Images of summer

Well there is no excuse this time  for not  updating my blog,  I just kept putting it off.  Well here is whats new.  In June I had some friends help to install a new pier for the Observatory.  Pulled out the old pier and poured a new 10" concrete one.  The previous pier had popped out of the ground from the deep frost of the winter of 2014/15.   I also purchased a QHY PoleMaster, polar alignment camera.  This tiny device is amazing. It enable me to get my polar alignment down to under .30 arc.min.  With such a tight polar alignment I get smaller tighter stars and finer detail in my images.

     Here are a few of the images I captured.  All images where taken with a moded Canon XSi camera on a Tele Vue NP101 apo telescope. on a Losmandy G11 mount.  All processing was done with Photo Shop CC.  There were no Dark, Flat, or Bias frames taken.

The Trifid Nebula M20 (top) and the Lagoon Nebula M8 (lower)

 

Sagittarius Star Cloud + M24

The Swan Nebula (M17)