M51.Whirlpool Galaxy. Canes Venatici. Imaged from Bradworthy, Devon.
Intes MN71 - 18cm Maksutov-Newtonian. Canon 350D DSLR camera.
EQ6 Pro SynScan with autoguider. 7th May 2008.
This spectacular galaxy is located just below the tail star of Ursa Major but is actually in Canes Venatici. Although M51 appears to sport a tail with a structure attached, it is in fact, two unrelated objects that just happen to lie along the same line of sight. The smaller galaxy is further from us than the main galaxy. Placed almost at zenith there was considerable neck bending and painful contortion involved in finding a guide star.
8 x 5 minute exposures, 3 x 2.5 minute exposures and the corresponding dark frames and flat frames were all shot on the same evening. Each sequence was then stacked and converted in DeepSky Stacker and saved as 16 bit tif files. Final image combining and processing was done with Photoshop.

M42. The Orion Nebula. Imaged from Bradworthy, Devon.
Intes MN71 - 18cm Maksutov-Newtonian. Canon 350D DSLR camera.
EQ6 Pro SynScan with autoguider. 24th February 2008.
This fantastic image reveals the Orion Nebula in its full glory.
6 x 5 minute exposures, 6 x 2.5 minute exposures, 6 x 1.25 minute exposures, 6 x 30 second exposures and 6 x 15 second exposures with the corresponding dark frames and flat frames were all shot on the same evening. Each sequence was then stacked and converted in DeepSky Stacker and saved as 16 bit tif files. Final image combining and processing was done with Photoshop.

M33. Imaged from Bradworthy, Devon.
Intes MN71 - 18cm Maksutov-Newtonian. Canon 350D DSLR camera.
EQ6 Pro SynScan. 6th October 2007
This splendid face on galaxy makes a spectacular image. Despite its size and quoted magnitude it has a very low surface brightness and careful processing is necessary to bring out the fainter details. With the help of reference material many nebula and clusters within M33 can be identified. 6 x 5 minute exposures, 5 dark frames and 5 flat frames were stacked and converted in DeepSky Stacker to reduce noise and then saved as 16 bit tif. Final image processing was done in Photoshop.

NGC 7331 and Stephans Quintet. Imaged from Bradworthy, Devon.
Intes MN71 - 18cm Maksutov-Newtonian. Canon 350D DSLR camera.
EQ6 Pro SynScan. 15th September 2007
One of the brightest non-Messier galaxies 7331 presents a wonderful contrast to the small group of galaxies, much loved by visual deep sky observers, known as Stephan's Quintet. The brightest member of the quintet is mag. 12.6
Cloud was drifting across the field throughout these exposures.
12 x 5 minute exposures, 6 dark frames and 6 flat frames were stacked and converted in DeepSky Stacker to reduce noise and then saved as 16 bit tif. Final image processing was done in Photoshop.

NGC 6992 - The Veil nebula in Cygnus. Imaged from Bradworthy, Devon.
Intes MN71 - 18cm Maksutov-Newtonian. Canon 350D DSLR camera.
EQ6 Pro SynScan. 3rd September 2007
This spectacular object is a supernova remnant. The picture shows just a section of the whole nebula. It is less well known than the section that runs close to 52 cyg.
8 x 5 minute exposures, 4 dark frames and 4 flat frames were stacked and converted in DeepSky Stacker to reduce noise and then saved as 16 bit tif. Final image processing was done in Photoshop.

M17 - The Swan nebula in Sagittarius. Imaged from Bradworthy, Devon.
Intes MN71 - 18cm Maksutov-Newtonian. Canon 350D DSLR camera.
EQ6 Pro SynScan. 21st August 2007
This bright emission nebula has revealed an extensive area and much structure. Imaging shows a large area of nebulosity beyond the bright Swan or '2' shape that is so well known visually.
A Canon 350D captured this image with 40 x 1 minute exposures, and 20 dark frames. The images were stacked and converted in DeepSky Stacker to reduce noise and saved as 16 bit tif. Final image processing was done in Photoshop. The DSLR was at the prime focus of our 7" Intes, the focal length of which is 1060mm at f6.

M16 - The Eagle nebula in Serpens Cauda. Imaged from Bradworthy, Devon.
Intes MN71 - 18cm Maksutov-Newtonian. Canon 350D DSLR camera.
EQ6 Pro SynScan mount with webcam autoguider. 8th August 2007
This lovely nebula is best known from the HST image named 'The Pillars of Creation.' Our equipment is a little more modest but has still revealed lots of colour and detail including a couple of Bok globules.
A Canon 350D captured this image with 8 x 5 minute exposures, four dark frames and four flats. The images were stacked and converted in DeepSky Stacker to reduce noise and saved as 16 bit tif. Final image processing was done in Photoshop. The DSLR was at the prime focus of our 7" Intes, the focal length of which is 1060mm at f6. We used a modified webcam and 'guidedog' software to autoguide the EQ6 mount.

NGC 5907 in Draco. Imaged from Bradworthy, Devon.
Intes MN71 - 18cm Maksutov-Newtonian. Canon 350D DSLR camera.
EQ6 Pro SynScan mount with webcam autoguider. 21st May 2007
A wonderful edge on galaxy with a ratio of less than 1:6. The core of this galaxy can barely seen over the dust lanes in its plane.
A Canon 350D captured this image with 6 x 4 minute exposures, three dark frames and six flats. All frames were RAW and converted to 16 bit Tiff with Canon Photo Professional. The images were stacked in DeepSky Stacker to reduce noise and final image processing was done in Photoshop. The DSLR was at the prime focus of our 7" Intes, the focal length of which is 1060mm at f6. We used a modified webcam and 'guidedog' software to autoguide the EQ6 mount.

M13 and NGC 6207 in Hercules. Imaged from Bradworthy, Devon.
Intes MN71 - 18cm Maksutov-Newtonian. Canon 350D DSLR camera.
EQ6 Pro SynScan mount with webcam autoguider. 21st May 2007
A setting 31% moon was in the sky as we recorded this impressive globular cluster and attendant magnitude 11.4 galaxy.
A Canon 350D captured this image with 6 x 4 minute exposures, three dark frames and six flats. All frames were RAW and converted to 16 bit Tiff with Canon Photo Professional. The images were stacked in DeepSky Stacker to reduce noise and final image processing was done in Photoshop. The DSLR was at the prime focus of our 7" Intes, the focal length of which is 1060mm at f6. We used a modified webcam and 'guidedog' software to autoguide the EQ6 mount.