Pier Installed 29th May 2012

Photos of the full height pier installed on the telescope pad. It's mounted with 20mm RAW bolts 100mm deep. Should be a permanent fix for sure.

The pier was used during the recent celebrations for the Queen's Jubilee at the observatory. We just need to polar align the pier so it can be used for astrophotography. Just need a clear night.

Thanks to EDS and Gardner Denver especially for the bright Yellow Paint.  

New Pier, Setup and Photos 23rd May 2012

We are pleased to announce that thanks to two local companies for their help and support, WYAS have two piers currently in production for use on our telescope pad. The material for the piers has been donated by EDS Demolition from part of the material from the old Tetley's Brewery currently being demolished in Leeds. The time and manufacturing resource is being provided by Gardner Denver Ltd. The construction work on the piers in nearing completion and the first full height pier was brought to site for initial setup and positioning.  The second shorter pier should be completed in a few weeks. This will allow easy access and use for wheelchair members / visitiors and visitors from cub, scouts and guide groups. 

 

The pier was assembled and our 10" Meade SCT was mounted on it and used visually during the normal Tuesday meet. A web cam was mounted on the scope and the images taken are shown here. Later as the Pole Star was seen, a rough initial Polar Alignment was done so that the final pier mounting points could be marked. The pier has been returned to Gardner Denver where it will be painted and then returned for final installation.

WYAS Telescope Pad + Orion

These two photos were taken on the evening of the 12th January 2012

A few club members opened up the dome as the viewing was excellent. Some telescopes were set up for viewing.

Using a Canon 40D DSLR with 17-25mm lens at the 17mm end with f3.5, with an exposure of 13sec @ISO 800 mounted on a tri-pod produced these two photos.

The Orion constellation can clearly be seen in the sky. Including the Orion nebula but faintly.

Orion Nebula January 23rd and March 27th 2012

The Orion Nebula also known as M42, or NGC 1976) is a diffuse nebula situated south of Orion's Belt in the constellation of Orion. It is one of the brightest nebula, and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky. M42 is located at a distance of 1,344 light years away and is the closest region of massive star formations to Earth. M42 nebula is estimated to be 24 light years across.

January 23rd 2012

This image of Orion was taken with the WYAS 14" Meade SCT.

I used my Canon 40D with an f6.3 reducer to enlarge the view area to capture the full expanse of the Nebula. The image consists of 15 out of 30, 60 second exposures taken at ISO 500. This is approx. 15 minutes exposure time.Stacked in DSS (Deep Sky Stacker), saved as a 32Bit TIF file and then final processing was done in CS5.

Final processing can adjust the tones, color and overall image to show different parts of the Nebula.

The two images to the right are the same base image file but they have been processed differently in the final CS5 processing. 

Which do you prefer??

 March 27th 2012

This image was taken at a WYAS open night on the Telescope pad.

This image is a stack of 38 x 20sec. frames @ ISO 640 using my Canon 40D on my Celestron 8" U2K SCT. This is approx. 12.6 minutes exposure time. Images taken in RAW were stacked using Deep Sky Stacker software to create a composite image with final image processing done in CS5. 

Note the overall exposure on all these images has not burnt out the star cluster in the middle of Orion. However, you can see that the blacks on the upper two images are much better than the lower image. This is partly due to the position of Orion in the sky in March and visibility in March was slightly cloudy which has not given as clear an image.   HOWEVER, it does show that you can obtain acceptable images even when seeing is not as good as it could be. 

Full Moon Mosaic

March 5th 2012  at WYAS

This image is the first Mosaic created using the WYAS Watec 120N Image Camera purchased at the end of 2011. This highly sensitive camera can be used not only to create images of Deep Sky objects at extremely long distances with Very Low Light levels, it can also work quiet happily on the very bright Full Moon. The camera is indeed a  great piece of kit for the society and its members to use.

This image was created using 63 .avi files each file being 1.1Mb in size, each .avi is then processed in RegiStax, each .tif image in then cropped and using CS5, is assembled to give the final image using the 63 separate images. .avi collection took 2 1/2 hours and final processing in excess of 12 hours .

This sort of image creation takes time and patience.

Mars and Saturn

27th March 2012 at the WYAS open night on theTelescope Pad

Here are two photos of Mars and Saturn. Both photo's have been taken with Philips SPC800 Web Cam, 8" Celestron U2K SCT, 4x Barlow for enlarged images. The .avi files are then processed in RegiStax to give a single image and then are finally processed to enhance the image a little in CS5

These planets are viewable over the next few months weather permitting, more images should be available soon.

 

Crescent Moon Mosaic

This is a photo mosaic of the crescent moon on the 26th March 2012.   This was taken using a Phillips SPC800 Web cam on my 8" Celestron U2K SCT. It consists of 25 .avi files taken using iMerge to ensure a full image was captured. Then the .avi files are processed to give single images which are then merged in iMerge to give this image on the right.

Final processing is then done in CS5 to achieve this final image as below on the RIGHT. The image immediately below for comparison is a composite of 31 images on my Canon 40D DSLR stacked to give the final crescent moon.

Which do you prefer ????

Star Trails

14th April 2012 

Thought I would have a go at a simple Star Trail. This one was done using my Canon 40D DSLR, a 17-35mm Lens set at the 17mm end (Camera effective size 17mm  x 1.6 due to crop ratio or 27mm). This photo is 540 exposures at 15 secs @ISO 500 stacked with CS5 HD Merge option. 

Glynn and his new Scope!

17th April 2012 at WYAS

Glynn Willock testing out his new chair mounted, Boultonian Reflector. Lovely views of Venus's crescent were seen despite initial scepticism amongst the gathered members!

Markarian's Chain - 13/04/2012

This is an image of Markarian's Chain, which is a curved line of galaxies forming part of the Virgo galaxy cluster. It is named after the Armenian astrophysicist B. E. Markarian who identified their common motion.
The galaxies include M84, M86, NGC4477, NGC 4473, NGC4461, NGC4458, NGC4438 and NGC4435. Although I can count at least 15 galaxies in the image.
I haven't identified the pasky satellite tracking through the left hand side of the shot!

The image is a stack of around 28 one minute exposures at ISO800, taken using a Canon EOS550d stuck on the back of a William Optics Zenithstar80. An IDAS LPS filter was also used. Stacking was done by DeepSkyStacker and processing by GIMP.

The Moon, Venus, Jupiter and the Winter Constellations

This image was taken on 25th March 2012 and shows the Moon, Venus and Jupiter alongside the great Winter Constellations of Orion and Taurus. In the foreground is Darrington Church.

The image was taken with a Canon EOS550d on a tripod. Exposure was 15 seconds at f3.5, ISO 200 and a focal length of 18mm.

The Moon - 28/01/2012

The Moon was out, I had a new scope, so I took a picture of it. What more can I say!
The setup was a bit lacking in focal length though, need to try sticking a Powermate in the middle next time.......

M103 - Open Cluster in Cassiopeia

First light with my new William Optics Zenithstar 80 APO!!!

The clouds must have spotted the new toy and moved in quickly to spoil my fun, so I only managed a single 60sec shot of this nice little cluster. At first glance, the star colours stand out much better with this refractor than photos taken through my Skywatcher reflector, in particular the Red Giant star in the middle of the cluster. Hopefully the clouds will part again soon so I can have another go!

The Moon and Venus - 27th Jan 2012

The Moon and Venus made a lovely sight in the twilight sky last night so I couldn't resist taking a picture!
No telescope was used for this image, it's just a simple DSLR shot through a 50mm prime lens, and on a tripod of course. Darrington church is in the foreground.

Canon EOS550d, 50mm lens, ISO200, 4sec exposure at f2.8.

SN 2011fe Supernova in the Pinwheel Galaxy M101 - 21:30hrs 17/09/2011

Not the best photo I've ever taken but it was just a quick attempt at finding the Supernova in the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101) before it fades. Shining at around Mag 10, it stands out easily against the dim spiral arms and is even brighter than the central region of the galaxy.
This is a Type Ia Supernova, which is an explosion of a white-dwarf star in a binary system. The Pinwheel Galaxy lies at a distance of about 23 million light years.
The image is a stack of only 3 frames (with the usual equipment) as the clouds rolled in on-cue and covered it up! Being low in the North West is also bad for me since this is the direction of Pontefract and all the sky glow that goes with it. I will return to photograph M101, minus supernova (unless there's another one!), in the Spring when it will be in a much darker area of the sky.

Comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd) - 21:00hrs, 17/09/2011

Comet Garradd is now moving from the Coathanger towards Hercules, here it is in 'no man's land' between the two. It seems to have developed a slightly more promenant tail since I last photographed it.
The image is a stack of 15 30sec exposures with a Canon EOS550D and Skywatcher 200p. A coma corrector and light pollution filter were also used.

Comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd) - 23:00hrs, 01/09/2011

After passing M71 in Sagitta, Comet Garradd is now moving past Brocchi's Cluster (the Coathanger) in Vulpecula.

This is a stack of 15 jpegs straight from my camera, taken through a 70mm Televue Pronto refractor. The Coathanger is too big to fit in the field of view of my Skywatcher 200P! It's the first time I've used a refractor for astrophotography and the resulting image is by no means perfect, I seem to have blue halos around the bright stars. The frames were stacked based on the stars which means I've got slight trailing on the comet itself and shows just how fast it's moving. The total equivalent exposure time is 21 minutes.

Comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd) - 23:00hrs, 27/08/2011

This is an image of Comet Garradd passing M71 in the constellation of Sagitta. Being in the middle of the MilkyWay, the backdrop of stars really enhances the shot. M71 is the 'loose' Globular cluster in the upper left corner of the image, while the star Zeta Sge lies in the bottom right.

Taken, from my back garden, with a Canon EOS550D on a Skywatcher 200P using a coma corrector (essential for star fields like this!) and light pollution filter. It's a stack of 18 30sec frames with darks and flats, processed with DeepSkyStacker and the Gimp.

Another good photo opportunity is coming up during the first few days of September when this comet passes Brocchi's cluster, better known as the Coathanger. Stay tuned!

The Moon - 23:00 BST 14/08/2011

It may be the sworn enemy of the deep sky astronomer (me), but the Moon still makes a nice photograph!
Taken with a Canon EOS550d and Skywatcher 200P, the exposure is 1/1000sec at ISO100.
Even with no enhancement it's possible to see the different colours in the Mare, indicating different compositions of basalt. The bright rays from the crater Tycho (lower centre) show up really well when the phase is near full.

M29 - Open Cluster in Cygnus

This is M29 (also NGC 6913) in the middle of Cygnus, a nice little Open Cluster with a good background of Milky Way stars. Taken on 14th August 2011, the image is a stack of 13 30sec exposures using a Canon EOS550d on a Skywatcher 200P, a coma corrector was also used. I didn't bother with a light pollution filter as there was an almost full Moon in the sky drowning out all other sky glow! It's my first image using my newly aquired Vixen GPDX mount which is a great improvement over my other EQ5 in terms of tracking and stability. Even though it was a slightly breezy night I only had to throw away 5 shots due to non-round stars and one of those was due to a pesky satellite. The images were processed using Canon Digital Photo Professional, Deep Sky Stacker and then finished off with the Gimp.

The Leo Triplet

The Leo triplet is a group of galaxies about 35 million light years away. NGC 3628 is at the top, M66 bottom left and M65 bottom center.
This image, taken on 27th April 2011, is a stack of around 20 30sec exposures using a Canon EOS550d and my Skywatcher 200P, dark and flat frames were also taken. I had to over-process the image quite a bit to bring out some of the detail in the galaxies and this has highlighted uneven illumination in the background which I can't remove, 30 second exposures aren't really long enough for this subject but my mount won't track precisely enough for any longer.

Saturn - 27th April 2011

I used Registax to produce this image from a video taken using a Canon EOS550d Digital SLR. It's a first attempt at this kind of thing for me, so plenty of room for improvement, but the image clearly shows the Cassini division in the rings, the cloud bands, and maybe, just maybe, some of those white storms in the northern cloud belt.
The video output from the camera is .mov format, which Registax doesn't like, so it's a bit of a faff to convert them to uncompressed .avi, but, in true Yorkshireman fashion, I found some free software on t'internet to do the job.
I'll try and do a better job on Jupiter when it comes around in the Autumn.

M42 - The Great Orion Nebula

This image is a stack of 22 30sec. frames taken on the 8th of January 2011 using my Canon EOS550D and Skywatcher 200P, unguided. It was quite a windy evening so I had to discard about 30-40 shots due to camera shake! The RAW files from the camera were enhanced slightly and converted to 16bit TIFFs using the Canon supplied software - Digital Photo Professional. From here they were stacked using DeepSkyStacker, together with Darks and Flats and then finished off using the GIMP. I used this convoluted method because DeepSkyStacker doesn't seem to work too well with the RAW images from my camera (maybe I'm doing something wrong?) but it works very nicely with TIFFs.
The center of the nebula is a bit over-exposed but all in all, quite a pleasing result....

Jupiter and Uranus - 08Jan2011

Not a spectacular image but it isn't often that you can fit six prominent Solar System objects into a field of view smaller than the Pleiades! On the left is Jupiter with the four Galilean moons, closest to Jupiter is Io followed by Europa, Callisto and Ganymede. On the right of the image is Uranus.
Taken with a Canon EOS 550d sat on my Skywatcher 200p. It was a 1 second exposure at ISO800.

Moon - The Southern Highlands. 14thJan2011

I took this image of the southern highland region using the WYAS 14" and my Canon EOS 550d. The seeing was quite bad but I managed to get a fairly sharp shot with a fast shutter speed. The craters Tycho (centre) and Clavius (with the arc of craters on the floor) are nicely illuminated. No processing has been done on the image other than cropping out the poorly lit RHS.