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....