Comet NEOWISE on South Twin Lake, La Pine, Oregon

A Comet in the morning sky

and reflected on the lake.

Comet NEOWISE c/2020 f3 on July 9, 2020

Time: 4:00 am

Location: South Twin Lake, near La Pine, Oregon

Data: Camera: Canon T3i (unmodded)

Lens: Canon Kit 55-250mm set at 55mm

Mount: Standard tripod , Unguided...

ISO 1600

Exposure time: 15 sec

f/4.5

The tail is much longer than it was yesterday!

Comet NEOWISE c/2020 f3 on July 9, 2020

Time: 4:00 am

Location: South Twin Lake, near La Pine, Oregon

Data: Camera: Canon T3i (unmodded)

Lens: Canon Kit 55-250mm set at 250mm

Mount: Standard tripod , Unguided...

ISO 1600

Exposure time: 15 sec

f/4.5

BONUS!  Venus in the Hyades star cluster

and reflected on the lake!

July 9, 2020

Time: 4:00 am

Location: South Twin Lake, near La Pine, Oregon

Data: Camera: Canon T3i (unmodded)

Lens: Canon Kit 55-250mm set at 55mm

Mount: Standard tripod , Unguided...

ISO 1600

Exposure time: 15 sec

f/4.5

What a Difference Stacking Makes!

This morning I captured Comet NEOWISE c/2020 f3 (see other post). I had to "hand-stack" my comet's images (with GIMP) because there were insufficient stars to register the 6 frames I had (otherwise I would have used DSS). Here is a comparison of one frame and my stack of 6, enlarged about 300%. It pays to stack, one way or another! (see photo below to see a larger view that shows the difference).

An Early Morning Capture of Comet NEWO

Comet NEOWISE c/2020 f3

July 8, 2020     4:10 am

La Pine, Oregon USA

Canon T3i with a Canon zoom lens set at 55mm

F/4.0     1 sec     iso 1600

cropped somewhat

Unguided, tripod mounted

Taken from La Pine, Oregon facing north-east.

It was about 10 degrees above the horizon (cell tower in pic, too).

The Moon was just past full but it did not hinder the imaging. Venus was just right of this image.

Temperature was right at 32*F.

Comet NEOWISE c/2020 f3

July 8, 2020    4:10 am

La Pine, Oregon USA

Canon T3i with a Canon zoom lens set at 250mm

F/5.6    2 sec    iso 800

cropped

Unguided, tripod mounted

"First Light" astro-imaging wise!

The Dumbbell Nebula M 27

Results from last night's "test drive" "first light" astro-imaging with the Meade LX50 10 inch ota. 

I was very pleased with how the Celestron AVX mount handled the autoguiding with the Meade .63 focal reducer & Canon T3i (unmodded) ! 

Image: The Dumbbell Nebula (M 27). 

Stacked with Sequator.

Total time: 56 minutes @ iso 3200 (14 subs at 4 minutes each). 

Post-processed with Luminar 2018.

Getting Ready for "First Light" with my "new" (used) Meade LX50 10" scope

If the skies clear tonight I am taking this Meade LX50 10" scope out for a "first light" test drive on my Celestron AVX mount. The goal is to see if the mount can handle the scope with PHD2 autoguiding. I will be using a Meade Focal Reducer f/6.3 and my Canon T3i (unmodded).

What Can You Image with a Celestron NexStar 4SE?

Here's my Celestron NexStar 4SE telescope

it's the "Tiny Scope That Could" !

I have it on a Celestron AVX mount

with a Canon T3i unmodded camera

and a ZWO guide camera

Most people assume you have to have a BIG telescope to image some deep space objects

like galaxies and nebula. And, yes, I have bigger scopes to astro-image with.

But I just wanted to see what this little scope could do.

The truth is that if you have a good mount that tracks well

this telescope (OTA) can give more than acceptable results.  Here's the proof...

Messier 81 (M 81) Bode's Galaxy

Full image - not cropped

 Messier 81 (M 81) Bode's Galaxy

cropped

Messier 82 (M 82) The Cigar Galaxy

Full image - not cropped

Messier 82 (M 82) The Cigar Galaxy

cropped

Messier 97 (M 97) - The Owl Nebula

Full image - not cropped

Messier 97 (M 97) - The Owl Nebula

cropped 

Messier 3  (M 3) globular star cluster

Full image - not cropped

Messier 3  (M 3) globular star cluster

cropped

Messier 51  (M 51) Whirlpool Galaxy

Full image - not cropped

(I think I can do this even better in the future!)

If you want to know more, post a question in the moderated comment section below:

Galaxy M 101 with Celestron C6se telescope

 M 101 Galaxy

DATA:
Galaxy M 101 from last night, April 13, 2020
Scope: Celestron C6se with F/6.5 focal reducer
Mount: Celestron AVX
Camera: Canon T3i unmodded
Seeing: Good but a bit hazy
ISO: 3200
Sub exposure time: 240 sec
Number of subs: 11
Total stacked time: 44 minutes
10 darks, 10 flats
Stacked with Sequator
Post-processed in Luminar 2018
Cropped 50%

I also want to show you what my "subs" look like and my "flats" and the initial stacked image are for this image of galaxy M 101 (see individual pics) 

This is an individual shot (sub) RAW from the camera unprocessed:

This is the result of stacking with Sequator software of 11 subs:

And this is the result after post-processing with Luminar 2018:

There is one more step in the stacking and that is "flats".

With flats one is able to correct for vignetting

from the optics of the telescope and the focal reducer.

This averages out the light across the final image.