Lmst

Hello everybody and I hope you’ve been getting some clear skies for your telescoping if you’re into it. If you’re not into it, that’s cool, this may not be of interest to you.

It’s clagged over for me, but before it did, I was very busy with the sky indeed. Let me take you on a journey - the journey of the Leece’s ClusterFudge.

People who are familiar with my astronomy writings may remember that once I had a telescope of the smart persuasion I found I liked hunting Nebulae.

I thought they were beautiful and cool and interesting, and really gave one the impression of 3 dimensionality in the night sky, that space was indeed filled with vast depths.

Clusters, I said, especially Globular Clusters were not very interesting. They all look the same, I said, and they’re not really going to be on my dance card.

So I set my Dwarf II and Dwarf III for long periods to capture all sorts of nebulae and was happy over the course of a year and a half, during which time we volunteered at the Perth Astrofest and showed thousands of people how cool smart telescopes were, and I won an astrophotography prize.

We got Covid 19 and got great comfort from being able to put our telescopes out by barely leaving our recovery room, and watching the images build. I found by accident while chasing nebulae that some open clusters were quite interesting and beautiful, although nebulae were still where it was at for me.

We visited the Gravity Discovery Centre for one of their Astronomy Nights, and listened to the Chief Astronomer talk about globular clusters, and how some people thought that they all looked the same.

Yep that’s me I thought, but I listened and his enthusiasm touched me. Hmm, yes okay I thought, maybe I’ll take a look. Great tour, by the way, recommended.

So I had a look, and something started ticking away in my mind thoughtfully. These clusters sure are bright I thought. I bet they don’t need much time. Maybe if I lined up a lot of Globular Clusters next to each other, I could see the differences and develop an appreciation of them.

It might be fun to see just how many clusters I can take in a period of darkness. I’ll have to fudge together a schedule. And thus the inception of the LCF Catalogue- the Leece’s ClusterFudge Catalogue.

I started testing as to what the shortest period my telescopes could be set for during a scheduled shoot.

#Astrodon #Astronomy #SouthernHemisphereAstronomy #Astrophotography #DwarfLab #Dwarf2 #Dwarf3 #LCFCatalogue

A series of small thumbnails showing clusters of stars.

We have been blessed/cursed by a very dry Djeran / Autumn period. Cursed because no rain after a long, hot Bunuru( Second Summer) and blessed because the nights are cold, and very clear.

This and @rdm having to be on Munich time for a few days prompted some enthusiastic astrophotography sessions ahead of the news that the clouds were finally coming to us with some rain.

We figured that we'd do a lot of astrophotography, and then write it up and share photos during the rainy cloudy bits to keep us going.

So here we are - this is my first post about it, and it's about the last day of the clear sky.

We have here NGC 4945 or Caldwell 83 - also known as the Tweezers Galaxy (I personally think it looks more like an orange peeler).

I was leafing through Astronomy Australia 2025 and found it as a target for May. I hadn't come across this galaxy before, and was thrilled to find a galaxy that's a big enough apparent size to suit my #dwarf3

These are great books and the last of this great almanac that they'll publish, after 30 years - so get yours today - https://quasarastronomy.com.au/product/astronomy-2025/ even though it's a yearbook it's still going to be useful down the track. If you're in Australia or close enough. #SouthernHemisphereAstronomy folks. I grabbed some of their back catalogue - incredibly cheap and plenty of interesting stuff in there, if only historically. 🙂

So, anyway, back to the galaxy - I plonked the #SmartTelescope on the roof later in the evening so it's only a few hours exposure. Gain was 80, exposure was 60. Got a few hundred frames in two sessions as I belatedly realised that I should get the telescope to shut down before the closest Sun made itself apparent.

So then, in the morning @rdm ran me through the Mega Stack and Stellar Studio provided through Infinity Lab within the telescope, which was super easy, and then I did some cropping in Snapseed.

And this is the result, I hope you enjoy!

#Astrodon #Astronomy #BackyardAstrophotography #DrivewayAstrophotography #Galaxy

A highly populated starfield, there are also a few little fuzzy yellow galaxies. In the middle a Seyfert type galaxy sits at an angle between two big blue white stars.
Text in the corner reads Caldwell 83 Alicia Smith (c) 2025

So on the Anzac Day weekend I finally was able to take a print of my award winning photograph taken at Orchard Glory Farm Resort to present to the proprietor David, as a thank you for keeping the skies dark.

Thank you to @rdm for taking the photos for the presentation and once again to the #Astrofest for the photography competition and of course, #AustralasianDarkSkyAlliance for sponsoring the prize.

#Astrodon #astrophotography #SouthernHemisphereAstronomy #astronomy

Corner of the photograph in the process of being signed.

So continuing with my ramble about the Gingin trip we had to take some astrophotos. So you're sitting in the siding, next an open paddock as your photos stack, and suddenly a loud noise starts up and continues for quite some time.

https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations/272712152

It sounded like a fox to me, I've never heard one that close before, so see what you think.

A couple of Gingin policemen helpfully drove over with all their spotties on high beam, but turned them off apologetically when they realised we were not the droids they were looking for and then got very interested, and received a quick course in astronomy.

So things can be quite eventful when you're just sitting around, getting those frames stacked.

Here's a couple of photos that @rdm took of me on the last night, where we just set up behind our accomodation just to do a little. You can see I have Sandqvist 149 there, and the other photo I'm sharing with you today.

For your viewing pleasure I fed it into nova.astrometry.net so you can see what's what. But the simple answer is the Tarantula Nebula and friends. I accidentally stopped part way through - even the new long press required isn't foolproof, but with the new mega stack function I was able to start it again and squish the two sessions together so it turned out very nicely.

#DwarfII #DwarfIII
#WesternAustralia
#Astrodon #Astronomy #Astrophotography #SouthernHemisphereAstronomy

In the foreground a woman is sitting on the red gravelly ground of a caravan park Her head is cocked up at the camera and she is smiling with her mouth closed. Her hair is unkempt, blond and contained by a woolly beanie which is brown striped with a pompom. She has a blue coat on, glasses and nursing two Android tablets controlling her telescopes. One has the Tarantula nebula showing, the other Sandqvist 149. In the mid ground two Dwarf Smart telescopes can be seen on tripods. The closest is set straight on the tripod and is a Dwarfii, the furthest is set in Equitorial Mode and is a Dwarfiii. In the back ground large eucalyptus trees are illuminated.

The Tarantula Nebula is on the right and on the left a spray of stars and small nebula.

Densely annotated overlay of the Tarantula Nebula and surrounds.

So to continue with highlights from our #astrophotography expedition to Gingin, another subject I had some fun with was Sandqvist 149.

Yes, I'm aware of its other, more popular name but let's let the discoverer have some kudos, huh?

This is a dark nebula, a star-blotting-out mass of dust that looks like a crack in the sky. You can see some stars in front of it which gives me a sense of three dimensionality to the usual flatness that I get of looking into the infinity of the night sky, and gives perhaps the sense that it is a dust cloud there, not a crack in reality.

The image on the left I took with the #dwarfiii - 60 second exposure, with a gain of 80, and stacked 40 of them.

That's coming to us straight out of camera, and I'll do some post to it sometime.

The image on the right was taken with the #DwarfII with shutter 15 and gain 80, for about 330 frames - and is the first time I've used a stellation mask.

I think that they look a bit silly - because stars don't look like that and it's a really artificial sort of prettiness that's a bit kitsch to me. Sorry to everyone who uses them - I mean they can look pretty, I admit...but for me they're usually meh.

I thought it would be funny to use one for a dark object.

#Astrodon #AstroPhotograhy #SouthernHemisphereAstronomy #DarkNebula #Sandquist149

A densly packed starfield with numerous tiny stars. On the right and in the top third a large blue white star is the brightest object.

Stretching in a diagonal line from the top mid left to the lower mid right is a dark line, with very, very few stars. This is Sandqvist 149 - a dark dust nebula.

A densly packed starfield with numerous tiny stars. From the right and in the the top third a large blue white star is the brightest object. To the right of that a golden globular cluster can be observed.

All the stars have stellarisation points as if in a child's illustration - a stellation mask has been used.

Stretching in a line from the left to the right is a dark line, with very, very few stars. This is Sandqvist 149 - a dark dust nebula.

We drove to the Gingin Roadhouse and settled in. The proprietor previously worked as an engineering in the Indian rocketry industry after they stopped using Russian boosters and started up their own, so he was very interested. He actually went all around the service station turning off all the security lights and alarms while we were photographing.

I fed one of my phone photos into the astrometry website, so here you can see our car beneath the Argo (Vela is the Argo's sail and Puppis is the Poop Deck - Argo was too big so they broke it up into bits) and Canis Major is lifting its leg on our vehicle!

#astronomy #astrophotography #SouthernHemisphereastronomy
#Astrodon

A black Smart Car is parked, doors open under a starry sky. Superimposed on the scene are the names of the constellations in green and lines denoting them. Vela, Puppis and Canis Major are the clearest. Lepus and Orion are below the horizon.

A black Smart Car sits beneath a starry sky, doors open.

Well, we've been quite busy over the last two weekends and such, and a lot of it has involved astrophotography.

Our Easter was quite peaceful so we chilled out and did some photography then - I took this of the Trifid and Lagoon #Nebula on Easter Sunday. I've got a Dwarf 3 (and 2) so we're used to landscape - but I rotated this in post, because it looked really good that way.

Tilt your head to see it in the original.

#Astrophotography #dwarf3 #SouthernHemisphereAstronomy #DrivewayAstrophotography #BackyardAstrophotography #Astrodon

Portrait mode, and a heavily populated starfield, with some blue white stars, and in the bottom third the Trifid Nebula. There's some pinkish shading as we travel up the frame, and we can see the Lagoon Nebula in the top right corner, much larger. Copyright Alicia Smith 2025 can be read in the bottom right hand corner.

Hello folks, it's been a little while so lets get some sky happening down here in #PerthWesternAustralia

I've been enjoying my Dwarf3 telescope, so let me share with you the unicorn's nostril (true, you look at Monoceras and that's where it is!), the Rosette Nebula, or Caldwell 49.

We also have IC 2944 another great Nebula, but one I'm in extreme doubt about its popular name to the extent that I'm going to use my own name for it, so let me introduce you to the Rising Phoenix Nebula. If you want to use the other name that's fine but lalalalala I can't hear you.

Both those images are straight out of camera. I think at least 400 frames but I'd have to check my records as it was a week or two ago.

The next subject is a bit small, I've cropped it a bit to make up for it somewhat. It's NGC 2997, a spiral galaxy in Antlia the Bellows. Why have I bothered given that I like an apparent size of 20 or so minutes, and this doesn't even get to 10? Well, it's one of these rare, to my view, straight on spiral galaxies, it's not edge on, so it gets a pass. And this got a good couple of hours last night, and turned out really well, I dickered a little with Snapseed. We had some rain, and wow, the sky was very clean and clear, and this object shows it. I really want to do a longer exposure, even if it's little.

And the last one is one that did get that longer treatment - it's the notorious Centaurus A, commonly known as the Hamburger Galaxy. I left this one on the roof overnight preprogrammed for a good few hours and this comes to you also from straight out of camera. It really is a peculiar galaxy, and sports a couple of supernovae and a dust cloud that gives it that split look.

#astronomy #BackYardAstronomy #SouthernHemisphereAstronomy #DrivewayAstrophotography #DwarfIII #DwarfLab #Astrodon

There's a fair few stars in the view, some big blue white ones amongst them, but dominating the centre of the frame is a pinky red nebula that has a rather floral aspect. Light pink in the middle, but there's a dark patch there with big blue white stars there in the centre. Petal like pink and red gas plumes complet the flower like illusion.

A dense starfield with pink and red nebulae, mostly in the middle. There are a few distinctly larger, bluer stars, and the main nebula mass looks a bit like a rising phoenix.

A medium dense starfield, some larger stars blue and gold, and in the middle a classic spiral galaxy, pretty small though.

A starfield of mostly tiny stars, and also a couple of galaxies that can just be made out. The main subject is a strange galaxy, a golden radiating glow, but it is split in half by a dark dust field and does look a bit like a hamburger.

#Astrodon , I have a question. I've been taking photos of the LMC - not the main bit where all the action is, but the outskirts.

Do you see the thing that looks somewhat like a planetary nebula, towards the upper right and forming a triangle with NGC 2114 and NGC 2117, looking like a circle with a cluster in it?
I put it into astrometry.net but it hasn't annotated it. I've provided the annotated version too.

What is it, does anyone know? It's what led me to target the area in the first place and it looks interesting, I'd like to know more about it.

Otherwise I'm just going to call it Leece's Lucent Pearl 😉

#astronomy #BackYardAstronomy #SouthernHemisphereAstronomy #DrivewayAstrophotography #LargeMagellanicCloud

A small section, a sparser one, still with some interesting nebula in the Greater Magellanic Cloud.

An annotated section of a sparser region of nebula and stars in the Large Magellanic Cluster.

As promised, the Jellyfish nebula.

#astronomy #astrophotography #SouthernHemisphereAstronomy #DrivewayAstrophotography #BackYardAstronomy

Two large reddish stars bracket a nebula, which is most quite dark red. It does look a little like an inverted jellyfish. More muted nebulosity is in the starfield, which has numerous little blue white stars as well as the two big ones, and some are shining through the nebula.

Recently we have been blessed with the presence of Comet c/2024 G3 (Atlas) so we were wandering down to the beach hopefully. Naturally it being high summer one would expect clear skies by we actually had an overcast sky and rain one of the best viewing nights! High winds also did not help at all the next day or two, but we did get some shots.

I have many more photographs of the comet but this will do for now, took it with the Dwarf 3. rdm had an interesting discovery, this comet is going to move toward the south, and stop setting, a bit like that Pole Star the Northern Hemisphere folks have and we're totally not jealous of because we can do that thing with the Southern Cross and the Pointers, and anyway we've got the Carina Nebula so nyeer.

*Deep Breath* So anyway we've been giving some attention to the Pleiades and Hyades, and other stuff that's a bit North for us. Nyingarn, the Echidna (or Orion if you like) is in the clear for us at home so stuff around there is good to look at before bedtime.

We all know by now that I'm a nebula kinda girl, so when I was scrolling around the Star Atlas I found a nebula that was just the right size for my telescope's field of view. It's called the Monkey's Head Nebula or NGC 2174. Unlike a lot of these fancifully named objects, it, to me, really does look like a primate head, although more apelike - even gorilla like than monkey. See what you think - here's a shot straight out of camera for you.

A couple of hours there.
In the same area we also have the Jellyfish Nebula, so the next night I targeted that. The photo will follow, I've run out of room to post it here.

Again only a couple of hours - but that's the gap we get of usable dark sky between astronomical night and beddybyes. I think it needs more time but even so straight out of camera we do get an intriguing image. I shall dicker with it some, but I like to share the unenhanced image with you first.

If you embiggen it you can see that there's plenty more nebulosity kicking around so more time and a bit of enhancement may be rewarding, I'll report back. rdm is getting us a funky SIIOIII filter so that will be interesting compared and combined with the inbuilt HAOIII in the Dwarf3. You know, I love these nebulas - I'm always looking for things that aren't tiny in the screen of the Dwarf and these are nicely sized, these along with the Rosette Nebula (aka Unicorn Nostril) are just the thing to have fun with the telescope.

And for me they don't have dirty great buildings and trees in the way which is unfortunately the case at home for most of the interesting stuff to the South, you know that Galactic Core and Carina stuff.

#WesternAustralia #PerthWesternAustralia #astronomy #astrophotography #SouthernHemisphereAstronomy #DrivewayAstrophotography #dwarf3

A bitumen footpath in the foreground, edged with beach sand. At the edge in the foreground three tripods stand. Two are occupied with Dwarf3 smart telescopes. The one in the middle is empty. They are weighted with leg weights from the gym. Warrigal spinach grows along the post and wire fence, and the sea is quite calm. There's still orange on the horizon from the sunset. Rob, my husband, is dressed in beige cargo pants and a TMBG tshirt that's blue, black and white, depicting scenes from "Fingertips", he has a blue captain's hat on. He's bearded and examining a camera.

It is night time and the sea is very dark. In the immediate foreground is the top of a post and wire fence. On the horizon we can see the bright orange lights of Fremantle port, and the channel lights of Gauge Roads for the shipping. The sky shows a few stars against the grey, and in the middle, towards the horizon the faint streak of Comet c/2024 G3 (ATLAS).

This is a very grainy photo. The sun has set, leaving orange on the horizon, and the sky is still a bit blue, heavily streaked with dark grey clouds. The sea is muted and on the horizon we can see the lights of the island Wadjemap. To the right Venus is shining brightly through the clouds, enough to make a path of reflection on the water below, and to the left, visible though shrouded in cloud is Comet c/2024 G3 Atlas.

Many stars in the starfield, and quite a bit of nebulosity although it's not that noticeable. In the centre of view is a red and pink nebula, very reminiscent of an ape or gorilla's head.

#astronomy #DrivewayAstrophotography #BackYardAstronomy #SouthernHemisphereAstronomy #dwarf3 #astrodon

Merry Christmas and clear skies to everyone! Took this, somewhat appropriately, last night over a couple of hours. Only dropped 7 frames too, it's a Christmas miracle! 😃

I was looking for the Cone Nebula, new to this as I am, I didn't know it was in the Christmas Tree Cluster! So a happy seasonal coincidence!

Have a safe and happy one people!

A star cluster , mostly green and blue stars with a haze of red nebula is framed the words, in red and green Merry Christmas Tree Cluster!

Just a mixed bag of astrophotos I took in the last week or so. We have the Horsehead Nebula, the crescent moon, the Pleiades and the String of Pearls galaxy.

Can you tell I'm enjoying my Dwarf III Telescope?

None of these have been particularly long exposures or have had a super lot of post processing but they're all just fine by me.

I always envisioned the Horsehead Nebula as being large and obvious, but we can see here that it's a little black horsehead dwarfed by the large mass of gases around it.

I'm still kinda gobsmacked by the whole Pleiades nebula thing.

The String of Pearls Galaxy I found by accident while looking for the Sculptor Galaxy - at the moment for us the Sculptor constellation is pretty much at zenith around Astro twilight end and the Sculptor Galaxy is a super target, so big. But this String of Pearls is roughly to the left of Sculptor Constellation, not far from Sculptor Galaxy. So I spotted it when I was looking on the star atlas, had a closer look and thought it was interesting with its little pearls, and gave it a shot. I'll give it some more attention I think.

#SouthernHemisphereAstronomy #DrivewayAstrophotography #Astrodon
#Astronomy
#Dwarf3

The Horsehead Nebula, lots of red hydrogen, and some larger greenish blue stars.

Pleiades shining bright white blue, with a bit of nebula showing.

String of pearls galaxy in a field of small stars

Our new Dwarf 3 telescopes have arrived. Naturally, conditions weren't great, and then we had to have an early night when things settled down, BUT here's some initial images. Clicky on them to see them biggerer.

This is the Orion Nebula, already showing more colour and detail in less time than the very good images from the Dwarf 2.
Not edited! Just from my roof in the suburbs.

Last night we drove down to Mettam's Pool, whose toilet block roof is a great observation platform.

I have been really wanting to say goodbye to Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS. It's on its way out, but it still has a little tail.
I'm going to do a CTA special post one day, because we have been following it, in the east as it rose, in the west as it set,
and cross the sky as it travelled around and away from the sun as well.

Here it is a bit after sunset, still a bit of sky glow, bushfire smoke and the rising full moon and coastal lights to contend with. But it was okay.
If my research is correct that other bright object is HR 7076.

The Andromeda Galaxy, only about a 100 frames, but a good feel for things.

It's going to be around for a while, but I wanted to catch the comet before it went, so it got the focus at first.

Oh, check out this game on Kickstarter - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dracostable/polaris?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=polaris&total_hits=37

Cheers for now!

#astronomy #Astrodon #astrophotography #dwarf3 #SouthernHemisphereastronomy #PerthWesternAustralia #perthisokay

Straight out of camera, the Orion Nebula

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS on its way out, tail shortened but evident.

Inspired by @zl2tod who posted a lovely comet photo from Aotearoa yesterday when I thought we'd seen the last of it, I got up early this morning for a last look at #tsuchinshanatlas (tomorrow we're expecting cloud and/or rain for nearly a week)

Judging from @zl2tod 's photo the tail was going to be far too long to fit in the Dwarf II's field of view. So I resurrected my old Samsung NX300 to get some astroscape going.

These three are straight out of camera.

It was pretty exciting for me. @rdm had previously managed to see the #comet with binoculars, but it had defeated me. Today, as it continues to steadily brighten I was able to see it with binoculars. And then, as the sky reddened, it became visible to the unaided eye. It has been a very special morning as I'd really been hoping for this. I was even able to take a photo of it with my phone, handheld! I'll show you that later for a laugh.

Good old NX300, a shame that Samsung got out of the camera game, they really made very good ones.

#astrodon #astronomy #BackyardAstronomy #DrivewayAstrophotography
#SouthernHemisphereastronomy
#PerthWesternAustralia

Looking to the Eastern horizon over Perth suburbs, a two story house to the left, silhouetted against the gradually reddening sky.
Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is rising above the lights of the suburbs.

Very early and cold but clear of smoke and clouds, #Comet #tsuchinshanatlas looking great before sunrise this morning in #PerthWesternAustralia

Straight out of camera for you this morning we have I think probably about 15 frames on the left and just one frame on the right. The frame on the right was taken later, just before it became a mug's game due to that naughty Sun coming up like a bully in the playground.

Shutter 5 gain 60 as I recall.

#DwarfII #dwarf2 #astronomy #astrodon #astrophotography #SouthernHemisphereastronomy #DrivewayAstrophotography

It's a sparse starfield, and the glow of the rising sun is beginning to intrude, but comet Tsuchinchan-ATLAS is bright on the screen, tail pointing up, about 10 times the length of the head. A few stars can be seen. Probably stacked about 15 or so.

Just one frame, comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS can be seen faintly tail up, in a dark blue sky, that is definitely lightening from the rising sun.

It might be worth having a glance south.

#astrodon #SouthernHemisphereAstronomy #astronomy

K index map for Australia and surrounds, everything is orange, indicating between 5 and 6.

Huh, if it was dark we might be able to see Aurora Australis.

#Astrodon #SouthernHemisphereAstronomy

K index showing for Australia, PNG and New Zealand outlined in white. Everything is yellow, indication a K index of 4 and above, except for a patch to the top right of Tasmania, which is dark green, 3 and above.

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS early this morning. Unfortunately the Dwarf ii didn't want to do any stacking this close to the horizon so this is just one frame. Hopefully I can get Siril to help later.

But still, it's a photo of a #comet I would not otherwise have, and look at how pretty green it is!

#Astrodon #Astronomy #DrivewayAstroPhotography #SouthernHemisphereAstronomy #Astrophotography #dwarfii #CometTsuchinshanATLAS

We're close to the horizon, the sky is dark, but toward the bottom half there's street light and anticipation of the sunrise in dark orange and blue, just above this, toward the darker sky a small green dot with a lightly shaded comet's tail fans up vertically, - Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS

Last night was clear! After running some errands as my Mum's fridge has broken down, we set up our telescopes. The South Australian Astronomical Society has published their September what's up there recently - I recommend them for us Southern Hemisphere people with telescopes and binoculars - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmQm4M-rh3Q and I was reminded I hadn't gotten a decent shot of the Helix Nebula - Caldwell 63 yet.

So while Rob amused himself with M8, which if you'll recall I had a look at earlier this year, and also a look at Saturn I set up for a look at what some call The Eye of God.

@rdm lent me his O3+Hydrogen Alpha filter, I dialled up the gain to 110, and sat down and too 539 frames over a couple of hours or so at 15 seconds an exposure.

I took a save before the A.I enhancer kicked in, and played with it myself in Snapseed and Google Photos.

While I'd like to do some more work on it, I think it would be nice for you to have a look now.

I really like how you can see stars shining through this planetary nebula.

#astronomy #Astrodon #astrophotography #SouthernHemisphereAstronomy #dwarfii #DrivewayAstroPhotography

#SouthernHemisphereAstronomy

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