Latest Images
The Andromeda Galaxy - Dec. 30, 2024
The Andromeda Galaxy M31 with the RedCat 61 f/4.9 300mm.
This is my first try on this object with the RedCat and I like the wide FOV.
It took a while to post this one due to dust motes on the camera's optical
window after a desiccant change. The uneven background was difficult to deal with.
Click on the image for a larger view in a new window.
Details:
Location: Front yard Cary, NC
Camera: ASI294mc-Pro
Exposure: 60 x 90s (1.5 hrs) gain 150
Filter: UV/IR
Scope: WO RedCat 61 300mm fl @ f/4.9
Mount: iOptron GEM-45
Guider: WO 120mm guide scope
Capture software: ASIAir
Guiding software: ASIAir
Calibration frames: darks, flats, flat-dark
Processing software: Pixinsight, StarXTerminator, NoiseXterminator, and Affinity Photo.
Weather conditions: Clear and cold.
Notes: This image is uncropped.
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A dusty M45 in Taurus - Dec. 3, 2024
The Pleiades (M45) with lots of associated blue-white and brown nebulosity.
I'm still having fun seeing what the RedCat 61 will do with wide field objects.
I put M45 to the upper left side of the frame to give extra room for the dark nebulosity
to the right and below.
The stars and nebula were processed independently to stretch the nebula without blowing
out the stars.
There were plenty of neighborhood lights on brightening the sky.
M45 was approaching the meridian at the end of the imaging run.
Click on the image for a larger view in a new window.
Details:
Location: Front yard Cary, NC
Camera: ASI294mc-Pro
Exposure: 82 x 90s (2 hrs 3 min) gain 150
Filter: UV/IR
Scope: WO RedCat 61 300mm fl @ f/4.9
Mount: iOptron GEM-45
Guider: WO 120mm guide scope
Capture software: ASIAir
Guiding software: ASIAir
Calibration frames: darks, flats, flat-dark
Processing software: Pixinsight, StarXTerminator, NoiseXterminator, and Affinity Photo.
Weather conditions: Clear and cold with temps 29-30F.
Notes: Cropped around the borders to eliminate stacking artifacts.
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North American and Pelican Nebulae in Cygnus - Oct. 24, 2024
The North American and Pelican Nebulae in northern Cygnus.
We have had a very long run of clear skies here in North Carolina,
so even though C/2023 A3 has been getting all the attention lately, I decided it was time
to try a little regular deep sky photography with the RedCat 61.
As is usually the case for me, I shot a set of exposures broadband for natural star color then
a set of exposures narrow band for the nebulae.
The last time I tried for this pair was with a DSLR and 135mm lens
at the Staunton River Star Party almost exactly 10 years ago.
Click on the image for a larger view in a new window.
Details:
Location: Front yard Cary, NC
Camera: ASI294mc-Pro
Exposure: Narrow band - 25 x 3 min exposures gain 150
Exposure: Broad band - 20 x 15s gain 150
Filter: UV/IR and Optolong L-eNhance
Scope: WO RedCat 61 300mm fl @ f/4.9
Mount: iOptron GEM-45
Guider: WO 120mm guide scope
Capture software: ASIAir
Guiding software: ASIAir
Calibration frames: darks, flats, flat-dark
Processing software: Pixinsight, StarXTerminator and Affinity Photo.
Weather conditions: Cool and clear.
Notes: none
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Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS - Oct. 20, 2024
Comet C/2023 A3 was finally visible without moonlight for the first time
since it moved into the western sky.
I finally got to use the RedCat 61 on a tracking mount so I could stack
some individual frames.
At this focal length, the whole tail will not fit onto the frame which is
3.6 degrees top to bottom.
The comet is quite a bit fainter than a week ago but the anti-tail is still showing nicely.
Details:
Location: Crabtree Lake Dam, Cary, NC
Camera: ASI294MC-Pro
Exposure: 15x30 sec gain 150
Filter: uv/ir
Scope: WO RedCat 61 300mm fl @ f/4.9
Mount: iOptron GEM-45
Guider: none
Capture software: ASIAir plus
Guiding software: none
Calibration frames: none
Processing software: PixInsight and Affinity Photo
Weather conditions: Cool and clear with temps in the 50s.
Notes: The image was taken at 8:15 pm. Image aligned on stars.
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Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS - Oct. 14, 2024
Comet C/2023 A3 looked much better tonight from my light polluted area.
I was at the Crabtree Lake Dam which was busy with other comet chasers and the usual hikers
and bikers.
A cold front came though today clearing out the high clouds and haze.
Even with better conditions, I could not see A3 naked eye,
but was able to find it in binoculars so I could point my camera.
A careful look at the photo will show a hint of the anti-tail that has formed as well
as globular cluster M5 embedded in the tail near the top.
Details:
Location: Crabtree Lake Dam, Cary, NC
Camera: Canon Rebel T3i with Nikon 135mm f/3.5 lens
Exposure: Single 3 second exposure at ISO 800
Filter: none
Scope: none
Mount: camera tripod
Guider: none
Capture software: none
Guiding software: none
Calibration frames: none
Processing software: PixInsight and Affinity Photo
Weather conditions: Cool and mostly clear with the moon up in the east.
Notes: The image was taken at 7:55 pm.
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Aurora over Cary - Oct. 10, 2024
Tonight we had red/pink aurora over Cary NC.
This photo came from round two around 10:45pm. The first round happened around 7:30pm.
I took this standing in the street in front of my house pointing the camera NNE.
Visually the aurora was much less impressive as the photo shows.
It was mostly a pink glow to the north-east.
Click on the image for a larger view in a new window.
Details:
Location: Front yard Cary, NC
Camera: Canon Rebel T3i with Rokinon 16mm lens
Exposure: Single 8 second exposure at ISO 800
Filter: none
Scope: none
Mount: camera tripod
Guider: none
Capture software: none
Guiding software: none
Calibration frames: none
Processing software: Affinity Photo and Topaz Denoise AI
Weather conditions: Cool and clear.
Notes: I took about two dozen shots, this was one of my favorites.
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Cygnus Loop in Cygnus - Sept. 5, 2024
The Cygnus Loop which is made up of the East and West Veil Nebulae and Pickering's (Flemming's) Triangle.
This image is a combination of both narrow band and broad band images.
The broad band images (8 minutes) were to get natural colored stars.
The narrow band images (90 minutes) were to get the nebulae without excessive light pollution.
Click on the image for a larger view in a new window.
Details:
Location: Front yard Cary, NC
Camera: ASI294mc-Pro
Exposure: Narrow band - 30 x 3 min exposures gain 150
Exposure: Broad band - 16 x 30s gain 150
Filter: UV/IR and Optolong L-eNhance
Scope: WO RedCat 61 300mm fl @ f/4.9
Mount: iOptron GEM-45
Guider: WO 120mm guide scope
Capture software: ASIAir
Guiding software: ASIAir
Calibration frames: darks, flats, flat-dark
Processing software: Pixinsight, StarXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, and BlurXTerminator,
and Affinity Photo.
Weather conditions: Cool and clear.
Notes: The field of view is 3.65 degrees wide by 2.5 degrees high.
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M11 in Scutum wide field - August 25, 2024
This shot shows the nice open cluster M11 (The Wild Duck Cluster)
with a rich and dusty Milky Way in the background.
PixInsight reported 25,000 stars in this photo.
I was using the new William Optics RedCat 61 WIFD refractor.
The field of view is 3.65 degrees wide by 2.5 degrees high.
Click on the image for a larger view in a new window.
Details:
Location: Front yard Cary, NC
Camera: ASI294mc-Pro
Exposure: 60 x 30s exposures gain 120
Filter: UV/IR
Scope: WO RedCat 61 300mm fl @ f/4.9
Mount: iOptron GEM-45
Guider: WO 120mm guide scope
Capture software: ASIAir
Guiding software: ASIAir
Calibration frames: darks, flats, flat-dark
Processing software: Pixinsight, Affinity Photo, NoiseXTerminator, and BlurXTerminator.
Weather conditions: Cool and slightly hazy. Nice for August in NC.
Notes: none
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Open Cluster M37 in Auriga - July 20, 2024
Open cluster M37. This has always been one of my favorite clusters visually because
of the multitude of stars.
I shot the data for this photo way back on Nov. 12, 2010 but never did a
good job processing it so it was never published.
I reprocessed the data in mid July 2024 for a RAC imaging meeting on Auriga.
Click on the image for a larger view in a new window.
Details:
Location: Jordan Lake, NC
Camera: Canon Rebel XT DSLR
Exposure: 20 x 60s ISO 800
Filter: none
Scope: Televue Genesis 4" f/5
Mount: Losmandy G-11
Guider: Brandon 80mm refractor and a SBIG ST-402 XME CCD camera
Capture software: Maxim DL 5
Guiding software: Maxim DL 5
Calibration frames: darks, flats
Processing software: Pixinsight, Photoshop CC, GradiditneXterminator, NoiseXTerminator,
and BlurXTerminator.
Weather conditions: Temps in 40s with frost by 11:30pm.
Notes: About 50% crop. My best guess on the capture software was Maxim.
My notes did not specify, but the data was captured as .CR2.
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Comet 13P/Olbers in Lynx - July 1, 2024
Comet 13P/Olbers seen very low in the northwestern sky on Monday evening July 1, 2024.
Phyllis and I headed out to Crabtree Lake Dam just after sunset despite clouds
coming in from the northwest.
It looked like there may be a gap in the thickest clouds for an hour or two so we set
up the GEM-45 mount and put the WO RedCat 61 on top.
I was only able to shoot around 30 minutes before the altitude got so low a fence got in the way.
I chose the best 18 cloudless shots of 30 seconds each and aligned them on the comet and then
removed the stars.
The comet only image was combined with a stack of the first 7 stars only shot.
The altitude of the comet was around 11 degrees above the horizon during these last 10 shots.
We were not able to see any stars visually near where we were shooting let alone the comet!
Click on the image for a larger view in a new window.
Details:
Location: Lake Crabtree Cary, NC
Camera: ASI294mc-Pro
Exposure: 18 x 30s exposures gain 150
Filter: UV/IR
Scope: WO RedCat 61 300mm fl @ f/4.9
Mount: iOptron GEM-45
Guider: none
Capture software: ASIAir
Guiding software: none
Calibration frames: darks, flats, flat-dark
Processing software: Pixinsight, Photoshop CC, GradiditneXterminator, NoiseXTerminator,
and BlurXTerminator.
Weather conditions: Cool but high clouds moved through making some shots unusable.
Cold front came through last night.
Notes: Bad light pollution gradients towards the west and northwest.
This shot is version 2, after reprocessing the original data about a week later.
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Rho Ophiuchi in Scorpius - Jun. 16, 2021/2024
This colorful photo is of the light and dark nebula areas around Rho Ophiuchi and Antares.
I shot the data for this image back in 2021 but reprocessed it in June of 2024
using newer and better tools in PixInsight.
The blue area at the top around the three stars is Rho Ophiuchi.
Directly below Rho is the blue white nebula IC 4603.
Below left of IC 4603 is the blue nebula IC 4605 with embedded stars.
The bright orange star with nebula is Antares.
There are two globular clusters in the photo. The brightest is M4 bottom right and
NGC 6144 to it's upper left.
Finally the white star with the surrounding red nebulae is SH 2-9.
Click on the image for a larger view in a new window.
Details:
Location: Front yard Cary, NC
Camera: ASI294mc-Pro
Exposure: 34 x 60s gain 150
Filter: Astronomic CLS
Scope: Nikkor 180mm f/2.8
Mount: iOptron GEM-45
Guider: none
Capture software: APT
Guiding software: none
Calibration frames: darks, flats, flat-dark
Processing software: Pixinsight, Photoshop CC, GradiditneXterminator, NoiseXTerminator,
and StarXTerminator.
Weather conditions: not recorded.
Notes: This image is very slightly cropped at the bottom. North is up.
The nebula was processed independently from the stars.
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NGC3184 in Ursa Major - Jun. 7, 2024
This is the "Little Pinwheel" galaxy NGC 3184 located on the western side of Ursa Major.
This is one hour of exposure time taken over two nights (May 30 and June 7).
The galaxy was well past the meridian
at end of evening twilight and moving into the trees in my neighbor's yard.
The galaxy is fairly small measuring 6.75 arc minutes in size and this view is zoomed in.
Click on the image for a larger view in a new window.
Details:
Location: Front yard Cary, NC
Camera: ASI294mc-Pro
Exposure: 40 x 90s (1 hr.) gain 150
Filter: UV/IR
Scope: TeleVue Genesis 4" f/5 refractor
Mount: iOptron GEM-45
Guider: Orion 60mm finder/guider
Capture software: ASIAir
Guiding software: ASIAir
Calibration frames: darks, flats, flat-dark
Processing software: Pixinsight, Photoshop CC, GradiditneXterminator, NoiseXTerminator,
and StarXTerminator.
Weather conditions: Clear with temps around 65F.
Notes: This image is heavily cropped to remove trees. North is up.
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Lalande 21185 Ursa Major - updated May 30, 2024
Lalande 21185 taken on July 16, 2014, Feb. 27, 2016, and June 15, 2019, and May 30, 2024.
Lalande 21185 is the bright moving star (a red dwarf) near the center of the photo.
It is one of the nearest stars to Earth at only 8.3 light years away.
It is located in southwest Ursa Major not far from Leo Minor.
It has a proper motion of 4.78 arc seconds per year and a visual magnitude of 7.6.
The images were taken using my TeleVue Genesis refractor and my Canon XTi and ASI294mc-pro.
Details:
Location: Front yard Cary, NC
Camera: Canon XTi, ASI294mc-Pro
Exposure: 2014 and 2016 Canon XTi 10x30 second sub-exposures at ISO 800
Exposure: 2019 ASI294mc-pro using 15 x 15 second exposures at unity gain
Exposure: 2024 ASI294mc-pro using 30 x 15 second exposures at gain 150
Filter: UV/IR
Scope: TeleVue Genesis 4" f/5 refractor
Mount: Losmandy G11, iOptron GEM-45
Guider: Orion 60mm finder/guider
Capture software: APT, ASIAir
Guiding software: PHD,ASIAir
Calibration frames: darks, flats, flat-dark
Processing software: Pixinsight, Photoshop CC, GradientXterminator, NoiseXTerminator, GIF Animator
Weather conditions:
Notes: This image is cropped. North is to the right.
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M98 and M99 in Coma Berenices - Apr. 28, 2024
The two bright galaxies in this image are face on spiral M99 (lower left)
and almost edge on spriral M98 (top right).
Both galaxies are located in Coma Berenices around 6.5 degrees from the bright star Denebola in Leo.
Looking at the larger view, there are many small faint galaxies,
but the brightest is NGC4327 at the upper left center.
North is at the top.
Click on the image for a larger view in a new window.
Details:
Location: Front yard Cary, NC
Camera: ASI294mc-Pro
Exposure: 60 x 90s (1.5 hrs.) gain 150
Filter: UV/IR
Scope: TeleVue Genesis 4" f/5 refractor
Mount: iOptron GEM-45
Guider: Orion 60mm finder/guider
Capture software: ASIAir
Guiding software: ASIAir
Calibration frames: darks, flats, flat-dark
Processing software: Pixinsight, Photoshop CC, GradiditneXterminator, NoiseXTerminator,
and StarXTerminator.
Weather conditions: Clear with temps around 65F.
Notes: This image is not cropped. North is up.
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Supernova SN 2024gy and asteroid (464) Megaira in Virgo, Apr. 28, 2024
The skies had turned cloudy after shooting my first object Sunday night,
but I wanted to try for SN 2024gy in NGC 4216 even though it was first discovered in January 2024
and had probably faded.
Looking at the images on my iPad as they were coming in,
I was not hopeful I would get anything useful due to the clouds.
I was only able to get 13 images of 90 seconds before the clouds shut me down.
After stacking the images, the supernova did show up but faintly at magnitude 16.
Since I had photographed NGC 4216 back in May of 2016,
I decided to make an animated gif to show the before and after view of the supernova.
As I was looking at the animation, I noticed something unexpected.
There was another object blinking on and off. I had to figure out what the new object was.
After checking, I determined it was not a variable star or nova.
Then I started checking to see if it might be an asteroid.
I checked the Minor Planet Center's website.
Sure enough, it was (464) Megaira shining around magnitude 15.2.
I love finding unexpected objects in my photos!
If you examine the animated gif above,
look closely at the left side of the bright spiral galaxy in the middle.
You will see SN 2024gy flashing on and off.
Asteroid Megaira is the flashing object bottom left not too far above smaller spiral galaxy NGC 4206.
Details:
Location: Front yard Cary, NC
Camera: SBIG ST402me and ASI294mc pro
Exposure: 2016 20 x 60s, 2024 13 x 90s
Filter: UV/IR
Scope: TeleVue Genesis 4" f/5 refractor
Mount: 2016 Losmandy G-11, 2024 iOptron GEM45
Guider: Orion 60mm finder/guider
Capture software: Maxim DL, ASIAir
Guiding software: PHD, ASIAir
Calibration frames: darks, flats, flat-dark
Processing software: Pixinsight, Photoshop CC, GIF animator
Weather conditions: High clouds temp around 65F
Notes: 2016 image is uncropped, the 2024 image was cropped.
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NEO 2013 NK4 in Virgo, Apr. 18, 2024
This is an animation of near earth asteroid 2013 NK4 taken Thursday evening near midnight.
NK4 was moving quickly through the stars of Virgo.
NK4 was in the news the week of April 15 as it was about to pass very close to Earth.
It is pretty large for a NEO - around 0.5 to 1 km and it came inside the orbits of earth satellites.
At the time this series of photos was taken it was a bit fainter than 13th magnitude.
The bright star in the photo is magnitude 6.7.
The faint smudge on the right side of the photo is galaxy NGC 5584.
The animation compresses 48 minutes of real time down to 5 seconds.
North is right in the images. The asteroid is moving east to west.
This is a NASA JPL radar image of NK4 taken on Apr. 13.
Details:
Location: Front yard Cary, NC
Camera: ASI1600mm-Pro
Exposure: 48 x 30s exposures gain 139 with a 30s gap between each image
Filter: UV/IR
Scope: TeleVue Genesis 4" f/5 refractor
Mount: Losmandy G-11
Guider: Orion 60mm finder/guider
Capture software: ASIAir
Guiding software: ASIAir
Calibration frames: darks, flats, flat-dark
Processing software: Pixinsight, Photoshop CC, GIF animator
Weather conditions: High clouds temp around 65F
Notes: Images were cropped. There was an 80% illuminated moon nearby.
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Comet 12P Pons-Brooks - Aires, Mar. 28, 2024
Along with Phyllis Lang and Dave Philipowski, I headed out to the dam at Lake Crabtree in Cary to photograph Comet 12P.
Photographing this comet was a challenge due to the low altitude (around 15 degrees),
evening twilight, many satellites, and very humid conditions due to rain over the last 24 hours.
I was also challenged by an unexpected software update to ASIAir, unable to see Polaris to polar align,
the guider not calibrating, and poor flats.
I ended up using the first 21 of 45 second and 30 second shots when the comet was the highest in the sky
and comet aligning those frames with PixInsight.
I made a comet aligned master with no stars and combined it with a stars only shot.
Click on the image for a larger view in a new window.
Details:
Location: Lake Crabtree Cary, NC
Camera: ASI294mc-Pro
Exposure: 19 x 45s and 2 x 30s exposures gain 150
Filter: UV/IR
Scope: WO RedCat 61
Mount: iOptron GEM-45
Guider: WO 32mm Uniguide
Capture software: ASIAir
Guiding software: none
Calibration frames: darks, flats, flat-dark
Processing software: Pixinsight, Photoshop CC, GradiditneXterminator, NoiseXTerminator,
and StarXTerminator.
Weather conditions: Not noted.
Notes: This image is cropped to around 1 by 2 degrees. North is to the right.
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M64 Galaxy - Coma Berenices, May 7, 2018
Here is another case of mining old data from 2018 and reprocessing it with the
latest PixInsight and tools in 2024.
This data was taken with my first ASI camera and I was never happy with the outcome
so I never published my results.
The real key to a better image from this data was BlurXterminator which gave
much better details in the galaxy and Topaz DeNoise AI which eliminated the terrible noise.
This image is zoomed in much more than usual for me.
Details:
Location: Front yard Cary, NC
Camera: ASI1600mm-Pro
Exposure: 17 x 1 min exposures gain 139
Filter: UV/IR
Scope: TeleVue Genesis 4" f/5 refractor
Mount: Losmandy G-11
Guider: Orion 60mm finder/guider
Capture software: Maxim DL 5
Guiding software: PHD
Calibration frames: darks, flats, flat-dark
Processing software: Pixinsight, Photoshop CC, BlurXterminator, and Topaz Denoise AI
Weather conditions: Not noted.
Notes:
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The Eyes and M86 in Markarian's Chain - Virgo, May 9, 2018
This is a monochrome image of a portion of Markarian's Chain of galaxies which
contains "The Eyes" and M86. North is to the top right of this image.
At the bottom right is the huge elliptical galaxy M86.
To its upper right is spiral galaxy NGC4402.
The Eyes are at the upper left with the larger NGC4438 furthest left.
Above NGC4438 and slightly right is NGC4435.
A much fainter galaxy, IC 3365, is between NGC4402 and NGC4435.
The five galaxies just mentioned range from magnitude 8.9 to almost 15.
Numerious other small faint galaxies are visible.
New advances in PixInsight most notably BlurXterminator made it
possible to go back and rework this old data which was never published due to poor focus.
It turned a poor photo into a good one!
Click on the image for a larger view in a new window.
Details:
Location: Front yard Cary, NC
Camera: ASI1600mm-Pro
Exposure: 30 x 2min exposures gain 139
Filter: UV/IR
Scope: Celestron Edge HD 800 at f/7
Mount: iOptron GEM-45
Guider: Orion 60mm finder/guider
Capture software: Maxim DL 5
Guiding software: PHD
Calibration frames: darks, flats, flat-dark
Processing software: Pixinsight, Photoshop CC, BlurXterminator, and Topaz Denoise AI
Weather conditions: Not noted.
Notes: This image is slightly cropped. I did not get the framing exactly like I wanted it.
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Comet 144P/Kushida in the Hyades, Feb. 5, 2024
Comet Kushida (small green object at lower right) was passing through the Hyades open cluster
in Taurus the week of Feb. 5, 2024.
The comet was moving pretty fast. Motion was noted between each exposure.
I was hoping to get the entire Hyades cluster, but the field was not quite wide enough.
Aldebaran is just off the FOV to the left side.
This was second light using our new William Optics RedCat 61.
Click on the image for a larger view in a new window.
Details:
Location: Front yard Cary, NC
Camera: ASI294mc-Pro
Exposure: 30 x 45s exposures gain 150
Filter: UV/IR
Scope: WO RedCat 61 300mm f/5.9 refractor
Mount: iOptron GEM-45
Guider: WO 32mm Uniguide
Capture software: ASIair
Guiding software: ASIair
Calibration frames: darks, flats, flat-dark
Processing software: Pixinsight, Photoshop CC, BlurXterminator, and Topaz Denoise AI
Weather conditions: Cold and breezy.
Notes: This image is very slightly cropped. The photo was made from a combination of 30
comet aligned images and 10 star aligned images.
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