Early Phase Moon

The Moon is always a great target and it's rare when I'm able to catch an early phase due to trees on my horizon.  But a couple nights ago, things lined up just right and the sky was perfectly clear.  It's going to be fascinating watching NASA go back to the moon in 2024 with crewed missions.

Photo Details

April 25, 2020

Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount

NexImage10 Camera

Image Acquisition iCap2.4

Y800 Codec
Image Stacking in AutoStakkert
Wavelet Filtering in Registax
Final Adjustments in Photoshop

Venus

Over 400 years ago, Galileo Galilei made the first recorded observations of the phases of Venus as we and it orbited the sun.  These observations were critical to support the Copernican system (Sun-centered) while ruling out the older Ptolemaic system (Earth-centered).  Venus is easily visible with the naked eye as it's the brightest object in the night sky, except for the moon.  Since it orbits closer to the sun than Earth, we always see it relatively close to the sun; just after sunset or around sunrise.  Through a telescope, it's phases are clearly visible, but all we are seeing is the very thick atmosphere reflecting light.  The atmosphere, made mostly of carbon dioxide, is so thick it's the hottest planet in our solar system where temperatures can climb to 880F.  Hot enough to melt lead.  Given its extreme environment, it's a tough planet to explore.  More than 20 missions have been directed to Venus, but only a few (from the Soviet Union) have ever made a landing.  The missions were typically very short-lived (minutes to days) before the craft were crushed and melted by the very atmosphere they were sent to study.

Photo Details

April 25, 2020

Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount

NexImage10 Camera

Image Acquisition iCap2.4

Y800 Codec
Image Stacking in AutoStakkert
Wavelet Filtering in Registax
Final Adjustments in Photoshop

Messier 97 and 108

Messier 97 (Owl Nebula) and 108 (Surfboard Galaxy) are both located near the scoop of the big dipper in the northern sky.  While they appear to be of similar size, it's merely an optical trick.  The diameter of the Owl is about 3 light years while the Surfboard galaxy from end-to-end is 100,000 light years, or over 30,000 time larger.  The similar apparent size comes from their distances.  The Owl is only about 4,000 light years away and the Surfboard's light has been traveling to us over the last 46 million years.

The Owl is a planetary nebula with a triple shell structure of gas.  The two dark spots (eyes of the Owl) are caused by bipolar activity in the central shell of gas.  We are seeing the Surfboard galaxy from the side, but astronomers believe it's a spiral galaxy with some areas of young star formation.

Photo Details - Messier 97 and 108

April 13, 2020

Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount

SBIG STF-8300C Camera

Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector

Skyglow filter

19 subframes at 3 minutes/frame

Total Exposure Time = 57 minutes
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop