Horsehead nebula

This image is made on februari 16th. I used 40 frames with an exposure of two and a half minutes at ISO1600. This is a quick processing job. I'm sure that with some more time and effort this could be better :-). The horsehead nebula is in the constellation Orion, at a distance of 900 lightyears.

Messier 42 in HDR

To make this High Dynamic Range picture I used two series of frames; 20 frames at 30 seconds and 15 frames of 3 minutes exposure. The frames where stacked in Deepskystacker. The HDR image was created in Photoshop. A Highpass filter was also applied.

Mars, 31ste of januari

This is Mars on the 31ste of januari. For this image I used 1250 frames, stacked with Registax. Photoshop was used to add some more sharpness.

Apparature; 8" Skywatcher Newton; Philips SPC900 webcame; Televue 2x Barlow. The webcam used its internal zoom function (2x).

Messier 1; Crabnebula

After a long period of cloudy weather finaly clear skies! The cabnebula was my aim. This image consists of 17 frames of 6 minutes On ISO800. The camera used was a Canon400D (Baader Mod.). Scope; 8" Skywatcher Newton, F5.

Messier 33; The Triangulum galaxy

Next object on my list was Messier 33. This galaxy lies at a distance of approx. 3 million lightyears and makes it a neighbour of our galaxy. Due to the relative small distance, this object appears dim. The surface brightness is low. But beeing able to take long exopsures and using the modified camera, this object should be the ultimate testobject. In total 20 frames are used at ISO 800. The total exposure time is 1 hour and 45 minutes.

The Veilnebula

Now that the Baader modified Canon is in, I had to make a testshot. Because the Veilnebula NGC 6960 and 6992 climbed high in the sky, the telescope was pointed in that direction. The image of the witchbroom (right) has a total exposure time of 2 hours and 30 minutes. It is a stack of 30 images at ISO800. The image of Pickerings whisp has a total exposure time of 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Albireo with barlowlens

On a moonlight filled evening I felt like an experiment; Why not use the barlow lens to magnify a deepsky object. So after setting up the telescope I started shooting. This is the result; 20 frames of 2 minutes on ISO 800.

Comet Lulin

This comet reached higher northern altitudes in februari and march 2009. In that time it move from the constelation Leo, through Cancer to Gemini. During a short period of time it was even visable with the naked eye.These pictures where taken on march 2nd. The exposure time was 30 minuten on ISO1600 (60 frames of 30 seconds). The gas tail of the comet is pointing downward.

Closed rings of saturn

On februari 13th it was clear enough to use the scope again. Although Saturn was low in the eastern sky and the seeing was resonable, I tried to get a shot.

This image is stacked with 872 frames.

Apparture used: 8" Skywatcher Newton and a Philips SPC900 webcam.

Finally an acceptable M42

Due to trees in the south I wasn't been able to take a good shot at this nebulae. Yesterday I extended my EQ6-mount so I could peer over those trees. This version came out pretty well...

45 frames of 30 seconds on ISO 1600
Skywatcher 8" Newton
Canon 400 D

Snow, Venus and moonlight

Under clear skies the temperture dropped like a stone. Some fog gathered on the fields in the distance. Venus was clearly visible in the west. The almost full moon was already rising in the east. A sight too beautifull to resist. Shot taken with a Canon 400D with a 18-55 mm lens. Exposure was 20 seconds on ISO 1600.

Crater Clavius December 7th 2008

After a period of cloudy weather finnaly clear skies again. So another opportunity to take a shot at the moon. This is crater Clavius. The picture consists of 812 frames. The last touch-up was made in Photoshop.

Jupiter (best picture yet!!!)

I managed to take my telescope along on vacation. I have been to Southern France. No citylights and on a height of 360 meters de skies are dark and full of stars. On juli 1ste the seeing was awsome. Around 01:30 I was able to make this picture; Jupiter, the great red stop and an occulation by the moon Io.

For this photo I used 845 frames and stacked them with Registax. The final touch was made with Photoshop (sharpening).

Moon mozaic

These picture's where taken in a period of exeptional clear weather in Holland. To make these pictures I used several frames taken with the Philips SPC900 webcam. In Photoshop these frames where combined to "the bigger picture". Click on the individual pictures to see the full format version.

Spiral galaxy M101

For this picture I tried to use a longer exposuretime for the individual frames. The majority of the frames have an exposuretime of approx. 1 minute on ISO 1600. The total exposure time is almost one hour!

The frames are stacked in DeepskyStacker and the colours are enhanced in Photoshop.

Another globular cluster; M3

Last night clear skies again. So a chance for a next globular cluster; M3. I used 50 frames of 30 seconds on ISO 1600. I stacked them with DeepskyStacker (I like the live stacking feature in DeepskyStackerLive). In Photoshop I streched the picture and added some colour.

Globular cluster Messier 13

Up till now I wasn't able to make a decent picture of a globular cluster. Last night I amed the telescope at The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules. This picture consists of 50 frames. The exposure time is 30 seconds at 1600 ISO. I stacked the frames with DeepSkyStacker and touched it up a little with Photoshop.

Moon April 13th

This is a picture of the moon taken with the Canon 350D. I used 50 JPEG pictures (frames) and stacked them with Registax. With Photoshop I touched up the photo a little. This one of the finest results yet.

Results with the new Televeu 3X Barlow

Last month I was able to test my new Barlow. And up till now I'm very pleased with it. In this photo's you see the moon (crater Clavius) and Saturn. The picture of Saturn could be a bit sharper though but on the night the photo was taken the seeing was pretty bad.

Sharp moon image

This is the latest moon image, taken on januari 16th 2008. I used a Philips SPC900 webcam. From the 1200 frames taken I used 800.
they where stacked with RegiStax. The final touch-up was done with photoshop.