M57 the Ring Nebula

I was playing getting 'Astro Tortilla' up and running (another software package for platesolving images) and was looking for something to image. Came up with the Ring nebula and took the following image

15 images @ 2 minutes each. ISO 800 with modified Canon 350d. 10 inch newtonian scope on a EQ6 mount, guided image.
Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker, with post processing in StarTools V3.

A couple solar attempts

I finally got a chance to play with my Lunt LS35T solar scope. I tried a couple different cameras before finally having some success with a Meade DSI IIc color imager. One of the images I changed to gray scale just to bring in more detail, the other I played with the colors to make the sun yellow/orange just for the 'effect'. Focus is the most difficult part as you are outside in the bright sunlight, trying to see the image on a computer screen. I will work on that a bit more the next time out as both of these are just a bit out of focus. I was still able to pull out a few of the prominences along with a bit of the granularity on the surface in both images. .001 exposure time on both.

Jupiter

I decided to give Jupiter a shot last night. With the scope setup I have, planets normally come out very small, and when you attempt to scale them up things get fuzzy and normally don't come out with much detail. However this one came out pretty good.

NGC281 The Pacman Nebula

I got the coma corrector dialed in and I'm now experimenting with Deep Sky Stacker. Very happy with the results so far.

from Wikipedia:
NGC 281 is an H II region in the constellation of Cassiopeia and part of the Perseus Spiral Arm. It includes the open cluster IC 1590, the multiple star HD 5005, and several Bok globules. Colloquially, NGC 281 is also known as the Pacman Nebula for its resemblance to the video game character.
The nebula was discovered in August 1883 by E. E. Barnard, who described it as "a large faint nebula, very diffuse." The multiple star HD 5005, also called , was discovered by S. W. Burnham. It consists of an 8th-magnitude primary with four companions at distances between 1.4 and 15.7 seconds of arc. There has been no appreciable change in this quintuple system since the first measurements were made in 1875.
The nebula is visible in amateur telescopes from dark sky locations.

Scope: Skywatcher 254N
Mount: Orion Atlas EQ-g
guided
exp: 15 @ 5min
camera: Canon 350d (modified)

M31 with new coma corrector

This was mostly an experiment image. I was testing my new GSO coma corrector and also decided to play with the Deep Sky Stacker software. I found both to work very well on this image.

Scope: SW254N
Mount: Atlas EQ-g
Guided
Camera: Canon 350d (modified)
12 each 2 min ISO 800 images
10 darks
20 flats
captured in Nebulosity 3
Stacked in DSS
Post processed in StarTools v3

Neptune

I was playing with some new tools the other night and wanted to take an image of something. However this was the same night as the 'blue moon' which was going to wipe out any Deep Sky stuff. So I spotted Neptune and snapped off 20 two minute images using ISO 800. I was also using a new tool while guiding so was looking for the image stability (no elongated stars.). Here's the result:

NGC6960 Witches Broom

I took a bit of extra time the other night to attempt the Western Veil nebula (NGC6960 aka The Witches Broom). 15 images @ 5 minutes each ISO 1600 using the Canon 350d (modified). The processing was a little tough because of the star in the middle of the nebula. I pretty happy with the end results however.

From Wikipedia:
The Western Veil (also known as Caldwell 34), consisting of NGC 6960 (the "Witch's Broom", "Finger of God",^[5] or "Filamentary Nebula"^[5]) near the foreground star 52 Cygni;

I finally completed my Messier 110 photo project. All 110 are imaged and cataloged. Here's a link to the webpage with the information and images.

http://www.webewebbiers.com/Astronomy%20images/M110.htm

M101 (the Pinwheel galaxy)

I did some 'clean up' of the blocking filter of my Canon 350d yesterday. This required the complete dis-assembly of the camera (again) to be able to remove and clean the filter. The flat frames I had been using were really bad (a lot of dust bunnies!). So this is my first attempt with the cleaned filter.

SW 254N, Atlas EQ-g, guided, 18 each 5 min. images. ISO 1600. Canon 350d modified, pre-processed in Nebulosity 3, post processed in Startools v1.2.

IC405 Flaming Star Nebula

I captured this image during a full moon. Fortunately the moon was in the other side of the sky!

equipment used: SW254N, Atlas EQ-g, Canon 350d (modified), guided, 18 each 3 minute images.

from Wikipedia:

IC 405 (also known as the Flaming Star Nebula, SH 2-229, or Caldwell 31) is an emission/reflection nebula^[1] in the constellation Auriga, surrounding the bluish star AE Aurigae. It shines at magnitude +6.0. Its celestial coordinates are RA 05^h 16.2^m dec +34° 28′.^[2] It surrounds the irregular variable star AE Aurigae and is located near the emission nebula IC 410, the open clusters M38 and M36, and the naked-eye K-class star Hassaleh. The nebula measures approximately 37.0' x 19.0', and lies about 1,500 light-years away.^[2] It is believed that the proper motion of the central star can be traced back to the Orion's Belt area.^[2] The nebula is about 5 light-years across.^[1]

IC410

A faint, dusty rose of the northern sky, emission nebula IC 410 lies about 12,000 light-years away in the constellation Auriga. The cloud of glowing hydrogen gas is over 100 light-years across, sculpted by stellar winds and radiation from embedded open star cluster NGC 1893. Formed in the interstellar cloud a mere 4 million years ago, bright cluster stars are seen just below the prominent dark dust cloud near picture center.

SW254N / EQ-g / Canon 350d (mod) / 21exp 4mins / pre processed in Nebulosity 3, post processed in StarTools V1.2. 

The Leo Trio

I was finally able to capture the Leo Trio last night. I used Startools v1.2 to do the post processing and Nebulosity 3 for the pre processing. I'm very happy with the results. 20 exposures, 2 minutes each. SW254N, Atlas EQ6g. Canon 350d (modified) guided.

(from Wikipedia:)
The Leo Triplet (also known as the M66 Group) is a small group of galaxies about 35 million light-years away^[5] in the constellation Leo. This galaxy group consists of the spiral galaxies M65, the M66, and the NGC 3628.

StarTools v1.2

I've been playing with a new image post-processing program that I was introduced to on AstronomyForum.net. It's called StarTools http://startools.org/drupal/ and so far I have found it to be a great, fast to learn and very powerful image processing program. Since it has been raining here most of this week, I have gone back and played with a few of my images just to give it a test drive. (M20 Trifid Nebula)

M45 with new Atlas EQ-G mount

My old EQ5 mount died back in November and I finally acquired the new Orion Atlas EQ-G late last week. I spent a few days fabricating a plate to adapt the new mount to my pier and got everything up and running. Last night was my first attempt at using the new mount for imaging. I am very happy with the results! (SW254N, Atlas EQ-g, (guided), Canon xt (modified), 15 x 3 minutes ISO800.

(from Wikipedia):
In astronomy, the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters (Messier object 45 or M45), is an open star cluster containing middle-aged hot B-type stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky. Pleiades has several meanings in different cultures and traditions.
The cluster is dominated by hot blue and extremely luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Dust that forms a faint reflection nebulosity around the brightest stars was thought at first to be left over from the formation of the cluster (hence the alternate name Maia Nebula after the star Maia), but is now known to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium that the stars are currently passing through. Astronomers estimate that the cluster will survive for about another 250 million years, after which it will disperse due to gravitational interactions with its galactic neighborhood.