Found a Pinwheel and a Horsehead

Went camping at Pinnicals National Park and was finally able to get my new little telescope out under pretty dark skies. Mixed luck but super fun!

First time imaging the Triangulum Galaxy (aka m33). Only about 7min of exposure but still got something. Need to get a couple of hours of this one at some point.

Finally managed to get an okay image of the Horsehead Nebula! I think I've been trying to image this for a few years now and finally got something okay. The new scope is a lot smaller than my other one and is a fair amount faster (3"@F6.6 vs 8"@F10) with a wider view. Also you can see the Flame Nebula (aka NGC 2024).

And how could I resist giving trying out the Orion Nebula (aka m42)? I couldn't. Much wider view without the need for a reducer which let me fit the Running Man Nebula (aka NGC 1977) in as well.

Now to practice my alignment with the new mount which took me the better part of an hour or more to setup this time. I want to spend more time imaging and less time fiddling with the telescope to to get it up and running next time. I might have had better images, more images or time to take some pictures of the meteor shower if I had been able to get up and running faster. Next time but so far so good!

From Planets to Nebulas

10-28-2011, Tonight Jupiter is in opposition (closest point) with earth this year so I went out to take a few more pictures.

Not to bad. You can see the Big (aka Great) Red spot just about to disappear around the left side there.


Here is Jupiter's other side. I think this might be the most detail I have managed to get of Jupiter yet.


As usually here is a 3D image so get out those red/blue glasses!


And here is a short little animation I put together with some of the images I took. This probably spans about 10 minutes. Jupiter spins really fast making a complete rotation in just a little less than 10 hours. Maybe one long winter night I will see if I can capture a full rotation.


In between shots of Jupiter I did a little looking around and took a few other images. Here is the Ring Nebula or M57. It is a planetary nebula because some of these look a bit like planets through the telescope.


Next on the planetary nebula list I took a look at the Little Dumbbell Nebula or M76. This picture didn't come out to good but you can make out the core section and just a tiny bit of the fainter outer ring. I'll have to try this one again.


And then I turned the scope to the first planetary nebula I tried to image, the Eskimo Nebula or NGC 2390. This came out a little better than my previous attempts but I'm sure I can do better.


Finally I turned to one of the easiest targets the Orion Nebula or M42. I think this is my best nebula image so far. The thumbnail is a bit blurry because I scaled it up a bit but if you click on it you can see a nicer large version.


Here is a self portrait of me at about 1:30am imaging the Orion Nebula. If you know your constellations you should be able to make out Orion. The 3 stars of his belt are almost right above my head and I'm kind of looking at his sword which are the 3 stars just to the lower right of his belt. The Orion Nebula is the middle star of his sword. If you click on the image to see the larger version you might even notice that middle star glowing which is the nebula. Oh, and how the hell do I fit in my tiny little car?! It's clearly half as big as me or at least that's what the wide angle lens on the ground does. Lucky or unlucky as it was the last people to leave before me happened to turn on their car lights just as I took this picture causing the nice glow and probably screwing up an image or two. But it was all good since the Orion Nebula came out just fine.

Same Stars Diffrent Night

Went out the other night to catch super nova 2011fe close to it's peak intensity and to work on my imaging techniques. I got the super nova again just fine. Not sure if my images are any better though. I think maybe the are a little less noisy but I'm not really sure.

Here is M101 and Super Nova 2011fe. I think you can tell the super nova is a tad brighter than the image from a few weeks ago but again I'm not totally sure.


I think this may be my most detailed image of Jupiter yet.


Here is m8 a.k.a. the Lagoon Nebula. It was the first deep space object I tried to image about a year ago. I think this image is much better than that attempt which you can see here.


And Comet Garradd is still up. I think this image is a bit better than the one from a few weeks ago as well.

Exploding Star, Comet, Whirlpools and Jupiter's Pimple!

Went out to look at and take pictures of the new super nova 2011fe. Had lots of fun and met a few other guys, Warren, Corey and Dave, out doing the same. My images didn't turn out as well as I hoped but I got something. Lucky for me Warren had some pointers and I if all goes well my next outing should get me some better images. And Dave gave the rest of us coordinates for Comet Garradd so I managed to get some pictures of it too. Again not so great but better than my first attempt at a comet picture!

M101 aka the Pinwheel Galaxy and Super Nova 2011fe.


In case you couldn't spot it here is where SN/2011fe is. By the end of the week it is supposed to be bright enough to see through binocular!


And here is Comet Garradd.


M51 aka the Whirlpool Galaxy. Cool even if it is a pretty bad image with butterfly stars because of tracking issues. At least you can make it out right?


Check it out, Jupiter has a pimple! Actually That's Jupiter's moon Io just starting to peak out from behind it. Dumb luck. Not sure if it's cool or not to have Io stuck on Jupiter's side like that. Mostly I think it's kind of cool. Oh, and this is probably the best image of the night even though I wasn't set up for taking images of planets. I would have taken more shots but my camera battery died right after this. Stayed for a bit longer just looking through eye pieces and chatting with the other guy. All in all a fun night!

Deep Space Nailbula

I got this back in December the first night with my new 8" telescope. I just got around to processing all the photos I took of it recently. It's my first nailbula. What is a nailbula you ask?


It's what happens to your nail when it gets stuck between bits of the German Equitorial telescope mount! Ouch! Astronomy is dangerous! I think I end up with a new cut or pulled muscle every time I am out with my telescopes. Who would have thought.


And in 3d because I know you all want to see nailbula in the 3rd dimension!

It's Cinco de Mayo...

...a fitting day to post a picture of the Sombrero Galaxy (aka M104). It's not a very good picture but I was talked into posting it. Now to go get a better picture of the Sombrero Galaxy! Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Darker Skies in Southern Arizona

We went down to southern Arizona where my Mom grew up. She has some friends that had a great place with pretty dark skies and nothing blocking the view in any direction. here are a couple of the pictures from our visit

Andromeda Galaxy aka m31. I tried out a lens that doubles the telescopes field of view so i could see most of Andromeda Galaxy. it causes some distortion on the outer edges of frame.


Orion Nebula (m42) again. Much brighter in dark skies which helps create a lot more contrast. Cant wait to get back out in dark skies again!

New Telescope!

I got a nice new telescope a few months back but have not had a chance to use it until last night. We are at my Mom's in Phoenix where it is less foggy, wet and it actually seems a little darker but probably not. Anyway here are the goods. Be sure to click on the images fot the larger versions.

M42. Very first picture!


M42 after a little more fiddling.


Same image unedited.


Moon.


Eskimo Nebula.


Eskimo Nebula a bit closer and tweaked.

Took some pictures of Saturn too but I need to stack them and dont have the software on my travel computer.

And here are the rest...

...of the things I saw while catching my shooting star.

Jupiter and its moons (nearest to furthest), Europa, Io, Ganymede and Callisto! I think you might have to click to get the larger image to really see the moons.

And my first semi-successful deep sky image. This is M8 also know as the Lagoon Nebula.

It's a little more blurry than I would like but you can see it!