Category Archives: Astronomy

The Cold Moon – Last Full Moon of 2020 (Dec 29)

Posted on 17 January 2021 by matthannan

With the last full moon of 2020 approaching, I had the thought that I would give astrophotography with the Astronomers Without Borders OneSky telescope another go. I re-read the first, I don’t know, 20 pages of the world-famous forum thread for this mighty, little scope at Cloudy Nights.… Read the rest

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Perseus at 50mm

Posted on 27 November 2020 by matthannan

After a Thanksgiving Day of clouds yesterday, I happened to glance at my Clear Skies app and saw that the skies would clear at 8:00PM, so I jumped into my new Carhartt insulated overalls and headed out. It was warm enough that I didn’t need the overalls, but they were comfortable.… Read the rest

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Leveling up my post-processing with StarNet++

Posted on 18 November 2020 by matthannan

The other night I posted an image of Cassiopeia that I banged out very quickly in Sequator and The GIMP. Over the last few nights, I have re-run those images through Astro Pixel Processor as a way of getting better acquainted with that tool and its huge amount of features.… Read the rest

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Finally caught M31 and M33 together. Plus Cassiopeia with M103

Posted on 15 November 2020 by matthannan

I finally got a good shot of M31 and M33! So happy.

50mm, f/2.8, ISO 640, 361 exposures at 5 seconds each (just over 30 minutes)

I have a much larger version, should you be interested. In that one, you can see that I was starting to capture the arms of M33, but I really like the spikes on Mirach (the star in the center of the picture).… Read the rest

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M31 and M33 again

Posted on 8 November 2020 by matthannan

Revisited the sky last night after a period of inactivity due to rain, snow, clouds, and/or cold. It was nice to be outside again. Tried to get M31 and M33 in the same shot.

M31 & M33, Take 1

Because I was unable to see my two main targets, I was unable to properly frame the shot.… Read the rest

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Triangulum Galaxy at 50mm

Posted on 18 October 2020 by matthannan

M33, the Triangulum Galaxy, or the Pinwheel Galaxy, and its neighborhood at 50mm.

If the sky stays clear, I am going to try again tonight at 100mm. I knew nothing about this galaxy yesterday. Now I know that it is the second brightest object that we can see with our naked eyes (under extremely awesome dark sky conditions) that is outside of our own galaxy.… Read the rest

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Andromeda at 50mm, again

Posted on 18 October 2020 by matthannan

Went out on the 14th and took a quick 470 pictures of a blank spot in the sky. Actually, they were 4 seconds a piece, so just over a 30 minute exposure. Stopped down to f/2.8 and tried out reducing to ISO 640.… Read the rest

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Andromeda at 50mm

Posted on 11 October 2020 by matthannan

This is from a session that I did back on Sept 25, using the 50mm f/1.8 prime lens. Been banging my head against it in Deep Sky Stacker, Siril, and Sequator for the stacking and pre-processing, and then finishing up with The GIMP for post-processing.… Read the rest

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Andromeda at 85mm

Posted on 16 September 2020 by matthannan

Well, I went out a couple of nights back and tried for Andromeda again.I thought that if zooming in to 200mm with a slow lens (f/5.6) was not getting it done, especially with 1 second captures, perhaps not being so aggressive with the zoom might work to my favor.I… Read the rest

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Moon, Saturn, and Jupiter to be visible in conjunction in August: Time, date, and how to watch it

Posted on 28 August 2020 by matthannan

After August 28, the next day the moon will move slightly in its monthly journey around the earth.

Source: Moon, Saturn, and Jupiter to be visible in conjunction in August: Time, date, and how to watch it

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The Sky said “I’m gonna do something cool!… Read the rest

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