So as I mentioned earlier, the quest for my astronomy gathering this month is to get a photo of the Rosette Nebula, which is pretty good for us to shoot at home at the moment.

You saw my in progress shot with my Dwarf 3, but I haven't forgotten about my Dwarf 2, so Rob lent me his SVBONY CLS filter and I've had a bunch of sessions with it.

So here's the result, and I'm loving the rosiness of the Rosette 🙂

Of course I should call it my preferred moniker - the Unicorn Nostril. Well, look at it, it's right there at Monoceros's snout in the right place!

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#Nebula

So the challenge from my Astronomy club for us this month is The Rosette Nebula, Caldwell 49 or NGC 2237.

This is a bit of a rough cut - I've not seen it done with an OIII SII filter before, and I'd like to add some more frames. Thanks to @rdm for lending me the filter!

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Well, I put the telescope out last night and targeted the Keyhole Nebula. Now, I don't know about you but this looks like Great A'Tuin, Sir Terry's marvelous astrochelonian, is checking on a star cluster nest of eggs.

May Sir Terry rest in peace and know that he's loved. I met him a few times, a wonderful soul he lit up a room like a gentle nebula himself!

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#TheTurtleMoves #TerryPratchett #Discworld

I rode this image into dangerous territory last night, because I ran out of space in the telescope, oops, but still it turned out pretty well. Remind me to clear off the scope this arvo!

The first time I processed the image it was pretty bright, it didn't look very natural, so I did this version. I might post the lurid one later.

So who's ready to see the Carina Nebula I did a couple of nights ago after this? Only an hour or so but you'll get to see us Southern Hemisphere types' consolation prize for not having a pole star.
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I took advantage of the new Moon a couple days ago, and got a nice look at Centaurus A.

Quite good detail this time.

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Had a 20 minute session with this pretty open cluster last night.

This is Caldwell 96, and it looks more to me like The Sprinter than the Southern Beehive. Its two big red giants are pretty clear.

I don't think I have taken this one with the #Dwarf3 before.

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Hi there, this is a public service announcement for us Southern Hemisphere Astro types, and also for Northern Hemisphere folks that might be interested.

We were all disappointed when Quasar Publishing announced that they would no longer be releasing their long term publication Yearbooks Astronomy Australia. It has been invaluable to Australians and others watching the skies in the South, and really helped me as a beginner.

However, just today I had some news from them.

"I thought the last email was the final, but we have some news. There may be one or two more emails in the next few months if we have more news. Should you prefer not to receive these, just reply and say so, and I will remove you from the list.

First, PDF versions of all our printed books (Eastern Edition only for 1993-2002) are now available for free download from our website.

A group of people is exploring the possibility of producing a similar publication. If this comes to pass ( and it may well not), it would not be before a 2027 edition.

So, in the meantime, we have created a digital (PDF) 2026 edition that contains somewhat less of our regular information; there are no feature articles, no outer planet satellite information and no minor planet or comet information. There are only one or two sky views per month, and some other areas have reduced coverage. This is available free from the Quasar website.

At this time, we do not know if there will be any further editions after this one.

Note that there are two versions of the PDF: “dark” and “light”. The “dark” one has been created with the same colours we have used for many years now. The second “light” edition has had a number of the diagrams and pages “lightened up” to make printing your own pages easier (less toner or ink). Both are downloadable from this link. You only need to “order” a quantity of 1.

Also, this link is set up to "order the product", which means you are asked for name, address and email. The reason for this is to use the email in case we need to notify anyone of any changes to the PDFs. You can put whatever you want in as the street address if you prefer; we are not saving those. We have never, and will never, sell or give away any customer details.

Quasar download page: https://quasarastronomy.com.au/downloads/

Product link https://quasarastronomy.com.au/product/astronomy-2026/

Glenn, Ken & Peter"

So that's great news and I urge everyone to help theirselves to this exceptionally useful resource.

Before we had the sudden storm with lightning and rain, together with temperatures around 40C, it had been a pretty clear week. Towards the end it started to get a bit windy, but we were able to get some nice images going.

I experimented with some mosaics - some worked, some didn't. If you click on the images, they'll embiggen.

A mosaic which worked quite well - popularly known as Orion's Belt, however local Ballardong Nyoongar people may call this part of Nyingarn, the Echidna's head. Orion's sword is Nyingarn's snout, and Orion's bow forms the curve of Nyingarn's round body.

Then the seasonally appropriate Christmas Tree Cluster, a bit of a look at the sky around it and the Cone Nebula.

And a four hour look at Orion's great Nebula.

Be safe everyone and know that our thoughts are with you all.

Tap to see biggerer.

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#SmartTelescope #Dwarf3 #astronomy