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International Observe the Moon Night

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 08:19:47 +0000

Coming up on the 18th September 2010.

More information on the InOMN website.

Broadcasting on Night Skies Network

admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 08:03:51 +0000

I’ve been broadcasting (channel name ForthimageUK) video images of the moon and Jupiter the past few nights on Night Skies Network. It’s been great fun sharing the views with people around the world; some in places where it’s not yet dark, others with poor weather.

Worth a look if you get a chance and you can chat to some fellow astronomers round the world. The moon’s been too bright to do any astrophotography so this was a fun diversion. Thanks to all who visited and thanks to Jim Turner(?) for setting it all up.

Jupiter 2010-08-15

admin — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 07:51:29 +0000

2010-08-15 23:41UT
200mm f5 Newtonian x2 Barlow SPC900NC
120s avi 10fps, image stack 1154 frames
Processed in Registax 5
Seeing 6/10, Transparency 7/10
Still low in the sky 22 deg. altitude

M15 (NGC 7078)

admin — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 05:15:04 +0000

Globular Cluster, Pegasus
Mag 6.2 Size 12.3′
2010-08-15
200mm f5 Newtonian SW LPR MPCC
Canon EOS 350D Guided
10x120s 5x180s subs darks ISO 800
Processed in Nebulosity, PhotoShop CS5
Tried hard not to burn out the core in processing

M71 and new LPR filter

admin — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 13:52:03 +0000

M71 globular cluster in Sagitta.
Used a Skywatcher LPR filter for the first time with this one. It’s not as aggressive as the old Lumicon DS filter. However, it doesn’t work so well on nebulous objects. M31 showed a large LP halo around it with this filter.
200mm f5 Newtonian
10x180s subs, Canon 350D, SW LPR, guided.

M27 Goodbye coma!!!

admin — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 00:00:32 +0000

At last I have got rid of the horrible coma in the 200P. A Baader MPCC has done the job perfectly- well at least as far as I can see. Highly recommended! M27 looks better too and much more detailed than my last attempt at it.

Close-up on the Messier 1-30 page.

Planet “Art”

admin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 23:43:21 +0000

Still in the twilight zone here in Scotland so had to resort to playing around with Photoshop and creating some artificial objects. Can you spot the rust texture?

Markarian’s Chain

admin — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 08:49:07 +0000

A very transparent night here last night. Imaged M86 and M84, and also got part of Markarian’s Chain in Virgo. You can see at least 12 or 13 galaxies in this one image, the main ones being M86, M84, NGC 4458, 4481, 4402, 4425, 4403, 4387, 4388.

A couple of Leo galaxies

admin — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 23:30:03 +0000

M65 (right) and M66 in Leo. Not the best night and a meridian flip half way through the sequence meant that I only got 5×5 min subs as the autoguiding lost its way. A satellite sneaked its way across the frame too. The galaxies weren’t well centred and so the stars to the right show a lot of coma. Must get a coma corector as it is quite significant in the 200P.

M81

admin — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:14:26 +0000

M81 with the 200P on the Messier pages. 50 minutes of exposures ranging from 60s to 240s. Probably still needs longer because of the light lost through the DS filter.