Eta Carinae NGC 3372 with Vixen ED80 Refractor and modified Canon550D, 8500 Lightyears distant or 2600 Parsecs, in the Constellation of Carina (The Keel of the Argo Navis, from mythology, Jason and the Argonauts' Boat. This are of the sky also comprises the constelations of Puppis and Vella) Taken from 9 of the best of 24x5 minute/300 second frames acquired over two very patchy cloudy nights on the 16th and 20th of December 2025.

It's still always amazing to be under even partially clear skies and these 2 nights(16th and 20th Dec 2025) were mainly cloudy and I was primarily just uncovering the telescope to check its function and state as we have had a very cloudy December.   I was tempted to try for the Rossette and Horsehead Nebulae around Orion but initial attempts showed theese objects just too dim and the sky too patchy to get useful data.  Fortunately around Carina, lowish on the southern horizon, there were enough useful gaps in the clouds to get some usuable frames.

NGC 3372

Great Orion Nebula and the adjacent Running Man, NGC1980 and NGC1975) taken the night of the 11th December with one of my old trusty gold skywatcher ed80 Pro doublets with an Orion 0.80 focal reducer, UVIRcut Filter and a SVBony 405CC OSC Camera. This particular night I was using a HEQ5 mount ex Peter Sayers, ex ex Katina Edmunds. Once I get some clear nights to really establish its guiding performance (this night around 1 to 2 arcsecond variance) I plan to do a belt mod. I was also using 'in anger' for the first time, a mini PC with Nina, PHD2 and Carte Du Ciel to polar align, auto focus(with a Gemini Focuser), guide and capture. Studying and Learning from Cuiv The Lazy Geek's Video on how to remotely access a Mini PC via it's wifi hotspot from a nearby computer made removing a direct cable direct connection to the telescope possible. This will be handy for those sessions where I might like to sit inside in the warm just like you can with an ASIair setup. Why do this when I already have multiple ASIairs? Well just because I can? The image comprises 20 x 2 minutes frames and 20 x 0.5 second frames for the core around the Trapezium Stars, Processed and combined in Pixinsight and then further enhanced in Photoshop and Photoshop Raw. I am quite happy with the response of the colours and PixInsight's ability to hone in and enhance these mainly using the Curves Transformation function. Also I used the Local Histogram Equalization Function to further enhance the colour contrast.

 

The Iron Pot, Orion, Looking North 4am 1st December 2025.

RGB OSC Lagoon Nebula, Messier 8, 38x300 Second Images(Just Over 3 Hours of Data), Image Capture over 2 Sessions, 1st/2nd May and 13th August 2025. Sharpstar 100qii Refractor and ZWO ASI183 Cooled Astronomy Camera and Raw Image Postprocessing in Pixinsight

 

Prawn Nebula, OC9990, IC4628 in Scorpius taken 28th July 2025 with Sharpstar 100qii Refractor and ZWO ASI183 Cooled Astronomy Camera with a Dual Band Ha Oiii Filter, 6000 Light Years Distant. Continuing strongly here with the Astronomical 'Seafood' Theme. 27x300 Second(5 Minute Frames, 2 Hours 15 Minutes Total) Postprocessed in Pixinsight

OCI 1016 Lobster Nebula in the constellation of Scorpius, 8000 Lightyears distant. 26x300 second frames (130 minutes total) on the 5th September 2025 with a Sharpstar 100qii 10mm Refractor and an ASI183 Cooled Astronomy Camer. Frames combined and processed in Pixinsight.a

 Another Friday Night, this time 5th September 2025. I slewed to this random piece of nebulous sky thinking I was getting extra data on another nebula Sh2-54 that I had, from memory, been imaging the night before.

After about 2 hours of capture I realised my mistake and proceeded on to my intended target but it turns out this patch of nebulosity apart from its catalogue designation of OCI-1016 is also referred to as the Lobster Nebula. It has a similar theme and bearing to the Prawn Nebula in Sagittarius nextdoor.

String of Pearls Galaxy, NGC55, 6.6 Million Light Years Distant. Taken with Sharpstar 100Qii Refractor and ZWO ASI183 Astronomy Camera.

 

Howden Timelapse 9th November 2025

Madness took hold and the inspiration came after the end of Sunday Shift at work to pack up the cameras and drive 40 minutes south to the other side of the river and capture some clouds and stars setting on the western, albeit hilly, horizon.

 

10 minute startrail with Canon 760D and 11-14mm Tokina Lens

 

Spiral Galaxy NGC 300

Spiral Galaxy NGC 300.  With a hectic night of on call at work beckoning,(Friday), I captured some shots the night before,(Thursday), of this galaxy in the waxing moonlight, the final image being about an hours worth of exposure .

Distance: 6 Million Light Years away in the Constellation Sculptor.     Exposures 13 x 5 Minutes with a Celestron C8 SCT and ASI533 Camera, then resulting data processed in PixInsight.

Dual Band Ha/Oiii Tarantula Nebula and surrounds, Large Magellanic Cloud, 160,000 Light Years Distant and 1000 Light Years Wide. Vixen ED80 Doublet with 0.85 Reducer Flattner and Modified Canon 550D DSLR. Tracked on Skywatcher EQ6 Mount with an ASIair Mini, 50mm Guidescope and ASI120mc Guide Camera.

30 x 120 Second frames, Stacked and Post Processed in PixInsight. It was a good night relatively speaking with mostly sub-arcsecond guiding.

 

Helix Nebula (planetary nebula) NGC7293 23x5Minute Exposures ASI183MCPro and Sharpstar 100Qii Refractor. 26th August 2025 HaOiii Dual Band Forrax Pallet.

 

Cropped

Original FOV