The Eastern Veil Nebula NGC 6992

The Veil nebula has been my deep sky subject for the past month, and I'm finally done with the eastern portion. The desert heat and humidity we've had recently did not help at all, but us desert rats find ways to overcome this every summer. 

Next up is the western portion of the Veil nebula, which contains NGC 6960 the Witches Broom Nebula. I'm hoping to get the western side done before the end of the month.

NGC6992 Eastern Veil Nebula

taken in Cathedral City, CA

5h40m total exposure time

61 lights 4,5, and 6 minute exposures

48 darks

64 flats

80 bias

Stacked in DSS

Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak 4-1-17

This was my first attempt at imaging a comet, and after tons of research online I was actually able to pull off some interesting images, and even a video of its movement. Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak was not showing any signs of a tail, at least for now. The comets closest approach to the Sun is on April 12 2017, and it might start showing signs of a tail around then. Unfortunately, this comet is not really a naked eye object, and was even hard to spot in binoculars under our light polluted valley. This is why it's important to always turn off unnecessary lights at night, and if at all possible use lighting that does not pollute our night skies.

There are various ways to post process a set of comet images, one way stacks the comet and leaves the stars to trail. The other way is to stack the stars and the comet, which leaves you with a nice comet and a fairly clean star field in the background.

This was taken on 4-1-17 in Cathedral City, CA
Orion ST80
Canon 450d
Celestron AVX Mount
ASI120MC-s Guide Camera
Astromania 60mm Guidescope

 Comet with trailing stars

 Comet and corrected star field

Inverted view

Inverted timelapse video, about 2 hours

Cigar Galaxy (M82), Bode's Galaxy (M81)

Bode's galaxy (M81) is a large bright spiral galaxy located approximately 11.8 million light-years from Earth in the constellation of Ursa Major. The Cigar Galaxy (M82) can be found right next to M81 and resembles a cigar of sorts. This pair of galaxies look amazing next to each other, and the differences between them is striking. NGC3077 completes this trio of galaxies, but is more of a faint blob compared to its neighbors. I took these over a 3 week period in by backyard in Cathedral City California.

Equipment used:
Celestron Nexstar 6se
6.3 focal reducer
AVX Mount
Canon 450d 600s iso800
Orion skyglow filter

6 hours total exposure time

Bode's Galaxy M81

Cigar Galaxy M82

Here are the 2 images stitched together, creating a wider field of view. I also was able to add some H-Alpha data to M81 which gives it a bit more color

This next image was taken with a Orion ST80 which has awider field of view and shows all 3 galaxies 

Orion ST80
AVX Mount
Canon 450d 300s iso800
Orion skyglow filter

Jupiter rotation video 3-8-17

The other night I was out in the backyard imaging Jupiter and decided to make a rotation video of the planet. I ended up with 2 separate videos because the seeing changed and I had to reduce my magnification a bit. The end results turned out pretty good though!

These were made up of individual images taken every so often between 11pm and about 3am, so around a 4 hour period of rotation.

Celestron Nexstar 6se
Celestron AVX Mount
ASI120MC-S Camera
Taken in Cathedral City, CA

Here is a couple still images from the videos:

Orion Nebula and Running Man Nebula

Orion Nebula and Running Man Nebula, 4 hours of exposure time. I've been hitting this one every chance I get, I love these 2 nebulae. They are probably my favorite to image. I'm hoping to end up with 8 hours or more of exposure time, cloudy for the next few days here so it will have to wait.


4 hours total exposure time

Canon 450d

Orion Skyglow filter

Orion ST80

Celestron AVX Mount

Asi120mc-s guide camera

Cathedral City, CA

November 14 2016 Supermoon taken in Cathedral City, CA

I hope you all enjoyed the Supermoon, here's a hi-res image I took of the Supermoon in Cathedral City! This is a 25 panel mosaic stitched together to create the final image. I will say that I didn't notice much of a difference in the overall apparent size of the full Moon, but it was a heck of a lot brighter than normal.

M11 Wild Duck Cluster 7-21-16 Coachella Valley, CA

The Wild Duck Cluster, or  M11, is an open cluster in the constellation Scutum. This cluster is a rich and compact open cluster, known to contain about 2900 stars. Its name is derived from the brighter stars forming a triangle which apparently resemble a flying flock of ducks (I don't see it, but that's just me).

This is a stack of 30x1 minute exposures + 12x2 minute exposures at ISO 1600, camera used is a Canon 450d, and a Celestron Nexstar 6se telescope + wedge and a 6.3 focal reducer, 60mm guidescope + asi120mc-s. Taken in Cathedral City, CA 7-12-16

Moon Mosaic: Coachella Valley Astrophotography 7-17-16

This is not your typical Moon picture, but a mosaic of 11 pictures of the Moon stitched together to create a very large and detailed image. 

This was actually created using 11 short video clips: I pointed at one part of the Moon, took a short video at 64 frames per second, and then used stacking software which picked the best of those frames and added them together to produce a single image. I then moved the telescope to a different part of the Moon and repeated the procedure 11 times, until I had images of the entire surface of the Moon. These were then processed to sharpen the details, and finally stitched together to create the mosaic. 

Taken 7-17-16 in Cathedral City, CA

Nexstar 6se + 6.3 focal reducer

asi120mc-s camera

64fps 3000 frames per video

11 videos total

Dimensions 3300x3100

Full image here: http://i.imgur.com/b2o5aUL.jpg

M5 Globular Cluster taken in the Coachella Valley, CA 7-12-16

Messier 5 or M5 is a globular cluster of stars in the constellation Serpens. M5 spans 165 light-years in diameter, and is around 13 billion years old. This makes it one of the largest known globular clusters and is one of the oldest globular clusters in the Milky Way. M5 is about 24,500 light-years from us here on Earth. and is thought to contain as many as 500,000 stars!

This is a stack of 40x1 minute exposures at ISO 1600, camera used is a Canon 450d, and a Celestron Nexstar 6se telescope + wedge and a 6.3 focal reducer, 60mm guidescope + asi120mc-s. Taken in Cathedral City, CA 7-12-16

Mars 6-23-16 Cathedral City CA - Nexstar 6se asi120MC-S

Here is a shot of Mars taken last night 6-23-16. Mars is shining brightly at the moment, due to its recent opposition last month. The desert heat has limited my deep sky imaging lately due to tons of image noise, but the planets are still shining brightly, as is the moon. This was taken with my new ZWO asi120mc-s planetary camera attached to a Nexstar 6se. This camera blows my old Phillips spc900 webcam out of the water! The surface details really stick out in this one, and you can see cloud formations. This is my best image of Mars...so far!

Here is another one from 6-25-16, way better seeing this night!

Space station flyby over the Coachella Valley, CA 5-27-16

I always have such a fun time tracking the International Space Station, and this time I was at least halfway ready for it. I was in my backyard and spotted the station rising in the southwest and made a mad dash inside to grab the tripod and camera. I had only a moment or two, and was only able to capture its trail in a 5 second exposure, but boy was it bright! By the time I had taken the picture and previewed it, the space station was already heading out of sight in the northeastern sky.

Taken in Cathedral City, CA

Equipment used: Canon 450d

M27 The Dumbbell Nebula 5-18-16

The Dumbbell Nebula, or Messier 27 is a planetary nebula in the constellation Vulpecula. In 1764, Charles Messier discovered the Dumbbell Nebula, and was the first of its kind to be discovered, a planetary nebula. A planetary nebula is named more for its round appearance to early astronomers, and has nothing to do with actual planets. A planetary nebula is actually the remains of an old exploded star, and is made up of  ejected ionized gas.

This is a stacked image of 17 1 minute exposures at ISO 1600, 17 light frames, 17 dark frames, and 17 bias frames. Stacked in DeepSkyStacker with minor tweaks to contrast and brightness in CS6. These were all taken in my backyard in Cathedral City, CA with average seeing and visibility.

On a side note, I am personally blown away by this image. There has to be over a million stars in the picture! How cool is that right?

*UPDATE
After going through the data, and some help from internet astronomy friends, I Have re-edited using PixInsight LE and was able to pull out much more data this time around. The first 2 images are the new edits, and the last 2 images are the old data.

Astrophotography at The Joshua Tree National Park 5-15-16

The purpose of this blog, or website, or whatever you want to call it, is to highlight the potential of astronomy and astrophotography in the Coachella Valley and surrounding areas. Last weekend, the wife and I took a quick road trip to the Joshua Tree National Park and got some amazing astronomy and astrophotography pictures. This place is near and dear to me, and is probably my favorite of all of the national parks I have ever been to. The deserts in southern California are truly beautiful, both day and night. The potential for deep sky imaging at the Joshua Tree National Park is what draws thousands of visitors each and every year. The Milky Way is a sight to behold, and unfortunately, it is not visible in light polluted areas such as the Coachella Valley. On the plus side, we have places like the Joshua Tree National Park, Anza Borrego Desert State Park, and even beautiful skies up in the San Jacinto Mountains for night sky observations and imaging.

These images were taken with a Canon 450d, and the Milky Way shot was taken with a Celestron Nexstar 6se with the 450d attached.

Without further ado, the pictures...

Mercury Transit of the Sun from the Coachella Valley 5-9-16

The Mercury transit of the Sun on May 9, 2016 did not disappoint in the Coachella Valley, California. The sky was clear, and the weather was wonderful. This was an amazing event to witness, and was my first Mercury transit ever seen. The last Mercury transit occurred in 2006 and the next one won't come until 2019. The first image is a composite showing the path of Mercury crossing the surface of the Sun. The next  picture is single frame exposure, and the last image is another single frame exposure with a bit of a zoom on Mercury. Enjoy, and happy stargazing!

Saturn over the Coachella Valley, CA 5-2-16

I got the telescope out early this morning to photograph an ISS Moon transit, but unfortunately it occurred at 6:42am and the Sun was too bright, so I was unable to catch it. I did however catch a beautiful shot of Saturn. Saturn is currently at an apparent magnitude of .17 and will peak in brightness at the beginning of June this year. This is by far my best image of Saturn to date, the surface colors look amazing, as does the famous rings. This was taken with a Celestron Nexstar 6se + Phillips spc900 webcam 24mm eyepiece 2x barlow 2000 frames stacked in Avistack.

First attempt at imaging another galaxy, M51

Tonight was my first attempt at imaging another galaxy. This is M51 the Whirlpool Galaxy. This was taken with a canon 450d and a nexstar 6se. 19 lights 19 darks 19 bias. This will only get better, as i have a wedge on the way for my 6se. Exposure times should improve, but overall I am pleasantly surprised with what I got, as this is not an easy target in light polluted skies.

Milky Way, Mars, Saturn, and Antares triangle

4-30-16 High winds, poor seeing, and a last quarter Moon got in my way this morning but I did manage to catch the Mars, Saturn, and Antares triangle along with a little Milky Way so it wasn't all for nothing. This was a 2 minute exposure ISO 1600 Canon 450d piggybacked on a Celestron Nexstar 6se.

Mars, Saturn, and Antares in the pre-dawn sky

Good morning Coachella Valley, I woke up early enough this morning and noticed that Mars, Saturn, and Antares were perfectly lined up in the palm trees in my backyard. So, whats an astronomer to do? Grab the camera of course! Picture taken at 5:25am, with a Canon 450d ISO 100 F/5 30s exposure

4-17-16 Mars is quickly approaching opposition

Mars is quickly approaching opposition, and is looking better each day. The Mars opposition occurs May 22 and will not disappoint at an apparent magnitude -2.06 , so get your cameras ready.

Moon and Jupiter Conjunction 4-17-16

Tonight had a fantastic conjunction of our Moon and the planet Jupiter, meaning they were very close to each other in the night sky. This image is a composite of two separate images with different exposures that I combined together to create the final image. Taken with a Canon 450d at f/5.6 1/400s and 4s at ISO 100