Following the light of the sun, we left the Old World.

— Inscription on Columbus' caravels

Astrophotography

The dark side of photography. Deep space and planetary imaging. Occasionally some day light pictures of the Sun.

Pelican Nebula

One hundred and fifty five minute image Pelican Nebula in Cygnus, taken thru Astro-tech 111EDT with SX-694C Starlight Xpress guided with SE X2 guider. combined 31x5 min images in MaximDl

Pelican Nebula

Seldom Imaged Nebula

This is known as the Propeller Nebula located in Cygnus. It is one of the faintest and least imaged nebula in outer space. I took it thru my Astro-tech 111edTriplet: 140 min.s 2x2 combined in MaximDL. 8 x10 min Ha, 4x5 min R, G, B each. Mount: iOptron45 + pier, Starlight Xpress ccd SXVF H9 and guided with Starlight Xpress X2.  more info can be seen on my Facebook page:  Eugene Faulkner

Seldom Imaged Nebula

Triangulum Color

 adding previous Luminance to 2 hour RGB (40 min exp each) in Photoshop.  Note Blue star cloud IC 143, and IC 604 and other emission nebula

Triangulum Color

Triangulum Galaxy

Last night I was out in the first COOL night that was absolutely clear. No wind at 7:30. This image taken thru Astro-Tech 111EDT 2 hour 5min exposures combined in MaximDL, DD processing, slightly adjusted in Photoshop6.  Initially I wanted to do color imaging, but having camera connection problems early on cancelled that out.   Magitude 5.5 galaxy in Triangulum, some 5 million Ly away. There is a video on the net located at Deepskyvideos.com which shows images and a video of M33, and an explanation about it. Very interesting. 

Triangulum Galaxy

Planetary Nebula

This image appears in the October issue of Astronomy Magazine, and seemed to be a challenge for me to image, so that I did, while always trying to get the star that is located inside the ring of this 12.5 magnitude 42 second diameter nebula.

Planetary Nebula

NGC281 Pacman Nebula

This is an image of the Pacman Nebula taken with LCMY FILTERS, Luminance, Cyan, Majenta and Yellow photographic filters, color adjusted in PS6.  2 HOURS total exposure

NGC281  Pacman Nebula

cometJACQUE

This a mosaic of one 2x2 10 mi exposure of Comet Jacque trail thru the stars.  The upper right side shows two 4x4 combined 10 min images total of 20 min exposure.  The line in the image shows two stars that are the same in both images, showing just how fast the comet is moving.  Taken with 5" Explore Scientific Triplet on iOptron iEQ45 mount guided on a star with Lodestar X2 guider and imaged with StarlightExpress SXVR-H9 ccd Thursday September 4, '14 Manchester, NJ

cometJACQUE

NGC6888_Crescent Nebula

 First image in over a year since my open heart surgery.  First successful setup with new mount, iOptron 45 with 48" pier.  Thursday was an exceptional night, no wind, great seeing the Milky Way overhead.   This is a 121 min LRGB image taken thru Astro-Tech 111EDT from Whiting, NJ. between 9:30 pm - 12 am, guided with Starlight Lodestar X2 imaged with SXVR-H9 ccd.  Combined in MaximDL6, color adjusted in Photoshop CS6

NGC6888_Crescent Nebula

Elephant Trunk

Elephant Trunk in Cepheus.

Two hours exposure in Halpha light.

Scope 5" refractor at f7 

Camera: CCD cooled camera 

Elephant Trunk

M27 in Vulpecula

Two hour H alpha light image combined with two red green and blue images of 5 minutes each.

Image taken October 14 2013 from my driveway in Verona, with gibbous moon up high.

M27 in Vulpecula