Comet Jacques Video

Comet Jacques came flying through Cassiopeia in late August 2014.  After a wonderful night of imaging the Veil Nebula, I had some time in the early morning after the Veil had set behind the house.  I caught Comet Jacques as it passed the meridian.

The Comet was hard to find.  My usual planetarium program and the first two websites I checked gave incorrect locations.  I found the Comet's true ephemeris when I went to The Sky Live (http://theskylive.com/).

Anyway, this video (really a slide show) shows the comet's movement in 100 30-second frames.  The comet was moving so fast that frames much longer than 30 seconds showed the comet as a line.  The movement would have been easily visible in a telescope over a few minutes' time.  Here is the link:

Comet Jacques Video

I have not stretched these images much.  You might see more if you make the video full screen.

Telescope: Astro-Tech AT111EDT and William Optics AFR-IV (eff. at f/5.6)
Camera and Exposure: SXVF-H9 100x30", Alnitak Flat-man flats
Filter: Astronomik CLS
Guiding: SX Lodestar and SX OAG
Mount: Takahashi NJP
Software: Nebulosity, Photoshop CS3, MS PowerPoint
Location: The Woodlands, TX

A Swatch of Veil - NGC 6995 (August 2014)

Full resolution image here.

Of course, this is part of the Veil Nebula, a supernova remnant in Cygnus.  This is just the Ha (and perhaps a bit of NII).  I've wondered whether the arcs help show the location of the original blast (relative to what remains).

Telescope: Astro-Tech AT111EDT and William Optics AFR-IV (eff. at f/5.6)
Camera and Exposure: SXVF-H9 12x1200" (6nm Ha) + 12x900" (12nm Ha+NII), Alnitak Flat-man flats
Filter: Astronomik 6nm and 12nm Ha[+NII]
Guiding: SX Lodestar and SX OAG
Mount: Takahashi NJP
Software: Nebulosity, Maxim DL, Photoshop CS3
Location: The Woodlands, TX

The Cygnus Wall in H-alpha (July 9, 2014)

Full resolution image here.

This well-known cloud of interstellar dust and gases in the constellation Cygnus glows here with the light of ionized hydrogen.  The image was taken with the moon >85% full.

Telescope: Astro-Tech AT111EDT and William Optics AFR-IV (eff. at f/5.6)
Camera and Exposure: SXVF-H9 23x900"), Alnitak Flat-man flats
Filter: Astronomik 6nm Ha
Guiding: SX Lodestar and SX OAG
Mount: Takahashi NJP
Software: Nebulosity, Photoshop CS3
Location: The Woodlands, TX

M51 (April 29, 2014)

Full resolution image here.

I know---I don't need another image of M51.  But I had a few hours and wanted to use the refractor.  I always like the look of stars taken through it.  Of course, with the H9C the scope is working far below full resolution.  And I seemed to get a lot of red in the galaxy.  Perhaps the sky was more transparent to Ha, or perhaps it was particularly opaque to blue.  Either way, here is the result.

Telescope: Astro-Tech AT111EDT and William Optics AFR-IV (eff. at f/5.6)
Camera and Exposure: SXVF-H9C 20x600"), Alnitak Flat-man flats
Filter: Astronomik CLS
Guiding: SX Lodestar and SX OAG
Mount: Takahashi NJP
Software: Nebulosity, Photoshop CS3
Location: The Woodlands, TX

M13 (June 5, 2014)

Full resolution image here.

Telescope: Orion 254mm f/4.7 Newtonian and Baader MPCC
Camera and Exposure: SXVF-H9C (33x240"), Alnitak Flatman flats
Guiding: SX Lodestar and SX SFW+OAG
Mount: Takahashi NJP
Software: Nebulosity, Photoshop CS3
Location: The Woodlands, TX

M97 in Ha (April 8, 2014)

This planetary nebula in Ursa Major is one of the few popular narrowband targets up during the spring.  It's a bright one, too.  This is only H-alpha.  I hope to get the OIII, too, and combine them.  But the night I set up to collect the OIII data became unexpectedly cloudy at 11 pm.  Oh, well.  In the meantime, M97 is slipping behind my trees.  I may have to wait till next year.  Either way, the data interests me.

This data is 8x1200" with the 6nm Proti Astronomik Ha filter and 10x900" with the 12nm Astronomik Ha filter.  The dimmest stars in the image are below magnitude 19.

Full resolution image here.

Telescope: Orion 254mm f/4.7 Newtonian and Baader MPCC
Camera and Exposure: SXVF-H9 (8x1200" with the 6nm Proti Astronomik Ha filter and 10x900" with the 12nm Astronomik Ha filter), Alnitak Flatman flats
Guiding: SX Lodestar and SX SFW+OAG
Mount: Takahashi NJP
Software: Nebulosity, Photoshop CS3
Location: The Woodlands, TX

M64 ( April 2014)

Full resolution image here.

A color image of this galaxy was my goal since January, but we had nothing but cloudy nights near new moons until April.  Then the first two clear nights were hazy, and I had equipment problems.  Finally, I obtained a good night's worth of data on the 22nd.  I obtained 23x900" of data, and then M64 went behind the trees.

The galaxy is famous for the dust lane near its center, and also because the inside part of the galaxy rotates one way and the outer part rotates in the opposite direction!

Telescope: Orion 254mm f/4.7 Newtonian and Baader MPCC
Camera and Exposure: SXVF-H9C (23x900"), Alnitak Flatman flats
Filter: Astronomik CLS
Guiding: SX Lodestar and SX SFW+OAG
Mount: Takahashi NJP
Software: Nebulosity, Photoshop CS3
Location: The Woodlands, TX