Three Diverse Sights

C31 - Flaming Star Nebula

M81 & M82

NGC 2264 - Christmas Tree Cluster & Cone Nebula

The first two photos above were shot at my dark sky site. A gorgeously clear, but very cold, night.  We began imaging at 24F (7 PM) and finished up at 21F around 11 PM.  The last one was shot from home and suffered from a lot of light pollution.  It would be fun to try again from a dark sight.

The flaming start nebula (C31) is a very large emission/reflection nebula.  This was one of those photos I took on pure faith.  A few marker stars that told me I was on target, but I couldn't see any of the nebulosity until I got into post-processing.

M81 & 82 are a beautiful pair of galaxies about 11.5 million light years away.  Messier 81 is the face on galaxy and has the classic "grand design" structure.  Messier 82 is the smaller of the two and is known as a star-burst galaxy.  Interestingly, the two interact with each other and the active star formation going on in M82 has resulted from interactions with M81.  Near the core of of M81 there are more stars being formed than in all of our Milky Way.

The last photo is the Christmas Tree Cluster and the Cone Nebula.  The Christmas Tree is plain to see, but the nebulosity is much tougher.  Again, one of the photos I took on faith.  The cone nebula is near the top of the tree and points downward toward the tree.  


Photo Details
C31 - Flaming Star Nebula
January 24, 2014
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
Nikon D3100 Camera - ISO 1600
Coma Corrector & Orion Skyglow Filter
50 sub frames at 1.5 minutes/frame
Total Exposure Time = 1 hour 15 minutes
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

Messier 81 & 82
January 24, 2014
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
Nikon D3100 Camera - ISO 1600
Coma Corrector & Orion Skyglow Filter
59 sub frames at 1.5 minutes/frame
Total Exposure Time = 1 hour 28 minutes 30 seconds
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

NGC 2264 - Christmas Tree Cluster and Cone Nebula
January 20, 2014
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
Nikon D3100 Camera - ISO 1600
Coma Corrector & Orion Skyglow Filter
120 sub frames at 1.5 minutes/frame
Total Exposure Time = 3 hours
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

Rosette Nebula

The Rosette Nebula is one of the most stunning heavenly sights, but nearly impossible to see visually through a telescope.  It is known as an emission nebula with active star formation in the center.  This star formation heats the surrounding gas to 6 million kelvins generates vast amounts of x-rays in addition to the light we see in this image.  Simply stunning!

Photo Details
Rosette Nebula - NGC 2237
January 18, 2014
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
Nikon D3100 Camera - ISO 1600
Coma Corrector & Orion Skyglow Filter
32 sub frames at 1.5 minutes/frame
Total Exposure Time = 48 minutes
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

Jupiter & Moon

Jupiter and Moons

Capernicus

Plato

Mare Crisium

Pristine Sky

Horsehead & Flame Nebulae

Flame Nebula 

Moon

Messier 77

On the night of January 3, we had extremely good conditions and I was able to meet up with a fellow astrophotographer at my dark sky site for a great imaging session.

The Horsehead and Flame Nebulae, to me, are absolutely stunning, but are a good lesson in patience.  Each had over an hour of exposure time and I had to work extremely hard to tease out the details.  It will be fun to go back and attempt these targets again with more time.

The moon was gorgeous as well with just a sliver visible as we were setting up and it set around 7:45 pm.  I don't often get to photograph the moon this early in the cycle, which made it especially fun to capture.  

The last photo, M77, is another galaxy in the Messier list.  I definitely need to use more magnification in the future on this one!

Photo Details
Horsehead & Flame Nebula
January 3, 2014
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
Nikon D3100 Camera - ISO 1600
Coma Corrector & Orion Skyglow Filter
32 sub frames at 1.5 minutes/frame
Total Exposure Time = 48 minutes
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

Flame Nebula
January 3, 2014
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
Nikon D3100 Camera - ISO 1600
Coma Corrector & Orion Skyglow Filter
32 sub frames at 1.5 minutes/frame
Total Exposure Time = 48 minutes
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

9.3% Waxing Moon
January 3, 2014
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
Nikon D3100 Camera - ISO 800
Image Stacking in Registax6
Final processing in PhotoShop

Messier 77
January 3, 2014
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
Nikon D3100 Camera - ISO 1600
Coma Corrector
40 sub frames at 1.5 minutes/frame
Total Exposure Time = 60 minutes
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop