Re-do of M101 (4-8-10)

This is a re-process of M101 with the colors mostly figured out. This is a test to see how well it looks on several other monitors. Which is better, top or bottom?

M57 (5-4-10)

Here is my very own first color shot of M57. It was 4:40 am or so, about an hour before sunup. I was tired and wanted to go back to sleep, so I turned the scope to a target I could find quickly, M57, set PHD to re-calibrate, started the sub-exposure sequence, and then went back in to sleep. Of the thirty or so 120" frames, only 18 were worth keeping (after subtracting out the mount calibration frames and those too bright because of the rising sun), so this is just 36 minutes worth of data. Taken with the Orion 6" I-Newt and the SXVF-H9C. Processing was done in Nebulosity 2, Maxim DL 5, and Photoshop.

The Ring Nebula, as this is known, is one of those targets that everyone with a telescope looks for. Much of the nebula is very bright---the part shown in this image. The Ring Nebula was formed when the star in the center of it (see the image) puffed off its outer layers as it aged; the star's center was putting out too much energy for gravity to hold the outer layers on the star. The Ring Nebula is about 2,300 light years away in the constellation Lyra. The star in the center of the nebula is magnitude 15.3. The dimmest stars in the image visible in this rendition are around magnitude 18. The tiny galaxy just up and a little to the left of the Ring is IC 1296. It is about 200 million light years away.

NGC 6144 (M4's Little Sister) (5-4-10)

This globular cluster is visible in between and just to the north of Antares and the apparently much larger M4. It is often shown in photographs but usually as part of a wide field view. NGC 6144 is 27,000 light years from here and M4 on.y 7,000 light years away; hence, the apparent difference. Anyway, it's about time NGC 6144 got its due. Very nice cluster, partially hidden behind a cloud of dust that is all over this part of central Scorpius (as in this nice wide field photo). The bar of light across the bottom of the frame is a diffraction spike caused by the bright nearby star Antares and the four bars that hold the telescope's secondary mirror.

This is 44x150" through the Orion 6" Imaging Newt with the SXVF-H9C. Processing was done in Nebulosity 2, Maxim, Photoshop, and Photoshop Elements, with a couple of Carboni actions.

M57 Wide View - Single Frame

I considered shooting M57 on April 8. Clouds rolled after one six-minute frame with the SXVF-H9C through the ED80. Here is that one frame. This is about as bright as M57 looks in a small scope, but there are two differences: (1) this image has more color than a small scope would show, particularly in the nebula itself; and (2) there is a hint in the middle of the nebula of its central star. This is a pretty dim star. It shows up much better in this earlier black and white image taken with a larger scope and for a little bit longer total exposure time. It is over-exposed in this much deeper image.

M92 (4-14-10)

M92 is a globular cluster about 26-27,000 light years away in the constellation Hercules. Visual observers often look first for the great globular M13 in that constellation, as it is brighter and larger (it is closer). M92 appears more compact to me, but it too, like all its cousins, is a stunning sight.

This is another shot with the SXVF-H9C and the AT8RC, taken just before the M39 image. This is 17x5'. Bias subtracted but not flats (if you stretch this image you will see the dust donuts; I don't have a rubber band large enough to tie a t-shirt around this scope yet). Like M39, this image too has a bit of collimation or guiding error; I'm not sure which. Compare this image with my last image of M92.

M39 (4-24-10)

This is M39, or most of it. The brighter stars in the image are members of this open cluster in the constellation Cygnus. This image was started around 4:40 am on the morning of 4-25-10. The sun was going to come up (my last worthwhile exposures were taken around 5:47), so it was time to hurry and find one more object to image. A bright open cluster was an ideal target. The cluster is larger than what you see here, but it spilled out of the field of view.

This is 62x60" taken with the SXVF-H9C through the AT8RC. Capture and preprocessing was done in Nebulosity 2 and touchup in Photoshop CS3. Bias frames subtracted; no darks; no flats. The moon was 80+% full. Collimation (or possibly guiding, I suppose) was still just a touch off, but this is a colorful, quite usable image nonetheless. If I let perfection get in the way of enjoying the images, I'd never have taken any.

Another M101 (4-8-10)

M101 is an enormous galaxy just 27 million light years away in the handle of the Big Dipper. It is 170,000 or so light years across. It is so large that it distorts nearby galaxies, and it is so far-flung that pieces of it seem to be dragging behind it. What looks like a small piece of M101 at the bottom of the image is actually considered a separate galaxy, NGC 5477, but very deep images of M101 (such as this one by R Jay GaBany) show longer and more tenuous spiral arms swirling out beyond what you see here.

This image is a bit better than the one taken a few weeks ago. This is 43x6' with the SXVF-H9C, through the ED80 and WO 0.8x II ff/fr. An IDAS-LPS-P2 filter sat between the fr and the camera. Bias and T-shirt flat frames applied; no darks. Capture was done in Nebulosity 2 and guiding with PHD through the AT66ED on the EM-10. Pre-processing was done in Neb 2, stacking and most post-processing in Maxim, and much touch-up and color work in Photoshop CS3 with the use of an important Carboni action. Thanks to Jim Wood for editing tips.