14 replies to this topic

[GazingOli]

easy

• Mars
• NGC 2264 Christmas Tree Cluster
• Supernova 2020uxz in NGC 514

intermediate

• M78
• NGC 2174 Monkey Head Nebula
• NGC 1579 Northern Trifid Nb

challenge

• C/2020 M3 (ATLAS)
• NGC 2170

 

Mars
our neigbour is still in a very good postion for observing, easy to find, high enough to be above the haze, very close at the moment and opposite the sun to be fully enlighted. However with EAA not so easy to capture a really good image. I tried with lucky imaging and show some of the best frames I could get with my CPC800 at about f/15 with the ASI 224. I forgot to switch to RGB colours, so was all saved in b/w. I am sure you will do much better.

 

 

 

NGC 2264 Christmas Tree Cluster
in the constellation Monoceros (Unicorn) is quite easy as a star cluster, however it also hosts the Cone Nebula, which is a litte hard to get with EAA. I got an eVscope image from a friend to compare to what I got with my selfmade apo Olifraktor. Let us see what you can do!

 

 

 

Supernova 2020uxz in NGC 514
was discovered by Koichi Itagaki (Japan) and is located in the constellation Piscis. It is easy to spot with EAA. A little more tricky is to get the structures of the galaxy NGC 514 to which it belongs. Find more info on the supernova and lots of pictures at http://www.rochester.../sn2020uxz.html

 

CPC800 f/6.3 with ASI 178MM

 

 

M 78
is a reflection nebula in the constellation Orion. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780. It is about 6' x 8' in size. It is quite easy to identify but it takes time to get a really good image. I am really curios for your images!

 

Apo 80/480 at f/4.2 and ASI224

 

 

NGC 2174 Ape Head Nebula
in the constellation Orion is a very interesting nebula as far as I concern. I like the shape and the color and also the fact that you can relatively easy see something but it takes time to get the fine structures properly - which I did not manage to yet. So I can show what I got so far: one image of my ASI 224 in color and one b/w image of my newly bought ASI 178 MM.

 

 

 

NGC 1579 Norhern Trifid Nebula
in the constellation Perseus is a diffuse nebula of about 12' x 8'. I must admit that I am not very happy with the result of my trial to get an image of it, however I had little time in November to do EAA. I hope you will show me how to get it better.

 

Apo 80/480 at f/4.2 and ASI224

 

 

C/2020 M3 (ATLAS)
discovered in June 2020 by the Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) search program it got much brighter than first expected. In December you can find it in the constellation Auriga. More info http://aerith.net/co...0M3/2020M3.html. I got it in November by chance as I am not using any software for slewing and the object is not in the database of my CPC800.

 

Apo 80/480 at f/4.2 and ASI224

 

 

NGC 2170 in Mon
is a faint nebula, much fainter than I expected it to be. First I considered it to be intermediate. But then I realized that it is much harder to capture than expected. In my picture you can actually not see it, even though I made sure that I was in the correct position. So this will also be a challenge for me personally to get it better in December.

 

Apo 80/480 at f/4.2 and ASI178MM

 

 

Thanks everybody to take part in this months challenge!

 

CS.Oli

Edited by alphatripleplus, 01 December 2020 - 11:19 AM.

[alphatripleplus]

Nice selection, Oli. I always look forward to the Monkey Head and Christmas Tree around this time of year.

[dmanuel]

I was testing a wireless RDP setup tonight and thought I'd look for targets in the observing challenge.  Here is C/2020 M3 (ATLAS):

 

AT80ED @ F/5.6, 41 x 10s

ASI533MC, darks, cooling off

cropped to bring attention to the comet

 

 

 

Attached Thumbnails

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[alphatripleplus]

Before the clouds rolled in last night, I took a shot at two of the targets on the list. 

 

Set-up: C8 with twin reducers @ f/3.7, ASI290MM mini at high gain, no filters, no binning, captured using ASILive 1.3.

 

NGC514 (with supernova); 42 x 10s;

 

 

NGC1579; 30 x 10s;

 

(Still a bit low in the sky at the time of capture)

 

 

 

[risteon]

Sorry for the watermark, but this was my first ever EAA session, and first time trying Sharpcap and using my ASI533MC pro. Standard f/10 on my EdgeHD8.

 

I tried NGC2174 for the heck of it just testing and learning the camera and software. I did end up purchasing Sharpcap Pro since it is definitely a great piece of software, but haven't imaged this one again since. Thought I would share anyway, although I still have tons to learn yet!

 

[altair58]

NGC 2174

 

Monkey Head Nebula

 

WO ZS66 (Classic)
ASI224MC
ASIair Pro Guided/Live Stacked  Screen Saved  Cropped & Resized
20X120s  Unity Gain (135)  L-eNHance Filter  40°f 
Dark/Bias Frames applied  Bortle 8  Very Hazy

 

 

Great choice Oli!...

I'll have to come back and spend more time on this one. 

 

Altair58 

 

[russ75]

I'm new to EAA, branching out from planetary imaging. This is my first post in the EAA forum.

 

Last night, I was able to capture two of this month's challenge objects. They were taken with a Celestron C8 (203mm f/10) using a Meade f/3.3 focal reducer configured for approximately f/5. Camera was ZWO ASI224MC. My location is north of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, probably a Bortle 7.

 

NGC 514 with Supernova 2020uxz

98 frames at 21.8 sec each.  Cropped and resized only.

 

NGC 1579

114 frames at 21.8 seconds each. Resized only.

Edited by russ75, 10 December 2020 - 04:48 PM.

[alphatripleplus]

Welcome to the EAA Forum, Russ!

[alphatripleplus]

Some more from the last couple of nights with the following set-up:

 

All taken with AT72EDII  APO doublet, reduced to f/4/4; ASI290MM mini, high gain, no binning and ASILive 1.3. Most taken with H-alpha filter except where noted.

 

M78; 42 x 10s (no filter on this reflection nebula)

 

 

 

 

NGC2174; 24 x 25s (H-alpha filter)

 

 

[alphatripleplus]

Same set-up as above...

 

NGC2264 (Xmas Tree cluster); 24 x 25s (H-alpha filter)

 

(I tried to see if the surrounding dust clouds would show up in H-alpha to some degree.)

 

 

 

Bonus shot.....

 

The southern  end of NGC2264 includes the Cone Nebula, which is technically still part of NGC2264  :

 

Cone Nebula; 24 x 25s (H-alpha filter)

 

 

[mikenoname]

As has become my habit, I did the challenged last night live (along with a couple other goodies in Orion tagged on the end of the evening):

 

https://youtu.be/O00_D9dpQZ4

 

Had some technical glitches at the beginning with bandwidth issues but they cleared up after a bit and it turned into a fine evening.

 

Great list Oli, thanks for putting it together!

[russ75]

Here's my shot at Comet 2020 M3 ATLAS for this challenge. The wind was really gusting and the moon was bright and high in the sky.

 

I measured the comet's magnitude in the green channel of my rgb images as 13.0, but the most recent reported magnitude at the Comet Observation Database was 12.2 on December 25th.  I previously measured this comet's magnitude on December 20th as 11.8. It seems to be fading pretty fast now.

 

These images are straight livestack captures from SharpCap. They have only been resized, annotated, slightly cropped and compressed for upload.

 

The field of view is 17x12.8 arcmin. North is up. East is left.

 

Telescope: Celestron C8 (203mm f/10) at f/5.  Camera ZWO ASI224MC.

 

Update: I posted an animated gif of this sequence here.

 

11 frames at 10 seconds each (1.8 minutes)

 

 

11 frames at 10 seconds each (1.8 minutes)

 

Edited by russ75, 27 December 2020 - 11:39 PM.

[roelb]

Due to clouds during the whole month and cloud forecast till the end of the month I have looked at earlier observations.

 

All done with Evolution 8 @ f/5

 

M 78

ZWO ASI290MM

25 x 10 s

 

NGC 1579

ZWO ASI224MC

12 x 15 s

 

NGC 2264

ATIK Infinity Color

7 x 45 s

[GazingOli]

Thanks to everybody who joined the challenge. I myself was very unlucky with the the weather an could not try again.

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

CS.Oli

[Stargazer3236]

Here is my pic of the Monkey Head nebula, NGC 2174

Attached Thumbnails

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