Two Globs Around a Dumbbell (M71, M27 & M56)

Messier 71

Messier 27 - Dumbbell Nebula

Messier 56

After a long, hot and humid summer, I finally had some crystal clear skies last week and made the most of it.  Messier 71 & 56 were new targets while I had imaged Messier 27 (Dumbbell) a couple years ago.  M27 is such a beautiful target, it was fun to revisit.  

M71 & 56 are both globular clusters comprised of tens of thousands of stars, they look completely different mostly due to their relative distance to Earth and proximity to the Milky Way. Messier 71 lies within the Milky Way and is set against a beautiful dense background of stars while M56 is a bit more concentrated and enjoys a bit more isolated area of space.

The dumbbell nebula is stunning to view.  It's amazing that such order, structure and beauty can evolve out of a dying star. 


M71 - Photo Details
October 13, 2015
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
SBIG STF-8300C Camera
Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector
Skyglow filter
29 subframes at 3 minutes/frame
Total Exposure Time = 1 hour 27 minutes
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

M27 - Photo Details
October 12, 2015
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
SBIG STF-8300C Camera
Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector
Skyglow filter
37 subframes at 3 minutes/frame
Total Exposure Time = 1 hour 51 minutes
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

M56 - Photo Details
October 6, 2015
Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount
SBIG STF-8300C Camera
Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector
Skyglow filter
30 subframes at 3 minutes/frame
Total Exposure Time = 1 hour 30 minutes
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop