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Hawksmoor

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  1. Hawksmoor
    Thanks Reggie
  2. Hawksmoor
    With a bit of spare time each day, while Mrs. H sleeps after her recent surgery, I have processed a stack of 5minute lights at ISO800 using DeepSkyStacker, Affinity Photo, APS, Topaz Denoise AI and Fitswork4. Canon 200d DSLR with Altair Triband filter, Sigma zoom lens at f=15mm, all on a Star Adventurer equatorial mount . The image was marginally cropped at the edges. The very bright meteor appeared on one of the light frames. I was surprised how much hydrogen alpha and oxygen lll my modded DSLR captured in this area of the night sky. I decided to go full technicolor on this one.
  3. Hawksmoor
    Great Bear plus meteor crop small best dusty

    From the album: Backyard Astronomy

    Looking through some images from March, I noticed I had captured a lone-some bright meteor rushing through Ursa Major. Decided to process the stack of 12x5miin lights in a different way to bring out the Halpha and 0111 captured through my modded DSLR and Altair Triband filter.
  4. Hawksmoor
    Whilst Mrs H was having a sleep after her hip replacement operation, I processed over One hours worth of two minute lights etc taken with my newly acquired astro-modded Canon 200d DSLR and clip in Altair Astro dual band filter. Plenty of light pollution as captured before the LED street lighting goes out in Lowestoft. There was also a bit of moonlight about. So all in all quite pleased to capture a few dim fuzzies amongst the stars and H alpha glow. I used my 66mm Altair Doublet with a 0.8x focal reducer and field flattener. The tracking is a bit off as I was using my Star Adventurer rather than my NEQ6 mount. Processed with Affinity Photo, APS and Fitswork4.
  5. Hawksmoor
    Truly splendid image. Very impressed! In my opinion, the best of some very good images. best regards George
  6. Hawksmoor

    Not been up to much astronomy for a while as Mrs. H had her hip replaced yesterday. She is in hospital for a couple of days but doing well! I shall be swapping my personal technical challenges from 'Astro Kit' to 'Washing Machine'. Who would have thought Bosch washing machines would have got so 'digital' over the last 48 years? 

    George contemplating a short-medium term period of domestic drudgery in Lowestoft.

  7. Hawksmoor
    Excellent work Reggie! Really nice photos. George
  8. Hawksmoor
    Dusty Bear. Using my latest acquisition a pre-used astro-modded Canon 200d camera, an Altair Triband clip in Filter and my Sigma widefield zoom lens at f=15 F 5.6 and ISO 800 24x5minute lights. Taken before the LED street lighting went out. Processed and cropped using Affinity photo software.
  9. Hawksmoor
    Ursa Major and Friend5small

    From the album: Backyard Astronomy

    My first widefield effort with an astro-modded Canon 200d , Altair Triband Filter and Sigma EX lens at f=15mm. F5.6. 24 x 300sec lights at ISO800. LOL
  10. Hawksmoor

    The weather tonight in Lowestoft followed the Metcheck forecast to the letter. I managed two hours of fun with my mini rig before the clouds arrived. Have purchased a new toy before my increased monthly payments to Octopus Energy kick in! I seized the opportunity to buy a used Canon 200d astromodded camera in mint condition with only 10,000 shutter actuations for a remarkably good price. Have been trying it out with my Sigma wide lens and my Altair Astro 66mm Doublet refractor. The processing is more demanding than I'm used to with an unmodded camera but so far I am pleased with my purchase. On a different  tack, I was happy to receive a letter from CEFAS informing me that, after careful consideration of my requests for them to address the light pollution coming from their new HQ building, they would in future limit the hours of operation of their external lighting. A good week for stargazing in Lowestoft all round!

    Nighty night stargazers.

    George now in bed.

     

    Stargazers

    1. Show previous comments  1 more
    2. orion25

      orion25

      BTW, close conjunction of Venus & Jupiter before dawn on April 30 for us in the States (about 14 arcminutes apart). I don't think you'll be able to see from your latitude though.

    3. Hawksmoor

      Hawksmoor

      Hi Reggie - very nice to hear from you. I look forward to seeing your images of the conjunction. I'm not sure whether it is visible from Lowestoft or whether I could get out of bed before dawn. I do however, have a very fine eastern horizon out over the North Sea.

      I am still getting to grips with my recently acquired modded DSLR and Triband filter.  Its easy enough to produce Ha saturated (very red) images but getting just the right amount of red to make an interesting composition is quite difficult particularly when going widefield.  Hats off to the people on SGL that produce such splendid narrow band images, it is certainly not easy!

      I attach a copy of one of my first images taken with the modded Canon 200d DSLR and a Triband filter and a Sigma EX camera lens at about f=15mm F5.6 (ISO800). 2hrs worth of 5minute lights stacked, cropped and processed using Affinity Photo software. The  lights were taken before the street lights went out so you can see how well the filter deals with LED street Lighting.  I think I could improve the stars by using my unmodded camera and combining images from both.  A project in process.

      Best regards from George1752086230_GreatBearetcselectredwidefieldcrop02.thumb.png.fa8e5ad70c8d417577560fa00c6fb9ff.png

    4. orion25

      orion25

      Brill, George!

  11. Hawksmoor
    Is a light giraffe a measure of distance or weight? Perplexed of Lowestoft
  12. Hawksmoor
    Our postman delivered a well packaged print of one of my astro-images. Mrs H very kindly had my photo of Orion over St Michaels Church printed on aluminium for me. Not only that but she also allowed me to hang it in our 'front-room' which is confusingly located at the back of our house! It is the first time that I have had one of my photos printed on aluminium and I was most impressed with the quality of print and the heavily discounted price. For proof that I made the front-room see below. George in Oulton Broad .
  13. Hawksmoor

    Belt-up best aff

    Hawksmoor posted a gallery image in Member's Album

    Belt-up best aff

    From the album: Backyard Astronomy

    Last of Orion for this year. Finding out more about Affinity Photo software as I fiddle about.
  14. Hawksmoor
    After a long layoff from imaging the Sun in white light, I decided in view of recent increased activity to image a few spots. The 7th of March was a bit cloudy but I thought it was worth a try. Probably deciding to use my old 90mm Meade RA mounted on my Star Adventurer was not one of my better decisions. All the optics were very dusty and together with hazy high level cloud the result was always likely to be poor. Anyway the best run of 3000 frames using my QHY5L-11 mono camera at about f=1250 mm. gave me the something to process.
  15. Hawksmoor
    Bipolar Sunspot Group 2960 March 2022

    From the album: The Sun

    As the sun was shining I decided to have a go at some spots. Got out my old Meade RA Mak and put it on my Star Adventurer Equatorial Mount. Probably should have cleaned the optics, too much crud for flats to remove. 75% of 3000 frames stacked at f=1250mm. QHY-ll mono camera. False colour added and cropped in photo-editing software.
  16. Hawksmoor
    Very nice image. George
  17. Hawksmoor
    Its what Vincent would have wanted

    From the album: Other Peoples Photons

    As it's Vincent's Birthday at the end of March, I thought I would upload this for a laugh. I had thought of entering this for the IAPOTY competition but I thought £10 a giggle was a bit much! Credits: Vincent Van Gogh, HST, Gaia, MOMA, and the Jodrell Plank Observatory. No ears were harmed in the making of this image.
  18. Hawksmoor
    Wow, considering the weather and the area of sky being covered by the lens that must have been so very bright. George
  19. Hawksmoor
    Go number two ! I find it very difficult processing these images to look other than unreal - probably need a lot more data and a lot more skill. Had some additional lights at f=14mm and F/6.3. Canon 600d DSLR with Altair Triband Filter. ISO800 focal length =14mm. F/6.3. 7x5min lights. Captured on the 4th of February 2022. Sigma EX10-20 zoom lens. at f=14mm. Camera mounted on a Star Adventurer equatorial mount. RAW images stacked using the HDR merge tool rather than the astrophotography stacking tool in Affinity Photo. Image processed using Affinity Photo and James Ritson’s actions, APS , Topaz Denoise AI and Fitswork 4.
  20. Hawksmoor
    Well this my widefield go covering a bit of Perseus, Auriga, Gemini and Taurus. Still getting to grips with Affinity Photo and what all the buttons do. Think I've imaged clouds of dust but I may have just smeared out a lot of very faint stars. Not sure how to best render dust so used the Prof Ian Morison's recommended method for processing the Milky Way. Plenty of splodges of Hydrogen Alpha and the California Nebula stands out quite well. The data was collected before the LED street lights went out, on the 4th of February. Over one hour of 5minute subs at ISO 1600 and ISO800 plus a set of BIAS files. Aligned in AF and processed with AF, APS and Fitswork4. Unmodded Canon 600d camera - with Altair Triband filter and a Sigma EX 10-20mm zoom lens at F13 and F6.3 and f=13 mm . The camera was mounted on a Star Adventurer mount.
  21. Hawksmoor
    Have enjoyed fish and chips on that pier many times. I like the soft stars which indirectly have upped the colour rather nicely. The contrast with the sharp illuminated pier gives the whole image a rather other worldly atmosphere which I really find intriguing. Nice one! George
  22. Hawksmoor
    Gemini and Auriga Widefield 02a 2022crop

    From the album: Backyard Astronomy

    First proper go using a clip in Altair Astro TriBand Filter with my Canon DSLR and Sigma Wide-lens. Lots to learn!
  23. Hawksmoor

    Pulling the Veil

    Hawksmoor posted a gallery image in Member's Album

    Pulling the Veil

    From the album: Backyard Astronomy

    Back in July 2021, I imaged the Veil and open star cluster NGC6940 in a widefield stack but did not make much of a job of the processing. I am still experimenting with Affinity Photo but I think this is better. in the midst of the Milky Way there is a big dynamic range with dust clouds and loads of stars to contend with. Year on year my 'mince-pies' are not improving either!
  24. Hawksmoor

    Milky Way AFFPHOTO

    Hawksmoor posted a gallery image in Member's Album

    Milky Way AFFPHOTO

    From the album: Backyard Astronomy

    Having lots of fun playing around with old data using Affinity Photo software.
  25. Hawksmoor
    Orion over St Michaels Church Oulton Broad small
    Thank you very much for taking the time to comment. Much appreciated. Best regards George
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