Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Open Clusters: M34, NGC457, NGC869, NGC1342, NC1528, NGC1545

Clear night, near full moon high to the east, so why not image a few open clusters. All were imaged with 30x15s subframes. Configuration: Celestron 8, Starizona Night Owl F/4 focal reducer/corrector, ASI294MC Pro. Stack averaged with Autostakkert 3, gradient removal with GraXpert, post processing with Paintshop Pro 2021. 

M34

NGC457(Owl Cluster)

NGC869

NGC957    

NGC1342

NGC1528

NGC1545


Sunday, February 2, 2025

IC342, IC405, IC447 and SH2-274

All images acquired with Celestron 8, Starizona Night Owl f/4.0, ZWO ASI294 MC Pro. 120x30s subframes. Stack averaging with Autostakkert!3. Stretched and gradient reduced with GraXpert. Post processing with Paintshop Pro 2021.

IC342 (Spiral Galaxy)

IC405 (Flaming Star Nebula)

IC447(Reflection Nebula)

Sharpless 274 (Medusa Nebula)


Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Mo Better Processed Horse Head

To be fair I should title this Mo Better processed  NGC2023 and friends since I always go to said nebula when targeting this area. Celestron 8, Starizona Night Owl, ZWO ASI294MC Pro, 120x30s subframes acquired with SharpCap Pro. Stack Averaged with Autostakkert! 3, stretching and gradient removal by GraXpert(Kriging algorithm). Taken heavily LED light polluted Frederick, MD. Post processing with Paintshop Pro 2021.

Flame Nebula,NGC2023, Horsehead Nebula(B33)


Monday, December 2, 2024

NGC246, NGC720 and NGC2023 area from Terrace

It's a real challenge to image from my third floor walk-up terrace with all the surrounding trees and light pollution which is why I rarely try and only during the winter (meteorological) when I make fewer trips to the town of Harvard. My main goal was to image NGC246 which at ~10.1 mag I saw as nice challenge. NGC720 and the NGC2023 area were just bonus targets. Imaging: 240 x 30s with Celestron 8, Starizona Night Owl, ASI294MC Pro, Orion Mini Auto-guider.  Post processing: Autostakkert 4, GraXpert and Paintshop Pro. Ninety seconds before completing the 240 sub-frame sequence for the NGC2023 area the Westinghouse iGen160 ran out of juice and shut down; a first. It was powering the scope, the laptop and the ASI294 cooling for 5 hours in temps between 29 and 26F.

NGC246

NGC720

NGC2023(center), NGC2024(flame nebula),
B33(Horsehead Nebula

Saturday, November 2, 2024

NGC281, NGC7635

NGC281

NGC7635

Celestron 8/AVX mount, Starizona Night Owl F/4.0 FR Corrector, ZWO ASI294MC Pro, Orion Mini Autoguider. Exposures: 240x30s for both images. Post processing: Stretching and gradient removal via GraXpert app. Adjustments with Paintshop Pro. 
    
Note: Publication date is imaging date.

Friday, November 1, 2024

11/01/2024: NGC7380, Sh2-155

 

NGC7380

Sharpless 155

Celestron 8/AVX mount, Starizona Night Owl F/4.0 FR Corrector, ZWO ASI294 MC Pro, Orion Mini Autoguider. Exposures: 240x30s for both images . Post processing: Stretching and gradient removal via GraXpert app. Adjustments with Paintshop Pro. 
    
Note: Publication date is imaging date.


Thursday, October 24, 2024

10/24/2024: NGC7380, NGC7635

NGC7380

NGC7635

Celestron 8/AVX mount, Starizona Night Owl F/4.0 FR Corrector, ZWO ASI294 MC Pro, Orion Mini Autoguider. Gain was set to 200, it's usually set to 120, as an experiment Exposures: NGC7380 (240x15s), NGC7635 (240x15s). Post processing: Stretching and gradient removal via GraXpert app. Adjustments with Paintshop Pro. 
    
Note: Publication date is imaging date.