gorann

Thanks Olly! I bought the Hyperstar many months ago but postponed using it since I thought I would have to spend several nights collimating it. I am now so surprised how well this f/1.9 Hyperstar system behaves just from start - no collimation needed as there are very minor issues with star shapes (the AI of BlurXT2 probably laughed at those when being fixed). I have had more trouble with my RASA8 stars, where I just hope for the best every time I have to detach a camera for changing filter. With the Hyperstar system I have a filter slider. I might just be lucky but then it is Hyperstar version 4 of the optics so probably they made serious progress.

Yes I always wonder why a PN looks the way it looks. They are all different.

Stewart Sharpless discovered this nebula in 1959 and included it in his catalogue of HII regions found in photographic plates taken at the Palomar Observatory. This is a bit odd as the brightest part is primarily emitting blue Oiii. However, this image shows that there is quite a lot of Ha emission surrounding it. Beverly Lynds subsequently included it in her catalogue of bright nebulae as LBN 674. In 1983 astronomers Herbert Hartl, Johann Dengel and Ronald Weinberger included Sh2-200 as HDW2 in their catalogue of possible planetary nebulae. Finally in 2017 it was confirmed to be a true planetary nebula (PNG 138.1+04.1). To the right of the PN we can see Trumpler 3, an open star cluster, and up in the top left corner there is a bluish smudge that I found in the HASH database to be a true PN named PNG 139.0+03.2 (possibly a first on Astrobin) This is a HOO image (so Ha to the red channel and Oiii to the blue and green channels), and it is the first proper image taken with my Edge HD11 with Hyperstar v4. Camera is a QHY268MM with Baader f/2 4nm Oiiii filter (28 x 5 min) and Antlia 3nm Ha filter (22 x 5 min), so about 4 hours with this light bucket. Processed in PI and PS with the XT tools. Cheers, Göran

That is a truly outstanding M101 Oskari! Why more data if you with what you have can produce such an image? Up here in the north @wimvb and I have also concluded that we have taken our final images for the season due to moon and lack of astrodarkness. Good thing is that we avoid exposing our optics to the pollen season.

Thanks! @ollypenriceand I are usually mixing focal length in our images, which is against the rules of this particular competition.

Thanks a lot! No idea about the SN, maybe nobody knows. After all it happened many million years ago😃. Yes, that scope is a great asset but not without problems. I had booked it for yesterday night but the roof refused to come off even if the sky was totally clear and no rain in sight. Those responsible for running it from Sweden could not get it working and I guess there were nobody awake in Oria, Spain. So a wasted night, but when it works it is generally without problems!

The Japanese amateur astronomer Koichi Itagaki discovered the supernova SN 2024gy in NGC 4216 on January 4, 2024 (marked below). Before that he had accomplished the incredible feat of discovering more than 170 supernovas. At that time it was still quite dim but later increased in brightness. My image shows that it is still clearly visible. I collected the data 12 April with the Margareta Westlund Telescope in Oria Spain (available to members of the Swedish Amateur Astronomical Society). Most images I have seen of these galaxies are RGB images. I thought it would be worthwhile to also collect some Ha, so this is a HaLRGB image revealing quite a bit of Ha regions in the galaxies. Planewave CDK 17 with ASI6200MM. 20 x 2 min of each RGB, 87 x 2 min Lum, and 15 x 5 min Ha. Totally about 6.2 hours. Processed in PI and PS, including the new XT tools. Cheers, Göran

Amazingly deep image and a great idea to point the RASA towards M51 & Co. I wonder if it would be worth while for me to point my RASAs at the same area with IDAS NBZ (Ha+Oiii) filter on? The moon is up but the NBZ still makes imaging possible.

This is hobby for me and I never thought about making money out of it, just loosing money. Some seems to try to do it by selling images on the net. I wonder if they have any success. Why bother to pay for something that you can download for free (just pick any of the superb images posted on Astrobin) and print yourself to put on the wall. So, if you think there is any money to be made of this hobby, just forget about it.

Yes, an old lady and astro-enthusiast named Margareta Westerlund donated a chunk of money and that started it. Then some students a Lund University volunteered to write software to make it easy for simple minded people like me to run it. Just getting my first subs for tonight in now!

I am so lucky being a Swede since some heroes at The Swedish Amateur Astronomical Society has managed to get donations and set up a 17" Planewave CDK in Oria, Spain (Ian King's hosting facility). As a member I can use it for about 40 Euro for a whole night. I had the whole night yesterday and will have it for two more nights. Now sitting here up clouded in in Sweden waiting for my time slot to begin i 9 minutes. Something for a UK club to think about. Here is my previous one from March with the Spanish scope:

Gary Imm just posted an image of Arp 271 on Astrobin and as usual with a very informative text, well worth reading for those that want to know more about these interacting galaxies: https://www.astrobin.com/prhkiw/

Oh Yes, you should be very pleased with that result Steve! The object was new to me and it appears to be rather rarely imaged. I hope you soon get the chance to add those extra subs you desire.

I would try to keep that sand of the front lens🤔

I just saw this image of The Eyes on Astrobin. So there are some interesting details but you need a lot of time and a bit more focal length: https://www.astrobin.com/v1x34t/?q=The Eyes of March - NGC 4435 and 4438

Great decisison, this is pionering astrophotography!

PS. If you invert you image and darken it a bit the probably Monogem ring becomes quite apparent and it looks like you have about half of it in you image:

As far as I know there are no images of the whole Monogem ring, so you are pioneering here. I am amazed that you managed to capture such clear Oiii structures already after an hour. If I was you I would be tempted to capture a few more hours of this apparent ring structure that in your image appears to encircle the PN Hu 6. Keep up the good work on your amazing project!

Your promising image reminded me that I should reprocess my image of this object from two years ago using the new XT tools. It was 12 hours of RASA 8 data using the IDAS NBZ filter on an ASI2600MC. This is a great NB object, so I suggest that you put your L-extreme filter on next time to get to all that Oiii and Ha. As you see, there is also a lot of Ha in the neighborhood if you go deep enough, so adding subs pay off. Cheers & CS, Göran

Really intriguing structures Alex! I think that what you have caught may be parts of an enormous SNR called the Monogem ring. I once caught just a little part of it near Dreyers Nebula. You can read a bit about it on my Astrobin post (https://www.astrobin.com/yzuvc3/B/), and a subsequent news item in Astronomy Now. I suggest you contact Marcel Drechsler that could give some more insight. What equipment did you use to catch the image? Cheers, Göran

great news Steve! Will you put the heater back on? Maybe use a separate power source for it.

Really nice! Getting that blue out in this object is a challenge! Using Ha as Lum, as suggested, is usually a bad idea and as you say it turns everything salmon coloured, In this case it would really suppress your blue signal.

Thanks Olly! Would be nice if it is a unrecognized SNR😃

Last night I got my first proper light with my EdgeHD11 with Hyperstar v4, which compared to my RASA8s can fit in a filter drawer so I can easily change filters (and of course it has twice the light grasp of a RASA8). I put in a Baader 4 nm Oiii f/2 filter and aimed at the mysterious blue object I discovered in Cassiopeia about a month ago (https://www.astrobin.com/cnvp2s/). I then imaged it with RASA8 and an IDAS NBZ dual-band filter (Ha+Oiii) so it was likely a Oiii emitting object, but that filter also let some blue reflection nebulosity through (especially with a light bucket as a RASA). So with the Hyperstar I wanted to make sure it was Oiii the object was emitting. Unforunately I only got 6 x 5 min before clouds moved in. However, for this 11" f/1.9 scope that was enough to reveal a clear Oiii signal, although a bit noisy. When I posted my RASA image Marcel Drechsler enlightened me that the object was registered in Simbad as GSH 122+02-77 "Interstellar Shell" (http://simbad.cds.unistra.fr/simbad/sim-basic?Ident=GSH+122%2B02-77&submit=SIMBAD+search) with no further info and it has apparently never been imaged. At least we can now be quite sure it is emitting a significant amount of Oiii. Marcel has just sent this and my previous image to Prof. Robert Fesen at Dartmouth College in the US for evaluation - could possibly be a new SNR, I keep my fingers crossed. Surprisingly, the Hyperstar v4 with a APS-C camera was producing good enough corner stars right out of the box (although I bought it second hand) and the small deformations was easily taken care of by BlurXT2. A tri-Bahtinov mask I put on last night gave a quite symmetric spike pattern, suggesting no collimation is needed (I have the Hyperstar in a fully screwed in position). That was a big releif. Camera used was a QHY268MM, all on an EQ8 in an obsy next to my dual-RASA8 rig (I will definitively not stop using that). Cheers, Göran Here is the Hyperstar Oiii image from last night: And the RASA IDAS NBZ image from February: