Here is the second marathon processing session by Noel.  This time it’s the Belt region of Orion.  This image is mostly data from the Sky 90 and comprises RGB, H-alpha and H-beta taken over two frames.  There’s also a 3-frame Hyperstar I image of the Horsehead nebula thrown in for good measure

Noel has been very busy processing recently and the first to come back across the pond was this composite image of the North America and Pelican nebulae in Cygnus.  This is a composite image containing both Sky 90 and Hyperstar III data.  The full image is over 21 megapixels.

More great news!!  Today we got the Jellyfish nebula (IC443) and its companion IC444 published as an Earth Science Picture of the Day.  This image was taken using the Sky 90 at f#4.5 and as well as full colour there was also H-alpha and Sulphur-II narrowband data added.  This image also shows a recently discovered planetary nebula that emits strongly in the infrared.  Thank you Jim at EPOD for continuing to show an interest in our work.

Taken over several years this image is a composite of Hyperstar I, Sky 90 and Hyperstar III data. (more…)

Noel has just processed this one taken a while ago at the NFO.  This is the open cluster M52 and lying nearby is the well-known emission nebula - the Bubble nebula.  You can see that the Bubble nebula sits within a vast region of emission nebulosity. (more…)

The Parker/Carboni deep-sky imaging machine has just produced another starry work of art for your enjoyment.  This time it is the famous Kemble’s Cascade asterism in that well-known constellation Camelopardalis. (more…)

The name says it all!  Noel has just processed this Sky 90/M25C image of the bright red carbon star “La Superba” which can be found in Canes Venatici at a distance of 711 light-years: (more…)

Panic over.  It is not an alien race trying to get our attention (shame) - but an extremely variable, variable star!  This little beauty is WY Cas lying just below the open cluster NGC7789 in Cassiopeia, and Noel created the animation from two separate images taken over a year apart.  (more…)

Noel has just processed a Sky 90/M25C image of an open cluster.  We had already imaged the same cluster a couple of years earlier with the Hyperstar 1 and SXV-H9C.  One very faint very red star of around magnitude 13 shows up as a bright orange magnitude 7 star in the latest data.  We have identified the star as a variable which may undergo mag 2 variations - but a 6 mag change is a bit steep by anyone’s standards!  We are looking into this a bit deeper and have sent the data to an expert at the BAA.  Watch this space.  New discovery?  Quite possibly

Dean of Starizona is very much on the ball.  He just informed me that the problem I had last night was probably due to me putting the cog on the FeatherTouch the wrong way round.  I just went out to the observatory in the twilight and found that (as per usual) Dean was quite right!  I have now reversed the cog and it’s all systems go - thank you Dean!!!

 Looks like it may actually start off clear tonight, would do wouldn’t it with work tomorrow - but I must give this brilliant new system a trial if at all possible.  I’ll aim for a cluster in the Milky Way so I can keep to short subs and a short overall exposure time. I’m  now going to try and grab an hours kip.