Orion The Hunter

The constellation of Orion with the Orion nebula inset. The constellation was a 30 second exposure using a DSLR camera at 55mm on an equatorial mount. The nebula was a 30 second image with the DSLR attached to my telescope

Mercury transit of the Sun 09/05/16

Planetary images 2016

Jupiter 06/03/2016

Saturn 07/06/2016

Mars 06/06/2016

Moon 20/11/2015

10 images taken with Skywatcher 120 &Canon 100d at ISO 100, 1/100 sec. Stacked and processed in registax 6.

International space station 06/08/2015 23:03

Taken using a skywatcher 120/1000 mm & Canon 100d. I had my scope tracking the star which is just visible (Albiero) knowing the ISS would pass close by and set my camera to an exposure time of 1/1600 secs at ISO 3200 on continuous shooting mode to make sure I didn't miss it passing through my field of view.
I recognise now the ISO setting of ISO 3200 was too high considering the magnitude of the ISS here was a very bright -3.2!

Great Hercules Cluster M13

M13 (NGC 6205) The Great Cluster in the constellation Hercules is a globular cluster which lies some 25,000 light years away from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 5.8. It's apparent size/diameter is 16.6 arc minutes.
It's age is estimated at 14 billion years and it's 'size' 160 light years in diameter.

This image was taken with Skywatcher 120/1000 and Canon 100d. 30 seconds at iso 1600.

Same image but adjusted levels in Gimp2.8

Planetary Images 2015

Jupiter 02/02/2015

This was made using 10 images of Jupiter from 00:40 - 02:52 GMT on 02/02/2015, a few images are poor quality but it still shows Jupiter's rotation and Io's transit of Jupiter quite well.
Skywatcher 120/1000 mm, Neximage5, 2xBarlow.

Io is passing in front of Jupiter and Europa appears to the right in the last frame about to pass behind Jupiter. The Great red spot (GRS) is visible here too.

One of the images from the above animation.

Venus 12/10/2015

Venus at 50% illumination captured with Skywatcher 120/1000 mm refrator, 2xbarlow and Neximage5 camera.

Saturn 24/05/2015

Saturn one day after opposition which is the best time of the year to observe it whilst it is opposite the Sun from Earth's point of view, it rises after sunset and is visible throughout the night. It is also at its closest point to Earth when at opposition.

Perseid Meteor Shower 2015

Composite image of Perseid meteor shower 2015 composed of 6 x 8 second images captured with a Canon 100d at 18mm, F3.4, ISO 1600.

Perseid Meteor Vaporising!

Cropped animation of Perseid meteor just about caught in camera's field of view. 5 x 8 second images.

Moon 03.01.2015 21:21 GMT

Taken using skywatcher 120mm/1000mm and Neximage5 webcam then processed in Registax

Moon 03.01.2015 21:34 GMT

Taken using same equipment and process as the image above

Jupiter - My first Jupiter image

Jupiter 29.12.2014 02:47 using Skywatcher 120mm, Neximage 5 and a 2x Barlow

The Sun and sunspot AR2192

Taken using - 120mm refractor, Hershel wedge, polarising filter 18mm eyepiece, camera phone
20/10/2014 14:41 GMT

Huge sunspot!
       

Waning gibbous Moon 12/09/2014 00:32

This was taken using a 120mm refractor, 32mm eyepiece, 2x barlow lens and phone camera from Wigg Island, Runcorn.

Waning Moon 18 days old 14/08/2014 03:04

This was taken using a 120mm refractor, 32mm eyepiece, 2x barlow lens and phone camera from my back garden.

The Sun

The Sun taken in white light using my camera phone with herschel wedge, 120mm refractor, 20mm eyepiece and polarising filter. My phone camera doesn't show the surface detail very well.

Above it is a close up of sunspot AR2158 where the x class solar flare erupted from yesterday (big spot top centre of bigger photo).

                                 

11/09/2014 14:52

           

Did you know the Sun has a rotational period of 25 Earth days at it's equator and it's apparent rotational period as seen from Earth is about 26.2 days due to our orbit around it.

Also it has different rotation rates at different latitudes taking 34 days to rotate at it's poles and an apparent rotation rate of around 36 days at it poles as seen from Earth. 

My first attempt at imaging Saturn 14/05/2014

Taken with my 120mm refractor and CMOS webcam from my back garden.
Just a snapshot, I haven't used the stacking software yet.

By G.Marshall

Six day old Moon 07/03/2014 This shows the craters Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catharina by Dave Hart

Sy Liebergot popped in!

Sy Liebergot stopped by our astronomy group 26/6/14 the night before his lecture on Apollo 13 here in Runcorn, England.


                     North West Astronomy Festival 2014

Taken with Neximage5 webcam and Skywatcher 120mm refractor 14/05/2014

By G.Marshall

Taken with phone camera and Skywatcher 120mm refractor 24/03/2014

By G.Marshall