M20 (Trifid Nebula)

This image consists of 28 4-minute exposures (dark master subtracted) taken on July 13th and 14th in Abbotsford.


The Trifid nebula is an active stellar nursery located in Sagittarius just above the Lagoon nebula.  It derives its name from its three-lobed appearance.  The red regions - emissions from excited hydrogen - are separated by dark dust lanes which block the light in the visible range.  Just above the red lobes there is a faint blue region which is caused by star light reflected from clouds of dust.  Its distance is estimated at 5,200 ly.


The Spitzer Space Telescope discovered 30 embryonic stars and 120 newborn stars not seen in visible light images.

M17 (Omega Nebula)

This image consists of 35 4-minute exposures (dark master subtracted) taken on July 7th and 13th in Abbotsford.


The Omega nebula is located in Sagittarius above the Eagle nebula.  The red areas are hot hydrogen gas excited by radiation from nearby hot stars which have just formed within the nebula.  The nebula contains a large amount of dark obscuring material - giving rise to its distinctive shape - which is heated by hidden young stars and visible in infrared wavelengths.  Its distance is estimated at 5,000 ly.  

M16 (Eagle Nebula)

This images consists of 35 4-minute exposures (with a master dark subtracted) taken on July 9th and 10th.


The Eagle Nebula is located in Serpens, just north of the Lagoon Nebula.  Like the Lagoon it is an active star-forming region.  It is a giant cloud of intersellar gas and dust which is caused to shine by emission light excited by the high-energy radiation emitted by its hot young stars.  Its distance is estimated at 5,000 ly.

M8 (Lagoon Nebula)

This image consists of 39 4-minute exposures (with a master dark subtracted) taken on July 8 and 16, 2010 at Plateau Observatory.

M8 is star-forming region in Sagittarius with an embedded open cluster.  Its distance is estimated at 5,200 ly.  Charles Messier cataloged it in 1764.

Dumbbell Nebula (M27)

This image consists of 10-4 minute exposures taken on June 12, 2010 at the Plateau Observatory in Abbotsford.


The Dumbbell was the first planetary nebula discovered and gets its name from its dumbbell like shape when viewed though an eyepiece.  It is about 6 arc minutes in diameter, much larger than its neighbour the Ring Nebula.  It is located in the constellation Vulpecula and its age is estimated at 3,000 to 4,000 years.

Plateau Observatory Imaging Set Up

                                                                                           
Top: Looking East
Bottom: Looking South


This is the imaging set up on the back deck in Abbotsford.  I have a clear view of the sky from ENE through to the SSW and a restricted view elsewhere over the roof.  Fortunately Polaris is visible to the North, which facilitates telescope alignment.  The downtown area of Abbotsford is situated to the South.  The Clear Sky Chart lists the light pollution level as "red".  I use a Baader UHC-S filter which does an excellent job of removing any colour effects of the city lights.


The photo shows:

Stellarvue 115T20 Apo Triplet Refractor

HEQ-5 Mount

Orion Star Shoot Pro One-Shot Colour Camera

          7.8X7.8 micrometer pixels

          ~2.01 arc sec/pixel resolution

          102x68 arc min field of view

KW Telescope Guide Scope (QHY-5 Camera) (mounted on the telescope rings)

          9X50 scope, ~210mm focal length

          QHY-5 camera, 5.2X5.2 micrometer pixels

          1280X1024 pixels

          ~5.1 arc sec/pixel resolution

          109X87 arc min field of view

Ring Nebula (M57)

This image was captured on May 14, second clear sky night in a row.  The image is composed of 15 4-minute exposures with my normal set up (see preceding post).  The Ring Nebula is very tiny - 1.4X1 arc minute but still visible through the eye piece as a faint grey ring.  It is located in the constellation Lyra, south of Vega.  The Ring is a Planetary Nebula.  In this case a torus of bright light-emitting gas surrounding its central star (at 15th magnitude to faint to be seen by my 115 mm telescope).  The inner ring of green is light emitted from exited oxygen and the red outer ring from excited hydrogen.  Its distance and age is estimated at 2,300 ly and 6,000 to 8,000 years respectively.  The Ring is the remainder of a Sun-like star which has blown away its outer envelope of gas after its hydrogen fuel has been exhausted in its inner core.

M13 The "Great Hercules Cluster"

This image was captured on May 13th from my deck in Abbotsford.  It was the first clear night for several weeks.  The image is segment of a larger image and is composed of 15, 4 minute exposures.  M13 is 25 thousand ly distant, has a diameter of 145 ly (about 20 arc minutes in the image) and contains several 100,000 stars.

Whirlpool Galaxy (M51)

This photo comprises images taken on April 15th (previous post) and April 22nd, a total exposure time of 153 minutes.  The set up on the 22nd was the same as that on the 15th.  The increased exposure time yields improved detail.

Whirlpool Galaxy (M51)

This photo was taken on April 15th, the first clear night since returning from Arizona.  It is the first photo from the Plateau Observatory.  The photo consists of 30 3-minute exposures with the UHC-S filter and is somewhat grainy. More exposure time is needed.


The photo shows two interacting galaxies NGC 5194 (the Whirlpool) and NGC 5195 (the smaller eliptical) located in Canes Venatici just to the west of Alkaid (the final star in the handle of the Big Dipper).  The spiral structure of the Whirlpool is thought to be due to the interaction with 5195.  The galaxies may be in the process of merging - perhaps over the next billion years.  They are about 23 million light-years away from Earth.  The angular diameter is is about 11 arc-minutes.  The bright circular disc at the center of 5194 has a radius of about 38,000 light-years.


The Whirlpool was discovered by Charles Messier in 1774 (using a 3 inch diameter refractor telescope), but it was not until 1845 that it was recognized as a spiral (by Lord Rosse using a 72 inch Newtonian telescope). 


No change in equipment from the previous images. 

Pin Wheel Galaxy (M101)

(click the image for full screen view)

This photo was taken on Mar. 25th from a vacant lot in Tucson AZ.  It is composed of 33-3 min. exposures.  A Baader UHC-S filter was used.  It was a cloudless night but the seeing and transparency conditions were poor.  The moon was waxing gibbous 82% full!  This is the beauty of CCD photography - an image is possible when you can't see anything through the eye piece.


The Pin Wheel Galaxy is a spiral galaxy in Ursa Major and is about 27 million ly from Earth.  It has a linear diameter of about 170,000 ly.  The image field is about 40 arc min. wide.

Imaging Setup:

Stellarvue 115T20 Apo Triplet

Stellarvue Field Flattener

HEQ-5 Mount

Orion Star Shoot Pro One-Shot Colour Camera

KW Telescope Guide Scope (QHY-5 Camera)

PHD Guiding

Nebulosity 2 – Image Capture

Deep Sky Stacker 3.3.2

Adobe Photoshop CS2 – Image Processing

The Crab Nebula (M1)

(click image for full screen)

This image consists of 6 6 min. exposures taken on Jan. 7 from a vacant lot in Tucson. M1 is a supernova remnant located near the southern "horn" of Taurus, about 6,300 ly from Earth. It is 6x4 arc minutes in size.  This is one of my first images and I was still experimenting with exposure time. I plan to re-shoot with greater exposure time, which should reveal greater detail.


According to the SEDs Data Base (http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/messier/data2.html)  Chinese astonomers observed and recorded the supernova in 1054 AD as a "guest star. The records show that the supernova was so bright that it was visible in the daylight for 23 days.  The nebulous remnant was found by Charles Messier in 1758 and became the first item in his catalogue.

Imaging Setup:

Stellarvue 115T20 Apo Triplet

Stellarvue Field Flattener

HEQ-5 Mount

Orion Star Shoot Pro One-Shot Colour Camera

KW Telescope Guide Scope (QHY-5 Camera)

PHD Guiding

Nebulosity 2 – Image Capture

Deep Sky Stacker 3.3.2

Adobe Photoshop CS2 – Image Processing

Leo Triplet (M65, M66, NGC3628)

(click image for full screen)

This photo consists of 45 3 min. (135 min. total) exposures taken on Mar. 15 and 18 from a vacant lot in Tucson, AZ.  It is a work in progress.  I am hoping that more exposure time will reveal more detail in the galaxies.  NGC3628 (upper left) is edge-on and is bisected by a dust lane. M65 is a tight spiral galaxy (upper right).  M66 is a spiral galaxy (lower right).  The galaxies are about 35 million ly from Earth.  The image size is about 65x65 arc minutes.

Imaging Setup:

Stellarvue 115T20 Apo Triplet

Stellarvue Field Flattener

HEQ-5 Mount

Baader UHC-S Filter

Orion Star Shoot Pro V2.0 One-Shot Colour Camera

KW Telescope Guide Scope (QHY-5 Camera)

PHD Guiding

Nebulosity 2 – Image Capture

Deep Sky Stacker 3.3.2

Adobe Photoshop CS2 – Image Processing

Flame Nebula (NGC 2024) & Horsehead (IC 434)

(click image for full screen)

This photo consists of 12 8 min. exposures taken on Feb. 17 from a vacant lot in Tucson, AZ.  I am surprised that a total exposure of 96 min. was sufficient to capture this detail.  The Flame nebula is located to the left of the star Alnitak, one of the Orion's belt stars.  The Horsehead can be seen in the lower right. The image size is about 65x65 arc minutes.
 

Imaging Setup:

Stellarvue 115T20 Apo Triplet

Stellarvue Field Flattener

HEQ-5 Mount

Baader UHC-S Filter

Orion Star Shoot Pro One-Shot Colour Camera

KW Telescope Guide Scope (QHY-5 Camera)

PHD Guiding

Nebulosity 2 – Image Capture

Deep Sky Stacker 3.3.2

Adobe Photoshop CS2 – Image Processing

Rosette Nebula (NGC 2237)

(click image for full screen)

This photo consists of 35 exposures taken on Feb. 13, 15 and 16 from a vacant lot in Tucson, AZ. The total exposure time is 260 minutes. The Rosette nebula is located in Monoceros just west of Orion. The open cluster NGC2244 is embedded in the centre of the nebula.  The image is about 100x68 arc minutes.

Imaging Setup:

Stellarvue 115T20 Apo Triplet

Stellarvue Field Flattener

HEQ-5 Mount

Baader UHC-S Filter

Orion Star Shoot Pro One-Shot Colour Camera

KW Telescope Guide Scope (QHY-5 Camera)

PHD Guiding

Nebulosity 2 – Image Capture

Deep Sky Stacker 3.3.2

Adobe Photoshop CS2 – Image Processing

Orion Nebula (M42 & M43)

(click image for full screen)

This photo consists of 47 exposures taken on Jan. 3, 5 and 13, and Feb. 18 from a vacant lot in Tucson, AZ. The total exposure time is 194 minutes. M42 and its smaller companion M43 (right centre) are about 1400 ly from Earth.  The open cluster NGC1977 is on the right. The dark lanes in the nebulosity are called "the Running Man" (here shown up-side down). The image size is about 100x67 arc minutes.


Imaging Setup:

Stellarvue 115T20 Apo Triplet

Stellarvue Field Flattener

HEQ-5 Mount

Orion Star Shoot Pro One-Shot Colour Camera

KW Telescope Guide Scope (QHY-5 Camera)

PHD Guiding

Nebulosity 2 – Image Capture

Deep Sky Stacker 3.3.2

Adobe Photoshop CS2 – Image Processing