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 two satellites eclipsed: at the beginning of the animation Io disappears behind the Gas Giant, while at the end Europa suddenly reappears leaving the planet shadow.
In this second version the animation is a lot more fluid, but at the expense of some detail loss.
The Great Orion Nebula, M42, in narrowband. Two processing versions, using HOO palette (more natural looking) and SHO (more detailed, as it also includes Sulfur).
M42 - first narrowband attempt
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.
M42 - first narrowband attempt
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
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 getting smaller, a few weeks after its opposition.
Mars, 26/10/2020
Images taken with my SkyMax 180 and ASI178MM with RGB filters.
A couple of close up of the Moon, around the craters Copernicus and Plato.
Moon, Copernicus Crater area
Nearby is also visible the crater Eratosthenes.
Shot with my SkyMax 180, ASI 178MM
Moon, Plato crater area
Above it, slightly to the left, there's Cassini, a medium sized crater with two smaller craters inside (Cassini A and B).
Separating the two, the Montes Alpes, with the Vallis Alpes within, then Mont Blanc.
To the far left, another two big craters, Aristotelest (the biggest) and Eudoxus.
To the top/right, the vast plain of Mare Imbrium.
The Red Planets a few days before its 2020 opposition, one of the closest in years.
Mars, RGB + IR, 10/10/2020
Jupiter, a few weeks after its 2020 opposition.
Jupiter
Seeing was terrible, but I'm still relatively satisfied with the results, given how difficult these planets are this year from this latitude.
Visible Jupiter moons: Ganymede (left) and Io (right).
Saturn a few weeks after its opposition, August 2020.
Saturn
Seeing was terrible, but I'm still relatively satisfied with the results, given how difficult these planets are this year from this latitude.
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.