steppenwolf

@Captain Scarlet Hi Magnus, it's great to see it going to such a good home.👍

The Monkey Head Nebula The Monkey Head Nebula is an HII emission nebula located 6400 light years away in the constellation of Orion. The nebula is associated with an open cluster of mag. +6.8 located at its centre. With a diameter of approximately 40 arcminutes, the nebula is larger than the full Moon. There is much debate over the correct designation of this object as some sources cite the nebula as being NGC 2174 and some stating the nebula as being NGC 2174/5. What is not in contention is that Stewart Sharpless logged this object as SH2-252 in his second and final catalogue completed in 1959. Personally, I go for the nebula being NGC 2174 and the open cluster being NGC 2175! It was my original intention to produce a bi-colour version of this image but the skies were atrocious and I was running out of time before a major re-shuffle of my gear so just the Ha is displayed here and even then, I only managed to capture 3 subframes before the clouds rolled in (AGAIN!). Image Stats Mount: Mesu 200 Telescope: William Optics FLT 98 Flattener: William Optics FR IV Camera: QSI 683 WSG-8 Filter: Astrodon 3nm Ha Subframes: 3 x 1800 sec Ha Integration: 1.5 hours Control: CCD Commander Capture: MaxIm DL Calibration, Stacking and Deconvolution: PixInsight Post-Processing: PhotoShop PS3 Visually This target lies 2.3° to the southeast of mag. +3.3 Propus and is a two for one object, comprising an open cluster (NGC 2175) and an emission nebula (NGC 2174) although most astronomers associate the nebula with NGC 2175. Lying in a rich star field, the almost circular shape is punctured by a dent in its western edge which stands out particularly well in images and helps to form the ‘monkey-head’ shape from which the nebula gets its common name. Inboard of this dent towards the east is an area of intense star birth. You’ll need a very large telescope to discern the shape of the nebula but a 4 to 6-inch telescope will show the open cluster very well. Location of Nebula and associated Star Cluster RA: 06h09m 36.0s DE:+20°29'00" Location of the open star cluster NGC 2175 Star Birth Region On the eastern limb there is a dent pushing westward into the nebula and here there is a huge stellar nursery that featured in the Hubble Space Telescope’s IR image (http://hubblesite.org/news_release/news/2014-18) released on 17th March, 2014. The nebula is comprised mainly of hydrogen gas which is ionised by the intense ultraviolet radiation emitted by the hot young stars within the nebula. This ionisation causes the hydrogen to glow red. Also associated with this nebula are some faint regions of reflection nebulosity giving a hazy blue appearance and some relatively faint dust lanes add interest to the interior. I hope you find this of some use as sadly, it will be the last image that I capture using this particular telescope and camera.

Like several 'Smart Telescopes' before it, it is too much money - ZWO and Dwarf Lab may not be as potentially competent but they are so much more affordable for those wanting to dip a toe .....

I know, Michael, it is a shock and yet another example of the world changing ..... I'll try not to do it too often 😄

It was really good fun, Rob and made a very pleasant change from my usual imaging sessions and certainly made some memories.

Well, this is a rare experience for me! A lovely crisp, clear night last night apart from a few clouds skidding past so not really an imaging night. However, my son and daughter-in-law are currently staying with us and Naomi has always said that she’d like too see Saturn ‘for real’ so a great opportunity to take the camera off the Esprit 150 and replace it with a diagonal and eyepiece(s). Not well placed at the moment but Naomi was blown away by her first real life view of a planet so we followed it up with Jupiter which was equally well received. Two hours later ……… Highlights included, Vega, M57, M13, Albireo, M31, M81, M82 and The Pleiades. Apparently, we are going to do this again on the next clear night where I will expect more really good and excited questions!

Excellent answer from Oddsocks 👍

Well here’s a first for me! Over the weekend, the sky was remarkably clear so I set up an automated imaging run on NGC 2024 (The Flame Nebula in Orion) and was disappointed to discover that the autofocus system failed to focus correctly. I carried out a manual test and noted that bright stars had a huge doughnut shaped halo around them but a quick glance outside confirmed the CloudWatcher’s assessment that there was no cloud around. It looked like this was local moisture but a close examination of the optics and field flattener of my Esprit 150 showed absolutely perfect condition and a quick glance at the filter with the camera removed also showed no sign of moisture so it had to be inside the camera. The QSI 683 is factory supplied purged with Argon gas which normally lasts for 2-3 years and then the installed micro-sieve desiccant in the supplied desiccant canister takes over. However, I have had the camera for 9 years and even though it has been installed in a de-humidified observatory, the atrociously wet conditions and a change in the way I use the dehumidifier (humidistat control rather than always ON because of the cost of energy these days!!), I guess the desiccant became saturated. So, instead of spending money on powering the dehumidifier 24/7, I am currently paying to run my oven at 260°C for 5 hours to expel all the captured moisture from the desiccant canister! Wish me luck – do you think I could bake a cake at the same time to get my money’s worth? Unscrew the Bolts on the Canister Cover Remove the Canister Cover and Brass Canister Remove the 'O' Ring from the Brass Canister Place the Brass Canister on a brand new Baking Tray with the Opening upwards Bake for 5 hours at 260°C Serve with Favourite Meal

I have all my astro gear purchases on a spreadsheet too and it makes for somber reading. However, it also has the items that were subsequently sold and the funds raised used to buy stuff for my other ‘hobbies’ so I reckon that I’m getting great value all round. I even have a spreadsheet of the amateur radio gear that I sold in 2004 to finance the purchase of my first astro gear so I can fool myself that I’m actually quids in!!

For the first time in months, last night I was outside just to observe and not a camera in sight (reviewing a beginner's telescope) and I can't tell you just how therapeutic and fun it was too. Because it was for a review, I observed a wide range of objects from double stars, clusters, globs, planetary nebulae and galaxies through to Jupiter and Saturn and I was reminded of what it was like when I first started out in astronomy - the pure delight of a clear sky, a swathe of Milky Way ribbon across the heavens, Saturn's rings, Jupiter's bands and the attendant pin-prick moons. What a great hobby this is!

Plenty of detail in here and a lovely wide FOV - well done on the slightly elusive OIII. Those halos are a pain though, I hope you can resolve the issue in post processing - are they confined to just one channel?

Thanks, Olly, sorry for the late response - I do like these SH catalogue objects. I have been trying for SH2-132 (Lion’s Head nebula) but believe it or not, the gazebo adjacent to my observatory is star spiking the stars so I’ll have to wait for it to move round a fair bit!!!

I think this is key to you issue!

Excellent, it looks like an original integral part of the camera 👍

I have a Starlight Xpress SXVF-M25C which has a similar tilt arrangement and although I didn't see any light leakage, I considered that there was sufficient risk to do something about it - The black tape has been on there for about 6 years now! Simple solutions are often the best....

IC 443 – The Jellyfish Nebula Introduction IC 443, also listed in the Sharpless Catalogue as Sh2-248, is a Supernova remnant in the constellation of Gemini. When the massive star at the core of the new nebula fully depleted its thermonuclear fuel, it imploded, forming a neutron star. The outer layers of the star then collapsed inward and then bounced out again in a supernova explosion. The nebula gets its common name from its uncanny resemblance to a jellyfish, complete with tendrils. The age of the nebula remains uncertain with estimates ranging from 3,000 to 30,000 years – not an exact science then! Its distance from Earth is generally accepted as being 5,000 light years. The Nebula is rich in Ha and SII emission but less so in OIII so unusually for me, I used the Hubble palette to produce this image and concentrated on getting a good number of OIII subframes under the best atmospheric conditions to ensure that I had sufficient data to help achieve an interesting colour balance against the Ha and SII data. Image Stats Mount: Mesu 200 Telescope: Sky-Watcher Esprit 150 Flattener: Sky-Watcher Esprit specific Camera: QSI 683 WSG-8 Filter: Astrodon 3nm Ha, 3nm OIII and Baader 8nm SII Subframes: 22 x 1800 sec bin 1x1 Ha, 25 x 1800 sec bin 1x1 OIII, 18 x 900 sec bin 1x1 SII Integration: 27.5 hours Control: CCD Commander Capture: MaxIm DL Calibration, Stacking and Deconvolution: PixInsight Post-Processing: PhotoShop PS3 Location Constellation Gemini RA 06° 18' 26.0" DEC +22° 30' 28.0" Distance ~5,000ly

Too low in the sky for me so delighted to see this lovely image - nicely done.

Flats are what are really required here but this is what I did in PhotoShop:- 1. Levels 2. Histogram balance 3. Levels 4. AstroFlat plugin (also available for The GIMP) 5. Levels 6. Curves

That's a pity, I hope that Telescop-Express come up trumps for you.

I needed something similar to connect my Esprit 150/Field Flatter to my OAG equipped QSI camera and I got John at JTech Design (http://www.jtechdesign.co.uk) to make one for me. He did a fantastic job and it is in constant use.

@Stu There's a blast from the past and for me, a very important blast - the review was noticed by a well known magazine and I was asked to write for them!! On the subject of Astronomy v Flying v Music, I too believe that there is a lot of overlap in the three interests but whether it is the 'maths' or something else, I know not. What I do know is that all three are great passions of mine ...... Fascinating thread this 👍

Thank you

Thank you Really pleased you like it Thank you - ah yes, I remember bedtime duty with the kids but in those days it kept me from my CB radio rather than astronomy!! I volunteered for the late night baby feed though as that meant I didn't feel guilty about staying up really late chatting on air .....

Thank you for your comments folks, I am delighted that my image has been well received.

Melotte 15 (Collinder 26) Description Located in the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way, Melotte 15 is an open star cluster that lies in the very heart of the Heart Nebula (IC1805) in the constellation Cassiopeia, approximately 7,500 light years from Earth. Also catalogued as Collinder 26, the intense radiation from the bright, hot, young stars within the cluster have eroded the nebulous region surrounding it to produce wonderful, intricate pillars of dust. The surrounding nebulosity glows brilliantly in the red portion of the light spectrum by the ionization of hydrogen gas which acts as a glorious backdrop to the darker dust regions making this an excellent target for both broadband and narrowband imaging. With clear skies a rarity at my location recently, I decided to produce this image using the bi-colour process wherein Ha is mapped to the Red channel and OIII is mapped to both Green and Blue channels to produce a detailed but false colour image. This allowed me to produce a colour image over just two nights Image Stats Mount: Mesu 200 Telescope: Sky-Watcher Esprit 150 Flattener: Sky-Watcher Esprit specific Camera: QSI 683 WSG-8 Filter: Astrodon 3nm Ha, 3nm OIII Subframes: 15 x 1800 sec bin 1x1 Ha, 14 x 1800 sec bin 1x1 OIII Integration: 14.5 hours Control: CCD Commander Capture: MaxIm DL Calibration, Stacking, Deconvolution and noise reduction: PixInsight Post-Processing: PhotoShop PS3 Location Constellation Cassiopeia RA 02° 34' 23.0" DEC +51° 32' 31.0" Distance ~7,500ly