Jupiter – 7/18/2021 2h17m & 3h17m EDT

Telescope: Celestron C11 @ f/20, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro, 0C, OPT 2” 2x Barlow

Filter: Highpoint Scientific IR cut filter

Seeing: poorr, 3/5, clouds, haze

Exposure: 3x(1024x100ms), gain 300, binned 3×3, saved as SER

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: SharpCap Pro, AutoStakkert, Registax, Nebulosity, Photoshop

These two images were taken as part of an initial test of using this equipment set for lunar and planetary imaging. I had expected the conditions to be rough and the primary objectives were to get the equipment assembled, aligned and focused and the take a look at the field of view and field quality. Getting useful images would have been a bonus. I got up about 2am to fine tune the focus and image Saturn right before it reached the meridian. Unfortunately, the sky was covered with a veil of thick haze and clouds. I could see Saturn through the clouds using long exposures, but imaging was out of the question. Jupiter was brighter, but not much better. I found that if I set the exposure to 100ms (about 10x longer than normal) I could catch glimpses of the planet through thinner spots in the clouds. Just for yucks I grabbed 3 sets of 1024x100ms images each with the hopes of snagging at least a few usable images. I stepped outside about an hour later hoping to catch Jupiter before it reach the meridian, and the conditions were even worse, but again I grabbed 3 sets of 1024x100ms images just to see what I could get. I also binned the source images 3×3 to work within the rough seeing conditions. Surprisingly, the results weren’t that bad! At 2:17 I caught Europa approaching Jupiter with its shadow in transit, and at 3:17 the Great Red Spot was just rotating into view. Europa was now in transit and lost against the planet, though it’s shadow was still clearly visible. The planet itself showed a nice amount of detail and beautiful colors. It will be fun to see how this system performs when it is actually clear!

Telescope: Astro-Tech RC8 @ f/8, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: Canon EOS Ra, Baader Mk III MPCC

Filter: Highpoint Scientific IR Filter

Exposure: 64×1/250 sec, ISO 3200, saved as RAW

Seeing: Poor, 2/5

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Backyard EOS, Nebulosity, Registax, Photoshop

I stepped outside this morning to begin the process of covering my gear after a long night of imaging and found the moon peeking through a gap in the bush next to my scope, so I grabbed a quick set of images to close-out the first full night of testing my new camera. Unfortunately, the sky is veiled with smoke from wild fires burning in British Columbia, but it was still a very pretty sight.

Telescope: ES DHL Comet Hunter MN6 at f/4.8, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: Baader modified Nikon 610

Filter: 2” Radian Triad Ultra Hb, OIII, Ha, SII filter

Exposure: 32x1/1000sec, ISO 1600, saved as RAW

Software: Nebulosity, Registax, Photoshop

Just a quick image of the moon taken last night while I was setting up my gear for an all-night imaging run; hence the narrow-band filter. It’s usually shear insanity to try to do any deep sky imaging with a nearly full moon in the sky and haze drifting through, but narrow-band imaging does a good job cutting through the crud as long as you select suitable targets like emission and planetary nebula. The main target for last night was M17, the Swan Nebula in Serpens Cauda, just a few degrees to the northeast of the moon, and later NGC 7635, the Bubble Nebula in Cassiopeia.

Telescope: Celestron C9.25 @ f/10, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: QHY 168c, -10C

Filter: Orion Imaging Skyglow Filter

Exposure: 900 (of 1,800)x0.020sec saved as SER

Seeing: fair, 3/5

White Balance: Photoshop & Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Sharpcap Pro, Autostakkert, Registax, Nebulosity, Photoshop

After a full night of imaging I grabbed a quick set of images of Jupiter and Saturn as dawn began to brighten the morning sky. This image of Saturn is a good match for what you would see through a small telescope including the equatorial bands, the Cassini Division, and the shadow of the planet falling across the rings.

Telescope: Celestron C9.25 @ f/10, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: QHY 168c, -10C

Filter: Orion Imaging Skyglow Filter

Exposure: 900 (of 1,800)x0.005sec saved as SER

Seeing: fair, 3/5

White Balance: Photoshop & Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Sharpcap Pro, Autostakkert, Registax, Nebulosity, Photoshop

After a full night of imaging I grabbed a quick set of images of Jupiter and Saturn as dawn began to brighten the morning sky. This image of Jupiter showed the Great Red spot and 3 of the Galilean moons; Europa to the left, Ganymede to the near right, Io to the far right. Callisto is out of the field to the left.

Telescope: Celestron C9.25 @ f/10, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: QHY 168c, -20C

Filter: Orion Imaging Skyglow Filter

Exposure: 2x(128×0.001sec), saved as FITS

Seeing: poor, 2/5

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Sharpcap Pro, Nebulosity, Registax, ICE, Photoshop

This is a 2-panel mosaic of the waning gibbous moon taken at the end of a long night of imaging shortly before dawn. (Photo credit; John Graham, 5/31/2021)

Telescope: Celestron C9.25 @ f/10, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: QHY 168c, 0C

Filter: Orion Imaging Skyglow Filter

Exposure: 2x(64×0.001sec), saved as TIFF

Seeing: fair, 3/5

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Sharpcap Pro, Nebulosity, Registax, ICE, Photoshop

This is a 2-panel mosaic of the waxing gibbous moon taken while doing a bit of cloud-dodging last night.

Telescope: Celestron Comet Catcher 5.5” f/3.6 Schmidt Newtonian, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro, -10C; Gain: 200

Filter: 1.25” Hutech IDAS LPS2

Guide scope: Williams Optics 50mm, Meade DSI Pro II, PHD

Exposure: 5x(16x60sec) saved as FITS

Darks: 32x60sec saved as FITS

Flats: 32×0.01sec tee shirt flats taken at dusk

Average Light Pollution: Red zone, fair transparency, bright moonlight

Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 18.1 mag/arc-sec^2

Stacking: Mean with a 2-sigma clip.

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Nebulosity, Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop

In early March we had a rare series of consecutive clear evenings and I was able to grab a series of images of Vesta taken at about the same time (9 o’clock) on 5 consecutive evenings. Vesta is the 3^rd largest asteroid with a mean diameter of 326 miles and at the time these images were taken it was 127 million miles away and an easy binocular object shining at magnitude 6.0 as it swept past Chertan in Leo (Theta Leonis). Vesta is currently located off to the west of Chertan at a distance of 171 million miles shining at Mv 7.4 and is still and easy target for binoculars and small telescopes.

Vest is currently well placed in central Leo and is high in the south as the sky darkens.

Telescope: Astro-Tech RC8 @ f/8, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: Baader modified Nikon D610, Baader Mk III MPCC

Filter: Highpoint Scientific IR Filter

Exposure: 32×1/2000 sec, ISO 800, saved as RAW

Seeing: fair, 3/5

White Balance: Photoshop & Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Backyard Nikon, Nebulosity, Registax, Photoshop

This is a quick stack of this evening Full Moon, the Pink Moon. I had to take several sets of 32 frames each to get a fair number of subs where the haze wasn’t too bad. I ended up with 64 source frames of which I stacked 32. Of course the skies cleared as I was putting my gear away! This image was taken right around the time that the moon was passing just north of the Earth’s shadow. If you look closely you can see a tiny sliver of terminator sweeping around the moon’s south pole. Neat stuff!

Telescope: Astro-Tech RC8 @ f/8, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: Baader modified Nikon D610, Baader Mk III MPCC

Filter: Highpoint Scientific IR Filter

Exposure: 32×1/2000 sec, ISO 1600, saved as RAW

Seeing: fair, 3/5

White Balance: Photoshop & Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Backyard Nikon, Nebulosity, Registax, Photoshop

This was the first-light image taken with my full-frame Nikon D610a on my RC8. The moon makes a great first-light target; easy to locate, easy to focus on, and gives you a nice sense of the image scale and field quality. Looking good!