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)

Telescope: Unitron 510 5” f/16

Camera: Canon EOS Ra

Filter: 2” GSO IR Cut Filter

Exposure: 64×1/500sec, ISO 1600, saved as RAW

Seeing: Fair, 3/5

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

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

This is quick image of the waxing gibbous moon taken last night during dusk. This is one of a series of test images that I and taking to explore the imaging characteristics of the Unitron 510. One nice feature of these long focal length refractors is that they give an excellent well corrected field with little chromatic aberation. (Photo credit: John Graham, 7/29/2023)

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

Camera: QHY 367c Pro, Baader Mk III MPCC

Filter: GSO IR Blocking Filter

Exposure: 64x15ms, gain 2000, offset 50, -20C, saved as FITS

Seeing: good, 4/5

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: SharpCap Pro, Nebulosity, Registax, Photoshop

This image of the nearly full Worm Moon was taken about 36 hours before the moon reached completely full on the morning of March 7^th. The Worm Moon will be another example of a mini-moon with the moon being just a few days past apogee at a distance of 252,215 miles. This will make the moon a tad smaller and a tad fainter than an average full moon. Note how libration has rotated Mare Crisium nearly to the northeastern limb. That means that features along the southwestern limb are rotating into view. In the days following the full moon you may be able to glimpse the Mare Orientale impact basin and its ring mountains.

Telescope: Astro-Tech 8” f/8 Ritchey-Chretien, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: QHY 367c Pro, -20C, Baader Mk III MPCC

Filter: GSO IR Blocking Filter

Guide scope: Astro-Tech 60mm, ZWO ASI120MM mini, PHD2

Exposure: 46x60sec, gain 2800, offset 50, saved as FITS

Darks: 32, -20C, gain 2800, offset 50, saved as FITS

Flats: 64x300ms, Tee shirt flats taken at dusk

Average Light Pollution: Red zone, Bortle 8, fair transparency

Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 18.6

Stacking: Average, 1 sigma clip

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: SharpCap Pro, Nebulosity, Photoshop

I finally had a chance to take a peek at Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) as it passed south of Mars. When this image set was taken the comet was 44 million miles away to the northeast of the Hyades. Mas lay 4 degrees to the north of the comet and more than twice as far away in the background at a distance of 92 million miles. The stars trailing in the background shows the motion of the comet while the source images were being taken. The comet was moving so quickly the telescope was setup to track on the comet so that the nucleus of the comet was reasonably sharp while the stars trailed behind. (Photo credit: John Graham, 2–12-2023)

Telescope: Celestron C11 @ f/25, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: ZWO ASI462MC, 2.5x Powermate

Filter: Meade IR cut filter

Seeing: fair, 3-4/5

Exposure 1x(3min x 10ms, 25%), gain 300, saved as Raw8/SER

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

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

While setting up to image Mars I has just enough time to grab one quick image set of Jupiter. Since I am pretty much limited to imaging on the east side of the meridian this may be my last chance to photograph Jupiter this season. Not a bad way to finish!

Telescope: Celestron C11 @ f/25, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: ZWO ASI462MC, 2.5x Powermate

Filter: Meade IR cut filter

Seeing: fair, 3/5 with brief periods of 4/5

Exposure 5x(5min x 3ms, 25%), gain 300, saved as Raw8/SER

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

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

We had a rare evening of good seeing and I hoped to take advantage of it to get a decent image of Mars while it was still relatively close to the Earth and I am very happy with the result. This image is from the last of 5 sets of images taken as Mars rose higher in the sky into clearer air and shortly before it reached the meridian. The northern limb shows the north polar hood and below that is the broad expanse of the Tharsis Plateau. The soft circular feature to the upper left of Tharsis is the giant shield volcanoe Olympus Mons. The dark feature covering the southern hemisphere includes, from left to right, Mare Sirenum, Aonius Sinus, Solis Lacus, Mare Erythraeum, and Aurae Sinus. Just to the right of center is the giant canyon system the Mariner Valley. To the upper right is Lunae Palus.

Telescope: Celestron C11 @ f/25, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: ZWO ASI462MC, 2.5x Powermate

Filter: Highpoint Scientific IR Blocking Filter

Seeing: fair, 3/5

Exposure: 5% of 5x(3min @ 2msec), gain 400, saved as RAW8, SER

Histogram: 70%

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

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

This image of Jupiter was taken at 2:30am on the morning of September 8^th shortly after Io completed a transit of the planet. I thought that it was neat that this image shows a hint of detail on Io as well as its beautiful color. I still have some data sets sitting on my hard drive that were taken during the transit that I will process as soon as I get a chance.

Jupiter rises in the northeast during the early evening and is high in the south after midnight.

Telescope: Celestron C11 @ f/25, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: ZWO ASI462MC, 2.5x Powermate

Filter: Highpoint Scientific IR Filter

Seeing: fair, 3/5

Exposure: 5% of 10x(5min @ 2msec), gain 400, saved as RAW8, SER

Histogram: 70%

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

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

This image of Jupiter was taken shortly before 2am on the morning of September 9^th shortly after the Great Red Spot crossed Jupiter’s central meridian. The Great Red Spot continues to slowly shrink and fade, but still makes quite an impression on the southern equatorial belt.

Jupiter rises in the northeast during the early evening and is high in the south after midnight.