Cloudy Nights!

It's been quite a while since I've been able to image DSO's(Deep Sky Objects). The weather here has been horrible for what seems like months. I did however have a brief window to try out my new UV filter on Venus.

These images were taken on Dec 3,2013 with my 8" Meade LX-50 SCT, an Orion 2x's Barlow and a QHY5L-II camera. I captured 3200 frames using the Baader "Venus" filter and Fire Capture software. The sky conditions weren't the greatest when I took these, but beggars can't be choosers at this point! I just hope it clears soon, I know I can capture better results

 

 

Having no clear skies to speak of, I also put together a collage of all of my planetary images I've captured with the QHY5L-II since acquiring it in June.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/astrochuck/11252623635/

 

The last DSO target I was able to image was M42 the Orion Nebula, way back on Nov 8,2013.

Shot with a AstroTech AT65EDQ refractor & QHY9M CCD camera through LRGB filters:

Luminance- 4x600s
Red-5x600s
Green-5x600s
Blue-2x600s

Again clouds interfered so this project was cut short:

 

 

 

 Looking for another cloudy night project, I decided to combine all the data I collected last year with this year's effort.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/astrochuck/11069657724/

 

Last years M42 taken with my ED102T & QHY9M.

 

10/21/2012,10/22/2012, 11/10/2012 & 11/18/2012

http://www.flickr.com/photos/astrochuck/8224254964/

R-3x10min 1x20min
G-3x10min 4x20min
B-3x10min 4x20min
Ha- 3x20 min

 

Combined all my 65mm/102mm subs using Nebulosity 3. Post processed with Photoshop CS6 & StarTools

Some of my previous attempts at M42

http://www.flickr.com/photos/astrochuck/sets/72157632051295203/