M78 The Reflection Nebula

Here's last nights attempt at M78 (The Reflection Nebula). Seeing was very poor so with that in consideration this didn't come out too bad.



(below is from Wikipedia)

The nebula Messier 78 (also known as M 78 or NGC 2068) is a reflection nebula in the constellation Orion. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780 and included by Charles Messier in his catalog of comet-like objects that same year.

M78 is the brightest diffuse reflection nebula of a group of nebulae that include NGC 2064, NGC 2067 and NGC 2071. This group belongs to the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex and is about 1,600 light years distant from Earth. M78 is easily found in small telescopes as a hazy patch and involves two stars of 10th magnitude. These two stars, HD 38563A and HD 38563B, are responsible for making the cloud of dust in M78 visible by reflecting their light.

About 45 variable stars of the T Tauri type, young stars still in the process of formation as well as some 17 Herbig-Haro objects are known in M78.

M1 Crab Nebula

Here's my 1st attempt at the Crab Nebula. I was only able to get 10 second images so I stacked 40 of the best ones. (click on image for a larger view)



The Crab Nebula (catalogue designations M1, NGC 1952, Taurus A) is a supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula in the constellation of Taurus. The nebula was first observed by John Bevis in 1731, and corresponds to a bright supernova recorded by Chinese and Arab astronomers in 1054. At X-ray and gamma-ray energies above 30 KeV, the Crab is generally the strongest persistent source in the sky, with measured flux extending to above 1012 eV. Located at a distance of about 6,500 light-years (2 kpc) from Earth, the nebula has a diameter of 11 ly (3.4 pc) and expands at a rate of about 1,500 kilometers per second.

At the center of the nebula lies the Crab Pulsar, a rotating neutron star, which emits pulses of radiation from gamma rays to radio waves with a spin rate of 30.2 times per second. The nebula was the first astronomical object identified with a historical supernova explosion.

The nebula acts as a source of radiation for studying celestial bodies that occult it. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Sun's corona was mapped from observations of the Crab's radio waves passing through it, and more recently, the thickness of the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan was measured as it blocked out X-rays from the nebula.

Orion Nebula

Lots of new "toys" to try out. Some worked some didn't. I now have a "game pad" that will control the telescope. I makes doing my star alignments much easier. Now using EQMOD and Stellarium / Stellarium scope exclusively to operate the mount. I attempt to make my own Auto guider using the 9x50 viewfinder and an old LPI imager however that didn't work out. So after messing around for an hour or so I was able to get some 10 second images. Anything more developed "star trails" So I opted for shooting Orion since it is now prevalent in the sky and bright enough. Here's last nights attempt. (40 each 10 second images stacked).

M71 & M92 Globular Clusters

I'm starting to use Nebulosity software for my capture process. The moon was full tonight so couldn't capture any nebulas so went for clusters instead. Here's my 1st attempts for both (20 ea 30 second images stacked).



From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Messier 71 (also known as M71 or NGC 6838) is a globular cluster in the constellation Sagitta. It was discovered by Philippe Loys de Chéseaux in 1746 and included by Charles Messier in his catalog of comet-like objects in 1780. It was also noted by Koehler at Dresden around 1775.

M71 is at a distance of about 12,000 light years away from Earth and spans some 27 light years across. The irregular variable star Z Sagittae is a member of this cluster.

M71 was long thought (until the 1970s) to be a densely packed open cluster and was classified as such by leading astronomers in the field of star cluster research due to its lacking a dense central compression , its stars having more "metals" than is usual for an ancient globular cluster, and further its lacking the RR Lyrae "cluster" variable stars that are common in most globulars. However, modern photometric photometry has detected a short "horizontal branch" in the H-R diagram of M71, which is characteristic of a globular cluster. The shortness of the branch explains the lacking of the RR Lyrae variables and is due to the globular's relatively young age of 9-10 billion years. The relative youth of this globular also explains the abundance of "metals" in its stars. Hence today, M71 is designated as a very loosely concentrated globular cluster, much like M68 in Hydra. M71 has a luminosity of around 13,200 suns.



From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Messier 92 (also known as M92 or NGC 6341) is a globular cluster in the constellation Hercules. It was discovered by Johann Elert Bode in 1777 and independently rediscovered by Charles Messier on March 18, 1781. M92 is at a distance of about 26,000 light-years away from Earth.

M92 is one of the brighter globular clusters in the northern hemisphere, but it is often overlooked by amateur astronomers because of its proximity to the even more spectacular Messier 13. It is visible to the naked eye under very good conditions. [2]

Trifid Nebula M20

Well I splurged and bought Nebulosity V2.03. A astronomy photo stacking / editing program. I had taken photos of the Trifid Nebula last Sunday when we were in Borrego Springs and no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't get the photos to come out. After about 1/2 hour of work with Nebulosity here's the result.

M17 Omega Nebula

We drove out to a great "Dark Sky" location in Borrego Springs, CA on Sunday and spent the night under a clear sky. Stayed at a great "Amateur Astronomer Friendly" Hotel / RV park called the "Palm Canyon Resort" http://www.palmcanyonresort.com/. I was only able to capture a few photos as we were busy showing others at the resort our telescope and the sites of the evening. However I was finally able to spot a few new objects that had evaded me from our home viewing site. (Omega Nebula M17, Trifid Nebula M20, Crab Nebula M1). Telescope worked well however I still keep having problems with my use of Stellarium as a main program. I'm sure it is "user error" so just have to keep working at it.

Special thanks to Shirley the resort manager for making our stay a very enjoyable one.

Here's one of the photos I have finished processing:
M17 Omega Nebula

M27 Dumb Bell Nebula after mount repairs.

Had a really good night! I did a complete disassembly and rebuild of my EQ5 pro mount. Cleaned and re-greased all surfaces and adjusted motors and worm gears. It made a significant difference in the operation of the mount. Set up tonight and was able to get 30 second images. Pointed to M27 (dumbbell nebula) and took 20 exposures. Here's the result with very minor tweaks in "GIMP". (11-4-09) I updated this photo by removing some of the images that had "star trails" and re-stacking with final processing in Nebulosity. Here's the new version.

LCROSS attempt

Attempted to photograph LCROSS the other night. But had a few things working against me. I got to late of a start and it seems that non of the ground based amature telescopes had much luck catching it. Soooo.. Here's a photo of the moon from that night. (Note the is the north pole "Mare Friguris" region the moon not the location for the LCROSS impact.) Starting to get the hang of lunar imaging with the DSI IIc camera.

Wild Duck Cluster M 11

This is another photo I took last nite:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Wild Duck Cluster (also known as Messier 11, or NGC 6705) is an open cluster in the constellation Scutum. It was discovered by Gottfried Kirch in 1681. Charles Messier included it in his catalogue in 1764.

The Wild Duck Cluster is one of the richest and most compact of the known open clusters, containing about 2900 stars. Its age has been estimated to about 220 million years. Its name derives from the brighter stars forming a triangle which could represent a flying flock of ducks.

Eagle Nebula

Well here's tonights projects. I was finally able to get dark and clear enough skys to get these photos.

SkyWatcher 10" reflector on EQ5 pro mount, Meade DSI IIc camera 20 images @ 15 secs per. Minor color corrections and sharpening with Photoshop elements.







The Eagle Nebula (catalogued as Messier 16 or M16, and as NGC 6611) is a young open cluster of stars in the constellation Serpens, discovered by Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux in 1745-46. Its name derives from its shape which is resemblant of an eagle. It is the subject of a famous photograph by the Hubble Space Telescope, which shows pillars of star-forming gas and dust within the nebula.

Local Fires

Sorry for the lack of posts in the last few days. The fires in and around Los Angeles have been keeping our sky's filled with a light coating of smoke. Just enough to keep our light polluted sky filtered where I haven't attempted to set up the telescope. Planning on this weekend sometime.

Mt Wilson observatory has been threatened by the fires but so far the firefighters have been able to keep it safe. This actually sound pretty good as of this morning. If the winds stay away and the humidity stays up it may make it through this.

M8 Lagoon Nebula

Here's my 1st attempt at M8. I found I'm just a wee bit out of focus so will try harder next time (need to make a "Hartmann Mask" for the new scope).

Sky-Watcher SW254N with EQ5 pro mount, Meade DSI IIc camera 20 images @ 15 sec each.

The Lagoon Nebula (catalogued as Messier 8 or M8, and as NGC 6523) is a giant interstellar cloud in the constellation Sagittarius. It is classified as an emission nebula and as an H II region.

The Lagoon Nebula was discovered by Guillaume Le Gentil in 1747 and is one of only two star-forming nebulae faintly visible to the naked eye from mid-northern latitudes. Seen with binoculars, it appears as a distinct oval cloudlike patch with a definite core. A fragile star cluster appears superimposed on it.

My Telescope Setup

Thought I would post some photos of my normal setup for the evening.

New Ring Nebula photo

I was able to capture a new and better photo of the Ring Nebula last night. New Skywatcher telescope is working very well... Think I finally have everything dialed-in. Still learning the methods with the Meade DSI IIc camera so would hope photos will be getting better and better.







Sky-Watcher SW254N with EQ5 pro mount, Meade DSI IIc camera set on 15 sec Fits3P photos total of 30 images stacked. Very minor "tweeking" with Meade Image pro program.

M27 Dumb Bell Nebula

M27 Dumb Bell Nebula

The Dumbbell Nebula (also known as Messier 27, M 27, or NGC 6853) is a planetary nebula (PN) in the constellation Vulpecula, at a distance of about 1,360 light years.

This object was the first planetary nebula to be discovered; by Charles Messier in 1764. At its brightness of visual magnitude 7.5 and its diameter of about 8 arcminutes, it is easily visible in binoculars, and a popular observing target in amateur telescopes.

Sky-Watcher SW254N with EQ5 Pro

DSI IIc

Single 5 sec image

M57 Ring Nebula

Finally got the Sky-Watcher telescope aligned correctly. Here's 1st photo of M57.


The famously named "Ring Nebula" is located in the northern constellation of Lyra, and also catalogued as Messier 57, M57 or NGC 6720. It is one of the most prominent examples of the deep-sky objects called planetary nebulae (singular, planetary nebula), often abbreviated by astronomers as simply planetaries or PN.








Sky-Watcher SW254N with EQ5 pro
Meade DSI IIc
single 5 sec exposure.

Sky-Watcher 1st light

Well I caught first light last night (Aug 8th, 2009). Set up went okay however I have a few modifications that I need to work on. I'm finding the alignment is a little difficult with this scope as I'm used to my Meade ETX. However once it is set up everything seems to work very well. Started off looking at the moon. Much more detail with the larger aperture scope (10" vs approx 4"). Played with the new lenses that came with the Sky-Watcher scope, but reverted back to my Celestron zoom lens as it appears to work very well with this scope. The moon filter works great to allow you to see without going blind from the bright glow from the moon. Moved over to Jupiter and was able to see the bands very clearly with 4 moons. Then just for the heck of it I pointed the scope to M13. Verryyy impressive (see photo). The photo doesn't do justice. It was like looking a a million points of light especially when zoomed into 9mm! Going to work on getting the finder scope aligned as it seems to be quite a ways off. Also going to add some quick release bolts to the tube clamps, I installed "Wilcox rings" yesterday. (will add photos when done).
So far very impressed!

Sky-Watcher 254N with EQ5 pro
Meade DSI-IIc camera


M13 Hercules Cluster Sky-Watcher 10" reflector with Meade DSI-IIc camera 5-15 sec images

New Telescope on the way!

I sprung for a new telescope last week. It is shipping from the factory so would assume it should be here next week. A 10 inch Newtonian with a "go to" equatorial mount made by Sky-Watcher. I couldn't beat the price so went ahead and bought it. Hoping to catch "first light" next week. Will keep you posted.

Comet Lulin

ETX70AT, DSI IIC

Here's the latest photo taken of the comet Lulin. Lulin will only be by the planet earth once so this is a special photo! Read below for more details!

Comet Lulin or Lulin's Comet (official designation C/2007 N3 (Lulin)) is a non-periodic comet. It was discovered by Ye Quanzhi and Lin Chi-Sheng from Lulin Observatory.^[1][2][6] It peaked in brightness and arrived at perigee for observers on Earth on February 24, 2009, at magnitude +5,^[7][2][8] and at 0.411 AU from Earth.^[3] The comet also appeared to pass near Saturn on February 23, and is predicted to pass near Regulus in Leo on February 26 and 27, 2009.^[2][6] It is expected to appear to pass near Comet Cardinal on May 12, 2009.^[9] It currently lies 0.412 AU from Earth, appearing at magnitude +5.2 in the constellation Leo.^[4][8] The comet became visible to the naked eye from dark-sky sites around February 7.^[10] It passed between Earth and the double star Zubenelgenubi on February 6, between Earth and Spica on February 15 and 16, between earth and Gamma Virginis on February 19 and is predicted to pass between Earth and the star cluster M44 around March 4 and 5.
Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2007_N3 for more info.

Saturn

I noticed I didn't have a photo of Saturn. So I added one that I took back in June of 2008. It's a little out of focus and I was using my LPI imager to take the photo. I will try for a better one when Saturn is at a better angle to see the rings (probably in 2010.)


ETX70AT, Meade LPI

Latest Moon Photo

Latest Moon Photo taken with ETX70AT, DSI IIC and 3xbarlow.



On Friday 2-6-09 The Children's Imagination Workshop in Temecula is having a Astronomy night. This event is all about Galileo and will feature information about the moon. So I have been taking some new photos to present that night in case of rain. (right now it looks like it might!)

Double Cluster

Double Cluster
(EXT70AT, DSI IIC)



The Double Cluster is the common name for the naked-eye open clusters NGC 884 and NGC 869, which are close together in the constellation Perseus. NGC 884 and NGC 869 are at distances of 7600 and 6800 light-years away, respectively, so they are close to one another in space as well.

They are relatively young clusters, with NGC 869 5.6 million years and NGC 884 at 3.2 million years according to the 2000 Sky Catalogue. In comparison, the Pleiades have an estimated age ranging from 75 million years to 150 million years.

They are also blueshifted, with NGC 869 approaching Earth at a speed of 22 km/s and NGC 884 approaching at a similar speed of 21 km/s. Their hottest main sequence stars are of spectral type B0.

For more information visit wikipedia.org

Crescent Venus

This photo of Venus shows the "crescent" shape because of it's location in relationship to the sun.
(ETX70AT, DSI IIC)


Venus (pronounced en-us-Venus.ogg /ˈviːnəs/ (help·info)) is the second-closest planet to the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love. It is the brightest natural object in the night sky, except for the Moon, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6. Because Venus is an inferior planet from Earth, it never appears to venture far from the Sun: its elongation reaches a maximum of 47.8°. Venus reaches its maximum brightness shortly before sunrise or shortly after sunset, for which reason it is often called the Morning Star or the Evening Star.

For more information visit Wikipedia.org

Moon

Moon (waxing cresent)
ETX70AT, DSI IIC

The Moon (Latin: Luna) is Earth's only natural satellite and the fifth largest natural satellite in the Solar System.

The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is 384,403 km, about thirty times the diameter of the Earth. The Moon's diameter is 3,474 km,^[6] a little more than a quarter of that of the Earth. Thus, the Moon's volume is about 2 percent that of Earth; the pull of gravity at its surface is about 17 percent that at the Earth's surface. The Moon makes a complete orbit around the Earth every 27.3 days (the orbital period), and the periodic variations in the geometry of the Earth–Moon–Sun system are responsible for the lunar phases that repeat every 29.5 days (the synodic period).

The Moon is the only celestial body to which humans have travelled and upon which humans have performed a manned moon landing. The first artificial object to pass near the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 1, the first artificial object to impact the lunar surface was Luna 2, and the first photographs of the normally occluded far side of the Moon were made by Luna 3, all in 1959. The first spacecraft to perform a successful lunar soft landing was Luna 9; this was soon followed with the first successful lunar soft landing by Surveyor 1 and the first unmanned vehicle to orbit the Moon by Luna 10, all in 1966.^[6] The United States (U.S.) Apollo program achieved the only manned missions to date, resulting in six landings between 1969 and 1972. Human exploration of the Moon ceased with the conclusion of the Apollo program, although a few robotic landers and orbiters have been sent to the Moon since that time. Several countries have announced plans to return humans to the surface of the Moon in the 2020s.

For more information visit Wikipedia.org

Uranus

Here's a photo I took last night:
EXT70AT, DSI IIC




Uranus ( /ˈjʊərənəs/ (help·info) or /jʊˈreɪnəs/ (help·info)^[12]) is the seventh planet from the Sun and the third-largest and fourth most massive planet in the Solar System. It is named after the ancient Greek deity of the sky (Uranus, Οὐρανός), the father of Kronos (Saturn) and grandfather of Zeus (Jupiter). Though it is visible to the naked eye like the five classical planets, it was never recognized as a planet by ancient observers because of its dimness and slow orbit.^[13] Sir William Herschel announced its discovery on March 13, 1781, expanding the known boundaries of the solar system for the first time in modern history. This was also the first discovery of a planet made using a telescope. (from Wikipedia)

Bode's Galaxy

Bode's Galaxy
(ETX70AT, DSI IIC)



Messier 81 (also known as NGC 3031 or Bode's Galaxy) is a spiral galaxy about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. M81 is one of the most striking examples of a grand design spiral galaxy, with near perfect arms spiraling into the very center. Because of its proximity to Earth, its large size, and its active galactic nucleus (which may harbor a supermassive black hole) Messier 81 is a popular galaxy to study in professional astronomy research. The galaxy's large size and relatively low apparent magnitude (lower magnitude implies higher brightness) also make it a popular target for amateur astronomy observations.[6]
Visit Wikipedia.org for more information.