We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

— Oscar Wilde

galaxy

Edge-on Galaxy

Edge-on Galaxy

Edge-on Spiral Galaxy c23 is located between Constellation Triangulum and star Mirfax in Pegasus in the Constellation Andromeda at RA 2h23'  Dec +42 degrees and 20'.  This is a combined 12x5min image for a total of one hour.  Saturday evening in Whiting..

 

Andromeda Galaxy

Andromeda Galaxy

Saturday evening I spent the night with Joe Marzullo shooting images in the newly opened space along side of my residence in Whiting.  During the time from setup to closing around 1:30 I had imaged the Andromeda Galaxy thru Astrotech 111edt, 3- 20 minute images 1x1 (1390x1040) combined for color, RGB.  (By the way, the Milky Way can be seen from this site) I combined this image using MaxIm DL/CCD, slight processing, needs some sharpening.  We had a GREAT!

NGC5965, with NGC 5963, 5971

NGC5965, with NGC 5963, 5971

Using a small scope for imaging is great for wide field imaging, but if your looking to image galaxies, you need to check its' size first.  Otherwise you end up with an image like this one where three or more galaxies are present, and tiny, and dim.  The galaxy in the lower center is edge-on NGC5965, and just to the left nearby is the blurry star-like galaxy NGC5963, with NGC5961 just above and to the left of center...also dim and "glowing".  This is a combined 10 x 8 min guided exposure image.

m101

m101

First time imaging since the spring. Took out scope and camera to see if I still remembered how to use them. Above is galaxy M101 last night  at 11PM, up high in the North West these early july  nights. The scope a 5" refractor, image time 5 minutes exposures for a total of one and one half hour.

M106 thru AstroTech6"RC

M106 thru AstroTech6"RC

"Keeping up with the Joneses"
This is a 45 min exposure thru AT6RC Saturday evening 7-18-09 using my SVXF-H9 Starlight Xpress CCD from my backyard in Whiting, New Jersey. 

Black Holes heavier than once thought....

http://www.world-science.net/othernews/090607_blackholes

Giant black holes even bigger than thought: study

June 8, 2009
Courtesy Amer­i­can As­tro­nom­i­cal So­ci­e­ty
and World Science staff

As­tro­no­mers have used com­put­er sim­ula­t­ions to cal­cu­late that a black hole at the heart of one the larg­est near­by ga­lax­ies is two to three times heav­i­er than pre­vi­ously thought.

m106

m106

M106 0ne and one half hour exposure in one minute increments. Full moon rising. Closest Seyfert type galaxy with a black hole at the center and jets.

M51

M51

Again M51 (seems to be popular on this site) taken on Saturday evening when the sky was clear. I notice some dust mites on image, need to clean camera. Just over one hour exposure. Also note that there is another galaxy in the lower right hand corner, 14.5 magnitude IC4263, faint but large.

m51

m51

M51 one hour may 20th.

m101 may 21

m101 may 21

M101 0n the clear nights we have had this week. This is one hour in one minute stacks. Processed in Photoshop.