Great Orion Nebula Rises

The Christmas special is the Great Orion Nebula, photo of the holiday night, in a remarkable black & white astro imaging capture. The images show much more detail as the size of the telescope increases. This is a non-Amped image with M-processing by M. Otis.

Great Orion Nebula Rises

Winter is upon us as the Great Orion Nebula rises around sunset and is favorably placed in the East for this astroimaging result. M42 looks good in practically any telescope but the large ones show color and breathtaking views.

Going into color mode yields the result below. Which is preferred?

The final processed photo below accentuates the inner filaments of star bearing nebula deep within the bowels of this simple digital transformation.

Sun Baked Observatory Shroud

Sun Baked Observatory Shroud for Successful Solar Imaging

Imaging the sun with a mobile phone camera function is possible, however the touchscreen can be very problematic. For example, iPhone has a highly reflective screen that reflects so many images in bright sunlight, the photo image on the screen becomes completely lost in the reflective glare.

One simple solution is to make a hood of black material, with plenty of air circulation ventilation. An anti-reflective screen cover may also help. As a third option, go to settings and change the phone screen brightness to maximum.

Astroimaging Venus & Celestron Nexstar 6 SE

Astroimaging Venus & Celestron Nexstar 6 SE

Venus, along with three other planets (Mars, Saturn and Jupiter) are now increasingly well positioned, rising in the Eastern sky, for observing and astroimaging. The totally new powerful Celestron Nexstar 6 SE telescope is being prepped and pruned for planetary visual observing and electronic digital photographic astroimaging. The 6-inch catadioptric has ultimate superb optics and calibration and is being run through the paces as an indoor telescope viewing through a single pane of high quality white window optic for observatory convenience.

On the morning of Wednesday, April 6, 2022, the telescope was positioned by the window but initially not close enough. Once it was moved very close to the window, the sky field of view was increasingly wide enough to take in the planets. Jupiter had not yet risen from behind a tall skyscraper to the left, but extremely bright Venus was an easy centered target. Dimmer Mars and Saturn to the upper right were more difficult to locate given all the extreme light pollution, air pollution, and upper atmospheric haze.

This marks the beginning of a spectacular lunar and planetary observing and astroimaging season with a new telescope that's very easy to align, fast & efficient to use, and a breeze to transport.

Mini Solar System Ephemeris
Sun: 31.9 arcmin, mag. -27.7
Moon: 30.1 arcmin, 23.2% illuminated, mag. -7.8
Jupiter: 33.6 arcsec, mag. -2.0
Venus: 20.6 arcsec, 57.7% illuminated, mag. -4.3
Saturn: 15.9 arcsec, mag. +0.9
Mars: 5.3 arcsec, 91.3% illuminated, mag +1.0

Celestron Nexstar 6SE Fast Observing

Humanoido often does astro imaging in, between and around clouds. In this day photo taken with a smart camera, Taipei 101 helps frame the sky view. Clouds are often fast moving and can change positions significantly in a minute or two. Some upper level atmospheric clouds move at 1,000 mph.

Celestron Nexstar 6SE Fast Observing
The author Humanoido has invented Fast Observing, designed to do telescope image acquisition and the collection of data, observing, within fast opened slots that occur in the atmosphere.

Left: Humanoido adapted a multi-tier toolbox to hold accessories for rapid extraction during a fast astro imaging session. It's very easy to grab the eyepiece, barlow, focal reducer, the correct size spacer or reducer, a 1.25" or 2" accessory, a camera, or other.

This can include openings between clouds, cracks in clouds, the clear space surrounding clouds, and fast changing weather fronts. These fast observing time slots may last only a minute or two, or as much as 20 minutes, and can make the difference between doing astronomy during day or night or doing nothing at all. The key to this accomplishment is having the equipment ready and all the necessary accessories standing by or already installed. The telescope should be plugged into AC power and ready to boot up in a moment's notice. Camera and oculars can also be installed and ready. The telescope itself can be leveled and pointing in the right direction of the objects to be observed.

Singularity Observatory Weather Errant

https://space1usa.blogspot.com/2019/03/space1-weather-errant.html

Celestron Firstscope Experimenting Through Clouds

https://otisastro.blogspot.com/2021/04/celestron-firstscope-experimenting.html

Space1 Massive Sky Hole Opens

https://space1usa.blogspot.com/2019/12/space1-massive-sky-hole-opens.html