Lucky imaging: mosiac of 9 images using best 25% or 50% frames from 500 video frames.

A beautiful halo showed all evening today. Jupiter is also visible just to the right of the Moon.

Lucky imaging: best 25% frames from 2000 video frames. Mosaic of two images

Integration time: Main image: Lucky imaging: best 50% frames from 4000 video frames.
Image below: Lucky imaging: best 50% frames from 1000 video frames.

This morning gave a really excellent view of Jupiter in the Dobsonian. The sky was lightening constantly as I watched and the reduction in contrast against the sky I believe enhanced considerably the view and removed any diffraction spiking that might have intruded. Venus as a semi-crecent and Sirius were also prominent.

Lucky imaging: best 75% frames from 1000 video frames.

Lucky imaging: best 75% frames from 500 video frames. Mosaic of two images, North and South.

A sketch made from an image taken on 28th April 2023 when the Moon was eight days old. The last few weeks have been so cloudy and the Moon so low as to make direct observation impossible.

A sketch made over two evenings, taking about one hour in total. Sketching was made easier by being possible before nightfall and the sketch pad therefore being visible without a torch.

This evening Mars traversed the Beehive Cluster M44. It was a beautiful sight in the twilight but too low to photograph from the observatory so I made a sketch with the Dobsonian. The 1220mm scope coupled with the binoviewer and the 1.6x Barlow lens required to allow it to reach focus it was a gorgeous thing to witness, even if somewhat over-magnified hence excluding many of M44’s stars.