M29 as a Test

I'd like to get back to imaging.  This is a second test image using my 203mm f/4.9 reflector with the Starizona Nexus 0.75x reducer. This is only 39 minutes of 180s exposures with the Player One Uranus C Pro. It's not perfect, but it's getting closer. The reddish haze from the left side of the image is not a gradient but H-alpha glow.

NGC 2903 (March 2025)

 

This not-very-deep image is just over 2.5 hours of 300-second exposures with the 203mm Synta-ONTC Newtonian at f/4.95 and the Player One Uranus C Pro.  The night was hazy, and the haze made imaging harder, I believe; this really is what the camera recorded.

M51 after months of change, work, and clouds, March 2025

 

Here is a quick M51, just 10x5' with the Player One Uranus C Pro camera and Baader MPCC II-corrected 203mm Synta-ONTC Newtonian.  About two years ago, my old camera broke; a year ago, I replaced my laptop; and six months ago, I bought a CMOS camera.  My long-time capture app, Nebulosity, is no longer updated and will not work on the new laptop.  So I've begun using SharpCap Pro for the new camera, and it works fine, but the learning curve has been tough to climb while working full-time and any number of wonderful family events.  (Also, I've been working through the Herschel 400 list visually, and that has definitely taken some nights.) The resolution with the C Pro and the Newt is very high: 0.595" per pixel, higher than any other setup I've used.  My seeing will not be up to it on some nights; I'm still thinking around that.

M33, Fall 2024

This is first light with the TS 102SD, native at f/11 but telecompressed to f/6.93.  This is also first light with a Player One Uranus C Pro camera.  I haven't had a camera in a while.  So far, I'm impressed with this one.  This is 41x300s.

Double Cluster - NGC 869 & NGC 884

 

This is 37x300s with the Player One Uranus C Pro through my TS Optics 102SD f/11 and the Astro-Physics Telecompressor (CCDT67), which reduces the scope to eff. f/6.93.  This was taken from my backyard, and my subdivision lately installed new >4k streetlights with no shielding---a disaster for astronomy.  I'm doing my best here and still glad I can do something.