James

That’s lovely and there is a ton of dust in that area. I just finished the same target but with the RedCat 71 and the mono version of the 2600; when it came to colour calibration in PixInsight I needed a bit of background that wasn’t dusty… I struggled!

With recent clear skies I think I'm finished this one now, in previous years I've only been able to collect Ha, this year I've managed to get some OIII and SII too so here's my version of the Rosette Nebula. There's an absolute ton of Ha around it and if only we got some more clear skies I'd try to mosaic between the Rosette to the Christmas Tree Nebula area. But.. we don't so that'll probably not be happening! This image is taken through a William Optics RedCat 71 with an ASI2600MM-Pro using Optolong 3nm narrowband filters on an iOptron CEM40 all managed with an ASIAir, processed in Pixinsight with a little help from Blur/NoiseXterminator.. All subs are 5 minutes with 29x Ha, 20x OIII and 19x SII so just over 5 and a half hours data. The weakest data is the OIII, note to self... in future make the effort to get more OIII!. Of the three filters the OIII had a slight gradient to the top - which is in the direction of Exeter so it's evidently letting in just a little light pollution unlike the other two filters. I am wondering just how far the Ha goes to the bottom left...

… but you got it 😊👍

It was your image that made me aware of Thors Helmet being so close. Perhaps this will need to be a work in progress and maybe I’d better try a mosaic 😊

That’s a lovely image - it was your image that made me realise Thors Helmet was that close to the seagull… I thought I was finished but now Im thinking I’ll have to do a mosaic . I have a slightly longer window each night (about 2-3 hours) but now the moons coming round and it’s cloudy again anyway…fingers crossed…

With the recent clear spell I've been out doing my usual coping in the cold with lots of food, hot drink etc etc and doing some imaging.. the imaging being somewhat secondary to the eating methinks.. I've got a couple of southern targets I've been trying to do for years and every time I've tried something has gone wrong. My efforts with the Witches Head aren't looking great (horrific gradients) but I've managed to get something of the Seagull Nebula, IC2177, in Monoceros. Or at least, I seem to have turned something named after a humble, albeit irritating, seaside bird into something that looks like a vengeful Ukrainian eagle .. The image was taken using an ASI2600mm-Pro with Optolong narrowband filters through a RedCat 71 all managed by an ASIAir and comprises 25x Ha, 21x OIII, 17x SII subs all at 5 mins, so, just a little over 5 hours in total. Ideally I'd have done more OIII and SII but circumstances get in the way. In fact this object seems to have a fair bit of SII unlike so many other objects. I've used the Hubble palette for mapping the filters.. (Ha to Green, SII to Red and OIII to blue). I was/am surprised at just how much stuff there is to the bottom right and I've actually toned it down slightly as it was overshadowing the main attraction. I haven't done much with he stars, partly time, partly they look OK (bar a few quirkily coloured ones). I don' think I'll be going back to this one as I've like to get more of the Witches Head, though I fear with the moon returning and spring approaching (honestly, it is) I fear that'll get delayed till next year.. Just for fun I've put a screenshot from SkySafari showing where the Seagull is.. I know most of you know but some may not... and I didn't know that 'Thors helmet' is just a short way away to the bottom right of this image until a friendly soul pointed that out. Hmm.. perhaps a mosaic is needed The image has been jpeggerised probably and clicking on it will generally give a slightly higher quality image (I think!). James Screenshot from SkySafari... regrettably the view from my usual imaging spot doesn't look like that...

Those are nice James

I couldn't see any artefacts - except a faint blue line moving across, upwards from right to left...? Lovely image, inconsiderate neighbour notwithstanding! James

Well, all of them

Was happily imaging away the other night (by that I mean the tech does all the hard work and I sit there choosing what biscuit gets eaten next..) and I got a reminder of the comet that's visible so I had to try and get an image or two... I've attached two... one from my Canon R6 and the other from a ASI2600MM.. The green colour really stood out when finding the comet and I need some practice at processing DSLR images too as I haven't been able to get rid of a green cast. The camera shot is 60 seconds at 400mm using a Skyguider, the mono shot is from a ASI2600mm on a RedCat 71. I have 44 mono shots taken one after the other... once I've had some sleep I may try and timelapse them... both images have been cropped to very approximately match each other.. The tails are more prominent on the mono shot - this comet really doesn't seem to know which way it's going James

Done, and done well ! James

There's a lot of nebulosity there which I didn't want to just remove but I shouldn't have treated it differently from the main object... when I'm done I'll probably darken the sky just a little. "I hate capturing and love processing!"... Hmmm.. we need to talk That's kind of you Wes, but every time I process an image I get to a point were I think, "OK, that's cool, but..." and then I can see what needs to be done still but usually can't do it, whether from lack of time (or as frequently skill/knowledge). I'm lucky, I'm using a nice scope, a nice camera, the filters seem to be good and Russell Cromans plug-ins seem to be working well too... James

It's been a while... A work in progress (aren't they always) of the Rosette with a new system (ASIAir, WO Cat 71, ZWO 2600mm with Optolong 3nm narrowband filters... I've only 10x 5min exposures each of Ha, OIII and SII but on spotting a considerable buzz about Russell Croman's BlurXterminator plug-in/module I thought I'd give it a go with just those. Actually I went the whole hog and have downloaded trials of StarXterminator and NoiseXterminator too.. Processed in Pixinsight with Ha mapped to green, OIII to blue and SII to red.. I must admit that BlurXterminator looks interesting - I suspect that given a huge amount of time (which I don't have) I could achieve something like it with Pixinsight anyway but instead it took about 5 mins... Plenty to do with this image, more subs - there's more nebulosity and most of the background has some degree of it; I need to look at how to do the stars right as I used BlurXterminator on each stack, then combined, removed a chunk of the green then split off the stars using StarXterminator but did nothing else with them. The background areas need work - I masked off the Rosette itself but have left the rest of the nebulosity unmasked... so it's faintly green But, getting to this point with this data in a matter of perhaps half an hour is seriously good for someone like me who loves capturing but hates processing The image is a jpg, it's possible clicking on it will give a better image James

It’s lovely Paul, really looks cold 🥶 James

Good to see you couldn't resist a reflection or two Dave That train is seriously funky, it must look quite something from a distance too winding it's way up the track.. Now, the important stuff - was that 4 Chunky Kit Kats on that night alone or spread across 4 nights? James

I was trying to work out how to say I like the foreground and the depth of field etc but figured Pauls comment " The Nikon Z6 does well with ambient foregrounds, in the right hands." will do just fine You may not have seen the bush on the right but it would have been the first thing you'd have noticed had you taken one step further forward 🙂 James

I was texting someone on the campsite who was frantically getting a cover on over a scope when the same rain hit them.. From the fact they were texting back my guess is they had someone do it for them The red lights are from the wind turbines out to sea. They're more prominent on camera than they are to the eye, but they are visible.. and stretch further to the right. Whilst initially horrified at the thought of them it does add a bit of colour. James

Went over to Kelling last weekend for the first time since 2018. Weatherwise it was 'gappy' on the Friday and Saturday nights. Dob users were happy moving from gap to gap in the clouds, imagers were probably, well, not imagers (though I have seen some impressive images folk managed to get somehow). I tried a time-lapse from Kelling Halt looking north, set it up, left it running then went to see how @davew was doing with his efforts to take an image next to the pond about 100 yards away... without falling into it - rather well methinks: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/400434-kelling-fish-pond/ Not much later the sky covering up with clouds prompted a fast run (well, OK, a brisk walk) back to my camera to cover it up... just in time as it shortly started bucketing!! I've attached a rapidly done timelapse below... if you can't see it there's also an image from it below Kelling.mp4

I think there's something in that... I'm a pretty solitary type so have no problem sitting out all night at a local campsite doing my stuff... but the first time I went to a star party (Spring Kelling back in 2007 I think) I couldn't believe that there were hundreds of others into astro. Also in my local campsite I get a steady stream of interested folk wanting to know what I'm doing. They usually have some pretty good questions and if I've got a scope set up visually they'll always want a look, and their kids too. Folks' enthusiasm does wane after bed time... except the kids who want to use my scope as an excuse for staying up late... to my immense pleasure many of the kids who first looked through my scope about 5-6 years ago, still come up for a look now, having done so every summer, as do their parents... I like taking my DSLR out with me to various other places, usually the nearest beaches down here in East Devon for some Milky Way shots and I've met loads of people whilst timelapsing on a beach at say 4am. Many of them are locals out walking their dogs (insomnia is a very widespread problem it seems) , or as is often the case are folk trying a few pictures for themselves. It's alway the ladies who are interested at the campsite I use but elsewhere is always men. There are no doubt safety concerns involved but it is a shame.. So, anyway, I guess that ramble is just me saying that I've found Astronomy to be anything but lonely! James

Here's an entry under category 1: 1) Widefield landscape images featuring Orion. Taken at the autumn Kielder Star Camp just moments before I hit the sack (part of the reason why can be seen sliding over from the right of the picture). This is a view of Orion and my neighbour John's setup - still going at the time as far as I could tell..

Both are lovely Mike - I spend a week in April down in the Lizard and often get clear dark skies but have always been too lazy to drive over to Kynance and walk to a good spot carrying equipment

I've never managed to stay standing still that long Which is why my astro selfies are invariably me sitting down (usually with a pot noodle off to one side ) So 20 seconds is an achievement!! James

Ahh… you got caught by the rain? 😊

I’ve been unable to use binoculars for many years now for that very reason Stu which is a shame in many ways but I’ve switched to using a monocular instead. Not quite the same immersive visual effect but at least I still get some nice wide field views. Naturally I’ve no problem using a scope In my case I’m locked in increasingly fraught discussions with opticians about whether to get prism lenses on my glasses prescription but that probably won’t help with binos… James

... a new section on chocolate snacks would just get spammed with images of Mars Bars and Milky Way bars.. 🙃 @clarkpm4242 - I see the snow on the hills on the March image. If your May has been anything like mine I'm guessing your May image was taken on a colder night ?