5 day old Moon

The atmosphere was fairly unsettled and the cloud and fog had already started to intrude, so not the sharpest images ever, by a long way. The mount behaved itself though, after the previous nights problems, so the recalibration worked. The tracking was really good and plate solving kicked in really fast.

First , the Moon (based on about 7 images, each of 500 exposures, 100 ISO, 1/5 s, stacked in Registax):

5 Day old Moon

The main target I really wanted to have a go at was a galaxy that I had imaged once before, in 2016, NGC 2403 in Camelopardalis. This is the 2016 image:

NGC 2403 in Camelopardalis (2016)

Unfortunately, with everything working perfectly, the clouds rolled in, so all O managed last night was:

NGC 2403 , barely any data, 2019

This is what 2 exposures looks like! Work in progress, methinks.

NGC 7741 Galaxy in Pegasus

Last night, first night in a few when I was able to get out AND see stars...so the mount decides it cannot be guided. Not sure what the problem was, but ended up having to redo the calibration in PHD2. It seems ot have settled down and I as able to take some 240s exposure of NGC 7741. The image is based on 35 exposures, some of which are 120 s. All at ISO 1600.

NGC 7741 in Pegasus

There are a lot more 'fuzzies' (= galaxies) in this image, but they are faint. When I can I will get more data and try and improve the resolution.

By the by, very humid days with colder nights - DEW and condensation on everything, so have had to try drying the shed out!

After rain, cloud, rain, cloud,....

I managed to get out for an hour. Earlier in the day I had updated AstroPhotography Tool and Cartes du Ciel. I have also included some catalogues, Burnham Northern and a Deep Sky Object catalogue for CdC. In future,  I will be able to find  the Arp  galaxies.

With galaxies in mind, I had a go at imaging a galaxy in Pegasus. I managed 3 x 60 s at ISO 12800 (!) and 2 x 120 s at ISO 1600, so a LOT of noise. Somewhat to my surprise, DeepSky Stacker decided it could process this disparate data:

Galaxies in the Square of Pegasus, NGC 7745 and  NGC 7741

Wikipedia: NGC 7741 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Pegasus. It is located at a distance of circa 40 million light years from Earth, which, given its apparent dimensions, means that NGC 7741 is about 50,000 light years across. It was discovered by William Herschel on September 10, 1784.



Hopefully I will be able to get some better data when the weather allows.

Gibbous Moon

Well, almost full really. So bright, no other targets ( that comet and the Iris Nebula in Cepheus) were worth imaging. Well, I tried, but got nothing.

The moon was still a bit low really, but the images are not too bad, atmospheric turbulence was quite high:

Schickard

Schickard is a lunar impact crater of the form called a walled plain. It lies in the southwest sector of the Moon, near the lunar limb. As a result, the crater appears oblong due to foreshortening. Attached to the northern rim is the lesser crater Lehmann, and to the northeast is the even smaller Drebbel.

Crater Gassendi, upper centre right.

 Mare Humorum top right, part of Oceanus Procellarum on the left.  Surveyor 1 landed in the faintly outlined large crater with the smaller clear one (Flamsteed) on its lower right rim.

Oceanus Procellarum, Ocean of Storms

 Several CCCP Luna landers arrived here, in the 1960's.

Aristarchus and Herodotus,in the centre.

This might be a future Lunar Base region...

"The Aristarchus Plateau is one of the most amazing and geologically diverse regions on the Moon. Surrounded by the lavas of Oceanus Procellarum, Aristarchus crater is one of the brightest features on the Moon's surface . The Aristarchus region swarms with complex volcanic features, including the Vallis Schröteri, the largest sinuous rille on the Moon . The Plateau is also home to one of the largest lunar Regional Dark Mantling Deposits. Large lunar pyroclastic deposits like the Aristarchus Plateau will be intensely studied by the next generation of human lunar explorers because their composition offers important insights into the composition of the lunar interior.

This massive deposit of fine-grained FeO-rich pyroclastic ash is one of the most accessible lunar resource deposits. Future lunar settlers could use this ash for radiation shielding and as feedstock for the production of oxygen and photovoltaic cells. Because of the geologic diversity of this region, the potential for supremely compelling lunar science investigations, and the proximity to rich deposits of readily-accessible resources, the Aristarchus region is a high-priority site for future human lunar exploration and is one of the most frequently-suggested locations for a permanent lunar outpost. The upcoming Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera is going to collect numerous 0.5 m/pixel images of this region in order to locate prospective landing sites for the future human lunar exploration that will be required to unravel the compelling, complex geology of the Aristarchus region.

Sinus Iridum

 The crater Pythagoras is just coming into sunlight on the far upper left.

Mosaic of the above

Andromeda Galaxy, Tadpoles and a First Quarter Moon

While I was waiting for Auriga to rise (where the tadpoles lurk), I took a few frames of the Moon, a possible comet (289P/Blanpain,if it is one) and M31 Andromeda galaxy. I finished off with a very few frames of Horsehead nebula, before the clouds rolled in.

Is the fuzzy blob a comet ? (lower right, on the satellite track)

M31 Andromeda Galaxy

Wikipedia: The Andromeda Galaxy, also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224 and originally the Andromeda Nebula, is a spiral galaxy approximately 780 kiloparsecs (2.5 million light-years) from Earth, and the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way.

The mass of the Andromeda Galaxy is of the same order of magnitude as that of the Milky Way, at a trillion solar masses (1012M☉).  The Andromeda Galaxy has a diameter of about 220,000 light-years.

The number of stars contained in the Andromeda Galaxy is estimated at one trillion (1×1012), or roughly twice the number estimated for the Milky Way.

 Views of the terminator  in a first quarter Moon:

First Quarter Moon

Aristoteles and Eudoxus craters, to the north of the Lunar Alps, with the Vallis Alpes (Alpine Valley).

Mare Serenitatis to the upper right, part of the Mare Imbrium to the lower left

Mare Vaporum, upper left

Albategnius, upper left, Werner towards the centre (thought the 'X' is not clearly visible :0()

First quarter mosaic

And the tadpoles....

NGC 1893 is an open cluster in the constellation Auriga. It is about 12,400 light years away. The star cluster is embedded in the HII region IC 410.

The 'tadpoles' are only just visible. left of centre (red blobs are the heads). More data needed.

Horsehead Nebula in Orion

This is still based on far too little data, but Orion isn't getting into a position where I can photograph it until around midnight and each time, thats when the clouds are appearing. I will keep adding data.

The Flaming Star Nebula, IC405, in Auriga and ...Moon shots

The main focus tonight was the Flaming Star Nebula, IC405 in Auriga. Apart from a little cloud around 6-7, it was mostly clear until thicker clouds rolled in around midnight. So, I was able to get 39 x 240 s exposures at ISO 1600:

IC405 Flaming Star Nebula in Auriga

Wikipedia: IC 405 (also known as the Flaming Star Nebula, SH 2-229, or Caldwell 31) is an emission and reflection nebula in the constellation Auriga, surrounding the bluish star AE Aurigae. It shines at magnitude +6.0. Its celestial coordinates are RA  05h 16.2m dec +34° 28′. It surrounds the irregular variable star AE Aurigae and is located near the emission nebula IC 410, the open clusters M38 and M36, and the K-class star Iota Aurigae. The nebula measures approximately 37.0' x 19.0', and lies about 1,500 light-years away from Earth. It is believed that the proper motion of the central star can be traced back to the Orion's Belt area. The nebula is about 5 light-years across.


Almost first quarter, so the Moon was a good target earlier, at around 5:30 pm. Most of the images are based on 1000 frames, aligned and stacked in Registax:

Almost first quarter

Mare Serenitatis

 The Sea of Serenity, with the craters Eudoxus and Aristoteles visible upper left.

Mare Vaporum

The Sea of Vapours, with the crater Manilius prominent centre top. Notice Rima Ariadaeus in the centre. This  is a linear rille on the Moon at 6.4°N 14.0°E. It is named after the crater Ariadaeus, which marks its eastern end. It is over 300 km long and is categorized as a straight rille because of its linear nature.

Almost in the centre is the crater Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar is a lava-flooded lunar impact crater with a low, irregular, and heavily worn wall. Its diameter is 85 km. It was named after Roman statesman Julius Caesar. It is located to the west of Mare Tranquillitatis, and directly southeast of the crater Manilius on the Mare Vaporum. To the east is the rounded Sosigenes.

The interior floor of Julius Caesar is relatively level, especially in the southwest half. The northern half of the interior has a lower albedo (darker) than the south. Most likely the floor has been covered or modified by ejecta from the impact that created the Imbrium basin. There are a number of crater remnants overlapping the rim along the south and northeast edges. A low ridge crosses the floor across the northeast sections of the crater.

Lacus Mortis

 The Lake of Death, just right of top centre, with the crater Burg in the centre of it. Mare Frigoris is to the left, almost top centre.

Near the South Pole.

The triplet of craters to the upper left includes Abenezra and Azophi. The very dark crater upper centre is Gemma Frisius and the prominent crater with the central mountain is Maurolycus.

Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catharina

The triplet is to the upper right.

Mainly the moon..

Sadly, the clouds were in attendance even early on. Then  at intermittent intervals until the cover was more than 80%. Also, the mount needed to have some of the calibration data cleared and , just in case, I also checked the polar alignment (good). I have added in the focal reducer, so all these shots are at F6.8

  I managed a couple of 1000 frame sequences for the moon. These were then aligned, stacked and processed in Registax:

Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catharina

Theophilus (lower right odf the three), Cyrillus, Catharina - most imposing trio of craters on the moon.  Theophilus is a spectacular formation with all of the attendant complexities of a Tycho-class crater: terraced walls, a flat floor, and magnificent central mountain peaks. It is 60 miles in diameter, and the drop from the highest mountains on the rim to the floor below is a breathtaking 2.7 miles!

Notice how the floor of Theophilus is much smoother than the floors of Cyrillus and Catharina. When the impact occurred that produced Theophilus, much of the material that was excavated shot straight up. When it returned (in the form of molten rocks and mountain-sized boulders) it splashed, spread out, and then resurfaced the floor with a smooth veneer.

The Mare Nectaris (Sea of Nectar) lies  in the centre of the frame.

Piccolomini in the centre

The frame above shows Piccolomini (centre), with a prominent central mountain, Janssen to the left, Pitiscus and Vlacq, amongst others, to the upper left.

Top Left corner is South, in both pictures.

The next image is based on only 4 x 240s exposures at ISO 1600, hence is pretty noisy. However, it is better than I thought it would be, considering.
Wikipedia says "The Horsehead Nebula (also known as Barnard 33) is a small dark nebula in the constellation Orion.The nebula is located just to the south of Alnitak, the easternmost star of Orion's Belt, and is part of the much larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. It appears within the southern region of the dense dust cloud known as Lynds 1630, along the edge of the much larger HII nebula region called IC 434.

The Horsehead Nebula is approximately 460 parsecs or 1400 light years from Earth. It is one of the most identifiable nebulae because of its resemblance to a horse's head."

The nebula to the lower left is NGC 2023, a reflection nebula.

The Horsehead Nebula in Orion

This is only part of  Messier 45, The Pleiades. Again, not many exposures, 7 x 240s (thanks, clouds). The field of view on the Celestron is quite small. However, you can see the beautiful colours of the reflection nebulae.

Part of M45, The Pleiades, showing the reflection nebulae

Wikipedia: "The Pleiades , also known as the Seven Sisters and Messier 45, are an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky.

The cluster is dominated by hot blue and luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Reflection nebulae around the brightest stars were once thought to be left over material from the formation of the cluster, but are now considered likely to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium through which the stars are currently passing."

The main object I looked at on 2nd Dec was The Little Dumbbell Nebula. I managed to get 19 x 240s exposures at ISO 1600,  between clouds rolling in and the mount refusing to go across the meridian (don't ask):

The Little Dumbbell Nebula, Messier 76

Wikipedia: "Messier 76 (M76), also known as the Little Dumbbell Nebula, is a planetary nebula located in the constellation Perseus.

The nebula lies at an approximate distance of 2,500 light years from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 10.1. It has the designations NGC 650 and NGC 651 in the New General Catalogue as it was once believed to consist of two separate emission nebulae.

The Little Dumbbell Nebula is sometimes also called the Cork Nebula or the Barbell Nebula. It occupies an area of 2.7 by 1.8 arc minutes of apparent sky, which corresponds to a spatial diameter of only 1.23 light years. The nebula’s size and faintness makes it one of the most difficult Messier objects to observe.

Messier 1, The Crab Nebula in Taurus

This was taken with my Celestron XLT 9.25 at F10, based on just over 3 hours exposure, 52 x 240 s.

M1 The Crab Nebula

This is the longest set of exposures I have taken to date. Sadly, I think the focus is somewhat suspect. However, I am still pleased with it !

At the end of a long cold observing session ( I was using my little dobsonian with the amazing optics to look at double stars in Orion, a la 'Turn Left at Orion'), I also did some 'happy snappies':

Great Nebula in Orion, showing the Trapezium

 This was a 62 s exposure at ISO 1600, unprocessed.

Great Nebula in Orion

 This was a 30 s exposure at ISO 6400, showing more of the nebula, but the brightness of the heart obscuring the trapezium.

The Horsehead Nebula in Orion

This was a 62 s exposure at ISO 12800. I haven't bothered trying to process it.

Sigma Orionis

This is a very short exposure of a FIVE star system! The brightest star is a double , where the two stars are too close to be separated optically.  Then, there are the three other stars in the system as well. IF there are any planets (likely), then their skies must be truly spectacular!

First Moon Mosaic

I have removed the focal reducer and am now using the telescope at F/10. This means more magnification, though slower images. This is better for objects such as planets and  the Moon. So, here is my first ever mosaic, of an area called Grimaldi, near the limb of the Moon. Fairly flat image , because the Moon was almost full. The image is based on 500+ images, stacked and processed in Registax. Basically, this means the software selects the images that are closest to each other in focus, as the atmosphere distorts the images, then aligns and stacks them.

Grimaldi, in two pane mosaic

An unprocessed photo of the moon.

Single image  of Grimaldi, showing the effect of the atmosphere on a 'focussed' image

So, Registax is pretty good!

Cat's Eye Nebula in Draco

This is my first attempt, based on 60 mins exposures (30 x 2 min). IT is just possible to see the outer ring of gas. The 'eye' itself is pasted in (and looks like it), from 2 s exposures. I was also using the focal reducer, so , next time, it will be without and hopefully about 4 x more exposure.

Cat's Eye Nebula in Draco

Comet, Asteroid, Open Cluster and Nebula

A bit of a murky night, with a high haze and the moon gibbous and high in the south. So, instead of gathering more data on the galaxies in Aries, I did a bit of flitting about.

This is an animation made up from about 14 x 2 minute exposures, of the Comet Panstarrs, currently a little under 300,000,000 km from Earth, moving towards the Sun.

Comet C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS)

M1 The Crab Nebula in Taurus

NGC1513 Open Cluster in Perseus

Uranus

Vesta

More Data and New Galaxies

Now that I have all the software issues resolved I can start doing longer exposures. First, I have  more data for the Fireworks Galaxy, so there is a better image. I also spent a couple of hours imaging NGC 678, 680 and IC 1730 in Aries.

Fireworks Galaxy

NGC 678, 680 and IC 1730 in Aries

Here is the plate solve from Astrometry:

Center (RA, Dec):	(27.234, 21.926)
Center (RA, hms):	01h 48m 56.262s
Center (Dec, dms):	+21° 55' 32.561"
Size:	56.9 x 37.9 arcmin
Radius:	0.569 deg
Pixel scale:	0.715 arcsec/pixel
Orientation:	Up is 65.9 degrees E of N

Fireworks Galaxy, Uranus and Neptune

NGC 6946 also known as the Fireworks Galaxy is a face-on intermediate spiral galaxy with a small bright nucleus, whose location in the sky straddles the boundary between the northern constellations of Cepheus and Cygnus. Its distance from Earth is about 25.2 million light-years.

The Fireworks Galaxy in Cepheus

This is based on 10 x 240 s exposures. These are the longest I have managed with the new set up. I have finally solved the problem of mysterious tracking errors;  if I use AstroPhotography Tool dithering, then  it seems to upset PHD2. Using PHD2 dithering sorts it out. Apart from that, the other problem last night was dew ; I have a dew shield and Astro Zap dew band, but it is not the right one for the scope and there is nothing on the guider.

I also took more images of Uranus and Neptune.

The movement of Neptune between 16 Oct 2019 and 22 Oct 2019

The movement of Uranus between 16 Oct 2019 and 22 Oct 2019

Comparing the two tracks of the planets, one is moving in the opposite direction to the other (presumably one is retrograde at the moment, with respect to the movement of the Earth). Also, the apparent movement of Neptune is less than that of Uranus, presumably reflecting the much greater distance to Neptune from Earth.
The distance of Uranus from Earth is currently 2,819,977,014 kilometres, equivalent to 18.850382 Astronomical Units.

The distance of Neptune from Earth is currently 4,354,863,649 kilometres, equivalent to 29.110465 Astronomical Units.

Moons of Uranus

This shows some of the moons of Uranus (Titania, Miranda , Ariel, Umbriel, and Oberon). Apparently Umbriel and Ariel are often lost in the glare of the planet. The Sky and Telescope tool shows this for the time the photo was taken:

So, I am not sure which is which! If the glare in my photo is really large then maybe Miranda, Ariel and Umbriel are almost lost in it ?