Mars

Here's my 1st attempt at Mars. I neglected to find a star to focus on so it is a bit out of focus. However if you look closely you can see the polar ice cap (white area in the lower right). This was the first bit of "clear" weather we have had in a while so I took the opportunity. However the clouds were rolling in so I was pressed for time. Hopefully I will get another chance in the near future. Also we were at almost a full moon that was very close to Mars. Oh well we will try again!

Bubble Nebula NGC7635

Here's my 1st attempt at the Bubble Nebula. 20 each 45 sec images stacked.

(from Wikipedia)

NGC 7635, also called the Bubble Nebula and Sharpless 162, is a H II region[2] emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia. It lies close to the direction of the open cluster Messier 52. The "bubble" is created by the stellar wind from a massive hot, 8.7[2] magnitude young central star, the 15 ± 5 M☉[4] SAO 20575 (BD+60 2522).[7] The nebula is near a giant molecular cloud which contains the expansion of the bubble nebula while itself being excited by the hot central star, causing it to glow.[7] It was discovered in 1787 by Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel.[6] The star SAO 20575 or BD+602522 is thought to have a mass of 10-40 Solar masses.

M52 Open Cluster

Here's a photo of an Open Cluster of stars (M52).

New Andromeda

I was able to capture about 20- 30 sec images of Andromedia last night. Here's the results. You can begin to see some dust trails on the edges.

Eskimo Nebula

I got a couple hours clear sky before the moon came up tonight. Allowed me to test out the new guide scope (it works!) However the LPI imager isn't going to work out. Oh well save up my nickles and dimes and get a "starshoot" autoguider (maybe my birthday hint hint).
Since I had some darkness I shot for the Eskimo Nebula. Here's the results of 20 second images (18 stacked) final process in PS Elements. (click on image for a larger view)



(from Wikipedia)
The Eskimo Nebula (NGC 2392), also known as the Clownface Nebula,[4] is a bipolar[2] double-shell[5] planetary nebula (PN). It was discovered by astronomer William Herschel in 1787. The formation resembles a person's head surrounded by a parka hood. It is surrounded by gas that composed the outer layers of a Sun-like star. The visible inner filaments are ejected by strong wind of particles from the central star. The outer disk contains unusual light-year long orange filaments.

NGC 2392 lies more than 2,870 light-years away and is visible with a small telescope in the constellation of Gemini.

Blue Moon

You've heard the saying "Once in a blue moon" well it happened last night. Every 19 years we are treated to a "Blue Moon" on New Years eve. A blue moon is when we have 2 full moons in the same month. I was going to attempt to see how well my new Vixen guide scope worked last night since we finally had clear sky's but the moon was soooooo bright that it pretty much wiped everything out. So I just shot the moon. The first 4 of these are using the SW254N and the Meade DSI the others are using the Vixen 70 mm guide scope with a Meade LPI. Hope you enjoy!

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.