Solar Imaging Session - January 31, 2025

The sky this afternoon is partly cloudy and seeing condition is poor. A large group of sunspots within AR3978, AR3976 and AR3977 Region is the largest group visible now on the Sun's disk. In Ha wavelength, the regions mentioned are also not that active as well.

Reprocessed IC443 Jellyfish Nebula

I took some time off to reprocessed my January 22-23, 2025 data on IC443 Jellyfish as color is a bit off as well some revised processing approach to make it a little better. I also make a HOO Hubble Palette rendition of this nebula as well.

Solar Imaging Session - January 25, 2025

The sky this afternoon is partly clear so I did my 1st solar imaging session with closeup imaging for 2025! My 1st time again since last November 2024! Lots of small sunspot groups except for the moderate size sunspot in AR3961 which is about to exit the SW limb. AR3961 region is nice to view both in white light as well as in Ha wavelength. A nice flatten looped prominence can be seen near the NW limn. A nice large dark filament is also visible in the SE quadrant as well as a large hedgerow prominence in the SE limb as well.

Deep Sky Imaging Session - January 24-25, 2025

The sky this late evening is clear so I try to reimage NGC2264 Cone / Christmas Tree / Fox Fur / Philippine Nebula in the constellation of Monoceros using my ZWO ASI294MC Pro on Borg 76ED Refractor with SVBony SV220 Duo Band Filter. I was able to collect about 2 hours worth of data. While my main rig is imaging, I also use Dwarf 3 to image IC2177 Seagull Nebula in Monoceros with a total exposure of 2 hours as well as an hour worth of exposure on the Leo Triplet group of galaxies. A smaller spiral galaxy NGC 3593 was also recorded within the field of view.

Deep Sky Imaging Session - January 22-23, 2025

The sky this late evening is clear after I return home from a party so I quickly setup my imaging rig to image IC443 Jellyfish Nebula in the constellation of Gemini using Borg 76ED Refractor with ZWO ASI294MC Pro Astro Camera with SVBony SV220 Duo Band Filter with a total exposure of 120 mins (60 x 120sec) at -5 deg C. NGC2359 Thor's Helmet in the constellation of Canis Major was taken using Dwarf 3 Smart Scope using Astro mode with Duo Filter and on EQ mode with a total exposure of 60 mins (60 x 60sec) at Gain 0.

Deep Sky Imaging Session - January 21, 2025

The sky this evening is partly cloudy but I still proceeded to so some imaging test and try to image IC443 Jellyfish with the Borg 76ED as well as IC805 with the Dwarf 3 as honestly, the object is already setting in the NW horizon so I wasn't expecting any good results out of it but as stubborn as I want it to be, I proceeded setting up Borg 76ED as well as Dwarf 3 but the weather was very cruel to me tonight to not letting me image Jellyfish but only a measly 38mins of integration time for the Heart Nebula which sad to say leaves a not so good taste on the image as gradients as well as lack of integration spoils my session tonight. Oh well... still sharing the IC805 Heart Nebula nevertheless :(

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.

Solar Imaging Session - January 5, 2025

The sky after lunch is partly cloudy so I just took a quickie white light image of the Sun using Dwarf 3 smart scope using Astro mode to stacked a 50 frame image using 1/4000sec exposure. Not bad indeed. I didn't setup for full solar imaging session as too much clouds to do high resolution work.

January 4, 2025 Dwarf 3 First Light

I got to test run Dwarf 3, a 35mm smart telescope today despite very cloudy sky. When there was some thin clouds covering the Sun this afternoon. I try to image the Sun in white light using it's magnetic solar filter but I was only able to get a single frame shot of the Sun showing numerous sunspots on the solar disk. Hopefully can test out further in the days to come. But very surprised with its solar tracking and dead on and didn't even move during my hide and seek time with the Sun. Then in the early evening, I again saw some clearing for me to test image the Waxing Crescent Moon using its Astro mode to stack around 50 frames despite pesky clouds passing in front of the Moon. I still hope to test out DSO imaging later tonight if I got some clearing but it's an iffy condition I think but still hoping...