#BackyardAstronomy

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leeceHello folks, it's been a little while so lets get some sky happening down here in <a href="https://aus.social/tags/PerthWesternAustralia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#PerthWesternAustralia</a> I've been enjoying my Dwarf3 telescope, so let me share with you the unicorn's nostril (true, you look at Monoceras and that's where it is!), the Rosette Nebula, or Caldwell 49.We also have IC 2944 another great Nebula, but one I'm in extreme doubt about its popular name to the extent that I'm going to use my own name for it, so let me introduce you to the Rising Phoenix Nebula. If you want to use the other name that's fine but lalalalala I can't hear you.Both those images are straight out of camera. I think at least 400 frames but I'd have to check my records as it was a week or two ago.The next subject is a bit small, I've cropped it a bit to make up for it somewhat. It's NGC 2997, a spiral galaxy in Antlia the Bellows. Why have I bothered given that I like an apparent size of 20 or so minutes, and this doesn't even get to 10? Well, it's one of these rare, to my view, straight on spiral galaxies, it's not edge on, so it gets a pass. And this got a good couple of hours last night, and turned out really well, I dickered a little with Snapseed. We had some rain, and wow, the sky was very clean and clear, and this object shows it. I really want to do a longer exposure, even if it's little.And the last one is one that did get that longer treatment - it's the notorious Centaurus A, commonly known as the Hamburger Galaxy. I left this one on the roof overnight preprogrammed for a good few hours and this comes to you also from straight out of camera. It really is a peculiar galaxy, and sports a couple of supernovae and a dust cloud that gives it that split look.<a href="https://aus.social/tags/astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#astronomy</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/BackYardAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BackYardAstronomy</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/SouthernHemisphereAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#SouthernHemisphereAstronomy</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DrivewayAstrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#DrivewayAstrophotography</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DwarfIII" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#DwarfIII</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DwarfLab" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#DwarfLab</a>

Dark Corax<a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/Jupiter?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Jupiter</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/galileanmoons?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#galileanmoons</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/backyardastronomy?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#backyardastronomy</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/astrophotography?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#astrophotography</a>

Dark Corax<a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/luna?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#luna</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/castellettoinferiore?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#castellettoinferiore</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/dolomitidibrenta?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#dolomitidibrenta</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/backyardastronomy?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#backyardastronomy</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.social/discover/tags/astrophotography?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#astrophotography</a> [continue: <a href="https://pixelfed.social/p/DarkCorax/764040029176432011" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://pixelfed.social/p/DarkCorax/764040029176432011</a>]

Shaula WalkoOne of my favorite sky scenes, Venus next to the crescent moon. Edited to add hashtags. <a href="https://sfba.social/tags/BackYardAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BackYardAstronomy</a> <a href="https://sfba.social/tags/CrescentMoon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#CrescentMoon</a> <a href="https://sfba.social/tags/Venus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Venus</a>

Valla Efferallas :therian:I want to post this picture of the moon. It was taken on a cellphone camera lined up with a 26mm plossl eyepeice on a 10 inch [256mm] dobsonian reflector. Those eyepeices are beautifully stunning to put your eyeball onto. Its not the best picture, nor do I have a CCD. I like to just look, for hours sometimes. But heres my first picture through it. I may try to sketch the craters and draw a lunar map by hand. <a href="https://furry.engineer/tags/backyardastronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#backyardastronomy</a> <a href="https://furry.engineer/tags/astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#astronomy</a> <a href="https://furry.engineer/tags/moon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#moon</a>

Kessler RebellionPeople of Earth— Grab your keyboards!Hold SpaceX accountable by submitting a comment to the FAA on SpaceX’s plan for more Starship/Super Heavy launches from Boca Chica, Texas. (You can comment anonymously. Even non-U.S. citizens!)Simple directions here: <a href="https://www.kesslerrebellion.com/take-action" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://www.kesslerrebellion.com/take-action</a>This takes just a few minutes, but can make a huge difference🔭 <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/spacejunk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#spacejunk</a> <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#astronomy</a> <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/BackYardAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BackYardAstronomy</a> <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/environment" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#environment</a> <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/space" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#space</a>

leeceThis is the Eagle Nebula which I've just learned is sometimes called the Star Queen Nebula. For Messier enthusiasts it is M16. I took this at home, a few hundred frames.Did you know that it's this nebula contains the famous Pillars of Creation which awes everyone who sees the Hubble Space Telescope images of them? They're basically under the eagle's right wingpit, but of course my telescope isn't the Hubble, I'm just grateful for what it can do for me.Look at the Pillars of Creation folks, there's limited time - they were apparently destroyed 6000 years ago by a supernova, and in a thousand years we will no longer see them. But not so much with my telescope.<a href="https://aus.social/tags/astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#astronomy</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Astrodon</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/astrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#astrophotography</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DrivewayAstrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#DrivewayAstrophotography</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/SouthernHemisphereAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#SouthernHemisphereAstronomy</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/BackYardAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BackYardAstronomy</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DwarfII" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#DwarfII</a>

Real_JamesCain<a href="https://techhub.social/tags/Photography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Photography</a> <a href="https://techhub.social/tags/AstroPhotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#AstroPhotography</a> <a href="https://techhub.social/tags/M5" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#M5</a> <a href="https://techhub.social/tags/GlobularCluster" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#GlobularCluster</a> <a href="https://techhub.social/tags/Stars" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Stars</a> <a href="https://techhub.social/tags/StarPhotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#StarPhotography</a> <a href="https://techhub.social/tags/BackyardAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BackyardAstronomy</a>

Real_JamesCainBest astrophotograph I’ve taken so far. <a href="https://techhub.social/tags/Photography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Photography</a> <a href="https://techhub.social/tags/AstroPhotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#AstroPhotography</a> <a href="https://techhub.social/tags/M16" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#M16</a> <a href="https://techhub.social/tags/EagleNebula" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EagleNebula</a> <a href="https://techhub.social/tags/PillarsOfCreation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#PillarsOfCreation</a> <a href="https://techhub.social/tags/Stars" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Stars</a> <a href="https://techhub.social/tags/StarPhotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#StarPhotography</a> <a href="https://techhub.social/tags/BackyardAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BackyardAstronomy</a>

Kessler RebellionYou can also show the over-saturation of commercial satellites to others with <a href="https://botsin.space/@hannorein" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@hannorein</a>’s site! Check it out:<a href="http://megaconstellations.hanno-rein.de/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">http://megaconstellations.hanno-rein.de/</a>Send this link to your family, friends, congressperson, or senator!🔭<a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/megaconstellation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#megaconstellation</a> <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/megaconstellations" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#megaconstellations</a> <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#astronomy</a> <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/BackYardAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BackYardAstronomy</a> <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/scicomm" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#scicomm</a>

Kessler RebellionHey Scientists and Science Fans— Check out the “Constellations” app by <a href="https://botsin.space/@hannorein" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@hannorein</a> !It’s a great visualization tool for showing the over-saturation of commercial satellites, and it’s available for iPhone, iPad, and Mac.Keep it handy so you can show your family, friends, congressperson, or senator!<a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mega-constellations/id1598820453" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mega-constellations/id1598820453</a>🔭<a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/megaconstellation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#megaconstellation</a> <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/megaconstellations" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#megaconstellations</a> <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#astronomy</a> <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/BackYardAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BackYardAstronomy</a> <a href="https://fediscience.org/tags/scicomm" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#scicomm</a>

leeceIf you go clicky, you can see it biggerer.So, on Tuesday night we had clear skies. Rob and I were still pretty knocked around by Covid at that stage, so it was the put on the roof and retreat to the warmth and watch Van der Valk technique.So here we see beneath the burning glare of Antares, on the top right and half cut off - a swirling mix of dust, gas and nebulae. It's a pretty bit of sky and again I spent a good 7 or 8 hundred frames on it, a few hours at 15 second shutter speed and gain 80. There's a couple of Nebula in there, IC4605 - my actual target and bonus IC4606. Check out the dark I don't know, maybe dust clouds to the left. They look more Horsehead Nebula than the Horsehead Nebula does.I'd tried to capture this region before but hadn't had much success, so I was really pleased with this. I spent some time thoughtfully in both Snapseed and Google Photos bringing up the colours and de-noising it.I recommend viewing this to Kim Boekbinder's Stellar Alchemist <a href="https://kimboekbinder.bandcamp.com/track/stellar-alchemist-2" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://kimboekbinder.bandcamp.com/track/stellar-alchemist-2</a> Hmm actually I recommend viewing most celestial phenomena to Kim Boekbinder's Stellar Alchemist.<a href="https://aus.social/tags/DwarfII" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#DwarfII</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#astronomy</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Astrodon</a> #<a href="https://aus.social/tags/BackYardAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BackYardAstronomy</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DrivewayAstrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#DrivewayAstrophotography</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/SouthernHemisphereAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#SouthernHemisphereAstronomy</a>

leeceLast night wasn't the best night for people recovering from Covid 19 to do astrophotography.Usually we park the scopes in the driveway and hover nearby in case they attract the wrong kind of attention, huddling on the patio. This wouldn't be good for our recovering lungs. But a clear night, and the stars beckoning!But I had previously asked <a href="https://aus.social/@rdm" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@rdm</a> if he could design a platform for them to sit on, on the patio roof, which is angled. We can sit very close by in the gaming room, and it's literally just outside the door, and out of the sight of the road. And of course, 'they never look up' Anyone wanting to interfere with them would be noticed right away.The view from the roof has a good look at the Eastern horizon.So I fired off this little Lagoon Nebula beauty last night while we stayed in the warm and watched videos. It's the longest exposure I've ever taken to date, over 800 frames (15 second exposure). And it was basically, step out the door, put the telescope on the wedge Rob designed and tell the telescope what I wanted to photograph. New Star Atlas is really swish in the Dwarfii.A little tinkered with in Snapseed and Google Photos.Clicky to see it bigger.<a href="https://aus.social/tags/astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#astronomy</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/astrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#astrophotography</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Astrodon</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Messier8" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Messier8</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/SouthernHemisphereAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#SouthernHemisphereAstronomy</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DrivewayAstrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#DrivewayAstrophotography</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/BackYardAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BackYardAstronomy</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DwarfII" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#DwarfII</a>

leeceHere's one I took a few days ago, in pursuit of my promise to have a look at open clusters for you good folks.Welcome to the beautiful sight of Messier Object 6, which is also known as The Butterfly Cluster. It's a pretty little open cluster and even in this photo which didn't get as much time as I would have liked you can still see that some of the stars in it (it's the patch of stars in the middle) are not like the others. Got some orange supergiants in there amongst the hot blue ones.Ok that's enough from me, Covid finally caught up with me and I'm out of witty repartee.<a href="https://aus.social/tags/astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#astronomy</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/astrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#astrophotography</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Astrodon</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DwarfII" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#DwarfII</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/SouthernHemisphereastronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#SouthernHemisphereastronomy</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DrivewayAstrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#DrivewayAstrophotography</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/BackyardAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BackyardAstronomy</a>

leeceSo once I'd given up on Messier 4 I moved to Messier 5, another globular cluster. Again not my favourite astronomical object, but it could be done quickly, and here it is without much enhancement, and the composition turned out pretty nicely, there's some interesting stuff there.It was a lot further away from that naughty (almost) full moon.<a href="https://aus.social/tags/Messier5" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Messier5</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#astronomy</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/astrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#astrophotography</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/BackYardAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BackYardAstronomy</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DrivewayAstrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#DrivewayAstrophotography</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/SouthernHemisphereAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#SouthernHemisphereAstronomy</a>

leecePretty all of last week was cloudy, but there were a couple of gaps - admittedly the Moon was pretty full, so there's some moon beamedness, but hey, at least the skies were clear for a little while.Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS was clear despite the moonbeams. Took this with the <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Dwarfii" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Dwarfii</a> and edited it a bit in Google photos. I think the tail's a bit longer.<a href="https://aus.social/tags/Comet" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Comet</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#astronomy</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/astrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#astrophotography</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/BackYardAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BackYardAstronomy</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DrivewayAstrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#DrivewayAstrophotography</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/SouthernHemisphereAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#SouthernHemisphereAstronomy</a>

leeceI'm highly amused! This morning we were going to watch Eurovision live, which is way early our time in Australia. So we sat down and worked out what would be good to photograph in the sky beforehand, as we're not usually up at 3am or so. The Lagoon Nebula is tempting at that time this time of year so I made a note that would be my target because I'd be too bleary to think of such things at the time. So on May 8, entirely coincidentally, I photographed M8. - Messier 8. Maaaaaaaate!Turned out very pretty, to my eye, with just a little tweaking in Google Photos. There was quite a bit of colour in it before tweaking. It's about 400 frames, the gain was 80 and the exposure was 15 seconds. It took a few hours, stacked in the <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DwarfII" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#DwarfII</a>.The air seemed pretty clear, and despite our neighbour having rigged their security light to go off for most passing cars now, was sheltered enough to not be much affected, as far as I can tell.Much earlier, and before our pre show nap, Comet Pons-Brooks also had a cloud free photo shoot. I'll post some of them later. <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Astrodon</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DrivewayAstrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#DrivewayAstrophotography</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/SouthernHemisphereAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#SouthernHemisphereAstronomy</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Astrophotography</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Astronomy</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/BackYardAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BackYardAstronomy</a>

leeceLast night after our RuneQuest game had adjourned, <a href="https://aus.social/@rdm" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@rdm</a> and I bid farewell to <a href="https://aus.social/@Steveg58" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@Steveg58</a>. One of our fellow rpgers joined us for a while to take in the sky, as there was a clear sky that looked like it'd hold up for a couple of hours at least. So while <a href="https://aus.social/@rdm" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@rdm</a> settled in to focus on Markarian's Chain, I did my usual 224 stack of NGC3621 and its ongoing SN 2024ggi. That takes about an hours, and seeing as it was Friday night and nothing was super pressing for us for Saturday morning, I decided I had time for another target. So I tried for 300 frames of Messier 83 - aka Southern Pinwheel Galaxy as it was hanging around looking pretty, as it does.Unfortunately at around 200 frames up crept the cloud but even at 200 it turned out pretty nice. I think it's the first time I've shot it at this many frames.I've not done much with the images, a little cropping is all.<a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Astrodon</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/astrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#astrophotography</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/SouthernHemisphereAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#SouthernHemisphereAstronomy</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DrivewayAstrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#DrivewayAstrophotography</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/BackYardAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BackYardAstronomy</a>

leeceSo, I bet you're all wondering whether the stars were right for me yesterday - or rather were the clouds right? So last night I wandered out onto the driveway after dinner and looked West, and there was a definite band of cloud smudging there. But it seemed thin, and there were gaps, so I said, oh well, let's go down there [personal profile] rdm and give it a burl.So like any astrophotographer seduced by what I'm told is called a Sucker Hole (that gap in the clouds just big enough to get you to get all your gear out that then closes up on you just when you're ready) we drove on down to Brighton Beach where there's a grassy sward, and close parking.And there was cloud, but only close to the horizon. We couldn't see Comet Pons Brooks with the naked eye, but the DwarfII's were picking it up just fine once we got them calibrated. The wind was making things tricky, and I was sweating bullets for a few minutes as the calibration needed a couple of goes.But I got a few shots! I'm so pleased, I didn't want to have to do this all again 71 years from now.Check it out! There's some satellites or space junk photobombing here and there. These photos aren't cropped or have had any work. The comet is apparently about 1/4 the size of the moon in apparent size - but I had difficulty spotting it with the binoculars, car lights behind me and watering eyes. This is why I really appreciate the Dwarfii. I'll have to try again, because I would like to see it. Don't think it'll happen until perhaps the weekend when the rain is said to perhaps stop for a bit. But we'll see.Later when I tried to get my usual shot of SN 2024ggi the stacking was really playing up so only about half of the 224 frames stacked properly. All 224 frames are there, though, so I should be able to use Siril to get it to stack later. And here's the attempt at the Supernova. No post prod, but it's there. Still. We had settled next to a bunch of Chilean expatriots who were very interested so we talked to them for a bit before I gave up on trying to shoot the supernova at the windy beach and departed for my somewhat less windy driveway. Still had the stacking problem but not quite as bad. Luckily the comet only needed about 10 frames.So I'm a very pleased leece, yesterday I finally got the comet, and today I got rain! I'd been feeling a bit down yesterday, but I felt quite uplifted paying my respects to this 71 year infrequent flyer, and talking to the Chilean folks, and wrapping myself around a nice thermos of chai [personal profile] rdm made us and a couple of chocolate biscuits.I'm having a problem loading the other images, but you can see them over here at Dreamwidth if you want more. <a href="https://leecetheartist.dreamwidth.org/557806.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://leecetheartist.dreamwidth.org/557806.html</a><a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Astrodon</a> I guess? Hi! <a href="https://aus.social/tags/BackYardAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BackYardAstronomy</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DrivewayAstrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#DrivewayAstrophotography</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Astrophotography</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/PerthWesternAustralia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#PerthWesternAustralia</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/SouthernHemisphereAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#SouthernHemisphereAstronomy</a>

leeceAs I've mentioned before I'm not really attracted to clusters, being a nebula and galaxy sort of girl, but this one was unusual, and caught my attention last night. It was also in the right place for me to catch it in my driveway, devoid of the surrounding trees and buildings.This is IC 2391 or Caldwell 85. But it also rejoices in the rather cool sounding name of the Omicron Velorum Cluster! I'm sure that would have people ducking if they heard a magic user shouting the first two words during a ttrpg! This can be observed with the naked eye and was first described by Abd al-Rahman al-Sūfī as a nebulous star.This was taken with my <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DwarfII" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#DwarfII</a> smart telescope and very, very slightly postprodded in Snapseed.It's a very bright open cluster and the blue of the stars in it was distinct even before I enhanced it.This open cluster laughed at the light pollution and said I only needed to take 214 frames for it to shine this well. It says if I spend more frames on it I might get some slight nebulosity too. There's a hint of something there if I do ridiculous things in Snapseed, but perhaps I'll spend more frames on it some time.One of the limitations of the DwarfII is that you need to be aware of an object's apparent size, due to the display. You can't zoom. Omicron Velorum Cluster's spread of 50 arc minutes is framed perfectly.Things like the Rosette Nebula are an ideal size, but anything under 10 arcminutes not really worth it.<a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astrophotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Astrophotography</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/DrivewayAstroPhotography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#DrivewayAstroPhotography</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/Astronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Astronomy</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/SouthernHemisphereAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#SouthernHemisphereAstronomy</a> <a href="https://aus.social/tags/BackYardAstronomy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#BackYardAstronomy</a>

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