Sunday, April 25, 2010

M63 The Sunflower Galaxy

I was able to capture 90 second images last night after doing a "drift alignment" on the scope. Here's the results: (16 minutes, SW254N, EQ5pro, guided)



from Wikipedia:
The Sunflower Galaxy (also known as Messier 63, M63, or NGC 5055) is an Spiral galaxy in the Canes Venatici constellation. It is a Spiral galaxy, consisting of a central disc surrounded by many short spiral arm segments. The Sunflower Galaxy is part of the M51 Group, a group of galaxies that also includes the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51).
The Sunflower Galaxy was discovered by Pierre Méchain on June 14, 1779.[3] The galaxy was then listed by Charles Messier as object 63 in the Messier Catalogue.
In the mid-1800s, Lord Rosse identified spiral structure within the galaxy, making this one of the first galaxies in which such structure was identified.[3]

Thursday, April 15, 2010

M104 Sombrero Galaxy

Last night I got to try out my new Orion Starshoot autoguider. I had been attempting to use a Meade LPI for guiding and it just wasn't working out. Keep in mind I didn't have the best conditions last night. Clouds were passing and there was considerable humidity in the air. However I was able to capture great 1 minute images. Out of 20 taken I used 18. (lost tracking twice because of clouds.) What I really like is how "round" the stars in the background area. I hadn't really been able to do that with anything longer than 30 seconds. Here's the final image. (captured with Nebulosity, processed with Photoshop elements.) Skywatcher 254N newtonian, EQ5pro mount, Vixen 70mm guide scope, Starshoot guider and Meade DSI IIc imager.

from Wikipedia:
The Sombrero Galaxy (also known as M 104 or NGC 4594 ) is an unbarred spiral galaxy in the constellation Virgo. 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. The large bulge, the central supermassive black hole, and the dust lane all attract the attention of professional astronomers.