Behold, directly overhead, a certain strange star was suddenly seen...
Amazed, and as if astonished and stupefied, I stood still.

— Tycho Brahe

galaxy

A Trip Through the Milky Way

A Trip Through the Milky Way

By Jane Houston Jones and Jessica Stoller-Conrad


Feeling like you missed out on planning a last vacation of summer? Don’t worry—you can still take a late summertime road trip along the Milky Way!

The waning days of summer are upon us, and that means the Sun is setting earlier now. These earlier sunsets reveal a starry sky bisected by the Milky Way. Want to see this view of our home galaxy? Head out toyour favorite dark sky getaway or to the darkest city park or urban open space you can find.

While you’re out there waiting for a peek at the Milky Way, you’ll also have a great view of the planets in our solar system. Keep an eye out right after sunset and you can catch a look at Venus. If you have binoculars or a telescope, you’ll see Venus’s phase change dramatically during September—from nearly half phase to a larger, thinner crescent.

NGC4236 in DRACO

NGC4236 in DRACO

This edge on galaxy is very small in my 4" refractor, this image is a cropped section which allows for a better view, especially since the galaxy is only 10.10 magnitude.  It is a combined 25 x 5 min exposures.   Next week I will try my newer refractor, 127mm and compare the images. And we can look foreward to seeing and imaging SATURN which will rise at sunset and be up all night.

Whirlpool Galaxy

Whirlpool Galaxy

I removed the previous image for an update. Continuing to "get out" while it is clear I decided to go for a longer exposure of M51 guided and then combined color in MaximDL5. The fit image is really nice in color, but when I change it to jpeg the results are different. So I present it as it is in jpeg format. It is a combined 210 min. LRGB consisting of 120L, 30R, 30G, and 30B at 5 min exposures, from 8:45 pm til 00:36 am on Friday evening 4-14-12.

m33

m33

M33 taken with SXVF_H18 2x2 5X15 for a 75min Luminance from Whiting, NJ. on November 2, 2011 at 5:59 pm.

NGC4565

NGC4565

This image was taken thru my 8" Meade cass 6-2-11, 51 minutes combined images 20 sec exposures unguided on a CGEM mount, Starlight Xpress CCD. The small blur to the right and above center is IC2571 an irregular galaxy.

Spiral Galaxy M81

Spiral Galaxy M81

Another two hour image of M81 as seem from Verona NJ. This is from Midnight to two AM on Good Friday.

Happy Easter.

Spiral Galaxy M81

Spiral Galaxy M81

It's been a very long winter (too many cold nights for this old man) and finally able to get out last night.  After setting up at 6:00 pm I went in to have a piece of Brown Derby and let the scope "cool down".  Then I went out and started taking 2 min unguided images of M81 in Ursa Major for 2 hours, followed by an unsuccessful try to use my guider.  Some images were damaged by flying objects in space, one in particular was the Space Station which flew by just prior to 8 pm (I believe that it was the SS as the STRIPE thru the image was wide and bright).  This image

M33

M33

M33 the Triangulum Galaxy aka NGC589, this combined 100 min image is a combined 40 Lum, 20 R, 20 G, 20 B .  It was a very clear and "cool" evening but I stayed out until the temperature dropped to 30 degrees and a slight wind.  Color images combined in MaxIm DL/CCD.    No levels, curves, darks or any other processing done.  Orion was well on its way up when I closed at 11 pm.

Caldwell 30

Caldwell  30

Caldwell 30 in Pegasus. Just above the right top corner star of the square (Scheat).

Pretty bright and straight overhead around 10 pm.  Shot last nigh between 8 & 10 pm. Tri-color filters through a Starlight express camera and 5" Tak refractor.

c23

c23

Caldwell 23