M104_Sombrero Galaxy

Joe Marzullo, Matthew McCuen and myself took a trip 20 minutes south of Whiting to Coyle Field in Woodland, NJ. The location is used for the US Army paratroopers training, looks like a very large field as in airport! To the south the trees are miles away making the horizon look treeless, no buildings, nothing to obstruct your view. The location is flat, and sandy, also used by model airplane flying. To the east and North there are normal trees but did not interfere with alignment. The clouds came in during the afternoon, and slowly hung around until late evening. However, Joe and Matthew set up for viewing and I prepared for imaging. The skies were dark enough to see objects in the telescope which you could not see in Montclair-Clifton area, such as M51. This image of M104 is a composite of 60 1 1/2 min images for 90 min exposure thru Orion 80ED. Later that evening Joe helped me collimate my new NEAF purchase, Astro-Tech 6" Ritchey-Chrétien telescope. Thanks Joe.