Venus-Jupiter Conjuction

The Venus-Jupiter Conjunction on March 1, 2023

Setting: Nikon D7500 24mmf/4.5 ISO400 4s

Software: Acrobat DNG converter, CS4

400 Days to go

Exactly 400 days to go.... On April 8, 2024 the next Total Solar Eclipse in the US will be visible.

M81 and Holmberg IX

Galaxy M81 (Bode's Galaxy) is located in constellation Ursa Major and about 11,8 million lightyears away from Earth. Next to M81 we see it's satellite galaxy, Holmberg IX (UGC5336), a dwarf galaxy. 

Setting: TAL200K f/8.5, ASI2600MC, Guiding ASI224MC with 50/240mm on EQ8R

Lights: 25x300s, darks, bias, flats, darkflats

Software: ASIair Plus, APP, CS4, DeNoise AI

M81 and M82 Reworked

I reworked my pictures of M81 and M82.

 

M81 and M82

Galaxy's M81 and M82

Setting: 

TAL200K f/8.5, ASI2600MC, ASI224MC guidingscope 50/240

Lights: 40x300s(M81), 10x300s(M82), darks, bias, flats

Software: ASIair Plus, APP, CS4, DeNoise AI

First light with ASIair plus - M81 Bode's Galaxy

A couple of weeks ago I bought a second hand ASIair Plus. The idea is to have two set ups for my telescopes: one telescope equiped with PC (N.I.N.A.), the other with ASIair Plus.
Having two skywatcher mounts and all camera's from ZWO, the purchase of an ASIair Plus is a good alternative in stead of an extra PC.

I installed the ASIair Plus on my TAL200K f/8.5 telescope. The main camera and guiding camera was connected using USB A 3.0 cables. After powering, connection was made with my mini Ipad. In order to make connection, the wifi should be swithed to ASIair signal. Then open the ASIair app. There are numerous youtube video's how to start using the ASIair Plus. Below some learnings using the ASIair Plus with a skywactcher EQ8-R mount.

- polar allignment and 3-star allignment was done without connection of the mount to the ASIair plus.

- allignment was done using the maincamera which was connected to ASIair Plus (experiment with the exposure time)

- once allignment completed, I connect the synscan of the mount via a USB B cable to USB A 2.0 port of the ASIair Plus.

- polar allignment was redone; take first a picture and plate solve before running the PA - polar allignment.

- to find an object, just select the target and through imaging and plate solving, the object is set in FOV.

- same with guiding, connect the camera and calibration starts automatically; guiding is done using multistar guiding. 

- autorun set up was used to make the pictures.

- afterwards bias, darks and flats were made using the autorun. Pictures are saved under the folders on the e-MMC 

- I used a 32Gb micro SD card to copy the images and to transfer them to my PC. 

- I disconnect the USB A2.0 - USB B cable between ASIair Plus and syncscan when I finishing my imaging session and to park the telescope. Keeping the cable on and choosing the park function in ASIair Plus did not gave the proper coordinates

- so far, no experience with meridian flip, live stacking and planning function. Also no experience with autofocus.

- connection inside the house was lost a couple of times but the session kept running. 

Conclusion:

Connection with camera's went well, guiding was done properly, finding the object through plate solving was fantastic (first time experience). I made 24 pictures (24x300s) on day 1 and 20 more on day two. Transfer via micro SD card was easy. 

Result:

M81, Bode's Galaxy

TAL200K f/8.5, ASI2600MC, ASI224MC on 50x240 guiding scope with EQ8-R

Lights: 40x300s, darks, bias and flats

Software: ASIair plus, APP, CS4, DeNoise AI

Comet C/2022 E3(ZTF) on Valentines Day

 

Picture of Comet C/2022 E3(ZTF) on Valentine day. The comet was "near" star Aldebaran in constellation Taurus. The comet's coma is green and the two tails can be seen. Upwards, the plasma tail and to the right the dust tail. 

Setting: TLAPO80/480 f/6 with ASI2600MC

Lights:60x60s, darks, bias, flats and darkflats

Software: Sharpcap 4, Stellarium (v0.22), N.I.N.A., APP, CS4, Starnet++, DeNoise AI

Getting both the comet as the backgroudn stars sharp : 

What's needed, or at least, what I used :

    - AstroPixelProcessor (APP)

    - Starnet ++

    - Photoshop

1) APP

    a) Stack images of the comet using registration mode "Comet/one star" (Picture 1)

    b) Redo integration with "MAD" setting (Picture 2)

    c) Redo stacking using registration mode "normal" and restart integration (Picture 3)

2) Starnet++

    a) Remove stars using Starnet++ of Picture 3 (Picture 4)

3) Photoshop

    a) Load Picture 3 and Picture 4 and "layer" them together

    b) Use "Image", "Use Image" and substracted (Picture 5)

    c) Load Picture 2 and layer Picture 5

    d) Use "Layer", "Layer Style" and linear blending (Picture 6)

Edit Picture 6 as a end result.