20261007 The Double Cluster NGC 869 + NGC 884 and Comet 161P

The sky was not so good, but acceptable.

Hope to get around an hour of exposure on the Double Clusters.

And then 161P which is rather low in the sky, just a few degrees above the nearby trees.  I will try to capture as long as I could.  I don't know whether if it's feasible with the small S30 but why not give it a trial?

On capturing it, I found that it reaches it's highest point during this time of the day!  It's slightly off the location indicated by the S30 but then it's still within the field of view, I'm surprised to be able to capture another comet with it.

My first comet hunting was so difficult.

Finally, swinged to Almach for twenty minutes, unable to split this tight double with just 30mm aperture.

20261006 IC 5146 Cocoon Nebula (again ) and also Coat Hanger

The sky was no good for the whole day, but it's clearing up so why not give it a run?

Let's try again and hopefully got more photons this time:

Stacking failed after around 1.5 hours. 

So I switched to the coat hanger for a small mosaic, this one is interesting visually and the S30 could capture it via stitching:

Lovely, 46 minutes of total exposure.

New solar observation tool

I ordered a pair of 58mm solar filter for my Canon 18x50mm IS.

I choose glass filters instead of Baader film, since I want them to last longer.

My thousand oaks solar filter still survive after nearly 30 years of services!

I'm glad to have a chance to test them out this morning.  Despite there are quite many clouds floating around, I got some really nice views.  Sunspots were clear, with quite a lot of detail within!  

The nice optics of the Canon 18x50 IS definitely shows a lot.  With two eyes, it certainly helps, too.  The image stablisation works wonder at 18x, it's just so convenient and powerful.

I've also ordered a herschel wedge for my refractor.  

I shall test it later, and if it is good, I might import some more to the local market.

20261002 IC 5146 Cocoon Nebula

It has been raining crazily. 

The floor is still wet but the sky clear up suddenly.

Setting up the S30 is no brainer, the best part of this little piece of equipment.

It's 20:56 now, and exposure should begin before 21:00, I still have 1.5 hour of exposure hopefully.

After around 30 minutes of exposure, it rains.  I didn't realise until stacking failure was reported.  I pulled the S30 inside and use a fan to dry it, hopefully it's not soaked yet.

I should try this target again later.

20261001 IC1318 with NGC 6910

Will be spending the whole session on it, hopefully get more than an hour of exposure.

Finally more than two hours, 2:14 to be exact:

Quite many nebulosity.  I'm going to do more of these, I mean to work on a single target per session.

I shall also bring out my 6D with my 200mm lens to take even wider field of view.  Time to explore the potential of non-cooled imaging.

20260930 The Elephant's Trunk Nebula (IC 1396A) by S30

I am doing mosaic with 2x to maximise the field of view, started at around 9:00pm.

Transparency maybe 5-6/10.

See how long exposure I could get.

Total for 46 minutes, failed to finish the whole mosaic, the nebula is not very visible:

20260923 Messier Hunting Pause, Capturing Best targets of the night

No more new target could be acquired tonight.

C27 will be my first target, the Crescent Nebula:

40 minutes of exposure.

I also setup my 85mm refractor looking at the moon and also scan around with my daughter Almy.