Once you can accept the Universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy.

— Albert Einstein

marzulloj

Dumbbell nebula overhead

Dumbbell nebula overhead

Whiting NJ is not exactly New Mexico, but the skies are certainly darker than Montclair and it shows. This is a 5 minute shot of the dumbell with a one hour luminance in h alpha.

Filters and CCD camera allow us to image from our light polluted skies, but nothing can substitute for a darker sky. What a shame we are losing our night skies.

Jupiter

Jupiter

Jupiter at 1:00 am this morning. Now that the southern equatorial belt is missing, the red spot really stands out.

Imaged through 5" refractor @ f-14 rgb filters.

NGC6166 neighborhood

NGC6166 neighborhood

Noted in this photo from last nigh are the galaxies I could identify. View the picture full resolution by clicking on "ORIGINAL" below. There are more you should be able to find, which I have not circled. This wall of galaxies in next to the Keystone of Hercules. (All numbers are from the PGC catalog unless otherwise identified.)

Galaxies galore

Galaxies galore

It was clear last night. Overhead was Hercules. I was going to image M13.  Nearby the atlas showed NGC6166. I wanted to know what it looked like, so I took a 60 second exposure. I then went for an hour (5min x 12) I realized there were more galaxies in this photo. So I took the task to identify as many as I reasonably could. The results are in the next post: NGC6166 neighborhood.

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.

Rosette Nebula

Rosette Nebula

Rosette Nebula AKA NGC numbers: 2237, 2238, 2239, and 2246. Within the nebula, open star cluster NGC 2244

NGC2237 & NGC2244

NGC2237 & NGC2244

Two hour exposure h-alpha filter

Horsehead Nebula

Horsehead Nebula

One and one half hour guided exposure of the horsehead in orion in Halpha light. 5" scope at f/4.

IC 1396

IC 1396

The elephant trunk.

nebula

nebula

IC-1396, the elephant trunk.
Happy Thanksgiving!