Steve Paxton's photos

Erhard Bernstein Photo

While the Old year Ended and the New Started my final shot of the year edited 5am this morning. This is the Horse head nebula in the view we are more use to seeing but not in the colour's we would expect. This is the Hubble pallet with RGB stars. What is different about this to the last shot of the Horse head in November was being able to Rotate the focuser and also have a counter weight to offset the filter wheel. Where the filter wheel ends up the weight is opposite. This was rotated 40 degrees straight up because of the scale I put on to suit the body of the focuser. The scale is long lines 10 and the small 5 degrees of rotation. The trial will continue and get slowly better refined so rotation will become the normal to suit the image much the same way on a DSLR we compose the shot we want. This was much the same way I used the ED80 and my Nikon lens all views rotated to suit the target. Happy new Year to all the readers here and Look forward to 2025 and our shots, clear skies and cool nights QHY183M -10c 100 Odd shots 5 min each filter over five nights .. 30 shots each RGB 1 min exposure. QHYCFW3 and 7 Antlia filters LRGBSHaO MeLE Mini PC Pegasus Astro Pocket Mini power box Starpoint Australis SP3 Focuser 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, Lr

I had to buy a new lens for night work as my old one has decentered. This is first try with the lens . I think the lens is better suited on my old D600 24M pixels than the D810 35M pixels as the pixels are very close and very small. The D600 I should be able to increase time with far less movement in the stars across the pixels of the camera as they are bigger..... I would rather get the time above 10 sec than around 8 sec and less stars trailing . This is pure trial work out under the stars while the photo detail is good the stars at the edges are very slightly trailed to get that fixed is drop the exposure time to 5 sec or go to Bigger pixel size so less movement between pixels.

The closest part next to the city I can go to to test out the new lens. The panorama worked out not so bad as the photos get cropped when they join each other. A lot of detail from the Samyang 14mm F2.4 AE lens. Next trial will be D600 as I did not think to take it with me. This is a summer bow far left you have Perth far right there is Southern Cross and Carina area, you cant miss Orion in the very center sitting as the Pot.

The fire looked a long way away but it was two streets away in a pocket of bush next to the road. Thankfully in a very short space of time it was under control. I got my wife to check on family in the area but it was closer to us than them when we where able to drive the area. Thankfully this one did not get out of control not like some that have already happened in Australia and WA.

The day started windy then it got very noisy we had a line of planes and Helicopters flying over head.

science.nasa.gov/image-detail/hubble-nebula-bok-display This is a close up of the center of the Rosette nebula with a slant of trying to get all the Bok Globules that are across the bottom of shot and appear very prominently in the Rosette. Once again the Hubble pallet in good use but not trying to get a strong Blue or green in the shot. Once again Narrow band and RGB stars QHY183M -10c 100 Odd shots 5 min each filter over five nights .. 30 shots each RGB 1 min exposure. QHYCFW3 and 7 Antlia filters LRGBSHaO MeLE Mini PC Pegasus Astro Pocket Mini power box Starpoint Australis SP3 Focuser 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

My wife chose the day to set up the tree, It looks cool but on a 41c day it was any thing but, lucky nothing here melts. Even the snow was Melt free around this tree. Enjoy the light show. Merry Christmas to Every body, hope you all have a great time with family and friends, reflect on this one BIG family here and the world we live in. Enjoy this time of year.

A very small target but I had time to kill and the name rose how could I resist.... Next is going to some thing to behold. QHY183M -10c 100 Odd shots 5 min each filter over five nights .. 30 shots each RGB 1 min exposure. QHYCFW3 and 7 Antlia filters LRGBSHaO MeLE Mini PC Pegasus Astro Pocket Mini power box Starpoint Australis SP3 Focuser 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

The shot that got my interest in deep space but not quite as you would normally see it. The traditional view with a one shot colour camera RGB. This shot is SII as Red Ha as Green O3 as blue but RGB stars. As the Ha is the dominant element its usually very green but I have only kept a hint of Green. This shows you just how green the Hubble pallet is. Glad to see this in real life I have never see the Horses beard before. Look closely you can see the shadow cast by the Nebula Back lit from behind. I have to work on getting the focuser set up and filter wheel balanced to be able to rotate the whole train to get the better view. The Filter wheel is very heavy so if you move out from inline the whole rig is thrown out of balance very badly. QHY183M -10c 100 Odd shots 5 min each filter over five nights .. 30 shots each RGB 1 min exposure. QHYCFW3 and 7 Antlia filters LRGBSHaO MeLE Mini PC Pegasus Astro Pocket Mini power box Starpoint Australis SP3 Focuser 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

Steve Paxton Photo

This is Part of the Large Magellanic cloud complex and just below the Man on the Vespa . While the Shot looks like the Coloured camera shot below, it is far from it. This is the filters in the Hubble pallet but using the Foraxx version which removes all the green and brings out the red. The finer details in the wisps is certainly far more visible that the coloured shot. This pure Narrowband Background and RGB (Coloured camera) stars added. QHY183M -10c 100 Odd shots 5 min each filter over five nights .. 30 shots each RGB 1 min exposure. QHYCFW3 and 7 Antlia filters LRGBSHaO MeLE Mini PC Pegasus Astro Pocket Mini power box Starpoint Australis SP3 Focuser 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

Please note I have gone back and reprocess the original image with new learning and understanding. I first took one night mix of the three filters O3 S2 Ha to see if it looked promising. I have been chasing cool to run the camera at -10c I have to get a 25c start. The one night looked very promising so I added an extra nights worth of shots to each filter to get close to 100 shots each. My first shot showed my Flats was not very good there were some Lens train faults the showed up in the processed image. so I got up at 5 am in the cool of the morning to retake a whole new set of flats Restack the whole lot and start all over again. you can see the big dot in the very center and the normal amount of vignetting you see on a telescope around the edge.(darkened corners) its a case of retaking the whole lot all over again...but the shot below shows you what is removed from the stacked shots to get a clean shot for each of the three filters. The Narrow band filters shows up a lot more of the Nebulas than a normal one shot colour camera. This is my first real shot into this world a lot more work but very interesting results. You know this shot but not taken like this. QHY 183M -10c QHYCFW 3 Filter wheel Seven ZWO 36mm unmounted astro filters. O3 S2 Ha 103 shots each filter 5 min over 4 night. MeLE Mini PC Pegasus Astro Pocket Mini power box Prima Luce Essato Focus Skywatcher 200 F4 PREMIUM PHOTO QUATTRO REFLECTOR OTA Skywatcher NEQ 6 Pro Hypertuned SVbony 50MM Guide scope QHY5L-II-M Guide camera Guided PHD2, Nina Pixinsight, Ps

The Man On the Vespa. A target I have never found a name for so I gave it one. Any one who has been to Italy and seen all the Vespa riders will know the sitting position. A few have heard me speak of this target but never really seen it quite like this. The Scope is in perfect focus why there is so much detail. Narrow band and RGB stars in the Hubble pallet. I have paid homage to the Hubble pallet by not completely removing all the green. Add to the list of shot that make this up I even tried Sky flats so its a real long stack list. At the very top of this shot is the outer Rim of the Tarantula Nebula one every one knows. Enjoy the man like I have never seen before......and all the wispy details in the Background. QHY183M -10c 100 Odd shots 5 min each filter over five nights .. one night 30 shots each RGB 1 min exposure. QHYCFW3 and 7 Antlia filters LRGBSHaO MeLE Mini PC Pegasus Astro Pocket Mini power box Starpoint Australis SP3 Focuser 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

The Jacaranda tree in our yard has a whole set of new Cloths only flowers no leaves as yet. No more power lines all under ground.

Sadly Deep space was more or less excluded from the prize list.

Flat mates in the Astro tent . Left a 10" Newtonian. Right my 8" Newtonian. We where off to a bad start not allowed to drive on the field every thing had to brought to the area and tent delivered late. In the tent it was tight to move about why we took to hands free display the working.... It seemed we had a gremlin in the tent we both where struck with things that went wrong. I was outside with my tablet but it kept dropping out which was use to drive the telescope. We had to in the end admit we both where outwitted... BUT we got to show a lot of people what we do and that it is not always trouble free. I ended up sitting on the floor of the tent with other trying to nut out the problem so all my plans to get photos after dark went out the door. My three photos are more or less in the middle of the Board.

This is my target for Astro fest but I had to take it well before hand so that the target shows up on screen as a quality image from the build up of shots. This is a very large part of the Large Magellanic Cloud. You are looking at two night worth of images at 200 Sec while I was after a third night clouds well and truly got in the way. This is two nights or 170 images worth of shots or 16 hours worth of data. I have pulled all my gear ready to put in my car ready to set up on the site and run contactless from outside the tent on the field a Curtin University. There will be some 50 Telescopes on the field so viewing and some photographic like mine. ZWO ASI 071 Mc -10c 170 shots 200sec over two nights .. MeLE Mini PC Pegasus Astro Pocket Mini power box Starpoint Australis SP3 Focuser Optolong LeNhance filter, Skywatcher 200 F4 PREMIUM PHOTO QUATTRO REFLECTOR OTA Skywatcher NEQ 6 Pro Hypertuned SVbony 50MM Guide scope QHY5L-II-M Guide camera Guided PHD2, Nina Pixinsight, Ps