Observation 9/10/2026

Richard P. Hill

Present: Jonah Kassen, Ryan Spelde, Tyler Guldberg

9/10/2026

• Weather Conditions

  • 65 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit

  • No precipitation

  • Spotty cloud cover coming in and out

  • dewy

• Equipment

  • Celestron AVX Mount

  • Celestron C11 SCT

  • ZWO 120mm Finder Scope

  • ZWO ASI120MINI

  • ZWO ASI715MC

  • Celestron f6.3 Reducer Corrector (only used for Owl Cluster and Iris Nebula)

• Software

  • Celestron CPWI

  • ASCOM Device Hub

  • PHD2

  • Stellarium

  • Sharpcap

  • NINA

  • Auto Stakkert

It's been quite some time since I have made a post on this website! I have been working on other research projects and have been swamped in normal schoolwork (like any of this is a surprise). I also just finished an REU, which was a great experience, and let me tell you, scanning electron microscopes are just as cool as they sound!!!

Night started by setting up the telescope and preparing for imaging. I attached both the visual finder scope and the camera finder scope. First, I aligned the visual finder scope with the main scope. I then used SharpCap on my laptop to do a polar alignment that was within 49 seconds of the North Pole of the celestial sphere. The mount was then turned on, and my laptop began calibrating the guiding software. Once finished, I waited for a bit before beginning imaging as Saturn was not up yet.

Imaging then began on Saturn, where I focused the scope by hand, then aimed using Celestron CPWI software. Once lined up, I then began guiding the scope using PHD2. There was a pine tree where we were imaging, so we only had roughly 20-minute blocks to see Saturn before it was gone, then another 20 minutes before it disappeared behind the house.

Various setting where used on the camera, including an attempt at using a Barlow 2x lens to get a larger picture of Saturn projected on the camera sensor.

In the in-between times, I set the scope to look at the Owl Cluster of stars and the Iris Nebula to test the DSO capabilities of the software I had installed, mainly NINA.

Images of Saturn were processed within AutoStakkert. A free piece of software when not used commercially. The images yielded were not the best. I don't believe this is to do with the framerate of the camera. At one point, we were imaging at 250 frames per second. I think the larger issues were the location of Saturn and not using the correct filter. Saturn was quite low on the horizon, so we had to punch through a lot of atmosphere to get to it. Imaging later in the year when Saturn is closer to the Meridian would be greatly preferred. The other issue is with not using a UV/IR cut filter. This filter removes most IR and UV light, as this can greatly impact the quality of the camera. Part of this is that different wavelengths of light focus at different points; thus, if the camera is picking up on any IR light while I'm focused on the visible spectrum, then it will just muddy the image.

Regarding the deep space objects (DSO). I was able to image the Iris Nebula for roughly 120 seconds without any star streaking! I was also able to do the same thing with the Owl Cluster. The main downside currently is that with the setup used above, the FOV of the telescope is incredibly small; thus, different configurations will need to be explored.

Please email me at rickyhillzero@gmail.com if you are interested in these photos. There are many more than is usually shown per report.