IC 342

On Christmas Night, we had some early clear skies that gave way to clouds rolling in from the south.  Before that happened, I was able to image IC342, the sprawling island universe pictured above.  Normally, something of this size and brightness at 10 million light years away would be easily seen, but it happens to lie in the plane of our own Milky Way galaxy.  So, we are viewing it through the dust, stars and gas of our own galaxy which renders it much more difficult to view.  Think cosmic light pollution.  Normally, light pollution is the arch-enemy of astronomy, but when its coming from our own galaxy it creates quite a sight!

Photo Details

December 25, 2016

Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount

SBIG STF-8300C Camera

Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector

Skyglow filter

27 subframes at 3 minutes/frame

Total Exposure Time = 1 hours 21 minutes
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

SuperMoon - Ben's First Shot

As many of you know, this week we had the closest approach of the moon, at full, since 1948.  We had a great time watching it rise over the trees in our neighborhood.  Later in the evening, Ben and I got out the camera and tripod and Ben captured the beautiful image above.  Great work for his first official astrophoto!

Photo Details

November 14, 2016
45 images stacked with Registax 6
All photography and image processing by Ben!

Messier 15

This beautiful cluster is part of our home galaxy and revolves, as we do, around the galactic center of the Milky Way.  One orbit takes about 250 million years.  The cluster itself contains approximately 100,000 suns and there is debate about the center of the cluster.  Some astronomers believe that stars are actively collapsing toward the center to create a high-density environment.  Others believe that there may be a black whole lurking at the center.  Either way, it makes for a glorious sight!

Photo Details

October 11, 2016

Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount

SBIG STF-8300C Camera

Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector

Skyglow filter

27 subframes at 3 minutes/frame

Total Exposure Time = 1 hours 27 minutes
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

NGC 7331 - Deer Lick Group

After a long and hot summer, we finally had two gorgeous nights last week with beautiful clear skies and overnight temperatures dipping into the 50's.  I was able to get out Thursday and Friday night to capture the image above.  NGC 7331 is part of the Deer Lick Group.  The main galaxy (NGC 7331) is at the perfect angle to give us a real sense of depth.  Do you notice the other four, much smaller, galaxies arrayed around it?  The difference in size is just an optical illusion. They are all of similar size, but are at much further distance from us.  NGC 7331 is about 40 million light years away while the others are 300 to 400 million light years distant.  In other words, the "smaller" galaxies are about 10 times further away.  It's a bit mind-numbing (& humbling) to contemplate light in this image representing vastly different ages of our universe.  One final note:  I had targeted this same group about three years ago (see below).  A lot of learning, skill building and equipment upgrades over the past three years shows a big difference (thankfully!).

Photo Details

September 29-30, 2016

Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount

SBIG STF-8300C Camera

Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector

Skyglow filter

83 subframes at 3 minutes/frame

Total Exposure Time = 3 hours 54 minutes
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

NGC 7331 Taken on 11/27/2013

Messier 58 and the Siamese Galaxies

My original intent with this image was to focus on Messier 58 (barred face on galaxy on right).  This 300,000 solar mass galaxy is beautiful all by itself, but the Siamese Twin (or Butterfly) galaxies in the upper left steal the show.  The twin galaxies are actively colliding and merging together with active star formation where they overlap.  Imagine the newly born star systems and worlds forming at this very moment.  The light captured in this picture is nearly 60 million years old.  What will it look like 60 million years from now when the light currently leaving the twins finally arrives to Earth?  

Photo Details

May 13, 2016

Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount

SBIG STF-8300C Camera

Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector

Skyglow filter

35 subframes at 3 minutes/frame

Total Exposure Time = 1 hours 45 minutes
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

The Markarian Chain - Messier 84 & Messier 86

The constellation Virgo is absolutely brimming with galaxies and perhaps one of the finest examples is the Markarian Chain pictured above.  Each nonpoint source of light is, in fact, a galaxy.  Named for the Armenian astronomer Benjamin Markarian who discovered they share a common motion (at least 7 appear to move together), this stunning chain of galaxies forms a beautiful curve through the night sky.  Messier 84 and 86 anchor the lower right portion of the chain.  M84 is the galaxy in the lower right corner and the next one up the curve is M86.  

Photo Details

May 6-7, 2016

Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount

SBIG STF-8300C Camera

Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector

Skyglow filter

69 subframes at 3 minutes/frame

Total Exposure Time = 3 hours 27 minutes
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

Transit of Mercury

Another celestial alignment occurred this morning as the planet Mercury passed between us and the Sun.  I was fortunate to have some breaks in the clouds and capture the image above.  I was also fortunate to share it with some students, colleagues and friends at the Test Track.  In the image above, Mercury is the very small, circular object in the lower half of the sun, the other amorphous blobs you see are sunspots.  It's incredible to see the Sun and Mercury like this as it forces our minds to consider the vastness of the Sun relative to Mercury and in turn, our own planet.  Mercury is about 40% of our own size, so if Earth were seen transiting in an image like this, we'd be a little over two times the small planet above.  In other words, incredibly small.  The next transit will be in November, 2019 and I hope to see it again.  After that, it won't occur again until 2032.  We'll hopefully have human exploration on Mars by then.  Stay tuned!

Moon Occults Aldebaran

Last night we had beautifully clear skies to see the moon occult the bright star Aldebaran.  An occultation is anything passes between an object and the observer.  In this case, the moon passed between us and the star.  We set up our telescope and binoculars so Jen and I could both view it in real time.  Since this was a blue-sky event occurring well before sunset (between 5:30 and 6:45 pm), it was pretty challenging to pick out the star in contrast to the brighter and larger moon in a sunlit sky.  At the eyepiece, it was absolutely stunning to see the star suddenly disappear behind the moon; like a light suddenly extinguished.  About an hour and 15 minutes later, Jen and I patiently waited for Aldebaran to rise over the lunar landscape.  We both were able to see it just as it popped back into view and then gain greater and greater separation from the moon.  To me it's simply staggering to think about this perfect cosmic alignment spanning 66.6 light years.  For about an hour, earth, the moon and this distant star formed a straight line stretching 391,140,000,000,000 miles.

The picture above was taken a little later in the evening, once the sky had grown more fully dark.  The moon is obvious and Aldebaran is in the lower right corner.  I thought about trying to capture Aldebaran as it just came back into view but figured I'd mess up the exposure and didn't want to miss it.  Seeing it live was well worth it!

Messier 95 & 96

Though the weather has been fantastic, it has been tough lately to get out imaging.  My latest adventure was to image a pair of galaxies (Messier 95 and 96).  In the photo above, M95 is on the left and M96 on the right.  Messier 95 is known as a "barred spiral" galaxy with an inner ring of active star formation.  It's neighbor, M96 is slightly larger, is a classic spiral galaxy and encompasses 80 thousand million solar masses.  These two galaxies are part of a three galaxy group known as Leo I Group in the constellation Leo.  

Photo Details

March 28, 2016

Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount

SBIG STF-8300C Camera

Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector

Skyglow filter

27 subframes at 3 minutes/frame

Total Exposure Time = 1 hour 21 minutes
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

NGC 2903

NGC 2903 is a fine example of a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Leo.  The bluish clusters scattered along the spirals are young groups of stars while the pinkish areas are active star forming regions.  It's amazing to see creation in action, though the light is coming to us from 20 million years ago.  We'll have to wait another 20 million years to see what it looks like today. Ouch...That's one of those ideas that makes my head spin.

Photo Details

February 27, 2016

Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount

SBIG STF-8300C Camera

Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector

Skyglow filter

46 subframes at 3 minutes/frame

Total Exposure Time = 2 hours 18 minutes
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

Messier 37

Messier 37 just became my favorite open cluster of stars.  Stare at it for a few minutes and patterns will start to emerge outside of the dense area of stars in the center.  Some famous astronomers have remarked:

"...wonderful loops and curved star patterns."
--Heinrich d'Arrest

"The whole field being strewed as it were with sparkling gold dust..."
--Charles Piazzi Smyth

What we are seeing is a beautiful collection of about 2,000 stars in this open cluster which lies at least 4,500 light years away from us.

Photo Details

February 27, 2016

Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount

SBIG STF-8300C Camera

Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector

Skyglow filter

17 subframes at 3 minutes/frame

Total Exposure Time = 51 minutes
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

IC 434 - Horsehead Nebula & NGC 2024 Flame Nebula

This image is my new personal favorite.  The names speak for themselves, though the names can't hope to capture the majesty of this scene.  As Dr. Ellie Arroway once said, "They should have sent a poet."

The Flame Nebula is being fueled by the intense star above it, Alnitak, an is an active star forming region.  The Horsehead is known as a dark nebula and what we see is actually a swirling cloud of dust and gases that contrast stunningly with the backdrop of ionized hydrogen gas behind it.  

IC 434 (Soul Nebula) & NGC 2024 (Flame Nebula)
Photo Details

February 11, 2016

Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount

SBIG STF-8300C Camera

Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector

Skyglow filter

43 subframes at 3 minutes/frame

Total Exposure Time = 1 hour 54 minutes
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

IC 1848 - Soul Nebula

The soul nebula is an absolutely massive emission nebula that is an active star forming region.  It covers an area of sky equivalent to four full moons, but is so faint that it is very difficult to see through a telescope.  The image above was taken over a couple of nights with 5 hours of total exposure time and yet it still is somewhat elusive.  There is another nearby nebula, the Heart, which I hope to capture soon so I can put the Heart and Soul together.  Stay tuned!

IC 1848 Soul Nebula - Photo Details

January 30 & February 5, 2016

Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount

SBIG STF-8300C Camera

Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector

Skyglow filter

100 subframes at 3 minutes/frame

Total Exposure Time = 5 hours (new record!)
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

NGC 891

This beautiful edge-on unbarred spiral galaxy is about how our own Milky Way would look from an edge-on perspective.  Curiously, if there was an observer looking at our galaxy from this one, they wouldn't be able to see us since that dark dusky lane that runs down the long axis would block light coming from us.  

NGC 891 - Photo Details

January 29, 2016

Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount

SBIG STF-8300C Camera

Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector

Skyglow filter

59 subframes at 3 minutes/frame

Total Exposure Time = 2 hours 57 Minutes
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

Messier 1 - The Crab Nebula

Nearly 1000 years ago, in 1054, a new bright star was visible to Chinese astronomers during the daytime.  While they were not able to see the nebulosity evident in this photo, the dying star that had gone supernova provided the remnants we are now able to see.  Curiously, sightings in Europe were probably censored as the Catholic Church took it as a bad omen.  

Messier 1 - Photo Details

January 17, 2016

Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount

SBIG STF-8300C Camera

Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector

Skyglow filter

57 subframes at 3 minutes/frame

Total Exposure Time = 2 hours 51 Minutes
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop
Assisted by Presleigh Jones - future Mars explorer