Deep Sky Imaging Session - January 18-19, 2025

The sky this evening is partly cloudy but I proceeded to image NGC 2174 Monkey Head Nebula in Orion using Dwarf 3 Smart Scope at Astro Mode with Duo Filter at EQ mode and total exposure of 34 mins (34 x 60 sec) at Gain 60. I also image NGC2264 Christmas Tree / Fox Fur / Philippine Nebula in Monoceros using Borg 76ED Refractor with ZWO ASI294MC PRO Astro Camera with 0.8x Reducer / Flattener and SVBony SV220 Duo Band Filter with total exposure of 32 mins ( 16 x 120 sec) at Unity Gain and -5 deg C. Unfortunately, both objects were cut short as large clouds started to cover the entire sky thus ending my imaging session short of my plan of at least 2 hours total exposure for each object :( I will try to reimage these 2 objects once again in the days to come.

Solar Imaging Session - January 17, 2025

The sky this afternoon is very cloudy with small cloud opening only so I just image the Sun in white light wavelength using Dwarf 3 at Astro Mode with Solar Filter in AZ mode. 10 stacked image at 1/4000 sec exposure at Gain 0. Sun has some nice large sunspot groups in AR3961, AR3959, AR3964 regions. Hopefully can image in high resolution tomorrow if weather permits.

Lunar and Deep Sky Imaging Session - January 15, 2025

The sky this evening is partly cloudy so I was able to image the Waning Gibbous Moon after I return home. Then I try to also image NGC2174 Monkey Head Nebula in Orion but as I was starting to image , clouds started to roll in fast that I was only able to image with a measly 8 minutes total exposure only. Oh well.... Still happy :) LOL

Lunar Imaging Session - January 13, 2025

The sky this evening is very cloudy and am just trying to force myself to image the almost Full Moon (99%) with lots of passing clouds thus image is a little soft. Nevertheless, still happy to capture it. Better than nothing at all :) LOL

Lunar Imaging Session - January 11, 2025

The sky this evening is cloudy and seeing condition is fair. I was still able to image the Waxing Gibbous Moon through thin clouds using Dwarf 3 Smart Scope at Astro Mode with VIS Filter. Stacked 50 images at 1/500 sec exposure at Gain 0.

Lunar & Deep Sky Imaging Session - January 6-7, 2024

The sky this evening is clear and seeing condition is ok. I setup my portable Dwarf 3 Smart Scope to test image the Wide Crescent Moon as well as some deep sky objects such as M36 Galactic Open Cluster in Auriga, M45 Pleiades star cluster in Taurus,M42 Great Orion Nebula in Orion and NGC2244 Rosette Nebula in Monoceros. I use the Astro mode in AZ mode on the Moon, M36 & M45 in the early evening as trying to familiarize myself in taming the Dwarf 3. I was only able to image M36 with a mere total exposure of only 4.5 minutes as I got quickly obstructed by our building arc so I change object and pointed to M45. I later notice that even at mere 30 minutes exposures, one can notice the field rotation in AZ mode so I cut the session down. After fetching my wife from work, I continue to test the Dwarf 3 again but this time using the EQ mode. I was able to image past 30 minutes without any field rotation so thus will be s* in the future.

.Ty

Deep Sky Imaging Session - January 6-7, 2024

The sky this evening is clear with some slight passing clouds when I was setting up to image NGC2244 Rosette Nebula in the constellation of Monoceros. But luckily, the sky clearfed up for me to image this beautiful emission nebula using ZWO ASI294MC PRO Astro Camera on Borg 76ED Refractor with 0.8x Reducer / Flattener and SVBony SV220 Duo Filter with a total exposure of 124 minutes (62 x 120sec) at -5 deg C.