Deep Sky Imaging Session - November 9-10, 2024

The sky this evening is slightly hazy but clear. I quickly setup early so that I can try to catch up with Western Veil Nebula in the constellation of Cygnus as ut is going to the NW horizon. I was able to get around 1.5 hours of data before i reached the 40 deg limit that I made for me before i will start to get bad light pollution and gradients. After the Veil nebula, I went after the IC1848 Soul Nebula in the constellation of Cassiopeia with an ample 2 hrs data. Both images were taken using ZWO ASI294 MC PRO Astro Camera on Borg 76ED Refractor with 0.8x Reducer/ Flattener and SVBony SV220 Duo Filter. Total Exposure of 90 minutes (45 x 120 sec) and 120 minutes (60 x 120 sec) respectively at -5 deg C.

Deep Sky Imaging Session - November 9, 2024

The sky this early evening is cloudy and very hazy. But at around 11:30pm, the sky suddenly started to open up and I quickly setup to image the IC410 Tadpole Nebula in the constellation of Auriga, this is a nice pair with IC405 Flaming Star Nebula but my telescope and camera would not allow me to image them together in one field so I had to image them separately to complete my imaging session. I use my ZWO ASI294MC PRO Astro Camera on Borg 76ED Refractor with 0.8x Reducer / Flattener and SVBony SV220 Duo Filter to capture this nebula. Total exposure of 120 minutes (60 x 120sec) was taken at -5 deg C. I also make a Hubble Pallette version in HOO for this nebula to bring out more clearly the 2 tadpoles on the image.

Solar Imaging Session - November 8, 2024

The sky this afternoon is clear and seeing condition is good. It's been a while since I was able to do any solar imaging because I'm doing evening deep sky imaging and it is very exhausting doing both at the same time. Anyway, I was able to do solar imaging and image some nice large sunspot groups in AR3879, AR3883, AR3886 and AR3889 Regions. There are also 2 large prominences visible in the SE and Western limb.

Deep Sky Imaging Session - November 4, 2024

The sky this evening is partly cloudy but have numerous cloud openings that I proceeded to setup to try imaging Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas but unfortunately, clouds doesn't want to cooperate even for a short while thus I opted to try imaging NGC7000 North American Nebula in the constellation of Cygnus. I initially thought I could get away to image this beautiful emission nebula but I ran out of luck as I was only able to image for 16 minutes before I got totally clouded out! :( Nevertheless, I'm still happy with the result even with such a very short integration time. NGC7000 North American Nebula was taken using ZWO ASI294MC PRO Astro Camera on Borg 76ED Refractor with 0.8x Reducer / Flattener and SVBony SV220 Duo Filter. Total exposure of 16 minutes (8 x 120 sec) at -5 deg C.

Deep Sky Imaging Session - November 2-3, 2024

The sky this evening is slightly hazy but almost clear, so I setup my imaging rig at the roofdeck to image the beautiful NGC7293 (C63) Helix Nebula in the constellation of Aquarius. Honestly, I had been wanting to image this beauty for a very long time but I always find a lazy way to not image it in the city thinking it is obstructed by our nearby buildings and during this time of the year which is our rainy season. But this week, I have been seriously enough to push myself to do it so some careful plannings and knowing the obstruction areas of our roofdeck and find the best area to setup to be able to image it. The Helix Nebula was taken using ZWO ASI294MC PRO astro camera on Borg 76ED Refractor with 1x Flattener and SVBony SV220 Duo Band Filter. Total exposure of 60 minutes (30 x 120sec) at -5 deg C. After imaging Helix Nebula, I proceeded to image another one of my astro image bucket lists in IC 1805 Heart Nebula in the constellation of Cassiopeia. The Heart Nebula was taken using ZWO ASI294MC PRO astro camera on Borg 76ED Refractor with 0.8x Reducer / Flattener and SVBony SV220 Duo Band Filter. Total exposure of 90 minutes (45 x 120sec) at -5 deg C. After 2 consecutive nights of imaging, I called it quits after IC1805 so that I can get some good sleep and fight another night in the days to come.

Deep Sky Imaging Session - November 2, 2024

The sky in the evening was cloudy and even rained hard but after midnight, the sky started to clear up surprisingly and I quickly setup my imaging rig and image the beautiful IC405 Flaming Star Nebula in the constellation of Auriga. I was able to image this nebula using ZWO ASI294MC PRO astro camera on Borg 76ED Refractor with 0.8x Reducer / Flattener and SVBony SV220 7nm Duo Narrowband Filter with a total exposure of 120minutes (24 x 5 mins) at -5 deg C.

Comet Imaging Session - October 26, 2024

The sky this early evening is partly cloudy with lots of passing clouds . Polaris and many bright stars are also not visible so I had to forgo any deep sky imaging that evening. But I did saw some small cloud openings in the western horizon so I try to image Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas and was able to capture it despite lots of persistent clouds! I also notice the comet is dimming as well, my guess maybe around magnitude 5 and this will continue slowly dim even more in the days to come. Consolation is that the tail is still quite long and I can faintly see it on my 400mm focal length scope field of view. Image is not that great so I just make a simple stack on the comet head and call it a day. The comet is also setting between the tall builing on my west as well as its tall crane so I just had to crop the image to remove the blurry building edge and crane out of the image! :( Oh well, better than nothing at all!

Deep Sky Imaging Session - October 26, 2024

The sky cleared up a little after past midnight and I drag my lazy body to haul my imaging rig to the roofdeck and try to image NGC1499 California Nebula using my ZWO ASI294MC Pro Astro Camera on Borg 76ED Refractor with 0.8x Reducer / Flattener with SVBony SV220 Duo Band 7nm Narrowband Filter with total exposure of 90 minutes (300 sec x 18 frames) at -5 deg C.

Comet Imaging Session - October 19, 2024

The sky this early evening is partly clear and seeing condition is fair. It was easy for me to locate Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas on our roofdeck as the comet is just above the tall building on my western horizon and was able to locate it around 6:10pm PST. At least I don't need to haul my camera and tripod to Intramuros Bridge for me to image the comet. :)

Comet Imaging Session - October 18, 2024

The sky this afternoon is partly cloudy and I can see a lot of clouds in the western horizon but still proceeded to try to capture Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas at Intramuros Bridge. I went alone tonight as my dynamic duo astro son KC has school work thus wasn't able to accompany me. Nevertheless, I was able to capture the comet at around 6:15pm. I was also able to meet a fellow astro enthusiast Pol Balaguer who was also there to image the comet :) We had a great astro chat while imaging the comet together. I ended the imaging session at around 7:00pm as more clouds rolled in.

Comet Imaging Session - October 17, 2024

The sky this late afternoon is very hazy and the lower western horizon has smog as well. I was able to observe and image comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas after sunset together with my son KC at Intramuros Bridge despite the very hazy weather as well as Full Moon glare. Image still shows some decent tail despite the circumstances but we are still happy to capture it nevertheless. Hopefully in 2 days I will be able to image this comet at our roofdeck once it clears the stupid tall building facing my western horizon! Grrrr....

Comet Imaging Session - October 15, 2024

The sky this afternoon is very cloudy and we lose hope to be able to image Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas which supports a long tail more than 10 degrees in the western horizon. But at around 5:45pm PST, the sky suddenly starts to open up in the western horizon a bit thus my son Kendrick Cole and I quickly dressed up and pack our camera and lenses and quickly head toward the nearby Intramuros Bridge to try to capture the comet! When we arrive at the site, planet Venus is clearly visible and we know for the fact that comet latitude is more or less the same as Venus thus making the task of finding the comet faster. There were some small thin clouds hovering near the comet's position but we were able to locate it. The comet is visible on the LCD screen faintly and we had a hard time seeing it visually due to the thin haze. It was a nice feeling observing and imaging again with my astro son KC and we look forward to more imaging sessions together specially this coming end of October at darker skies in Tanay.

Solar Imaging Session - October 8, 2024

The sky this afternoon is clear and seeing condition is very good. AR3848 Region stands out as the most interesting region with its large sunspot group. Lots of large sunspots can also be seen in AR3849 and AR3850. There is also a huge Loop Prominence visible in the SW limb. It was also a hard solar session for me as I'm just recovering from a bad bout with mold allergy that sideline me since Sunday. Nevertheless, the solar session is big plus for me to know that I'm recovering from the bad allergy and flu already.