Pluto

Taken with an ODK12 on 6.7.15. The camera was a Canon 550D at ISO800. 15 x 60sec was the exposure, all sigma-average stacked in Astroart. No guiding, no flats, no darks and no IDAS filter used. A lucky shot considering how close it was to the southern horizon. Just 11° above it among trees.
Pluto looks quite small, but then it would from here on Earth, whereas those Americans used a spacecraft to get their close-ups. Final processing in Photoshop.

M27

Taken on the 6th of July 2015, during a collimation session. The telescope was an Orion Optics ODK12 and the camera a Canon 550D. The exposure was 20 frames of 60sec each, at ISO800, no guiding, no flats, no darks and not with my usual IDAS filter. It was just to see the effect on photography that collimation by eye had. The frames were stacked in Astroart as 4 groups of 5 frames sigma-added, and the resultant 4 frames were averaged. Final processing was done in Photoshop. It needs more time to make a reasonable photograph but it was done as a test of detail, so look at the number of stars in the body of the nebula particularly the one next to the White Dwarf.

Jupiter and Io - 100831

Taken on the 31st of August with a webcam and Vixen 260. A very hazy night, with seeing limited to about mag 3. But it has a steadying effect on planets, so more of a plus.
This is a good year for Jupiter as it rises quite high in the sky, after two years of keeping very low in the south, so make the most of it. It needs a long focal length, the big Meade should produce good results, and if the seeing is good, add a barlow.
Processed in Registax using 444 frames, out of 2000 taken.
That's Io in the bottom right hand corner.

M103 in Cassiopeia

Tricked by the Cloud God again into seeing it clear at home. A rotten night at the observatory, full of very dense haze/thin cloud, but you have to go out when there's a sign of it being clear. Well, I do.
This is a brightish Open Cluster that I've not photographed before and in such bad skies nebulae aren't really on, so clusters it had to be.
Taken with a WO98FLT and M25C camera on the 900GTO mount. Guiding was poor but not really needed at 120sec frames, 13 of them. Actually 20 were taken, but many were just too hazed to use.
The bright blue star lower right is Ruchbar in the W of Cass and the little cluster at the top edge is Trumpler 1. On the left there's what seems to be an empty patch, though stars can be seen there, a dark nebula? There's another on the right too.
Acquired in AstroArt and stacked and coloured there, final processing in Photoshop, without any sharpening. Uncropped except for stacking edges.

M27 - the Dumbbell nebula

More testing of the Vixen 260 I use on the 900GTO mount. It was taken on the 12th of May 2010, with an M25C camera and a .5 focal reducer in the optical train. An IDAS LPS filter was used, as always. The exposure was 9x120sec and the guiding, with an H9C in a WO98 was working well, but dawn was encroaching and I had to shut down. It needs more time, though this is bright enough to get a satisfactory result with minimal time.
The whole was acquired and stacked in AstroArt4 and processed in Photoshop CS2, with help from GradX and Noel's Actions.

M57 - the Ring

Taken on 26.4.10, using a 10" Vixen reflector and M25C camera. Not as good as it should be so I'll be looking for this again. The individual frames were overexposed, can hardly say that about astronomical targets, but I'll try this one with 60sec instead of 300sec frames. The middle of the ring was too bright in comparison with the rest of it and took lots of work to balance, but I suppose I'll have a similar problem with shorter exposures, but it should be easier, we'll see. I'll try to focus more carefully too.
Processed as usual in AA4 and CS2, with help from Noel's Actions and GradX.

M51

This was taken on the 8th of April on a hazy night, as part of a series of tests with the new Vixen VMC260L and 900GTO mount. The telescope has a focal length of 3000mm and I added a .5 focal reducer to bring it down to 1500mm. Acquisition and pre-processing, average stacking, were done in AstroArt and final processing was in Photoshop CS2. The exposure was 45x60sec and unguided. The camera used was an SX M25C with an IDAS LPS filter. Very heavy with noise, which more time would help solve, but that wasn't the purpose of the tests.

A crater on the Moon, but which?

Taken on the 23rd of April from Austerfield, with an old Philips 740 webcam and a Vixen VMC260L, 3000mm EFL. There were no clouds but so much haze that the Moon had difficulty getting through. As for stars, I could only see Arcturus. The sky was also like jelly, but nonetheless I had to try, rather than waste a 10 mile drive. 600 frames taken and processed in Registax, with a bit of work in Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro.
So which crater is it? I think it's Copernicus, but I may be wrong.

NGC 6543 - Cat's Eye nebula - 100417

A planetary of some 3arcsec dia. So quite small, but they almost all are. This is another unguided test picture, taken from Austerfield, using the Vixen VMC260L and an H9C camera, without filters. The exposure was 40x60sec, and it was acquired in AstroArt4 and processed there and in Photoshop CS2.

the Moon - but you knew that.

This was taken on the 23rd of March through a 14" Meade, afocally, with my little Samsung M110 point-and-shoot-camera, by putting the lens up to the eyepiece of the telescope.

NGC 2392 - the Eskimo nebula - 100408

This is a small planetary nebula in Gemini, sometimes called the Clown nebula. Not as good as the CFHT one, at least I think it was theirs, you know the one, but not bad for 45x60sec unguided frames on a hazy night. It was taken using a Vixen VMC260L with an Antares .5 focal reducer. This reduces the focal length to 1500mm. The camera was an SX M25C. Stacked and pre-processed in AstroArt4 and finalised in Photoshop CS2.
There aren't many objects up there with green in them but some planetaries are so endowed, due to the oxygen in their gas clouds caused to fluoresce by the ultraviolet light from the white dwarf in the middle
Brian

M3 - 100322

Taken with a William FLT98 and SX M25C on an AP 900GTPO mount. Guided by an H9C in a Vixen VMC260L. This is the first guided try with the AP mount and all seems to be working well. The exposure was 7x120sec, which isn't much but the night wasn't good enough to be worth more between clouds. Pre-processed and averaged in AstroArt4 and finally in Photoshop CS2.

M13

Estimated to contain from half to one million stars, this is sat on the right hand edge of the Keystone and the best Globular in the northern hemisphere.
Taken from Austerfield on 20.3.09, with an M25C and William FLT98. The exposure was 12x120sec. Acquired and processed in AstroArt4 and Photoshop.

M27 the Dumbbell

Taken on the 16th of May 09, with an M25C and a Skywatcher 80ED. It was acquired and processed in AstroArt4 and Photoshop7. The exposure was 10x300sec. Flats were used.