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M104 Edge on Spiral Galaxy
The Sombrero Galaxy aka Messier Object 104, M104 or NGC 4594 is an unbarred spiral galaxy in the constellation Virgo located 28 million light-years or 8.6 Mega-parsecs from Earth. The galaxy has a diameter of approximately 50,000 light-years, 30% the size of the Milky Way. It has a bright nucleus, an unusually large central bulge, and a prominent dust lane in its inclined disk. The dark dust lane and the bulge give this galaxy the appearance of a sombrero. The galaxy has an apparent magnitude of +9.0, making it easily visible with amateur telescopes, Based on its brightness & distance, it's considered by some Astronomers to be the brightest galaxy within a radius of 10 Mega-parsecs of the Milky Way. In the large central bulge, the central super-massive black hole, and the dust lane attract the attention of professional astronomers. It was nicknamed the Sombrero Galaxy as visually through the telescope it resembles a Mexican Sombrero! This is a 18 x 5 minute subs, 90 Minute total exposure with a QHY8 CCD camera and my home made 16" Newt. scope. Despite the heavy moisture and being low on the horizon at my site, it turned out okay.
Best Regards,
John Chumack
Clear skies are amazing when they happen here in the Pacific Northwest. The last two have been no exception!
Over the course of the last two nights I have been re-shooting this gem from January: SN 2014J. While it is no longer visually discernable in a 10-inch SCT, it is clearly visible through post-processing - as a dim fading remnant of what was one of the most spectacular supernovae in recent history.
This was a brand new dataset - 2 hours integration @ ISO 1600.
Imaging gear:
Nikon D5100
Meade LX200 10-inch f/6.3
Software:
BackyardNIKON
Deep Sky Stacker
Adobe Photoshop CS3
Clear skies are amazing when they happen here in the Pacific Northwest. The last two have been no exception!
Over the course of the last two nights I have been re-shooting this gem from January - Messier 51.
I also decided to add it to data I shot in January - for a total of four hours integration.
Imaging gear:
Nikon D5100
Meade LX200 10-inch f/6.3
Software:
BackyardNIKON
Deep Sky Stacker
Adobe Photoshop CS3
Messier Object 5 (M5) - Globular cluster in Serpens constellation. Image processed by WikiSky out of Hubble Space telescope raw data.
Full resolution image (3,400 × 3,400 pixels) available at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Messier_5_Hubble_WikiSky.jpg
First light with the Meade LX200. I decided to test it out on its first night - which incidentally was also the day the LX200 fork mount arrived via FedEx!
I am very pleased!
:)
In the constellation of Taurus the Bull resides The Seven Sisters. Or, the Pleiades star cluster. Also known as M45 in the Messier Catalog. The Japanese call it Subaru. The eponymous car company's logo is a stylized Seven Sisters.
This is a stack of eight 2-minute exposures. I bought Noel Carboni's Astronomy Actions pack tonight. This is the first image I tried it with. The bluish glow around the bigger stars is what is known as a reflection nebula. Or, more likely it is overflow of the photo sites on the camera sensor caused by the brightness of the larger stars. If it is to be interpreted as the reflection nebulae, then only the brighter portions of the nebulae can be seen through the light pollution from my backyard. There was also a thin layer of clouds so it was not completely transparent seeing.
M89 is one of eight galaxies in the Virgo cluster that Charles Messier discovered in 1781. An elliptical galaxy, M89 is almost exactly circular. It is located about 50 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo.
M89 contains approximately 100 billion stars and well over 2,000 globular clusters. It was the first galaxy discovered to have an extended envelope, which means that it has a larger region of light surrounding it than other elliptical galaxies, most likely because of its high number of stars and globular clusters. At the center of M89 is a supermassive black hole estimated to have one billion times the mass of our Sun.
This image combines Hubble observations of M89 taken in near-infrared and visible light using the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. It features most of the galaxy, with M89's bright central nucleus at the top right of the image and many of its globular clusters appearing as star-like points of light throughout the field. The image also captures a separate edge-on spiral galaxy below M89's core. These Hubble observations were taken to help determine the structure and formation of elliptical galaxies, as well as searching for evidence of black holes in the hearts of these galaxies.
Telescopes that are 8 inches or larger can see the 9.8-magnitude galaxy as a faint ball of light. The best time to view M89 is in May.
Credits: NASA, ESA, STScI, and M. Franx (Universiteit Leiden) and S. Faber (University of California, Santa Cruz)
Messier 47 / M47 / NGC 2422
Messier 46 / M47 / NGC 2437
NGC 2438
M47 (left) is a young, loose open cluster about 1,600 light-years away. It is estimated to be 78 million years old. M46 (right) is an older, richer cluster about 5,000 light-years away. It is estimated to be 250 million years old, much older than M47. These clusters happen to appear close together by chance.
Also by coincidence, the planetary nebula NGC 2438 appears "within" M46 (5 o'clock position). However, it is 3,600 light-years closer to us. This nebula is the shell of ionized gas ejected from a dying star about 4,000 years ago.
Total integration: 6 hours 59.5 minutes (419.5 minutes)
01/26/20: 56 x 120 seconds ISO400
02/03/20: 1 x 90 seconds ISO400
02/03/20: 153 x 120 seconds ISO400
Location: Charlottesville, VA
SQM: 19.22 mag/arcsec^2 (Bortle 6)
Camera: Canon T3i (stock/unmodified)
Average camera temperature: 81 F (27 C)
Telescope: Explore Scientific ED80 f/6.0 Apochromatic Refractor (with ES field flattener)
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G
Guide scope: Svbony 50mm f/4.0 Guide Scope
Guide camera: Orion StarShoot AutoGuider
Software: N.I.N.A. with ASTAP (slewing and plate solving), PHD2 (guiding), Magic Lantern (image capture)
Pre-processed with PixInsight, processed with PixInsight and Paint.NET
This Hubble observation of spiral galaxy M88 was taken with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 using a single visible-light filter. With Hubble, observations in multiple filters are needed to produce color images, so this image of nearly half the galaxy is in black and white.
For Hubble's Messier catalog website and information on how to find these objects in the night sky, visit: www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/hubble-s-messier-catalog
Credits: NASA, ESA, STScI and M. Stiavelli (STScI)
This Hubble image of M108 was taken using the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 and features only a portion of the galaxy. Its stair-step appearance results from the design of the camera, and because Hubble’s observations were taken in only one filter, it is in black and white. The observations were taken to help astronomers understand various features in the nuclei of nearby disk galaxies.
Credits: NASA, ESA, STScI and G. Illingworth (University of California, Santa Cruz)
Captured at a two-day campout/star party extravaganza in Goldendale, Washington.
Photographed using a 10-inch Meade LX200 f/6.3 Wide Field and an unmodified Nikon D5100.
This is a shot of the globular cluster Messier 13, in Hercules. Taken over two nights in the backyard for testing prior to GSSP 2014.
Was challenged to fix some problems with camera and mount prior to the star party. The mount part was easy - I re routed some cables so that they didn't snag. The camera part was not easy. During waiting fo rthe skies to clear, I ran the camera to capture a series of dark frames. Unfortunately, during these sequences a piece of flocking paper fell down into the camera body and blocked the movement of the shutter. The shutter electronics a dead and now it will not open. I've had to hot glue the shutter open and now rely on the motion of the mirror plus the electronics of the CCD to time the exposures. Biggest follow up to the shutter issue has been taking flats. Because short duration flats allow over exposure as the mirror flaps up and down, long duration flats are better. I'm now recording flats with a duration of .7 seconds vs 1/60 second. I may consider building a strobe box to further experiment.
This image is a sum of 18 exposures at 1200 seconds each at 100 ISO.
Standard setup: Stellarvue SV4, Pentax K10D (modified and cooled - and broken shutter), SSF6 flattener
Filter: IDAS HEUIB II
Mount: Losmandy G11 with Gemini 2
Guiding scope: Stellarvue SV70ED with Orion SSAG
Guiding: Maxim 5.24
Exposure control: Star Labs DSLR Shutter and Pentax tethering software
Calibrated in Maxim with 10 darks, 21 flats, and 260 bias
Stacked in DSS 3.3.3 beta 51
Processed in PixInsight 1.8 with Crop, DBE, Masked Stretch, Histogram Stretch to reset black point, TGVDenoise, masked curves to boost saturation and reduce muddy sky glow, and unsharp mask on bright stars to tighten.
Passed through LR5 for export to web
Here's the platesolve from PI
Referentiation Matrix (Gnomonic projection = Matrix * Coords[x,y]):
-8.66381e-007 -0.000530417 +0.680789
+0.00053032 -9.15332e-007 -1.0261
+0 +0 +1
Projection origin.. [1937.076485 1280.333772]pix -> [RA:+16 41 52.45 Dec:+36 29 51.55]
Resolution ........ 1.909 arcsec/pix
Rotation .......... 89.898 deg
Focal ............. 653.58 mm
Pixel size ........ 6.05 um
Field of view ..... 2d 3' 16.7" x 1d 21' 29.8"
Image center ...... RA: 16 41 52.423 Dec: +36 29 51.40
Image bounds:
top-left ....... RA: 16 45 13.027 Dec: +35 28 07.62
top-right ...... RA: 16 45 17.404 Dec: +37 31 22.18
bottom-left .... RA: 16 38 32.813 Dec: +35 27 59.29
bottom-right ... RA: 16 38 26.431 Dec: +37 31 13.63
The Orion nebula, also known as Messier 42 (M42), is a diffuse nebula situated south of orions belt & is one of the brightest nebulae & is visible with the naked eye. It is approx 1350 light years from earth & around 24 light years across.
M59 is one of the largest elliptical galaxies in the Virgo galaxy cluster. However, it is still considerably less massive, and at a magnitude of 9.8, less luminous than other elliptical galaxies in the cluster.
A supermassive black hole around 270 million times as massive as the Sun resides at the center of M59. The galaxy also has an inner disk of stars and around 2,200 globular clusters, an exceptionally high number of such clusters. The central region of the galaxy, the inner 200 light-years, rotates in the opposite direction than the rest of the galaxy and is the smallest region in a galaxy known to exhibit this behavior.
Approximately 60 million light-years from Earth, M59 can be found near M58 and M60 in the constellation Virgo. It is best seen in May. Small telescopes might reveal an ellipsoidal shape with a bright center, but even larger scopes do not reveal much detail.
German astronomer Johann Gottfried Koehler discovered M59 and the nearby galaxy M60 in the spring of 1779 when observing the comet of that year (Comet Bode). While observing that same comet, Charles Messier observed and added M59, M60, and the neighboring M58 to his catalog.
Both Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 contributed to this view, producing a multi-wavelength image in ultraviolet, near-infrared, and visible light. About half of M59 can be seen in this image, as well as some of the galaxy's globular clusters (appearing as bright points of light). Several background galaxies also make an appearance. Hubble took these observations to study early-type galaxies, which are often elliptical galaxies found near the centers of galaxy clusters. By looking at these galaxies with Hubble, astronomers can determine the galaxies' structure and study the history of galaxy and cluster formation.
Credits: NASA, ESA, STScI, and W. Jaffe (Sterrewacht Leiden) and P. Côté (Dominion Astrophysical Observatory)
M27 as seen overnight on June 18, 2012. I continued my efforts to improve my technique for guiding while the telescope is set up in the back yard.
For this evening's experiments, I added an additional counterweight to the system - giving 5 lbs on the string. This has the effect of giving a stronger east bias. I was hoping that this would eliminate the RA drift problems I've seen. It seems to work well - the only real drift is in DEC.
Also, what I did prior to this shot was tighten up the DEC axis. I inserted a single belleville washer on the axis of the worm gear to assist in taking up lateral play. The effect is that DEC is now much tighter without having to bind on the ring gear. The washer will provide a small amount of spring to the system to act as a pre-load for system as well.
What I did not do was limit Maxim to only guiding in one direction in DEC. I've done this with PHD quite a bit but in this case, I was trying to figure out if the Maxim stiction and backlash settings were enough to fix the problem.
This is a stack of 31 lights on this target. Individual lights are 10 minutes at 400 ISO. Captured with a full spectrum mod Pentax K10D camera with the Baader Moon and Skyglow filter. Scope used was the Orion 127mm Maksutov Cassegrain. Guided with Maxim with the SSAG on a ST80 all on a Losmandy GM8. These are all from one night. Meridian flip was at about 2 am time and I let it keep running until I got up in the morning.
Stacked in DSS from a collection of 39 total lights with 85% kept. I did a 2x custom frame. I thought it might show some of the local detail better. Not sure if it worked well. Maybe a drizzle would have been good since there are so many lights.
In PI: DBE, Masked Stretch, a run of curves, and ACDNR used to try to improve the image. There's a lot of brown in the background - mostly because of being in the city. I may have pushed this processing a little bit too far given the heavy local light pollution.
Image Plate Solver script version 1.51
============================
Referentiation Matrix (Gnomonic projection = Matrix * Coords[x,y]):
-0.000022742430 +0.000210832794 -0.115733286451
-0.000210969707 -0.000022616320 +0.220275140133
+0.000000000000 +0.000000000000 +1.000000000000
Resolution ........ 0.764 arcsec/pix
Rotation .......... -83.842 deg
Focal ............. 1458.61 mm
Pixel size ........ 5.40 um
Field of view ..... 24' 47.5" x 16' 38.8"
Image center ...... RA: 19 59 39.826 Dec: +22 43 07.21
Image bounds:
top-left ....... RA: 19 59 09.665 Dec: +22 56 20.02
top-right ...... RA: 19 58 58.245 Dec: +22 31 40.38
bottom-left .... RA: 20 00 21.523 Dec: +22 54 33.36
bottom-right ... RA: 20 00 09.890 Dec: +22 29 54.04
This is just practice! I set up my Orion mount with my unmodified Canon 40D, 1.4 Extender, and 70-200mm f/4L at 200 mm in my backyard in San Jose. Limiting magnitude due to light pollution and the nearly full moon is about 3. Indeed if I didn't know where to look, the Andromeda Galaxy is not visible to the naked eye - and it wasn't easy to find in binoculars, either.
Despite the obstacles of light pollution, an 80% illuminated moon, some less than perfect seeing and operating near the dew point, this was the result. I kept dew at bay using my Dew Not system - but I think I may not have needed it provided I didn't breath in the direction of the lens.
The effective focal length of this system is 448 mm. This is a crop of about 2/3 of the full frame.
For this image I used the full compliment of calibration frames (Lights, darks, bias and flat frames). By comparison see below for what I got when not using the bias and flat frames). NOTE: If this terminology doesn't make sense to you, don't feel badly. It took a while to make sense to me and that's why I decided to create a starter class (a Webinar!) on Astrophotography.
If you're interested in trying your hand at Astrophotography and would like to get going without bankrupting yourself, you might find my "Astrophotography 101: Getting Started Without Getting Soaked" webinar a great help - it might even save you 100s (or thousands) of dollars on equipment purchases. Because I must pay hosting fees, (and have spent days writing materials) I must charge for the class.
You can check here for the latest classes workshops and webinars.
© Copyright 2011, Steven Christenson blog Events
All rights reserved. Curious what "all rights reserved means?" it means that without written permission you may not: copy, transmit, modify, use, print or display this image in any context other than as it appears in Flickr.
"The Andromeda Galaxy is our nearest major galactic neighbor, a huge spiral of stars and gas 2.5 million light-years away." (From Bing)
Gear:
William Optics Zenithstar 81 mm f/6.9 refractor
iOptron GEM 28EC mount
ZWO ASI 2600 MM Pro monochrome camera for imaging
William Optics 50mm Uniguide scope
ZWO ASI 290mm guiding camera
Chroma LRGB imaging filter set
Data acquired on 4-8 November 2023 in Washington D.C.:
29x300s Luminance = 2.42 hours
21x300s Red = 1.75 hours
24x300s Green = 2.0 hours
22x300s Blue = 1.83 hours
Total = 8.0 hours
PixInsight workflow:
(a) L master > Automatic Background Extractor (subtraction and division) > Blur Xterminator > Noise Xterminator > Histogram Transformation.
(b) LRGB Combination > RGB Image > Automatic Background Extractor (subtraction and division) > Background Neutralization > Color Calibration > Blur Xterminator > Noise Xterminator > Histogram Transformation.
(c) LRGB Combination to apply L master result from (a) to the RGB result from (b).
(d) Applied Star Xterminator to the result from (c) to get a starless and stars only images.
(e) Starless image from (d) > Local Histogram Equalization > Color Transformation.
(f) Used Pixel Math to combine the result from (e) with the stars only image from (d).
(g) Rotated and cropped the result from (f).
(h) Applied Topaz Denoise and Gigapixel AI to the result from (g).
(i) Combined 25% Original from (g) with 75% Topaz result from (h) to get the final image.
Scope: WO Zenith Star 81mm f/6.9 with WO 6AIII Flattener/Focal Reducer x0.8
OSC Camera: ZWO ASI 2600 MC Pro at 100 Gain
Mount: iOptron GEM28-EC
Guide Scope: ZWO ASI 30mm f/4
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI 120mm mini
Light Pollution Filter: ZWO Duo-Band
Date: 10, 11 and 20 April 2022
Location: Washington D.C.
Exposure: 117x180s subs (= 5.85 hours)
Software: Pixinsight
Processing Steps:
Preprocessing: FITS data > Image Calibration > Cosmetic Correction > Subframe Selector > Debayer > Select Reference Star and Star Align > Image Integration.
Linear Postprocessing: Dynamic Crop > Dynamic Background Extractor (subtraction to remove light pollution gradients and division for flat field corrections) > Background Neutralization > Color Calibration > Blur Xterminator > Noise Xterminator.
Nonlinear Postprocessing: Histogram Transformation > Star Xterminator to decompose into Starless and Stars Only images.
Starless image > Histogram Transformation > Noise Xterminator > Local Histogram Equalization.
Apply a First Curves Transformation as appropriate to boost the blue signal from M81's arms. Apply an RGB Split. After adjusting the weights for the individual RGB components (noting that the R serves as both the L channel and the red channel when using an OSC camera), apply LRGB Combination to get a blue boosted image.
Apply a Second Curves Transformation as appropriate to boost the red signal from M81's core. Apply an RGB Split. After adjusting the weights for the individual RGB components (noting that the R serves as both the L channel and the red channel when using an OSC camera), apply LRGB Combination to get a red boosted image.
Use Pixel Math to combine 0.25 x red boosted image + 0.75 x blue boosted image to get a Composite image. The 25% weight reflects the necessity for toning down the dominant signal from the core.
Use Pixel math again to combine 0.85 x Composite image + 0.15 x an HDR Multiscale Transform-modified Composite image to get a New Composite image.
Process the New Composite image with Curves Transformation using color masks.
Apply Histogram Transformation and Local Histogram Equalization to get a Final Starless image.
Use Pixel Math to rejoin the Final Starless image with the Stars Only image to get a rejoined image.
Rejoined image > Topaz Labs > DeNoise AI > Gigapixel AI.
Use Pixel Math to combine 25% x Rejoined image + 75% x AI image = Final Result.
Bode's Galaxy (M81) and the Cigar Galaxy (M82). These two galaxies are both about 12 million light years away from Earth and can be found in the constellation of Ursa Major. I like returning to these targets regularly because on every attempt I manage to bring out a little more of M81 (which is absolutely vast and should fill nearly a quarter of the frame). I guess the trick is to keep adding more data.
This image comprises of data from February 18th and March 25th 2015. 28 x 30 Second exposures at 3200 ISO plus 43 x 30 second exposures at 6400 ISO with 19 dark frames and 16 flat frames.
If there isn't a deep sky object out there to be more frustrating than this...
Total data accumulation: 1 hour 45 minutes over two nights. The amount of data heavily bogged down Deep Sky Stacker and Photoshop.
Venus in focus bright in the Night sky acompanied by M45 the pleiades star cluster also known as the "seven sisters" or "subaru" shine their ancient lights above while representing an astonomic union of Womanhood on Easter Sunday night 2012
shutter 1 second
aperture F1.8
manual exposure
50mm
spot metering
ISO 400
Discovered in 1779 by Charles Messier, M58 was one of the first galaxies recognized to have a spiral shape and is one of four barred spiral galaxies in Messier's catalog. M58 is one of the brightest galaxies in the constellation Virgo. Located roughly 62 million light-years from Earth, M58 is the most distant Messier object.
Although it appears bright, M58's core is relatively dim compared to other spiral galaxies. The core contains high rates of star formation, known as starburst activity. It also houses a supermassive black hole around 70 million times the mass of our Sun. A very small ring around the galaxy's nucleus, known as an ultra-compact nuclear ring, is a main region of widespread starburst activity in M58 and is a rare phenomenon among galaxies.
Long arms extend out from the galaxy's bright nucleus. However, a lack of hydrogen means that there is very little star formation activity in the arms. This could be the result of gravitational interactions with the nearby galaxies of the Virgo cluster. Two supernovas have been detected in M58, one in 1988 and the other in 1989.
The best time to view M58 is in May. With a magnitude of 9.8, the galaxy is best observed with an 8-inch or larger telescope, but it can be seen with large binoculars on clear nights as well. Small telescopes will only reveal the galaxy's core.
This Hubble observation was taken in ultraviolet and visible light using the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. The image's stair-step appearance results from the design of the camera. It shows about half of M58, with the galaxy's core and arms filling the image. Hubble took these observations of M58 to study the properties of its nucleus (classified as a LINER, or low-ionization nuclear emission-line region) and compare it with active galactic nuclei in the centers of other galaxies.
Credits: NASA, ESA, STScI and D. Maoz (Tel Aviv University/Wise Observatory)
Taken with a TMB92L, Canon T3i DSLR, and Celestron CG-4 mount. Consists of 43 light and 33 dark frames, each a 45-second exposure at ISO 800, stacked in DeepSkyStacker and processed in Photoshop.
Camera: Nikon D50
Exposure: 1hr (15 x 4m) ISO 800 RGB
Filter: Orion Skyglow Imaging Filter
Flattener/Correction: Anteres .63x Focal Reducer
Focus Method: Prime focus
Telescope Aperature/Focal Length: 256×2500mm
Telescope: Meade LX200-GPS 10" ACF
Guided: Yes - PHD Guiding
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Adjustments: cropped/leveled in Photoshop
Location: Flintstone, GA
The pleiades is an open cluster in the constellation of Taurus. Also known as the seven sisters after its seven brightest stars. It is number 45 in Charles Messiers list (M45). It is 390-460 light years from earth. The nebulosity is in fact a patch of dust that the cluster is moving through & reflects the light from the stars. This is 19, 10 min photos stacked together & was taken with a cooled astro CCD camera through a 120mm ED scope on a Celestron CG-5 GT mount.
Dates: 16, 18-21 February 2024
Location: Washington D.C.
ASI 2600MM Pro camera
Chroma 36mm LRGB Filter Set
WO Fluorostar 91mm f/5.9 triplet APO refractor
iOptron GEM28-EC mount
Total exposure time: 25.8 hours
(L: 4.26 hours / R: 8.52 hours / G: 4.49 hours / B: 8.58 hours with 210s subexposures throughout)
Processed in PixInsight and tweaked using Topaz's DeNoise AI and Gigapixel AI.
This image of M98 was taken in 1995 with Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. Its stair-step pattern results from the design of the camera. These observations were taken in infrared and visible light and feature a portion of the galaxy near the central core. Although it is a member of the Virgo cluster of galaxies, M98 appears in the neighboring constellation of Coma Berenices. Hubble's observations of M98 were part of an examination of the cores of galaxies in the Virgo cluster.
M98 contains about a trillion stars as well as an abundance of neutral hydrogen gas and interstellar dust. Because of the high amounts of gas and dust, there are numerous star-forming regions in the galaxy, especially in its nucleus and arms. The nucleus itself is "active," meaning that the center of the galaxy is more luminous than the rest of the galaxy. M98 is located approximately 44 million light-years away and is traveling toward our Milky Way galaxy.
M98 was discovered in 1781 by Pierre Méchain, a colleague of Charles Messier, and is one of the faintest objects in Messier's catalog. It has a magnitude of 10.1, and observers will need at least a medium-sized telescope to see M98 well. The best time to observe this galaxy is in May.
Credits: NASA, ESA, STScI and V. Rubin (Carnegie Institution of Washington)
Camera: Nikon D50
Exposure: 40m (8 x 5m) ISO 800 RGB
Filter: Orion Skyglow Imaging Filter
Flattener/Correction: MPCC
Focus Method: Prime focus
Telescope Aperature/Focal Length: 203×812mm
Mount: LXD75
Telescope: Meade 8" Schmidt-Newtonian
Guided: Yes - PHD Guiding
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Adjustments: cropped/leveled in Photoshop
Location: Flintstone, GA
I was testing my polar alignment again. This time I think I got it right. A single 2 minute exposure with dark field subtraction. The clouds have now rolled in (those wispy streaks across the frame) and perhaps I may go out later. I decided to go out and check the skies tonight and I was surprised it was clear considering the rain and clouds earlier. In the 10 minutes it took me to setup, the clouds just rolled on in. This is also a good test of the Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AI lens. I stopped down to f/2.8 and it definitely helps keep the stars round.
Messier 7, an open cluster in Scorpius. Named after the Greek-Roman astronomer Ptolemy, who was first to record it in 130 CE. It is the southernmost Messier object with a declination of -34.8, rising to only ~19.7 degrees high at meridian from here in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A very challenging target for my current setup. Tried to get everything tightend down and polar alignment as good as possible, but still ended up throwing out around 84% of my subs. Thankfully this is a bright region of space so the data was workable regardless!
Acquisition Info:
14x20" sub exposures
4 min 40s total integration time
ISO-1600
f/5.6
135mm focal length (APS-C sensor)
Gear Used:
NyxTech Nyxtracker V2.0
Canon EOS 350D
Canon EF 75-300mm
Tripod
Software Used:
Deep Sky Stacker
PixInsight
Adobe Photoshop
This is my first-ever image of a deep-sky object.
Taken with a TMB92L, Canon T3i DSLR, and Celestron CG-4 mount. Consists of 14 light and 5 dark frames, each a 30-second exposure at ISO 800, stacked in DeepSkyStacker and processed in Photoshop.
Messier 81 / M81 / NGC 3031 / Bode's Galaxy
Messier 82 / M82 / NGC 3034 / The Cigar Galaxy
NGC 3077 / The Garland Galaxy
The M81 Group is a galaxy group 12 million light-years away containing 34 members. M81, M82, and NGC 3077 are the brightest members seen in this image. The largest member, M81, is a spiral galaxy about 90,000 light-years in diameter at a distance of about 8.5 million light-years. Its smaller companion, M82, is a starburst galaxy seen nearly edge-on. It is undergoing intense star formation as a result of a close encounter with M81. In total, there are over 50 galaxies in this image.
Total integration: 10 hours 20 minutes (620 minutes)
01/31/19: 87 x 60 seconds ISO800
02/10/19: 81 x 60 seconds ISO800
02/17/19: 22 x 60 seconds ISO800
03/12/19: 330 x 60 seconds ISO800
03/13/19: 100 x 60 seconds ISO800
Location: Charlottesville, VA
SQM: 19.22 mag/arcsec^2 (Bortle 6)
Camera: Canon T3i (stock/unmodified)
Average camera temperature: 73 F (23 C)
Telescope: Explore Scientific ED80 f/6.0 Apochromatic Refractor (with ES field flattener)
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G (unguided)
Pre-processed with PixInsight, processed with PixInsight and Paint.NET
Stack of 28 15 s ISO2500 exposures with a Nikon D5100 on a Celestron Edge HD 925 at focal length 2150 mm. Shot from my Bortle 8/9 backyard.
This globular cluster looks distinctly lopsided, with more stars in the SW and fewer in the NE.
Captured at a two-day campout/star party extravaganza in Goldendale, Washington.
Photographed using a 10-inch Meade LX200 f/6.3 Wide Field and an unmodified Nikon D5100.
M17, also known as the Omega Nebula or Swan Nebula, is one of the largest star-forming regions in the Milky Way galaxy. Hubble’s stunning image of a central portion of the nebula has been colorized to highlight certain wavelengths of light. Green represents oxygen while red reveals hydrogen and infrared light.
The Omega Nebula was discovered in 1745 by the Swiss astronomer Jean-Philippe Loys de Chéseaux. It is located 5,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius. The nebula has an apparent magnitude of 6 and can be seen with a pair of binoculars. M17, which appears near M16 and M18 in the sky, is best viewed on clear nights in August.
M17 contains one of our galaxy’s youngest star clusters, at only 1 million years old. However, many of the young stars in this cluster are impossible to see because of the gas and dust that surrounds them. The powerful radiation from the young stars evaporates and erodes the dense clouds of cold gas in which new stars form. One such pocket of gas is seen at the center of the brightest region of the nebula (near the bottom of this image) and is about 10 times larger than our solar system. Other dense pockets of gas have formed the remarkable dark features jutting inward from the bottom left corner of the image.
Credit: Image credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Kraus (The University of Texas at Austin); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
For more information, visit: science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/explore-the-night...
For Hubble's Messier catalog website and information on how to find these objects in the night sky, visit: science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/explore-the-night...
The Orion Nebula is the closest stellar nursery to earth at 1344 light years. It can be seen with binoculars or a small telescope. It is the fuzzy middle star in Orion's sword in the Orion Constellation
Exposures: 20 x 180 sec.
Mount: Celestron AVX
Telescope: Orion ED80T CF
Camera: Altair Astro Hypercam183C
Filter: Optolong L-Pro
Sky Condition: Bortle class 8 light pollution
Processing: PixInsight v1.8 and Photoshop CC 2020
This is part of the Pleiades star cluster and nebula. It is a bright open star cluster that lies an average 444 light years from earth. There are at least a 1000 confirmed stars in the cluster but only a handful of the brightest ones are easily visible from earth.
Exposures: 18 x 180 sec.
Mount: Celestron AVX
Telescope: Orion ED80T CF
Camera: Altair Astro Hypercam183C
Filter: Optolong L-Pro
Sky Condition: Bortle class 8 light pollution
Processing: PixInsight v1.8 and Photoshop CC 2020
Since I have been utterly unable to do any reasonable deep sky imaging at all due to weather and unfavorable conditions over the last couple nights, I decided I'd revisit some of my old output *.TIF files from last fall's sessions, and retouch up on new processing techniques. The first one I thought I'd touch up on, is a data set of Messier 27 - the Dumbbell Nebula, that was grabbed over the course of two nights last September.
Camera: Nikon D50
Exposure: 12m (6 x 2m) ISO 800 RGB
Filter: Orion Skyglow Imaging Filter
Flattener/Correction: MPCC
Focus Method: Prime focus
Telescope Aperature/Focal Length: 203×812mm
Mount: LXD75
Telescope: Meade 8" Schmidt-Newtonian
Guided: Yes - PHD Guiding
Stacked: DeepSkyStacker
Adjustments: cropped/leveled in Photoshop
Location: Flintstone, GA
A handful of bright stars are strewn across the cosmos like sparkling sequins on velvet in this Hubble image of a section of Messier 67, also known as NGC 2682, the King Cobra Cluster, and the Golden Eye Cluster.
M67 is a collection of over 500 stars that are loosely gravitationally bound, a grouping known as an open cluster. Open clusters like this are typically quite young, but M67 is one of the oldest known open clusters at approximately 4 billion years of age ― about the same as our Sun. In fact, the cluster contains about 100 stars that are similar to our Sun in composition and age, along with many red giant and white dwarf stars. It is also home to around 30 “blue stragglers” ― odd stars that are brighter and bluer than the population from which they formed, perhaps as the result of pulling material from a binary companion. M67 is the oldest open cluster in the Messier catalog.
M67 is also unusual in its location, nearly 1,500 light-years above the plane of the Milky Way galaxy. Most open clusters are distributed along the central plane of the Milky Way.
M67 was first recorded by German astronomer Johann Gottfried Koehler in 1779, then rediscovered and identified as a collection of stars by Charles Messier a year later. It resides about 2,700 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cancer.
To find M67, look for the upside-down Y in Cancer. M67 is west of the easternmost star in the Y. Alternately, go to the center of an imaginary line drawn between Regulus in Leo and Procyon in Canis Minor and look slightly north. M67 is visible in binoculars as a faint patch of light, and telescopes can resolve from a few up to 100 individual stars. Hubble’s image focuses in on just a small section of the cluster to show a detailed view of some of its colorful stars.
M67 is best viewed in the spring skies in the Northern Hemisphere, particularly March.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Krist (Jet Propulsion Laboratory); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
For more information, visit: science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/explore-the-night...
For Hubble's Messier catalog website and information on how to find these objects in the night sky, visit: science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/explore-the-night...
Captured with a Nikon D5500 and a 10-inch Meade LX200 'Classic' f/6.3 wide-field telescope.
EXIF data is removed via stacking processes in Autostakkert!2 for planetary imaging and in Deep Sky Stacker for deep sky imaging.
Messier 22 / M22 / NGC 6656 / The Great Sagittarius Cluster
NGC 6642 / The Tadpole Cluster
The Great Sagittarius Cluster is the brightest cluster visible from mid-northern latitudes, outshining famous clusters like the Great Hercules Cluster and the Great Pegasus Cluster. M22 contains over 80,000 stars and it is about 10,600 light-years away, orbiting the Milky Way. It is estimated to be 12.0 billion years old. A dense starfield surrounds this cluster because of its position near the Galactic Center (the center of the Milky Way).
NGC 6642 is a globular cluster about 26,400 light-years away. It is heavily obscured by interstellar dust. The cluster appears as a golden clump in the upper right.
Total integration: 5 hours 22.5 minutes (322.5 minutes)
07/18/19: 176 x 30 seconds ISO800
07/22/19: 197 x 30 seconds ISO800
08/25/19: 40 x 60 seconds ISO800
06/30/20: 4 x 120 seconds ISO200
07/14/20: 44 x 120 seconds ISO200
Location: Coral Springs, FL
SQM: 18.18 mag/arcsec^2 (Bortle 8/9)
Camera: Canon T3i (stock/unmodified)
Average camera temperature: 104 F (40 C)
Telescope: Explore Scientific ED80 f/6.0 Apochromatic Refractor (with ES field flattener)
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G
Guide scope: Svbony 50mm f/4.0 Guide Scope
Guide camera: Orion StarShoot AutoGuider
Software: N.I.N.A. with PlateSolve2 and PHD2
Pre-processed with PixInsight, processed with PixInsight and Paint.NET
Messier 13 / M13 / NGC 6205 / The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules
NGC 6207
The Great Hercules Cluster is the brightest globular cluster in the northern sky and it contains about 300,000 stars. It is about 22,000 light-years away, orbiting the Milky Way, and it is estimated to be 11.65 billion years old. M13 is often compared to M3, another bright northern cluster: flic.kr/p/2kdWmeC
NGC 6207 is an edge-on spiral galaxy about 30 million light-years away. It is visible towards the lower left of M13.
Total integration: 15 hours 24 minutes (924 minutes)
04/02/20: 101 x 120 seconds ISO200
04/03/20: 129 x 120 seconds ISO200
04/09/20: 50 x 120 seconds ISO200
04/22/20: 66 x 120 seconds ISO200
05/02/20: 96 x 120 seconds ISO200
05/04/20: 6 x 120 seconds ISO200
05/12/20: 14 x 120 seconds ISO200
Location: Coral Springs, FL
SQM: 18.18 mag/arcsec^2 (Bortle 8/9)
Camera: Canon T3i (stock/unmodified)
Average camera temperature: 95 F (35 C)
Telescope: Explore Scientific ED80 f/6.0 Apochromatic Refractor (with ES field flattener)
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G
Guide scope: Svbony 50mm f/4.0 Guide Scope
Guide camera: Orion StarShoot AutoGuider
Software: N.I.N.A. with PlateSolve2 and PHD2
Pre-processed with PixInsight, processed with PixInsight and Paint.NET