Rod Potter
@yolkregion.bsky.social
#YorkRegion #CdnPoli #Guitar #Birds #astrophotography #etc #MadeInCanada
https://www.flickr.com/photos/penopticon/
https://www.youtube.com/penopticon/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/penopticon/
https://www.youtube.com/penopticon/
When you zoom in on the Elephant's Trunk nebula, it looks more like the Elephant's dragon. I tried to map 29 hours of Ha, SII & OIII to a SHO palette using Seti Astro Suite Pro. A pretty cool bit of space, no matter how you colour it! #astrophotography
November 2, 2025 at 9:58 PM
When you zoom in on the Elephant's Trunk nebula, it looks more like the Elephant's dragon. I tried to map 29 hours of Ha, SII & OIII to a SHO palette using Seti Astro Suite Pro. A pretty cool bit of space, no matter how you colour it! #astrophotography
A one hour stack of C/2025 A6 Lemmon images stacked and processed with Seti Astro Suite Pro. Very comety! #Astrophotography
October 27, 2025 at 12:13 PM
A one hour stack of C/2025 A6 Lemmon images stacked and processed with Seti Astro Suite Pro. Very comety! #Astrophotography
Nice! A few of us York Simcoe Amateur Astronomers were imaging and observing at the north end of Keswick tonight, also. The Aurora stole the show for sure!
September 15, 2025 at 5:22 AM
Nice! A few of us York Simcoe Amateur Astronomers were imaging and observing at the north end of Keswick tonight, also. The Aurora stole the show for sure!
I'm new to mono processing -- this was my first attempt with the QHY Minicam8 and narrowband filters. Imaged at Starfest 2025 in Ontario. Just 1 hour of integration each with Ha, OIII and SII filters. Processed with Siril & Seti Astro Suite. #Astrophotography
September 7, 2025 at 4:40 PM
I'm new to mono processing -- this was my first attempt with the QHY Minicam8 and narrowband filters. Imaged at Starfest 2025 in Ontario. Just 1 hour of integration each with Ha, OIII and SII filters. Processed with Siril & Seti Astro Suite. #Astrophotography
Ha-OIII dual narrowband view of the North American and Pelican Nebulas. Most of the processing was done with Siril, but I used Seti Astro Suite to remove some nasty star halos (looking at you Deneb!). Hoping for a few more nights with this project to add RGB stars for colour. #Astrophotography
September 6, 2025 at 3:27 AM
Ha-OIII dual narrowband view of the North American and Pelican Nebulas. Most of the processing was done with Siril, but I used Seti Astro Suite to remove some nasty star halos (looking at you Deneb!). Hoping for a few more nights with this project to add RGB stars for colour. #Astrophotography
The supernova in the galactic core of NGC7331 was still shining bright on July 22 & 23. #Astrophotography
July 24, 2025 at 2:37 AM
The supernova in the galactic core of NGC7331 was still shining bright on July 22 & 23. #Astrophotography
Our last trip to a darker Ontario sky started with this thick layer of forest fire smoke. The first night was so-so but by the second night things improved a lot. I focused on this wide field view of the Bubble nebula, M52 and a few other treasures. #astrophotography
July 18, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Our last trip to a darker Ontario sky started with this thick layer of forest fire smoke. The first night was so-so but by the second night things improved a lot. I focused on this wide field view of the Bubble nebula, M52 and a few other treasures. #astrophotography
The Messier 3 globular cluster. Stacked with Siril 1.4 beta 1, but processed mostly with Seti Astro Suite and some final Photoshop tweaks (old habits 😄). Hoping to add more integration, improve the star color & maybe show some blue straggler stars. #astrophotography
May 21, 2025 at 9:10 PM
The Messier 3 globular cluster. Stacked with Siril 1.4 beta 1, but processed mostly with Seti Astro Suite and some final Photoshop tweaks (old habits 😄). Hoping to add more integration, improve the star color & maybe show some blue straggler stars. #astrophotography
I'm hoping to get better at this, but I restacked and processed some old M51 (last year's) data with the new Siril 1.4 beta version. It truly is a pleasure to use! #Astrophotography #Siril
April 30, 2025 at 3:33 AM
I'm hoping to get better at this, but I restacked and processed some old M51 (last year's) data with the new Siril 1.4 beta version. It truly is a pleasure to use! #Astrophotography #Siril
A cosmic photobomb. Messier 46, an open cluster of blue and older red stars is about 5000 ly away in the constellation Puppis. The planetary nebula NGC 2438 sits in front, just 1370 ly distant. Captured on a -20C winter night. #Astrophotography
January 23, 2025 at 4:00 AM
A cosmic photobomb. Messier 46, an open cluster of blue and older red stars is about 5000 ly away in the constellation Puppis. The planetary nebula NGC 2438 sits in front, just 1370 ly distant. Captured on a -20C winter night. #Astrophotography
We spent quite a while watching this Snowy Owl perching on a digital TV antenna. I wonder if the homeowner was also looking at a "snowy" screen? #birds
January 17, 2025 at 9:52 PM
We spent quite a while watching this Snowy Owl perching on a digital TV antenna. I wonder if the homeowner was also looking at a "snowy" screen? #birds
Finally tried out the Poseidon-C color camera during a rare hour of clear January sky. The Optolong L-enhance helped, since the scope was pointed south over the Toronto skyglow. I toned down the highlights enough to show the Trapezium cluster. A brooding swirl of angry nebulosity? #Astrophotography
January 15, 2025 at 10:40 PM
Finally tried out the Poseidon-C color camera during a rare hour of clear January sky. The Optolong L-enhance helped, since the scope was pointed south over the Toronto skyglow. I toned down the highlights enough to show the Trapezium cluster. A brooding swirl of angry nebulosity? #Astrophotography
This version of the Horsehead nebula region was captured near Toronto on a rare November night of above average seeing and transparency. If I could hitch a ride on a starship, I'd definitely want to cruise around this place! #astrophotography
December 15, 2024 at 5:35 AM
This version of the Horsehead nebula region was captured near Toronto on a rare November night of above average seeing and transparency. If I could hitch a ride on a starship, I'd definitely want to cruise around this place! #astrophotography
Two more images from "Our Wonderful Universe". When Chant was writing, almost anything that wasn't a star was called a nebula, though they suspected that "spiral nebula" like Andromeda contained stars.
December 13, 2024 at 4:22 AM
Two more images from "Our Wonderful Universe". When Chant was writing, almost anything that wasn't a star was called a nebula, though they suspected that "spiral nebula" like Andromeda contained stars.
"Our Wonderful Universe" was published by University of Toronto astronomer C.A. Chant in 1928. The book has a few b&w plates from the great observatories. These were incredible images for the time. Just glass plate imaging, no autoguiding, no Siril or PixInsight. Yikes! #astrophotography
December 13, 2024 at 4:04 AM
"Our Wonderful Universe" was published by University of Toronto astronomer C.A. Chant in 1928. The book has a few b&w plates from the great observatories. These were incredible images for the time. Just glass plate imaging, no autoguiding, no Siril or PixInsight. Yikes! #astrophotography
Going a little star-crazy with all these clouds, so I've been browsing some old astronomy books. Fred Hoyle's 1962 book, "Astronomy" is light years out of date, but is still treasure trove of history. #astronomy #astrophotography
December 12, 2024 at 5:51 AM
Going a little star-crazy with all these clouds, so I've been browsing some old astronomy books. Fred Hoyle's 1962 book, "Astronomy" is light years out of date, but is still treasure trove of history. #astronomy #astrophotography
This guy was quite real! But i probably over-sharpened the image a bit and lifted the shadows, since the light was fading. I also removed a reflection from the phone image. Here's an unedited shot, just before the owl turned toward us. Spooky! We stayed for about 2 mins and then let him be.
December 7, 2024 at 1:05 PM
This guy was quite real! But i probably over-sharpened the image a bit and lifted the shadows, since the light was fading. I also removed a reflection from the phone image. Here's an unedited shot, just before the owl turned toward us. Spooky! We stayed for about 2 mins and then let him be.
Here's 11 minutes on the Outer Limits Galaxy. Yep, it's over-stretched, denoised and sharpened, but's like our galaxy is looking in a giant cosmic mirror. Looking forward to trying this again without clouds and trees getting in the way. #Astrophotography
November 12, 2024 at 5:14 AM
Here's 11 minutes on the Outer Limits Galaxy. Yep, it's over-stretched, denoised and sharpened, but's like our galaxy is looking in a giant cosmic mirror. Looking forward to trying this again without clouds and trees getting in the way. #Astrophotography
Space can look kind of Autumnal, especially when you use a Hydrogen Alpha filter to catch those glowing red photons. Blobs, Bubbles and Brains. Happy space Hallowe'en! #Astrophotography
October 30, 2024 at 8:48 PM
Space can look kind of Autumnal, especially when you use a Hydrogen Alpha filter to catch those glowing red photons. Blobs, Bubbles and Brains. Happy space Hallowe'en! #Astrophotography
Walking home today we heard chickadees, juncos, nuthatches, kinglets & a downy woodpecker scolding in a maple tree. Looking up, we could see why! #birds
October 23, 2024 at 1:25 AM
Walking home today we heard chickadees, juncos, nuthatches, kinglets & a downy woodpecker scolding in a maple tree. Looking up, we could see why! #birds
Cell phone view of C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) over Southern Ontario. It wasn't visible to my old eyes without binoculars, but that tail! Spectacular! #Astrophotography
October 17, 2024 at 4:40 AM
Cell phone view of C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) over Southern Ontario. It wasn't visible to my old eyes without binoculars, but that tail! Spectacular! #Astrophotography
It's a rare thing to see the Aurora in southern Ontario, just 25km from Toronto, but we've had 'em twice this year. So far! #Astrophotography #Aurora
October 11, 2024 at 4:16 AM
It's a rare thing to see the Aurora in southern Ontario, just 25km from Toronto, but we've had 'em twice this year. So far! #Astrophotography #Aurora
Tonight's supermoon rising over the David Dunlap Observatory admin building. #Astrophotography
August 20, 2024 at 2:39 AM
Tonight's supermoon rising over the David Dunlap Observatory admin building. #Astrophotography