Jupiter, 2022-11-04
Jupiter, 2022-11-04
First light for my new C11. Really terrible seeing, and lots of things to still learn, but already much better results than my old C7 Mak.
Partial Solar Eclipse
Partial Solar Eclipse
Weather was mostly cloudy or veiled, but I managed to get a few clean frames between the clouds
IC 1396 - Elephant Trunk Nebula
IC 1396 - Elephant Trunk Nebula
IC 1396 in narrowband from London. Shot over three nights in August, September and October, with almost 19 hours of acquisition. First light for both my new ASI2600MM and Chroma narrowband filters. Postprocessing using three different palettes: SHO (classic "Hubble palette", with more contrast), HOO (using only oxygen and hydrogen filters, more realistic colours), and HOS (middleground between the two).
Jupiter animation (rotation and Europa eclipse)
Jupiter animation (rotation and Europa eclipse)
This sequence was shot over 3.5 hours to try and capture Jupiter's rotation as smoothly as possible. Seeing was fairly bad, but that's quite standard around here. I also changed the camera to the ASI183MM Pro, cooled down to -15 degrees to try and minimize noise. You can also see an eclipse of the moon Europa: at the beginning of the animation it disappears behind the Gas Giant, suddenly reappearing at the end of the video after leaving the planet shadow. A better version of both videos can be found in my website: [url=https://gulinux.net/blog/2022-10-10-jupiter-animation-with-europa-eclipse]gulinux.net[/url]
M42 - first narrowband attempt
M42 - first narrowband attempt
First proper attempt at narrowband imaging and processing.
This started mostly just as a test session, since the first part of the night was cursed with passing clouds right in front of my target. I also had some problems with the autofocuser (that just stopped working at some point), and balancing issues.
All things considered, not too bad...
I processed the image in both HOO palette (more natural looking) and SHO.
California Nebula
California Nebula
California nebula under London Sky. Conditions weren't exactly ideal: light pollution, obviously, then clouds rolled in just when I was ready to start my sequence, shortening capture time by a couple of hours. Also, the nearly full moon was very close to the target, causing some nasty reflections on the (now cropped out) border of the image. Overall I'm quite satisfied by the result though, the Optolong L-Enhance filter seems to be doing a really great job.
Mars, RGB + IR, 10/10/2020
Mars, RGB + IR, 10/10/2020
The target of the month, in two versions: a RGB combination (left), and with an IR-pass filter (right).
Saturn
Saturn
Finally got a decent night for imaging Jupiter and Saturn, very low here in the UK (just around 15 degrees above the horizon). Seeing was terrible, but I'm still relatively satisfied with the results, given how difficult these planets are this year from this latitude.
North America and Pelican
North America and Pelican
Given the unusual stride of sunny days and clear nights, and the lockdown in force, forcing me to stay indoors instead of searching for dark places, but also offering more time for imaging at the same time, I decided to take a few steps in doing more "garden astrophotography". This is my first experiment with some new equipment: an Optolong L-Enhance narrowband filter, and a iOptron CEM40. The first allows me to image many targets even from heavily light polluted skies (here in London, Bortle 8 or 9), the latter allows for longer exposures, a necessity using narrowband. Full story: [url=https://blog.gulinux.net/en/blog/2020-06-01-backyard-deep-sky-north-america-and-pelican]https://blog.gulinux.net/en/blog/2020-06-01-backyard-deep-sky-north-america-and-pelican[/url]
Small Magellanic Cloud
Small Magellanic Cloud
Detail of the Small Magellanic Cloud. (NGC 346 and 371 among others)
Milky Way around Aquila
Milky Way around Aquila
Wide field shot of the Milky Way around Aquila. Altair is clearly visible in the field.
Moon, 06/04/2017
Moon, 06/04/2017
A first test for my new ASI 1600mm. This camera has bigger pixels and a larger sensor than my other camera, the ASI 178mm, so it's more suitable for deep sky imaging rather than planetary shots. But with such large field of view I can get a picture of the moon without having to stich it. Blog article: [url=http://blog.gulinux.net/blog/2017-04-08-jupiter-and-moon-06-04-2017]http://blog.gulinux.net/blog/2017-04-08-jupiter-and-moon-06-04-2017[/url]
Gassendi, Mare Humorum
Gassendi, Mare Humorum
Crater Gassendi
Crater Gassendi
Moon (mosaic), September 2014
Moon (mosaic), September 2014
Composite shot of 78 images. For each image I stacked 300 frames (out of 500). Very poor seeing (lots of turbulence, since I shot it through an open window).