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

Camera: Canon EOS Ra, Baader Mk III MPCC, GSO IR Filter

Exposure: 50×1/640 sec, ISO 800, saved as RAW

Seeing: Fair, 3/5

Software: Backyard EOS, Nebulosity, Autostakkert, Registax, Photoshop

Just a quick peek at the moon between targets on a warm spring evening.

Telescope/Camera: Seestar S50

Filter: None

Exposure: (60 + 60)x10sec (20min) saved as FITS

Average Light Pollution: Bortle 8, fair transparency at dusk

Software: Nebulosity, Photoshop

This is another quick grab of Comet 12/Pons-Brooks before it got too far down in the before it was lost to the haze and light pollution over my western horizon. This images is the combination of subs taken over a 10-minute period through two Seestar S50s operating in parallel. As the images were being taken the comet dropped from 19 degrees over the horizon to just 17 degrees. Although the comet was an easy target for the Seestar, it was really tough to see in my 10×50 binoculars.

Telescope: Unitron 510 5” f/16 refractor, Atlas EQ-G

Camera: ZWO ASI 294MC

Filter: 2” Baader Fringe Killer (Minus Violet)

Exposure: 5x(3min x 5ms), Gain 340, saved as RAW8/SER

Seeing: 3/5

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

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

These are the final, processed images from my second evening dedicated to evaluating the 510 for planetary imaging using a ZWO ASI294MC camera with SharpCap Pro. If you look closely you can see the ghost of Europa disappearing behind the planet in the first image (18h 53m). Each image in this sequence is a set of five 3min x 5ms RAW8/SER files stacked in AutoStakkert, wavelets in Registax, then derotated and combined in WinJuPos. The results is very encouraging given that these were taken at the telescope’s native focal length without the aid of a Barlow. I am very happy with how sharp the limb of the planet looks without any of the artifacts that you often see from the wavelets. The colors are a bit soft, which I suspect is from using a very high gain on the camera. More testing is needed…

Telescope: Unitron 510 5” f/16 refractor, Atlas EQ-G

Camera: ZWO ASI 294MC

Filter: 2” Baader Fringe Killer (Minus Violet)

Exposure: 3min x 2.3ms, Gain 400, saved as RAW8/SER

Seeing: 3/5

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

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

This is from my second evening dedicated to evaluating the 510 for planetary imaging using a ZWO ASI294MC camera with SharpCap Pro. This is one of several sequences that I shot of Jupiter as it climbed higher in the east. Each sequence consisted of five 3 minute sets that were designed to be stacked in AutoStakkert, sharpened in Registax, and then de-rotated and combined in WinJuPos. During this particular sequence Europa slipped behind Jupiter with Io standing off to the right. This was such a neat event to watch I decided to show this as a stand-along sequence. This is a nice example of just how dynamic the Jovian system can be and how it can show significant changes in just a few minutes even with a small telescope.

Telescope: Unitron 510 5” f/16 refractor, Atlas EQ-G

Camera: ZWO ASI 294MC

Filter: 2” Baader Fringe Killer (Minus Violet)

Exposure: 5min x 15ms, Gain 400, saved as RAW8/SER

Seeing: 3/5

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

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

This is from my second evening dedicated to evaluating the 510 for planetary imaging. I swapped out the Canon EOS Ra for a ZWO ASI294MC camera with SharpCap Pro. This image of Saturn was taken shortly after sunset as the planet approached the meridian. If you look closely you can see Dione to the left of the planet and to the right, from the upper right to lower right, is Tethys, Rhea, and Titan.

Telescope: Unitron 510 5” f/16 refractor, Atlas EQ-G

Camera: Canon EOS Ra full frame DSLR

Filter: 2” Baader Fringe Killer (Minus Violet)

Exposure: 1024x1/500sec, ISO 3200, 5x movie mode, saved as AVI

Average Light Pollution: Bortle 8, fair transparency

Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 18.5 mag/arc-sec^2

Seeing: 3/5

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Backyard EOS, Autostakkert, Registax, Nebulosity, Photoshop

This is the first is a series of images taken to evaluate using the Unitron 510 for lunar and planetary imaging. I have been very impressed with the image quality from this scope and I was curious whether that would carry over to imaging. This initial image set was taken with a Canon EOS Ra using its 5x movie mode. This isn’t necessarily the best system for planetary imaging, but the results are encouraging. From top to bottom these images were taken at 19h53m, 21h57m, and 22h51m. From left to right the moons are Io, Europa, and Ganymede. Callisto is out of the field to the right.

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

Camera: Canon EOS Ra, Baader Mk III MPCC, GSO IR cut filter

Exposure: 256 (of 512)x1/3200 sec, ISO 800, 5x Movie Mode, saved as AVI

Seeing: Fair, 3/5

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Backyard EOS, AutoStakkert, Registax, Nebulosity, Photoshop

This was a quick peek at Venus taken right before covering my gear after a long night of imaging. I was surprised that it showed so well using a DSLR without any sort of Barlow of Powermate. Venus is currently showing a waxing gibbous phase and is slowly shrinking as it draws ahead of the Earth in its orbit around the sun. (Photo credit: John Graham, 11/16/2023)

Telescope: Meade SN10 at f/4, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: QHY 268c, Mode 0, Gain 30, Offset 30, –30C

Filter: GSO IR Blocking Filter

Exposure: 512x3msec, saved as RAW16/SER

Seeing: 3/5

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: SharpCap Pro, Auto Stakkert, Registax, Nebulosity, Photoshop

I took a quick break midway through an all-nighter to grab a quick set of images of the waning gibbous moon. Observing the moon in the morning sky is always interesting as we get to see details along the sunset terminator that we don’t see in the evening sky when the moon is showing its sunrise terminator. When the moon is in its waning gibbous phase you can see how the Altai Scarp is part of a range of mountains that form the outer ring of the Mare Nectaris impact basin. When the sun angle is just right you can follow the entire ring all around this circular flood plain. (Photo Credit: John Graham, 11/2/2023)

Telescope: Unitron 510 5” f/16 refractor, Atlas EQ-G

Camera: Canon EOS Ra full frame DSLR

Filter: 2” Baader Fringe Killer (Minus Violet)

Guide scope: Williams Optics 50mm Guidescope, ASI290MM, PHD

Exposure: 43x60sec (8/18), 39x60sec (8/19), ISO 1600, saved as RAW

Darks: Internal (Long Exposure Noise Reduction)

Flats: 32×1/125s sky flats taken at dusk

Average Light Pollution: Bortle 8, poor transparency, haze

Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 17.7 (8/18), 18.0 (8/19) mag/arc-sec^2

Stacking: Mean with a 1-sigma clip

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Backyard EOS, Deepsky Stacker, Nebulosity, Photoshop

This is my annual pilgrimage to the frozen out-lands beyond the orbit of Neptune and my homage to Clyde Tombaugh who discovered Pluto on photographic plates taken at the Lowell Observatory in 1930. This year was special in that it presented an opportunity to image a classic target with a classic telescope. Fun fact; while the discovery images of Pluto were taken with a 13 inch astrograph, confirming images were taken at the same time with a 5” refractor mounted along side the main camera. And yes, Pluto was reported to have been detected on these images, though I have never seen them published.

These two images were taken almost exactly 24 hours apart showing Pluto’s apparent motion against the background stars (marked by red ‘^’ symbols). I say ‘apparent’ as this motion has more to do with the Earth than Pluto. The true motion of the outer planets is from west to east, but in these images Pluto appears to move from east to west (retrograde). This results from our changing perspective as the Earth sweeps past Pluto in its orbit around the sun. Pluto will remain in retrograde motion until October 10th.

When these images were taken Pluto was 3.15 billion miles away shining at Mv 14.4. The sun’s illumination took approximately 4.7 hours to reach Pluto and the feeble reflected sunlight took another 4.7 hours to make the journey back to the Earth.

Pluto is currently well placed in the southern sky at dusk. (Photo credit: John Graham, 8/18 & 8/19/2023)