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.
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 🤪
I sometimes go for obscure targets - or at least they seem obscure for my equipment, sky & processing skills 🤪 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!
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" 🤪
B&W image - sometimes it is nice to capture emission nebula in mono.
Dave xxxiv 🇨🇦📷ðŸ”✨
WeeGem