Swansea Astronomical Society Blog

A Seestar S30 in EQ mode: The Ghost globular cluster in Boötes, NGC 5466, from 14 minutes worth of 30s exposures. The subs were stacked and part processed in Pixinsight and further processed in GraXpert Gimp+ Starnet++ and Cosmic Clarity.

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The Ghost globular cluster: NGC 5466 

Steve Wainwright and Nicola Mackin

posted by astroimager  # 4:33 PM 0 Comments

 Click on a sketch to get a closer view

Jim Startup

posted by astroimager  # 2:36 PM 0 Comments

NGC 5033 is an inclined spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatiici. Distance estimates vary from between 38 and 60 million light-years from Earth.

NGC 5033 is a Seyfert Type I galaxy so has a supermassive black hole at its centre which emits large amounts of radiation at the X-ray and radio wave parts of the spectrum.

This image is 14hrs of data over 5 nights in RGBHa.

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NGC 5033 

John Evans

posted by astroimager  # 2:33 PM 0 Comments

My image off the Needle Galaxy taken with my 1300D DSLR Canon camera mounted on a Skywatcher 80mm ED APO Refractor telescope with a field flattener. The telescope was mounted on my EQ5 Skywatcher GOTO mount. I used an intervalometer to control the camera and a Bahtinov mask to focus on a bright star. I captured 90 images, 30 flat frames and 30 dark frames. The exposure was 50s at 800ISO. My images were stacked in Sequator and processed in Siril and Gimp 2.10. 

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The Needle galaxy

Chris Playle

posted by astroimager  # 2:24 PM 0 Comments

A Seestar S30 was used to obtain a wider field of view than that obtained with a Seestar S50.

The telescope was EQ mounted using an EQ wedge.

posted by astroimager  # 9:28 PM 0 Comments

The Sun today in H-alpha light. A RAW 2500-frame SER file was captured by AstroDMx capture with real-time flatfield correction using a Coronado II 60 BF15 H-alpha scope and an Altair 678M camera. The best 50% of the frames in the SER file were stacked in Autostakkert!4, wavelet processed in waveSharp, and further processed in PixInsight, Photoshop CS2, Gimp and ACDSee.

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H-alpha light

posted by astroimager  # 9:04 PM 0 Comments

Today's Solar WL & Ha edits: 50% of 2 & 10,000 frame SER's imaged with AstroDMx Capture. WL was made using a Herschel Wedge on my 80ED with Apollo-M-Mini and x2 Barlow and the Ha with the same camera and Barlow on my PST. Stacked in Autostakkert!4, wavelet processed in Registax and processed in Pixinsight and Adobe Photoshop 2025.

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White Light

The Crucifix Cluster (M107): Just 15 mins of RGB data on this globular cluster situated low down on our horizon in the constellation of Ophiuchus. The cluster is around 21 thousand light years from Earth. Data acquired in NINA using an ASI 533MM Pro camera and mono filter set using a SKy-Watcher Esprit 80 ED triplet refractor fitted with a field flattener. Data stacked and processed in Pixinsight with wide field and cropped views.

M107

Chris Bowden

posted by astroimager  # 4:59 PM 0 Comments

I got another 2 hours on the Rho Ophiuchi areas IC 4063 and IC 4064 this morning including some SHO data to enhance the colour and vibrancy of this rich area of the Milk Way into a vertical 2 pane mosaic. I then merged this mosaic with the 4 pane mosaic taken over the previous three nights to enhance and extend slightly the left hand side of this (now 6 pane) mosaic incorporating M80. All images were acquired with NINA using an ASI 533MM Pro camera and mono filter wheel set attached to a Sky-Watcher Esprit 80 ED triplet refractor fitted with a field flattener.  Data were integrated and processed in Pixinsight and Adobe Lightroom with final output done in Photoshop 2025.

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Rho Ophiuchi areas IC 4063 and IC 4064 

Chris Bowden

posted by astroimager  # 1:23 AM 0 Comments

I imaged NGC7000 and the Pelican nebula over the weekend and only now getting around to finishing off the processing. I'm very pleased considering the short amount of time I had on the object(s).

33 x 5 minute subs of Ha

28x 5 minute subs of Sii

28x 5 minute subs of Oiii

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NGC7000 and the Pelican nebula

John Beer

posted by astroimager  # 9:10 PM 0 Comments

 Click on a sketch to get a closer view

Jim Startup

posted by astroimager  # 12:00 PM 0 Comments

M49 an Elliptical Galaxy in Virgo 52.5MLY away. 100 minutes 30 second subs using a Seestar S50 in EQ mode stacked and processed in Pixinsight.

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M49

M87. An Elliptical galaxy in Virgo 55MLY away. 75 minutes of 5 minute subs stacked and processed in Pixinsight.

M87

Robert Elson

posted by astroimager  # 11:57 AM 0 Comments

 I got another 80 minutes of LRGB/Ha data to add two more mosaic panels to the bottom half of this integration to encompass the more red area of IC4603 to contrast the blue of the Rho Ophiuchi nebula (IC4604). Each of the four panels data were integrated separately and merged in pairs to make the composition which was annotated in Pixinsight and then cropped and further processed in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop 2025. This is a challenging target; not just for its low sky position, but for the black dust that fills the field of view. A lot more data is needed to bring out the vibrant colours more in this rich area of the MilkyWay. As before, All images were acquired with NINA using an ASI 533MM Pro camera and mono filter wheel set attached to a Sky-Watcher Esprit 80 ED triplet refractor fitted with a field flattener.  The Rho Ophiuchi nebula is a complex area of interstellar clouds with different nebulae, particularly a dark nebula lying near the star ρ Ophiuchi at some 460 light years away. It is one of the closest star-forming regions of our galaxy.

Chris Bowden

posted by astroimager  # 11:16 AM 0 Comments

My image of the North America and the Pelican Nebulae taken with my Rokinon 135mm prime lens mounted on my 1300D DSLR Canon camera which was mounted on my Star Adventure 2i pro tracking mount. Settings were 45s and 800ISO. I captured 150 images, 30 dark frames and 30 flat frames. All were stacked in Sequator and processed in Siril and Gimp 2.10. I used a Bahtinov mask  to focus on a bright star and an intervalometer to control the camera.

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North America and the Pelican Nebulae

Chris Playle

posted by astroimager  # 10:36 PM 0 Comments

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 M68: 

This is a tricky object to image from south Wales, due to it being so low down near the horizon, but on the night of the 16th May I was able to get just enough separate red, green and blue 2 minute subs to make a 30 minute integration. M 68 (NGC 4590) is a densely packed globular cluster in the southern hemisphere constellation of Hydra. It lies about 33,600 light-years away from Earth, orbiting our galaxy's galactic bulge some 100,000 light years from its centre. It is thought that the cluster may have been acquired in its gravitational tie to the Milky Way through accretion from a satellite galaxy in the distant past.

M80: 

M 80 (NGC 6093) is another  globular cluster that is not well placed for imaging from south Wales; lying in the constellation Scorpius lying midway between α Scorpii (Antares) and β Scorpii in a field in the Milky Way Galaxy that is rich in nebulæ. It lies around 32,600 light-years away, has a diameter of about 95 light-years and contains several hundred thousand stars; being one of the densest globular clusters in the Milky Way. 

M80 wide field incorporating part of the Rho Ophiuchi nebula:

A 2 pane mosaic of the north of the Ophiuchi star cloud, incorporating nearby globular cluster M80. This was just 50 minutes per panel of LRGBHa data. I processed the mosaic in 64bit in PI and then downscaled to 32bit to finish off in Photoshop in order to make the most of the limited data to bring out the dark nebula and black dust in this area of sky. I then down scaled it and saved it as a 16 bit png file. The area covers almost 3 degrees in width.

Pelican nebula:

Just 75 minutes of SHO data of the Pelican Nebula (IC 5070); an H II region lying close to the Star Deneb and the North America Nebula in the constellation of Cygnus resembling a Pelican.

Barnard's Butterfly nebula:

An hour of SHO data of this region of the Gamma Cygni nebula centred on Barnard 347 which resembles the iridescent wings of a Butterfly; hence the name. 

All images were acquired with NINA using an ASI 533MM Pro camera and mono filter wheel set attached to a Sky-Watcher Esprit 80 ED triplet refractor fitted with a field flattener.  Data were integrated and processed in Pixinsight and Adobe Photoshop 2025.

Chris Bowden

posted by astroimager  # 8:48 PM 0 Comments

EQ mounting the Seestar S50. 60 minutes worth of 30s exposures of M5 the Rose cluster.

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M5 the Rose cluster

Steve Wainwright and Nicola Mackin

posted by astroimager  # 5:01 PM 0 Comments

M85. 90 minutes of 5 minute subs stacked and processed in Pixinsight.

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M85

Robert Elson

posted by astroimager  # 3:09 PM 0 Comments

EQ mounting the Seestar S50. 26.5 minutes worth of 30s exposures of M17, stacked in Pixinsight and further processed in GraXpert, Cosmic Clarity, Gimp, Starnet++ and Neat Image.

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The Swan nebula

Steve Wainwright and Nicola Mackin

posted by astroimager  # 2:16 PM 0 Comments

I have been doing more experiments with Seestar and Siril. M64 was stacked and processed in Siril. However, I didn't get very good results with Koi Fish Galaxy in Siril (too much background noise) so I stuck to the onboard Seestar stacking which seemed to do much better with it. 

posted by Gaynor Thomas  # 10:53 AM 0 Comments

With the Seestar S50 in EQ mode: 1 hour's worth of 30s exposures on M64, stacked in Pixinsight and further processed in GraXpert, Cosmic Clarity, Gimp, Starnet++ and G'MIC-qt.

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M64

Steve Wainwright and Nicola Mackin

posted by astroimager  # 7:45 PM 0 Comments

My image of the Owl Nebula and M108 taken with my 1300d  DSLR Canon camera mounted on my 80ED APO Skywatcher Refractor telescope with a field flattener. The  telescope was mounted on my EQ5 GOTO Mount.  Settings were 45s exposure and 1600 ISO. I captured 160 images, 40 flat frames and 40 dark frames. All were stacked in Sequator and processed in Siril and Gimp 2.10. I used an intervalometer to control the camera, and a Bahtinov mask to focus on a bright star. 

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The Owl Nebula and M108

posted by astroimager  # 7:02 PM 0 Comments

My first attempt at EQ mounting the Seestar S50. 1 hour's worth of 30s exposures, stacked in Pixinsight and further processed in GraXpert, Cosmic Clarity, Gimp, Starnet++ and G'MIC-qt. I am pleased with the result.

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EQ mounted Seestar S50

The Eagle nebula

Steve Wainwright and Nicola Mackin

posted by astroimager  # 4:29 PM 0 Comments

It was clearly public service astronomical imaging night last night. :) I managed to get M89 and M90 before the Moon rose to ruin everything. M89 is a standard Seestar 45 minute integration with AI denoising and a little contrast tweaking in the app. I’d hoped to get M90 the same way but the number of satellite trails it picked up surprised me, so I ended up having to strip these out and restack everything. Final processing was again the AI denoising and contrast tweaking in the app to give me a 59 minute integration.

All of this in Port Talbot with a Bortle 5 sky.

Nik Whitehead

posted by astroimager  # 11:37 AM 0 Comments

M88. Spiral Galaxy approximately 47MLY away. 75 minutes of 5 minute subs stacked and processed in Pixinsight. 

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M88

Robert Elson

posted by astroimager  # 11:35 AM 0 Comments