NGC2438 in M46

Observation of M46, an open starcluster 4480ly away together with NGC2438 a planetary nebula.

Moon Phase with Crater Labels 2017

Are you looking for detailed pictures of the moon? Want to know which craters are currently visible? When to observe Plato?

See this NASA website . Pictures and movies are easy to download.

M82 ASI224MC Improved Version

M82 was observed on Jan 21, 2017 and pictures are taken using ASI224MC on TAL200K. Manual stacking using CS4 with following coverage :

Layer 1 : 100%
Layer 2 : 50%
Layer 3 : 33%
Layer 4 : 17%
Layer 5 : 9%
Layer 6: 4%

Other coverage : 100, 50, 33, 25, 17, 14, 10, 7, 5 (credit Guido Gubbels)

Further editing using CS4, mainly with focus on the optimizing the histogram and using gradient tool. Credit by Guido Gubbels and e-book "Handleiding Astrofotografie" by  Geert Vandenbulcke from VVS Werkgroep Astrofotografie.

Galaxy M77

M77 is Galaxy at a distance of 47 million lightyears and 100.000 ly big. I did try to make a good picture of M77 but the exposure time was to low. Anyway the picture shows some detail and I can't wait untill a next time...

M82 ASI224MC

First time that I'm able to take a picture of M82. This galaxy is about 11,4 million lightyears away from us.
The picture was taken with my ASI224MC on TAL200K. In total 11 pictures taken each 30s exposure. Manual stacking and editing using CS4. The image is not that great but still comparable what textbooks describe.

Orion Nebula M42 with ASI224MC

Weather conditions were again very good yesterday evening. Humidity was below 90% and temperature around -6°C. Objective this evening was to experiment with longer exposures for the ASI224MC. I started with M42, the Orion Nebula and a exposure of 20s. In total 50 pictures are taken and stacked using Registax and edited using CS4. In comparison with earlier M42 pictures much more details show up with more "red" color.

Sunspots in pairs

So far this year, one out of two days we see sunspots. Last year we had 32 days without sunspots.
Currently we have three pairs of sunspots. Sunspots mostly show up as pairs. This is because one "spot" is where the magnetic fieds leaves the photosphere and the magnetic fields re-entries in the other one. By convention, north is when the magnetic fields leaves the photosphere and re-entry is south.

Picture was taken using my Dobson 12" with Baader Astrosolar ND5.

Waning crescent Venus 46%

The past weeks you could not miss Venus at the evening sky. Venus is currently very bright and is now less then 50% illuminated. When using a telescoop Venus shows up as a "lunar phase" and is currently waning crescent.
Conditions this evening were very good (temperature -5°C, huminidy 89%). Observations done using Dobson 12" with SE 9mm clearly showed the phase of Venus which is currently 0.46. Below picture was taken with TAL200K and ZWO ASI224MC using Registax and CS4 for editing.

Book 15 Million Degrees

I'm halfway reading a book titled 15 Million Degrees (english and a dutch translated version is also available) by Lucie Green.
If you want to understand how the sun "works" and this in the context of historical achievements ... this is your book. Once finished I will post a detailed review.

What a night

It's a very good night to observe the stars. With temperatures around -6°C and huminidy 85% we have a very good seeing aswell. After 3-star allignment my TAL 200K was set for taking pictures using ASI224MC. With the naked eye it was possible to observe M44, M36 and M37. Pictures taken of M42, M81, M79 and M97.

Capturing pictures was done using FireCapture and SharpCap2.8. I found out that no colors were taken when using FireCapture.

Picture taken using SharpCap 2.8 - Stacked with RegiStax6 - Edited by CS4

Making a new 12" solarfilter DIY

Last summer I made a solarfilter for my 10" telescoop. Today I made a new one for my 12" Dobson. I'm using AstroSolar Safety Film D5.0 made by Baader Planetarium.
A step by step approach to DIY is explained earlier and can be found on my blog here.

Astrophysics Course at Urania

Today I attended the first lesson of astrophysics. This new course is given by Urania in Antwerp each tuesday evening for the next 10 weeks.
The auditorium was full with about 40 people.
Astrophysics is about applying theoritical physics on astronomical problems.
 In this first lesson an introduction was given to mathematics describing linear algebra, complex numbers, trigonometry, calcalus, ...

Moon 41%

Moon is 41% and moderate seeing. Picture taken in prime focus with Nikon D60 on Dobson Orion XT12". Editing completed using CS4.

Very Cold Observation testing SE 9mm 100° Ar purched ocular

Clear sky and moderate seeing this evening and very cold with temperatures up to -8°C. 

Observations done using Dobson OrionXT12 and my new Ocular. This is a Scientific Explorer 9mm 100° wide angle, argon purched and waterproof consisting of 9 elements. It was bought directly from Bresser in Germany.

Observations done on M1, M35, M36, M37, M38, M42, M43, M81 and M82. Also the moon was with 41% a perfect object for testing. I'm very happy with my new ocular and the starclusters are showing up very bright and sharp. The 100° wide angle and field of view makes it necessary to have your eyes travel around to see all the details. Very good quality, good contract and bright immense view. The ocular was delivered safely in a nice big box  without any issue.

Moon 41% Afocal using iPhone 6 on SE 9mm 100° -  Dobson 12"

20.000 Visitors

Achieved  20.000 visitors ... thank you all for visiting my astropage http://orionxt12.blogspot.be/

Weather Summary for 2016

This is the overview and the Weather Summary for the entire year 2016.

Weather Summary December 2016

December 2016 was a very dry but rather cold month.

Happy New Year 2017

A Happy New Year 2017 with a lot of Astronomical Highlights.