Setting Moon Over Santa Monica 8-20-24

I did attempt to capture the full moon setting over the water but I was a day late. It was a bit too bright to capture the image I would have liked, oh well! This was a composite of four shots around 7:00 at 3 minutes apart. 

Camera: Canon T3i/600D
Telescope: Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM Lens
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 200mm
f/4.0
Focal Reducer: none
Mount: Cheap Tripod
Exposure: 1/2500s
ISO: 200
Temp: 18 C
Processing: PixInsight, Photoshop

Jupiter-Mars 8-19-24

While in Santa Monica vacationing I managed to get Jupiter and Mars in the same FOV with my Canon EOS T3i (600D) and a 200mm Lens on the morning of 8-19-24. They were closest between the 14th and 15th. The sky conditions were not ideal, lots of light pollution but Jupiter was easily seen as was Mars. Jupiter's four moons (Galilan) were in an alignment starting from the bottom left Callisto, Io, Jupiter , Europa, and finally Ganymede on the top right. Mars was quite bright as well as it will be approaching Earth, thus appearing larger and brighter. The spikes around Jupiter and Mars are caused by aperture adjuster. Had I planned this better I would have kept the aperture open and used step down rings.

Camera: Canon T3i/600D
Telescope: Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM Lens
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 200mm
f/4.0
Focal Reducer: none
Mount: Cheap Tripod
ASI120 Mini attached to a ZWO Mini guidescope - None
Exposure: 1.6s

ISO: 1600
Temp: 18 C
Processing: PixInsight, Photoshop

Active Sun 8-13-24

It was finally a clear day and I was set up from the previous night of imaging. I was mainly doing observing, however, I did capture this image. I would had done a video but we are getting ready to travel so there was not much time. It looked stupendous live especially the active spot regions and the detached prominence! 

Higher Quality:
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Active Sun 8-13-24
Date: 8-13-24
Camera: ZWO ASI174MM-Pro
Telescope: Orion ED80
Barlow: DayStar Quark 4.2x
Focal Length: 600mm (2520mm w/Quark)
F/7.5 (F/31.5 w Quark)
Focal Reducer: none
Mount: ZWO AM3
Filter Adaptor: None
Filter: Baader UV-IR, Daystar Quark
Focuser: None
Autoguiding: None
Exposure: 5.86s (100 of 500)
Gain: 100
Offset 0
FPS: 64
Temp: 18 C
Processing: SharpCap, AutoStakkert, PixInsight, IMPPG, Topaz Denoise, Photoshop

NGC 7635 - Bubble Nebula (2024)

This is my latest image of NGC 7635 or the Bubble Nebula (a.k.a. Sh2-162). NGC 7635 is being pushed out by the stellar wind of a massive star, SAO 20575, within 'the bubble'. Located approximately 7,100 light-years away in Cassiopeia, NGC 7635 is situated in a giant molecular cloud which is able to contain the expansion of the bubble gas. The glow results from the gas getting ionized by the hot radiation from the central star. The Bubble is about 10 light-years across.

Other Deep Sky Objects (DSOs) found in this field include LBN 548/549 - the bright red area around the Bubble, LDN 1231 - a dark nebula up and left of the Bubble, Sh2-161 - LBN 547 - the large faint red Ha region on the left, PN G112.5-00.1 - a planetary nebula below and right of the Bubble, and one of my favorite area LBN 544 - a bright blue and red Ha region with a fair amount of oxygen on the upper right portion of the image.

Capturing went pretty smoothly except for one night when I thought I was centered on the object but was way off. I finally figured out how to have N.I.N.A. check the centering every so often, courtesy of Pat Prokop (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc-Vtv1XzxQ&t=1876s), in case clouds or space aliens get in the way. Processing also went smoothly. As usual there is a lot of subjective coloring with SHO objects which I struggle with. However, for this object I went with what was most pleasing to me and also what other people liked on Astrobin.

Pat's Channel (www.youtube.com/@HeavenlyBackyardAstronomy)

Dates: 7-7-24, 7-11, 7-13, 7-14, 7-18, 7-19, 7-29

High Quality:
https://www.astrobin.com/g3o7ew/?nc=collection&nce=712

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http://astroquest1.blogspot.com/
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http://youtube.com/AstroQuest1

NGC 7635 - Bubble Nebula (2024) 
Dates: 7-7-24, 7-11, 7-13, 7-14, 7-18, 7-19, 7-29
Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
Telescope: Astro-Tech AT115EDT 115mm Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 805mm (644mm w/ FR)
f/7
Focal Reducer: 0.8x AstroTech Field Flatterner/Focal Reducer
Mount: Orion Sirius
Filter Wheel: ZWO
EFW 8 x 1.25"
Filter: Antlia Ha, OIII, SII; ZWO R, G, B
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure: Ha 75 x 300, OIII 73 x 300, SII 68 x 300, R 46 x 90, G 47 x 90, B 44 x 90 (Total 21h 25')

Gain: 139
Offset 20
Sensor Temp: 0 C
Processing: NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, BlurXTerminator, StarXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, GraXpert, Bill Blanshan Color Masks, Bill Blanshan Stretching.

Solar Animation 7-19-24

For this animation, rather than just focusing on the prominences I kept the surface features as well. I am getting more familiar with producing these time-lapses but still have a way to go but I am not sure how detailed I can get with the ED80. There are three to four large prominence regions in this cropped view but I also was drawn to the movement of the filament (dark streak) in the right center. I ended up with five versions with other versions having less noise but also less detail before settling on this one. (48 min. Time-Lapse)

Higher Quality:
https://www.astrobin.com/rjst9o/?nc=collection&nce=712

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Solar Animation 7-19-24
Date: 7-19-24
Camera: ZWO ASI174MM-Pro
Telescope: Orion ED80
Barlow: DayStar Quark 4.2x
Focal Length: 600mm (2520mm w/Quark)
F/7.5 (F/31.5 w Quark)
Focal Reducer: none
Mount: ZWO AM3
Filter Adaptor: None
Filter: Baader UV-IR, Daystar Quark
Focuser: None
Autoguiding: None
Exposure: 6.97s - 48 min (100 of 500 every 30s)
Gain: 100
Offset 0
FPS: 63

Temp: 22 C
Processing: SharpCap, AutoStakkert, PixInsight, IMPPG, Topaz Denoise, Photoshop

Huge Prominence on 7-17-24

I captured this very large prominence on 7-17-24 while making a video comparing the ASI174 to the ASI178 for solar imaging with my setup - Link. I was stunned when I saw this prominence through the eyepiece after doing my testing and decided to image this. For reference, this is the southeast portion of the sun and the sunspot is designated as 3756. I originally attempted to make a time-lapse, however, in my haste to take advantage of the clear morning sun quickly set up my mount onto the concrete blocks which point to the general direction but you still need to check the polar alignment with a compass, Stellarium, or some other app. I completely forgot 😕 and was wondering why it was veering off after a few minutes - oh well!

Higher Quality:
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http://youtube.com/AstroQuest1

Huge Prominence on 7-17-24
Date: 7-17-24
Camera: ZWO ASI174MM-Pro
Telescope: Orion ED80
Barlow: DayStar Quark 4.2x
Focal Length: 600mm (2520mm w/Quark)
F/7.5 (F/31.5 w Quark)
Focal Reducer: none
Mount: ZWO AM3
Filter Adaptor: None
Filter: Baader UV-IR, Daystar Quark
Focuser: None
Autoguiding: None
Exposure: 8.10s (100 of 500)
Gain: 100
Offset 0
FPS: 67
Temp: 18 C
Processing: SharpCap, AutoStakkert, PixInsight, IMPPG, Topaz Denoise, Photoshop

NGC 7129 - A Small Reflection in a Rich Field

Located some 3,300 light-years in the constellation Cepheus is a small reflection nebula, NGC 7129, illuminated by a young star cluster. The interesting shape, often described as a rosebud, was produced when hot young stars blew a bubble in the very large molecular cloud in this region. To make things more interesting, this region also contains lots of hydrogen, enough to produce faint Ha emission nebulae.

I have a love-hate relationship with processing molecular clouds with both reflection and emission nebulae as they have conflicting processing techniques when highlighting them. Because of this the final result depends on the preference of the astrophotographer. In trying to set a balance I went with showing a bit more Ha. Perhaps if I were in a dark site with Bortle 3 or lower skies I would have balanced it differently. The reflection nebula has a blue hue and shows lots of interesting structure caused by the solar winds streaming outward against the molecular cloud.

Lastly, the region is rich in stars of all types. If you have been following me, you know I like stars so I left many of them. However, I did do some reduction using BlurXTerminator on the RGB stars and did not use the Luminosity data for the stars.

High Quality:

https://www.astrobin.com/01awih/?nc=collection&nce=712

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http://astroquest1.blogspot.com/
https://www.astrobin.com/users/kurtzepp/collections/
http://youtube.com/AstroQuest1

NGC 7129 - A Small Reflection in a Rich Field

Dates: 6-4-24, 6-7, 6-9, 6-10, 6-12, 6-13, 6-15, 6-24, 6-27
Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro
Telescope: Astro-Tech AT115EDT 115mm Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 805mm (644mm w/ FR)
f/7
Focal Reducer: 0.8x AstroTech Field Flatterner/Focal Reducer
Mount: Orion Sirius
Filter Wheel: ZWO
EFW 8 x 1.25"
Filter: Antlia Ha; ZWO L, R, G, B
Focuser: ZWO EAF
Autoguiding: ASI120 Mini attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope/ZWO 60mm Guidescope
Exposure: L 326 x 90, Ha 174 x 300, R 114 x 90, G 113 x 90, B 107 x 90 (Total 30h 58")
Gain: 139
Offset 20
Sensor Temp: 0 C
Processing: NINA, PixInsight, Photoshop, BlurXTerminator, StarXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, GraXpert, Bill Blanshan Color Masks, Bill Blanshan Stretching, Topaz Denoise.