Recent Images Taken From PixelSkiesAstro By David Wills
We have created an Astrobin group where customers can post their images. Also, all Images that were taken from PixelSkiesAstro and posted on Astrobin
NGC869 + NGC884 The Double Cluster captured David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
63 x 180s
3 hours 9 mins total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: SkyWatcher Quattro 150P f/4
Camera: Player One Artemis-C Pro
Image Scale: 1.59
Guiding: OAG
Mount: ZWO AM5 Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Drizzle x2
Lum 224 x 300s
Red 96 x 30s
Green 208 x 300s
Blue 337 x 300s
Ha 126 x 120s
11 hours 24 mins total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Celestron 8" Edge HD
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C (Binned x2)
Image Scale: 0.92
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Lum,Red,Green,Blue,Ha
Mount: ZWO AM5 Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
114 x 180s
5 hours 42 mins total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Celestron 8" Edge HD
Camera: Player One Artemis-C Pro
Image Scale: 0.47
Guiding: OAG
Mount: ZWO AM5 Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
NGC672 + IC1727 Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
370 x 180s
18 hours 30 mins total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Celestron 8" Edge HD
Camera: Player One Artemis-C Pro
Image Scale: 0.47
Guiding: OAG
Mount: ZWO AM5 Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
NGC3184 The Little Pinwheel Galaxy Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
317 x 180s
15 hours 51 mins total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Celestron 8" Edge HD
Camera: Player One Artemis-C Pro
Image Scale: 0.47
Guiding: OAG
Mount: ZWO AM5 Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
Sh2-190 Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Ha 152 x 300s
OIII 126 x 300s
SII 109 x 300s
32 hours 15 mins total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Celestron 8" Edge HD
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 0.46
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha,OIII,SII
Mount: ZWO AM5 Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
NGC2403 Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Drizzle x2
Lum 312 x 300s
Red 78 x 300s
Green 75 x 300s
Blue 80 x 300s
45 hours 25 mins total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Celestron 8" Edge HD
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C (Binned x2)
Image Scale: 0.92
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Lem,Red,Green,Blue
Mount: ZWO AM5 Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
NGC7318 Stephan's Quintet Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Drizzle x2
Lum 358 x 300s
Red 110 x 300s
Green 130 x 300s
Blue 105 x 300s
58 hours 35 mins total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Celestron 8" Edge HD
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C (Binned x2)
Image Scale: 0.92
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Lum,Red,Green,Blue
Mount: ZWO AM5 Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
NGC7538 Captured at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Drizzle x2
Ha 177 x 300s
Red 38 x 300s
Green 56 x 300s
Blue 60 x 300s
27 hours 35 mins total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Celestron 8" Edge HD
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C (Binned x2)
Image Scale: 0.92
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha,OIII
Mount: ZWO AM5 Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
M76 Little Dumbbell Nebula Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Drizzle x2
Ha 67 x 300s
OIII 67 x 300s
11 hours 10 mins total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Celestron 8" Edge HD
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C (Binned x2)
Image Scale: 0.92
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha,OIII
Mount: ZWO AM5 Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
NGC6946 Fireworks Galaxy Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Drizzle x2
Lum 110 x 300s
Red 52 x 300s
Green 55 x 300s
Blue 48 x 300s
22 hours 5 mins total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Celestron 8" Edge HD
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C (Binned x2)
Image Scale: 0.92
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Lum,Red,Green,Blue,Ha
Mount: ZWO AM5 Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
NGC2359 Thor's HelmetCaptured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Drizzle x2
Ha 21 x 600s
OIII 25 x 600s
7 hours 40 mins total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -20C
Image Scale: 2.8
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha, OIII
Mount: CEM60 Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
IC 4592 Blue Horsehead Nebula Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Drizzle x2
Red 30 x 300s
Green 22 x 300s
Blue20 x 300s
12 hours total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -20C
Image Scale: 2.8
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Red,Green,Blue
Mount: CEM60 Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
M63 Sunflower Galaxy Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Drizzle x2
Lum 118 x 300s
Red 69 x 300s
Green 64 x 300s
Blue 64 x 300s
26 hours 15 mins total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -20C
Image Scale: 2.8
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Lum,Red,Green,Blue
Mount: CEM60 Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
IC 5146 Cocoon Nebula Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Drizzle x2
Lum 87 x 300s
Red 48 x 300s
Green 62 x 300s
Blue 44 x 300s
Ha 58 x 300s
35 hours 45 mins total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -20C
Image Scale: 2.8
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Lum,Red,Green,Blue,Ha
Mount: ZWO AM5 Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
SH2-129 The Squid Nebula Captured at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Drizzle x2
Ha 58 x 300s
OIII 56 x 300s
OIII 50x 600s
17 hours 50 mins total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -20C
Image Scale: 2.8
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha,OIII
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
LDN 694 Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Drizzle x2
Lum 144 x 300s
Red 100 x 300s
Green 77x 300s
Blue 80x 300s
33 hours 25 mins total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -20C
Image Scale: 2.8
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Lum,Red,Green,Blue
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
Jones-Emberson 1 (PK 164+31.1)
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Drizzle x2
Lum 55 x 300s
Red 59 x 300s
Green 60x 300s
Blue 62x 300s
Ha 71x 300s
OIII 50x 300s
29 hours 45 mins total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -20C
Image Scale: 2.8
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Lum,Red,Green,Blue,Ha,OIII
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
LDN673 captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Drizzle x2
Lum 100 x 300s
Red 100 x 300s
Green 99x 300s
Blue 97x 300s
Ha 213x 300s
50 hours 45 mins total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -20C
Image Scale: 2.8
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Lum,Red,Green,Blue,Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
M94 Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Lum 264 x 300s
Red 127 x 300s
Green 122 x 300s
Blue 133 x 300s
Ha 101 x 300s
62 Hours 15 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -20C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Lum,Red,Green,Blue,Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
NGC1333 Captured at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Red 65 x 600s
Green 52 x 600s
Blue 85 x 600s
16 Hours 50 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -20C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Red,Green,Blue
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
M81-M82 and NGC3077 Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Lum 49 x 600s
Red 23 x 180s 65 x 600s
Green 26 x 180s 82 x 600s
Blue 20 x 180s 89 x 600s
Ha 78 x 180s
33 Hours 18 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -20C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Lum, Red,Green,Blue,Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
M51 and NGC 5198 tidal tail captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Located south of the Whirlpool Galaxy, NGC 5198 is a seemingly ordinary elliptical galaxy discovered in 1787 by William Herschel. Deep images however reveal a recently discovered tidal tail in addition to an outer tidal shell. The length of the tidal tail is approximately 300,000 light-years and is the remains of a small galaxy that has been absorbed by NGC 5198. The linear nature of the tidal tail is indicative of a recent collision with a previous companion or satellite galaxy, which has been tidally disrupted by the larger galaxy.
Lum 139 x 300s
Red 57 x 300s
Green 81 x 300s
Blue 81 x 300s
Ha 78 x 300s
36 Hours 20 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -20C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Lum, Red,Green,Blue,Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
M78
Captured at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
FSQ-85ED details
Red 24 x 300s
Green 24 x 300s
Blue 24 x 300s
6 hours in total.
TEC140 details
Lum 18 x 600Secs
3 hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9, TEC140 F7
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -20C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Lum, Red, Green, Blue
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
IC1805 The Heart Nebula and IC1848 The Soul Nebula 8 Panel Mosaic
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Ha x 471 300 secs
OIII x 472 300 secs
78 hrs 35 mins hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.82
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha, OIII
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager Advanced
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
M51 this was a pleasure to image and to process another one of my favorites. Definitely, need to spend some more time on collecting more RGB data apart from that I'm pretty pleased with it. M51 was the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral galaxy. Its distance is estimated to be 23 million light-years away from Earth and stretches a radius of 30,000 light-years. The galaxy and its companion, NGC 5195, are easily observed by amateur astronomers, and the two galaxies may be seen with binoculars. The Whirlpool Galaxy has been extensively observed by professional astronomers, who study it to understand galaxy structure (particularly structure associated with the spiral arms) and galaxy interactions. Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Spain. Lum 44x900Secs Red 29x300Secs Green 18x300Secs Blue 17x300Secs Ha 10x1200Secs 22 hours 40 mins in total. Equipment used: Telescope: Tec 140 F7 Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Mono Cooled to -10C Image Scale: 0.95 Guiding: OAG Filters: Astronomik RGB Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount Image Acquisition: Voyager Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight Processing: Pixinsight 1.8
LBN 552 Captured By David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Lum 43 x 300s
Red 60 x 300s
Green 59 x 300s
Blue 59 x 300s
18 Hours 25 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -20C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Lum, Red, Green, Blue
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
The Cygnus Loop
Captured at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
6 panel mosaic
Ha 109 x 900s
OIII 102 x 900s
Ha 294 x 600s
OIII 162 x 600s
128 hours 45 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha,OIII
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
The Monkey Head Nebula also known as NGC 2174 is a star-forming region in which bright, newborn stars near the centre of the nebula illuminate the surrounding gas with energetic radiation. The cloud is sculpted by ultraviolet light eating into the cool hydrogen gas.
Captured at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Ha 81 x 600s
OIII 8 x 600s
SII 18 x 600s
14 hours 50 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha,OIII,SII
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
NGC3628 Hamburger Galaxy
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
FSQ-85ED details
Lum 83 x 600s
Red 49 x 180s
Green 53 x 180s
Blue 49 x 180s
21 Hours 23 mins in total.
TEC140 details
Lum 32x600Secs
5 hours 20 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3, TEC140 F7
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -20C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Lum,Red,Green,Blue
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
M106 Captured at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Red 69 x 180s
Green 69 x 180s
Blue 68 x 180s
Ha 85 x 600s
24 Hours 15 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -20C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Red, Green, Blue, Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
M1 The Crab Nebula
This is a reprocess of data I captured back in 2021.
Captured at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Red 449 x 30s
Green 384 x 30s
Blue 386 x 30s
Ha 144 x 300s
17 hrs 21mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Celestron 8" Edge HD
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C (Binned x2)
Image Scale: 0.8
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik RGB
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
NGC891
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Lum x 896 30 secs
Red x 496 30 secs
Green x 398 30 secs
Blue x 197 30 secs
16 hrs 33 mins hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Celestron 8" Edge HD
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C (Binned x2)
Image Scale: 0.8
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Lum, Red, Green, Blue
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
M101 Pinwheel Galaxy and friends
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Lum 80 x 600s
Red 224 x 180s
Green 229 x 180s
Blue 170 x 180s
Ha 100 x 600s
61 Hours 9 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -20C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Lum, Red, Green, Blue, Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
M78 in Luminance
This data was captured back in 2019 at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain.
Looking at this data now I am disappointed that I didn't finish the image before selling the Tec and capturing RGB. This is only 3 hours of data and I would have loved to see it with more!
Lum 18 x 600 Secs
3 hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Tec 140 F7
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 0.95
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Lum
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, PhotoShop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
IC5070 Pelican Nebula
IC5070 captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Ha x 316 180 secs
15 hrs 48 mins hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Celestron 8" Edge HD
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C (Binned x2)
Image Scale: 0.8
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
M31 Andromeda Galaxy
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Lum x 60 300 secs
Red x 59 300 secs
Green x 52 300 secs
Blue x 41 300 secs
Ha x 143 300 secs
29 hrs 35 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.82
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Lum, Red, Green, Blue, Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager Advanced
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
M44 The Beehive Cluster
Captured by David wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Red x 50 300 secs
Green x 43 300 secs
Blue x 32 300 secs
10 hrs 25 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.82
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Red, Green, Blue
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager Advanced
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
M35 and NGC2158
Captured by David wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Drizzle x2
Red x 48 300 secs
Green x 54 300 secs
Blue x 55 300 secs
Ha x 39 300 secs
16 hrs 20 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.82
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Red, Green, Blue, Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager Advanced
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
Barnard 150, LDN 1082 (Seahorse Dark Nebula)
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Lum x 154 300 secs
Red x 116 300 secs
Green x 66 300 secs
Blue x 49 300 secs
32 hrs 5 mins hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.82
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Lum, RGB
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager Advanced
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2,NoiseXTerminator
Hidden Galaxies (NGC1499)
I'm posting this as I was surprised at the number of background galaxies once I removed the stars with StarXTerminator. However, when I used StarXTerminator it did remove quite a few of the small galaxies, I ended up using Photoshop to add them back in using the Layers feature there was still some hiding in the star layer which made them difficult to blend them back in.
Captured by Dave Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Red x 178 300 secs
Green x 168 300 secs
Blue x 156 300 secs
Ha x 216 300 secs
59 hrs 20 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.82
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Red, Green, Blue, Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager Advanced
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
NGC1499 The California Nebula (3-panel mosaic)
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Red x 178 300 secs
Green x 168 300 secs
Blue x 156 300 secs
Ha x 216 300 secs
59 hrs 20 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.82
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Red, Green, Blue, Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager Advanced
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator, BlurXTerminator
The North America Nebula NGC7000 and The Pelican Nebula NGC5070 4x Mosaic
Captured at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Ha x 446 300 secs
OIII x 501 300 secs
79 hrs 15 mins hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.82
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager Advanced
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator
IC 1496 Elephant Trunk
2 panel mosaic with the 8 Edge HD IC 1496 Elephant Trunk captured at PixelSkiesAstro.
Red 929 x 30Secs
Green 1077 x 30Secs
Blue 875 x 30Secs
Ha 374 x 180Secs
42 hrs 41 mins hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Celestron 8" Edge HD
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C (Binned x2)
Image Scale: 0.8
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2,NoiseXTerminator
IC1805 The Heart Nebula and IC1848 The Soul Nebula 8 Panel Mosaic
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Ha x 471 300 secs
39 hrs 20 mins hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.82
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager Advanced
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2, NoiseXTerminator
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Ha x 446 300 secs
37 hrs 30 mins hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.82
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager Advanced
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2,NoiseXTerminator
IC1805 The Heart Nebula 4 Panel Mosaic
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Ha x 247 300 secs
20hrs 40 mins hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.82
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager Advanced
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2,NoiseXTerminator
M66 captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Lum 257 x 30s
Red 131 x 30s
Green 87 x 30s
Blue 117 x 30s
4 hrs 55 mins hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Celestron 8" Edge HD F10
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C (Binned x2)
Image Scale: 0.8
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Lum,Red,Green,Blue
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
M33 The Triangulum Galaxy Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Red x 58 300 secs
Green x 59 300 secs
Blue x 60 300 secs
Ha x 57 300 secs
19 hrs 30 mins hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.82
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Red, Green, Blue and Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager Advanced
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2,NoiseXTerminator
M27 The Dumbbell Nebula
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
OIII x 110 300 secs
18 hrs 50 mins hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.82
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha, OIII, SII
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager Advanced
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2,NoiseXTerminator
Here's a part of the Virgo Cluster it's pretty mind blowing at how many Galaxies are within this image.
The Virgo Cluster is a large cluster of galaxies. Comprising approximately 1300 (and possibly up to 2000) member galaxies, the cluster forms the heart of the larger Virgo Supercluster, of which the Local Group (containing our Milky Way galaxy) is a member. The Local Group actually experiences the mass of the Virgo Supercluster as the Virgocentric flow.
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Lum 36 x 600s
Red 157 x 180s
Green 125 x 180s
Blue 110 x 180s
25 Hours 36 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -20C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Lum, Red, Green, Blue
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
3 panel mosaic with the 8 Edge HD IC 1496 Elephant Trunk captured in Ha. Just over 30 hours' worth of data.
Captured at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Equipment used:
Telescope: Celestron 8" Edge HD
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C (Binned x2)
Image Scale: 0.8
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2,NoiseXTerminator
Crescent Nebula, IC4996, NGC6881 and The Soap Bubble Nebula captured when the moon was between 87% and 94%. One of the first images using the new update from Voyager called Advanced and what a great upgrade, it makes life so much easier. Captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Ha x 58 300 secs
4 hrs 50 mins hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.82
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager Advanced
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2,NoiseXTerminator
Tulip Nebula captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Ha 80 x 300s
OIII 80 x 300s
SII 105 x 300s
22 hrs 5 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha,OIII,SII
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
NGC 7635 The Bubble Nebula captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Red 583 x 30s
Green 1483 x 30s
Blue 468 x 30s
Ha 74 x 300s
21 hrs 8 mins hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Celestron 8" Edge HD
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C (Binned x2)
Image Scale: 0.8
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
IC410 The Tadpoles captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Ha 142 x 120s
4 hrs 44 mins hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Celestron 8" Edge HD F10
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C (Binned x2)
Image Scale: 0.8
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
M1 The Crab Nebula captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Ha 144 x 300s
7 hrs 12 mins hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Celestron 8" Edge HD
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C (Binned x2)
Image Scale: 0.8
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
NGC 6914 captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Ha 67 x 600s
11 hours 10 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
Pelican Nebula IC 5070 and IC 5067 captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Ha 115 x 600s
19 hrs 10 mins hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
M27 The Dumbbell Nebula captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
This was my first test using my Edge HD 8" telescope at 2103mm FL.
The image was captured during the moon phase of between 88-94% so not ideal but it was just for testing. The test was really for checking the spacings are correct, between the CCD chip and the corrector on the scope.
I'm now looking forward to galaxy season so I can test the FL out to its full potential
Ha 104 x 300s
8 hrs 40 mins hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Celestron 8" Edge HD
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C (Binned x2)
Image Scale: 0.8
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
SH2-112, SH2-115 and SH2-116 captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Ha x 58 300 secs
4 hrs 50 mins hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.82
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager Advanced
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2,NoiseXTerminator
NGC1499 The California Nebula captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Ha 216 x 300s
18 hrs in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.82
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
The Soul Nebula IC1848 (2 x Mosaic) is a large emission nebula located in the constellation Cassiopeia. It is estimated to lie approximately 6,000 light-years from Earth.
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain <a href="http://www.pixelskiesastro.com" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.pixelskiesastro.com</a>
Panel 1
Ha 55 x 600s
OIII 12 x 600s
SII 37 x 600s
Panel 2
Ha 52 x 600s
OIII 19 x 600s
SII 27 x 600s
33 hours 40 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha, OIII, SII
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
NGC 6914 captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Red 32 x 600s
Green 35 x 600s
Blue 26 x 600s
Ha 67 x 600s
26 hrs 40 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
The Leo Triplet is a small group of galaxies about 35 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. This galaxy group consists of the spiral galaxies M65, M66, and NGC 3628.
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Lum 83 x 600s
Red 49 x 180s
Green 53 x 180s
Blue 49 x 180s
21 Hours 23 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -20C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Lum,Red,Green,Blue
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
SH2-114 The Flying Dragon Nebula captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Ha x 57 300 secs
4 hrs 45 mins hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.82
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
WR134 captured by David Wills at PixelSkiesAstro, Castillejar, Spain
Ha x 48 600 secs
OIII x 51 600 secs
16 hrs 30 mins hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F3.9
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.82
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha, OIII
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC, StarXTerminator, StarNet v2,NoiseXTerminator
M20 Trifid Nebula captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Ha 52 x 600s
8 hrs 40 mins hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
NGC 7635 The Bubble Nebula captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
More tests using my Edge HD 8" telescope at 2103mm FL.
The image was captured during the moon phase of between 50-88%.
Ha 74 x 300s
6 hrs 10 mins hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Celestron 8" Edge HD
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C (Binned x2)
Image Scale: 0.8
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
M20 Trifid Nebula captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Red 26 x 600s
Green 19 x 600s
Blue 21 x 600s
Ha 52 x 600s
19 40 mins hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha, OIII, SII
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
Here's the Lagoon Nebula in LRGB. The Lagoon Nebula is estimated to be between 4,000-6,000 light-years away from the Earth. In the sky, it spans 90' by 40', which translates to an actual dimension of 110 by 50 light-years. Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain. Lum 41x600Secs Red 35x300Secs Green 23x600Secs Blue 24x300Secs 12 hours 40 mins in total. Equipment used: Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3 Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C Image Scale: 2.08 Guiding: OAG Filters: Astronomik LRGB Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount Image Acquisition: Voyager Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight Processing: Pixinsight 1.8
M42 in all its glory, this is a composite of two images one for the main part of the nebula and one for the core detail. Pretty pleased with this as it was captured in not the best conditions there was some high cloud about when capturing the RGB.
I did capture some data with the luminance filter but never used it as it did not add anything I ended up using the Ha as the luminance layer.
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Ha 62 x 600s
Red 56 x 180s
Green 41 x 180s
Blue 50 x 180s
17 hours 41 mins.
Core detail
Red 85 x 30s
Green 216 x 30s
Blue 231 x 30s
4 Hours 26 mins.
22 Hours 7 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha,Red,Green,Blue
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
M81 in all its glory with IFN. Messier 81 (also known as NGC 3031 or Bode's Galaxy) is a grand design spiral galaxy about 12 million light-years away, with a diameter of 90,000 light-years, about half the size of the Milky Way, in the constellation of Ursa Major. Lum 43x600Secs Red 35x300Secs Green 31x300 Secs Blue 28x300Secs Ha 17x1800Secs 23 hours 40 mins in total. Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain Equipment used: Telescope: Tec 140 F7 Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C Image Scale: 0.95 Guiding: OAG Filters: Astronomik L,R,G,B,Ha Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount Image Acquisition: Voyager Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight Processing: Pixinsight 1.8
IC417 The Spider Nebula
Captured at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Ha 28x1200Secs
OIII 7x1200Secs
SII 4x1200Secs
13 hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Tec 140 F7
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 0.95
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha, OIII, SII
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, PhotoShop CC
The Soap Bubble Nebula
Captured at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Ha 8x1800Secs
OIII 12x1800Secs
10 hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Tec 140 F7
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 0.95
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha, OIII
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, PhotoShop CC
This is M1 The Crab Nebula that I have been working on, this image is just a cropped version to test if I have enough data in the RGB channels. Next up is to process the whole image .
Captured at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Red 449 x 30s
Green 384 x 30s
Blue 386 x 30s
Ha 144 x 300s
17 hrs 21 mins hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Celestron 8" Edge HD
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C (Binned x2)
Image Scale: 0.8
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha, RGB
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
This was imaged during a moon phase. Not the most interesting image but if you look closely there are a large number of galaxies that are in the background I have run it through a Pixinsight Script called Annotate Image and it has picked up 47 PGC galaxies in the background but there are more. I have searched online but cannot find any info mainly about the distance away from the earth, if anyone knows away of finding this information out please let me know.
Arcturus is the brightest star in the constellation of Boötes, the fourth-brightest in the night sky, and the brightest in the northern celestial hemisphere. Together with Spica and Denebola (or Regulus, depending on the source), Arcturus is part of the Spring Triangle asterism and, by extension, also of the Great Diamond along with the star Cor Caroli. When viewed from Earth, it appears to be positioned almost at the north galactic pole of the Milky Way.
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Red 205 x 30s
Green 242 x 30s
Blue 189 x 30s
5 Hours 18 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -20C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Red, Green, Blue
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
M45 The Pleiades is also known as the Seven Sisters is an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. It is among the star clusters nearest to Earth, it is the nearest Messier object 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 leftover material from their formation, but are now considered likely to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium through which the stars are currently passing.
Computer simulations have shown that the Pleiades were probably formed from a compact configuration that resembled the Orion Nebula. Astronomers estimate that the cluster will survive for about another 250 million years, after which it will disperse due to gravitational interactions with its galactic neighborhood.
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Lum 79 x 600s
Red 38 x 180s
Green 36 x 180s
Blue 36 x 180s
18 Hours 30 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Lum,Red,Green,Blue
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
This is IC 5146 Cocoon Nebula Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
IC 5146 is a reflection/emission nebula and Caldwell object in the constellation Cygnus. The NGC description refers to IC 5146 as a cluster of 9.5 mag stars involved in a bright and dark nebula. The cluster is also known as Collinder 470.
Lum33x900Secs
Red8x900Secs
Green14x900Secs
Blue8x900Secs
Ha 19x1200 Secs
20.5 hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Tec 140 F7
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Mono Cooled to -5C
Image Scale: 0.95
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik LRGB, Ha 6nm
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Sequence Generator Pro
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
The Monkey Head Nebula is also known as NGC 2174 is a star-forming region in which bright, newborn stars near the center of the nebula illuminate the surrounding gas with energetic radiation. The cloud is sculpted by ultraviolet light eating into the cool hydrogen gas.
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Ha 81 x 600s
OIII 8 x 600s
SII 18 x 600s
14 hours 50 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha,OIII,SII
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
The Soul Nebula (2xmosaic) is a large emission nebula located in the constellation Cassiopeia. It is estimated to lie approximately 6,000 light-years from Earth.
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Panel 1 Ha 55 x 600s
Panel 2 Ha 52 x 600s
17 hours 50 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha,OIII
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
IC 63 is in the constellation of Cassiopeia, a stunning and slightly eerie nebula. Also known as the ghost of Cassiopeia, IC 63 is being shaped by radiation from a nearby unpredictably variable star, Gamma Cassiopeiae
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Red 127 x 180s
Green 110 x 180s
Blue 120 x 180s
Ha 152 x 600s
43 hours 11 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Red,Green,Blue,Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
The Ghost Nebula Sh2-136, VdB 141 is a reflection nebula located in the constellation Cepheus.
It lies near the cluster NGC 7023. The Ghost Nebula is referred to as a globule and over 2 light-years across. There are several stars embedded, whose emissions make the nebula shine in brownish colour.
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Lum 99 x 600s
Red 163 x 180s
Green 182 x 180s
Blue 168 x 180s
42 hours 9 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Lum,Red,Green,Blue
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
NGC 6960 The Western Veil Nebula and Pickering's Triangle NGC6979
Here's a 2 pane mosaic of a small part of the Veil Nebula that I have been working on for some time. This is the first mosaic I have done in a long time. I used Microsoft Image Composite Editor to stitch the two images together then Pixinsight and Photoshop for the processing.
The Veil Nebula is a cloud of heated ionized gas, oxygen, sulfur, and hydrogen in the constellation Cygnus.
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
The Western Veil Nebula
Ha 45 x 900s
OIII 63 x 900s
Pickering's Triangle
Ha 64 x 900s
OIII 72 x 900s
61 hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha,OIII
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
Fish head Nebula IC 1795 is a bright emission nebula of about 70 light-years across with glowing gas and dark lanes of obscuring dust. The nebula is located in the constellation Cassiopeia approximately 6000 light-years from the Earth and is adjacent to the much larger Heart Nebula.
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain <a href="http://www.pixelskiesastro.com" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.pixelskiesastro.com</a>
Ha 82 x 600s
OIII 87 x 600s
SII 35 x 600s
33 hours 50 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha,OIII,SII
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
Processing this one was a bit of a challenge to get the right balance when adding the Ha into the RGB image without overdoing it. The Double Cluster also known as Caldwell 14 consists of the open clusters NGC 869 and NGC 884 which are close together in the constellation Perseus. Both visible with the naked eye, NGC 869 and NGC 884 lie at a distance of 7,500 light years. Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain Red 73 x 150s Green 49 x 150s Blue 48 x 150s Ha 97 x 600s 23 hours 5 mins in total. Equipment used: Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3 Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C Image Scale: 2.08 Guiding: OAG Filters: Astronomik RGB,Ha Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount Image Acquisition: Voyager Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
The Ghost Nebula is a reflection nebula located in the constellation Cepheus. It lies near the cluster NGC 7023. Looking at the adjacent image, the nebula's name is easily understood. The Ghost Nebula is referred to as a globule and over 2 light-years across. Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain Lum 99 x 600s 16 hours 30 mins in total. Equipment used: Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3 Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C Image Scale: 2.08 Guiding: OAG Filters: Astronomik Lum Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount Image Acquisition: Voyager Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
The North America Nebula (NGC 7000) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus. The North America Nebula covers a region more than ten times the area of the full moon, but its surface brightness is low, so normally it cannot be seen with the unaided eye. Binoculars and telescopes with large fields of view (approximately 3°) will show it as a foggy patch of light under sufficiently dark skies. Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain Ha 105 x 600s OIII 83 x 600s SII 48 x 600s 38 hours 55 mins in total. Equipment used: Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3 Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C Image Scale: 2.08 Guiding: OAG Filters: Astronomik Ha,OIII,SII Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount Image Acquisition: Voyager Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
NGC 6960 The Western Veil Nebula is a cloud of heated ionized gas oxygen, sulfur, and hydrogen in the constellation Cygnus. Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain www.pixelskiesastro.com Ha 45 x 900s OIII 63 x 900s 27 hours in total. Equipment used: Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3 Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C Image Scale: 2.08 Guiding: OAG Filters: Astronomik Ha,OIII Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount Image Acquisition: Voyager Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
M101 The Pinwheel Galaxy is a face-on spiral galaxy distanced 21 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain on March 27, 1781, and was communicated to Charles Messier, who verified its position for inclusion in the Messier Catalogue as one of its final entries. Lum 26x900Secs Red 45x300Secs Green 51x300 Secs Blue 50x300Secs Ha 16x1800Secs 26 hours 10 mins in total. Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain Equipment used: Telescope: Tec 140 F7 Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C Image Scale: 0.95 Guiding: OAG Filters: Astronomik L,R,G,B,Ha Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount Image Acquisition: Voyager Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, PhotoShop CC
IC 5068 is an emission nebula in Cygnus which is often overlooked because of its brighter and much more prominent neighbors, the North American and the Pelican Nebulae, which belong to the same complex of emission nebulosity. The nebulosity emits all of its light in isolated emission lines. The most prominent of those are the Hα, OIII, and SII. Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain Ha 69x900Secs OIII 34x900Secs SII 31x900Secs 33 hours 30 mins in total. Equipment used: Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3 Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C Image Scale: 2.08 Guiding: OAG Filters: Astronomik LRGB Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount Image Acquisition: Voyager Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight Processing: Pixinsight 1.8
Van den Bergh (vdB) 149 and 150 are blue reflection nebulae in the constellation Cepheus. Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain Lum 45x600Secs Red 51x300Secs Green 40x600Secs Blue 30x300Secs 17 hours 35 mins in total. Equipment used: Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3 Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C Image Scale: 2.08 Guiding: OAG Filters: Astronomik LRGB Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount Image Acquisition: Voyager Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight Processing: Pixinsight 1.8
I have had this on my Hard drive for some time now but was never happy with the outcome of the processing so now we are in lockdown it seemed a good time for a revisit spent the whole day I started from the beginning I'm now very happy with how it turned out. Lum 19x900Secs Red 15x900Secs Green 11x900Secs Blue 14x900Secs Ha 22x1800Secs 22 hours 5 mins in total. 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. NGC 6946 lies within the Virgo Supercluster. Discovered by William Herschel on 9 September 1798, this well-studied galaxy has a diameter of approximately 40,000 light-years about one-third of the Milky Way's size, and it contains roughly half the number of stars as the Milky Way. The galaxy is heavily obscured by interstellar matter as it lies quite close to the galactic plane of the Milky Way. Due to its prodigious star formation it has been classified as an active starburst galaxy. Various unusual celestial objects have been observed within NGC 6964. This includes the so-called 'Red Ellipse' along one of the northern arms that looks like a super-bubble or very large supernova remnant, and which may have been formed by an open cluster containing massive stars. There are also two regions of unusual dark lanes of nebulosity, while within the spiral arms several regions appear devoid of stars and gaseous hydrogen, some spanning up to two kiloparsecs across. A third peculiar object, discovered in 1967, is now known as "Hodge's Complex". This was once thought to be a young supergiant cluster, but in 2017 it was conjectured to be an interacting dwarf galaxy superimposed on NGC 6964. Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain Lum 26x900Secs 6 hours 30 mins in total. Equipment used: Telescope: Tec 140 F7 Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C Image Scale: 0.95 Guiding: OAG Filters: Astronomik L Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount Image Acquisition: Voyager Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight Processing: Pixinsight 1.8
M101 The Pinwheel Galaxy
I'm looking forward to adding RGB to this one to finish it off. The Pinwheel Galaxy Messier 101 is a face-on spiral galaxy at a distance of 21 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. Discovered by Pierre Méchain on March 27, 1781, it was communicated to Charles Messier who verified its position for inclusion in the Messier Catalogue as one of its final entries. Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain Lum 26x900Secs 6 hours 30 mins in total. Equipment used: Telescope: Tec 140 F7 Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C Image Scale: 0.95 Guiding: OAG Filters: Astronomik L Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount Image Acquisition: Voyager Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight Processing: Pixinsight 1.8
NGC 3628 The Hamburger Galaxy
I have wanted to capture this target for a long time now, I will eventually incorporate the surrounding galaxies into a mosaic. NGC 3628, also known as the Hamburger Galaxy or Sarah's Galaxy, is an unbarred spiral galaxy about 35 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1784. It has an approximately 300,000 light-years long tidal tail. Along with M65 and M66, NGC 3628 forms the Leo Triplet, a small group of galaxies. Its most conspicuous feature is the broad and obscuring band of dust located along the outer edge of its spiral arms. Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain Lum 32x600Secs 5 hours 20 mins in total. Equipment used: Telescope: Tec 140 F7 Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C Image Scale: 0.95 Guiding: OAG Filters: Astronomik L Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount Image Acquisition: Voyager Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight Processing: Pixinsight 1.8
NGC 2170 in the constellation Monoceros has got to be one of the most colorful Nebulas in the night sky that I have captured. This will eventually be made into a mosaic to capture the rest of this wonderful target, but it will have to wait until next year now as the moon is back and I don't image below 40 degrees.
I wasn't going to process this as I didn't think I had enough data in the blue channel but I was wrong must be the great skies we have here.
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Spain
Lum 43x900Secs
Red 43x300Secs
Green 50x300Secs
Blue21x300Secs
16 hours 30 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Tec 140 F7
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 0.95
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik LRGB Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8
This is Part of the Double Cluster imaged during the moon phase so not the best conditions. I may make this a mosaic and capture the other half to complete it. Processing wise I have not really done much just stretched it and a bit of noise reduction and that's it a nice easy one. Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Spain. Red 25x300Secs Green 34x300Secs Blue 48x300Secs 8 hours 55 mins in total. Equipment used: Telescope: Tec 140 F7 Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Mono Cooled to -10C Image Scale: 0.95 Guiding: OAG Filters: Astronomik RGB Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount Image Acquisition: Voyager Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight Processing: Pixinsight 1.8 https://www.aapod2.com/blog/ngc-884-part-of-the-double-cluster
M103/NGC581 imaged during the moon phase so not the best conditions. Need to Capture some Luminance on this as there a quite a lot of dust in the background structure you can just about see it. Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Spain. Red 34x300Secs Green 42x300Secs Blue 47x300Secs 10 hours 15 mins in total. Equipment used: Telescope: Tec 140 F7 Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Mono Cooled to -10C Image Scale: 0.95 Guiding: OAG Filters: Astronomik RGB Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount Image Acquisition: Voyager Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight Processing: Pixinsight 1.8
NGC 2168 imaged during the moon phase. There seems to be some Ha in the background I have looked at images online but can't find any that has it I may try doing some Ha images of the background to see for definite.
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Spain http://www.pixelskiesastro.com
Red 44x300Secs
Green 48x300Secs
Blue 68x300Secs
13 hours 20 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Tec 140 F7
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 0.95
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik RGB
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8
Centre of the Heart Nebula captured in Ha, OIII, SII. The clouds are sculpted by stellar winds and radiation from massive hot stars in the nebula's newborn star cluster, Melotte 15.
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Ha 39x1200Secs
OIII 20x1200Secs
SII 29x1200Secs
29 hours 20 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Tec 140 F7
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 0.95
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik LRGB, Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8
The NGC7635 Bubble Nebula captured in LRGB, Ha. Taken from PixelSkies, Spain
NGC 7635, also known as the Bubble Nebula, Sharpless 162, or Caldwell 11, is an H II region emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia. It lies close to the direction of the open cluster Messier 52. The "bubble" is created by the stellar wind from a massive hot, 8.7 magnitude young central star, SAO 20575 (BD+60°2522). The nebula is near a giant molecular cloud which contains the expansion of the bubble nebula while itself being excited by the hot central star, causing it to glow. It was discovered in 1787 by William Herschel.
Lum 23x900Secs
Red 10x900Secs
Green 7x900Secs
Blue 8x900Secs
Ha 22x1800 Secs
17.5 hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Tec 140 F7
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Mono Cooled to -5C
Image Scale: 0.95
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik LRGB, Ha 6nm
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Sequence Generator Pro
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
This is NGC7380 Wizard Nebula
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Located 7200 light years away, the Wizard nebula surrounds developing open star cluster NGC 7380. Visually, the interplay of stars, gas, and dust has created a shape that appears to some like a fictional medieval sorcerer. The active star forming region spans about 100 light years, making it appear larger than the angular extent of the Moon. The Wizard Nebula can be located with a small telescope toward the constellation of the King of Aethiopia (Cepheus). Although the nebula may last only a few million years, some of the stars being formed may outlive our Sun.
Ha 24x1800 Secs
OIII 24x1800 Secs
SII 20x1800 Secs
34 Hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Tec 140 F7
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Mono Cooled to -5C
Image Scale: 0.95
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik LRGB, Ha 6nm
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Sequence Generator Pro
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
LBN 468 / Herbig-Haro 215 was Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Published in Astronomy now magazine August 2019
Some Info about LBN 468 / Herbig-Haro 215:
Reflection and dark nebulae in Cepheus cataloged by Beverly T. Lynds Catalogue of Bright Nebulae 1965 and Catalog of Dark Nebulae 1962. Herbig-Haro 215 is also called Gyulbudaghian’s Nebula. This little-known variable reflection nebula is similar to Hubble’s variable nebula. This nebula changes brightness and shape over many months or years. Armen Gyulbudaghian is a Russian astronomer at Byurakan Observatory. He discovered this nebula in 1977, Apparently during a survey for new Herbig-Haro objects. The object as a whole is known as HH 215; the reflection nebula is officially cataloged as GM 1-29 (Magakyan — the “M” — was a co-author on the discovery paper). At the heart of the Herbig-Haro object lies the variable Herbig AbBe pre-main sequence star PV Cephei. This is a newly formed star that is surrounded by a rotating disk of material. At right angles to this disk are two jets of material, streaming away from the star at high speeds
Lum 51x900 Secs
Red 14x900 Secs
Green 13x900 Secs
Blue 14x900 Secs
23 Hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Tec 140 F7
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Mono Cooled to -15C
Image Scale: 0.95
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Deep-Sky RGB,Astronomik Luminance filters L-3
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Sequence Generator Pro
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
IC 1795 is located about 7,500 light-years away toward the constellation of Cassiopeia. It is a part of the rich and spectacular nebular complex IC 1805 The Heart Nebula.
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Ha 82 x 600s
13 hours 40 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 2.08
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha,OIII
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
The Elephant's Trunk Nebula is a concentration of interstellar gas and dust within the much larger ionized gas region IC 1396 located in the constellation Cepheus about 2,400 light-years away from Earth. The piece of the nebula shown here is the dark, dense globule IC 1396 The Elephant's Trunk Nebula is now thought to be a site of star formation, containing several very young (less than 100,000 yr) stars that were discovered in infrared images in 2003. Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain <a href="http://www.pixelskiesastro.com" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.pixelskiesastro.com</a> Ha 57 x 600s OIII 82 x 600s SII 55 x 600s 32 hours 20 mins in total. Equipment used: Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3 Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C Image Scale: 2.08 Guiding: OAG Filters: Astronomik Ha,OIII,SII Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount Image Acquisition: Voyager Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight Processing: Pixinsight 1.8,Photoshop
LBN 438 is a galactic dark nebula located in the constellation Lacerta. It is illuminated by interstellar radiation which is known as Extended Red Emission (ERE). Since changing over to my Tak 85 I've been struggling to get my focus to be consistent so after making sure all settings in my capture program were correct and checking my lakeside focuser many times, I finally found out that it was my focuser rail that was loose! finally consistent focusing : ) Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain. Lum 104 x 300s Red 77 x 180s Green 57 x 180s Blue 56 x 180s Ha 63 x 600s 27 hours 50 mins in total. Equipment used: Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3 Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C Image Scale: 2.08 Guiding: OAG Filters: Astronomik LRGB,Ha Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount Image Acquisition: Voyager Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight Processing: Pixinsight 1.8
The Propeller Nebula is a hydrogen-alpha emission nebula in the constellation of Cygnus. The propeller shape is actually a small portion of a much larger emission nebula, which can be seen as faint red hydrogen-alpha nebulosity throughout the image frame. Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain Ha 57x900Secs OIII 31x900Secs 22 hours in total. Equipment used: Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3 Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C Image Scale: 2.08 Guiding: OAG Filters: Astronomik Ha,OIII Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount Image Acquisition: Voyager Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
The Eastern Veil is part of the Veil Nebula which is a supernova remnant, the expanding debris cloud created by a stellar explosion whose light first reached planet Earth from 5,000 to 10,000 years ago. Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain Ha 61x900Secs OIII 53x900Secs 28 hours 30 mins in total. Equipment used: Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3 Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C Image Scale: 2.08 Guiding: OAG Filters: Astronomik Ha,OIII Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount Image Acquisition: Voyager Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight Processing: Pixinsight 1.8
NGC6979 also called the Pickering's Triangle is part of the Veil Nebula located in the constellation Cygnus. This is glowing gas resulted from the explosion of a massive star approximately 7000 years ago. Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain Ha 64 x 900s OIII 72 x 900s 34 hours in total. Equipment used: Telescope: Takahashi Baby Q FSQ-85ED F5.3 Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C Image Scale: 2.08 Guiding: OAG Filters: Astronomik Ha,OIII Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount Image Acquisition: Voyager Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
Sagittarius region of our Milky Way
This is my first attempt at tracked Milkyway imaging using my Sony A7III, Sigma Art 50mm lens F4. No filters were used. Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies. The Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer was used for tracking. The image is made up of 10 x 2 min exposures at ISO 800 31 Bias and 10 Darks no Flats, stacking and processing was done using Pixinsight. Photoshop was used to do some finishing touches.
This is data that I found on my hard drive on my Observatory PC which I totally forgot about what a great find. NGC7640 is a barred spiral galaxy about 29 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Spain. Lum 52x600Secs Red 7x600Secs Green 12x600Secs Blue 12x600Secs 13 hours 50 mins in total. Equipment used: Telescope: Tec 140 F7 Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C Image Scale: 0.95 Guiding: OAG Filters: Astronomik LRGB Ha Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount Image Acquisition: Voyager Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight, Photoshop Processing: Pixinsight 1.8
It's amazing what a 5.5-inch telescope can capture from 33 million light-years away considering one light-year is about 5.88 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km). This was quite a difficult image to process as I found it challenging to reveal the detail within the galaxy without overdoing it. Messier 95, also known as M95 or NGC 3351, is a barred spiral galaxy located about 33 million light-years away in the zodiac constellation Leo. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781, and cataloged by fellow French astronomer Charles Messier four days later. It has around 40 billion stars. Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Spain Lum 48x600Secs Red 51x300Secs Green 59x300Secs Blue 54x300Secs 13 hours 40 mins in total. Equipment used: Telescope: Tec 140 F7 Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Pro Mono Cooled to -10C Image Scale: 0.95 Guiding: OAG Filters: Astronomik LRGB Ha Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount Image Acquisition: Voyager Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight, Photoshop Processing: Pixinsight 1.8
Horsehead Nebula LRGB,Ha. Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain. This target was what got me into Astrophotography many years ago but I could never do it justice in the UK with the light-polluted skies in Birmingham so now living in Spain and running a Remote Telescope Hosting site I have been able to collect better quality data and do it more justice. Lum 25x900Secs Red 48x300Secs Green 19x300Secs Blue 20x300Secs Ha 81x1200Secs 40 hours 35 mins in total. Equipment used: Telescope: Tec 140 F7 Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Mono Cooled to -10C Image Scale: 0.95 Guiding: OAG Filters: Astronomik LRGB, Ha Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount Image Acquisition: Voyager Observatory control: Lunatico Dragonfly Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight Processing: Pixinsight 1.8 https://www.aapod2.com/blog/horsehead-nebula-b33
IC10 Starburst Galaxy LRGB,Ha. Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
The first time using Voyager and its DragScript feature for Image Acquisition I've got to say I'm very impressed with it. After a few tweaks to the DragScript, I finally got it working.
This will be my Image Acquisition software from now on as it offers a bit more automation then Sequence Generator Pro.
IC 10 is an irregular galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. The radial velocity of IC 10 was measured in 1962, and it was found to be approaching the Milky Way at approximately 350 km/s, strengthening the evidence for its membership in the Local Group. Its membership in the group was finally confirmed in 1996 by direct measurements of its distance based on observations of Cepheids. Despite its closeness, the galaxy is rather difficult to study because it lies near the plane of the Milky Way and is therefore heavily obscured by interstellar matter.
The apparent distance between IC 10 and the Andromeda Galaxy is about the same as the apparent distance between the Andromeda Galaxy and the Triangulum Galaxy, which suggests that IC 10 may belong to the M31 subgroup.
Lum 44x600Secs
Red 33x300Secs
Green 45x300Secs
Blue 32x300Secs
Ha 16x1200Secs
20 hours 50 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Tec 140 F7
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 0.95
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik LRGB, Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Voyager
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
M33 captured in LRGB,Ha.Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
The Triangulum Galaxy is a spiral galaxy 2.73 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Triangulum. It is cataloged as Messier 33 or NGC 598. The Triangulum Galaxy is the third-largest member of the Local Group of galaxies, behind the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy. It is one of the most distant permanent objects that can be viewed with the naked eye.
The galaxy is the smallest spiral galaxy in the Local Group and is believed to be a satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy or on its rebound into the latter due to their interactions, velocities, and proximity to one another in the night sky. It also has an H II nucleus.
Separately from the galaxy itself; the nebula eventually obtained NGC number 604. As seen from Earth, NGC 604 is located northeast of the galaxy's central core. It is one of the largest H II regions known, with a diameter of nearly 1500 light-years and a spectrum similar to that of the Orion Nebula.
Lum 35x600Secs
Red 24x600Secs
Green 28x600Secs
Blue 27x600Secs
Ha 37x1200Secs
31 hours 20 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Tec 140 F7
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 0.95
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik LRGB, Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Sequence Generator Pro
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
NGC225 and vdB4 Sailboat cluster captured in LRGB. Taken from PixelSkies, Spain by David Wills
VdB 4 is a reflection nebula associated with the very young open Star Cluster NGC 225 which called the Sailboat Cluster. NGC 225 is an open cluster in the constellation Cassiopeia. It is located roughly 2100 light-years from Earth.
Lum 73x600Secs
Red 15x600Secs
Green 12x600Secs
Blue 23x600Secs
20.5 hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Tec 140 F7
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Mono Cooled to -10C
Image Scale: 0.95
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik LRGB
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Sequence Generator Pro
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
NGC7635 Bubble Nebula (Monochrome)
Here is a cropped version of the Bubble Nebula that I'm currently processing. Its a Lum/Ha 50% mix there's 5 hr 45 mins of luminance and 11 hr of Ha. Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Equipment used:
Telescope: Tec 140 F7
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Mono Cooled to -5C
Image Scale: 0.95
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik LRGB, Ha 6nm
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Sequence Generator Pro
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
This is M16 Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
The image was captured using narrowband filters (Ha, OII, SII).
Also in the image is the famous Pillars of Creation.
Ha 10x1800 Secs
OIII 7x1800 Secs
SII 9x1800 Secs
13 Hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Tec 140 F7
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Mono Cooled to -15C
Image Scale: 0.95
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha 6nm, OIII 6nm, SII 6nm
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Sequence Generator Pro
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
M106 has got to be my favourite galaxy of them all. The processing was a lot easier than the last time I processed it as this data was taken PixelSkies in Spain and not from light polluted UK.
Some Info about M106:
Messier 106 is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781. M106 is at a distance of about 22 to 25 million light-years away from Earth. It is also a Seyfert II galaxy.
Lum 51x900 Secs
Red 19x600 Secs
Green 10x600 Secs
Blue 10x600 Secs
Ha 26x1800 Secs
32 Hours 15 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Tec 140 F7
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Mono Cooled to -15C
Image Scale: 0.95
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Deep-Sky RGB,Astronomik Luminance filters L-3,Astronomik Ha 6nm
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Sequence Generator Pro
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
M13 The Great Globular Cluster Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Some Info about M13:
M13 is about 145 light-years in diameter, and it is composed of several hundred thousand stars, the brightest of which is a red giant, the variable star V11, with an apparent visual magnitude of 11.95. M13 is about 22,200 light-years away from Earth.
Lum 13x600 Secs
Red 19x600 Secs
Green 26x600 Secs
Blue 23x600 Secs
13 Hours 30 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Tec 140 F7
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Mono Cooled to -15C
Image Scale: 0.95
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Deep-Sky RGB,Astronomik Luminance filters L-3
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Sequence Generator Pro
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
This is M16 Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
The image was captured using a narrowband Hydrogen-alpha filter (Ha) as the moon was at about 70% this was a test of my new Ha filter. The filter lets the H-alpha light of emission nebulae pass and blocks nearly the whole remainder of the spectrum.
Also in the image is the famous Pillars of Creation.
Ha 10x1800 Secs
5 Hours in total.
The Eagle Nebula is part of a diffuse emission nebula, or H II region, which is catalogued as IC 4703. This region of active current star formation is about 7000 light-years distant. A spire of gas that can be seen coming off the nebula in the northeastern part is approximately 9.5 light-years or about 90 trillion kilometers long.
The cluster associated with the nebula has approximately 8100 stars, which are mostly concentrated in a gap in the molecular cloud to the north-west of the Pillars. The brightest star (HD 168076) has an apparent magnitude of +8.24, easily visible with good binoculars. It is actually a binary star formed of an O3.5V star plus an O7.5V companion. This star has a mass of roughly 80 solar masses and a luminosity up to 1 million times that of the Sun. The cluster's age has been estimated to be 1–2 million years.
The descriptive names reflect impressions of the shape of the central pillar rising from the southeast into the central luminous area. The name "Star Queen Nebula" was introduced by Robert Burnham, Jr., reflecting his characterization of the central pillar as the Star Queen shown in silhouette.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Tec 140 F7
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Mono Cooled to -15C
Image Scale: 0.95
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Astronomik Ha 6nm
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Sequence Generator Pro
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
NGC 2841 is an inclined unbarred spiral galaxy exhibiting a prominent inner ring structure in the constellation Ursa Major, it was discovered on 9 March 1788 by William Herschel. Initially thought to be about 30 million light years distant, a 2001 Hubble Space Telescope survey of the galaxy's Cepheid variables determined that it was approximately 14.1 megaparsecs or 46 million light years distant.
I have captured perhaps a portion of the stellar disk that I have only seen in one other image. I found this Stellar disk somewhat difficult to process without overdoing it so I will return to this one at a later date and maybe try increasing the Luminance exposures to 15 minutes. I was pretty happy with some of the detail I have captured in the background galaxies.
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Published in Astronomy now magazine July 2019
Lum 98x600 Secs
Red 77x300 Secs
Green 70x300 Secs
Blue 67x300 Secs
Ha 19x1800 Secs.
48 Hours in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Tec 140 F7
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Mono Cooled to -15C
Image Scale: 0.95
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Baader LRGB Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Sequence Generator Pro
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC
Here's my rendition of M82 with a bit of IFN I've managed to capture the small arc of Ha known as the Cap there's some info in this paper https://arxiv.org/abs/1210.8149.
The IFN was very difficult to process due to it being just above the background noise.
Captured by David Wills at PixelSkies, Castillejar, Spain
Lum 70x600 Secs
Red 41x300 Secs
Green 32x300 Secs
Blue 43x300 Secs
Ha 25x1800 Secs.
33 Hours 50 mins in total.
Equipment used:
Telescope: Tec 140 F7
Camera: Xpress Trius SX-694 Mono Cooled to -15C
Image Scale: 0.95
Guiding: OAG
Filters: Baader LRGB Ha
Mount: iOptron CEM60 "Standard" GOTO Centre Balanced Equatorial Mount
Image Acquisition: Sequence Generator Pro
Stacking and Calibrating: Pixinsight
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8, Photoshop CC