Good shot John. Fascinating stuff, first new supernova I’ve seen with the scope. I’ve pointed the scope at NGC 4088 tonight (19th) and in 8 minute exposures with the ccd camera the supernova shows up very brightly within the galaxy. In fact it was clearly visible while I was going through the focus routine in Maxim DL on 2x2 binned 10sec subs.

Malcolm

Here’s a false colour image of M82 (work in progress) to see how deep I can get with this galaxy from London, currently with only luminance (58mins) and Ha (4.2 hrs), awaiting disappearance of the moon to take RGB signals:

http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/6401672_oJTsN#508759866_cza7j-O-LB

Imaged with a mono SXVF-H9 camera with a variety of sub-frames between 4mins and 15mins long each and colour channels mixed in Maxim DL. The complete image so far has been captured on bright moonlit nights so narrowband is definitely the way to go!

regards

Malcolm

Unusual shot, well done.

Malcolm

Here are images of the lunar disk, both taken in blue sky mid-afternoon of the 1st:

http://urbanimager.smugmug.com/gallery/7785976_gXu9a#503529105_3Tg3o-O-LB

http://urbanimager.smugmug.com/gallery/7785976_gXu9a#503528991_rRehR-X3-LB

http://urbanimager.smugmug.com/gallery/7785976_gXu9a/1/503528991_rRehR#503925024_mUVqm-A-LB

Imaged with a Tak FS128 refractor.

Malcolm

Very nice image Carl, great detail.

Malcolm

Here’s some prom activity from the morning of 30.3.09, photographed with a Hydrogen Alpha filter on 102mm refractor, together with a white light image showing a minor area of activity near the lunar limb showing as a slight break in the surface granularity (an imaging exercise only, nothing to get very excited about!). White light image taken with a Baader Herschel Prism on the refractor:

http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/6401672_oJTsN#501952097_Lpo6Y-O-LB

Solar surface sure is quiet, cycle 24 activity please show yourself.

regards

Malcolm

Hi all

My first deep sky image in weeks (been away), this image from the early hours of 30.3.09 (clear night in London, finished imaging at 02.20am), taken with an SXVF-H9 mono ccd camera on a Meade 12" sct (equatorially mounted on ap1200) has been added to a previous set of captures taken with the same camera prior to it being rechipped as mono. It shows the faint arm extending between M51 and NGC 5195:

http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/6401672_oJTsN#502061162_ZhFXE-O-LB

regards

Malcolm

Thanks Paul. The Tak 180ED has vanes to hold the secondary mirror, hence the spikes.

Malcolm

Here is M45 open cluster with the Merope Nebula IC 349, altogether 2 hours exposure with 24 x 5min subs on a Canon 40D fitted with cls clip-in filter on a Takahashi 180ED:

http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/6401672_oJTsN#460362143_gvPwV-A-LB

regards

malcolm

Nice getting Kushida in the same fov as the Pleiades, good one!

Malcolm

Thanks everyone, much appreciated!

Paul, I’m only using the Astronomik CLS clip-filter on the 40D on these shots. Conditions here last night between 20.00-01.00 were not too bad but deteriorated somewhat after 01.00 as a result of heavy dew in the atmosphere. The Tak 180 images at f2.8 so picks up fainter nebulousity fairly quickly, this helps. The following was captured between 01.00 and 02.30ish:

http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/6401672_oJTsN#460601094_BPde9-A-LB

rgds

Malcolm

Here’s an image from the evening of 23rd Jan in London, the star Alnitak in Orion with the Flame and Horsehead Nebula, captured with 18x360sec subs on Canon 40D, Tak 180 Astrograph (image cropped), guided:

http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/6401672_oJTsN#460316237_4Dthv-O-LB

regards

Malcolm

Thanks all

I rarely boost saturation in photoshop Brian, the colour all came from Noels Actions increase star colour although star colours were obvious on the original 16bit tiffs.

Malcolm

This image is the first time I’ve taken 5 minute sub exposures with the Canon 40D (only done it up till now with ccd cameras), though most of the subs were 3mins. I autoguided this capture via a separate SBIG camera on a side-by-side mounted 90mm refractor and the 5min subs really paid off with much greater depth of detail. I recently acquired PHD guiding software and it’s really made my imaging a lot easier and more accurate, allowing subs on the ccd cameras up to 15-20 minutes each. The star colours are brought out even more with the Noels Actions plugin for Photoshop.

Malcolm