Saturn November 17

Imaging Saturn on November 17, 2025 with ring tilt of 0,38°.

Editing was done using the newest version of AstroSurface W3.

Setting: TAL200K, ADC, Barlowx2, ASI715MC

Filter: IR/UV Cut

Software: SharpCap, AstroSurface, CS4, DeNoise AI, WinJupos.

Eros (433) with M31 & M110

Image of Asteroid Eros (433) with M31 & M110. 

Setting: TLAPO80/480 f/6 with flattener and ASI2600MC
Filter: Optolong L-Pro
Camera temperature: -20,7°C
Exposure time: 39x 57s,
Software: SharpCap, ASTAP, CS4, APP (Stellarium & Skysafari)

The flattener was used but with wrong distance: 93 instead of 123mm.

Asteroid EROS (433) my first blink!

Asteroid EROS (433) is almost in opposition and thus perfect for observation.  I had a clear sky with a tempurature of -4,2°C .

Setting: TLAPO80/480 f/6 with flattener and ASI2600MC

Filter: Optolong L-Pro

Camera temperature: -20,7°C

Exposure time: 39x 57s, 

Software: SharpCap, ASTAP, CS4, APP (Stellarium & Skysafari)

Difficulties: connection of mount with Sharpcap was not succesful except for moving the scope. But inaccurate use of goto function and platesolving. It even resulted in miscommunication with the mount. As a result I had to set the synscan back into factory setting. After 3h I was able to make my first image but then I figured out the camera hit the tripod. Once this was solved I made 40 images of which one polluted with an airplane. 

Making sure both Eros and M31 was on my picture, I used stellarium without success. This was resolved with Skysafari.

Sun with Sol'Ex November 8th

A clear sky and enough time for adjusting sharpness. Solution was found in getting the spectrum line in the middle of the space; I get sharpest images when both edges are sharp. Once this was done, I make sure the dustlines on the grating are well seen. 

Setting: TLAPO80/480 with Sol'Ex by James R. and ASI678MM

2nd Gen Slit and Herschel Wedge

Software: SharpCap, Inti V7.0.3, CS4, DeNoise AI

Tilt 0,09°; Sx/Sy 1,09

SSM3 with avg < 1,5arcs whole morning

Saturn with new ASI715MC Camera

First time this year capturing Saturn. The tilt of the rings are almost zero with 0,45°, a Saturn with edge on rings is not the Saturn we typically know from the books. But still interesting view.

I used my new camera ASI715MC with small pixels. I forget to keep an eye on the whitebalance on sharpcap. I made image both with and without IR/UC cut filter.

Compared with my ASI224MC

Setting is same as previous year; it was difficult to get blue/red out even when using my ADC.

ASTAP Video Youtube

Some interesting Youtube video on ASTAP (Astrometric Stacking Program).
See this link: https://www.youtube.com/@hank3327/videos

Red Rainbow 4734 likes on Facebook

 

A total of 4734 likes of my red rainbow. Beside this, 244 remarks and 52 times shared with others. Never thought a rainbow would be some much liked.

Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) Nov 2 and ASTAP

November 2nd, 2025, both transparancy and seeing bad. So, no good images of Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon). Images stacked using APP and ASTAP. ASTAP was used to identify some object like Messier M10 & M12 aswell as two Asteroids. 

Setting: Nikon D7500 on Skywatchter Star Adventurer 2i

Software : APP, ASTAP, CS4 and DeNoise AI

Comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon

Open sky but a lot of dew resulting in moderate images of Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon).

Using ASTAP, area magnitude is 5,4... cool!

ASTAP - Astrometric Stacking Program

I'm working my next challenge: making a light curve of a variable star. I was reading an article in magazine Heelal (November 2025 - Review Dwarf3 by Dmonique Dierckx) which explained the making of a curve using the Dwarf3 and ASTAP. So I went searching for more information on this software.

Downlaoding ASTAP was done via this link https://www.hnsky.org/astap.htm

I also downloading the following databases : D80 and V50

ASTAP, Astrometric Stacking Program, is able to stack images; so far I was only able to do this with Fits files. On top of this, it makes annotations, deepsky, asteroids, comets and variable stars.

There is a section Photometry, which calculates the magnitude and compares those with the database. Using color images, ASTAP can extract the green channel which makes values more accurate. 

When analysing the image with M51, two variable stars showed up. I let the software extract the green channel and measuring the magnitude. This data was copied into excel making the curve.