Messier 36

Messier 36 is the smallest of three star clusters in the constellation Auriga.  Though small, it is one of the prettiest with nice arrangements of stars spiraling out from the center.  Lying about 4,300 light years away, astronomers estimate it's age at 20 to 40 million years which is relatively young on the cosmic time scale.  The main cluster consists of predominantly bluish-white stars, but can you see the many reddish stars adorning the edges?  

Photo Details

January 24, 2017

Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount

SBIG STF-8300C Camera

Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector

Skyglow filter

34 subframes at 3 minutes/frame

Total Exposure Time = 1 hours 42 minutes
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

NGC 147 & 185

My last image of 2016 was a nice galaxy pair consisting of NGC 147 (oblong galaxy on the right) and NGC 185 (spherical galaxy on the left).  There is some debate among astronomers, but there is some evidence to support that these two galaxies form a binary pair meaning their gravities interact and also are considered satellites of the massive Andromeda Galaxy.

Photo Details

December 30, 2016

Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount

SBIG STF-8300C Camera

Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector

Skyglow filter

56 subframes at 3 minutes/frame

Total Exposure Time = 2 hours 48 minutes
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop