Deep Sky Imaging Session - March 16-17, 2026

The sky this evening is clear and seeing condition is fair. I try to attempt to image a very faint planetary nebula in SH2-290 which is also called the Abell 31 or Moon Jelly Nebula in the constellation of Cancer. It's size is almost equiavalent to the size of NGC7293 Helix Nebula but is super dim as I wasn't able to see even its faint ghost in individual frames and can only see it after I stacked it and force stretch it a bit as I was only able to get a short integration time of only 2.5 hours or 150 minutes due to.sudden cloud cover! I guess I will reshoot this nebula again when I'm in a dark sky in Tanay. While waiting for the object total exposure time to be completed, I also take the time to use my Dwarf 3 Smart Scope to image 2 beautiful galactic star clusters in M35 and M67 in the constellation of Gemini and Cancer respectively.

Deep Sky Imaging Session - March 13-14, 2026

The sky this evening is clear so I use this opportunity to image SH2-282 Red Horsehead Nebula & SH2-280 Nebula in the constellation of Monoceros using ZWO ASI294MC PRO camera on Borg 76ED Refractor with 0.8x Reducer / Flattener and SVBony SV220 7nm Duo Filter on ZWO AM5 mount. Total exposure of 90 minutes (45 x 120 sec) at -5 deg C. Afterwards, I also try imaging a bradband subject which I usually only do when Im in darker skies like Tanay which is the Leo Triplet which are compose of M65, M66 amd NGC 3268 group of galaxies. I use again my ZWO ASI294MC PRO camera on Borg 76ED Refractor with 1x Flattener and STC AstroMultiSpectra Broadband Filter with total exposure of only 61 minutes (61 x 60 sec) at -5 deg C as cloud overcast ended my session.Still OK IMHO but that could be better under a darker skies than in Bortle 8 Manila!

Deep Sky Imaging Session - March 7, 2026

The sky this evening is clear so despite my tired body after a long work ride, I didn't hesitate to still setup and image IC417 Spider Nebula with NGC1931 Fly Nebula in the constellation of Auriga despite the fact it is getting low in the NW horizon a bit using ZWO ASI294MC PRO camera on Borg 76ED Refractor with 1x flattener and SVBony SV220 7nm Duo Filter on ZWO AM5 mount. Exposure of 94 minutes (47 x 120 minutes) at -5 deg C . I also use my Dwarf 3 Smart Scope at Astro Mode with Duo Filter at EQ Mode with exposure of 120 minutes (240 x 30 sec) at Gain 60 to capture NGC 2467 Skull and Crossbones Nebula in the constellation of Puppis. Not bad for me despite the limited integration time that I have after coming home late.

Total Lunar Eclipse Imaging Session - March 3, 2026

The sky this early evening was very cloudy and we miss Moonrise which occurred at around 5:58pm PST. The Moon started to play hide and seek with the clouds till around 6:45pm PST before it started to show some clearing through thin clouds thus allowing us to get some decent shot of the Moon almost nearing totality phase already. My son and I setup our imaging rig at the roofdeck of my buddy friend Charles Tiu who generously allowed us to setup on his roofdeck. I setup 2 imaging rigs with ZWO ASI294MC Pro on Borg 76ED Refractor on ZWO AM5 mount as well as Dwarf 3 Smart Scope on sturdy tripod. We stayed up until the Moon exits penumbra at around 10:23pm PST. KC on the other hand setup using Canon EOS M6 mirrorless camera on Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens set at 400mm f/8. Lots of data to process but I will post an initial image of the Moon at Maximum Totality phase which occurred at around 7:34pm PST using the ZWO ASI294MC PRO camera on Borg 76ED Refractor with 1x Flattener and SVBony UV-IR Filter on ZWO AM5 mount. Stack of 50 images at 100msec at Gain 475 as well as a composite image of this eclipse. Another one was also at Maximum Totality phase using Dwarf 3 Smart Scope at Astro Mode with VIS Filter at AZ Mode with stack of 20 images at 2 sec exposure at Gain 0 as well as another composite image from the Dwarf 3 compilations.

Solar Imaging Session - March 3, 2026

The sky this afternoon is partly cloudy and seeing condition is fair. AR4378 as well as incoming AR4384 Region are the larger groups that are visible on the Sun's disk now. No large prominences are visible on the solar limb as well.

Lunar Imaging Session - March 2, 2026

The sky this early evening is clear so I use this opportunity to do a dry run of my 2 setups to image tomorrow's March 3, 2026 Total Lunar Eclipse. One setup uses the Dwarf 3 Smart Scope and the other one is using ZWO ASI294MC PRO camera on Borg 76ED Refractor. Images comes out decent IMHO. Clear skies to all!

Lunar Imaging Session - March 2, 2026

The sky this late evening till past midnight was very cloudy and got to get a quickie shot of the Waxing Gibbous Moon through passing clouds using my Dwarf 3 Smart Scope at Astro Mode with VIS Filter at AZ Mode. Stack of 20 images at 1/125sec exposure at Gain 0. Got to test also KC setup for the upcoming lunar eclipse this Tuesday early evening March 3, 2026. Here again is the March 3, 2026 total lunar eclipse time and circumstances for the event.