September 2024

September 30th 2225 GMT Jupiter and the Hyades 

 

The final session of September started with a shot of Jupiter at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure. I captured two moons.

 

I set the camera to 70mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 8 seconds exposure to take multiple images of the Hyades star cluster in Taurus.

September 30th 2020 GMT Saturn and Deep Sky 

 

I wasn't expecting any clear sky but I saw Saturn in the south east. I snapped it with my DSLR camera at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure, hoping to catch Titan. As usual, I took several shots, hoping to stack them. I had to crop the image due to satellite trails but caught Titan plus another object that could have been another moon or a star.

 

The sky had unexpectedly cleared to the east. I started off by taking multiple dark shots at 70mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 8 seconds exposure.

I tried for the galaxy M33 but, as I had no means of accurate location, caught the Andromeda Galaxy instead. Again, I took multiple images, hoping to stack.

 

While hunting around, I caught a faint meteor.

Next, I adjusted the camera tripod downwards and caught the intended Galaxy, M33. I also caught the open star cluster NGC752 and the constellation of Triangulum. I was not able to remove the gradient without removing the outer part of M33.

 

I finished with an attempt at the Perseus Double Cluster. I was not sure I found it but I found a rather nice patch of Milky Way.

September 28th 2140 GMT Saturn and Jupiter 

 

I tried to get images of Saturn by various means. I tried direct prime focus imaging and afocal projection. The frustrating thing was that the view through my Mak, armed with a 3x Barlow lens and 32mm Plossl eyepiece was quite superb. The magnification was 192x and I could see the rings, nearly edge-on and two cloud belts. I had been unable to reproduce this photographically. I produced three images.

I changed back to 1.54m focal length, ISO 6400 and 1/3 second exposure, trying for the moons.

 

 I combined the image of Saturn and the image with Titan.

I switched to Jupiter, starting with the planet at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/100 second exposure. I did not catch any detail on the planetary surface.

 

I tried for the moons with my Mak and DSLR at 1.54m focal length, ISO 6400 and 1/3 second exposure.

 

 

I was hoping to do some constellation shots but could only take some more dark frames as thin cloud ruined the view.

September 28th 0920 GMT Sun 

 

I woke up to bright sunshine, the day after night  manoeuvres. The Sun was quiet, with only 3 sunspots in my camera viewfinder. I snapped them with my Mak and DSLR at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure, as usual.

September 28th 2320 GMT Jupiter and Perseus

 

Although the sky was still hazy, it had cleared to the east and Jupiter was higher in the sky. I set my DSLR to 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure and tried again. The image was clearer but I still only caught one moon.

 

I reset my DSLR to 18mm focal length, ISO 1600 and 30 seconds exposure. I took some dark frames.

I took a few shots of Perseus and the surrounding area.

Mars had moved into Gemini. I took a single shot of it with Jupiter.

September 27th 0845 GMT Saturn and Deep Sky 

 

It was clear, although I discovered during the session that it was not as clear as I thought. I set my DSLR to 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure. 

 

I started off with 10 exposures of Saturn, hoping to catch Titan at least.

 

Next was Melotte 20, easy enough.

 

My next target was tougher and I took several attempts to find it using my DSLR on a tripod. I went for M34. I almost missed it. It was at the edge of the view at the bottom right but it was my best ever shot of the cluster.

I had similar problems finding the Perseus Double Cluster. I caught something but did not think it was my intended target. The images on my laptop did not show anything.

 

OK, something easier next! I went for the Seven Sisters.

 

Onto another hard object, the galaxy M33. Er, no!

 

It's neighbour M31, better known as the Andromeda Galaxy was easier to find.

 

I moved west and probably wished I hadn't! I tried for M11 and M13. Maybe I got Albireo, the bright double star in Cygnus but it could have been another star grouping.I caught a single frame of the globular cluster M13 and processed it.

 

Although it was low, I captured Jupiter, hoping to catch a moon or four but the sky was very murky in the east, near the horizon. I caught just one moon.

 

So I caught some target objects but not all.

September 26th 1005 GMT Sun 

 

There was a bit of cloud dodging to do but I managed to catch some full disc shots of the Sun with my Mak and DSLR at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure. The stack did not work, so I processed a single photo.

September 26th 0620 GMT Moon 

 

I did a quick Moon shoot with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/250 second exposure.

September 22nd 0015 GMT Moon and Jupiter 

 

I took a few shots of the Moon at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure. They were a bit out of focus.

 

I followed up with Jupiter at 1/200 then 1/100 second exposure. All images were out of focus. 

I finished with Jupiter's moons at ISO 6400 and 1/3 second exposure. The image was out of focus, so I created an image (not to scale) showing the positions of the moons relative to the planet.

September 22nd 2310 GMT Moon and Jupiter 

 

It was hazy and only the Moon, Jupiter and Capella were visible. I snapped the Moon and Jupiter with my phone camera.

September 21st 1650 GMT Sun

 

The Sun was low and in thin cloud. I checked it with my binoculars and saw that the sunspots I had seen two days before had rotated.

September 20th 2120 GMT Moon 

 

After a day with thunderbolts and lightning (very very frightening), the sky 

all apart from the brightest stars and Saturn.

I took some shots of the Moon with my Mak and DSLR at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure.

September 19th 1630 GMT Sun 

 

I bin scanned the Sun in hazy conditions and saw two sunspots.

September 18th 2130 GMT Moon 

 

There was a lot of minor cloud moving haze and not much to say it was more to see. The Moon was bright. I snapped it at my Mak and DSLR at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/1000 second exposure. The stack result was fuzzy, so I processed a single image.

I tried the Moon and Saturn with 18mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 1/30 second exposure. I didn't try hard enough!

September 17th 2245 GMT Jupiter's moons 

 

The almost full moon was dominating the sky. I decided to tackle the moons of Jupiter with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 2 seconds exposure. I planned to leave telescopic photography when the Moon was out of the way and Jupiter was better placed.

September 17th 2045 GMT Moon and Saturn 

 

I took some shots of the Moon with Saturn with my phone camera. They did not show Saturn at all.

 

I photographed the Moon with my Mak and DSLR at 1.54m  focal length, ISO 100 and 1/1000 second exposure. 

I increased the exposure time to 1/30 second in an attempt to capture Saturn. It was less than convincing.

 

In case my stack did not cover the entire lunar disc, I took 2 sets of shots with my DSLR at 300mm focal length and ISO 100. One set of shots was at an exposure of 1/1000 second exposure.

 

The second was at 1/2000 second exposure.

 

 

I set the DSLR camera to 100mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 1/30 second to capture both objects together.

Finally, I combined the last photo, with the large photo of the moon and the photo of Saturn to give the composite view.

September 17th 0846 GMT Sun 

 

There was some thin cloud around but I proceeded anyway with my Mak and DSLR and photographed the Sun at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure.

September 16th 2110 GMT Moon 

 

I started off well enough with my Mak and DSLR aimed at the Moon at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/800 second exposure. The stack did not work, circling forever but a single image was OK.

 

I also took some lunar images with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/1000 second exposure. These were all out of focus but, as the shot above worked, it was OK. 

I caught the Moon with Saturn with my DSLR at 70mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 1/20 second exposure.

 

I struggled a bit with my Angeleyes electronic eyepiece at 1.54m focal length. I had to make several brightness and focus adjustments and had problems connecting to my laptop. Amazingly enough, most of these shots worked!

September 16th 0915 GMT Sun 

 

After overnight rain, it was hazy to start. After it cleared, I snapped the Sun with my Mak and DSLR at my usual settings. Technically and astronomically, it was still summer but it felt more like mid-autumn.

September 15th 0750 GMT Sun 

 

There was thin cloud around. It did not stop me from capturing sunspots but I thought I might not be able to photograph faculae. I used my usual settings of 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure.

September 14th 2255 GMT Moon and Jupiter 

 

Sometimes sessions are quick and easy, like my solar shoot earlier in the day. This was anything but, as I struggled with our high fences and I could not find objects that I usually get quite quickly. Also there was a lot of haze around, especially near Saturn, making any chance of Titan impossible.

 

First up was the Moon at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/400 second exposure.

 

I increased the exposure to 1/200 second to try to capture Jupiter's cloud belts. It didn't work and there was only a hint of the cloud belts.

I finished with a few shots of Jupiter's moons at 1.54m focal length, ISO 6400 and 1/3 second exposure. The stack worked on three of the moons but not all four, so I processed a single shot.

I combined the two above shots to form a composite view, as Jupiter's disc is over-exposed in order to capture the moons.

September 14th 0845 GMT Sun 

 

I snapped the Sun with my Mak and DSLR at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure. I reflected that I had survived Friday 13th without major incident.

September 13th 2230 GMT Moon, Jupiter and Saturn 

 

The Moon was low in the south west. it was too low for my telescope, so I used my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure.

 

Then it was down to the serious business! The main target was planetary moons. I started off by taking lots of dark frames at 1.54m focal length, ISO 6400 and 1/3 second exposure.

First was Saturn, well-placed in the south. I took lots of shots, hoping to stack them. I did not capture Titan.

 

I changed the ISO setting to 100 and tried exposures from 1/100 to 1/10 second to catch the planet. I just caught a fuzzy ball!

Jupiter was not so well-placed, being low in the east. I took lots of frames at the original settings to catch the moons. 3 were clearly visible in my camera viewfinder. I caught yhe moons but focus was not sharp.

 

I then changed the settings to ISO 100 and various exposures from 1/200 to 1/100 second exposure to try to capture planetary detail. I didn't but thought I would have better luck when  it was higher in the sky.

September 13th 0740 GMT Sun 

 

It was Friday 13th and nothing bad had happened yet, although there was still a lot of day to go. Meanwhile, I snapped the Sun with my Mak and DSLR at my usual settings.

September 13th 0440 GMT Betelguese 

It was the dreaded Friday 13th. Dawn was breaking but Sirius was obvious, low in the south east. I could also see Betelguese, Procyon and Rigel from an upstairs window. Betelguese seemed rather faint at about magnitude 0.7.

September 12th 2000 GMT Moon and Melotte 20

 

I snapped the waxing gibbous Moon at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure.

 

I snapped Titan and, again, spotted a possible other moon.

I took some more shots of Melotte 20, with the intention of stacking.

September 12th 0730 GMT Sun 

 

The sky was clear, so I did some full disc shots of the Sun with my Mak and DSLR at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure. Although the Sun was quieter than recently, I was able to see sunspots quite easily.

 

 

I followed up with a hydrogen alpha shoot with my PST and DSLR. I took one set of shots at automatic settings. As usual, I processed the green and red data separately.

Next I set the camera to 55mm focal length, ISO 400 and 1/20 second exposure.

Unfortunately, there was not much detail in the red data and, on this day, the green data was good but no match for my 127mm Maksutov in white light.

September 11th 2100 GMT Saturn and M31

 

I set my DSLR to 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure. I started off with a set of dark frames. I used these 10 frames plus 10 from September 9th.0

I took a few shots of Saturn, hoping to catch Titan again. I also saw a faint star-like object near Saturn, maybe another moon.

 

I took some shots of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31).

 

I tried to find a few other deep sky objects but was struggling and called it a night.

September 11th 2025 GMT Moon 

 

The Moon was about to set. I had to walk a few yards from the front of our house to snap it with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/400 second exposure.

September 11th 1220 GMT Sun 

 

I caught a gap in the cloud but botched the first set of images my overexposure the Sun. I used my Mak and DSLR at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure and tried again.

September 10th 2250 GMT Planetary Moons

It was still clear when I attempted to catch Titan and some of Jupiter's moons. Unfortunately, cloud interfered with the latter. I set my DSLR camera at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure and hoped.

The Saturn with Titan shot worked, as the day before.

The sky fuzziness did not help the Jupiter shot, neither did the fact that one moon was very close to the planet. I did a lot of processing to show the two visible moons but the result was rather messy.

I tried a different process. It was much clearer but only showed one moon,

September 10th 1925 GMT Moon 

 

After a drenching in the late afternoon and early evening, the sky cleared. The Moon was very low in the west. I photographed it with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/250 second exposure. I only managed one decent image, so processed that with no stacking.

September 9th 2230 GMT Deep sky 

 

Conditions had got worse since my solar shoot in the afternoon. I set my DSLR to 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure. I started off taking some dark frames.

I took a few shots of Saturn, hoping to catch Titan. I did.

 

I took shots of Epsilon Lyrae, with Vega in the same field of view.

 

I shot Alcor and Mizar.

 

 I finished with Melotte 20 before thick cloud rolled in for good.

September 9th 1500 GMT Sun 

 

I did a photo session with the Sun using my Coronado PST. I took one set of photos at automatic settings and another at ISO 400 and 1/25 second exposure.

The green data showed some sunspots and shading.

The automatic exposure showed just a plain red disc.

When I used a lower ISO and shorter exposure, I was unable to get a full disc image but I processed some as partial discs. I did not get anything exciting but some shading.

September 4th 0735 GMT Sun 

 

The weather forecast for the morning had been poor but the sun was in a clear patch of sky above some cloud. I snapped it with my Mak and DSLR at my usual settings.

September 3rd 2250 GMT Saturn and Deep Sky

 

There was a lot of cloud about but I still took my DSLR camera out at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure.

I took 25 photos each of Saturn, the Seven Sisters and Melotte 20. I shot a few dark frames, hoping to run some stacks.

Stacking 25 photos instead of 10 and using dark frames made no difference to the shot of Saturn with Titan. It made a difference with the deep sky shots, especially with the Seven Sisters, especially as they were very low. That is also why I did not see capture any nebulousity.

September 3rd Solar Reprocesses

I revisited a solar hydrogen alpha shot from August 20th. I tried using various combinations of the GIMP functions Brightness/Contrast, Curves and Exposure. The centre of the disc was over-saturated but I managed to reveal some plages near the solar limb, especially near the prominences. 

I also revisited a white light shot from the same day. It did not stack, so I tried a different set of images. They stacked and I applied my usual processing in GIMP.