Dumbell, Cigar, Triangulum, Orion, Pleiades and Moon Images

Posted on January 6, 2015 by kbrown928

Here is a collection of astronomical images captured by our member Simon Powell. (click each thumbnail for a larger version of the image)

All were taken using a Skywatcher 200PDS telescope on an HEQ5 Equatorial mount, with a Canon 70D DSLR at prime focus. The deep sky shots were stacked in Deep Sky Stacker with darks, bios shots and flats. Post processing was done with Photoshop.

Simon comments..

“Most of these were taken from central Maidstone, so light pollution is an issue, hence the Dumbell and Cigar have a lot of noise in the image. Now I’ve moved to Biddenden I’m hoping not to have that issue again!”

We welcome Simon to our area and our astronomical society!

Comet PANSTARRS Image 30th April

Posted on May 2, 2013 by kbrown928

Comet Panstarrs captured 30th April by G Caller

Image of comet PANSTARRS (C/2011 L4) captured by our member Graham Caller on 30th April 2013.

Graham comments:

I captured Panstarrs on 30th April as it was just above Cassiopeia. A tricky one to find.

This image comprises 6 x 6 min lights that have been stacked in DSS using the very useful ‘comet stacking’ option.

M101 Pinwheel Galaxy Image

Posted on March 11, 2013 by kbrown928

M101 Pinwheel Galaxy by Graham Caller (stacked final)

M101 Pinwheel Galaxy (single unstacked image)

Image of the Pinwheel Galaxy M101, by our member Graham Caller.

The two images above (the finished final stacked image together with a single unstacked sub-image), clearly demonstrate the power of stacking many images of the same object. Deep Sky Stacker software was used.

Graham comments:
The fruits of my labour over the last two evenings.
3.5 hours of photos with the best 3 hours stacked and processed.

M101 is 21 million light years from us. For perspective, Andromeda is 2.5 million light years away.

This was a tricky target as I couldn’t see it through the telescope and only just in a 1 mins exposure.

See attached example of a single frame and the finished stacked image. Perhaps display these side by side to demonstrate what can be achieved by stacking.