B343 (Final Ha) August 2015

Full resolution image here.

I found a night in July for more time on B343.  Here is a complete H-alpha, full resolution image.

Telescope: Astro-Tech AT111EDT and William Optics AFR-IV (eff. f/5.6)
Camera and Exposure: SXVF-H9 (Ha 11x1500"; 11x1200"); Alnitak Flat-man flats
Filter(s): Astronomik 6nm Ha
Guiding: SX Lodestar and SX OAG
Mount: Takahashi NJP
Software: Nebulosity, PHD, Maxim DL, Photoshop CS3
Location: The Woodlands, TX

IC1318a (the most interesting part), July 24, 2015

We are blessed with clear-ish skies on a weekend with a quarter moon, which works for narrowband.  IC1318a is near the star Sadr in Cygnus, a prominent summer constellation.  I've shot this object before, but I've a goal to shoot OIII and SII this time, also, and make a color frame of it.  The star at the center of the frame is HD194789, a type B star about 1,050 light years away.

Telescope: Astro-Tech AT111EDT and William Optics AFR-IV (eff. f/5.6)
Camera and Exposure: SXVF-H9 (Ha 20x1200"); Alnitak Flat-man flats
Filter(s): Astronomik 6nm Ha
Guiding: SX Lodestar and SX OAG
Mount: Takahashi NJP
Software: Nebulosity, PHD, Maxim DL, Photoshop CS3
Location: The Woodlands, TX

Jupiter & Venus Alignment - June 30, 2015

Jupiter was very close to Venus tonight.  This is the view through the SV110ED with the Canon T3i and AT2FF.  It rained this evening where I live, so I drove about thirty miles north to find a hole in the clouds.  Anyway, the best view is one you don't see here.  It was at 77x through a 10mm eyepiece.  In that view, Jupiter's cloudbands shone, and all four moons were points of light.  Venus was an amazing crescent on the other side.  So I could actually observe six solar system bodies in a single view.  Pretty amazing!

Observations with the SV110ED (6-24-15)

The sky was clear until around 11:30 tonight.  I mounted the SV110ED on the Tak EM-10 and took a ride through the eastern sky.  Objects observed included

1) Globular clusters: M92, M13, NGC 6229, M56.

2) Planetaries: M57, NGC 6210 (in Hercules; small and trapezoid shaped, faint around the edges and irregular), NGC 6543 (Cat's Eye Nebula, in Draco, shaped like a cat's eye, and some faint nebulosity around it).

3) Numerous double stars, but the most fun was Al Fawaris, aka Delta Cygni.  The separation is 2.7" but at magnitudes 2.91 and 6.27.  I pumped the magnification to 388x before I could clearly see the dimmer star, and then only when seeing did not wash it out.  Cool.  Also, 17 Herculis was great, as was Sarin and many others.  Could drive a truck through the Double Double at 194x, but it was cleanly split at 77x.

The scope was on one tonight: textbook images, and seeing was not bad.

Four Solar System Objects, June 19, 2015

One-third resolution image here.

Here is, in descending order, Jupiter, Venus, Luna, and Earth.  OK, there is not much Earth showing, but, I assure you, the trees were attached.  Canon T3i from the shores of Lake Murvaul, Texas.

B343 in Cygnus (June 6, 2015)

70% resolution available here.

This dark nebula in Cygnus is here framed by the light of ionized hydrogen.  On the right are two brighter ionization fronts; obviously the cloud is moving somewhere.  Nearby small dark nebulae spot the area.

Usually, I present images full-frame, but parts of this area are dim enough that I was unable to get a clean image in 4.5 hours.  This image is shrunk to about 70% of full frame.

Telescope: Astro-Tech AT111EDT and William Optics AFR-IV (eff. f/5.6)
Camera and Exposure: SXVF-H9 (Ha 11x1500"); Alnitak Flat-man flats
Filter(s): Astronomik 6nm Ha
Guiding: SX Lodestar and SX OAG
Mount: Takahashi NJP
Software: Nebulosity, PHD, Maxim DL, Photoshop CS3
Location: The Woodlands, TX

Short Break in the Clouds (late May, 2015)

Our skies have been cloudy nearly every night for weeks.  Finally, the sky cleared for an evening, and I took the SV110ED out for a spin on the EM-10.  Such an easy setup with which to observe.

First up was Saturn.  I spotted Titan, Rhea, Dione, and Tethys.  The rings are tipped wildly right now.  I could see the inner ring against the planet's face.  It was a great view even though Saturn was not very high in the sky.  Best view at 154x.

The other highlight of the night was globular cluster NGC 6229 in Hercules.  I looked at M92, then slewed over to 6229.  It was not immediately apparent at 22x, but at 154x, it was obvious.  The view is sweet.  The glob sits at the center of an arc of two magnitude 8 and one magnitude 12 stars.  I could not resolve any stars in the cluster, but my scope is not big enough for that.  Studies show the cluster is about 100,000 light years from us, pretty far out from what we normally think of as "the galaxy."  The cluster is an interesting object.

About midnight, the clouds rolled in.  The next night we received 3.5 inches of rain.