Astrophotography

9 days old, SXVh694 TOA 130 1,000mm fl

Magnitude 8.8 NGC2903 aka PGC 27077 locate in Leo. 11x6min exposures combined, raw image. The bright star in the image is magnitude 9.91 Tycho 1409.779. It has been a LONG WINTER, extremely cold and windy with very few clear skies to work with. (The secret of my job does not prevent me from knowing what I am doing.)

IC410 in Auriga (taken in November 2012) Emission Nebula. The two streamers look like and are called "Tadpoles" of IC410, a denser, cooler gas and dust believed to be a star birth region. Taken thru AT111EDT using Ha filter, 7x600 sec exposures (4200 secs) combined in Maxim, process CS6.

IC1795 Ha image located in Cassiopeia, the red color comes from Hydrogen photon emissions; also note dark lanes of obscuring dust. The brightest area bottom center is known as NGC896. IC1795 is part of IC1805 the Heart Nebula. Image info: 70R, 60G, 60B x 10 min exposures, color combined in Maxim DL, processed in Maxim and Photoshop CS6. Astro-Tech 111edt, Electronic filter wheel, Starlight Xpress ccd and SX autoguider on CGEM mount. North is right.

Emission Nebula IC1795 is only part of a much larger nebula, IC1805, aka the Heart Nebula, located 7500 ly away in Cassiopeia.

BUBBLE NEBULA: Emission Nebula in Cassiopeia at 7800 ly distance. The bright star at 2 o'clock in the Bubble is an O-type star nearing subernova stage and is the source of the Bubbles shape. You may also note that there is another Bubble which is 2 1/2 times larger and dimmer which stretches downward to the bright star near and to the left of image center. Aquired thru an AstroTech111edt refractor @ f/7, Nautilus Motorized Filter Wheel, Ha filter and SXVR-H9 ccd from Whiting, NJ 10-20-12 15 x 10 min exposures combined in Maxim DL, false color added.

3 1/2 HOURS Elephant Nebula (part of) 40 min RGB each at 10 min exposure, 90 min at 10 min exposures Ha combined in Maxim DL. This week is terrific week for imaging as the temperature is cooling down. Nice clear skies. Taken on two nights, Monday & Tuesday, rested Wednesday, out Thursday today for another night of experiment imaging.

M51 galaxy in Canes Venatici, just off the tip of the handle of the Big Dipper. It's way up high in the sky around 9pm this time of year.

Image is a composite of four images, three 50 minutes images in red green and blue and a two hour image in white light. Mount Takahashi NJP, scope Takahashi refractor TOA-130, camera Starligh Xpress SXVH9 guided through a Borg 76ED. 

What we have here is a combined 1x1 1,131 images taken thru the AstroTech 111edt with 0.09 hundreds exposure each. I was going for 3,000 images but Saturn ran into a tree. Ever see a tree after Saturn hit it? Tree is ok, Saturn disappeared! I used an Orion 2x lens to magnify the planet. Next show will be Saturn using a TeleVue 5x lens. Maybe I should just use a larger scope? Click on the Original to see enlarged image. 4-19-12

M64 aka NGC4826 located in Coma Berenices is an almost destroyed galaxy due to collision of 2 galaxies. The outer and inner regions, not like other galaxies, rotate in opposite directions and cause the birth of new star formations. The dark dust band gives this galaxy its name, "devils eye" or Black Eye Galaxy. April 7, 2012 Whiting, NJ, nearly full Moon low in the sky, AT111EDT, Celestron CGEM, Starlight Xpress SXVF-H9, guided with Lodestar, 5 min. intervals, 2 hours 35 min.s color combined in MaxIm DL5