M27 - 20120716

Full resolution

M27 - 20120716 @00h18-01h20 UTC
FS102NSV f/8 (FL:832mm) + ST2k XM + AO8
6x 600"
Astronomik IIc Luminance

After a long long cloudy season, dusting off was pretty easy...

Still May 25th Saturn

full

Reprocessed the May 25th picture and made Crepe ring visible and disc colors more vivid.

Saturn 20120525

Full resolution

Sky transparency was much better but seeing was not as good as the previous evening.

Fitswork and CS5

RGB 15fps best 70% of 1200 frames per channel.

Saturn 20120524

full resolution

Finally a good seeing evening, though a little hazy and moist.

Time to dust off, after a wierd winter & spring around here.

C11 f/30; DMK21AF icx618; RGB Astronomik IIc

Leiria, PT @ 01:45 UT

Mars - Oposition 2012

Winter is slowly fading away and rising night temperatures allow for some astroimaging, since neighbors do not light up their fireplaces so often.
Yesterday evening was one of such nights.
Yes! I loved it!

Mars - January 28, 2012

Mars is getting closer and closer...
Winter time is a great season for astronomy, with those long nights and freezing temperatures, or is it? Well, not quite so, especially if you live right downtown and surrounded by those cosy fireplaces' chimneys... Even at 2 a.m. it still warms up the air and warps anything you point at...

There is a new star out there up in the sky

Very seldom you feel you have a true friend after just 3 months of meeting someone...
Well, this is so true I cannot believe it.
My dear friend Mario has passed away on January 6th. He was the heart & soul of CRD Soutocico, a basketball club in which I got back to coaching again after a long 10 year leave. The atmosphere was so intense that we develop a trusty and special relationship.
I am feeling so terribly sad I just cannot believe it.
Mario, my friend, you will always light the way and I just can wish I am up to the dreams we were having about basketball and how to raise those great kids of ours.
Farewell dear president and friend.
R.I.P.