I have recently finished the Second Edition of the Springer publication “Making Beautiful Deep-Sky Images” and it has been sent off to them to make bookworthy. Springer then sends me back the draft (with all the page numbers) and I then have the final (mind-destroying) job of putting the Index together. You will see the new 2nd Edition in the shops next year (I’ll let you know when) and if you have the 1st Edition, there’s enough new stuff in the 2nd Edition (including completely new chapters, and completely re-written old chapters) to warrant raiding your wallets for a second time. The biggest change you will see on the front cover is the removal of the sub-title “Astrophotography with Affordable Equipment and Software” – with a chapter dedicated to the New Forest Observatory mini-WASP Array – some of the equipment is now anything but affordable.
Category Archives: Deep-Sky Imaging
Noel Carboni process of the California nebula data
Noel Carboni recently processed the 22-hours of Sky 90 mini-WASP data taken on the California nebula – result below 🙂
Today’s EPOD – The Great Nebula in the Sword of Orion
Got today’s Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) with a very deep image of the M42 region. Added narrowband H-alpha and wideband near infrared add a lot to the data in this image. In particular the infrared data brings out many stars that are not so visible in standard RGB images.
Many thanks to Jim at EPOD who continues to publish my work.
Astronomical Images on Flickr
Most of my Astronomical images can be found on my Flickr site.
13 Messier objects in one image
Last night I managed to get the second frame of a Canon 200mm/M26C Trius 2-frame mosaic.
I covered the major galaxy region between Denebola and Vindemiatrix – home to the Virgo/Coma galaxy cluster.
In this image there are 13 Messier objects – all of them are galaxies.
Given any more clear skies I will try to get some more data on both frames just to reduce the noise a little more.
On the left hand frame just about every sub had multiple satellite trails – thank goodness for dither and SDMask stacking.
Deep-sky desktop/screensaver images from the New Forest Observatory
You can now purchase your own custom New Forest Observatory desktop/screensaver image for your computer.
Just choose the image you want as a desktop/screensaver from this huge selection, and send me the size of your desktop in pixels. You will receive a JPEG image to your size requirements by return. And the price for this custom service? Just £5!! Visit the New Forest Observatory for full details.
Astronomy Now article on the mini-WASP array at the New Forest Observatory
The February 2015 issue of Astronomy Now has a 4-page article on the mini-WASP parallel imaging refractor array at the New Forest Observatory 🙂
Earth Science Picture of the Day – EPOD – number 62 today
Managed to bag today’s Earth Science Picture of the day with an extreme wide-field image of the Altair region showing Alshain, Tarazed and the dark nebula Barnard’s “E”.
That is EPOD number 62 🙂 Thank you Jim for continuing to publish our work.
The Hyperstar III is back on-line for this winter’s goodies
The Hyperstar III was dis-assembled while I ran some experiments on the 200mm Canon DSLR lens which I piggy-backed on the C11. Now the experiments have been run I removed the kludge from the back of the C11 and have re-commissioned the Hyperstar III. All the software/hardware is running and talking to each other and all I need to do now is focus train and collimate the Hyperstar III, it looks pretty close as it is and won’t need a great deal of tweaking 🙂
The Double Cluster & Stock 2
Last night I managed 16 x 5-minute subs on the Double Cluster region using the Canon 200mm lens with the M25C OSC and a 52mm IDAS filter on the front of the lens. The filter stops the lens down to f#3.85 with the native lens diaphragm wide open – hence no 8-pointed diffraction spikes 🙂 Lots of water vapour in the air – but fortunately no Moon.
