ShahGazer Rambling about Astrophotography, Coding and Clouds

(Note: I've adjusted the color balance from the previous photo) This evening, with the sky somewhat clear towards the west, I took Jupiter and Venus and add into my previous collection. All of them were taken within 24 hours. Seeing was very very bad. This is so far the best I can take from the video frames. Processed in Registax and Photoshop.

Angular size comparison between Mars and Saturn, taken last night. The seeing wasn't good, Saturn was still low at the horizon. Mars was pretty much overhead. I need to use 5X barlow to my Skywatcher 120ED scope, otherwise both are too small to show details. Finally got my DBK camera working nicely! Video was stacked in Registax, wavelength adjustment also with Registax. Final image was processed in PS.

The Markarian's Chain, centered on M86. This is a one-shoot-color ccd image using the iTelescope.Net T20 telescope in New Mexico. Total exposure of 26 minutes ( 6 x 260s ).

The Wishing Well Cluster, NGC 3532. This is one of my  favorite  open clusters. The view through my 10 inch Dob was simply awesome. The field of view simply littered with faint stars. In a way, it appears more like a beehive cluster! The photo was taken on 10th Feb 2012, the same date as when I took the Eta Carinae nebula . Telescope: SW 120ED CCD: QHY9 Mono w FW Mount: EQ6 with EQMOD LRGB: 900:300:300:300 seconds

I simply loved a daylight moon. The lack of contrast between the sky and the moon surface, especially at the Lunar Maria area somehow gave it a peaceful and kind of a sad, appearance. This shot was taken this morning (14 Feb 2012) using Canon 550D,  SW 80ED, ISO200 and 1/1600 sec exposure.

It's been almost a year since taking my first light with a CCD from my observatory. Back then, Eta Carina was my target. So, on the 10th of Feb, with the sky clearing up, I went down the memory lane and took another set of image of the nebula. The moon was high up in the sky, so the contrast wasn't great. The probably need to use shorter focal length to get a better view. This nebula is enormous! Telescope: SW 120ED CCD: QHY9 Mono w FW Mount: EQ6 with EQMOD LRGB: 900:300:300:300 seconds

This is another image of Comet C/2009 P1 Garradd taken today via iTelescope.net T16 telescope in Spain. The moon was high up in the sky, and created havoc with my RGB channels! However, individually the comet came out quiet nicely. I decided to process the Luminance set for this blogpost. The comet was passing by a 13.7 magnitude galaxy, NGC 6283. Another perfect example of size and distance between 2 objects in space. The inset was a zoomed view towards the top part of the comet's nucleus. The resolution of the TOA150 scope managed to catch some nice spiral structure of the galaxy. Hopefully by tomorrow I will complete the astrometry position of the comet, and see how fast it moved in between each Luminance's frame. TELESCOPE         iTelescope.Net T16 TOA-150             INSTRUMENTS SBIG ST-L-11K 3 CCD Camera

I would like to thank iTelescope.net for listing me alongside all the sifus of astrophotographers under the members in focus section of the iTelescope.net website. It came as a surprise, especially after a chaotic week of chasing Eros and Comet Garradd. What more can I say, thank you very much to iTelescope for giving such honor!  Clear skies ahead!

The iTelescope.net network was buzzing with users trying frantically to get online to any telescope available in order not to miss the close encounters between Comet Garradd and M92. My original plan was to booked a session at the Spain telescopes, but unfortunately due to bad weather, the observatory was closed.  So now, I have use the New Mexico scopes, but the traffic there was pack jammed with reserved bookings or currently in use. After patiently waiting and watching for any free telescope... for about 2 hours, I finally got hold of the T14 telescope . I was really lucky to have the imaging session uninterrupted. So here is the result. Object: Comet Garradd (C/2009 P1) and M92 Date: 2012-02-03 between 10:36 - 11:26 UTC                            iTelescope.Net T14 Tak FSQ 106mm   SBIG ST-L-11K 3       L 4 X 300 sec R 3 X 100 sec...