This spiral galaxy is often referred to our Milky-Way's twin. It's about 50 million light years away and is one of the brighter galaxies not included in the Messier catalog. I'm looking forward to going back to shoot this galaxy again. There's a lot more detail to bring out over longer exposure times. This happened to be a target of opportunity while waiting for the Orion Nebula to rise.
Photo Details
NGC 7331
November 27, 2013
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
Nikon D3100 Camera - ISO 1600
59 sub frames at 30"/frame
Total Exposure Time = 29.5 minutes
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in Fitswork
Messier 2 was first observed in 1746 by a French astronomer, Maraldi, while comet hunting with Cassini. Messier rediscovered it in 1760 but at first thought it was a nebula without any stars. This star cluster is 37,500 light years from earth and is one of the larger clusters at 175 light years in diameter. We are looking at a grouping of approximately 150,000 stars that date back 13 billion years. These kind of numbers are just hard to comprehend!
Photo Details
Messier 2
November 27, 2013
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
Nikon D3100 Camera - ISO 1600
35 sub frames at 30"/frame
Total Exposure Time = 17.5 minutes
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in Fitswork
Jupiter is the 5th planet from the sun and is an absolute monster! Classified as a gas giant, it is comprised mostly of hydrogen. Galileo famously studied this planet and observed the motion of the moons to confirm that we were decidedly NOT the center of the universe. The stripes that you see in the picture are storm clouds.
Photo Details
Jupiter
November 27, 2013
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
Nikon D3100 Camera - ISO 1600
Shutter Speed 1/260"
Barlow 2x lense
Image Stacking in Registax 6
The Orion Nebula is one of my all time favorites. It's one of those sights that is rewarding to visit time and again. This was my first serious attempt at photographing this stellar nursery. The center of the nebula is actively forming stars and not too distant so we can see plenty of detail. I was only able to get 8.5 minutes of exposure time before it passed behind the house, so I can't wait to make another attempt. There is a lot more there to see!
Photo Details
Messier 42 - Orion Nebula
November 27, 2013
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
Nikon D3100 Camera - ISO 1600
17 sub frames at 30"/frame
Total Exposure Time = 8.5 minutes
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in Fitswork
This was a tough image to get. Clouds were off to the west as I set up and quickly overtook the area I was trying to photograph. I ended up with just 15 minutes of exposure time. This is one object I'd like to go back and get again. It's known as the Little Dumbbell Nebula. A quick look at Messier 27 (Dumbbell Nebula) and it's obvious how this got its name.
Photo Details
Messier 76 - Little Dumbbell Nebula
November 24, 2013
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
Barlow 2X
Nikon D3100 Camera - ISO 1600
35 sub frames at 30"/frame
Total Exposure Time = 17.5 minutes
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in Fitswork
We had a beautiful night here last evening and I was able to have some fun with my new Barlow lens on the telescope. It gave me twice the magnification and some really nice resolution. It will be fun to try it on some other celestial targets! The above images feature a few different post-processing techniques in Photoshop to give them a slightly different look. The third one is just cropped so it shows a much tighter view.
Photo Details
Nearly Full Moon
November 18, 2013
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
Nikon D3100 Camera - ISO 800
Barlow 2x lens
100 sub frames at 1/800"/frame
Image Stacking in Registax 6
Final image tweeking in Photoshop
Messier 52
The Messier catalog is full of star clusters and M52 is a good example. It was a chance discovery by Messier in September of 1774 when he was busy chasing down a comet. One of the curiosities of this particular cluster is that astronomers only have a very general idea of its distance and age. They estimate between 3,000 and 7,000 light years away and between 25 million and 165 million years old. For a typically precise science, these are incredibly imprecise ranges. Nice to know the professionals don't know everything!
Photo Details
Messier 52 - Open Cluster in Cassiopeia
November 3, 2013
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
Nikon D3100 Camera - ISO 1600
48 sub frames at 25"/frame
Total Exposure Time = 20 minutes
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in Fitswork
NGC 869 - Double Cluster in Perseus
This is my first astrophoto outside of the Messier list. That, in itself, isn't anything special. It's just such a beautiful sight, I couldn't pass it up on a gorgeously clear night. This double cluster is an amazing sight through the eyepiece of most any telescope, and becomes even more beautiful under long exposure photography. These cluster of starts are about 7,500 light years away and are relatively young at 12.8 million years. There are more than 300 blue-white super-giant stars in each of the clusters. I am also struck by the orange colored stars in these photos that provide such a nice contrast. This cluster is featured in Greek mythology as it represents the jeweled handle of Perseus' sword which happens to be the sword that beheaded Medusa when Perseus was challenged by the gods to slay one of the Gorgons.
Photo Details
NGC 869 - Double Cluster in Perseus
November 3, 2013
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
Nikon D3100 Camera - ISO 1600
76 sub frames at 25"/frame
Total Exposure Time = 31 minutes 40 seconds
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in Fitswork
Messier 33 is known as the Triangulum galaxy. It's one of the nearest galaxies to us, which is why it appears so large and yields so much detail. It is about 60,000 light years across and astronomers have even been able to measure that it is rotating clockwise with one complete rotation every 200 million years. If you look closely, you may see some faint blue patches that are young star forming areas. This has become one of my favorites!
Photo Details
Messier 33 - Triangulum Galaxy
November 2, 2013
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
Nikon D3100 Camera - ISO 1600
79 sub frames at 30"/frame
Total Exposure Time = 39.5 minutes
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in Fitswork
