New Forest Observatory ®

This week’s image is a real blast from the past! This is the Flaming Star nebula in Auriga taken with the original Hyperstar (no collimation or rotation adjusters) and a tiny little H9C OSC CCD. That really was a very powerful imaging combination.

This week we feature a very recent composite image of the Crescent nebula region in Cygnus. The data comprises 8 hours and 40-minutes total exposure time using UV/IR cut filters (for RGB data) and Optolong L-Enhance filters (for narrowband H-alpha and OIII data) on the 200mm lenses with the 2600MC Pro OSC CMOS cameras.

This week features a rare (for me) 4-framer with the 200mm lenses. This is the whole of the inner part of the constellation Lyra featuring Vega. This was taken using the M26C OSC CCDs and I would like to redo this one using the 2600MC Pro CMOS cameras. Trouble is I have a lot of new stuff already awaiting imaging on the 200mm array, so I’m not sure if I’m ever going to get around to redoing this one. I also need to redo the Butterfly Cluster with the Stargate in Cancer – but once again – redoing old stuff might be a luxury I can’t afford.

A recently acquired image is this week’s Picture of the Week. Today we feature the whole of the constellation Sagitta. This is a 2-frame mosaic using the Canon 200mm prime lenses and the 2600MC Pro OSC CMOS cameras on the MiniWASP array. Each frame comprises 5-hours of 10-minute subs, so the whole image is a 10-hour total exposure time. If at all possible I will try to get the third frame of this panorama (off to the right) which will contain the Coathanger cluster. Unfortunately our weather may mean this has to wait until next year.

Just seen, looking at this image today, that I posted this up as a Picture of the Week before I took that third frame containing the Coathanger cluster. Oh well I suppose that gives me the option of another Picture of the Week on the same region 🙂 

A blast from the past for this week’s Picture of the Week. Today we feature the Coma cluster of galaxies made famous by Fritz Zwicky who applied the virial theorem to star motions in these galaxies to deduce that there must be “Dark Matter” associated with these galaxies. He carried out this groundbreaking work way back in 1933.

This image is a very old original Hyperstar with tiny little H9C OSC CCD composition. I must return to this one as soon as possible and go as deep as possible with the Hyperstar IV and the 2600MC Pro CMOS camera. Hopefully I will get it Spring 2025.

This week we feature a VERY DEEP image of Tarazed and Barnard’s “E” (dark nebula) taken with the Sky90 array and SX M26C OSC CCDs. Many hours of 10 and 15-minute subs went into the creation of this image, certainly well in excess of 10-hours in total. This is one of those diminishing returns images so I don’t intend returning to this one again with the Sky90 array.

This week’s image is of what I think is the most beautiful open cluster in the sky. Not because of the cluster itself, but due to its surroundings. This is the magnificent Wild Duck Cluster, Messier 11, immersed in the awe-inspiring Scutum star cloud. This image was taken in a single evening years ago with the Sky90 and M26C OSC CCD. I have meant to go back to this one time and time again but have either forgotten or had bad weather over the best imaging weeks. I MUST get onto this again with the 200mm lenses and some nice deep 15-minute subs, but unfortunately I think I might be too late AGAIN this year. I will get it right as soon as I can!