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