Managed to get the mini-WASP array set up early last night, imaging by 6:10 p.m., just as well as clouded out by 8:10 p.m.

Set up on Carbon star SAO 77516 in Taurus, was going to do M1 but then saw there was a Carbon star nearby and went for that instead.

30 x 10-minute subs – plenty for a star field shot

Here is the full frame C W Leonis image with a magnified insert.

Managed to get 12 x 20-minute subs on this one from the mini-WASP array late last night.

This is possibly the brightest star at 5um wavelength in the galaxy – so I wasn’t actually expecting to see ANYTHING at visible wavelengths.

But there it is  Carbon star C W Leonis or IRC +10216 – a pretty unimpressive looking image, and possible the one I am the most pleased with.

There is a 4-page article in the February 2015 issue of Astronomy Now on the mini-WASP array at the New Forest Observatory.

To save trawling through the last 2 years of development on this site, buy the Feb 2015 issue of Astronomy Now and get the whole story in one place

Taken on the evening of 16/01/2015 using the mini-WASP array and 2-minute subs (around 90 in total).

Not very impressive and I won’t spend any more valuable imaging time on this one.  I was lulled into a false sense of security with my earlier Hyperstar work on comets where a 4-minute sub brought out even the faintest detail.  With the array at f#4.5 it is asking a bit much to see the extent of the very faint tail with only a 2-minute sub.  The comet is moving quite quickly so I didn’t want to use longer subs as there would have been more comet movement in that time leading to a soft image.  Also – the VERY long comet tail means a multi frame mosaic if I were to use the Hyperstar III.  Not out of the question, but a bit of a pain to organise.  I may leave it at this for comet Lovejoy C/2014 Q2 and enjoy other people’s better efforts.

Managed to get 12 x 20-minute subs on this one before total cloud cover last night – nice Moonless conditions – but a ton of water vapour in the air (seen using the standard torch test).

Glad I got something at least, only reason for dropping in on this one was that it was in a good region of the sky for me.

With a half Moon up and very poor seeing I grabbed 4 x 15-minute subs as a test-shot using the 200mm lens and a 52mm IDAS filter on the front.

Only a very quick process so I left in the ghost flares from Deneb for future reference.  Overall I am pleased at the lack of ghost flaring.

Now if I can get 8-hours on this, and the frame below, next summer – I might just end up with a decent image of this region.

6 x 20-minute subs on the Canon 200mm lens composited with some earlier Sky 90 data on the Rosette alone.

After a long imaging session on IC410/IC405 I didn’t want to leave the clear skies unused, so I shot across to the Rosette nebula and took just 4 x 20-minute test subs.

Seeing the result I know what the next major mini-WASP project is going to be

Half a Moon up and very poor seeing means this one is a lot noisier than it should be.

24 x 20-minute subs on the mini-WASP array centred on the T Tauri region.