ShahGazer Rambling about Astrophotography, Coding and Clouds

M7, also known as Ptolemy Cluster, tucked nicely at the tail of the Scorpion. With the Milky Way center nearby, it was tempting to give it a try, even though it was right in the middle of the city glow. The final image was rather pleasing for me. I managed to capture some background stars as well. Stretched quiet a lot in Photoshop especially on the grey curve. Camera: QHY9 Mono with QHY Filter wheel (RGB) Telescope: SW Equinox 120ED Mount: EQ6 Pro with EQMOD Guiding: Orion 80mm and QHY5 Imaging Software: Maxim DL Processing Software: Maxim DL and PS3 Exposures: L: 6 x 100sec, R: 3 x 60sec, G: 3 x 60sec, B: 3 x 60sec Calibration: Old Flats (per color) and Darks Dither : 2 pixel per sub

The morning of 14th May 2011 was pretty clear. After several days shrouded by haze, the sky at my observatory was promising this morning. My 10'x10' observatory footprint doesn't allow me to have a good spot for the shot. But at least the planets were pretty near the nearby mosque and have a photogenic look. I submitted this photo at Spaceweather.com and surprisingly was selected at the front page today . Thanks Dr. Tony Phillips of Spaceweather.com !

NGC 2467, an interesting nebula in Puppis. This image was captured last night when the moon was about 30 degrees away. The sky was pretty hazy during the time. And unfortunately my focus was slightly off. I wonder what went wrong with the focus because I already did a new v-curve set in FocusMax the night before. So I had to binned the final image. Combining LRGB was done in Maxim DL, while the final Levels and curves via PS CS3. Camera: QHY9 Mono with QHY Filter wheel (RGB) Telescope: SW Equinox 120ED Mount: EQ6 Pro with EQMOD Guiding: Orion 80mm and QHY5 Imaging Software: Maxim DL Processing Software: Maxim DL and PS3 Exposures: L: 6 x 100sec, R: 3 x 60sec, G: 3 x 60sec, B: 3 x 60sec Calibration: Old Flats (per color) and Darks Dither : 2 pixel per sub

Last night, with the Moon almost full in the east, I was reluctant to do any imaging. However, the sky towards the south became clearer each minute, and having a steady clear sky in my location is very rare. So I fired up my imaging equipments. This is a small planetary nebula in Puppis, NGC 2440. Finding it was easy, using Maxim DL and PinPoint. In fact I am enjoying and more relaxed now when doing imaging, having Maxim DL help me to automate the process and PinPoint assuring me that I am pointing at the correct place! Camera: QHY9 Mono with QHY Filter wheel (RGB) Telescope: SW Equinox 120ED Mount: EQ6 Pro with EQMOD Guiding: Orion 80mm and QHY5 Imaging Software: Maxim DL Processing Software: Maxim DL and PS3 Exposures: L: 6 x 100sec, R: 3 x 60sec, G: 3 x 60sec, B: 3 x 60sec Calibration: Flats (per color) and Darks Dither : 2 pixel per sub

I was following almost step-by-step of processing LRGB images from the Starizona - Guide to ccd imaging , and happily managed to extract some good data from my previous Eta Carina RGB data sets. Combined with the Luminance data, I used R(3 min), G(3 min), B(3 min). The combined method is Median for RGB and Sigma Clip for Luminance. The SNR seems better.

This is the same M42 data taken from the previous post. The only different is that this is my first attempt on processing it in High Dynamic Range. A lot of post-processing in Photoshop CS3, IRIS and NEAT Image. Not too sure if the colour is 'right' though. Seems a bit red(?).

These are 3 more shots I took during the 4 day astrofotography session at Penang. I did a lot of heavy post-processing, especially on M104 and M64 mainly because I failed somewhat to take proper darks and flats.

Each of these image was a single frame capture using Celestron Amcap software, as proposed by Rock Mallin on his website It was nice to play with the settings and see immediate results. And the most surprising thing was the amount of details I can see when I pushed maximum to 56 seconds!

During last weekend, I got a solid 4 nights of good sky in Balik Pulau, Penang for imaging. It was done using Mallincam Hyper Color Plus and Skywatcher Equinox 80mm scope. A light pollution filter was added to help ease out a nearby glaring streetlight. SQM readings was 20 19.6 . I was surprise with the amount of details I saw using different integration settings. From low setting looking at the Trapezium, all the way to 56 seconds where the outer part of M42 was easily seen. Here is a stacked shot using different settings. Details are as follow: SW Equinox 80mm f/6.25 Mallincam Hyper Plus Color with MFR-3, Light Pollution Filter Celestron LPR. Settings = (2.1s x 5, 7s x 5, 14s x 9, 28s x 10, 56s x 10). Total exposure time about 16 minutes. Images stacked using DeepSkyStacker, processed in Registax.

Sky was clear this morning. Sunspot 1045 grew a lot in just 24 hours. Took the opportunity to snap some shots. I like the snake-like shape of the sunspot, as if trying to wriggle away from the watchful eye of humans..

Note: The live streaming services provided was called Night Skies Network, and NOT NightSkyNetworks as stated on the photo (left). My mistake.I will make the necessary correction as soon as possible. I attended the virtual online observation by Rock Mallin via the really cool Night Sky Networks Night Skies Network . It was way late at night in Canada, while I was comfortably having my breakfast here in Kuala Lumpur! The setup used was a 16 inch LX200 coupled with MFR-5 and using the new Mallincam VSS . Integration setting was 2 seconds. We were looking at M42, and the live view itself was wild! As mentioned by one of the attendees, it looked pretty much 3D! The dust lanes (or clumps) really pops up in front of the trapeziums! I couldn't resist capturing some of the frames and stacked it up. The photo speaks by itself! It was a combination of 20 frames each at 2 sec integration. So, in all a total of 40 SECONDS! exposure time! Whew!!! The VSS seems to be displaying nicely. There...

Here are some photos with new friends during the brief stint at Coona and Wiruna.

Back in May 2009, I attended the South Pacific Star Party at Wiruna, Ilford and the Ozsky Star Party at Coonabarabran. That was actually the first time I visited Australia. It was truly a memorable trip. Despite being there for just under a week, 3 nights of planned stargazing, and only 2 nights of clear sky, that was enough for me to start planning for another trip next year! So here are some of the wide angle photos of the Milky Way I took using un-mod Canon 300D with the standard 18mm-55mm kit lens at the Ozsky Star Party in Coona. No tracking, just on a flimsy camera tripod.