Did not get to use my mobile rig so much in 2023. Weather was most uncooperative.
During the summer it was used to capture the Soap Bubble nebula. That thing is very faint! đ€Ș
It helped that this data was captured from the dark skies of #TerraNovaNP #darkskypreserve
Other images were captured from back yard.
Hopefully there will be better opportunities to use this rig in 2024.
More 2023 astro musings ...
During the summer, I get to spend some time in my "local" #DarkSkyPreserve - #TerraNovaNP. 2023 did not disappoint.
When conditions permit, I like to use a wide field lens and take in the Milky Way and landscape. And occasionally I corral a meteor or two along the way.
If I get lucky, I sometimes snag some #AirGlow ripples or a #MeteorSmokeTrail (like the one here, captured Aug 12)!
When there's no moon & clear night sky, I often like to chase blue reflection nebulae. The Van den Burgh catalogue is a good source for targets. The result is not always a "showpiece" but still interesting. Here are a couple: VdB 137/138 (May) & VdB 156 (Sept).
In the Fall, I spent some time on the Fossil Footprint nebula. It is colourful but not sure I see the "footprint" đ€Ș
B&W image - sometimes it is nice to capture emission nebula in mono.
I sometimes go for obscure targets - or at least they seem obscure for my equipment, sky & processing skills đ€Ș But they are fun to explore.
vdB 38 is from one year ago (just over an hour of integration)
Witch Head nebula (Feb '23) - my field of view is too small, but I don't get enough access to this target to go for a mosaic.
Happy w/ my Cave nebula result from Mar/Apr '23. @ 11 hours, it was my longest integration of 2023.
Sh2-96 - another faint Ha nebula!
M101 gifted us with a nice bright supernova last Spring - SN2023ixf.
My crappy weather continued over the summer and I had to grab whatever few clear sky openings I could get, so results for some targets were noisy and not "deep". But still interesting!
In addition to clouds, it seems that the Helix nebula in particular likes to hide behind houses, powerlines and trees! Perhaps I'll have better luck next year đ€Ș
Took more subs in 2023 vs 2022, but less usable subs. đ€Ș 'Clear' nights ... not-so-clear? Perhaps also I was more 'enthusiastically' throwing out questionable subs!
In March, had fun chasing the "Box" galaxy (Caldwell 21, NGC 4449) - managed to (just barely!) pick up it's tidal star trail. A decent feat for my Bortle 5/6 skies.
On March 2, took a short walk from my place to capture the Jupiter/Venus conjunction.
#astrodon #nlskies2023
#nlskies #HNY2024
#nlastro #astrophotography
2023 weather was not as cooperative as 2022 for my backyard observatory #astrophotography:
Imaging nights: 81 (2022: 98)
Targets: 27 (2022: 35)
Total subs: 5016 (2022: 4757)
Usable subs: 2241 (2022: 2800)
Discarded subs*: 2775 (2022: 1957)
Usable imaging hours: 148 (2022: 217)
Avg time / target: 5.5 (2022: 6.2hrs)
*power lines, wx, tracking
As usual, some results turned out decent, others not so much :=)
Here are some results from Jan/Feb of 2023.
Dave xxxiv đšđŠđ·đâš