Astro season quickly passed away! SH2-129

I was too busy travelling since the start of the year that I had no time to do serious imaging. My list of objects-to-image hardly gets read. The scope and camera were not removed from their cases, batteries were drained, and dust accumulated on the mount. Until last week. . . The sight of Polaris peeking through the clouds gave me enough enthusiasm to set up my gears and waited for Cepheus to rise up in the northern sky. Whew!.. I almost never remembered how to do the usual set-up after in hiatus for half-year. Eventually, things worked out and the sky cleared up long enough for me to accumulate a couple of hours worth of images in hydrogen-alpha. Can't wait for the next season to get the color data!

5th AAPOD! - Elephant's Trunk Nebula Widefield

This image was taken in Caliraya last year. I was with my family and friends and had a great time. Wish I can go back again and enjoy the night view. And fishing. . .

Thanks for the heavy traffic! (M31 Andromeda Galaxy)

Talk about being a hardcore. We almost gave up our astroimaging trip to Boso-boso last Saturday. We encountered heavy downpour on our way to the hills, causing us to turn-back and stop at a gasoline station to wait for the rain to subside. Rain stopped, and we were about to head home when I realized of the heavy traffic snarl waiting for us on the way back. Then, luck of all the luck, we started seeing the blue sky desperately peeking out from heavy clouds. I reckoned that we will just be stucked for hours in traffic if we go back home or we might as well try proceeding to the site and who knows, we might have few lucky breaks. The sky at the site was not good when we arrived. So, we decided to wait until 9 pm and then we can go home. But, indeed the sky started clearing up at around 7 pm so we hurriedly had our dinner and set-up the gears. My target, M31 galaxy was already past meridian but I imaged it anyway. The sky permitted me to take only a measly 60 minutes of luminance subs. The color subs would have to be taken next time (year). Next was Simeis 147. I managed to get only 90 minutes of H-alpha subs before the sky closed. On the way home, I kept thinking of what it could have been if there was no traffic going to the site. Well, for sure, I could have not imaged this wonderful galaxy!

AAPOD2 4th time!

When it rains, it pours! My Crescent Nebula image taken at home was chosen as AAPOD for November 16, 2014. This is my fourth AAPOD image. Hope that this will not be the last. Modesty aside, I take enormous pride when my images are recognized by an international amateur astronomy organization. It somehow takes away the tiredness and expenses associated with astro imaging. Thus, a nice self-reward is in order. Now, where is the best ice-blended mocha coffee . . .

http://www.aapodx2.com/2014/20141116.html

Amateur Astronomy Picture of the Day (AAPOD)

I was pleasantly surprised that my Veil Nebula Complex was chosen as the AAPOD on 03 August 2014!
http://aapodx2.com/2014/20140803.html

Veil Nebula complex in Cygnus

I hate clear nights! Last week was a string of clear early dawns. I had to get out of bed very early in the mornings to set-up my gears. And in the process, waking up the dog and getting his irritated stare. My lower legs became a landing strip for mosquitoes and no amount of shaking diminished their zeal. And for what? A couple of hours each night acquiring data for this image. Its not even photogenic! But every time I look at the Cygnus constellation, I find my eyes transfixed at the area where this object is. So, I had to do it. My astro friends will hate me if they found out that I prayed for cloudy nights for this week! Its a full moon anyway . .

Technical details: 2.5 hours of H-alpha @ 10 mins per sub, 1 hour of OIII data @ 10 mins. per sub, STF8300M camera & EF200 F2.8 lens. Additional 1 hour of color from 400D DSLR @ 3 mins per sub. Bicolor (clipping masks) processed using H-alpha and OIII data. Star colors overlayed using DSLR data.

NGC 6888 The Crescent Nebula Widefield

Last week for three early dawns, I forced myself out of bed to gather data for this image of NGC 6888, popularly known as the Crescent Nebula. I attempted to frame the image with emission nebulosity at the bottom to represent an open palm seemingly catching a falling object.  The intricate folds and filaments of the Crescent respond well to the H-alpha filter while the bluish shroud covering the nebula is highlighted by using an OIII narrowband filter.

Technical details: Exposures made with H-alpha filter of 90 minutes, OIII filter of 90 minutes using STF-8300M camera. Color exposures of 60 minutes using Canon 400D DSLR. Acquisition software: Nebulosity; Processed in IRIS; Post-processing in PS CS2. I had a challenging  time processing this image as it was my first time to deal with OIII combined with H-alpha data. All data taken at my place in Taguig City.