Secret Still Observatory

'Star, star teach me how to shine, shine'

Mark

1 minute read

    Integration time (running total):
    * OSC 13 X 120s (26m0s)
    * OSC 11 X 30s (5m30s)
    * OSC 11 X 10s (1m50s)
    * Total: 33m20s
    
    Integration time target
    * Target: TBC hours
    * Progress: TBC%

This is really just the start of a project which might run of of darkness and altitude this year and have to be finished next year! What is remarkable is the result from just a little over half an hour, made possible by the QHY268C camera and the power of BlurXterminator and…

Mark

1 minute read

    Integration time (running total):
    * OSC 100 X 300s (500m)
    * Total: 8h00m
    

Still experimenting with the QHY268C. This image was much harder to process than anticipated with data from two nights.

Mark

1 minute read

    Integration time:
    * 174 x 60s (2h54m)
    * Total: 2h45m

Notes

19th November 2022 The current long run of cloudy skies has freed up a bit of time to catch with some processing and experimentation. The latest image is properly calibrated and processed with Bill Blanshan’s Pixinsight script for Hubble pallet images using OSC data.

Mark

2 minute read

    Integration time (running total):
    * Blue 40 x 300s (200m)
    * Ha 86 x 300s (430m)
    * OSC 71 x 300s (355m)
    * Total: 985m/16h25m
    
    Integration time target
    * Target: 20 hours
    * Progress: 82%

9th October 2022 I switched to use the ASI294MC Pro while the mono camera was being used for testing on the refractor. One or two frames were lost but otherwise a whole night’s imaging with excellent guiding has added some dual-band colur frames to the mix. I’m not…

LDN1235 - Dark Shark Nebula

Trip in September to Mid-Wales Bortle class 3

Mark

3 minute read

11th September 2022 Evidently far more integration time is needed the the meagre 2h48m I managed to salvage from the trip. Still, this makes a reasonable start and allows some improved framing choices to be made for the next attempt on this target. I also think that the stars would benefit from the use of the Astronomik L3 filter to reduce star bloat.

Mark

4 minute read

    Integration time:
    * SII 38 x 300s (190m)
    * Ha 50 x 300s (465m)
    * OIII 134 x 300s (670m)
    * Total: 1325m/22h05m

Notes

9th August 2022 Gathered more Ha data to take total integratime time over 20 hours. Only two dropped frames on a night of varying transprency where I nearly closed the observatory prior to imaging because of the amount of approaching cloud. I decided to let it run and let NINA handle re-centring etc should it be required. Now ready for processing.

Mark

1 minute read

12th August 2022 With two imaging rigs up and running I had the fortune of a Friday evening, clear and warm on the night of the Perseid meteor shower peak (ZHR 80). Few meteors were seen as the full was full tonight but Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon were resplendent. The newly acquired cassegrain telescope (F12, 6", 1836mm focal length) performed wonderfully.

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