M33, Fall 2024

This is first light with the TS 102SD, native at f/11 but telecompressed to f/6.93.  This is also first light with a Player One Uranus C Pro camera.  I haven't had a camera in a while.  So far, I'm impressed with this one.  This is 41x300s.

M33 (Nov. 2020)

This one is 41x900" with the Atik 460EXC through the 203mm Synta-ONTC Newtonian at f/4.95, using an Astronomik CLS filter.

NGC 604 in M33, Reprise (October 2016)

Here is NGC 604 again with more data, now with 40x600" instead of just 12x600".  Everything else is the same about the setup: it is the CFF 290 Classical Cassegrain operating at f/7.93 (A-P CCDT67 Telecompressor).  The camera is the SXVF-H9 through an Astronomik CLS filter.  The larger data set gives a better signal-to-noise ratio, and the dimmer parts of the image are brighter, with more definition.  The image reveals the mottled, star-spotted arms of a galaxy.

NGC 604 in M33 (October 2016)

Here is a grand nebula in another galaxy.  Galaxy M33 is about 2.5 million light years away, about as far as the Andromeda Galaxy.  That's not very far for a galaxy.  M33 is our near neighbor.  This nebula is a huge cloud of glowing hydrogen from which stars are forming.  In the upper right third of the image you can see stars in a curve of one of M33's spiral arms.  These stars are some of the brightest stars in M33. You are literally seeing here light from individual stars and stellar systems in another galaxy. Other nebulae also dot the landscape.

This image is just 12x600" through the CFF290 Classical Cassegrain at f/7.93, with the SXVF-H9 camera.

M33 (October 2014)

This galaxy in Triangulum is a near neighbor, just around 2.8 million light years away.  It's so close it fills the view!  M33 is smaller than our own galaxy but contains numerous regions of gas and dust in which stars are forming.

M33 is just bright enough to be seen with mere eyes from a moonless sky away from all lights.  I've seen it from the SHSU Observatory.  The background sky in this image is bright (and contrast relatively low) because all of my data was gathered from my backyard (community of 100,000 just south of a city of 100,000 (including suburbs)).

This image combines monochrome full-spectrum sub-frames with color sub-frames I took in 2012.  I was glad to see the two data sets come together so well.  The combined mono and color frames were matched in Registar then combined in Photoshop.

Luminosity:

Telescope: Astro-Tech AT111EDT and William Optics AFR-IV (eff. at f/5.6)
Camera and Exposure: SXVF-H9 39x300", Alnitak Flat-man flats
Filter: Astronomik CLS
Guiding: SX Lodestar and SX OAG
Mount: Takahashi NJP
Software: Nebulosity, Maxim DL, Photoshop CS3
Location: The Woodlands, TX

Color:

Telescope: SV80ED (and William Optics 0.8x II fr/ff (eff. at f/5.6))
Camera and Exposure: SXVF-H9C (49x480"), Alnitak Flat-man flats
Filter: Hutech IDAS-LPS2
Guiding: Meade DSI Pro and Hutech 50mm
Mount: Takahashi NJP
Software: Nebulosity, Maxim DL, Photoshop CS3
Location: The Woodlands, TX

M33 (Nov. 16 & 17, 2012)

Link to full resolution image.

M33 is about 2.88 million light years away (give or take a hundred thousand or so).  That's practically in our backyard.  M33 is, with M31, our next-door neighbor in the universe.  M33's nearness is why it appears so large in this scene.  As galaxies go, M33 is not that big, or that bright.  Compare it with M31, which I shot a couple of months ago with the exact same equipment, and you can see how much larger and brighter M31 is by comparison.

Anyway, M33 is beautiful.  I've always wanted this kind of image of it.  I'm sure this won't be the last time I shoot it.  This image has been shrunk to 80% of original size to hide latent noise; this image could use another six hours or so (and from a darker site).

Telescope: SV80ED (and William Optics 0.8x II fr/ff (eff. at f/5.6))
Camera and Exposure: SXVF-H9C (49x480"), Alnitak Flat-man flats
Filter: Hutech IDAS-LPS2
Guiding: Meade DSI Pro and Hutech 50mm
Mount: Takahashi NJP
Software: Nebulosity, Maxim DL, Photoshop CS3
Location: The Woodlands, TX

M33 & A Night in the Dark (9-4-10)

This image of M33 is just 5 x 420" with the SXVF-H9C through the Orion 6" I-Newt, processed in Neb 2, Maxim, and PS3. It was late, and I wanted just one more target. Really, the galaxy needs another couple of hours of data, but this process is not just about pretty pictures. Here is an observation of the galaxy, reported in living color.