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This planetary nebula is located right on the border of Taurus and Perseus. It is cataloged as NGC 1514 and is also known as the Crystal Ball Nebula. The magnitude, depending on the source, is listed at 10.9.
Observation data: J2000 epoch
Right ascension: 04h 09m 16.98573s
Declination: +30° 46′ 33.4699″
Distance: 1520 ly
Apparent magnitude (V): 9.27
Apparent dimensions (V): 2.2′
Constellation: Taurus
Tech Specs: Orion 8” RC Telescope, ZWO ASI2600MC camera running at -10F, 68 x 60 seconds, Celestron CGEM-DX pier mounted, ZWO EAF and ASIAir Pro, processed in DSS and PixInsight. Image Date: January 2, 2024. Location: The Dark Side Observatory (W59), Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).
Equipment:
Telescope: Orion XT10i on Skywatcher EQ6 Pro
Camera: Canon 550D unmodified + Baader MPCC
Guiding: Orion Magnificent Mini Autoguider + PHD Guiding
Software: APT, DeepSkyStacker, PixInsight
Images: 120x30sec ISO1600 Lights; 50x Darks; 50x Bias; 50x Flats
Telescopi o obiettivi di acquisizione: Celestron 127/1500 Maksutov-Cassegrain
Camere di acquisizione: Svbony SV105
Montature: Celestron SLT
Software: ASTROSURFACE · PIPP x64 2.5.9 · DeepSkyStacker
Data:09 Novembre 2020
Ora: 12:43
Pose: 250
FPS: 15,00000
Lunghezza focale: 1500
Seeing: 3
Trasparenza: 7
I combined a stack of 10 with DeepSkyStacker to deal with the noise, and I had a heck of a time doing it, too! :) Maybe because I accidentally shot in jpeg...
Fujifilm X-T10, Samyang 135mm f/2.0 @ f2.0, ISO 1600, 40 x 60 sec, tracking with iOptron SkyTracker Pro, stacking with DeepSkyStacker, editing in GIMP, taken July 31 under Bortle 3/4 skies. Conditions seemed about perfect, Sadr was nearly directly overhead, and my focus was dead-on, making processing simple.
Notable nebulae contained in this extent are the Gamma Cygni Nebula around Sadr and the Crescent Nebula near the center.
Taken on my third consecutive night of astrophotography - I'm not going out tonight despite the likely clear skies - I need a break.
Aug. 2 update: A re-edit, this time without a luminance layer - makes the reds less pink.
Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak passes through the constellation Ursa Major.
Stack of 21 one-minute shots taken between 21:59 CDT on 3/26/2017 and 00:21 CDT on 3/27/2017. Observing site Huntsville, AL, USA
For this image, the stars were tracked and the comet allowed to trail.
Antares only rises to 23 degrees altitude max and the best imaging window is 3 hours per night in the beginning of june. And of course without moonlight. This year my only shot was a 3 hr window on june 7. This is a 2 panel mosaic made with the Esprit 100 f5.5 APO and Canon 6Da and Optolong L filter. (total 53x180 sec iso 1600 I plan to add more panels over the next few years. Processed with DeepSkyStacker (2 stacks) and Pixinsight (DBE, Histogram, Staralignment, Gradientmegemosaic, curves)
Knight Observatory, Tomar.
Having just ordered an Olll filter, this will eventually be my first bi-colour image with Ha and Olll, hopefully. This is about half of the Ha, just 6 x 1200 seconds @ iso1600 with the cooled mono 450D - I'll have to add some more as this is quite noisy.
My mount has been serviced and now appears to be doing its thing as it should. I'll now wait for the next disaster to befall me, as is the nature of this stuff :)
I managed to add 3 hours to my previous version of this on Saturday night, but that has little to do with the above result. This is my first attempt at collaboration with my good friend Dave Williams (whom I have never met, as he lives in the frozen northern wastelands known as Manchester). Dave works in NB, and provided Ha, which I added as a luminance layer (after trying a few other techniques without success), and this is the result. Now I'm fully aware that what you can see above is predominantly luminance, with a bit of RGB thrown in to provide character, so Dave very much deserves most of the credit for this image. However, as he's not on Flickr, I'm happy to accept it :)
This is also my first attempt at combining Ha with RGB (albeit as luminance), and It makes my previous version look a bit sick :)
RGB:
SW ED80/EQ5
Nikon D70 modded, Baader Neodymium filter
45 x 180secs iso 800, 60 x 180secs iso 640 (5 hours 15 minutes)
Guiding (RA only): Quickcam Pro4000/9x50 finderscope, PHD
Stacked in DSS and processed in CS5
Ha:
15 x 600secs (2 hours 30 minutes)
Used Hasselblad 250mm f4 lens at f4 (cropped - quite a bit!)
Moravian G2 8300
Astrodon 5nm Ha filter
Takahashi EM200 mount
Guiding: DMK through an old 100mm M42 lens
Due to weather conditions, lack of guiding and some technical problems, it took me almost 12 hours to get a hours worth of usable data on this!! I'll have to revisit this one before the winter is out.
Location: Killygordon, Co. Donegal, Ireland.
Time: 00:00-05:00
Date: 01 December 2010
Target: Horsehead and Flame Nebulae
Exposures: 12 x Five minute exposures (20Darks, 25Bias). 60mins total exposure.
Equipment:
Mount- Celestron CG5-GT (unguided)
Camera- Self-modified Canon 1000D
Telescope- Celestron C8N
Additional- Astronomik cls clip LP filter.
Stacking & Processing: DeepSkyStacker & Photoshop 7.0
This is the Eastern part of the Veil Nebula complex in Cygnus. It's the remnant of a supernova that exploded 5-8000 years ago. The gas ejected from the explosion is still expanding outwards, colliding with other interstellar material at up to 30,000 km/s (one tenth the speed of light) -- the shock of the impact ionizes the gases, causing them to glow like this.
I've created a "bi-colour" image here -- a combination of just two channels -- with one channel in hydrogen-alpha (Ha) and one in Oxygen-III (OIII).
The image includes roughly 2.5 hours of exposure in Ha and 4 hours in OIII, through the QHY9 mono camera and William Optics FLT110 at f5.6. Stacked in DeepSkyStacker and aligned/processed in Photoshop.
Ha is mapped to Red, the Green channel is a 75-25 blend of OIII-Ha, and the Blue channel is a 90-10 blend of OIII-Ha.
Shot over two nights from my back yard in downtown Toronto, Canada.
Spirithands Photography on facebook
Taken a few nights ago, Zodiacal Light competes with the lights of the small settlement of Cumberland Beach.
(Added Ha signal)
Between 5000 and 8000 years ago a supernova exploded in the center of this region in the constellation Cygnus. Today we see the Veil or Cirrus nebula complex with the Eastern veil (NGC6995 left), Pickerings triangle (top right) and Western veil (NGC6960 right). Photographed with Canon 6Da / Esprit 100 APO refractor with Optolong L (IR/UV cut) filter. 39x240 seconds + 9x900 sec with 12nm Optolong Ha filter iso1600. Stacked with DeepSkyStacker using 48 dark frames, 30 Flat frames and 174 Bias frames. Processed in Pixinsight. DBE, HistogramTransformations, NBRGBCombination script, Curves adjustment, Morphologicaltransformation for star reduction . No noisereduction was used.
Knight Observatory, Tomar
88 x 30sec @ ISO3200
Canon 60D
Stacked with Deepskystacker, processed in PixInsight and Photoshop.
Carbon Serrurier truss Royce 10" f4 Newtonian.
Televue paracorr type 2 corrector.
Takahashi NJP mount.
AstroTech AT8RC + CCDT67 + Atik383L(-30C) on SkyWatcher AZ-EQ6GT
Astrodon Tru-Balance E-Series Gen2 (with EFW2)
Ha3x900sec,L4x600sec,R3x600sec,G3x600sec,B3x900sec (Total:190min)
Guiding: OAG9 + LodestarX2
StellaImage7, DeepSkyStacker, Photoshop CC2015
Locations: Kamogawa Sports Park, Kibichuocho, Okayama, Japan
Nov. 2016
Total 2hrs
H-Alpha - 7x600sec, Oii - 5x600sec
Stacked in DeepSkyStacker, processed in PS2
Camera: Atik 314L+ Mono using Geoptik adapter
Filters: Baader H-Alpha 7nm, Oiii
Lens: Tamron 70-300mm (set 100mm).
Mount: AZ EQ6-GT goto, PhD guided with Orion 50mm guidescope with SSAG.
M57 Ring Nebula
80 exposure's of 1 minute each.
110 calibration frames consisting of, 30 dark, 30 flats & 50 bias
Telescope & camera setup was:
Skywatcher 200 Quattro on a HEQ5 mount, with a Canon 1100D attached.
Software used was: DeepSkyStacker & Startools.
Image was shot from Newhey, Rochdale, UK.
noise stack of 106 images.
Canon EOS 6D
Canon 300mm f/4.0 + Canon 1.6x teleconverter
15 seconds @f/5.6 @ISO 1600
Polarie Tracker
DeepSkyStacker
Lens: Sigma Art 135mm stopped to 46mm (f/2.93)
Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM
Filters: Baader CMOS-Optimized Ultra-Narrowband
Exposure: Ha 6x10min, OIII 5x10min, RGB 5x1min
Mount: CEM70G
Captured with SGP
Registered and stacked with DeepSkyStacker
Photographed from Round Rock TX (light pollution zone: red)
One of the last chances this season. Rosette was very low on the horizon.
About 80, 30 second images
D800
70-200 @ 200mm
iso 3200
F2.8
Eq3 unguided
UHC-e filter
Bortle 5
A closer view of the comet between the trees at the bottom of our garden, just before midnight on 17/18 July. This is a manual stack of eight images in Photoshop - I could not get DeepSkyStacker to work on this sequence.
I think my source photos were soft and off-focus and this hasn't helped in the final image stack, where I used the comet head as the reference point.
8 frames | 230mm | F7.1 | ISO 1000 | 10s | total 80s
Lens: Sigma Art 135mm f/1.8 (@ f/1.8)
Camera: Canon 6D
Exposure: 10x4seconds, ISO 3200
Mount: just a tripod, no RA tracking
Registered and stacked with DeepSkyStacker
Photographed from Round Rock TX (light pollution zone: red)
An emission nebula about 6,000 light years away in the constellation of Cygnus.
Data gathered at The Astronomy Centre, Todmorden, UK.
Boring techie bit:
Skywatcher Quattro 8" Newtonian Reflector steel tube with the f4 aplanatic coma corrector, Skywatcher EQ6 R pro mount, Altair Starwave 50mm guide scope, ZWO asi120mm guide camera mini, ZWO asi533mc pro cooled to -10c gain 101, Optolong L'enhance 2" filter, ZWO filter drawer, ZWO asiair plus.
120s exposures.
Best 75% of 60 light frames.
Darks, Flats & Bias.
Stacked with DeepSkyStacker and processed in PixInsight & Affinity Photo.
Equipment
Imaging Telescopes Or Lenses
GSO 8" f/5 Imaging Newtonian
Imaging Cameras
ZWO ASI 183 MM PRO
Mounts
Sky-Watcher NEQ6-Pro
Filters
Baader B 1.25'' CCD Filter · Baader G 1.25'' CCD Filter · Baader R 1.25'' CCD Filter
Accessories
TSOptics TS Off Axis Guider - 9mm · Pal Gyulai GPU Aplanatic Koma Korrector 4-element
Software
Luc Coiffier DeepSkyStacker (DSS) · PHD2 Guiding · PhotoShop CS5 · FitsWork 4 · CCDCiel
Guiding Telescopes Or Lenses
GSO 8" f/5 Imaging Newtonian
Guiding Cameras
Astrolumina Alccd5L-IIc
Acquisition details
Dates:
Sept. 15, 2020
Frames:
Baader B 1.25'' CCD Filter: 20x300" (1h 40') (gain: 53.00) -20°C bin 1x1
Baader G 1.25'' CCD Filter: 20x300" (1h 40') (gain: 53.00) -20°C bin 1x1
Baader R 1.25'' CCD Filter: 20x300" (1h 40') (gain: 53.00) -20°C bin 1x1
Integration:
5h
Pinwheel- Galaxie
Mizar and Alco, Alkaid, Deichsel vom Sternbild Großer Wagen (Bär)
60s ? f 2.8 / ISO500 / EF100mm
DSS - 3 Pic Stack
Pic taken 2019-05-13 / just 3 pic's usable (cloudy)
First try at NGC7000, from the back yard. 9/24/2022
20 x 240 secs.
Canon EOS-R
William Optics GT81
iOptron CEM40
DeepSkyStacker
DxO PhotoLab 5
Bortle 7+
382mm
ISO 1600
f/4.7
Ten 20-s exposures combined with DeepSkyStacker
24-mm f/4 ISO 1000
Nikon D800
Jabiru NT Australia
Nice, dark sky
Plejaden (M45)
auch 7 Schwestern genannt
Stacked with Deep Sky Stacker
48 Lights / 31 Darks / 40 Bias
Single Frame
30sec / f 7.1 / ISO 200 / 500mm
Canon 80D / Sigma 150-600c
Star Adventurer unguided
Last night I added some time to a session I did in February for a total of just over four hours of 3 minute subs. Struggled to beat the first version I did of this 2 years ago, and that was only 28 minutes for heavens sake! Got there in the end though :)
That star was gagging for some spikes :)
SW ED80/EQ5
Nikon D70 modded, Baader Neodymium filter
84 x 180sec subs, iso 800, for a total of 4 hours 10 minutes
Guiding (RA only): Quickcam Pro4000/9x50 finderscope, PHD
Stacked in DSS and processed in CS5. Spikes by StarSpikes Pro
31x180sec ISO1600 Skywatcher 100 Esprit and Canon 6D full spectrum with CLS-CCD filter. Processed in DeepSkyStacker and Pixinsight 1.8
The Triangulum Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 3 million light years (ly) from Earth in the constellation Triangulum. It is catalogued as Messier 33 or NGC 598, and s the third-largest member of the Local Group of galaxies, which includes the Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy and about 44 other smaller galaxies.
With a diameter of about 50,000 light years, the Triangulum galaxy is the third largest member of the Local Group of galaxies. It may be a gravitationally bound companion of the Andromeda Galaxy Triangulum may be home to 40 billion stars, compared to 400 billion for the Milky Way, and 1 trillion (1000 billion) stars for Andromeda. from wiki
...
autori: xamad e Valentina Saltarelli (stoica amazzone alla sua prima impresa astrofotografica al gelo ♥)
Telescopio: APO Triplet 130/910 mm
Camere di acquisizione: Canon / CentralDS EOS Astro 50D
Montature: Sky-Watcher EQ6 Pro
Telescopio guida: 80/600
Camere di guida: lacerta mgen2
Riduttori di focale: Flattener 2"
Software: DeepSkyStacker, Adobe Lightroom 3, Silicon Fields StarTools 1.3, Noel Carboni's Astro Tools for PhotoShop
Filtri: Orion SkyGlow 2" Imaging Filter
Date: 25 novembre 2013
Pose:
Orion SkyGlow 2" Imaging Filter: 10x480" ISO1000 -16C bin 1x1
Orion SkyGlow 2" Imaging Filter: 5x180" ISO2500 -16C bin 1x1
Orion SkyGlow 2" Imaging Filter: 10x360" ISO2500 -16C bin 1x1
Integrazione: 2.6 ore
Dark: ~20
Flat: ~20
Fase lunare media: 57.79%
Scala del Cielo Scuro Bortle: 3.00
Shot with the EOS-M and 22mm f/2 @ 2.8, ISO 400. 20 minutes exposition (5x 4-minute), stacked in DeepSkyStacker and processed in Canon DPP.
I never get tired of the Cygnus region.
Three clear nights on the bounce - whatever next?! :)
Took advantage of the weather to give this a really good crack, something I've been waiting to do since the arrival of the ED80. This is full frame, so the focal length is ideal. As near as dammit 8 hours total exposure, made up of various sub lengths and iso settings. The variation in iso seems to improve the overall noise in the final tif, so I was able to stretch this a little further (some would say too far!). Not sure if it's a little too contrasty - all a matter of personal taste I suppose. Overall, I'm very pleased with this :)
SW ED80/EQ5, cropped
Nikon D70 modded, Baader Neodymium filter
18 x 4 mins iso 1600
30 x 6 mins iso 1250
22 x 10 mins iso 800
Guiding: Quickcam Pro4000/9x50 finderscope, PHD
Stacked in DSS and processed in CS5
A number of photos were taken with a Sony A7 III camera, attached to a 102 mm f/7 refractor, on a Losmandy G11 equatorial mount, stacked in DeepSkyStacker, and further processed with Nebulosity
Skywatcher 100 Esprit APO refractor + Canon 6D full spectrum mod with Optolong-L filter. Exposure time: 6hr30min (99x240sec) august 18-19 2015 ISO1600. Stacked in Deepskystacker with 21 flat frames and 65 bias frames. Processed with Pixinsight. Mount: Skywatcher AZ-EQ5-GT. Capture software: Backyard EOS. Guided with PHD2 and Orion Starshoot autoguider on 50 mm guidescope.
Press L (followed by F11) for the best view.
The Andromeda Galaxy or M31 as captured in a stack of fifty-four images that were exposed for 25 seconds each using a hand-driven, barn-door type tracking mount (two boards, a hinge, and a screw you turn by hand). This photo also shows Andromeda's two satellite galaxies, M32 and M110 (see image notes for the locations, M110 is the small elliptical galaxy slightly below center).
This photo was taken using a 50mm Nikkor AF-D lens on a Nikon D5100 DSLR and it is best viewed in the Flickr light box (press the "L" key to toggle the light box and optionally click on the "View all sizes" menu item to see the image at its largest size).
With the aid of the Cartes du Ciel star charting software (highly recommended free download) and with an examination of the area surrounding M110 I've determined that the limiting magnitude in this photo is around 14.5 (stars nearing the 14th magnitude are clearly shown, fainter than that are more difficult). There is also a definite halo around the small satellite galaxy M32, a detail which was not that apparent in my earlier post.
The brightest star in this photo (above center) is Nu Andromeda at magnitude 4.5 and it is located just over one degree from the center of the Andromeda Galaxy. One degree is just about twice the apparent size of the full moon, so you can see that the Andromeda Galaxy (as recorded in this photo) is several times the size of the full moon.
Captured on September 28 and 29 between 11:34PM and 12:28AM PDT with a Nikon D5100 DSLR (ISO 4000, 25 second exposure x 54) and a 50mm AF-D Nikkor lens set to aperture f/2.8. Image stack created with DeepSkyStacker using 54 image frames combined with 27 dark frames (no flats or bias).
All rights reserved.
Equipment
Imaging Telescopes Or Lenses
GSO 8" f/5 Imaging Newtonian
Imaging Cameras
ZWO ASI 183 MM PRO
Mounts
Sky-Watcher NEQ6-Pro
Filters
Baader B 1.25'' CCD Filter · Baader G 1.25'' CCD Filter · Baader R 1.25'' CCD Filter
Accessories
TSOptics TS Off Axis Guider - 9mm · Pal Gyulai GPU Aplanatic Koma Korrector 4-element
Software
Luc Coiffier DeepSkyStacker (DSS) · PHD2 Guiding · PhotoShop CS5 · FitsWork 4 · CCDCiel
Guiding Telescopes Or Lenses
GSO 8" f/5 Imaging Newtonian
Guiding Cameras
Astrolumina Alccd5L-IIc
Acquisition details
Dates:
Sept. 3, 2021
Frames:
Baader B 1.25'' CCD Filter: 15x300" (1h 15') (gain: 53.00) -20°C bin 1x1
Baader G 1.25'' CCD Filter: 15x300" (1h 15') (gain: 53.00) -20°C bin 1x1
Baader R 1.25'' CCD Filter: 15x300" (1h 15') (gain: 53.00) -20°C bin 1x1
Integration:
3h 45'
Equipment
Imaging Telescopes Or Lenses
TS-Optics 6" f/4 UNC Newtonian Telescope - Carbon
Imaging Cameras
ZWO ASI 183 MM PRO
Mounts
Sky-Watcher NEQ6-Pro
Filters
Baader Ha 1.25" 7nm · Baader Planetarium SII 1.25" 8nm · Baader Planetarium O3 1.25" 8.5nm
Accessories
ZWO EAF Electronic Auto Focuser · TSOptics TS Off Axis Guider - 9mm · Pal Gyulai GPU Aplanatic Koma Korrector 4-element
Software
Luc Coiffier DeepSkyStacker (DSS) · PHD2 Guiding · PhotoShop CS5 · FitsWork 4 · CCDCiel
Guiding Telescopes Or Lenses
TS-Optics 6" f/4 UNC Newtonian Telescope - Carbon
Guiding Cameras
Astrolumina Alccd5L-IIc
Acquisition details
Dates:
Nov. 5, 2020 · Nov. 6, 2020
Frames:
Baader Ha 1.25" 7nm: 96x300" (8h) (gain: 200.00) -20°C bin 1x1
Baader Planetarium O3 1.25" 8.5nm: 45x300" (3h 45') (gain: 200.00) -20°C
Baader Planetarium SII 1.25" 8nm: 58x300" (4h 50') (gain: 200.00) -20°C bin 1x1
Integration:
16h 35'
Last night was the first clear Moonless night for a while, so I drove an hour Southwest of Brisbane and took some test shots of some of the larger deep sky objects to see how my 100mm macro lens performs for astrophotography.
The Pleiades (also known as the Seven Sisters) is a galactic star cluster approximately 135 light years from Earth. It contains many young, hot blue stars, and the light from these stars can be seen reflecting off dust in the region.
This image is 30 x 30 second exposures in a Star Adventurer Mini tracker, with the lens at f/4 and 3200 iso. Processed using DeepSkyStacker and Lightroom 5.
Secondo ritratto della Galassia di Andromeda con le altre due galassie ellittiche vicine, M32 e M110.
Rispetto alla prima foto ho cercato più pulizia e fedeltà cromatica.
Scattata in condizioni abbastanza favorevoli come inquinamento luminoso, ma con la galassia sempre abbastanza lontana dallo zenit, prima della nuova Luna piena riproverò.
Critiche, commenti e consigli graditissimi.
Nei commenti ulteriori dettagli.
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Data e luogo:
-Massa, 44° 2'31.08"N 10° 7'9.22"E
-27 Settembre 2011 ore 23 circa.
Strumentazione:
-Canon 450D
-Canon 55-250 IS
-Montatura equatoriale motorizzata in A.R. Heyford EQ8
Dati di scatto:
-9 lightframe (60s, 250mm, f/8, iso 800)
-9 darkframe
-9 flatframe
-9 biasframe
Software Usati:
-Backyard Eos - Scatto remoto, programma davvero consigliato!
-Deepskystacker - Allineamento, combinazione degli scatti, creazione file TIFF
-Photoshop CS 2, Lightroom 3 - Crop e ulteriori modifiche al contrasto
M-27 Dumbbell Nebula
C-11 @ F/2 Hyperstar CGEM-DX on Pier
16 subs 60 sec iso1600 unguided
0 flats, 0 darks, 0 bias
Total integration 0 hours 16 minutes.
Canon 6D Baader Mod – by Hap Griffin.
Filter - LPS2
seeing - average
many times on target.
Stacked in Deepskystacker
Manually, off-axis guided for 11 x 5-minute exposures at ISO 1600, f/4.
Modified EOS 600D & Revelation 12" Newtonian reflector telescope.
Registered and stacked using DeepSkyStacker; initial curves adjusted in Canon Photo Professional; final curves & colour-balance adjusted using Paint Shop Pro; final noise reduction using CyberLink PhotoDirector.
Here's a crop of a photo of Comet Lulin shot with the Nikkor 200mm f/4 AI telephoto lens. I had the IDAS light pollution filter on the lens to help bring down the sky fog. There's still a bit of vignetting even though it's cropped. You can clearly see the dust tail (anti-tail) to the left of the comet. The proper tail is not that distinguished as it is projecting away from us. The bloated stars and Saturn were caused by me not using a smaller aperture.
Number 35 in the Messier catalogue, number 2168 in the New General Catalogue.
A quite beautiful open star cluster in the constellation of gemini. At 2,700 light years away it is filled with young hot blue stars, leading to estimates at the age of the cluster to be around 150 million years. Over 500 massive stars spread out amongst 2,500 stars, stretching over just 24 light years.
In stark contrast is the open star cluster NGC 2158 in the lower right corner. Much further away at over 14,000 light years, it appears much more condensed. The lack of any large hot blue stars gives away the fact that it is also much older at an estimated 2 billion years.
Boring techie bit:
Skywatcher Quattro 8" Newtonian Reflector steel tube with the f4 aplanatic coma corrector, Skywatcher EQ6 R pro mount, Altair Starwave 50mm guide scope, ZWO asi120mm guide camera mini, ZWO asi533mc pro cooled to -10c, ZWO asiair plus.
300 seconds at 0 gain.
Stacked with DeepSkyStacker and processed in StarTools.
Canon 5dmkii f/2 C-11 /CGEM-DX / Hyperstar. 25 lights, no Darks, no Bias, no Flats, stacked in Deepskystacker.
The Pleiades or Seven Sisters (Messier 45 or M45), is an open star cluster containing middle-aged hot B-type stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky. The celestial entity has several meanings in different cultures and traditions.
The cluster is dominated by hot blue and extremely luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Dust that forms a faint reflection nebulosity around the brightest stars was thought at first to be left over from the formation of the cluster (hence the alternative name Maia Nebula after the star Maia), but is now known to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium, through which the stars are currently passing. Computer simulations have shown that the Pleiades was probably formed from a compact configuration that resembled the Orion Nebula. Astronomers estimate that the cluster will survive for about another 250 million years, after which it will disperse due to gravitational interactions with its galactic neighborhood.
Known as the Cocoon galaxy.
The smaller companion galaxy is NGC 4485. Referred to collectively as ARP 269.
The galaxies passed close to or through one another sometime in the past and, it's almost certain gravity will bring them back together several billion years in the future.
The red/pink areas are prime star forming regions where dense clouds of ionised hydrogen are irradiated by ultraviolet light from the hot, young stars within.
ARP 269 can be found in Canes Venatici some 24 million light years away. The two galaxies having now passed by one another are now approximately 24,000 light years apart.
Boring techie bit:
Skywatcher Quattro 8" Newtonian Reflector steel tube with the f4 aplanatic coma corrector, Skywatcher EQ6 R pro mount, Altair 60mm guide scope, ZWO asi120mm guide camera mini, ZWO asi533mc pro cooled to -20c gain 100, Optolong L'enhance 2" filter, ZWO asiair plus.
180s exposures.
Best 70% of 60 light frames.
Darks, Flats & Bias.
Stacked with DeepSkyStacker and processed in StarTools.
Finally got imaging working again with my new laptop. It's taken a while!
M106 in Canes Venatici plus a few other galaxies, From top to bottom they are NGC 4220, NGC 4248, NGC 4217 and NGC 4346.
This was a quick test image stacked in DeepSkyStacker so there's a couple of satellite trails that could be processed out.
Taken from the Starshed Enterprise on 26th March 2020.
A stack of 9x300s exposures using a QHY22 camera on a TS Imaging Star71 - 71mm f/4.9 Imaging APO telescope. Autoguided using OAG. Flats, darks and bias applied.
Calibration and stacking done in DeepSkyStacker and post-processing in PixInsight.