Managed to get three hours worth of OIII data for the Rosette on Saturday 9th February – and Noel has just expertly added this into the earlier image.  The OIII has brought out some more fine detail in the core region.  This image has over 12 hours worth of RGB, H-alpha and now OIII data included.  Enjoy!

Tags: Sky 90, SXVF-M25C

The accompanying image is the Jellyfish nebula [IC443] and associated emission nebulosity [IC444] on the Gemini/Orion border.  Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Sky 90, SXVF-M25C

Just when you thought it couldn’t possibly get any better, Noel Carboni has now added the recently taken R72 data for M42 to our earlier H-alpha/RGB image.  Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Sky 90, SXVF-M25C

As you know I have recently started terrestrial imaging [photography] with a Canon 40D.  Whilst looking at all the accessories for the new camera I came across some interesting filters called R72 filters.  These filters only allow light of wavelength longer than 720 nm through, that is they are infrared filters and they block out all the shorter [visible] wavelengths. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Sky 90, SXVF-M25C

It’s been a while since our last image as we’re both busy trying to get Star Vistas camera-ready for our publishers by 1st April 2008.  However, Noel & I managed to free up some time to get this latest image to you, the massive emission nebula IC1396, containing the famous “elephant’s trunk” – in the constellation Cepheus: Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Sky 90, SXVF-M25C

Our deep wide-field M42 image made the cover of AstroPhoto Insight magazine.  Al Degutis did a great job on the printing for this one – thank you Al!

[singlepic id="146" w="150" h="200" mode="" float="" ] Tags: Sky 90, SXVF-M25C

For December, the imaging object of the Month could be any number of goodies in Orion or neighbouring Monoceros.  So it could be M42 the Great Nebula in Orion, or the nearby Horsehead region lying close to the brilliant belt star Alnitak. 

Moving eastwards towards Monoceros we have the Cone nebula and Christmas Tree cluster, and again nearby we have the fabulous Rosette nebula.  Any one of these remarkable deep-sky objects would make a suitable “Imaging Object of the Month” – but for this year I have chosen Caldwell 49 which is also known as the Rosette nebula, NGC2237, the Great Nebula in Monoceros, or Swift’s nebula.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Sky 90, SXVF-M25C

In the December 2007 issue of Practical Astronomer the Editor (Eddie Guscott) interviews Greg Parker about his imaging from the New Forest Observatory and his collaboration with Noel Carboni via the Internet.

This is a 6-page interview and makes the magazine worth purchasing   

Our thanks to Eddie and the rest of the team at Practical Astronomer for taking the time to interview us, it was a great experience.

The images below are the same as some of those in the article

[singlepic id="50" w="200" h="150" mode="" float="" ] [singlepic id="33" w="200" h="150" mode="" float="" ] Tags: Hyperstar, Sky 90, SXV-H9C, SXVF-M25C

We have a new image for you to enjoy!

This is the IC410/405 region in Auriga – the Flaming Star Nebula and Companion. 

To produce this image took around 16.5 hours:

• 5.5 hours of RGB in 750-second subs
• 6 hours of H-alpha in 20-minute subs
• 5 hours processing time

Tags: Sky 90, SXVF-M25C

Wow! We have had our image of the Holmes Comet selected for the Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD)!  Here is what they say about the image:

The photo above shows an emerald glow surrounding the nucleus of Comet Homes, as photographed on October 30 in the constellation of Perseus. It was taken from the New Forest Observatory in England. This peculiar comet suddenly increased in brightness from a magnitude 12 (telescopic target only) to a magnitude of almost 2 (easily visible with the unaided eye, even in urban areas). Astronomers believe it exploded as it moved away from the Sun, but if so, it’s not known exactly what triggered the explosion. At its brightest, Comet Holmes was almost as bright as the brightest stars in Perseus

We’ve posted about this before but I’ll repost the imaging data because Noel has produced a great result with this image:

The Sky 90 at f#4.5 with the SXVF-M25C one-shot colour camera was used to capture 130 subs at 1-minute per sub.  But the data was stacked in two different ways! 

Because the comet moves at a slightly different rate to the stars, one data set was stacked with the comet as the reference point (giving a stationary comet and trailing stars) and the other data set was stacked with reference to the stars (giving stationary stars and a blurred comet). 

The two data sets were then combined to give the stationary comet sitting in a stationary star field.

Tags: EPOD, Sky 90, SXVF-M25C