Mirach and Mirach’s Ghost on Halloween, 2014. 42×60 sec @ ISO 800, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Modified Canon T3.
An appropriately named object was chosen as an early evening test target on Halloween night, 2014. Mirach is Beta Andromedae and it is a jump off point for finding M31 and M33. Mirach’s Ghost is that small object very near Mirach that looks almost like a reflection glint of the bright star itself. Nope, it is actually NGC 404, a small elliptical galaxy that just happens to lie in the same line of sight.
Albireo on Oct 31, 2014. 20×60 sec @ ISO 400, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Modified Canon T3.Albireo on Oct 31, 2014. Close-up crop.
I started off Halloween night by imaging Albireo, an amazing double star in Cygnus. It was during twilight and there was also some moonlight, so I went with ISO 400 so that I could do 1 minute exposures and get good color and depth.
NGC 6939 & NGC 6946. 100×120″ ISO 3200, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Modified Canon T3.
Here’s 3.3 hrs of data on two NGC objects, 6939 and 6946, that happen to be side-by-side in the sky. Conditions were decent and I was able to get plenty of sub-images.
The PacMan Nebula. 38×300 sec @ ISO 1600, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Modified Canon T3.
Over 3 hours worth of data in 5 minute ISO 1600 sub-images were used for this image of the PacMan Nebula. It came out alright, I guess. I didn’t have to do much noise reduction on it and it still seems reasonably smooth.
The “Little Dumbell Nebula”. 50 x 180 sec @ ISO 1600. TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Modified Canon T3.
Here is the “Little Dumbbell” Nebula, otherwise known as Messier 76, NGC 650/651, the Barbell Nebula, or the Cork Nebula. It is a planetary nebula in the constellation Perseus. I had never imaged it before, so now I finally got something on it.
Images of Comets, Nebulae, Galaxies and Star Clusters