Galaxy NGC 925

Galaxy NGC 925 on Nov 29, 2014.  18x120 sec @ ISO 3200, C8 at F/6.3, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3 (modified.)
Galaxy NGC 925 on Nov 29, 2014. 18×120 sec @ ISO 3200, C8 at F/6.3, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3 (modified.)

I wanted to see what this was.  It appears to be a spiral galaxy.  With just 18 sub-images, it is only barely visible.   I might come back to this one with longer exposures and 4 times as many subs to bring it out better.

M15 Globular Cluster

M15 Globular Cluster on Nov 29, 2014. 32x120 sec @ ISO 800, C8 at F/6.3, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3 (modifed.)14
M15 Globular Cluster on Nov 29, 2014. 32×120 sec @ ISO 800, C8 at F/6.3, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3 (modifed.)

It has been so long since I imaged with the C8 I forgot how big a globular would look in it.  To satisfy my curiosity, I shot M15 at the start of my imaging session on Nov 29, 2014.   I had to crop out the distortion in the corners, so this is roughly a 60% crop of the central region.

NGC 4565 – Edge-on Galaxy

NGC 4565 on Nov 28 & 29, 2014. 18x180 sec @ ISO 1600 plus 20x120 sec @ ISO 3200, C8 at F/6.3, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3 (modified.)
NGC 4565 on Nov 28 & 29, 2014. 18×180 sec @ ISO 1600 plus 20×120 sec @ ISO 3200, C8 at F/6.3, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3 (modified.)

This is a “quickie” of one of my favorite deep sky objects, taken with my Celestron C8 SCT.  Edge-on galaxy NGC 4565 is the best example of the edge-on galaxy class in the sky.   I shot this right before sunrise when the object was just high enough to start imaging.   It could use more time and I’ll probably add to it (I did on Nov 29, 2014 – an additional 40 minutes of data.)   I’m pleased at what I have so far.  I haven’t seen it in quite some time and it was nice to image it again.

Close-Up of The Orion Nebula

The Orion Nebula on Nov 28, 2014. 24x60 sec and 27x300 sec @ ISO 1600, C8 at F/6.3, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3 (modified.)
The Orion Nebula on Nov 28, 2014. 24×60 sec and 27×300 sec @ ISO 1600, C8 at F/6.3, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3 (modified.)

One of my first images shot through a telescope at prime focus was of M42, the Orion Nebula.  It was taken with my Celestron C8 SCT and 35mm film.  Here’s the latest digital version of the same object taken with the same scope.     I had to work hard aligning and collimating the scope before taking the sub-images for this, but the old girl is back in shape and delivered some useful data for this often imaged object.  It just fits in the field of view at 1260mm of focal length.

NGC 891 – The Outer Limits Galaxy

NGC 891 on Nov 27, 2014.  35x300 sec @ ISO 1600, C8 at F/6.3, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3 (modified.)
NGC 891 on Nov 27, 2014. 35×300 sec @ ISO 1600, C8 at F/6.3, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3 (modified.)

Edge-on galaxy NGC 891.   The “Outer Limits” moniker is from an old 1960’s sci-fi TV show of the same name.  An image of the galaxy was featured prominently in the closing credits, along with some other galaxy images, all in black and white.

NGC 7331 With Two Telescopes

NGC 7331 taken with a TV-85 and a C8. 27×300 sec @ ISO 1600 (TV85) and 23×150 @ ISO 3200 (C8), Canon T3 (modified.)
NGC-7331 detail view. Nov 20, 2014, 23x150 @ ISO 3200, C8 at F/6.3. Oct 31, 2014, 27x300 @ ISO 1600, TV-85 at F/5.6. IDAS-LPS, modified Canon T3.
NGC-7331 detail view. Nov 20, 2014, 23×150 @ ISO 3200, C8 at F/6.3. Oct 27, 2014, 27×300 @ ISO 1600, TV-85 at F/5.6. IDAS-LPS, modified Canon T3.

At the end of October 2014, I was shooting images of some brighter NGC galaxies, but the TV-85 scope I was using just didn’t have enough image scale to do them justice, so I never posted them.  Well, my old C8 is still kickin’ and it has over 2.5 times the focal length of the smaller refractor.  But, I needed a way to guide it and the 50mm guiding scope arrangement I used once for it was just not good enough.

Continue reading NGC 7331 With Two Telescopes

M33 – Pinwheel Spiral Galaxy in Triangulum

M33 on Nov 14, 2014. 77x150 sec @ ISO 3200, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Modified Canon T3.
M33 on Nov 14, 2014. 77×150 sec @ ISO 3200, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Modified Canon T3.

Here’s a center crop of M33 that I took recently.  It didn’t come too bad, all things considered.  Notice that there is an asteroid to the right of the nucleus of M33, before that bright star.  That is 1503 Kuopio (1938 XD,) a mag 14.3 asteroid that just happened to be in the shot.  So, I got two for the price of one for this gig.  🙂

Continue reading M33 – Pinwheel Spiral Galaxy in Triangulum

Orion’s Belt Mosaic

Orion’s Belt Mosaic. Upper frame is 50×60 sec @ ISO 3200, plus 40×60 @ ISO 6400. The lower frame is data from 2007, 31x180 sec ISO 1600 and 2013 data that includes 40x180 sec ISO 1600 sub-images.  Finally, there are 3×180 sec @ ISO 800. TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Modified Canon T3.
Orion’s Belt Mosaic. Upper frame is 50×60 sec @ ISO 3200, plus 40×60 @ ISO 6400. The lower frame is data from 2007, 31×180 sec ISO 1600 and some 2013 data that includes 40×180 sec ISO 1600 sub-images.  Finally, there are 3×180 sec @ ISO 800 sub-images that were taken on Nov 2, 2014.  Scope and camera used were a TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS filter and a Modified Canon T3.

Here’s one that’s in progress.  I shot this area over two nights.  I have very little of the Horse Head region from these sessions, but another 40 subs of the belt stars upper frame area.  I should be able to put something together with other data from older sessions and get a somewhat complete mosaic image. (Update: Yes, I was able to add some old data and smooth it out.)

Another M45

M45, The Pleiades. 40x120 sec @ ISO 3200, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Modified Canon T3.
M45, The Pleiades. 40×120 sec @ ISO 3200, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Modified Canon T3.

I had time to kill while waiting for Orion to get into position, so I shot 40 x 2 minute sub-images of the Pleiades at ISO 3200.  I did not spend much time in post processing this, but it came out half-decent regardless.