We had a rare clear and cool Friday night with little moon on May 22. Allison and I made the most of it and headed to our local dark site. We had a great time, setting up at dusk and heading home at 1:30 in the morning. While I was busy with the photography equipment, she did a great job running the large telescope herself and was able to see many new Messier objects. In all, she logged 12 new ones and is well on her way to logging all 110. Truly a night to remember.
The large galaxy in the image above is Messier 106 which, curiously, Messier may not have ever actually observed. It was only added to the Messier list in 1948. Other galaxies are clearly visible in the vicinity and astronomers believe M106 is the the center of a galaxy group of 17 objects. The nearest and seemingly largest neighbor is NGC 4217 which happens to appear edge-on to our viewpoint. The contrast and arrangement of these galaxies is simply stunning.
Photo Details
May 22, 2015
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
SBIG STF-8300C Camera
Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector
Skyglow filter
30 subframes at 5 minutes/frame
Total Exposure Time = 2 hour 30 minutes
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop
I know this was a night she will always remember! What a wonderful way to spend some quality time with your daughter! Amazing Photo!
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