View allAll Photos Tagged triangulumgalaxy
At 2.73 million light-years away, the Triangulum Galaxy is considered part of our local group - and is the 3rd largest galaxy in the neighborhood. Although its area in the sky is roughly 4 full moons, its low surface brightness make is extremely difficult for unaided observation - requiring dark skies.
Messier 33 (NGC 598) - Triangulum Galaxy
H11 regions: NGC 588, NGC 952, NGC 959, NGC 604
20181103 - Newtown, PA
Nikon D5500
WO-61 w/Flat61
77 x 45s @ 1600iso
Regim Sig1.6, darks and flats
Color preserve stretch - Affinity Photo
RG_M33-Sig16_rncl-cps3_c50-50r-95q
50% crop - 50% full resolution
LH-HRVB (Ha : 6nm narrow band filter)
Bin1x1 CLS:8h30 , Ha:7h56 ; Bin2x2 R:2h39 , G:2h24 , B:2h51 exposure time
200/1000 mm Newtonian telescope
Camera ZWO ASI1600MM Pro
Guiding with AOG and ZWO ASI1174MM mini camera using PHD2
Automatic acquisitions with APT
Preprocessing with SIRIL
Image processing with Photoshop
Final touch with Lightroom
Object: The Triangulum Galaxy – M33 (2017)
(Messier 33 or NGC 598)
M33 is a spiral galaxy in our “local group” of galaxies and is located in the constellation of Triangulum. Located about 3000 light-years away it is the 3rd largest galaxy in our local group after Andromeda and our galaxy and is sometimes referred to as the pinwheel galaxy, a nickname is shares with M101. M33 contains about 40 billion stars, has a mass of 50 trillion solar masses and it about 50,000 light years across.
- Acquisition Date: 09/21/2017 to 09/25/2017
- Location: Chester, Nova Scotia Canada
- Camera: SBIG STF8300M @ -15°C
- Telescope: Telescope: Takahashi FSQ106EDX-III @f/5
- Mount: Astro-Physics AP1100
- Guide scope: Off Axis Guiding
- Guide Camera: Starlight Express Lodestar 2
Filters:
-Luminance14 x 10 min. (140 min.)
-Red:11 x 10 min. (110 min.)
-Green:12 x 10 min. (120 min.)
-Blue:13 x 10 min. (130 min.)
Total Exposure: 500min. (8.3hr)
The Triangulum Galaxy (M33)
Tournefeuille, France
L-RGB
Exposure time :
Bin1x1 : L:1h52mn ; Bin2x2 : R:35mn, G:25mn, B:49mn
200/1000 mm Newtonian telescope
Camera ZWO ASI1600MM Pro
Preprocessing with SIRIL
Image processing with Photoshop
Final touch with Lightroom
I spent Sunday night setting up my scope again, aligning it, and tracking the Triangulum Galaxy. The Triangulum Galaxy lies ~2.7 million light years away from Earth and is part of our local group of galaxies. It lies in the constellation Triangulum, from where it gets its name. Charles Messier cataloged it first in 1764. He published his Catalog of Nebulae and Star Clusters in 1771 and listed it as object number 33, hence the name M33.
Equipment:
SkyWatcher EQ6-R
Nikkor 500mm f/4 P AI-S at f/5.6
Sony a7RIII (unmodified)
ZWO 30mm Guide scope
GPCAM2 Mono Camera
Acquisition:
Taos, NM: my front yard - Bortle 3
28 x 301" for 2 hours, 26 min, and 56 sec exposure time.
3 dark frames
15 flats frames
15 bias frames
Guided
Software:
SharpCap
PHD2
DeepSkyStacker
Photoshop
Lightroom
My Sony a7RIII and adapted Nikkor 500mm f/4 P AI-S were mounted on an ADM vixen rail and secured to the SkyWatcher EQ6-R mount. I polar aligned my mount using SharpCap Pro. The guide scope/camera was attached to the camera's hot shoe. I used PHD2 to autogude during the imaging session. DeepSkyStacker was used to combine all frames, and then I processed the TIFF file in Photoshop. I stretched the 32-bit file and used Gradient XT on the image. I then made it a 16-bit file and continued to stretch the file in levels, then curves. I used the color sampler tool and levels to do my best to help keep colors accurate. I then used my skillset, including some dodging & burning, and relied on Astronomy Tools Action Set and Topaz Denoise to give the image a polished look. I brought it into Lightroom to do final color corrections and add EXIF data.
M33 is located in the triangle-shaped constellation Triangulum, earning it the nickname the Triangulum galaxy. About half the size of our Milky Way galaxy, M33 is the third-largest member of our Local Group of galaxies following the Andromeda galaxy (M31) and the Milky Way (NASA)
A hybrid image using RGB and Ha data from a narrow band filter to enhance the nebulas in the galaxy.
More details can be viewed at: astrob.in/ap9f53/0/
Location: Gergal, Spain, Jan 2023
Scope: William Optics GT 81
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
Mount: Celestron CGX
Filters: Baader Moon & Sky Glow, Optolong L-Ultimate dual narrow band
Integration: 79x 600s RGB,31x 600s NB
Total Integration: 18h 20m
ATIK One 9.0 with Baader Ha 7nm + Baader RGB + IDAS LPS-D1 for Luminance
APM LZOS 130/780 with Riccardi Reducer => f4,5/585mm
Ha: 19x20 min
Lum: 99x3 min
R: 37x5 min
G: 39x5 min
B: 42x5 min
total: ~ 20h
better than normal seeing, but normal light pollution. Sky limited exposure time for the LPS-D1 is approx 1,5 min, for R/G/B 3min.
A few nights back, while waiting for comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) to pop up, I thought I’d have a crack at capturing these two jewels of the northern sky: the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and the Triangulum Galaxy (M33).
Down here in the southern hemisphere, these two barely scrape the horizon, making it a real mission to snap a clear shot—especially in just one night. With them so low and the seeing being absolutely crook, this wide-field image wasn’t an easy get. But hey, when you’ve got the night sky calling, you’ve just gotta give it a go, no matter how tricky it is!
Sky
Nikon D5500
Nikkor 50mm f/1.8
91 x 30s, f/2.8
Foreground
Nikon D550p
Nikkor 50mm f/1.8
2.5s, f/8
After a long day of skiing, normal people enjoy a tasty fondue or a glass of wine by a crackling open fire. Not so the dedicated night photographer: I went out into the 0° F cold night and clambered the mountains for 45 minutes to shoot the starry skies.
This image is a 9-panel 270° panorama, showing the former observatory of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Arosa. The observatory is located on Tschuggen hill above Arosa, in the Swiss Alps, at a height of 2050 meters.
Created in 1939, the site was, until 1980, concentrating on solar observations, in particular the corona, sunspots and solar eclipses. Today, the observatory is a vacation home with no astronomical purpose - what a pity!
I light painted the observatory with a single LED panel, while the snow cats grooming the slopes for another day of skiing, were lighting the mountains below the star filled skies. The yellow glow on the horizon is light pollution from the nearby Rhine Valley and the ski resort Lenzerheide.
Winter Milky Way with several deep sky objects (e.g. Rosette & California Nebulas) is clearly visible. Below the arch of Milky Way are the red nebulas of Orion, the open clusters Hyades and Pleiades in Taurus and the setting Triangulum and Andromeda Galaxies. On the very left, the constellation Leo is hosting bright Jupiter.
- Astro modified Canon EOS 6d
- Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8 @ 15mm
- 9 images of 30s @ ISO 3200
- Stiched with PTGui
M33 is a large, bright galaxy in the constellation Triangulum. Part of the Local Group of Galaxies, which also includes the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxies, it lies at a distance of "only" 2.7 million light years.
Telescope: Tele Vue 76mm Refractor with 0.8x Focal Reducer (383mm focal length)
Camera: QSI 683wsg
Mount: iOptron iEQ45 Pro
Integration: 75 minutes each of RGB (15 x 5mins)
Software: PixInsight 1.8.8
M33, the Triangulum Galaxys one of the closest large galaxies to Earth. It’s located in the constellation Triangulum at a distance of about 2.5 million light years and has a diameter of around 60,000 light years. My first RGB image, taken in a Bortle 4 area; Borrego Springs, California, while attending a star party there about a week ago.
OTA: Esprit 120mm 840 focal length f 7.0
Camera: QHY268M
Gain: 56
Filters: Optolong LRGB,
Cooling Temperature: --15 Celsius
Mount: SkyWatcher EQ6-R with QHY Polemaster alignment
Autofocus: Sesto Senso 2
Guide scope: Orion 60mm focal length 240mm f/4
Auto-guiding: ZWO ASI290MM Mini
Control: Primaluce Eagle 4S
Calibrated PixInsight
Processed in Pixinsight and Lightroom
Borrego Springs - Bortle 4 skies
R 48 x 5min
G 39 x 5min
B 43 x 5min
L 55 x 5min
Ha 4 hrs
about 19 hour integration
I saw that Flickr user Henrique J.Silva posted his version of this scene yesterday. I had a good night where I live and I wanted to try my hand at capturing the same scene with similar gear.
Equipment:
Celestron CGEM Mount
Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 AF-D @ f/2.8
Sony a7RIII (unmodified)
Altair 60mm Guide scope
GPCAM2 Mono Camera
Acquisition:
Taos, NM: my backyard - Bortle 3
43 x 151" for 1hour 5min and 13sec of exposure time.
7 dark frames
15 flats frames
15 bais frames
Guided
Software:
SharpCap
PHD2
DeepSkyStacker
Photoshop
My mount was polar aligned with SharpCap (what an amazing system for aligning). I'm not comfortable using my SCT as my lens yet. My solution is to piggyback my Sony a7RIII and adapted Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 AF-D on a ADM dovetail rail on the top of my optical tube. I used DeepSkyStacker to combine all frames and then processed the TIFF file in Photoshop. I stretched the 32 bit file and used Gradient XT on the image. I then made it a 16 bit file and stretched in level, then curves. I used the color sampler tool and levels to do my best to keep the background space black. I made a layer to overexpose the galaxies a bit and then masked off the Triangulum Galaxy to try to match it to the brighter Andromeda Galaxy. I used dodging and burning to bring out a bit more detail in the galaxies. I then using my skillset and relyed on Astronomy Tools Action Set to give the image the finishing touches.
This image is rendered from 5.3 hours total integration time in RGB channels only. The data here will be combined with luminance and hydrogen alpha data that were previously captured.
NP101is/Large field corrector
ZWO ASI6200MM-P/EFW 2" x 7 (RGB)
Losmandy G11
Captured with NINA and PHD2 guiding. Processed with PixInsight.
Taken on Celstron RASA, Mayhill Observatory. 180 sec x 20. stacked in DSS and processed in photoshop and lightroom. First time renting telescope time on nice equipment, and then downloading the images for processing. 2.7 million light years away.
This stack of 18 images contains nearly the entirety of the constellations Andromeda, Cassiopeia, and Perseus. Numerous outstanding objects are within its bounds. From left to right (roughly east to west), they include:
The Pleiades (M45, lower left corner)
The California Nebula (NGC 1499, above the Pleiades)
The Double Cluster in Perseus (NGC 869 and NGC 884, near top center)
The Heart and Soul Nebulae (IC 1805 and IC 1848, above the Double Cluster)
M34 (open star cluster, bottom center)
The Triangulum Galaxy (M33, along the bottom border, right of M34)
The Andromeda Galaxy (M31 and satellite galaxy M110, bright elongated object in lower right area of image)
Subframes were taken with an astrophotography modified Nikon D5100 at ISO 4000 and focal length of 18mm. Stacking and processing in PixInsight, with a few final touches in Photoshop.
The solution for the image from astrometry.net places the center at
RA 2h 3m
DEC +50° 20'
90 x 90 second exposures -135 minutes.
Gain 100, Offset 50 @ -5c
Guiding with PHD2/Primaluce 240 F/4 guider.
RA RMS error 0.62 arcsec
Dec RMS error 0.51 arcsec
Polar alignment error 0.3 arc minute (PoleMaster).
Resolution 0.987 arcsec/pixel
50 x darks
Flats not usable - see below.
Im now using a ZWO ASI2600MC Pro as my main OSC camera and SharpCap 4.0 as my acquisition software.
Still on the learning curve. After a few goes, I was able to use plate solving in SharpCap 4/ASTAP to GOTO M33 without star aligning the EQ6 mount (3-4 seconds at gain 700).
Optimal exposures are still a bit of a guessing game: 2 minutes (Gain 100, Offset 50 at -5c) seems to equate to 10 minutes on my uncooled modified Canon 80D so I tried 90 seconds here which seemed to work well.
I had less luck with my EL panel flats - I took 50 x flats at 3000ms/2200ms/1800ms and 1725ms but all were too bright and caused negative vignetting! - will try a range of lower values next time. the recommended values from the Smart Histogram tool seem way off to me.
Havent got my Moonlite electronic focuser fully setup to use the automated multi-star FWHM tool either. Will need to bench test that.
Also differential flexure somewhere in the system - stars were oval but guiding good. My guidescope rings only just grip the scope and I think they got loose as the night progressed, the scope got more vertical and temperature dropped.
I ran PixInsight’s FWHM eccentricity tool which told me there was no significant sensor tilt. Have replaced the guide rings with some spares
Apart from that, not too bad!!!
I've been looking forward to capturing a good image of the Triangulum Galaxy and I finally made it happen. I really like the pinwheel shape and colors from this one.
From my home in Colorado, I was able to capture multiple exposures using iTelescope's T19 deep space telescope based in Mayhill, New Mexico. This is the result of shooting 24 images over 2 nights - 10/1/2021 and 10/2/2021.
Telescope Optics & Camera
• Planewave Ascension 200HR
• CCD: Proline FLI-PL16803
Exposure Settings (24 images)
• 6 Luminance: 5 minutes, bin 1
• 6 Red: 5 minutes, bin 2
• 6 Green: 5 minutes, bin 2
• 6 Blue: 5 minutes, bin 2
During my Milky Way shooting last week, I was standing under the trig point on Mt. Schäfler. When the clouds got too thick in the southwest, I started packing my gear.
Looking up from where I had layed down my backpack, I noticed the spire of the trig station pointing to some of my favorite constellations near the zenith, where the sky still was mostly clear.
The sight was awe inspiring and I therefore immediatly unpacked and set up my gear again to immortalize this moment.
Some of the better known deep sky objects visible in this image are:
- California Nebula NGC1499
- Heart and Soul Nebulas IC1805 & IC1848
- Double Cluster NGC869 & NGC884
- Triangulum Galaxy M33
- Andromeda Galaxy M31
- Pac-Man Nebula NGC281
- Elephant Trunk Nebula IC1396
- North America Nebula NGC7000
- Sadr Region IC1318
EXIF
Canon EOS 6D astro modified
Tamron 15-30mm f2.8
iOptron SkyTracker Pro
Low Level Lighting with one Goal Zero micro light
Sky
26 x 90s ISO1600, tracked
Foreground
6 x 90s ISO1600
This monochrome image is 2.5 hours of integration time with a hydrogen alpha (Ha) filter. I am collecting RGB data to blend with this image. The brightest blobs represent star forming regions that are similar to The Great Orion Nebula that is easily visible from Earth. These regions will appear as a bright red patches among the white spiral arms in the final image.
Northfield, OH
Sep 9, 2022
Nov 1, 2022
Nov 21, 2022
Equipment--
Telescope: Explore Scientific ED 80, field flattener (no reducer), 480mm focal length
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ6R-Pro
Camera: ZWO ASI204MC-Pro
Guide scope: Williams Optics 50mm guide scope
Guide camera: ZWO ASI120MM-S
Software: NINA, PHD2
Imaging--
Lights: 61x120, 55x180
Darks, Flats, DarkFlats, Bias: assorted
Sensor temp: -10.0
Filter: Optolong L-Pro 8x), no filter(30)
Sky: Bortle 6 (nominal)
Post processing--
Software: PixInsight, Photoshop
Sometimes called the Pinwheel Galaxy (which is also a commonly used name for M101) but more correctly identified by the name of the constellation in which it is located (Triangulum), this galaxy may be the most distant object that can be seen without the use of a telescope or other optical aid. But, to see it with the naked eye you need to know exactly where to look and have a very dark sky (a clear, moonless night with no light pollution).
Photographed on the morning of August 16, 2015 from my very light-polluted front yard using a 5 inch aperture, f/5.2 telescope and an unmodified Sony NEX-5R digital camera (ISO 800, a stack of sixty images each exposed for 90 seconds, producing a total exposure integration time of 90 minutes).
Image registration, integration, and adjustments done with PixInsight with final tweaks in Photoshop CC 2015.
This image is best seen at full size (1920 x 1280) or in the Flickr light box (press the “L” key to enter the light box and/or click on the image to see it at a larger size).
All rights reserved.
I revisited a bunch of previous RGB data and now added about an hour of Hα data. This galaxy really needs it. All those pink areas are regions of intense star formation, where some of the most massive stars are being born. The particularly big pink blob in the upper right is known as NGC 604. It is an emission nebula in another galaxy that is so large and bright that it gets its own designation. Think of really outstanding examples like this in our own sky -- M17 or the Eta Carina Nebula. This one has both of them beat for size and luminance. It only looks small because it is 3 million light years away.
All subframes shot with a Celestron Edge HD 925 at f/2.3 with Hyperstar. RGB data taken over multiple nights with an Atik 314L+ color CCD; hydrogen-alpha data taken with an Atik 414-EX with Atik 7 nm bandpass filter. Preprocessing of images in Nebulosity; registration, channel combination, and processing in PixInsight; final touches in Photoshop.
The Triangulum Galaxy
See on Fluidr
To see more of my work and to buy prints visit www.jklovelacephotography.com/pages/space
#من_تصويري
#مجرة_المثلث أو مسييه 33 (بالإنجليزية: Triangulum Galaxy أو Messier 33 أو NGC 598) هي مجرة حلزونية تبعد نحو 3 ملايين سنة ضوئية عن الأرض، وتقع في كوكبة المثلث.
تضم المجموعة المحلية ثلاث مجرات الكبيرة هي مجرة المثلث وأندروميدا ومجرتنا درب التبانة. تشغل المجموعة المحلية مكانا في الفضاء يبلغ نصف قطره 10 ملايين سنة ضوئية وتحتوي بالكامل على نحو 40 من المجرات معظمها مجرات قزمة.
#my_astrophotography
The #Triangulum_Galaxy is a spiral galaxy 2.73 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Triangulum. It is catalogued as Messier 33 or NGC 598. The Triangulum Galaxy is the third-largest member of the Local Group of galaxies, behind the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy.
Telescope التليسكوب
🔭 152mm David H. Levy Comet Hunter at Focal length 730mm.
محرك استوائي Mount
AZ-EQ5 GoTo Mount
كاميرا التصوير Camera
ZWO ASI294 mc pro
كاميرة توجيه Guide Camera
ZWO ASI120MC
برنامج التصوير Imaging Software
Astro Photography Tool
برنامج التكديس Stacked using
DeePSkYStacker
Pixinsight
40 Light images
120 sec. Each
Always a fun target to chase.
Explorer Scientific ED102 FCD100, ZWO ASI183MC-Cool
3 min image stacked with 50 images, Startech LPro-Max Filter
LRGB
Luminance 7x300s
RGB 2x300s (each)
DSS > PixInsight > PS
SBIG STL-11000M
Takahashi FSQ 106ED
Paramount PME
Messier 33
Credit: Giuseppe Bianco, Giuseppe J. Donatiello, Alessandro Falesiedi, Mario Lovrencie, Tim Stone /Sezione Nazionale di Ricerca Profondo Cielo UAI
L-RGB-Ha-OIII data obtained from different telescopes from 4.5" to 17", combined with CCD and ColdCMOS cameras.
New edit: August 23, 2024
(J2000) RA: 01h 33m 50.02s Dec: +30° 39′ 36.7″
The gas-rich low-mass dwarf spiral galaxy Triangulum (Messier 33) at 3 million light-years. It is catalogued also as NGC 598 and known as Triangulum Galaxy. The galaxy is the smallest spiral galaxy in the Local Group and it is believed to be a big satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy.
M33 has two asymmetric faint arms, and an interstellar medium rich in gaseous filaments that extends for about 7 kpc. Although the inner disk is relatively undisturbed, the northern arm is less regular in shape than the southern one. M33, is a bulge-free galaxy with only two optically luminous dwarf galaxies believed to be its satellites: AndXXII (McConnachie et al., 2009; Martin et al., 2016) and Pisces VII (Martínez-Delgado et al. 2022; MLM Collins et al. 2024) discovered by me in 2020. The possible discovery of a third satellite called Triangulum IV was recently announced, but its nature is still uncertain (Ogami et al. 2024). However, given its mass, ΛCDM cosmological simulations predict that M33 should host a larger number of satellites, at least 10.
The neutral hydrogen (HI) disk is three times larger than the star-forming disk and is clearly warped. The outer disk has the same inclination as the inner one with respect to our line of sight but the position angle of the major axis changes by about 30 degrees compared to the inner disk and is more aligned with the M31 direction. While M33's undisturbed inner disk indicates that no major collisions between M31 and M33 or between M33 and a satellite have occurred in the past, the distortion could be the result of a flyby about 9 billion years ago. Timing assessments make this scenario unlikely and favor the hypothesis of a first fall of M33 in the region of influence of M31.
The Triangulum Galaxy is a spiral galaxy 2.73 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Triangulum. It is catalogued as Messier 33 or NGC 598. The Triangulum Galaxy is the third-largest member of the Local Group of galaxies, behind the Andromeda Galaxy and the Milky Way. It is one of the most distant permanent objects that can be viewed with the naked eye. The galaxy gets its name from the constellation Triangulum, where it can be spotted. It is sometimes informally referred to as the "Pinwheel Galaxy."
Object: The Triangulum Galaxy – M33 (2012)
(Messier 33 or NGC 598)
M33 is a spiral galaxy in our “local group” of galaxies and is located in the constellation of Triangulum. Located about 3000 light-years away it is the 3rd largest galaxy in our local group after Andromeda and our galaxy and is sometimes referred to as the pinwheel galaxy, a nickname is shares with M101. M33 contains about 40 billion stars, has a mass of 50 trillion solar masses and is about 50,000 light years across.
Acquisition Date: 12/14/2012
Camera: SBIG ST8300M @ -12°C
Telescope: Stellarvue SV105T (f/7)
Mount: Losmandy G11 with Gemini II
Guidescope: 50mm finder/guider
Guide Camera: Orion SSAG
Filters:
-Luminance: 18 x 5 min. (90 min.)
-Red: 8 x 5 min. (40 min.)
-Green: 8 x 5 min. (40 min.)
-Blue: 8 x 5 min. (40 min.)
Total Exposure: 210min. (3.5hr)
Limiting Magnitude: 5.1
Comments:
- LRGB done with IDAS LP2 48mm light pollution filter
- Stellarvue SFF7-21 field flattener.
Triangulum Galaxy(M33), a spiral galaxy 2.73 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Triangulum.
Total exposure: 1 Hour
Light frames : 370 x 10"
Telescope : ZWO Triplet APO
Camera : Sony IMX462
Filters: UV/IR cut
This photo of the Triangulum Galaxy was taken at the Northern Skies Observatory in Peacham, Vermont. The telescope is a PlaneWave f/6.8 17-inch CDK. The camera mounted on the telescope is an Apogee Alta F16M Monochrome CCD with a Kodak 52 mm full frame sensor.
Also known as Messier 33 (M33) or NGC 598, Triangulum is a spiral galaxy about 3 million light years away, has a diameter about half that of our Milky Way, and contains 40 billion stars. It lies within the constellation Triangulum in the northern sky, relatively close to the Andromeda galaxy.
Most observatory cameras are set up to take monochrome images only. A red filter, green filter, and blue filter are usually used to bring color to the final image. In addition to those 3 filters, an H-alpha filter was used for this photo. The H-alpha filter isolates a visible spectrum of light that shows destabilized hydrogen. The irregular shaped red objects in the photograph, some with white in them, are ionized hydrogen gas clouds. We are able to see them clearly in the photo because of the use of the H-alpha filter. These ionized hydrogen gas clouds, also called H II regions, reach temperatures of 10,000 degrees Kelvin and are massive areas of star birth.
Taking the Photo:
Taking the photo itself is pretty easy because everything is computerized. It is not necessary to look through the telescope, find the object in the sky and focus on it, or even be at the observatory to request a photo. The observatory is one of about 20 in the Skynet Robotic Telescope Network. To take the photo, we logged into that site and put in a "plan". For the plan, we specified the object to be photographed (M33), the filters to be used (the 4 filters mentioned above), and the exposure time (we used 5 minutes per image). A monochrome image is created for each filter used.
The plans are placed in a queue. The images are taken automatically when conditions are right, e.g. clear skies, dark skies, and the object to be photographed is visible to the telescope. That could potentially be a week or more, especially if there are lots of plans queued up or lots of cloudy nights. When the time comes, the door on the dome opens (if not already open), and both the telescope and door robotically position themselves to take the images. They also must continue to track the object precisely for the duration, in this case about 20 minutes (5-minute exposures for each filter, plus time to load the filters). Each of the 4 filters get loaded automatically at the point it is needed.
Processing the Photo:
The images created are in FITS format (Flexible Image Transport System), most commonly used in scientific applications, especially astronomy and microscopy. This format is not supported by typical photo editing software such as Photoshop or Lightroom. In order to process the monochrome images, I had to learn ImageJ, a free open-source, Java-based application developed by the National Institute of Health.
When I first opened the monochrome images in ImageJ, they were almost entirely black, with just a few white dots scattered around. Looking at the histogram, it very closely hugs the left boundary. There is data there, but it is all very dark. One of the first steps needed is to do a "logarithmic stretch" on each image. This effectively spreads out the histogram towards the center. Actually, this stretching also happens behind the scenes with traditional DSLR and other cameras. If shooting in JPG format, the camera's firmware does this stretching for you. If shooting in RAW, the stretching occurs at the point the RAW data is opened in image processing software such as Lightroom.
After the stretching in ImageJ, you basically do brightness adjustments on each of the images, then create a color composite from which you can do final color balancing. I also did manual image alignment. The stars in the composite should be white, so for example, if you zoom in on the stars and see red at the top of most of them, then the image associated with the red filter needs to be moved down one or more pixels in the composite. It was actually quite simple to do the alignment.
Additional options in ImageJ allow for noise reduction, sharpening, etc. There are also many available plugins, an example of which would be for building mosaics (analogous to panoramas). If you wanted to photograph the Andromeda galaxy on this telescope, for example, a mosaic would be required because the image of Andromeda is too large to fit on a single frame!
When processing in ImageJ is complete, the composited image can be saved in a variety of formats. I saved to TIFF, brought it into my usual software to set EXIF info, and did the noise reduction, sharpening, and other processing there as well.
For additional info and a photo of the Northern Skies Observatory, see: www.flickr.com/photos/davetrono/42239486970
Northern Skies Observatory website: www.nkaf.org
From Wikipedia: The Triangulum Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 3 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Triangulum. It is catalogued as Messier 33 or NGC 598. The Triangulum Galaxy is the third-largest member of the Local Group of galaxies, which includes the Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy and about 44 other smaller galaxies. It is one of the most distant permanent objects that can be viewed with the naked eye.
The galaxy is the smallest spiral galaxy in the Local Group and it is believed to be a satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy due to their interactions, velocities and proximity to one another in the night sky.
Tech Specs: Sky-Watcher Esprit 120mm ED Triplet APO Refractor, Canon 6D, 60 x 60 seconds at ISO 3200 + darks and bias frames, imaged on December 7, 2018. Location: The Dark Side Observatory in Weatherly, PA, USA.
This image is featured on Flickr's blog.
Another take/frame from my night last summer at Steens Mountain, Oregon (one of the darkest night skies found in the lower 48 states). Not a bad place to be for shooting stars!
Notes: I slightly differently processed this one, focusing on keeping the sky darker than I normally do (thoughts are appreciated). Thus it might lose something in the small view, so please do view large. It was taken just after peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower so I was pretty sure it was a shooting star, but I checked due to the shape of the streak to see if it was an Iridium Flare. The online calculator at Heavens-Above Calculator does not indicate any predicted flares for the time period this was taken, thus I am going to assume this is indeed a leftover Perseid Meteor. I believe there is also at least one additional faint Perseids that you can only see in the large view as well.
Edit: in response to those who are saying it's more likely an unrelated meteor not from the Perseid Meteor Shower, you could very well be right. I continue to hedge my bets on this one. Although, as I mentioned earlier, I discount the satellite flare theory since no online calculators predicted one for this location and time (I would love if it were, they are harder to get, heh). So if you came here from the flickr blog and are now thinking, well geeze this isn't even at the peak of Perseids and it might not even be one, I offer this shot of mine from the 2009 Perseid Shower that is definitely one. ;-)))
From Wikipedia: The Triangulum Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 3 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Triangulum. It is catalogued as Messier 33 or NGC 598. The Triangulum Galaxy is the third-largest member of the Local Group of galaxies, which includes the Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy and about 44 other smaller galaxies. It is one of the most distant permanent objects that can be viewed with the naked eye.
Tech Specs: Sky Watcher Esprit 120ED, Celestron CGEM-DX pier mounted, ZWO ASI290MC and ASI071MC-Pro, ZWO AAPlus, ZWO EAF. 171 x 60 seconds at -10C plus darks and flats. Image date: October 1, 2021. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).
Images taken in my backyard in the suburbs speckled with LED street lights, spot lights and barking dogs.
September 2019 Images
60 Red @ 240 Sec Gain 75 Offset 15
60 Green @ 240 Sec Gain 75 Offset 15
60 Blue @ 240 Sec Gain 75 Offset 15
15 Lum @ 60 Sec Gain 75 Offset 15 (lost 50 to scattered clouds)
Gear:
Camera: ZWO ASI 1600mmPro-Cool
Telescope: Explore Scientific 102mm FCD100 glass
Mount: Sky Watcher EQ6R-Pro
Focus/Rotate: Moonlite Nightcrawler
Filter wheel: ZWO 36mm electric wheel
Filter: Astronomik 36mm LRGB
Guide Scope: Stellarvue with ZWO ASI 290mm camera
Mini PC: N34 Mini PC from Amazon
Processed with PixInsight, Lightroom and Photoshop
Check out my processing videos on YouTube as AmyAstro.
Stacked image of approximately 240 images of 10sec exposures with SeeStar s50. Processed (with drizzle script) on Siril, and finished with Photoshop Express.
Dans le ciel d’hiver, la plupart des astronomes n'ont d'yeux que pour M 31, la galaxie d'Andromède. Il suffit pourtant de faire glisser son télescope de quelques degrés vers la constellation voisine du Triangle pour y déloger le plus beau spécimen de galaxie spirale vue de face, M 33. Elle est située à environ 3 millions d’années-lumière de la Terre. Elle est considérée comme étant l’objet le plus lointain visible à l’œil nu (dans de bonnes conditions)...
Comme notre propre galaxie (la Voie lactée) et la galaxie d'Andromède, Messier 33 fait partie du « Groupe Local » c’est à dire « notre » groupe galactique. Cette petite tâche laiteuse que l'on peut distinguer par une belle nuit noire, est l'une des cités d'étoiles les plus riches et fécondes du groupe local. M33 contiendrait 40 milliards d’étoiles, contre 400 pour la Voie Lactée et 1000 pour la galaxie d’Andromède. Elle se rapproche de nous à la vitesse de 185 km/s.
Parmi les milliards d'étoiles qui la rendent si lumineuse, ses progénitures abondent, se développant à un rythme effréné dans le creux de ses multiples nébuleuses (parties rouges visibles sur la photo).
- Skywatcher 200/1000 Neq6 goto
3h d’exposition au Canon 6d Astrodon
Traitement Siril et Ps
Class 5 Bortle (proche d’Arras)
The Triangulum Galaxy is a spiral galaxy 2.73 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Triangulum. It is catalogued as Messier 33 or NGC 598. The Triangulum Galaxy is the third-largest member of the Local Group of galaxies, behind the Andromeda Galaxy and the Milky Way. It is one of the most distant permanent objects that can be viewed with the naked eye. The galaxy gets its name from the constellation Triangulum, where it can be spotted. It is sometimes informally referred to as the "Pinwheel Galaxy."