M42 - The Orion Nebula

Taken by Rhys Owen on the 6th of January from Hatfield. 12x300sec at ISO800 and 12x60sec at ISO400 exposures with a modified Canon 600D in a Takahashi 106FSQ, recorded with Nebulosity and guided by PHD. Calibrated in Astroart with darks and flats, and finally processed in Photoshop.
Always a difficult target because of it's wide dynamic range, but expertly executed here.

The Sun's Active Region 1944 on 8.1.14

The forecast was good, but the reality was streaky cloud all round the horizon, but I had to try, and the aim was a mosaic of AR 1944.  9 videos were taken when the cloud appeared to be thinner, but only 6 were added into the mosaic. This was the AR that was supposed to give us aurorae but we'll have to wait for tonight, to see if that happens. It's forecast to be clear too.
Taken with the DMK31 and the Skywatcher 80ED and Solar System's 0.3A filter set at 48.9°C. Processed in Avistack, and Photoshop. Avistack seems to be better than Registax6, or I'm getting better at using it.

The Moon and Saturn - 30.11.13

Taken by Bill Hughes early on the 30th of November on Hatfield Moors using an unmodified Canon 600D with a 50mm 2.8 lens for 1/4sec at ISO1600. The time was 6:42am.
An early start to try to see comet ISON after it’s conjunction with the sun. No luck with photography or binoculars, even though we went to somewhere without lights and it was a beautiful cold morning.

The star to the right of the moon is a double, Zubenelgenubi. Left is Saturn and low near the horizon is Mercury.

On the way home, a deer decided to run across the road in front of us. It resulted in a lot of damage to the deer and the car.

Comet Lovejoy - 25.11.13

This was taken on the 25th of November with the 106 and M25C. It had a longer tail than I expected, having just seen it with 10x50 binoculars, and positioned the head too near the middle of the frame, so missing some of the long tail. But I didn't get a second chance as clouds closed me down so I got no more than 20x60sec frames. They should have been 30sec as 60sec overexposed the head. Wise after the event of course. Hopefully I'll get a second try another night. The second photo is of a single heavily stretched and sharpened frame cropped to the head alone, and looking carefully I think I can see outgassing from two positions to the front of the nucleus, or am I imagining?

NGC 281 - the Pacman Nebula

Taken by Rhys Owen from Hatfield with a modified Canon 600D fitted with a clip-in LPS filter, and  a Takahashi FSQ106ED, on the 19th of November. It was taken early in the evening before the fat moon rose to spoil things.
The exposure was 12x300sec., recorded by Nebulosity and guided by PHD. Calibrated in Astroart with flats and darks and sigma averaged, and finally processed in Photoshop.

The Sun - 19.11.13

Taken with the mono DMK31 camera and SS filter on the Skywatcher 80ED, this time set at 55.5°C. So much is in the seeing at the time and I've noted a falling off soon after noon, quite suddenly too, so may well be because the sun is over a local factory. Much is also in the processing, this time with the usual Registax6. I've tried Avistack2 and get variable results, though it's more likely due to my inexperience with the software. Finished off in Photoshop and coloured there too.
I think this is AR1899.

The Sun - 7.11.13

Taken with the DMK31 and 80ED with the SS solar filter, with the oven set at 52C. Processed in Registax6, which worked better than Avistack2 in this case, then finally fiddled with and coloured in Photoshop.
The sky was strewn with thin cloud, but not heavy enough to stop the sun, though it was low in the sky, as is to be expected at this time of year at 53°N.
This is becoming addictive, it's infinitely variable and warmer than sitting in the dome at night.
I think this feature is AR 1893.

Comet ISON on 23.9.13

The comet isn't as bright as hoped, yet, but there is time for it to blossom, but not much as it'll be flying round the back of the sun on the 28th of this month. It's track is directly opposite to the lie of the tail as it aims for the sun.
This was taken with the 106 and a focal reducer for the wider field but it's so small it almost looks lost in it.
Taken with the M25C, and processed in Astroart and Photoshop from 40 x 60sec frames.

The sun on 27.10.13

Taken with the DMK31 and the new SS solar filter on the Skywatcher 80ED, a stitching of 3 frames. Still playing and getting to know the kit by taking pretty pictures. It's a very busy subject. Marvellous filter, made by Mark Wagner. Thanks Mark! I must try with a DSLR for the larger chip and small pixels. The .avi files were processed in Registax, and finally stitched and fiddled with and coloured in Photoshop.

 

The Sun in H Alpha

This was taken on the 27th of September 2013, using the new solar filter from Solar Systems on the Skywatcher 80ED. The camera used was a monochrome DMK. The day was hazy and this was my first attempt at photography with the filter, but I'm pleased with the result, far more detail than I'd been able to get with the Coronado PST we'd been using before.
The processing was done in Registax6 and Photoshop, colouring by Photoshop, by order of Lesley.