David Mathre Photography

Astrophotography

  • Continuation of the bright center background gradient investigation and optimization of comet 220P/McNaught observations on Vespera telescopes. When setting up a manual target in Singularity there are three target types (nebula, galaxy, and cluster) for objects that the telescope will stack images. Up to this point, I use nebula as the target type. It is first in the list when selecting the type. For tonight’s observations I created manual targets using nebula, galaxy, or cluster, with either the default or increased gain.

    The results are shown in the unedited, “straight out of the telescope” (SOOT) JPG images below and are available in my PhotoShelter gallery. Click on the i below the slideshow to see the caption with the Manual Target parameters.

    The “cluster” target type is the clear winner, with galaxy coming in second. Other than the Vespera 1 telescope, observations with the nebula mode have the center background gradient problem.

    Vespera 1 Telescope

    Vespera Passengers Telescope

    Vespera 2 Telescope

    Vespera 3 Telescope

    Vespera Pro 1A Telescope

    Vespera Pro 1B Telescope

    Vespera Pro 2 Telescope

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  • After a couple of cloudy nights the ClearNightSky forecast looked good for continuing the observation of comet C220P/McNaught. However, the Waning Gibbous moon is bright (~98% illuminated) making the observation more challenging. I updated the manual target coordinates (RA/Dec: 03h 15m 18s; +09° 05′ 24″) for the comet in Singularity and started an overnight observation plan.

    The comet is fainter, and the tail is more than 0.5° long. According to the Comet Observers Database (COBS) the visual magnitude of the comet continues to dim and was 10.3 for the night.

    The following slideshows include the straight out of the telescope (SOOT) images and images processed with PixInsight. For scale, I’ve included annotated and cropped images (1.0° FOV width). All of the images including the 16-bit RAW/TIFF files are available on my PhotoShelter site (20260826). Click on the i below the slideshow to view the captions with information about each image.

    Vespera 1 Telescope

    Vespera Passengers Telescope

    Vespera 2 Telescope

    Vespera 3 Telescope

    Vespera Pro 1A Telescope

    Vespera Pro 1B Telescope

    Vespera Pro 2 Telescope

    Links to my previous observations of comet 220P/McNaught: 20260606, 20260609, 20260616, 20260810, 20260811, 20260815, 20260816, 20260819, 20260820, 20260824, 20260825, 20260826,

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  • The continuing observations of comet C220P/McNaught with my Vespera telescopes. Third night in a row that the night sky remained clear which has been unusual this spring and summer. I updated the manual target coordinates (RA/Dec: 03h 11m 33s; +09° 14′ 28″) for the comet in Singularity and started overnight observation plans for the Vespera telescopes.

    The head of the comet is green, and the tail remains nearly 1° long. According to the Comet Observers Database (COBS) the visual magnitude of the comet continues to dim and was 10.1 for the night.

    The following slideshows include the straight out of the telescope (SOOT) images and images processed with PixInsight. For scale, I’ve included annotated and cropped images (1.0° FOV width). All of the images including the 16-bit RAW/TIFF files are available on my PhotoShelter site (20260826). Click on the i below the slideshow to view the captions with information about each image.

    Vespera 1 Telescope

    Vespera Passengers Telescope

    Vespera 2 Telescope

    Vespera 3 Telescope

    Vespera Pro 1A Telescope

    Vespera Pro 1B Telescope

    Vespera Pro 2 Telescope

    Links to my previous observations of comet 220P/McNaught: 20260606, 20260609, 20260616, 20260810, 20260811, 20260815, 20260816, 20260819, 20260820, 20260824, 20260825

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  • The continuing observations of comet C220P/McNaught with my Vespera telescopes. I updated the manual target coordinates (RA/Dec: 03h 10m 15s; +09° 17′ 05″) for the comet in Singularity and started overnight observation plans for the Vespera telescopes.

    The head of the comet is green, and the tail is nearly 1° long. According to the Comet Observers Database (COBS) the visual magnitude of the comet was 10.0 for the night.

    The following slideshows include the straight out of the telescope (SOOT) images and images processed with PixInsight or Sky Color Studio. For scale, I’ve included annotated and cropped images (1.0° FOV width). All of the images including the 16-bit RAW/TIFF files are available on my PhotoShelter site (20260825). Click on the i below the slideshow to view the image captions.

    Vespera 1 Telescope

    Vespera Passengers Telescope

    Vespera 2 Telescope

    Vespera 3 Telescope

    Vespera Pro 1A Telescope

    Vespera Pro 1B Telescope

    Vespera Pro 2 Telescope

    Links to my previous observations of comet 220P/McNaught: 20260606, 20260609, 20260616, 20260810, 20260811, 20260815, 20260816, 20260819, 20260820, 20260824

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  • Continuation of the bright center background gradient investigation and optimization of comet 220P/McNaught observations on Vespera telescopes. The Vespera telescopes have a Mosaic mode whereby images greater than the sensor size can be created. It does this by taking a series of overlapping images and combining them into a single larger image. For this night’s observations I had the telescopes do a regular (non-mosaic) observation, the default size mosaic, and the minimum size mosaic observation of comet 220P/McNaught. The default mosaic size is different for each type of Vespera telescope, and the minimum size is the field of view (FOV) area of the sensor.

    The results are shown in the unedited, “straight out of the telescope” (SOOT) JPG images below and are available in my PhotoShelter gallery. Click on the i below the slideshow to see the caption with the Manual Target parameters.

    Again, the center gradient is not present for the Vespera 1 images but is visible with the other telescopes. I kept the total observation time around 15-20 minutes to minimize the motion of the comet relative to the stationary stars. This is much less than the recommended 2+ hours and is not enough time to complete the mosaic. The background gradient at the overlaps is not smooth. Next time I will investigate the different object types (nebula, galaxy, and cluster).

    Vespera 1 Telescope

    Vespera Passengers Telescope

    Vespera 2 Telescope

    Vespera 3 Telescope

    Vespera Pro 1A Telescope

    Vespera Pro 1B Telescope

    Vespera Pro 2 Telescope

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