Steve Paxton's photos

Borrowed gear at work from Carlos Taylor. A second look at this target I found when I did the Milky Way panorama. I am impressed with this small rig no end. so the question is 5 h data enough the answer is yes but if you want a quality photo 20H+ is best. QHY183C -10 39 shots each night over 5 nights. 23 H 600 sec each shot. Sharpstar 61EDPH II SESTO SENSO Focuser Skywatcher NEQ 6 Pro Hypertuned Guided PHD2, Nina Pixinsight, Ps Lr.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_6188 DO LOOK AT THIS BIG. The EGG the dragons are fighting over I was given Carlos small rig Sharpstar 61EDPH II，ED Glass，APO，F5.9，Refractors，Aperture 61mm and a Primaluce SESTO SENSO Focuser which has an overall focal length of 275mm but depending which camera I put on it I can get 1100mm or 412 mm out of the same set up. I dont have short cables most of mine are 1.8m long i had three piled up on top but I was able to make two shorter ones for this rig. To get balance I had to add a weight to the camera as I had to use my guide scope which is bigger and more front heavier than Carlos one. As the Computer is under the front I also had to add a small wire to tie up the front to make sure it was all stable. Has not gone without problems the Focuser had a change of Drivers 3 times so I was always behind and having to calibrate each night. I am now up to date and I know what the problem is if it happens again. This is a 2 shot panorama horizontal in the shot 3 nights each panel so there is plenty of data in the shot this was interrupted by the day of big rain. QHY183C -10 39 shots per nights per panel 3 nights each. 600 sec each shot. Sharpstar 61EDPH II SESTO SENSO Focuser Skywatcher NEQ 6 Pro Hypertuned Guided PHD2, Nina Pixinsight, Ps Lr.

I was working today with the understanding we were in for a fine day and no rain. I did not cover over the mount but for some cloth to cover it from the sun. At about 12:30 I looked north dark clouds and rainfall, I took off as fast as I could to cover the mount and telescope at home. I had everything covered and about 2 hours later "whats that noise" the heavens opened up. northern suburb's cars are drowned by the volume of water houses lost there ceilings and a lot of damage. The shot above is at sunset when the next shower is about to hit lightening and thunder all about I was out in the rain drops to get the shot. 33 Days since we had "ANY " rain fall but not in this volume.. This put paid to the idea of shooting the last night of the panorama I have been doing. for those technically minded this is a three shot freehand panorama with the 24mm lens.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IC_2944 The Bad news is my focuser they could not fix, they could not undo the screws. The interesting part is I was able to undo them all myself. So I have to be content for a while with no focuser. This is the a very large Nebula that is quite prominent in the Milky way. For the very first time I was able to see the planetary nebula just out to the right. www.astrobin.com/vtip8u Shows up better in this shot the very small blue dot what is a planetary nebula Helix is another example of one.. My shot is with the nikon lens and I am still staggered the amount of detail in the shot. this is a a 900 mm shot of the center. QHY183C -10 150 shots over 5 nights 600 sec each shot. Nikon 300mm f4 D Lens Skywatcher NEQ 6 Pro Hypertuned Guided PHD2, Nina Pixinsight, Ps Lr.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vela_(constellation) This started as a good idea but was really the wrong time started high and finished by 3am. I have never taken the three gums middle to top of shot the small one Gum 15, to the Right Gum 14 and Gum 17 to the left. At the bottom of shot the face of what looks like a Racoon The Vela Supernova Remnant. RCW 35 the larger Red area and RCW 36 the one on the edge of the left side. What looks like a single shot is infact a 10 shot panorama 2 x4 Plus I added an extra two shot to get in RCW35 &36. just out of shot left and below RCW38 Further Left Pencil Nebula QHY183C -10 38 shots per panel over 10 nights 600 sec each shot. Nikon 300mm f4 D Lens Skywatcher NEQ 6 Pro Hypertuned Guided PHD2, Nina Pixinsight, Ps Lr.

What you are about to read is solely under the birds control. I tend to ignore the bird and let it do what it wants to do. A tall story.. week 1 Wednesday I was trying to fix the primary mud kitchen and all the leaks on the Poly pipe. While I was on my knees trying to screw up a clamp I had a visitor a small willy wag tail I noted the Bird but kept working in the quiet. The bird walked all around me as I was there. I got up and sat on the wall to turn the tap on and check. I noted I had the willy wagtail on the limestone block wall less that 7"away from me. I had to get up and go back to the shed to find more clips to crimp up the Pipe. When I sat down the Willy wagtail flew down on the ground at my feet walked under my legs to the other side and flew up to the limestone wall again less than 7" away. The whole time the bird was chattering away and moving , I did nothing but carry on working watching the bird. When I got up to get ready for home the bird flew away. Friday when I took my ladder and the piece of wood for the roof of the bells and pipe area I noted the sound of a willy wag tail in the tree above. When I got set up to drill to screw in the long screw to hold the wood , on the end of the wood (two way from me about 15" apart) landed the Willy wag tail. I kept working and ignoring the visitor only to have it move to the next one right next to me. I was slowly driving the long screw into the wood only to have the Willy wag tail land on my rolled up sleeve at my elbow of my left arm. Sat there for a while moving and chattering away I stopped what I had just finished to find the bird walking down my arm to my watch on left hand. I did not move but started to talk to the bird only to have the bird standing on my watch. The bird flew into the tree, both occasions there was no one about to witness any of this but myself and the bird. week 2 Friday I was in the sand pit try to look under the table of the mud kitchen to see how the pipe work was hooked up. to do this i had to lay on the sand and look into the hole I dug under the table. I heard the chittering of the bird next I could feel my hair being pulled. Once I finished I sat on the block wall of the sand pit to send a message what I found when I felt the bird on my knee so just changed the app to camera and to the photo with no movement at all, I just prayed the camera was able to focus it was so close..... I kept the same pose till the bird decided to move to the block wall then into the sand pit where I had just be laying. you can see my boot print in the sand. In no way have I even tried to call or influence the bird it is all up to the bird I just go about what I am doing. This is not a tame bird it's a wild bird that lives in the school area , yes its a juvenile bird but it seems more than interested in what i do about this area. Ps 5/4/2024 these school holiday I had the huge job of removing 50 odd years of paint and sanding back to prepare to give the whole wall 2 new coats nine windows in full length.. I was between two air-conditioning protective cages very slowly scraping of all the old loose paint in the quiet of early morning. I felt something on my shoulder I knew the bird was on the cage to my left . In the glass window I could see the reflection of the small bird as it moved to the right then hopped on to the right frame beside me . I still don't know what to make of this behavior. 15/4/2024Today I had my normal straw hat on to help with sun protection as I walk out of the pre primary only to see that I had a passenger on the hat on the shadow on the ground below me..... Its a wild bird.

My wife came in come look at the stealers in the tree. There are three huge trees in our yard but no fruit ripe to pick but the 28 is having a field day quite happy low down to let me take the photo. Wife is not happy. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_ringneck

This was a bit of an experiment to see just what the 300MM lens could capture. RCW 75 is bottom Left and RCW 74 top and right. Both normally done with a much longer focal length and with the narrow band filters to bring out the very Rich Hydrogen areas ( Red). As I went to a wedding yesterday and this is a manual Focus I did not self start the Mount as I did not know focus. This is in the area called the Coalsack in the Milky way Hence its mostly black This is the Black area Of the Emus Head and this is further to the middle in the Redish area. If you go to the wider area shot I have added this as a PIP so you can see where they are in the shot. Pay particular note of the Number of stars in the Shot I in no way diminished them so the background nebula shows up. I have taken only 38 shot but think there is no point in me to add to this shot but thought its worth showing just how many stars in the milky way and this is a very small part of it. QHY183C -10 38 shots over 1 night 600 sec each shot. Nikon 300mm f4 D Lens Skywatcher NEQ 6 Pro Hypertuned Guided PHD2, Nina Pixinsight, Ps Lr.

My Focuser on the main telescope would not calibrate so I had to send it away to get looked at. So I have turned the Clock back to my old school days when I first started out in Astro. Nikon 300mm D F4 AF-S come from the 2000s days . There is no auto focus on this rig its all manual focus at the start of the Night and tape lens. In the lens defence for its age even though I checked focus each night it never moved. So this setup is just nikon lens, Filter draw With Optolong LeNhance filter inside( for light pollution) and the QHY183C colour camera. This is 29 hour's worth of data in the hope the lens worked out well. To say that I am over the moon with the end result is an understatement who said its complicated. I had thought of more shots but 29 hours is plenty as I have not heard back I will find another target to try. QHY183C -10 174 shots over 5 nights 600 sec each shot. Nikon 300mm f4 D Lens Skywatcher NEQ 6 Pro Hypertuned Guided PHD2, Nina Pixinsight, Ps Lr.

You have to admire someone willing to cycle across the Nullarbor. No one coming either way but us in the bus.....

I had this finished but not finally edited when we went away on holiday to Albany. Perth was 42c & 41c while we where away. when we got home the inside was 35c so I sat down to cool off and edit and try and get it right. These are not RGB stars those filters arrived while we were away they have yet to installed, flats taken and offsets done. This is 28 hours worth of shot time Ha SII O3 combined as Ha SII O3. I have to say I see a Gorilla family male with laser eyes. QHY 183M -10c QHYCFW 7 Filter wheel 4 ZWO 36mm unmounted astro filters LRGB 7nm & 3 Antlia Pro filters Ha SII O3 3nm. Ha O3 SII 90 shots each filter 5 min over 4 nights. MeLE Mini PC Pegasus Astro Pocket Mini power box Prima Luce Essato Focus Skywatcher 200 F4 PREMIUM PHOTO QUATTRO REFLECTOR OTA Skywatcher F4 Aplanatic Coma Corrector Skywatcher NEQ 6 Pro Hypertuned SVbony 50MM Guide scope QHY5L-II-M Guide camera Guided PHD2, Nina Pixinsight, Ps

We took a 4 hour cruise up the Kalgan River on the Kalgan Queen. As I had a camera I was forewarned where the fish would be thrown and be ready it was over in seconds but I have 4 stunning sequences from fish floating on the water pick up and fly away in this shot you can see where, pick up and fly away. It pays to keep Both eyes open and watch the bird fly in and out. www.birdsinbackyards.net/forum/WA-osprey this is a trip I can completely recommend for history lesson, facts and humor, www.boattours.com.au/tours

The morning mist over the Sound still yet to dissipate. one ship and the head lands caught in the mist.

The photo may not do it justice. You are looking a one piece of granite about 6m x 10m its no small Rock. Thank fully they left it as part of the natural landscape of Albany. The interesting thing is its not quite so dog like from the other side.

The whole bus load asleep I went for a walk in the quiet of early morning

The very same target, number of photos, editing, shot time of year and conditions but a very different result. For a start the filters suffer from none of the Halos that the ZWO filters have. compare the pair Antlia ZWO and there is more Data obtained for the same number of shots If you look at the amount of red detail you see in this shot when you compare it to the first. I also feel the filters a just a little bit crisper in detail I like the fact i did not have to hide some small filter flaws in the background why ZWO has a slightly darker background. You can see that the 3nm filters have created an image with finer detail due to their improved contrast and signal to noise ratio. They are also able to capture more of the faint areas of the nebula to tease out even more colour than the 7nm filters.. While they were not cheap they have more than paid for themselves. I note there is a rotational shift between the two I noted some of the stacking when I was able to watch the photos the out lines did not line up as the nights progressed . This was also noted in the first shot when you saw the stacks going together. This would only be fixed if you had Auto rotation as you were taking the shots. this is something I am looking into at the moment By way of a total odd ball this is same data 100% same editing but starting of with Ha O3 SII combination rather than the Hubble pallet SII Ha O3. QHY 183M -10c QHYCFW 7 Filter wheel 4 ZWO 36mm unmounted astro filters LRGB 7nm & 3 Antlia Pro filters Ha SII O3 3nm. Ha O3 SII 90 shots each filter 5 min over 4 nights. MeLE Mini PC Pegasus Astro Pocket Mini power box Prima Luce Essato Focus Skywatcher 200 F4 PREMIUM PHOTO QUATTRO REFLECTOR OTA Skywatcher F4 Aplanatic Coma Corrector Skywatcher NEQ 6 Pro Hypertuned SVbony 50MM Guide scope QHY5L-II-M Guide camera Guided PHD2, Nina Pixinsight, Ps

This is 4 nights worth of images plenty of moon light but Narrow band is totally unaffected by moonlight. I have to say this looks to me more like a Angel with Blue Wings. This is in the Hubble pallet as my wife like that version better than the Red/Blue of Ha O3 SII. Contrast the same camera but colour version. This is the last Image with the ZWO narrow band filters and start with Antlia narrow band filters. The big up side better data and O3 does not have the huge halo of the ZWO filters. The filters have been sitting since December 9 at the airport with no explanation why till I rang up, "why". I received them yesterday so tonight its start working with the setting up "offsets" and Flats only then can I actually use them. I will test out on the same image to see the difference between the two sets. QHY 183M -10c QHYCFW 7 Filter wheel Seven ZWO 36mm unmounted astro filters. Ha O3 SII 90 shots each filter 5 min over 4 nights. MeLE Mini PC Pegasus Astro Pocket Mini power box Prima Luce Essato Focus Skywatcher 200 F4 PREMIUM PHOTO QUATTRO REFLECTOR OTA Skywatcher F4 Aplanatic Coma Corrector Skywatcher NEQ 6 Pro Hypertuned SVbony 50MM Guide scope QHY5L-II-M Guide camera Guided PHD2, Nina Pixinsight, Ps