After almost two years

Here we are for a planetary night. Mars has just passed its opposition and Jupiter is bright in the sky.

Clear night in Cambridge

Yesterday was a very nice night here in Cambridge (quite rare). There was a disturbing moon, luckily not to high on the horizon. I have chosen a bright subject: the Triangulum Galaxy. This is the result of  only 45 min total exposure:

M33 - Triangulum Galaxy

Modded Canon EOS 1100D at the prime focus of C8 (tracking not guided). 45x60 sec frames , 10 dark , ISO 800 stacked with DSS and processed with Gimp.

Then, this morning, I have stacked those shots together with other 60 one minute frames taken on 1/12/2013 in Binningen with an unmodified Canon 1100D and this is the result:

M33 - Triangulum Galaxy

Modded Canon EOS 1100D  45x60 sec frames + Unmodded Canon EOS 1100D  60x60 sec frames (Total exposure = 105 min), 10 dark , ISO 800 stacked with DSS and processed with Gimp.

First attempt in Cambridge

Yesterday night I have done my first job here in Cambridge. Just with the Canon and the standard 55mm lens, tracking with the Vixen Polarie.

M31 - Andromeda Galaxy

Modded Canon EOS 1100D mounted on a tripod with the Vixen Polarie Astro-tracker.

55mm lens, f/5.6, ISO 800. 82x30sec frames stacked with DSS and elaborated with Gimp.

Sunflower Galaxy

Yesterday night the sky was so clear that I easily saw the Milky Way! I took advantage of it to collect light from the Sunflower galaxy.
I then added the 80 frames I got to the ones I took last year. In this way I obtained a total of 100 frames (1 min each) and this is the resulting combined image:

M 63 Sunflower Galaxy

Modded Canon EOS 1100D at the prime focus of C8 (tracking not guided)

100x60 sec frames , 30 dark , ISO 800 

stacked with DSS and processed with Gimp

Warm night

Yesterday night at 11 pm the temperature was 30°C, so hot!
The sky was quite clear. There was a bright moon, so I decided to photograph a bright globular cluster, then I waited after the moonset at 1 am and I started to shot at the Dumbbell nebula...

M 92 globular cluster

Modded Canon EOS 1100D at the prime focus of C8 (tracking not guided)

30x60 sec frames , 10 dark , ISO 800 

stacked with DSS and processed with Gimp

M 27 - Dumbbell Nebula
Modded Canon EOS 1100D at the prime focus of C8 (tracking not guided)
111x60 sec frames , 30 dark , ISO 800 
stacked with DSS and processed with Gimp

New light for the Ring Nebula

Yesterday night I took one hundred shots of M57. Then I have added them to the fifty frames of last year observation, using DSS.

M 57 Ring Nebula

Modded Canon EOS 1100D at the prime focus of C8 (tracking not guided)

152x60 sec frames , 30 dark , ISO 800 

stacked with DSS and processed with Gimp

Planetary night

After many rainy days a quite good night. I wanted to capture the last images of Mars before its distance boecomes too far. I waited also for Saturn but I got a not perfect image because the planet was too law on the horizon... Anyway I have used the picture to create a comparison between two images taken at one year time interval.

Mars

Celestron C8 with 2x Barlow

CCD Imaging Source DMK31AU03.AS Monochrome.

Composition of 3 filtered RGB images.

Saturn

Celestron C8 

CCD Imaging Source DMK31AU03.AS Monochrome.

One year rings angle variation.

Mars

Yesterday, with a good sky after many rainy days, I have worked again on Mars...
These are three monochromatic images made with red, blue and green filters:

And this is the final combined image:

Mars

Celestron C8 with 2x Barlow

CCD Imaging Source DMK31AU03.AS Monochrome.

Composition of 3 filtered RGB images.

A new Barlow lens

Yesterday I have gone to buy a new TeleVue Barlow lens 2x to substitute my old one 3x that is too strong for my C8 telescope.

With it I have done a good work in the same night!

Crater Plato

Celestron C8 with 2x Barlow

CCD Imaging Source DMK31AU03.AS Monochrome.

500 frames at 1/25 sec processed with Registax.

Vallis Alpes

Celestron C8 with 2x Barlow

CCD Imaging Source DMK31AU03.AS Monochrome.

500 frames at 1/25 sec processed with Registax.

Crater Copernicus

Celestron C8 with 2x Barlow

CCD Imaging Source DMK31AU03.AS Monochrome.

500 frames at 1/25 sec processed with Registax.

Mars

Celestron C8 with 2x Barlow

CCD Imaging Source DMK31AU03.AS Monochrome.

Composition of 3 filtered RGB images.

New light for M51

In the second part of the night I took 90 exposures (1 min) each of M51. Then I added them to my previous collection of images of the galaxy. This is the result:

M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy

Modified Canon EOS 1100D at the prime focus of C8 (tracking not guided)

160x60 sec frames , 30 dark , ISO 800 

stacked with DSS and elaborated with Gimp

Craters Aristoteles and Eudoxus

Yesterday night, with a good seeing,  I photographed the Moon:

Craters Aristoteles and Eudoxus

Celestron C8.

CCD Imaging Source DMK31AU03.AS Monochrome.

500 frames at 1/50 sec elaborated with Registax.

Jupiter in color

I have obtained three images with red, green and blue filters. Then I have composited them using Gimp.
Here the three images and the final result.

Red

Blue

Green

RGB

Jupiter and Mars

As Mars is running towards the opposition and yesterday night we had a good seeing, I tried to take some picture of the red planet. While waiting it rising up, I started to practice with the 3x barlow lens. I know that it is too strong for my C8, bringing the focal length from 2m to 6m! It is quite impossible to focus correctly...
Anyway these are the results:

Jupiter

Celestron C8 with a 3x Barlow lens.

CCD Imaging Source DMK31AU03.AS Monochrome.

500 frames at 1/30 sec elaborated with Registax.

Mars

Celestron C8 with a 3x Barlow lens.

CCD Imaging Source DMK31AU03.AS Monochrome.

500 frames at 1/30 sec elaborated with Registax.

Horsehead and Flame Nebulas

This is a picture of the Horsehead area made with my modified Canon 1100D piggybacked onto the C8. I decided to desaturate to get a b/w image.
At the end of the processing a dark narrow band appeared on the photo. I have erased it with the retouch tool... I must understand what it was.

Horsehead and flame nebulae

Modded Canon EOS 1100D piggybacked on a GE mount (no guide). 300mm macro lens, f/5.6, ISO 
800, 90 x 60 sec RAW frames , 30 dark frames, processed with DSS and Gimp.

Here the color version:

M96 Galaxy in Leo

M 96 galaxy

Modded Canon EOS 1100D at the prime focus of C8 (tracking not guided)

70x60 sec frames , 30 dark , ISO 800 

stacked with DSS and elaborated with Gimp

First attempt at the Horsehead Nebula

An excellent seeing last night, so i tried to photograph the Horsehead Nebula with my C8. Unfortunately the 2m focal length without focal reducer is not the best solution...
The result of 50 min integration is very poor, the horse is hardly visible on the right side; the light on the left is the star Alnitak and you can see part of the NGC 2023 at the very bottom:

Horsehead Nebula

Modded Canon EOS 1100D at the prime focus of C8 (tracking not guided)

50x60 sec frames , 10 dark , ISO 800 

stacked with DSS and elaborated with Gimp

M1

Yesterday night work:

                                               M1 Crab Nebula

Modified Canon EOS 1100D at the prime focus of C8 (tracking not guided)

20x120 sec + 30x60 frames , 10 dark , ISO 800.

stacked with DSS and elaborated with Gimp.

Increased integration time...

I have added the two images of Orion (before and after camera modification):

M 42 - Orion Nebula

Unmodified/Modified Canon EOS 1100D at the prime focus of C8 (tracking not guided)

90x60 sec frames , 10 dark , ISO 1600/800 

stacked with DSS and elaborated with Gimp

Modified Canon 1100D

Yesterday I went to Engen (DE) to DSLR AstroTEC, where Tobias converted my Canon taking off the IR filters.
http://www.dslr-astrotec.de/index-eng.html
Now I can photograph the emission nebulae because the HII line is not cut off anymore...
This is my first attempt with the Orion Nebula. You can compare it with the last one made before the conversion.

M 42 - Orion Nebula

Modified Canon EOS 1100D at the prime focus of C8 (tracking not guided)

42x60 sec frames , 10 dark , ISO 800 

stacked with DSS and elaborated with Gimp

Orion Nebula

M 42 - Orion Nebula

Canon EOS 1100D at the prime focus of C8 (tracking not guided)

50x60 sec frames , 10 dark , ISO 1600 

stacked with DSS and elaborated with Gimp

Jupiter

Celestron C8, CCD Imaging Source DMK31AU03.AS Monochrome with a yellow filter.
800 frames at 1/20 sec elaborated with Registax.

Supernova in M82

On 24/01/2014 I obtained this picture of the new supernova SN2014J in the Cigar galaxy M82 at a distance of 12 million light years.

M 82

Canon EOS 1100D at the prime focus of C8 (tracking not guided)

100x60 sec frames , 10 dark , ISO 800 

stacked with DSS and elaborated with Gimp

HD Moon

Yesterday there was a very good seeing...
Images are made with Celestron C8 and CCD Imaging Source DMK31AU03.AS Monochrome, keeping the best 10% of about 1500 frames at 1/125 sec elaborated with Registax.

Venus in Infrared

Yesterday at 16.45 from my garden in Binningen :

Venus

Celestron C8 and CCD Imaging Source DMK31AU03.AS Monochrome with a IR filter. 1500 frames at 1/200 sec elaborated with Registax.

Three objects during a clear night

Nice spiral galaxy in Camelopardalis:

NGC 2403

Canon EOS 1100D at the prime focus of C8 (tracking not guided)

60x60 sec frames , 30 dark , ISO 800 

stacked with DSS and elaborated with Gimp

Hubble's Variable nebula in Monoceros:

NGC 2261

Canon EOS 1100D at the prime focus of C8 (tracking not guided)

60x60 sec frames , 30 dark , ISO 800 

stacked with DSS and elaborated with Gimp

The Iris reflection nebula:

NGC 7023 - Iris Nebula

Canon EOS 1100D at the prime focus of C8 (tracking not guided)

30x60 sec frames , 30 dark , ISO 800 

stacked with DSS and elaborated with Gimp

New image of Merope

I have reprocessed the Mereope picture adding 30x60 sec frames:

The Big Red Spot

Clear and dry night! Here is Jupiter with its red spot (in B/W):

Celestron C8, CCD Imaging Source DMK31AU03.AS Monochrome with a red filter.
800 frames at 1/20 sec elaborated with Registax.

Venus

Yesterday, before Merope, I tried to photograph Venus. It was low on the horizon. The result is quite poor...

Venus

Celestron C8 and CCD Imaging Source DMK31AU03.AS Monochrome. 800 frames at 1/200 sec elaborated with Registax.

Merope

Yesterday night it was so cold that my telescope froze! Before to go back inside, I obtained some images of Merope (one of the Pleiades). It is the star surrounded by the major part of the nebulosity (look at my previous post). After processing of the final picture I had a surprise: if you look at the star, you can see a small spot attached on the right side of the disc. I thought it was due to a dust grain on the lens, but then, searching on the internet, I discovered that it is a little nebula (IC349) distant only 0.06 light years from Merope!

Merope and IC349

Canon EOS 1100D at the prime focus of C8 (tracking not guided)

80x30 sec frames , 20 dark , ISO 800 

stacked with DSS and elaborated with Gimp

Here a detail of IC349 in a black and white image elaborated to decrease the luminosity of the star: