Yoddha

May thanks! A polar alignment routine is planned, but have to address requests with higher interest first...

Most likely it will be on Jan 7th

The long-awaited version APT 3.90 is finally here! It comes with automatic refocusing, advanced plan scheduling, new focusing method, native support for many CMOS cameras and long lists of other new features. That list is available here: http://www.astrophotography.app/news Note: If you are using Windows XP don’t install APT 3.90. And a screenshot of the nssionCraft

Thank you, Crackabarrel, Tim!

Many thanks, Peter!

Many thanks, Ciarán!

Many thanks! Looking forward seeing your image I have imaged with gain 100, offset 25 and temperature -15C. Read somewhere that with the CMOS sensors there is no big profit to go much lower than this point

Many thanks, Gus!

Hello, Allow me to share my latest project The Cepheus constellation part of the sky shows part of the Milky Way that host several star forming regions. One of the molecular clouds which spreads from 600 to around 1400 light years away from Earth and is named Cepheus Flare. Near one of Flare edges is the beautifully formed nebula vdB-141 also known as Sh2-136. “vdB” comes after Sidney van den Bergh who discovered the “dark” nature of the object in 1966. “Sh2”comes after from the second edition of Stewart Sharpless emission nebulae catalog published in 1959. It also has popular name “Ghost Nebula”. Being part of star forming region means that many things are happening. It is a reflection nebula that shines with the light of several stars embedded in it, most obvious is the one in the central blob. In right dark part there is cone shaped area – this is a Bok globule cataloged as CB230. The Bok globules are dark clouds in process of condensing and forming protostars. CB230 is considered to be producing a binary star system. The same place is also cataloged as Herbig Haro object HH 157. The Herbig Haro objects are nebulae around newborn stars that are formed in the nearby clouds by the ionized gas jets emitted by the young stars. It is an interesting area described in the results of different sky surveys. Total 29h 55min in 7 nights - L 65x900s, R 57x300s, G 50x300s, B 57x 300s (L bin 1x1, RGB bin 2x2). RC250 @ f/5.5, ASI2600MM, CEM60, Astrodon filters Acquisition : APT - Astro Photography Tool, PHD2 Processing: PixInsight Full details at : https://www.astrobin.com/cll4u0/ vdB-141, was in my ToDo list for more than 6 years, but somehow didn’t manage to get clear New Moon nights in the right period when it is high in the sky. However this season was a lucky one and managed to get 7 from good to great nights, near two new moons. This project is also the first proper light of my ASI2600MM. It is a bit sad that had to crop almost half of the frame because the 1.25” filters I have are too small for the sensor, but am very happy with the camera sensitivity which was the main goal of the upgrade from QHY22 Definitely like the result and hope that you will like it too

Many thanks, Lee!

Many thanks, Agnes!

Many thanks, Mariusz!

Many thanks, Alan!

Many thanks, Mick!

Hello, Allow me to present my latest finished image - The Seahorse Nebula (Barnard 150, LDN 1082) This dark nebula in Cepheus constellation, located at around 1200 light years away from Earth, is molecular cloud is part of our Milky Way galaxy. Many objects of this kind are areas of star formation - some in early stages, other in more advances one. Common is that there is still enough matter between them and us to cover densely the light of the contained bodies. As a result, we can’t detect them by direct reflection of bight source like the famous Iris nebula located nearby on our sky and almost at same distance as the Seahorse. Usually, we can observe such nebulae when there is background starfield. However, when they are closer to us, we can detect the reflection of the ambient Milky Way light. In such cases we can see not just black patch of sky, but structure, shapes and hints of color. This image is taken during the summer star party organized by our club, hosted by the biggest observatory in Bulgaria. Looks like the target is kind of hard nut for the used setup, but hope the result is pleasing for you Total 15h (180 х 300s in four nights), WO FD 80mm at f/5.6, Tak EM-200, ASI533 (gain 100, offset 79), APT, PHD2, PI, PS. Full details: https://astrob.in/9ypims/D/

Hello, You may try the APT feature that emulates stepper motor. More info can be found here: https://astrophotography.app/usersguide/scope___focuser.htm?ms=AAA%3D&st=MA%3D%3D&sct=NTIy&mw=MjQw points 20-22

APT was updated to version 3.88. It comes with new Auto Focusing Aid and long lists of new features and fixes. Great thanks to Stephen King, Benjamin Schulz, Jim Hunt and many other APT friends for investing so much time and efforts into making the new Auto Focusing Aid an easy to use and powerful tool! The list of the changes is available here: https://www.astrophotography.app/news

M106 is spiral galaxy located on our sky in the constellation Canes Venatici (Hunting dogs). It is ~135 000 light years in diameter and is 25 million light years away. It is Seyfert galaxy, which in short means that the blackhole in the center is giant (30 million times the mass of Sun) and that it is feeding very actively. The result are enormous amounts of energy busted especially in the ultraviolet and infrared parts of the spectrum. Having lots of energy is quite logical to see various interesting events triggered and happening Without doubt it is a nice target – big, bright and under handy angle, suitable for scopes of various sizes. We can’t image directly its "Seyfertistic" characteristics (in UV and IR) but few effects of them are visible even for amateurs – the red anomalous arms and the concentration of big stellar nursery regions (they look as dots being so away). I’m attaching the Ha channel which illustrates both mentioned features. Two abnormal arms are visible in left of the center towards 12 o’clock and are ~30 degrees off the galaxy disk plane. There is similar from the right side toward 5-6 o’clock but is not sow obvious as is overlapping with the regular arm. At 9 o’clock there is a big blob that looks like Milky Way’s star on the Ha and like something saturated on the combined image. It is bright but small in the other channels and being so bright in Ha makes it hard to process nicely. Maybe with bigger scope and more integration time could show hints of structure… It should be dominating nebulae on many skies in M106 area! https://astrob.in/yuhtaf/C/ Spectacular galaxy and was fun to make a second attempt on it, almost 10 years later. The previous one was lucky for me and brought me my first AAPOD Here is the final image : https://astrob.in/yuhtaf/0/ Imaged in three nights - March 26, April 9 and 10. Total 15 hours in subs: HII - 20x15min, L - 27x10min, R - 24x5min, G - 18x5min, B - 24x5min (RGB bin 2x2), RC10", QHY22, Astrodon 3nm, CEM60, APT, PI. More than 10 refocusing via the new Auto-Focus Aid in APT🤘

Many thanks!

Hello, NGC 7635, also known as the Bubble Nebula or Sharpless 162 was discovered in 1787 by William Herschel. At distance of ~7100 ly in constellation Cassiopeia, the bubble is 7 light years in diameter and is formed by very hot and massive O-star - the one at 6 o'clock near the border. The hot stellar winds forming the nebula are facing bigger resistance cold interstellar clouds in the lower part of the image than in the other directions, so the nebula expands uneven. This is the reason the star to be off the bubble center. The nearby cool hydrogen gas is shaped in pillars similar to the famous "Pillars Of Creation" and their presence is a sing of possible star formation activities. Imaged in six nights- September 05, 06, 11, 12, 15, 16 Total 38 hours in subs: HII - 51x15min, OIII - 48x15min, SII - 53x15min, RC10", QHY22, Astrodon 3nm, CEM60, APT, PI SHO palette with synthetic luminance created from the narrowband stacks

APT was updated to version 3.87. It comes with better support for ZWO and Altair Astro cameras, support for new Canon and Nikon models, settings profiles as well as more new features and many fixes. The usual list of the changes is available here: http://www.astrophotography.app/news

Thank you UHB!

Many thanks Alan! The spring will get back soon, but we are blocked in Sofia

Hello, This is my second round of the ASI533MC Pro testing. Again a popular target is selected in order to give better base for comparison. In this project didn't use any filters in order the camera own performance. Other change is that the gain is a bit lower than the unity, trying to increase dynamic range. As additional note, have to add that 2/3 of the frames were taken with moderate sky This winter was not generous and had to use what is given... I'm quite happy with the result The camera is sensitive and gave deep look on the object even with the smallish 80mm refractor. 97х5min = 8h 5min, gain 75, offset 70. WO 80FD, WO FRII, CEM60, APT, PI, PS

Many thanks!