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Found in the constellation Coma Berenices. Bright enough to show off diffraction spikes, the stars are in the foreground of the scene, well within our own Milky Way. But the three prominent galaxies lie far beyond our own, some 41 million light-years distant. The smaller distorted galaxy at left is the 159th entry in the Arp Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies, with extensive tidal tails indicative of strong gravitational interactions in its past. Its likely companion is the much larger NGC 4725 in the center. At first glance NGC 4725 appears to be a normal spiral galaxy, its central region dominated by the yellowish light of cool, older stars giving way to younger hot blue star clusters along dusty spiral outskirts. Still, it is unusual with only one main spiral arm. The other small galaxy at lower right is NGC 4712. Text from APOD
Taken from Blue Canyon, June 2023
Scope:Vixen VC200L (courtesy of Larry Parker)
Camera: ASI 2600mm
Mount: Paramount MYT.
LRGB = 3h:1.5h:1.5h:1.5h
When stars form, pandemonium reigns. A textbook case is the star forming region NGC 6559. Visible in the featured image are red glowing emission nebulas of hydrogen, blue reflection nebulas of dust, dark absorption nebulas of dust, and the stars that formed from them. The first massive stars formed from the dense gas will emit energetic light and winds that erode, fragment, and sculpt their birthplace. And then they explode. The resulting morass can be as beautiful as it is complex. After tens of millions of years, the dust boils away, the gas gets swept away, and all that is left is a bare open cluster of stars. Text from APOD
Taken from Angel Creek NV, July 2023
Scope:Vixen VC200L @ F9 courtesy of Larry Parker
Camera:ASI 2600mm
Mount: Paramount MYT
LRGB= 1.67 hours each filter
This is the Draco Triplet in the Draco constellation; unique because it shows an oblique spiral, an elliptical, and a lenticular galaxy all in the same group. All three are roughly similar distances from us, about 150 million light years. All three are roughly 11th magnitude and 3 arc minutes diameter.
LRGB, 5h: 2.5h: 2.5h: 2.5h:
Scope: Vixen VC200L @1800mm; Courtesy of Larry Parker.
Camera: ASI 2600mm, Mount: MYT
Taken from Lake San Antonio in August 2023.
I was never happy with my prior attempts at this group. This version is more what I have hoped for from the effort.
Cigar Galaxy (M82) – The Cigar Galaxy is a site of intense starburst activity, believed to be triggered by its interaction with the nearby Messier 81 (Bode’s Galaxy). In M82, young stars are crammed into tiny but massive star clusters. These, in turn, congregate by the dozens to make the bright patches, or “starburst clumps,” in the central parts of M82. The clusters in the clumps can only be distinguished in sharp Hubble images. The rapid rate of star formation in this galaxy eventually will be self-limiting. When star formation becomes too vigorous, it will consume or destroy the material needed to make more stars. The starburst then will subside, probably in a few tens of millions of years. Located 12 million light-years away, M82 appears high in the northern spring sky in the direction of the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear. It is called the “Cigar Galaxy” because of the elliptical shape produced by the oblique tilt of its starry disk relative to our line of sight.
Description from www.constellation-guide.com
Taken from Death Valley CA, January 2025
Equipment Paramount MYT, ZWO 2600MM, Vixen VC200L @ 1800mm focal length. Scope courtesy of Larry Parker
This image is an HORGB composition. H and O are surprisingly strong. This object also has a strong S2 component, but it overlaps with Ha too much to display as a separate color channel. Stars are RGB only.
RGB 3 hours each channel
HO 6 hours each channel
This colorful telescopic skyscape is best viewed by zooming in. Filled with galaxies that lie nearly 250 million light-years away, these are the galaxies of the Perseus cluster. Their extended and sometimes surprising shapes are seen beyond a veil of foreground stars in our own Milky Way. Ultimately consisting of over a thousand galaxies, the cluster is filled with yellowish elliptical and lenticular galaxies, like those scattered throughout this view of the cluster's central region. Notably, the large galaxy at the left is the massive and bizarre-looking NGC 1275. A prodigious source of high-energy emission, active galaxy NGC 1275 dominates the Perseus cluster, accreting matter as entire galaxies fall into it and feed the supermassive black hole at the galaxy's core. Of course, spiral galaxies also inhabit the Perseus cluster, including the small, face-on spiral NGC 1268, right of picture center. At the estimated distance of the Perseus galaxy cluster, this field spans about 1.5 million light-years.
Text from APOD. For a Hubble image of NGC 1275, see apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230126.html
Taken from Blue Canyon CA, November 2023
Scope: Vixen VC200L courtesy of Larry Parker
Camera ASI2600mm
Mount Paramount MYT
LRGBHa = 6h:3h:3h:3h:3h respectively.
Fresh Astrophoto: Earth's Moon
A spontaneous #Moon photo with 1800mm focal length after collimating my #VC200L and making use of several clear nights.
Full story and session details: astrocamp.eu/en/astrophoto-the-moon-03-05-2025/
#astrophoto #astrophotography #nightsky #space #sky #astronomy #telescope #clearsky #photography #nature #astrodon
IC 1613 (also known as Caldwell 51) is an irregular dwarf galaxy visible in the constellation Cetus. It was discovered in 1906 by Max Wolf.
IC 1613 was one of the first galaxies to be recognized as a member of the Local Group (by Walter Baade in 1928) because it could be resolved into individual stars. For a long time, no star clusters were found in this dwarf irregular galaxy. The puzzle was only solved in 1978, when about 43 tiny objects were found. Of these, 25 are probably very small star clusters. Eleven tiny dust clouds have been discovered in IC 1613, and background galaxies can be seen through it as well - an indication that only small amounts of dust exist within it. Why the galaxy's interstellar dust is so sparse, and its clusters are so small, remains a mystery.
IC 1613 has played an important role in the calibration of the Cepheid variable period-luminosity relation. Other than the Magellanic Clouds, it is the only Local Group dwarf irregular galaxy where RR Lyrae-type variables have been observed. The Cepheid variables observed IC 1613 imply that it is about 2.8 million light-years away. It therefore has a total luminosity of about 130 million suns, and a diameter of 16,000 light-years.
Text from Sky Safari
Taken from Blue Canyon CA, October 2023
Scope: Vixen VC200L courtesy of Larry Parker
Camera ASI2600mm
Mount Paramount MYT
LRGBHa = 4h:2h:2h:2h:3h respectively.
astrocamp.eu/en/pinwheel-galaxy-apr25/
▼ Vixen VC200L | Canon EOS R(a) '25
Over two clear nights in April, I captured the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101) from home. This spiral galaxy, located in Ursa Major, offers incredible detail thanks to its face-on orientation. I used a osc camera and integration times of over 9 hours to bring out its vibrant colors and delicate structures. Processing was done with PixInsight to balance detail and color naturally. I'm really happy with how it turned out!
Predominately yellow, with sweeping spiral arms and dust lanes, NGC 5566 is enormous, about 150,000 light-years across. Just below it lies small, blue NGC 5569. Near center, the third galaxy, NGC 5560, is multicolored and apparently stretched and distorted by its interaction with NGC 5566. The galaxy trio is also included in Halton Arp's 1966 Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies as Arp 286.
Text from APOD.
This is a small target for me, the field of view is about 30 arcmin, and the major axis of the largest galaxy is 5 arc min.
I tried a new technique for this one, twice the number of exposures and half the exposure time. The advantages are that with so many frames, I really didn't need to use any calibration frames, everything was cleaned up by the stacking rejection algorithm. Also, my average eccentricity was lower. The disadvantage is that processing so many large files takes half of forever.
Taken from Blue Canyon CA, and from Wroblewski ranch in Oak Run CA. May 2024
Scope: Vixen VC200L @1800 mm focal length, courtesy of Larry Parker
Camera ASI2600mm
Mount Paramount MYT
LRGB = 6h:3h:3h:3h:respectively.
This is another image I completed on my recent trip to Kartchner Caverns. I had been collecting data with three different combinations of camera and telescope, but just could not get the signal to noise ratio I wanted. After this last run, I had a ton of data, over 100 subframes in each channel of LRGB. With so many subs, I skipped the calibration frames and just stacked them all. Pretty much all the flaws were rejected by the algorithm, and it came out pretty clean. A little cleanup with GraExpert, plus normal processing in PI. Description below is stolen from APOD.
In this celestial abstract art composed with a cosmic brush, dusty nebula NGC 2170, also known as the Angel Nebula, shines just above the image center. Reflecting the light of nearby hot stars, NGC 2170 is joined by other bluish reflection nebulae, a red emission region, many dark absorption nebulae, and a backdrop of colorful stars. Like the common household items that abstract painters often choose for their subjects, the clouds of gas, dust, and hot stars featured here are also commonly found in a setting like this one -- a massive, star-forming molecular cloud in the constellation of the Unicorn (Monoceros). The giant molecular cloud, Mon R2, is impressively close, estimated to be only 2,400 light-years or so away. At that distance, this canvas would be over 60 light-years across.
Cameras: QSI 683, ASI 2600mm
Telescopes TEC 140, Vixen VC200L
Taken from multiple locations in multiple years, finished in Southern Arizona, October 2024.
Reprocessed Aug 2025 with GraXpert
The nebula, formally cataloged NGC 6543, was one of the first planetary nebulae to be discovered. It is now known to be one of the most complex such nebulae seen in space. A planetary nebula forms when Sun-like stars gently eject their outer gaseous layers that form bright nebulae with amazing and confounding shapes.
In 1994, Hubble first revealed NGC 6543's surprisingly intricate structures, including concentric gas shells, jets of high-speed gas, and unusual shock-induced knots of gas. (text from Hubble site)
These are all contained in the bright central core, and are difficult to resolve with amateur optics. But if you have not seen the Hubble picture of the core, I recommend you seek it out.
For this image I used two different cameras and two different telescopes. For the dim outer sunflower, I used a Skywatcher MN-190 at 1000 mm focal length. For the core, I used a Vixen VC200L (courtesy of Larry Parker) at 2000 mm focal length.
Exposures were taken in LRGBSHO filters.
For the outer nebula, exposure length was 5 min for RGB and 20 min for SHO. For the core, exposure length was 20 sec for RGB and 100 sec for SHO.
To really do justice to the core requires even shorter exposures with a bigger telescope, and the planetary camera technique of lucky imaging.
Taken from Blue Canyon California June 2024
astrocamp.eu/en/messier-71-may25/
▼ Vixen VC200L | Canon EOS R(a) '25
On May 25, I captured Messier 71 (M 71), a loosely concentrated globular cluster in the constellation Sagitta. I noted it's located approximately 12 000 to 13 000 light‑years away from Earth. M 71 is less dense than many other globular clusters—its stars are more spread out—making it somewhat challenging to delineate its core clearly. It reaches its annual culmination around midnight and is best observed in mid‑July.
Spiral arms seem to swirl around the core of Messier 96 in this colorful island universe. Of course M96 is a spiral galaxy, and counting the faint arms extending beyond the brighter central region it spans 100 thousand light-years or so. That's about the size of our own Milky Way. M96 is known to be 38 million light-years distant, a dominant member of the Leo I galaxy group. In looking at the galaxy, it seems to me it might be becoming a polar ring galaxy; the core is nearly face-on to us, but the outer ring seems to sit at an obilque angle to the core.
Background galaxies and smaller Leo I group members can be found by examining the picture. The most intriguing one is itself a spiral galaxy seen nearly edge on behind the outer spiral arm near the 4 o'clock position from center. Its bright central bulge cut by its own dark dust clouds, the edge-on background spiral appears to be about 1/5 the size of M96. If that background galaxy is similar in actual size to M96, then it would be about 5 times farther away. Text from APOD
Taken from Ambrosia Mill AZ, February 2025
Equipment Paramount MYT, ZWO 2600MM, Vixen VC200L @ 1800mm focal length. Scope courtesy of Larry Parker
This image is an LRGB composition. Stars are RGB only.
RGB 2 hours each channel
L 10 hours
astrocamp.eu/en/messier-3-may25/
▼ Vixen VC200L | Canon EOS R(a) '25
In the early hours of May 16, 2025, I conducted an imaging session of Messier 3, a globular cluster located approximately 34,000 light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici. The session began shortly after midnight and concluded around 2:00 AM.Using a Vixen VC200L telescope paired with a Canon EOS R(a) camera, I captured 25 exposures, each lasting 300 seconds, at ISO 1600.The equipment was mounted on a Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro, enhanced with belt and hypertune modifications, and guided with an APM 240mm scope and ToupTek GPM462M camera. Post-processing was carried out using , PixInsight, and Affinity Photo. The imaging took place in Koblenz, Germany.
In the last century alone, NGC 6946 has experienced 10 observed supernovae, earning its nickname as the Fireworks Galaxy. In comparison, our Milky Way averages just one to two supernova events per century. NGC 6946 is a face-on galaxy, which means that we see the galaxy “facing” us, rather than seeing it from the side (known as edge-on). The Fireworks Galaxy is further classified as an intermediate spiral galaxy and as a starburst galaxy. The former means the structure of NGC 6946 sits between a full spiral and a barred spiral galaxy, with only a slight bar in its center, and the latter means it has an exceptionally high rate of star formation.
The galaxy resides 25.2 million light-years away, along the border of the northern constellations of Cepheus and Cygnus (The Swan).
Text credit: European Space Agency (ESA)
Taken from Lake San Antonio CA, August 2023
Scope: Vixen VC200L courtesy of Larry Parker
Camera ASI2600mm
Mount Paramount MYT
LRGB = 3.5h:1.5h:1.5h:1.5h respectively.
I had some difficulty with guiding at this focal length, trying to keep the stars round. Some tips from those who shoot long focal length regularly would be appreciated.
Wasn't happy with the color so tweaked it up a bit.
This is an HSO mapped color image of IC 410, the Tadpole Nebula. Hydrogen is red, Sulphur is yellow, and Oxygen is blue. Where these colors overlap we seen mixtures, notably the near-white surrounding the center, where all colors are represented. IC 410 is located approximately 12,400 light-years away in the northern constellation Auriga. IC 410 is ionized by five hot, blue, O-type stars. These massive stars are believed to be the main sources of ionization in the region. They emit high-energy ultraviolet protons that excite the nebula and make it glow.The nebula is more than 100 light-years across. It is part of a larger star-forming region that is also home to the nearby Flaming Star Nebula (IC 405).The star cluster NGC 1893 is embedded within the Tadpole Nebula. The estimated age of the stars of NGC 1893 is about 4 million years. IC 410 was named the Tadpole Nebula because it hosts tadpole-shaped dust clouds that appear as if they were swimming toward the center of the nebula.The tadpoles of IC 410 are gas globules, small dense knots of dust and gas that give birth to young stars. They are composed of denser and cooler dust and gas.Stretching about 10 light-years across, these dense structures bear a resemblance to the better-known Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula (Messier 16). Their heads are marked by bright ridges of ionized gas. The tails of the tadpoles point away from the core of NGC 1893 because of the radiation pressure and strong stellar winds from the young stars in the cluster. The tadpoles are sites of ongoing star formation.The intense radiation and fierce stellar winds from the newly formed stars erode and sculpt the two gas structures. In a few million years, the clouds of dust and gas will have dissipated and all that will be visible are the young stars that are now still embedded in clumps of gas. Text from constellation-guide.com
Taken from KOFA national wildlife refuge, Arizona December 2024
Scope: Vixen VC200L @1280 mm focal length, courtesy of Larry Parker
Camera ASI2600mm
Mount Paramount MYT
RGB = 1.5h:1.5h:1.5h:respectively, used only for stars
HSO = 6.5h:4.5h:7.5h:respectively, used only for the nebula
Total exposure: 23 hours
Taken 3rd May 2014
Vixen VC200L and QHY5L guide camera. Imaging camera was Atik 490Ex LRGB filters.
L = 1x1 300 seconds
R = 2x2 300 seconds
G = 2x2 300 seconds
B = 2x2 300 seconds
Artemis Capture
DSS
Pixinsight
PS
NGC 4565 is a giant spiral galaxy more luminous than the Andromeda Galaxy[6] and it has been proposed that if it were viewed face-on, it would be the most spectacular of the galaxies of its type in the nearby Universe.
After a long hiatus caused by moving to another State, I am finally back in the field. This image was taken in October 2024 from Kartchner Caverns State Park in Southern Arizona. I recommend this park. The cave is good, the facilities are well maintained, and there are a few interesting hikes in the vicinity. The sky is also good, Bortle 3 or 21.3 on the SQM scale. The following description is taken from APOD.
This skyscape features dusty Sharpless catalog emission region Sh2-155, the Cave Nebula. In the telescopic image, data taken through LRGB filters tracks the reddish glow of ionized hydrogen atoms. About 2,400 light-years away, the scene lies along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy toward the northern constellation of Cepheus. Astronomical explorations of the region reveal that it has formed at the boundary of the massive Cepheus B molecular cloud and the hot, young stars of the Cepheus OB 3 association. The bright rim of ionized hydrogen gas is energized by radiation from the hot stars, dominated by the brightest star below the picture center. Radiation driven ionization fronts are likely triggering collapsing cores and new star formation within. Appropriately sized for a stellar nursery, the cosmic cave is over 10 light-years across.
Scope: Vixen VC200L courtesy of Larry Parker
Mount: Paramount MYT
Camera: ASI2600mm with ZWO LRGB filters.
Total exposure time was ~30 hours, of which ~30% was discarded due to poor quality.
The image is rotated 180 degrees so North is down.
Reprocessed August 2025 to remove a faint cast.
Needle Galaxy NGC 4565 and NGC 4562
Taken 3rd May 2014
Vixen VC200L and QHY5L guide camera. Imaging camera was Atik 490Ex LRGB filters.
L = 1x1 300 seconds
R = 2x2 300 seconds
G = 2x2 300 seconds
B = 2x2 300 seconds
Artemis Capture
DSS
Pixinsight
PS
NGC 4565 is a giant spiral galaxy more luminous than the Andromeda Galaxy[6] and it has been proposed that if it were viewed face-on, it would be the most spectacular of the galaxies of its type in the nearby Universe.
The Needle Galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices. Caldwell 38 - NGC 4565
#astrophotography #nature #astronomy #space #clearskies
Canon EOS R(a), Vixen VISAC VC200L 1800mm
NGC 3628 – Sometimes called the Hamburger Galaxy (though NGC 5128 is AKA the hamburger) is about 35 million light years away in the constellation Leo. It has a tidal tail approximately 300,000 light years long, shown only faintly in this image. The tail suggests that N3628 is interacting gravitationally with the two galaxies M65 and M66 which lie comparatively nearby. Spectroscopic analysis reveals that the stars in N3628 orbit in the opposite direction to the gas in the galaxy. It seems likely that a recent galactic merger is responsible for this dynamic. The equatorial dust band is obviously deformed in the outer regions of the galaxy. This is further evidence of a recent galactic merger.
Description from Sky Safari
Taken from Wickieup AZ, April 2025
Equipment Paramount MYT, ZWO 2600MM, Vixen VC200L @ 1280mm focal length. Scope courtesy of Larry Parker
This image is an LRGB composition.
RGB 2.5 hours each channel
Lum 10 hours
In V2 I softened the stars, removing the hard edges
Omega Centauri (ω Cen, NGC 5139, or Caldwell 80) is a globular cluster in the constellation of Centaurus Located at a distance of 17,090 light-years (5,240 parsecs), it is the largest known globular cluster in the Milky Way at a diameter of roughly 150 light-years.[10] It is estimated to contain approximately 10 million stars, with a total mass of 4 million solar masses,[11] making it the most massive known globular cluster in the Milky Way.
Omega Centauri is different from most other galactic globular clusters in that it is thought to have originated as the core remnant of a disrupted dwarf galaxy.[12] Text from Wikipedia.
I have avoided this object for the longest time because it lies so far South in the sky. This image was taken over 3 windy nights, all subs between 5 and 10 degrees above local horizon. Guiding was terrible. Yet to my surprise, something came of it. I hope you like it.
Taken from Kartchner Caverns AZ, April 2025
Equipment Paramount MYT, ZWO 2600MM, Vixen VC200L @ 1280mm focal length. Scope courtesy of Larry Parker
This image is an LRGB composition.
RGB 1.5 hours each channel
Lum 3.5 hours
This image is a labor of love. Originally begun in 2022 and finally finished this year. It is comprised of images from 2 different telescopes, 2 different cameras, two types of binning, and 9 different exposure lengths. I had no idea how difficult it would be to marry all this data together. Finally, here it is.
Discovered in 1702 by the German astronomer Gottfried Kirch, M5 is one of the oldest globular clusters in the Milky Way galaxy. With an apparent magnitude of 6.7 and a location 25,000 light-years away in the constellation Serpens, M5 appears as a patch of light with a pair of binoculars and is best viewed during May.
A majority of M5’s stars formed more than 12 billion years ago, but there are some unexpected newcomers on the scene, adding some vitality to this aging population.
Stars in globular clusters are believed to form in the same stellar nursery and grow old together. The most massive stars age quickly, exhausting their fuel supply in less than a million years, and end their lives in spectacular supernova explosions. This process should have left the ancient cluster M5 with only old, low-mass stars.
Yet astronomers have spotted many young, blue stars amongst the ancient stars in this cluster. Astronomers think that these laggard youngsters, called blue stragglers, were created either by collisions between stars or other stellar interactions. Such events are easy to imagine in densely populated globular clusters, in which up to a few million stars are tightly packed together. Text from NASA/Goddard
Taken from Santa Rosa CA and Blue Canyon CA, May 2022 and June 2023.
Scopes: Tec 140 and Vixen VC200L (Courtesy of Larry Parker)
Cameras: QSI 683 and ASI 2600M
Mount: Paramount MYT
Processed in Pixinsight and Photoshop
L:R:G:B = 5.5h:1.5h:1.5h:1.5h:
M5 V2 is perhaps slightly better. V2 used a masked stretch, which made the stars smaller but resulted in a clouded overall look. In V3 I decided to go with a more conventional stretch for better clarity.
Eine aktuelle große Sonnenfleckengruppe. Die Sonne befindet sich aktuell im Minimum der Aktivität so dass diese Fleckengruppe doch ein wenig überrascht. Die Erde würde locker in einen der größeren Flecken hineinpassen.
Messier 106
▼ Vixen VC200L | Canon EOS R(a) '25
astrocamp.eu/en/messier-106-march-25/
On March 25, I photographed Messier 106, a spiral galaxy about 23.7 million light-years away in Canes Venatici. This was my first successful single-galaxy capture of the season, confirming the precise collimation of my Vixen VC200L astrograph.
Using a Canon EOS R(a) at ISO 1600, I took 40 exposures (300s each) on March 5 from Koblenz, Germany, with calibration frames applied. The final image revealed numerous background galaxies, including NGC 4231, NGC 4232, and NGC 4248, highlighting the vastness of the cosmos.
Located in Coma Berenices NGC 4725 is classified as a barred spiral galaxy. However it is far from a typical spiral in that it only has a single arm whereas most spirals have two or more.
Computer simulations of the formation of single arm galaxies suggest that the arm can be either trailing or leading with respect to the galaxy’s rotation.
This galaxy has an impressive central bar structure which is home to populations of older yellow stars, dust lanes and an extremely bright central core which is believed to host a supermassive black hole. This galaxy is about the same size as our own Milky Way.
The smaller galaxy to the right is NGC 4712. Although it appears to reside nearby it is actually in the background approximately 160 million light years away from NGC 4725.
Equipment: Vixen VC200L @1280mm (f/6.4), Atik 460ex, Astrodon filters, AP Mach1 mount.
Exposure data: L:R:G:B 150:60:60:60 (RGB bin 2x2)
Date: April 23, 2015
A smallish but stunning emission nebula, IC 1871 is located within the more well known Soul Nebula (IC 1848). Rolling clouds of ionized hydrogen, oxygen, sulfur and dust have created the spectacular features that define this nebula. The small, very dark, feature near the top of this image is a Bok globule.
OTA: Vixen VC200L
Camera: Atik 460ex w/EFW2 filter wheel
Filters: Astrodon Ha/OIII (3nm)
Mount: AP Mach1
Exposure: Ha:OIII 280:120 (m)
Data obtained: December 2014/January 2015
NGC 3521 resides in relative solitude, approximately 35 million light years from earth, between the constellations of Leo, Virgo and Hydra. The arms of this beautiful galaxy are somewhat irregular and discontinuous and as such is categorized as a flocculent spiral galaxy.
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect is the gas bubble evident around the galaxy. It is theorized that this gas shell is likely tidal debris – remnants of stars torn from satellite galaxies that merged with NGC 3521. Due to this gaseous shell it is sometimes referred to as the “Bubble Galaxy”.
The fact that Charles Messier did not discover this galaxy remains somewhat a mystery as it is brighter than several he did discover in nearby Leo. William Herschel is credited with its discovery in 1784.
Exposure: OTA: Vixen VC200L Camera: Atik 460ex L = 30 x 360s and 14 x 600s (total 5h 20m) RGB: 9 x 360s each bin 2x2. Filters: Astrodon LRGB Gen2
NGC 247 is a midsize spiral galaxy in the southern constellation of Cetus (The Whale). Lying at a distance of around 11 million light-years from us, it forms part of the Sculptor Group, a loose collection of galaxies that also contains the more famous NGC 253.Like most spiral galaxies, NGC 247 is a mixture of stars, gas, and dust. The dust forms dark patches and filaments that are silhouetted against the background of stars, while the gas has formed into bright knots known as H II regions, mostly scattered throughout the galaxy’s arms and outer areas.
This galaxy displays one particularly unusual feature: The northern part of NGC 247’s disc hosts an apparent void, a gap in the usual swarm of stars and H II regions that spans almost a third of the galaxy’s total length.There are stars within this void, but they are quite different from those around it. They are significantly older, and as a result much fainter and redder (in this image they impart a red cast to left side of the void. This indicates that star formation has been arrested in the void region. Although astronomers are still unsure how the void formed, recent studies suggest it might have been caused by gravitational interactions with part of another galaxy.
In 1963, Geoffrey Burbidge and Margaret Burbidge identified a group of five background galaxies located northeast of NGC 247.[8] This grouping came to be known as Burbidge's Chain, and in 1977 it was listed in the VV catalog as VV 518.[9] Individually, the 5 galaxies are also identified as NGC 247A, NGC 247B, NGC 247C, NGC 247D, and ESO 540-025.
Taken from Signal, Arizona, October 2025
This is an LRGBHa image with about 9 hours of Luminance and 3 hours for each of the other filters.
Taken with Paramount MYT mount, ASI 2600MM camera, and Vixen VC200L telescope @ 1800 mm focal length
The telescope is courtesy of Larry Parker, Santa Rosa, CA.
Bodes Galaxy (M81) is classified as a grand design spiral galaxy. It was named after Johann Bode who discovered it in 1774. He described it as "a nebulous patch which appears mostly round and has a dense nucleus in the middle". The faint "smudge" above Bodes is a dwarf satellite galaxy named Holmberg IX. Bodes Galaxy is certainly one of the most beautiful objects in the night sky and can be seen (under dark skies) without the aid of binoculars.
I had previously imaged this galaxy (with my VC200L) but was never completely happy with the result - so I decided to give it another try when I got the Esprit 120.
OTA: Skywatcher Esprit 120
Camera: Atik 460ex
Filters: Astrodon LRGB gen2
Mount: AP Mach1
Exposure: L:R:G:B 180m:90:90:90 (RGB bin 2x2)
Data obtained: May/June 2016
Moon 04/30/2025
astrocamp.eu/en/moon-04-30-2025/
▼ Vixen VC200L | EOS R '25
On April 30, 2025, I captured a photo of the Moon during a deep-sky session in Koblenz, Germany. The Moon was a thin crescent, and I aimed to highlight its faintly lit dark side. Using my Canon EOS R camera and Vixen VC200L telescope, I took about 150 images of the bright crescent and one longer exposure for the dark side. Combining these in Affinity Photo, I managed to showcase the subtle glow of Earthshine on the Moon’s shadowed area. While the dark side remained underexposed, this experiment was a valuable step in refining my astrophotography techniques.
M17, also called the Swan or the Omega nebula, is located in the constellation Sagittarius, toward the center of the Milky Way about 6000 LY from earth. It is easily visible in binoculars. The red color is from emission of ionized hydrogen, with the brighter regions also showing starlight reflected by dust. The gas in this nebula is denser than most, containing the equivalent of 800 suns. In a few million years it should produce a conspicuous star cluster.
Scope: TEC140, Camera QSI683, Mount MYT. HORGB, 2:4:4:4:4: hours exposure, respectively
Taken from Likely CA July 9-11 2021
Update: in this version, I have replaced the luminance data with some higher resolution data collected at Blue Canyon in June 2023.
Scope: Vixen VC200L (courtesy of Larry Parker), Camera ASI 2600mm, Mount MYT
L = 2h
Sharpless 132 is a rather faint emission nebula located in the northern sky between Cepheus and Lacerta.
This is a narrowband image taken through a Vixen VC200L using 3nm Ha, OIII and SII filters. The camera is an Atik 460ex.
An open cluster of massive hot blue supergiant stars can be found near the center of IC 1805 – more commonly referred to as the Heart Nebula. Shown in the upper right quadrant of this image the fierce stellar winds from these young stars have blown an enormous bubble within the parent HII nebula. These winds have also sculpted the dust clouds within which other stars are forming.
This is a narrowband image which captures ionized hydrogen, oxygen and sulphur atoms.
Color mapping: Red: 75% Ha/ 24% SII Green: OIII Blue: 85% OIII/ 15% Ha
Equipment: Vixen VC200L, Atik 460ex, Astrodon 3nm filters and AP Mach 1 mount.
Exposure: Ha:SII:OIII 240/100/120
Location: Meadowlark Ridge Observatory
Planet Mars - diesmal aus einer anderen Perspektive. Oben rechts der helle Fleck ist keine Wolke sondern Olympus Mons, ein Vulkan mit einer Höhe von 26km relativ zur Umgebung.
Image taken with Vixen VC200L + 2xBarlow + ASI 120 MC-S, Asicapture, AutoStakkert3!, Giotto & Lightroom processing
As you can see the Supernova is now much smaller and seems more yellow. Seems like it's starting to settle down now but I am glad I am nowhere near it!
Taken with my Vixen VC200L using my Atik 490ex CCD. Filters were LRGB
L = 300 seconds 1x1
R =300 seconds 2x2
G =300 seconds 2x2
B =300 seconds 2x2
Guiding was QHY5 II mounted on 9x50 Finderscope.
Software was Artemis Capture, PHD, Pixinsight, DSS and Photoshop
First time I have used the VC200L for a while. Must use it more I think as the quality is excellent and it is nice to use.