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Hello, i live in delhi,India with bortle 7-8 skies I recently got an astromaster 130eq and wanted to picture jupiter and saturn with it. With jupiter i could see two of its moons with my eyes but wasnt able to capture it and saturn just appears as a regular star. Im new to this so need some help. here are some pics i took at 5am in the morning
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Equipment: EQ6R-Pro; Explore Scientific 80ED Triplet; ZWO ASI120MC guide camera; Canon 250D imaging camera; OVL field flattener. Software: NINA; PHD2 (multistar). I cannot solve this issue with the stars in my images. It started some weeks ago, and basically I am not able to image at all. Image 1 shows a 10sec exposure on the star Sirius, with the teardrop shaped stars around. Image 2 shows 120sec exposure on NGC7522, same night, same setup, again teardrop stars. On both images you can see the tracking is lower than 1, and on a windy night. Both images here show the exact same type of distortion to the stars. I did try a 240sec exposure and that was the same. Image 3 shows PHD2 on Sirius, changing any of the settings doesn't work. This was after a new calibration was carried out, which was very good (see image 4). Any ideas please? Tony
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From the album: live polarex
hello this is one of my favourite telescope bluestar this star is taken with polarex telescope 102mm 1500mm also have video ..super this blue star is super-cool -
Imaging variable star in bad weather
Guest posted a topic in Observing and Imaging Double and Variable Stars
Hi, I am doing an end of degree project on variable stars due next thursday and London's weather does not allow finish it. I was wondering if someone would do me the favour of observing the pulsating variable star V0460 Andromeda http://variablestars.net/stars/460/ in the Johnson R filter, for a period of 1 hour and 50 minutes? please? Thanks so much! -
Shimmering like a pearl to the naked eye, this open cluster of mostly young blue stars ( known as the "Pearl Cluster" ) is approximately 5500 light years from Earth and was discovered by Abbe Lacaille in 1752 from South Africa. A Cluster of Pearls in the Southern Skies ( NGC 3766 " The Pearl Cluster" ) ( please click / tap on image to see larger and sharper - a full size image can be found here ) This HDR image is constructed from 11 sets of exposures ranging from 1/4 sec ( to capture the centre of the brighter stars ) through to 240 seconds ( for the fainter stars of the Milky Way ). Total exposure time was around 5 hours. ..... Image details can be found here -
( please click / tap to see larger ) Identification: The Rosette Nebula ( NGC 2237 ) is a large, circular emission nebula in the constellation Monoceros. It surrounds a cluster of hot, young stars known as the Rosette Cluster ( NGC 2244 ). ( SkySafari ) NGC 2237, 2244 Caldwell 49, 50 North is up. .................. Capture Details: Telescope: Orion Optics CT12 Newtonian ( mirror 300mm, fl 1200mm, f4 ). Corrector: ASA 2" Coma Corrector Quattro 1.175x. Effective Focal Length / Aperture : 1400mm f4.7 Mount: Skywatcher EQ8 Guiding: TSOAG9 Off-Axis-Guider, Starlight Xpress Lodestar X2, PHD2 Camera: Nikon D7500 (unmodified) (sensor 23.5 x 15.7mm, 5568x3712 @ 4.196um pixels) Location: Blue Mountains, Australia Moderate light pollution ( pale green zone on darksitefinder.com map ) Capture ( 23 Dec 2017 ) 9 sets of sub-images with exposure duration for each set doubling ( 1s to 240s ) all at ISO400. 10 x 240s + 5 each @ 1s to 120s imaged ~ +/- 1.5hrs either side of meridian maximum altitude ~ 51.3 deg above north horizon Processing ( Pixinsight ) Calibration: master bias, master flat and in-camera dark subtraction Integration in 9 sets HDR combination Image Plate Solution =================================== Resolution ........ 0.633 arcsec/px ( full size image ) Rotation .......... 0.181 deg Focal ............. 1367.90 mm Pixel size ........ 4.20 um Field of view ..... 58' 59.4" x 39' 15.0" Image center ...... RA: 06 31 55.638 Dec: +04 56 30.84 =================================== ... More information, etc., here:
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The Jewel Box ( NGC 4755 ) is an open cluster of mostly hot young blue-white stars that appears to the unaided eye as a bright 4th magnitude star close to the Southern Cross. Only visible from southern latitudes, the Jewel Box was first recorded by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille during his visit to South Africa in 1751 and was later described by Sir John Herschel as "a casket of variously coloured precious stones" - hence the name "Jewel Box". The Jewel Box open star cluster ( ngc 4755 ) in Curx ( please click / tap on image to see larger and sharper ) Please see here for image details.
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Taken in Scarborough, North Yorkshire on 16 December 2017. My main aim with this image was to show those just starting out in the world of astrophotography what can be achieved on a budget with simple and affordable equipment. Using my iPhone and the NightCap app set to Star Trails mode I captured this as one image over a period of four hours (hence the number of airplane trails!). I then edited the image on my iPhone using the Snapseed app to darken the sky and bring out some colour in the star trails. I was very pleased with the outcome given that all of this was achieved using only an iPhone and readily available, easy to use apps.-
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edit: Processed in January from data captured in June and it has been pointed out to me that, as per the rules, this image can not be considered for the competition. .............. The Fighting Dragons of Ara ( NGC 6188 ) ( please click / tap on image to see larger ) Image details: This is an HDR image constructed from exposures ranging from 2 seconds to 240 seconds in length. The aim was to capture the faint stars and details in the nebula whilst at the same time maintaining colour in the bright stars without clipping the highlights. Plate Solution: Resolution ........ 1.336 arcsec/px Rotation .......... 90.002 deg ( North is to the right ) Focal ............. 1475.57 mm Pixel size ........ 9.56 um Field of view ..... 58' 28.5" x 39' 0.8" Image center ...... RA: 16 40 09.903 Dec: -48 41 27.00 Telescope: Orion Optics CT12 Newtonian ( mirror 300mm, fl 1200mm, f4 ). Corrector: ASA 2" Coma Corrector Quattro 1.175x. Effective Focal Length / Aperture : 1410mm f4.7. Mount: Skywatcher AZ Eq6 GT. Guiding: TSOAG9 Off-Axis-Guider, Starlight Xpress Lodestar X2, PHD2 . Camera: Nikon D5300 (unmodified) (sensor 23.5 x 15.6mm, 6016x4016 3.9um pixels). Location: Blue Mountains, Australia Moderate light pollution ( pale green zone on darksitefinder.com map ). Capture ( 24 June 2017 ). 8 sets of sub-images with exposure duration for each set doubling ( 2s to 240s ) all at ISO800. 34 x 240s + 10 each @ 2s to 120s. Processing ( Pixinsight - 19 Aug 2017, 13 Jan 2018 ). Calibration: master bias, master flat and no darks. Integration in 8 sets. HDR combination
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Also known as the Theta Carinae Cluster, The Southen Pleiades is a very bright open cluster in the Carina constellation. It was discovered by Abbe Lacaille during his visit to South Africa in 1752. Containing around 60 stars, IC 2602 shines with an overall magnitude of 1.9 and its brightest member is Theta Carinae with a visual magnitude of 2.7. This cluster of young blue stars is relatively close to us at "only" 479 light years. 5 May 2018 The Southern Pleiades open star cluster ( IC 2602 ) in Carina ( please click / tap on image to see larger and sharper ) Image details can be found here.
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Thor’s Helmet ( NGC 2359 ) ( NGC 2359 - Thor’s Helmet ) ( please click / tap on image to see larger and without compression artefacts ( and double click on that image if you what to see it as I posted it ! ) ) Summary: An HDR image that captures as much of the faint detail in the nebula as I can whilst also attempting to show the “true” colours of the stars ( without burnt out highlights ). Nikon D5300 ( unmodified ), taken 18/19 Jan 2018, exposures ranging from 2s to 240s ( 116 x 240 sec + 5 each for other exposures ) Full details in main post :
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The Great Conjunction who else waiting for the Great Conjunction between Saturn and Jupiter in 21 December 2020 Click here to watch -
6 hours of 30 second images. The gaps in the trails are from clouds drifting through Check the acoustic waveform in the reflection of Llyn Dinas anyone care to reverse engineer the waveform so I can hear what the star trail sounds like? and the timelapse from the same images, best watched on Youtube
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Hi everyone - juts purchased my first telescope and am asking for advice on what is best to be seen through this telescope as a starter - have already seen the moon and some distant stars and am comfortable with using all of the eye pieces included. What would anyone recommend? -
Since I am very new to this, I struggle a lot. Especially when observing planets and also recently deep sky objects. My telescope is an amateur telescope and its almost 11 years old (The telescope was re used a year ago). During summer of last year I took photos of Saturn,Jupiter and a month ago took photos of Venus and Mars. About 2 days ago I stumbled upon a new thing in the sky, (Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture). It definitely was in the Orion constellation as I had observed Betelgeuse and the 3 stars that were close to each other. After a couple of minutes later I saw 2 stars next to each other and another two which were on top of the other star, surrounding these set of stars were a blue-ish and grey-ish colour at the same time. I had done some research and many people told me it was the trapezium cluster found in Orion. I honestly don't know. Any ideas? Thanks.
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I'm looking for a simple algorithm to compare astronomical images (of the same sky region) against each other, compute their movement and rotation, to finally stack them. At the moment I'm already having a more or less working algorithm. First I extract all the stars out of an image (including information like brightness and FWHM), and then I walk trough all the resulting "points" and create triangles out of the current point and those two other stars that have the shortest distance to this star. This list of triangles is created for every image. After this I take one image as reference and then I walk through the list of triangles in the reference image to find a triangle in the other image with the same length of each side of the triangle (I also "allow" some tolerance due minimal relative differences of the star positions in each image). For this matches I calculate movement and rotation relative to the reference image. Last step is to find the matched triangles that have to same relative movement and rotation like the other matches. This is done by calculating the standard deviation, sorting out triangles that are not within 1 or 2 sigma and repeat this process until I have a very small standard deviation. The last part, finding "valid" triangles with the same movement/rotation, is working fine. The problem is that sometimes I have only like 2 or 3 "valid" triangles out of 300 initial triangles. All other triangles have side lengths different to those of the reference image. So I assume it's the way I generate my initial triangles which causes the problem. Sortings stars by their brightness and using this data to generate the triangles also doesn't work. So is there a better way to create the initial triangles in all the images? Clear Skies, David -
Did anyone try observing the predicted occultation of a faint star by the asteroid Massalia on 17th Nov 2017 at around 01.30 am? I saw a prediction and tried to observe it, but was defeated by my telescope misting up after a long spell in the open, despite a dew shield. -
Hi All, I realise that I could use a Polaris Finder app to do this, but I am having difficulty following the instructions to align Polaris in the SW Polarscope. Page 23 of the manual: "4. Adjust the date graduation circle first according to difference between the standard time meridian of your region and the observing site. For example, if you are in Prince Rupert, Canada which is 130 degrees West, then you have to turn the Date Graduation Circle to make the Time Meridian Indicator point to West 10 (which is 130 degrees - 120 degrees)". What does that mean? I see where they get the 130 from, it's the latitude of Prince Rupert, but what is the 120? (Thinks: 3 x 120 = 360). My location (Cardiff UK) is 3 degrees West of Greenwich, i.e -3, so where do I set the Time Meridian Indicator to? So far, when I try this, I end up with the polaris indicator 180 degrees out. (Hmmm, 180 degrees, could be significant). Any thoughts etc., Neil.
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Hi, I was asked on a Swedish forum to put an "Astronomical Dictionary" on my homepage. I have made a test page in an easy form. Astronomical related words linked to wikipedia. It aims to the beginners in astronomy so it should not be too complicated words. http://astrofriend.eu/astronomy/astronomical-dictionary/astronomical-dictionary.html Let me know if it's useful and and I shall add more words. /Lars
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I know that TheSkyX program has a feature to select an optimum guiding star for off-axis guiding. Are there alternative free programs that have a similar feature?
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The Great Barred Spiral Galaxy ( NGC 1365 ) in the Constellation Fornax ………………………. ( edit - star chart added ) The Great Barred Spiral Galaxy ( NGC 1365 ) - Chart ( please click/tap on image see larger and sharper version ) A full size ( 6200 x 4407px ) image can be downloaded from here. ………………………. Details: Below the equator, not seen from much of the Northern hemisphere, NGC 1365 passes very nearly directly overhead an observer situated near Cape Town, as Sir John Herschel was in November of 1837 when he discovered this “remarkable nebula” that is numbered 2552 in his book of observations from the Cape. Not called a “nebula” now, of course, this striking object is one of the nearest and most studied examples of a barred spiral ( SB ) galaxy that also has an active galactic nuclei resulting in its designation as a Seyfert galaxy. At around 60 M light years from Earth, NGC 1365 is still seen to occupy a relatively large area ( 12 by 6 arc minutes ) due to its great size; at some 200,000 light years or so across, NGC 1365 is nearly twice as wide as the Milky Way and considerably wider than both the Sculptor and Andromeda galaxies. This High Dynamic Range ( HDR ) image is built up from multiple exposures ranging from 4 to 240 seconds with the aim of capturing the faint detail in the spiral arms of the galaxy whilst also retaining colour in the brightest star ( the orange-red 7th magnitude giant, HD 22425 ). Also, scattered throughout the image, and somewhat more difficult to see, are numerous and far more distant galaxies. ................. Identification: The Great Barred Spiral Galaxy New General Catalogue - NGC 1365 General Catalogue - GC 731 John Herschel ( Cape of Good Hope ) # 2552 - Nov 28, 29 1837 Principal Galaxy Catlogue - PCG 13179 ESO 358-17 IRAS 03317-3618 RA (2000.0) 3h 33m 37.2 s DEC (2000.0) -36 deg 8' 36.5" 10th magnitude Seyfert-type galaxy in the Fornaux cluster of galaxies 200 Kly diameter 60 Mly distance .................. Capture Details: Telescope: Orion Optics CT12 Newtonian ( mirror 300mm, fl 1200mm, f4 ). Corrector: ASA 2" Coma Corrector Quattro 1.175x. Effective Focal Length / Aperture : 1375mm f4.7 Mount: Skywatcher EQ8 Guiding: TSOAG9 Off-Axis-Guider, Starlight Xpress Lodestar X2, PHD2 Camera: Nikon D5300 (unmodified) (sensor 23.5 x 15.6mm, 6016x4016 3.9um pixels) Location: Blue Mountains, Australia Moderate light pollution ( pale green zone on darksitefinder.com map ) Capture ( 3, 7 & 8 Dec 2018 ) 7 sets of sub-images with exposure duration for each set doubling ( 4s to 240s ) all at unity gain ( ISO 250). 140 x 240s + 10 each @ 4s to 120s total around 9.7 hrs Processing ( Pixinsight ) Calibration: master bias, master flat , master dark Integration in 7 sets HDR combination Links: 500px.com/MikeODay photo.net/photos/MikeODay <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mike-oday">www.flickr.com/photos/mike-oday</a> Image Plate Solution =================================== Resolution ........ 0.586 arcsec/px ( full size image ) Rotation .......... -0.003 deg ( North is up ) Field of view ..... 58' 37" x 38' 55" Image center ...... RA: 03 33 36 Dec: -36 08 27 ===================================
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Hi all I have been imaging M45 and have come up with this form of issue with the stars. It almost looks like I have left (and I did think this) the Bahtinov mask on, however I didn't. This is not the first time I have noticed this star issue. Any ideas? This is my equipment: Explore Scientific 80ED Apo Triplet; Explore Scientific Field Flattener; Canon 250D mod; 2in UHC filter; 60mm Guidescope; ZWO ASI120MC-S.
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Hello all, I am trying to process data captured on friday during almost full moon, and I'm having a hell of a time of it.. Due to the full moon doing it's best sun impression my target was an open cluster (NGC 225 in Cassiopea), thinking it would be doable. I was using my 2" Explore Scientific CLS filter, my unmodded Nikon D7100 and captured 92 usable 45 second subs at ISO 400. Calibrated with bias and flat frames and stacked with linear fit clipping as the pixel rejection algorith. The mission for the night was not getting particularly good data, but getting decent tracking and round stars, something I have had lots of trouble with! Now that I am trying to process it, I find im dealing with some very nasty gradients / casts and I can't seem to get any good colors. An initial strech reveals a strong blue color cast/gradient that I can deal with in a number of ways. Linear fit DBE ABE followed by the usual: SCNR (green) Color Calibration No matter what I do I end up with the whole image being either really green or really red and not much else for color in any of the stars. I also think i burned out all the major stars by over saturation.. I know the CLS filter is going to wreak havoc on colors because it completely blocks parts of the spectrum, so maybe the CLS filter is just the wrong tool for the job? If anyone would like to show me what they can get from this data, and how (so preferably with PI) I would be really grateful. At the moment im thinking maybe the data is just really bad and not useable? Linked is the final integrated xisf (only xopped slightly): https://www.dropbox.com/s/nmxds87toc7vz51/integration.xisf?dl=0 -
Hi... Hope this is ok to post here. I've built an app to create star trail images and videos using an iPad or an iPhone and i'm really struggling to find beta testers. Check out the photo and video I've added to the post to see what it can do and and click the link if you want to try it out. https://sites.google.com/view/starstackerforios-beta/home for info. https://testflight.apple.com/join/7iLGfVDG to get the beta. It's free to have early access to the beta. I'm just hoping to get a bit of feedback before it releases. Many thanks! Star Stacker iOS.mp4
