Bill S

I like the look of that. It could be very useful for highlighting star forming regions etc.

Martin - My work-flow has been to do the Ls first and then R, G and B in that order. So, I get a bit of thrill when the first B goes in and the stack miraculously becomes colour. I sometimes add a few more subs of various types if the stack is too faint to see what I'm looking for. I've ordered a clear (but hopefully parfocal) filter to try instead of the L filter to see if I capture a few more photons as I think you suggested in another post. Have you any suggestions for work-flow and relative numbers of LRGB? There's probably some guidance from astrophotographers but I have not been paying much attention. I've got a hydrogen alpha and an oxygen III filter I have not tried yet for multispectral EEVA but they'll be a bit more tricky since they are probably not parfocal with the LRGB set (one of them is an Astronomik rather than a Baader). I do have the luxury of an electric focuser so I should be able get good enough reproducible offsets to cope. It's all getting a bit more complicated than I'd like, though. Bill

Now a couple of Abell planetaries. First Abell 24. This is very faint because it's fairly big and spread out. I really could not see anything with just the mono (i.e. L) subs and it was only when the R , G and B were added that something definitely showed up. Still pretty faint. Maybe one to come back to sometime. Astrophotographers taking much longer have come up with clearer images but that's not what I'm about. If you want something clearer how about this: https://britastro.org/node/20299 Another faint challenge is Abell 21. This is also known as The Medusa Nebula. Big again and it was thought to be a supernova remnant at one time. Pretty faint but again the colour was necessary to make it clearly visible. The mono subs did not show it up as well. More information on the web. The Wikipedia article has a bit more and a clearer picture but it was a 24 inch telescope and I'll bet they spent more time on it than I did. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medusa_Nebula There are some useful references to Abell planetaries and large PNs and I'll be having a bit more of a look. e.g. https://stellar-journeys.org/abellplanetary.htm http://www.reinervogel.net/pdf/Large_PN.pdf The last one I wanted to show is NGC 2371. It's also NGC 2372 because it was thought to be two separate objects. It's 4400 ly away and not as spread out as Abell 24 and 21 so shows up better. After looking at it and noticing the shape with the apparently detached outer lobes I found out it has the nickname The Candy Nebula. The colour is interesting but mono observing worked quite well. This picture from a somewhat more powerful set of equipment shows it a bit more clearly. https://subarutelescope.org/en/gallery/pressrelease/2003/07/01/2180.html All these snapshots needed some wind spoiled subs removing which is why the numbers of R, G and B don't match. Best regards Bill

A scope without a spider would help or even turning things so the spider vane wasn't on top. I noticed the green flare but did not check it out enough. The problem was that there was some movement during some of the subs, particularly the red and green ones. It was very windy. I've removed the worst and the result looks better. The green flare has gone and the nebula is easier to see. There's a bit of colouring of the diffractions spikes which can't be right but it's EEVA so I'll call it a result. Bill

Returning to Abell 12 (The Hidden Planetary) with LRGB imaging. Pleased that this seems to be worth doing to see a bit of the colour. Another interesting one which seemed to benefit from the colour treatment was NGC 2022. This is sometimes called The Watch Nebula. There's not enough magnification in my shots to show a lot of detail but it is possible to make out a hint of structure in the centre. The central star is said to be more than 120,000 K. It's 8210 light years away. I'll post three more planetary nebula from the a couple of nights ago later. Best regards Bill

Like you, Mike, I was prompted to look at NGC 969 etc. because it is December 2020's Webb Deep Sky Society's Galaxy of the month. There looked to be a few small faint fuzzies in the area between the NGC 974 and 978 so did a plate-solve and annotate. (No I didn't. astrometry.net and ASTAP did...) Great fun! Regards Bill

Abell 12 (also PK 198-06.1) This is sometimes called The Hidden Planetary because it is almost lost within the glare of mu Orionis. It is the Webb Deep Sky Society's Nebula of the Month for December 2020. See this for more interesting information: https://www.webbdeepsky.com/nebulae-clusters/2020/ It's that sphere of haze at about one o'clock under the diffraction spike. Its visibility does depend on the sky conditions. The glare from the star can be worse with more moisture. Could be worth a look another night and may benefit from use of filters. RGB perhaps or an OIII to cut the starlight down while allowing the OIII from the planetary nebula to come through. A reminder. When OIII lines in spectra were first seen it was thought they could be from a new chemical element (nebulium) just like the first detection of helium was in lines in the sun's spectrum (especially at eclipse). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebulium I've included a link to another picture of Abell 12 to help you spot it in my snapshot. http://www.caelumobservatory.com/gallery/abell12.shtml I took 25 15 second subs but discarded the first six because of a satellite trailing across. Regards Bill

Good capture. I reckon you’ve got the central star too (mag 14.8). Bill

Hickson 16 The Webb Deep Sky Society Galaxy of the Month for November 2020 is NGC 833. See this link for more interesting detail. https://www.webbdeepsky.com/galaxies/2020/ This, together with three neighbours, is Hickson 16. The group is also Arp 318. Owen Brazell (Webb Soc. Galaxy Section Director) comments that Arp 318 may also include NGC 848, but this in not in my snapshot. The group is also VV 1007. The Hickson members are labelled below Hickson 16a = NGC835 Hickson 16b = NGC833 Hickson 16c = NGC838 Hickson 16d = NGC839 Among other interesting features of the members of this group is NGC 833's classification as a Seyfert Type 2. I has a very active nucleus and are very bright in the infra-red. The group is about 160 Mly away. The observation was on 22 November and the snapshot is 32 x 15 second exposures using SLL and Jocular 0.3. Seeing and transparency were a bit second rate. Best regards Bill

I've put together a few notes about my use of Starlight Live and Jocular for LRGB imaging with filters. SLL Jocular LRGB Imaging Notes.pdf Regards Bill

It was not the best of evenings for observing yesterday. Very damp, not as transparent as it might be and a bright Moon. But, I was keen to have a go with some multispectral observing with Jocular 0.3. Initial captures were with SLL 3.0 using LRGB filters. What shall I try first? Start at the beginning. Well, the beginning of the Messier catalogue. M1 the Crab Nebula. Very happy with how the colour has added something including drawing attention to the HII filaments. What's next. The most photographed DSO, perhaps. The Orion nebula. Always worth a look. Another favourite worth a look and a snapshot to see how the software performs. The Cigar Galaxy. Again, some good colour from HII regions. One last one from last night's collection was the Eskimo Nebula. This is a planetary nebula at around 6500 ly. Yes, Martin Meredith, I am mightily impressed with Jocular 0.3. Edit: I've put some notes together about using SLL and Jocular for LRGB imaging to hopefully complement the Jocular manual. I've posted this in the Equipment EEVA section of SGL. Bill

Sorry about this. It's getting repetitive. I, too, could not resist a look at Comet C/2020 M3 ATLAS. It was certainly not in Lepus last night. And I wanted to have a go with Jocular 0.3 and try the gif feature. So I'm afraid it's a jump on the bandwagon ten minute time-lapse of the comet. I did have a look at some other things as well. Regards Bill

Another planetary nebula from a few nights back was NGC 2371/2372. There are two definite lobes to this and although there is only one planetary nebula it was catalogued by Dreyer in the New General Catalogue as two objects. This was carrying on the description as two objects (Class II: faint nebulae) by William Herschel according to Mark Bratton discussing it in The Complete Guide to the Herschel Objects. There are two faint lobes at right angles to the brighter lobes. These are further out and just visible in my stretched snapshot. As usual for PNs the distance is a bit uncertain 1600 to 5000 ly. The nebula is mag 13 and the central star is mag 15. Another one I'll come back to for another look. Bill

NGC 1514 The Crystal Ball Nebula This object was discovered by William Herschel on 13 November 1790 and so it will soon be its 'birthday'. Herschel had thought that all nebulae were unresolved distant masses of stars but this one led him to think some might be glowing gas. The origin of the nebula is a binary system and the star visible at the centre of the nebula is not the white dwarf that threw off the shell to give the nebula it's the giant type A star. The distances to planetary nebulae are often rather uncertain and I've read values of 600 to 2600 light years. The nebula is nicely set off by two bright field stars. I think they are guardians... And what is more there are even some diffraction spikes on the the bright central star. I will return to this (and several other PNs) when I've got the multi-spectral features of the latest version of Jocular and my filter wheel up and running. There are many interesting articles about this object. This one has some interesting diagrams about its structure and appearance. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0004-6256/140/6/1882/pdf Happy viewing. Bill S

Another look at Arp 98 from a few weeks ago when I was rambling around Triangulum. Seven minutes worth again although you could see the hook etc. after a couple of minutes worth of 15 second subs. All good fun. Bill

By Jove, Mike they are a bit faint. I had to look at these on a different laptop to see them more clearly. Well done for tracking them down and observing/snapping them. Bill

VV 894 is the NGC 128 galaxy group in Pisces. NGC 128 is a lenticular S0 galaxy interacting with its neighbours NGC 127 and 130 and probably NGC 126. NGC 128 was discovered by John Herschel on Christmas Day 1790. That's commitment for you. Don't waste a clear night! The NGC 128 group is the Webb Seep Sky Society's Galaxy of the Month for October 2020. Further details are on the WDSS website: https://www.webbdeepsky.com/galaxies/2020/ Clear skies Bill

Another faint comet from last night but not so faint 29P Schwassmann-Wachmann. This one's in Draco. At least it was a good distance from the 89% Moon. Mag 14 according to the BAA Comet Section page.

Over the past few night I had a good look at quite a few of the Arps mentioned recently in this thread. Arp 200 very impressive as others have shown. Arp 276 is a good example of a pair of interacting galaxies. And Arp 31 is a good example of an integral sign shaped galaxy. I took a fair number of subs and a lot of stretch + inversion helps show this clearly. It's nice to see an Arp that is not too dim or small. M77 is also Arp 37 and is 'only' 35 to 47 million light years away. (Estimates seem to vary.) Arps 113, 65, 295 are also fascinating sights.

Prompted by others observations and reports I decided to have a look at NGC 514 and SN2020uxz. Pleased that it showed up well. Marked it to clearly identify. The outer parts of the galaxy showed up and are easiest to see in the inverted snapshot. I believe the supernova is a Type 1a - the one where a white dwarf accretes material from its binary companion until it reaches sufficient mass to explode. The critical mass and resulting supernova brightness are relatively standard so this can be used as a standard candle for distance measurement.

Ah yes, I thought that rang a bell. Something I had a bit of a look at last year. I seem to recall I was prompted to have a look by a picture posted here by another observer. Some more information: https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Heavenly+taffy%3a+galaxies+in+collision.+(This+Week).-a0104730234 I also had to look up what taffy is. It's a type of American candy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taffy_(candy) Best regards Bill

+1 for Baader Wonder Fluid. Stating the obvious probably but remove all the dust and potentially scratching particles you can with a bulb type blower. (I avoid canned air/gas blowers.) I might also give a bit of a sweep with a Lenspen. Finish off the cleaning with Baader Wonder Fluid as per Martin Meredith's suggestion. I would however check the guidance from the manufacturer, if available. Looking at some comments about QHY cameras the sensor may be covered with a transparent window held in place with shellac. Why not contact the manufacturer? If you can't get anything from them I know Modern Astronomy sell QHY cameras so Bern may be able to advise. See: https://www.qhyccd.com/bbs/index.php?topic=5690.0 Cheers Bill

+1 for plate solving. Even though I've been doing it for a while I still think it seems a bit magical especially when I think back to doing things with paper charts and a finder scope. It surprised me when I first managed to set it up and it worked. Different ways of finding things. It's all fun and it's all astronomy. Cheers Bill

Mike - I had a bit of a look at WBL 612 earlier this year. I didn't do as much work on it as you have. I think I've rotated this snapshot to about match your orientation. It's only a single shot so not covered the full extent as well as you. Interesting to try and pick out some of the patterns. (Well I thought it was anyway!) Cheers Bill

Mike - the adaptor you give link to looks good to me. That should not stop you pushing the Ultrastar into the focuser. One thing to note with the c to 1.25 inch adaptor (needed to allow you to add the reducer) is that you want one with no shoulder on it. A shoulder will stop you pushing the camera into the focuser tube. So a plain one like this: Not one with a shoulder like this: The adaptor I use to attach the reducer to my Lodestar is ~14 mm. I do have an even shorter one but I do not normally use that. I hope this is useful. Cheers Bill