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!)