Doncaster Astronomical Society

Doncaster Cultural Festival - 12 July 2009

2009-07-14T13:01:00.007+01:00

Held at the Museum the festival provides a showplace for the Arts in Doncaster. A wide variety of music and dance, mostly very loud, was available for the crowds of local folk, on a mostly sunny day. We joined in on the strength of our photographic work, which, after the event, we returned to what seems to be its permanent display, in the foyer of the Museum.
Because of the limited space we exhibited only the 12" Meade and the solar telescope and our photographs, and all got lots of attention from the visitors, as you can see from the pictures on the Events page.

Tickhill Gala - 4 July 2009

2009-07-14T11:14:00.009+01:00

Tickhill Gala. We were invited to have a stand there again and jumped at the chance. It's always a fun day, rain or shine and it's usually shine. So we took along a solar telescope, the big binoculars, the 8" Celestron and the 12" Meade.
The day is usually quiet till the floats, having toured the village, come into the show field, then it's all hands to the pump and we're very busy offering views of the Sun and other things through the telescopes and showing and talking to visitors about the society and our pictures.
Prior to this hectic period, we can enjoy the day and the sunshine.
A particular point of interest was that after several months of quiescence, the Sun burst into life that day with a major Solar Flare which spawned 4 Sun Spots and we were able to watch the whole process during the afternoon. Well, you can see how it took Malcolm's attention, can't you!
More on the Events page.

23July - Ron Hine - Radio Astronomy

2009-07-13T08:47:00.004+01:00

On Thursday 23 July, at 7pm , Ron Hine will talk about his career in Radio Astronomy.

The venue is Church House which is in the grounds of Doncaster Minster.

John Cox - Stars In Our Eyes

2009-07-11T08:34:00.000+01:00

On 9 July, our very own John Cox
gave a fascinating talk about our
147 nearest neighbours.All these
stars are within 20 parsecs of us

His Image of Keid caught my
attention as it was taken, by
John with a simple Philips
Toucam webcam on the
Societies 14" Meade SCT.

This triple star is the only known system that displays three
different types of star. The Primary is yellow G9V class.
The other two components are dwarf stars.
A red dwarf type DM and a white dwarf of type DA.
Also it is the only system where the dwarf stars can easily be seen.

The Star Keid is also known as Omicron 2 Eridanus
Distance is 16 light years with Mags: 4.4, 9.5, 11.1
RA : 04h 15m 45.28s Dec : -7° 37' 06.4"

It is well placed for us to observe in winter as it is to the right
of Rigel in Orion (RA : 05h 15m 01.14s Dec : -8° 11' 11.4")

Paul Money and The First Moon Landing

2009-06-26T22:08:00.000+01:00

Paul is a very well known speaker on Astronomy.
Always entertaining as well as informative.
On Thursday 25 June he gave an interesting talk about 10
of his favourite images of the Universe (volume 1) !
The Manned Manoeuvring Unit shown below was one of them.

Only 6 Astronauts have ever used the MMU in space as they
are now considered to be too dangerous for use
(for catching satelites.)

It is the 40th Annivesary of the first Moon landing on 20 July
and the BBC are using this image to publicise
"NASA: Triumph and Tragedy" which can be viewed online.

All the images on this blog have been taken by Society members
and equipment except for this historic NASA image.

The Cocoon nebula

2009-06-24T15:03:00.005+01:00

Last night's effort of the Cocoon nebula ploughing its way through the
stars, trailing behind it one of Barnard's Dark nebula. This is
made up of 12 Light frames, 10 Flats but no Dark frames in this
instance the Darks I have, are adding noise in the form of a large band
across the bottom. So you may see a few hot pixels but you could
pretend that they are red giants, in fact some may be. It needs more
lights as well

The framing/composition is almost what I'm after, it's only a gnats
smidgin out though but it's causing an itch.

June is a terrible month for astrophotography, DSLRs get hotter and
the night doesn't stay night for long.
You see, I never ever, run out of excuses for not getting the image I
want. But it'll be back.

Yes, I know it's upside down but I like it this way. Click here for the full imaging details.

Noctilucent Cloud

2009-06-18T15:31:00.003+01:00

A clear sky at Austerfield filled with the most extraordinary Noctilucent Cloud display that lasted till dawn, though not as bright as at midnight. These will give a feeling of the night of 17 June, which ended with a rising crescent Moon with Venus to the left and Jupiter to the right.

M14 in Ophiuchus on 31 May '09

2009-06-17T02:12:00.005+01:00

This is for Macbeth's third. I couldn't find it visually for her last time she came down to the observatory.
Taken with the FLT98 and M25C with an exposure of 30x120sec. All the technical work was done by AstroArt and Photoshop.
Brian

Prime Meridian

2009-06-12T16:11:00.019+01:00

Most people when thinking of 0° Longitude the Prime or Greenwich Meridian, will head for London to stand astride the meridian line with one foot in the Eastern hemisphere and one in the Western.

However, for us Yorkshire folk, we just have to head for the village of Patrington in the East Riding of Yorkshire, where the Prime Meridian continues its way North. As I've said on previous occasions, God's country has everything, we just don't make a song and dance about it : )

These photographs were taken at 12:59:25 and 12:59:32 BST, I missed midday GMT by just a few seconds.

Venus at Dawn

2009-06-12T12:26:00.004+01:00

This is Venus at Dawn on 11 June 09, but you already knew that.
Taken with my domestic digital Samsung M110 point-and-shoot camera, on my way home at 3.45am. No, I wasn't really awake. It had been a long day.
Brian

The Crescent Nebula, NGC6888, in Cygnus

2009-06-09T23:32:00.007+01:00

This was taken on 1.6.09 on a cloudless night with the everpresent haze. Not a good night but I'd not used the H-Alpha filter for ages so had a try at this and squeezed in 3 frames of 10 mins before dawn.
I used a William FLT98 with an AFR4 flattener on an M25C. Acquired and processed in AstroArt with a bit of work in Photoshop.
Uncropped but compressed by 50%.
If you look carefully at the enlarged version you'll find the small Open Cluster IC4996 near the bottom left corner.
In addition to the Crescent there is plenty of general nebulosity running down the middle of Cygnus.
Brian

M24

2009-06-04T00:48:00.006+01:00

Taken on the 31st of May 09, a cloudless but hazy night, of course. Very low in the south, over Bawtry, whose light dome was clear to see. Not usually noticeable but with the haze it stood out.
29 frames of 120sec, using an M25C on a William FLT98 with a 0.8 flattener. Acquired in AstroArt4 and processed in AstroArt and Photoshop7 as an LRGB picture. The colour files stacked by median combine and the Lum by adding. Uncropped but reduced to 1500Px across.
Just to the upper right of M24 are B93 and B92 a pair of Barnard's Dark Nebulae. B92 is the one with a star in it and a bright one just to its left, with B93 a little further to the left, dust clouds obscuring the stars behind.
I've reprocessed this picture by a different method entirely, RGB rather than LRGB. Better? Worse? Can you tell? I've also uploaded it as a full but compressed file instead of reducing the picture to 1500Px.
Brian
PS. I'm told by a friend that the cluster I referred to, NGC6603, isn't actually Messier's number 24. He counted the large star cloud to the right as his item 24. My apologies to M. Messier.

Barnard 142 and 143

2009-05-30T12:53:00.010+01:00

Last night I continued with my ongoing quest to image this pair of dark nebulae, entered as numbers B142 (on the right) and 143 in Barnard's catalogue of dark nebula but collectively known as Barnard's E, just turn your computer a few degrees clockwise.

The nebulae are in the constellation of Aquila adjacent to Gamma Aquilae, the star Tarazed. As you can see the E is silhouetted against a rich background of stars.

To see the full image and exposure details click here

The Ring nebula

2009-05-29T11:23:00.006+01:00

Number 57 in Charles Messier's famous catalogue, this planetary nebula is situated in Lyra. Within the centre of the ring is a 15th magnitude white dwarf star, you may just be able to see a hint of it in this close cropped image.

The image is made up of 34 x 120 seconds subexposures, taken with a Canon 40 and a Takahashi FSQ-106ED.

M11 - A widefield view of the Wild Duck

2009-05-25T13:56:00.008+01:00

I've never met anyone who can see a wild duck in this tight Open Cluster close to the centre of the Milky Way, where there are stars and dust lanes aplenty. Taken at Austerfield on the 24th of May 09, with an M25C and William AFR4 flattener in the 80ED Skywatcher. Guided by an H9C in the 14" Meade. Acquired with AA4 and colour processed with AA4 using Mike Smith's plug-in. Lum processed with PhotoShop7 and combined in AA4. This is the full M25C frame, uncropped. The exposure was 20x120sec.
Brian

M13

2009-05-19T21:35:00.002+01:00

Taken on 16.5.09 using the 80ED Skywatcher riding on the Meade 14". The camera was the M25C guided by an H9C. A William 0.8 flattener was in the optical train. The sky wasn't good but passable. The exposure was 12x180sec and the processing was LRGB with the Lum added and the R, G and B Median combined before mixing.

M27 - 16.5.09

2009-05-17T16:01:00.006+01:00

Taken at Austerfield as usual, on a cold cloudless night of some haze. 3 of the 4 box stars in Ursa Minor could be seen, no Milky Way.
Taken with the M25C on the 80ED with a William 0.8 flattener. Guided, quite well, by an H9C in the Meade 14" (My usual guide camera had returned from repair then failed within a half hour). A joy to be able to choose stars from a wide field, so the guide camera will be pensioned off.
Exposure was 10x300sec. Flats and biases taken but a better result resulted from omitting the bias frames. Acquisition and all processing in AA4. Cropped.
Brian

The Moon on 2.5.09 by Paul Booker

2009-05-09T12:46:00.005+01:00

Taken by Paul Booker through Elaine's 6" Celestron Nexstar, with his Canon 450. The exposure was 1/25sec and the setting was 100 ASA.
Brian

M57 - on Saturday 25.4.09 by Paul Booker

2009-05-03T14:31:00.008+01:00

This is Paul's second effort at astrophotography, the first was M13, a couple of hours earlier. M57 was still very low, but had to be tried. Taken with his Canon 450. A cloudless sky and cold. The exposures were 19x20sec at ISO800, unguided. Processed in AstroArt4 and Photoshop7.
Brian

Crescent setting Moon on 27.4.09

2009-04-28T14:29:00.004+01:00

Broken camera or not, the crescent Moon looked too enticing to let it pass without some effort at portraiture.
In the rush to catch it before the clouds hid it completely I forgot to set it to full resolution, it was only next day when I got to processing it that I realised it was all binned at 2x2.
This was taken with the H9C camera in the 80ED riding on the 14" Meade. The exposure was 14x5.5secs frames with a variable filter to reduce the flux.
Brian

Mercury-Moon conjunction again

2009-04-27T11:48:00.003+01:00

We cannot afford to waste clear skies so here is my attempt, a single frame taken with a canon 450d slr a bit earlier in the evening than John's post so no pleiades in this one about 8.45 bst.I've tweaked the background a little so Mercury stands out a bit better.ISO 200 and 1/250

Mercury-Moon conjunction

2009-04-27T02:05:00.008+01:00

Sunday night, 26th April, I took this photo of the Moon-Mercury conjunction. If you look carefully, you can just see the Pleiades above the Moon. Image details are: ISO 200 at 1/125 sec single shot with a FinePix S5700 digi camera and the time was 9:47pm. No tweaks were applied to the image except reducing file size and adding my name.

Paul's M13 reprocessed

2009-04-26T23:53:00.005+01:00

M13 again, reprocessed by using only 8 instead of 10 frames and averaging rather than adding them in AstroArt. And used the 3 darks taken at the time. I also added some work in Photoshop7, and a little High Pass sharpening in AA4 too. Any better?
Brian

M13 on Saturday 25.4.09

2009-04-26T11:28:00.011+01:00

This is Paul Booker's first attempt at astrophotography, and with a new and unfamiliar DSLR. The sky was cloudless and Moonless, though the seeing wasn't good.

Taken with a Canon 450 and the 14" Meade with a 6.3 focal reducer. This picture is made up of 10 frames at 20sec and ISO800, stacked in AA4 without darks or flats, but the vignetting compensated for with Gradient Xterminator. No sharpening done, though the Meade is in need of some collimation.
Brian

M53

2009-04-24T16:30:00.003+01:00

Taken last week at the observatory consisting of 17 images of m53 ,2 darks and no flats as the flash decided to operate.Stacked in deep sky stacker and tweaked in photoshop