Wednesday (21-December-2022) — New Jersey

Backyard Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey.

It’s the winter solstice (or the longest night). Early in the morning I captured images of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) using the mosaic mode for a wider field of view (400 images). Also, the Horsehead Nebula (B33). Although I collected 1107 images, I could only use the first 379 images for the composite because a Sycamore tree blocks the view towards the west. Early evening, I captured images of the Dumbbell Nebula (M27). I had to stop after 258 images because the sky started to cloud over. No more observations for a couple of days due to the forecast of a winter storm.

One thing that I don’t like about the Vespera is the data needs to be transferred via WiFi using ftp to a PC. There isn’t a removable data card or USB cable option for the data transfer.


Vespera Deep Sky Observations. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (99.6 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (30.8 kWh) from Sense. Sunny. Deficit of 68.8 kWh. I should note that on a sunny day near the Summer Solstice the solar panels produce 3 times as much power. Longer hours and the sun is higher in the sky.

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Tuesday (20-December-2022) — New Jersey

Backyard Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey.

It was clear again overnight. I did three longer observations using the Vespera Observation Station. Crab Nebula (M1, 363 images), Orion Nebula (M42, 907 images). Pinwheel Galaxy (M101, 661 images). For the Orion Nebula observation, I tried the beta Mosaic mode to get a wider image. The sensor size for the Vespera captures a 1.6° x 0.9° field of view. With the Mosaic mode the field of view is up to 4x greater (3.2° x 1.8° = 8.2 Mpx). The longer observation times do provide sharper images with more detail and less noise.

For the following images, I processed the final JPG image with Topaz AI, followed by Capture One Pro. For the raw TIFF images, I needed to use Capture One Pro first, followed by Topaz AI.


Vespera Deep Sky Observations. JPG images processed with Topaz AI, followed by Capture One Pro. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Vespera Deep Sky Observations. TIF images processed with Capture One Pro followed by Topaz AI. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (95.7 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (19.5 kWh) from Sense. Sun and clouds. Deficit of 76.2 kWh.

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Monday (19-December-2022) — New Jersey

Backyard Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey.

I spent my first night with the Vespera (automated deep sky camera) capturing images of several objects. I set the Vespera up on a tripod in my back patio which has a view of the sky southeast to southwest, and to the north elevations above the house. Both east and west are blocked by trees. The Vespera is controlled via WiFi by the Singularity app running on an android (or iOS) device. Unfortunately, there is not a Window or web-based app. Also, the WiFi uses an open (not secured) connection between the notepad and Vespera.  Once the WiFi connection is established the Singularity app controls the instrument. It takes 10-15 minutes to initialize the Vespera. During this time the camera points to the sky, determines its position and focuses the camera. After that it is just a matter of selecting the objects to view. The Singularity app has the location of several hundred objects (stars, clusters, nebulae, galaxies, and planets) pre-programed in its database along with recommendations for the length of image/data collection.

During the night I captured images of the Triangulum Galaxy (M33), Helix Nebula (NGC 7293), Pleiades Cluster (M45), Orion Nebula (M42), an open cluster (NGC 1502), Bode’s Galaxy (M81), Cigar Galaxy (M82), Polaris (North Star), Andromeda Galaxy (M31), a double cluster (NGC 884, NGC 869), Caroline’s Rose Cluster (NGC 7789), Rosette Nebula (NGC 2244), and the Seagull Nebula (IC 2177). I also had it view Jupiter; however, the disk is small, and I was not able to see Jupiter’s moons.

For most of the objects I did short 5-to-10-minute data collections just to get an idea of how the Vespera worked. This was shorter than the times recommended, but still provided decent images. The Vespera camera has a 200 mm focal length, f/4 aperture, and takes 10 second exposures. The camera uses a Sony IMX462 back-illuminated CMOS sensor (1920×1080) optimized for low light capture. The Vespera automatically processes (aligning and stacking) the images. Over time, the signal/noise ratio increases providing improved image quality. The default output from the Vespera is a JPG image every ~10 seconds (integrated stacked composite) displayed on the notepad screen. At the end of the observation the composite raw image can be saved as a TIFF file. The camera also has the ability to store individual raw images (FITS) that can be processed offline using more sophisticated software. The Vespera does not have a port (USB, ethernet) or memory card slot (SD, CF) to download the data collected by the onboard computer. The data needs to be downloaded by FTP via WiFi. The Vespera has 10 GB of onboard memory for storing images. You need to remember to remove/delete images after downloading to free up space for the next night of observations.

For the following images, I processed the final JPG image of the object with Topaz AI, followed by Capture One Pro. For the raw TIFF images, I needed to use Capture One Pro first, followed by Topaz AI.


Vespera Deep Sky Observations. JPG images processed with Topaz AI, followed by Capture One Pro. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Vespera Deep Sky Observations. TIF images processed with Capture One Pro followed by Topaz AI. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (95.7 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (19.5 kWh) from Sense. Sun and clouds. Deficit of 76.2 kWh.


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Sunday (18-December-2022) — New Jersey

Backyard Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey.

It was a cold but clear night to try out a Vaonis Vespera Observation Station. This is a digital telescope, without an eyepiece for taking images of objects in the sky. The Vespera is controlled via Wi-Fi by the Singularity app. This allowed control the Vespera from inside a warm house. The Vespera automatically focuses the camera, and automatically tracks the selected object while taking a series of images (10 second exposures). The following image is of the Rosette Nebula (NGC2237-44). This is a composite of 309 images. The composite image was post-processed with Capture One Pro and Topaz Photo AI. I have also included a time-lapse video showing the development of the composite image by the Vespera. More images and comments about the Vespera to follow.

Rosette Nebula (NGC2237-44). (David J Mathre)
NGC2237_44 Rosette Nebula. Composite of 309 images taken with a Vaonis Vespera. Image processed with Capture One Pro and Topaz Photo AI. (David J Mathre)

Daily Electric Energy Used (87.0 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (22.4 kWh) from Sense. Sun and clouds. Deficit of 64.6 kWh.

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Tuesday (18-January-2022) — New Jersey

Wintertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the day viewed at the birdfeeder and in the backyard: Mourning Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, House Finch, Dark-eyed Junco, White-throated Sparrow, Common Grackle, Northern Cardinal.


Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

While taking the trash out, I noticed that the moon was nearly full. Actually one day after the full moon. Since the sky was clear, I also set cameras up to do some star trails. There definitely are more jets flying than one and two years ago. Also a couple of meteor trails. A couple of notes using the Leica Q2 monochrome for composite star trail images. The ISO needs to be 100 and the exposure time no greater than 4 seconds, otherwise a second dark (shutter closed) image is taken and subtracted to remove sensor noise. Also, I wish the camera had an option to connect an external power source so I could take longer sequences.

full moon. (David J Mathre)
Full Moon. Image taken with a Leica SL2 camera and Sigma 150-600 mm sport lens (ISO 100, 600 mm, f/8, 1/1000 sec). (David J Mathre)
Star Trails. (David J Mathre)
Star and Jet Trails looking South. Composite of 273 images [19:00 – 21:15] taken with a Leica SL2 camera and Loawa 9 mm f/5.6 W-Dreamer lens (ISO 100, 9 mm, f/5.6, 30 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, and the composite generated using PhotoShop (statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)
Star Trails. (David J Mathre)
Star and Jet Trails looking South. Composite of 1276 [18:00 – 19:40] images taken with a Leica Q2 monochrome camera with a 28 mm f/1.7 lens. (ISO 100, 28 mm, f/2, 4 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, and the composite generated using PhotoShop (scripts, statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)
Star Trails. (David J Mathre)
Star and Jet Trails looking South. Composite of 1520 [20:33 – 22:40] images taken with a Leica Q2 monochrome camera with a 28 mm f/1.7 lens. (ISO 100, 28 mm, f/2, 4 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, and the composite generated using PhotoShop (scripts, statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)
Star Trails. (David J Mathre)
Star and Jet Trails looking South. Composite of 1520 [22:59 – 01:06] images taken with a Leica Q2 monochrome camera with a 28 mm f/1.7 lens. (ISO 100, 28 mm, f/2, 4 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, and the composite generated using PhotoShop (scripts, statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)

Day 2 of the Bok Choi seeds sprouting time-lapse videos. First video, images taken every 1 minute for 13 hours 36 minutes then displayed at 12 frames/second. The second video images taken every 1 minute for 5 hours, then displayed at 12 frames/second.

Daily Electric Energy Used (95.7 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (22.7 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Some sun and a bit warmer outside so the resistance heaters were not needed, but the Geothermal HVAC system was on most of the day. Deficit of 73.0 kWh.