Gallery - Rick Fretwell

Rick Fretwell

Started as a visual amateur astronomer when a school boy by building a 4” Newtonian RFT, then left the hobby due college and work, etc. Came back to it with the purchase of a Meade LXD55 ready for the transit of Venus 2004 which I successfully imaged with an antiquated Pentax SP1000 35mm at prime focus. Have been imaging ever since, but now the telescopes haves grown in number and the camera has been replaced by a modern purpose-built CMOS astro-imaging camera deployed when ever the weather is suitable to the back garden.

IC1340 The Bat Nebula
The Veil Nebula is a cloud of heated and ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus.
Telescope used is a modified Fullerscope 10” Newtonian at F3.77 with a QHY294M camera. The image is presented in Ha, OIII, OIII (false colours for RGB) using 300s exposures for a total of 4h05m integration.

Melotte 15 is within the Heart nebula (IC1805)

NGC 891 - Caldwell 23 - The outer limits galaxy,
Imaged over two nights on 2nd and 3rd October 2024 using the 8” SCT and QHY533M Camera in LRGB filters with 120s exposures for a total of 7h24m

IC 405 (also known as the Flaming Star Nebula, SH 2-229, or Caldwell 31).
This image was taken on the 9th January 2025 on the 10” Newtonian telescope and QHY294M camara with 180s exposures in LRGB & 300s exposures for Ha on a 6nm bandpass filter. Total integration is 13h27m.

The Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976)
Imaged on 22nd February 2025 in LRGB using 10s exposures with QHY533M camera and the SCT for total integration is 13 minutes.

NGC 3628, also known as the Hamburger Galaxy] or Sarah's Galaxy.
Compiled from the data gathers over nights of 3rd, 4th and 5th March 2025 in LRGB using 240s exposures on the SCT at F6.3 with a QHY533M Camera. 19h40m total exposure time.

The Andromeda Galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy and is the nearest major galaxy to us. It is catalogued as Messier 31, M31, and NGC 224.
Imaged in LRGB using 2m exposures on the FRA400 at F3.9 and QHY MiniCam8 for a total of 10 hours over 8th and 9th August 2025.

Sh2-236 Tadpoles Nebula is in the constellation of Auriga.
This image was taken on the 17th November 2025 on the Newtonian at F3.8 with the QHY294M in SHO 6nm narrowband filters for 6h54m of exposure.

The 2026 solar eclipse imaged with Meade 8" SCT on Skywatcher AZ-EQ6 Mount using a "1000 Oaks" White Light Filter on QHY268M camera. Taken just before maximum occultation on 12th August 2026 from Clyffe Pypard Wiltshire

Rick Fretwell

Melotte 15 is within the Heart nebula (IC1805)

NGC 891 - Caldwell 23 - The outer limits galaxy, Imaged over two nights on 2nd and 3rd October 2024 using the 8” SCT and QHY533M Camera in LRGB filters with 120s exposures for a total of 7h24m

IC 405 (also known as the Flaming Star Nebula, SH 2-229, or Caldwell 31). This image was taken on the 9th January 2025 on the 10” Newtonian telescope and QHY294M camara with 180s exposures in LRGB & 300s exposures for Ha on a 6nm bandpass filter. Total integration is 13h27m.

The Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) Imaged on 22nd February 2025 in LRGB using 10s exposures with QHY533M camera and the SCT for total integration is 13 minutes.

NGC 3628, also known as the Hamburger Galaxy] or Sarah's Galaxy. Compiled from the data gathers over nights of 3rd, 4th and 5th March 2025 in LRGB using 240s exposures on the SCT at F6.3 with a QHY533M Camera. 19h40m total exposure time.