petevasey

Well, despite the substantial high pressure zone, for the North of Britain it hasn't been kind. It actually rained on Friday night, and didn't clear until 10.30 pm last night. Tonight is solid cloud. Heigh ho! Anyway, I did manage four hours of OIII last night although M1 was getting pretty low towards the end of the run - it was already past the meridian when I started. And although the stars are a bit bloated due to my usual poor seeing, the 'tail' is clear, so thanks for originally pointing it out, Olly. But whether I'll later incorporate the data in a full colour image is another story. This is 8 x 30 minutes binned 2x2, QSI683 on RC10 Truss. Full size, cropped from the original, North is up. Cheers, Peter

A cracking image, Peter of what would appear to be a very difficult target - well done, particularly to have the first colour image. I suggest you submit it to Astronomy Now - a good candidate for Picture of the Month! I see you imaged it remotely from what no doubt was clear dark Spanish sky. So you've set us quite a challenge in the UK! But there are a few clear nights forecast over the weekend - I'll have to see what my murky Northumberland sky can produce..... Cheers, Peter

There is another Nebula in M46, the Calabash Nebula (OH 231.84 +4.22). This is a protoplanetary nebula - a planetary in early stage of formation. It is believed to be part of M46, not superimposed. Barely visible in my image, this is a highly stretched monochrome crop, but just identifiable when compared with Adam Block's image, which of course was taken with a 32" telescope at 9000 ft above sea level! I may return to M46 and try for some Hydrogen-alpha data to bring up the fainter parts of NGC2438 and perhaps the Calabash, but because of the low altitude it will need data from more than one night. And the way the weather has been, it doesn't look very promising. The Hubble image is absolutely gorgeous.

Just a thought, Göran, I wonder if in your travels and in connection with your profession you have ever come across a relation of mine, Professor Lindsay Ross, University of Stirling, Scotland. He's now semi retired, but still active in his field which could be linked to yours. Cheers, Peter.

Hi, Göran, No I'm not a biologist - an engineer by profession, long retired! Just did a bit of browsing about jumping snails. Fascinating creatures! And I came across this page which as you will see mentions the society meeting in Valencia. But now that I look at it more closely I see it's dated 2013. Oops! Those snails of yours seem to be pretty robust creatures - I hope your and other research leads to ways to protect the flora and fauna of the Great Barrier Reef from the effects of global warming.. Cheers, Peter

That's very interesting, Olly. There's a recent image from 'Bruce W.' here, taken in New Mexico, Ha LRGB so no OIII and even when stretched doesn't really show that tail. It's certainly not in my LRGB image from 2008. Cloudy tonight, and the Moon is getting bright and close to M1. But I'll mebbe have a narrowband look in a couple of weeks and see what my murky UK skies will throw up! Cheers, Peter

Thanks, Goran, yes my 400L has a screwed label. But a different layout to yours. Experimentation needed! Seems you had a multi successful trip including a blue (water) Christmas Will you be presenting your findings at the Experimental Biology meeting in Valencia in July? Cheers, Peter

Yet another cracking image, Göran. thank you for sharing. For interest, maybe yours and others, I've uploaded a Google Earth light pollution overlay for Oceania, including Australia, New Zealand and much of the Far East. Could be useful for anyone planning Astro trips. I hope it's accessible. I'll check once I've posted this and if it hasn't worked, I'll put it on my web site. Edit : Yes, checked and it worked I hope you managed to get your research done with all those late nights You've certainly lifted the bar for the Star Adventurer. I have one, but so far only used it in real anger for Solar Eclipses. A great travel mount. For the Solar images, I used my Canon 700D and 400L f5.6 lens, but of course I could also use autofocus. I have a dingus for fine focusing - a couple of rings which clip onto the lens, one on the focus ring, one on the lens body with a fine adjustment linking the two. But it's very awkward to set up. I really like your Heath Robinson system - innovative and oh so simple! I hope you don't mind if I pinch the idea! Cheers and a Happy New Year Peter Oceania Artificial Night Sky Brighness.kmz

More difficult than I expected, the Witchhead nebula in Eridanus has always been on my must do list, but always eluded me. Until last night! Although I was out at friends to see the New Year in, I was able to leave things running from around 9.30 pm with the dome drive doing it's business, and got an uninterrupted flow of images for around 6 hours starting with the target on the 'wrong' side of the Equatorial mount. Had to scrap a couple from the end of the run - too low in the sky. But this is the result of 11 luminance and 6 each RGB, all 10 minutes binned 2x2. QSI 683 on TS65 quad refractor. But as I say, difficult - it's a faint target and low in the sky for me, never rising above 28 degrees altitude so lacking in contrast. I might have another go this winter if the weather is kind for more data around the transit. But for now (and maybe for ever for me!) this will have to do. North is down to show the profile at its witchiest. Cheers and a Happy New Year to all Peter

This has always been on my hit list, but never imaged. Until last night which was unexpectedly clear for a few hours after many cloudy nights. M46 is very low in the South for me, never getting higher than 20 degrees, so generally hazy and disturbed, leading to a certain amount of star bloating, although the Starlight Xpress AO unit did it's best - the guide star was bright enough for 5 frames per second. Last night conditions were not good and I had to scrap some subs due to thin cloud, but managed to get usable 9 Luminance and 6 each RGB. All 5 minutes binned 2x2, QSI 683 on RC10. The cluster pretty well fills the field of view, but I wanted also to capture the planetary nebula NGC2438 in the foreground. All things considered I'm reasonably pleased with the result. Forecast to be clear tonight, but being New Year's Eve I'm out visiting all evening. Typical! Maybe I'll get something after midnight Cheers, and Happy New Year to all. Peter

Well done indeed Goran. Thank you for sharing. And pretty lucky with the weather - on the two occasions I've been far South, it's been the opposite - cloudy almost every night. The best opportunity was the Cradle Mountain nature reserve in Tasmania. Very dark, and we had beautiful sunny days every day, but as soon as the Sun went down the fog arrived. Cheers, and a Happy New Year Peter

Thanks everybody. Well spotted Graham! I meant to submit it for the December issue, but forgot. However when I did submit it, I pointed out to them that " the January issue will be in most people's Christmas stockings before 25th December" and bless them, they obliged. So a Happy Christmas to all at Astronomy Now. Cheers, Peter

It's real for sure. Just look at the original (linked above) All I did was exaggerate the star colours. (Used Noel Carboni's Star Spikes Pro without adding spikes) Cheers, Peter

This is King20 in Cassiopeia. Taken with my QSI683 on my 10" RC Truss, cropped and enhanced. I first posted it last January when I got the image, but not in time for Christmas. So here it is again Best wishes to All Peter

I used mainly Deep Sky Stacker, although finished off in Photoshop. And had problems accurately selecting the comet until I remembered to press and hold 'Shift' while moving the cursor over the comet. That might help. Best of luck, Peter