Weather Summary Jan 2017

The average temperature in Jan was 0.6°C and about 4°C lower than Jan 2016. On top of this Jan 2017 had 50% less rain and 10 days more air frost days then Jan 2016.

200 days to the Eclipse

On August 21, 2017, a total eclipse of the sun will be observed across big parts of the USA. See also this link

Moon, Venus and Mars at evening sky

Some clouds but still it was possible to see the moon, Venus and Mars low above the western horizon.

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...