Thursday, February 27, 2025

Deep Sky Imaging Session - February 27, 2025

The sky this evening is clear and I setup my Dwarf 3 Smart Scope to try IC 434 Horsehead Nebula in the constellation of Orion using Dwarf 3's Astro Filter which is a broad band filter to try to get some other colors other than all red when I use the Narrowband Duo Filter. I was able to get 120 minutes total exposure (120 x 60 sec) at Gain 60. I was also planning to test the stellar studio feature of Dwarf 3 new beta update but I forgot to log in thus missed out updating the firmware to version 1.3 thus wasn't able to test the feature. Anyway, use my standard image processing on my computer instead.

Saturday, February 22, 2025

Solar Imaging Session - February 22, 2025

The sky this afternoon is partly clear but seeing condition is poor. AR4000 & AR3998 Region are a joy to view and image in both Ha and whitelight wavelength. I just do a quickie session as still having a bad flu. Also got whitelight full disk with Dwarf 3.

Monday, February 17, 2025

Deep Sky Imaging Session - February 17, 2025

The sky this evening is clear after a hard rainfall this afternoon. I took this opportunity to image SH2-308 Dolphin Head Nebula in the constellation of Canis Major . I was able to image this nebula before also under the light polluted sky of Manila last March 2023 but my image processing skill was very novice. With some added knowledge in the coming years, I attempted again this faint nebula in the city of Manila once again using 3 hours total exposure using my trusty ZWO ASI294MC PRO Astro Camera on Borg 76ED Refractor with 1x Flattener and SVBony SV220 Duo Band Filter at -5 deg C. I know I need to give justice to this beautiful faint nebula by adding more integration time in the future. Nevertheless, I'm very happy with the output.

Deep Sky & Lunar Imaging Session - February 16-17, 2025

The sky this evening is clear so I also setup my Dwarf 3 Smart Scope beside my usual Borg 76ED imaging rig. I was trying out its mosaic mode to try to give some room in imaging NGC2244 Rosette Nebula in the constellation of Monoceros. I try to increase the FOV by 1.5x on both sides to see how it goes. Unfortunately, my imaging session was cut short by suddenly appearance of large cloud cover thus ending my session with a mere 13 minutes of total exposure only. I was also able to image afterwards through small cloud opening the Waning Gibbous Moon before I packup.

Sunday, February 16, 2025

Deep Sky Imaging Session - February 16-17, 2025

The sky this evening is clear so I once again try to image NGC2359 Thor's Helmet Nebula in the constellation of Canis Major and was lucky enough to get a 2 hour worth of data before I got clouded out again.

Saturday, February 15, 2025

Solar Imaging Session - February 16, 2025

The sky this afternoon is very cloudy and seeing condition is not that good. I only image full disk through small opening on the cloud with the Dwarf 3 Smart Scope and didn't image high resolution for this session.

Deep Sky Imaging Session - February 15, 2025

The sky this late evening is partly clear so I quickly setup to image NGC2359 Thor's Helmet Nebula in the constellation of Canis Major. But my luck runs out as I was only able to get a total exposure of only 36 minutes as clouds suddenly covered the entire sky thus ending my short session :( Nevertheless I still was able to get some decent detail on this nebula and I hope to be able to get a full exposure of this nebula in the days to come.