rbrecher

I spent half of May and all of June acquiring the data for this image of pretty planetary nebula NGC6781. Acquisition and processing details are provided with the image. astrodoc.ca/ngc6781/ Clear skies, Ron

With the return of the summer Milky Way, I have returned to my quest for faint, rarely imaged objects. I am pleased to present Sh2-46, a dim member of the Sharpless Catalogue located in Serpens. This rather featureless cloud of hydrogen glows in an area about half the Moon's width in Serpens. http://astrodoc.ca/sh2-46/ Clear skies, Ron

Thanks for reporting on your conditions. My seeing is also about 3" most of the time. My SQM readings are usually around 20.5-20.9.

That is a great shot!

I've spent the last month or so grabbing an hour here and an hour there to capture an interesting pair of interacting galaxies in the Virgo Cluster, NGC5746 and NGC5740. NGC5746 reminds me of NGC891 and NGC4565. Enjoy! http://astrodoc.ca/ngc5740-46/ Clear skies, Ron

Arp 286 is a galaxy cluster about 90M light years away in Virgo. The largest galaxy, NGC5566, is 150M light years across, so is bigger than the Milky Way. I will definitely come back to this sometime in the future with a higher resolution setup. http://astrodoc.ca/arp286/ Clear skies, Ron

I had a string of decent weather during the most recent moon-free period and managed to grab almost 13 hours of light on this target. The moon is back now. Back to Ha. http://astrodoc.ca/ngc5033/ Clear skies, Ron

Very nice!

Between bad weather and moonlight, it took me more than 2 months to acquire the data for this image. I'm reasonably pleased with the result, but feel this would have benefited from longer focal length and/or smaller pixels, and especially a darker sky. Oh well, I'll take it; I do love being out under the stars. http://astrodoc.ca/ngc2903 Clear skies, Ron

This was acquired during March and April 2016, under pretty mediocre skies. I did get some nice conditions for most of the L data. This really needs more focal length (and better seeing) to get more detail, but I am happy with the result -- for now. Paying attention to several commenters' remarks that previous images of mine seemed rather dark, I was careful to leave the background fairly bright for this image. http://astrodoc.ca/m51/ Clear skies, Ron

NGC4216 is in the centre of the image, flanked by NGC4206 and NGC4222, with many other galaxies also in the frame. I have been shooting this and two other objects (M51 and NGC2903) since mid-March. The data is now "in the can," and I'll be posting the others soon too. Nice to finally be getting some decent skies and bearable temperatures. Last night transparency and seeing were perhaps the best in a year or so. Unfortunately the moonlight limited deep sky imaging, so I looked at Jupiter through an eyepiece. Beautiful! Anyhow, enjoy this image! http://astrodoc.ca/ngc4216/ Clear skies, Ron

I acquired this data in 2013, but for some reason I never processed it. So here it is... M56, in Lyra. I used an HDR image for luminance, made from a stack of 3m subs and a stack of 10m subs. For the RGB data, I binned 2x2 (the only time I have ever done so). Enjoy! astrodoc.ca/m56/ Clear skies, Ron

NGC2420 is another example of what I consider to be a perfect target for a brightly moonlit night. For one thing, it isn't well known. It is in Gemini, where it is overshadowed by M35/NGC2158. Secondly, it is bright enough to make a pretty picture in a fairly short time. Third, there's little or no nebulosity to be washed out by the Moon (although I'm sure fainter stars would show in a darker sky). I acquired this image on Saturday night (March 19, 2016) and, other than a big Moon, conditions were pretty good. I would normally make the background a little brighter, but this is hiding a skeleton in the closet -- a dust donut in the green channel that wasn't getting properly removed by flat fielding. After eliminating all other options, I removed the camera and cleaned the filters (they were pretty dirty after more than 2 years). I also took this opportunity to bake the desiccant plug, which also hasn't been done for more than 2 years. It's a good time for this -- full moon, clouds, snow and rain all in the forecast! Note - this is the first time I've tried embedding links right in the text of a post. If you have an opinion about this (i.e. if you'd like me just to type the link rather than embedding it), let me know. Clear skies, Ron

I acquired this image on March 18, in bright moonlight. Amazing how nice these open clusters come out, even under less than ideal conditions. This cluster is NGC2506, in Monoceros. http://astrodoc.ca/ngc2506 Clear skies, Ron

The grey skies in my locale continue, but it should clear soon, now that the moon is getting bigger LOL! Bitter? Me? Never! Luckily I still have plenty of good data from a few years ago that is benefitting from my improving knowledge of PixInsight. As with all my posts, processing details are below the image, and you can click on the image for a full size view. And thanks for looking! http://astrodoc.ca/m2/ Clear skies, Ron

Beautiful!

This is another collaboration with Brett Soames, from the Land of Oz. Brett acquired the data using a home built 150mm f/11.1 refractor. I processed it in PixInisight. I looked at this galaxy through a 6" SCT when I was in Costa Rica a few years ago. Really quite beautiful. Hope you enjoy it... http://astrodoc.ca/ngc253/ Clear skies, Ron

Nice job on this interesting object, Mark.

Nice work.

After 3 months of cloud, finally a clear night. With the moon being full, I followed my own advice (astrodoc.ca/deep-sky-imaging-in-moonlight) and went after an open cluster, M37. I hope you enjoy it. http://astrodoc.ca/M37/ Clear skies, Ron

The good news: It cleared enough last night for me to tweak polar alignment and run a new pointing model for my mount. The bad news: Clouds and moonlight in the forecast! This gave me time to process this data from a few years ago. Hope you enjoy it... http://astrodoc.ca/ngc-4631-and-4656/ There's also a link there to a previous process on this data. Clear skies, Ron

I acquired this data in 2014, but have reprocessed it with (I think) better technique. The April 2014 version is linked at the web post, for those who are interested in comparing. Did somebody buy a bunch of new equipment near me? It is still cloudy! http://astrodoc.ca/ngc-4565/ Clear skies, Ron

There's a lot going on in this image of Corona Australis, a collaboration with Brett Soames. Brett acquired the data from New South Wales, Australia and I processed the image in PixInsight. Details are provided with the image. http://astrodoc.ca/corona-australis/ Clear skies, Ron

This is NGC6357, the Lobster Nebula, in Scorpius. Since it never rises high enough for me to shoot effectively, I am lucky to have collaborated with Brett Soames. He acquired the data from New South Wales, Oz, and I processed it. I hope you enjoy this interesting region where massive stars are forming. Also the first time I captured an object from the Pismis catalogue - open cluster Pismis 1. Enjoy! http://astrodoc.ca/ngc6357/ Clear skies, Ron

I reprocessed this 2013 data, going for a more natural look compared to the original version (there's a link to the old version in the post): http://astrodoc.ca/m5/ Still cloudy... Clear skies, Ron