.

Whirlpool Galaxy M51

M51 Whirlpool Galaxy

Wow! I've waited a long time to try to capture this one!

I gave up trying to see this galaxy with my Skywatcher 130 last year. It is really hard to find in the constellation of The Plough and I just could not find it. Since then The Plough has been low down in the North East so I have had to wait until it is high enough and clear enough to attempt to find it with the SLT computerised mount and Skywatcher ST80 telescope. I was confident that I could find it, but not sure how well to image it.

The image above is beautiful, don't forget that this is taken with a wide-field, short focal length, 80mm scope. I'm amazed!

Here are some details: 60 exposures, 45 sec each, ISO 800 with my Canon 350D. Taken on the 4th March 2008.

A beautiful clear night, the best seeing for a long time!

Earthquake!

Just to prove that the Earth is a living planet that has tectonic plates, tonight we came 'down to Earth'.

At 1.00am the largest Earthquake for 25 years was felt all over the country!

I was in bed when suddenly the whole house started to shake and the walls vibrated with a low frequency rumble. It was scary!

The tremor lasted for about 10 seconds with a magnitude of 5.2, one of the most powerful ever felt in this country.

Christmas Tree Cluster

This star cluster in named because it looks like an upside down Christmas Tree.
It has another name associated with it, the Cone Nebula. In my photo I managed to capture the star cluster and some nebulocity in the top right of the 'tree'. To bring out the true colour of this object it would need much longer exposures than the one above.
This image was about 30 exposures at 45 sec. each with the ST80 and Canon ED350D.
Quite a difficult one to process this!

ISS and Space Shuttle

6.40pm on the 10th February and the International Space Station with the Space Shuttle passes over high in the sky. This image was taken with the Skywatcher 130 and Philips Toucam Pro II attached. Probably the most difficult object to capture as it moves at an amazing speed and hard to capture it with a camera.
I set up the equipment by focusing the webcam on the Moon and adjusted the red spot finder to track the ISS manually as it came over. Now the Skywatcher 130 is huge and the sensor on the webcam is tiny, so capturing any AVI is pure luck! I managed to capture about 20 frames from over 2500, I really tried hard to follow it as it came overhead, but really hard!
If you look carefully you can see the shape of the ISS and some nice colour too.
Amazing to think that what the image shows is the International Space Station and also the Space Shuttle bringing the European add on to the station.
I'll try again if I can to capture a better image!

Flame and Horsehead Nebula

This is my first attempt at these nebulae in Orion. I have always wanted to be able to see or image the Horsehead Nebula, I remember looking at a colour photo years ago when I was doing my Open University Course (S256) and I was stunned by the beauty of this nebula.

The last three days have had amazing weather! 15 degrees, wall to wall sunshine and clear nights! (and it's half-term)

The image above was taken with my Skywatcher ST80 and Canon 350D camera. About 100 x 45 sec images, iso800, stacked and processed in Deepskystacker and Photoshop. I think that I now need to move onto a longer focal length refractor like the Skywatcher ED80. Again, I am limited by the exposure time with the SLT mount, 45 sec seems to be the limit with the ST80. Maybe I can give it longer with an ED80.

The Phantom Galaxy M74

M74 The Phantom Galaxy

In this months Sky at Night Magazine this elusive object was named 'The Phantom' because it is the most difficult of Messier Objects to find and take images of it. Back in November I managed to find and image this very feint object. Not a lot of detail and I wish now that I had given the object another hour of imaging time.

I used the computerised SLT Mount and ST80 telescope to find M74 and was amazed when it appeared on screen. This image was made up of about 30 stacked images at 45s, ISO 800 with my Canon 350D.

M33

M33 Triangulum Galaxy

Rain, Rain, Rain...this is looking like the wettest Winter on record!

No chance of taking the equipment out into the garden as it is totally waterlogged.

Last week I bought a copy of the CD 'A Guide to Astrophotography with Digital SLR Cameras' a great resource with videos of using Photoshop to get nice results. Here is M33 taken in November, at the time the background was very red and spoiled the image. I have now neutralised the background which has revealed a lovely image of M33.

Thanks to Jerry Lodriguss and his CD which came super fast through the post from America!

Enhanced M42 Nebula

M42 Orion Nebula

I took this image on 12th December during a lovely, clear frosty night. I have worked on the image for a long time to improve it, so here it is!Taken with my Skywatcher ST80 and Canon 350D camera, about 100 subs @ 45s, stacked in DeepSkyStacker and processed in Photoshop 7. This is by far my best image of M42 so far. I'm quite pleased with this one!

The other day I bought a copy of 'A Guide to Astrophotography' this is a CD with video tutorials about processing with Photoshop. One of these is very simple operation where the background colour and noise can be neutralised. The result on this image was amazing! The CD came from America, but arrived in 3 days!

I love Orion, a spectacular sight in the Winter sky. I always wanted to find out more about the 'blur' of the Orion Nebula. I have often seen photos taken from huge observatories, but never thought for a minute that I would be able to photos of my own like this!

Christmas Eve Spectacular!

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

Christmas Eve, and you're snuggled cozily in your den. A glowing fire gently crackles and pops in the fireplace, and your head starts to droop as you nod off. Just then, something cold and wet nudges your cheek. You open your eyes to stare directly into a large black nose. It's time to take the dog for his walk.
Grumbling in vain, you put on your coat, snap the leash onto the wiggling dog's collar, open the door to a rush of cold air. You step outside and enter a magical landscape.
The night isn't dark, it's glowing with a silvery-white light. Up above, the 98% full moon looks huge and clear in the azure sky. It just might be the brightest moon you've ever seen. That's because it's the highest-riding full moon until the year 2023.

And not far from the beautiful moon glows fireplace-red Mars. This Christmas Eve, Mars is at its closest to Earth for the next nine years. Mars is also "at opposition." That's astronomy-lingo for "directly opposite the sun." It means Mars is up whenever the sun is down: on Christmas Eve, the Red Planet will be visible all night long.

As Christmas scenes go, it doesn't get much better. Gliding in formation across the sky, the moon and Mars seem so close you could almost reach up, grab the pair and bounce them down the street for Fido to retrieve.
Or maybe you could lasso them, as George says in the movie It's a Wonderful Life. "Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down. Hey! That's a pretty good idea! I'll give you the moon, Mary...."
In the years ahead, NASA is going to lasso the moon. NASA's giant Ares rocket, still on the drawing board, will take form and then take mankind back to that brilliant silver orb where scientists will learn how to harness the moon's powers.
Plans are to establish a lunar base for exploration and use the moon's surface as a springboard to even further destinations. At the moon's poles there is evidence of hydrogen and perhaps actual water frozen in the soil. Furthermore, ordinary moonrocks are made of minerals that contain more than 40% oxygen. These are resources that can be used to produce rocket fuel, breathable air and a welcome drink on a dry, dusty world.

Maybe on some future Christmas Eve, one of us will step outside of our cozy lunar cabin and walk our space-suited dog with long, floating steps down some dusty lunar road. We'll look up and say, "There's a pretty full Earth tonight!"
But on this frosty Christmas Eve, your feet crunch Earth's cold ground with a crisp clear sound as you walk back toward the house looking up through the silvery stillness at the lovely moon and its bright partner, Mars. The only other sounds you hear are dog tags jingling like sleigh bells. Suddenly a shadow flits across the moon. A cloud? A plane? A sleigh! Maybe those were sleigh bells you heard!
Smiling to yourself, you open the door to go back inside, taking one last glance at the night sky and one of the loveliest heavenly sights you’ll see for years.

The Pleaides M45

Beautiful image of M45 taken on 10th December.
The Pleaides is a wonderful cluster of stars that is now visible high in the South East. I used to call it the 'Little Bear' because it looks like a minature version of Ursa Major 'The Plough'.
This cluster is very special as all the bright stars are blue and very hot. This makes nearby gas to glow because of the energy and produces nebulocity. I have taken images before of M45, but could not capture the glow. This time I managed to capture M45 with it's blue nebulocity and looks beautiful!
Tonight the sky is clear and the Moon sits low in the Southern sky, but it is frosty and really cold, I really didn't feel like going outside tonight. My next task is to try to image the Horsehead Nebula and Flame Nebula. I have never seen these before, but judging by the results of the Orion Nebula, i'm sure I can capture a reasonable image.
I'm beginning to think about changing some of my equipment, the Skywatcher 130m is brilliant for planetary work with the webcam, but I cannot attach the Canon 350D. Should I replace the scope with a Skywatcher ED80 refractor? This can easily be attached to the SLT mount...hmm....still thinking!

Orion Nebula M42 and Running Man Nebula

These images taken on 10th December, the lower image is a closer view of the blur at the top of the Orion Nebula image.

Cold, clear and frosty evening and a beautiful sky! At first I took about an hour of images of M45 Plaiedes while I waited for Orion to rise over the rooftops. I have waited a long time now to try to capture a more detailed image of the Orion Nebula with my Canon 350D. This is my first attempt and results are stunning! I played around a bit with colours which has given me several different results, the one above is my favourite!

The image is composed of 60 x 30s images, stacked in Deepskystacker and processed in Photoshop 7. Canon 350D and Skywatcher ST80 telescope.

If you look closely at the lower image you can see a shadow of a 'running man' this is a feint nebula above the main Orion nebula

Comet Holmes 17p

These images taken of Comet Holmes on Sunday Night 11th November with the ST80 telescope and Canon 350D camera - wonderful!
The comet is gradually becoming bigger but more transparent, you can clearly see stars through the coma and the colour is stunning. Apparantly, Comet Holmes lost it's short tail a couple of days ago, but even then it was difficult to image. I think the bow of the comet is facing the Earth and the tail (what there is of it) is trailing behind.
Comet Holmes has reached a diameter of 1.4 million Kilometres, this makes it the biggest object in the solar system, bigger than the Sun in size but not mass.

Latest M33 and M74

M33 Pinwheel Galaxy and M74 Phantom Galaxy

Beautiful clear night on Sunday, crisp and frosty!

I wanted to try again at M33 with the ST80 and 1 minute exposures. I can't really go further than that with the mount because of star rotation. I'm not sure if Deepspacestacker will correct larger rotations.

Much more detail than my previous attempts, but I can't bring out the colour, probably because longer exposures are still needed. Still..i'm still amazed that I can capture this galaxy at all!

I am even more amazed to capture an image of M74 galaxy! This feint little object close to M33 has a magnitude greater than 10.0. Cannot even see it visually! You can see the shape of this spiral galaxy, but not much detail...i'm dead pleased with it though!

I've got to say that the Celestron SLR GoTo mount is brilliant, no way would I be able to find thse objects with my Skywatcher 130m. They are face-on spiral galaxies and are a sod to find!