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| Messier 29 (30x15s, -10C) |
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| NGC6633 (15x30s, -10C) |
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| NGC 6882 (30x15s,-10C) |
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| Sharpless 112(60x30s) |
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| NGC6857(60x30s, -10) |
The following DSOs were imaged 07/19/2025
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| Messier 16 (Eagle Nebula, 30x15s -10C) |
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| Messier 17 (Omega Nebula/Swan Nebula, 30x15s,-10C) |
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| Messier 20 (Trifid Nebula, 30x15s, -10C) |
Setup: Celestron 8/AVX, Starizona Night Owl 0.4X Focal Reducer, ASI294MC Pro. Acquisition and Processing: All objects imaged with 30x30s subs, stack averaged with Autostakkert!, gradient reduction via GraXpert, post processing with PaintShop Pro.
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| Messier 3 |
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| Messier 5 |
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| Messier 10 |
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| Messier 12 |
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| Messier 53 |
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| Messier 13 |
It's been a while since I posted. Increased age related sensitivity to winter temps and a bit of laziness around imaging galaxies during galaxy season is partly to blame. I'll do better next fall and winter. Also my aging Acer laptop while usable needs a new keyboard which, according to a local tech guy cannot be replaced. As a stop gap I acquired a $10 Bluetooth keyboard while shopping for a new computer. Also, the Acer is incompatible with Windows 11.
After some research I opted for a Dell Inspiron 2 in 1 driven by an AMD Ryzen 7 8840Hs at 3.30 Ghz. It shows when in the time it takes to stack lunar images which is an order magnitude faster than the Acer it replaces. For the most part I'm no fan of Windows 11's look and feel or Microsoft's pushing and nudging users towards the Edge browser or obnoxious OneDrive. OneDrive almost caused the loss of my years of SharpCap images. Fortunately there are numerous tipsters providing advice on how to make Win11 less annoying.
So why the Phew!? When it came time to install the auto-guider software I realized I didn't have the drivers for the Orion Autoguider. As you're likely aware Orion went out of business and PhD2 does not include the drivers. Well, much thanks to someone going by italic posting on Cloudynights the drivers and installation software can be downloaded from here on archive.org.
Over the last couple of nights I revisited some of my favorite targets, globular clusters, to give the Orion Autoguider a workout. With the current settings performance has been excellent.
Setup: Celestron 8/AVX, Starizona 0.4x NightOwl FR, ASI294MC Pro, Orion Mini Autoguider. Imaging: SharpCap pro, 30x30s, 0C, 120 gain. Processing: Autostakkert! (stack averaging), GraXpert (stretching/gradient reduction), Paintshop Pro(image touchup)
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| Messier 13 (Hercules Cluster) |
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| Messier 3 |
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| Messier 5 |
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| Messier 10 |
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| Messier 12 |
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| Messier 53 |
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| NGC2359 (Thor's Helmet) |
Between the trees in front of my terrace and the middle support beam I'm only afforded a 120 min window for imaging an object at the altitude of NGC2359. System consisted of Celestron 8 SCT AVX, Starizona NightOwl 0.4X reducer/corrector, ZWO ASI294MC Pro.
Things get interesting with gradient removal. My area is heavily light polluted and since I only use a broadband light pollution filter the full image suffers from a halo near the outer edges. The image is cropped but still suffered from some haloing.
GraXpert offers a number of gradient removal options including an AI version. RBF with thin_plate worked best for reducing the background gradient. The others produced various artifacts including some very dark splotch like areas adjacent to the nebula. Post processing with PaintShop Pro 2021.
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.
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| M34 |
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| NGC457(Owl Cluster) |
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| NGC869 |
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| NGC957 |
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| NGC1342 |
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| NGC1528 |
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| NGC1545 |
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.
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| IC342 (Spiral Galaxy) |
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| IC405 (Flaming Star Nebula) |
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| IC447(Reflection Nebula) |
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| Sharpless 274 (Medusa Nebula) |
