Saturday, December 24, 2016

Eta Carinae(Key Hole) Nebula 22nd December Wide Field Mosaic


I have wanted for some time now to produce a wider field image of the Eta Carinae Nebula that included some of the peripheral nebulosity, often left out of standard portraits, and also include the nearby Gem Cluster(top left).

Acquired this image using my trusty old modified Canon 450D, SWED80 Refractor Telescope on my just as'old and trusty' SWEQ6 German Equatorial Mount.

The image consists of 30 images (thats 6 seperate stacks of 5 x 2 minute exposures all reconstructed and stacked in Nebulosity and then assembled as one image in Photoshop.  

Then back to Nebulosity for initial stretching and digital enhancement of the colour and spatial details.

Then back the Photoshop for brightness and contrast adjustment, colour levels (RGB) enhanced along with some specific masking that allowed me to enhance the central red nebulosity without over brightening and adding in noise in the surrounding star field.

Thursday, December 8, 2016

Clarenden 3rd December 2016

Took these shots with a Canon 760D  with a Vixen Polaire tracking the sky.   Generally each astrophoto is 10 x 1 minute exposures then combined with some processing in Nebulosity and then a few final tweeks in Photoshop.

Crab Nebula and nearby Star Cluster

Southern Cross.


Southern Cross and the dark Coalsack Nebula.


The Hyades with the red giant star Aldabaran in Taurus,


The 'Iron Pot' of Orion featuring the great orion nebula top centre right and the Horsehead and Star burst nebulae bottom centre right.


The Small Magellanic Cloud with two Globular clusters, 47 Tucanae centre right and the smaller NGC362 just above left of centre.





Below is the Constellation of Carina featuring the massive Eta Carinae 'Keyhole' nebula and surounding star clusters.  The faint red nebula just rigt of and above centre is part of the fainter  Running Chicken Nebula.







Waddamana, Tasmania, 25th 26th November 2016

















Saturday, October 29, 2016

NGC6193/6188 taken 28th October 2016

10 x 5 Minute frames(50 minutes total) Canon 450D, Skywatcher ED80, Stacked and Processed Nebulosity and tweeked in Canon DPP..  NGC 6193/6188 taken 28th October 2016 combined star cluster centre of frame.

NGC6193/6188 taken 28th October 2016

10 x 5 Minute frames(50 minutes total) Canon 450D, Skywatcher ED80, Stacked and Processed Nebulosity and tweeked in Canon DPP..  NGC 6193/6188 taken 28th October 2016 combined star cluster centre of frame.

NGC 6193/6188 taken 26th October 2016

9 x 2 Minute frames Canon 450D, Skywatcher ED80, Stacked and Processed Nebulosity and tweeked in Canon DPP..  NGC 6193/6188 taken 26th October 2016 combined star cluster and nebula bottom left of frame.

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

The Southern End of the Milky Way Rising early morning 12th September 2016 Stills and Timelapse

 This shot appears to have a satellite or meteor? trail in the top left.  The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds top right,


Just before dawn

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Saturday, September 3, 2016

Sagittarius Friday 2nd September 2016

Sagittarius Pic with Vixen Polaire Tracker, 760D and 50mm lense. multiple 30 second shots stacked, stretched etc!.


Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Saturn, Lagoon and Trifid Nebulae 22nd August 2016


DBK21 Imaging Source Camera, 6 Inch Skywatcher Matsukov and 5X Televue Powermate.  1000 frames taken at 15 FPS, processed in Registax.

Modified Canon 450D,6 Inch Skywatcher Matsukov,Eyepiece Camera Projection Adaptor(Prime Focus)   5x2min exposures stacked and processed in Nebulosity and some tweeking in Canon DDP.


Modified Canon 450D,6 Inch Skywatcher Matsukov,Eyepiece Camera Projection Adaptor(Prime Focus)   5x2min exposures stacked and processed in Nebulosity and some tweeking in Canon DDP.

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