Imaging Projects
In this blog, I will share the results of all of my imaging projects. The newest will be at the top and the oldest will be further down the stack. Going back in time here is interesting - some of my early stuff was pretty rough - but I did not see it that way at the time - I was thrilled to get anything back that looked like an image! Hopefully, you will see how my work has progressed with time!
Messier 74 - The Phantom Galaxy
Messier 81, also known as NGC 3031 and Bode's Galaxy, is a beautiful spiral galaxy located 12 Million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. This post tells the story of this capture -which consists of 9.9 hours of integration using the ZWO ASI294MC-Pro and the William Optics 132mm FLT APO Platform.
Messier 74 - The Phantom Galaxy - 2019 version
M74 is a two-armed spiral galaxy in the constellation Pisces that is located 32 million light-years away. With its prominent two arms, M74 is considered a classic spiral galaxy form. However, having the second-lowest surface brightness of all of the objects in the Messier list (M101 being the lowest), this guy is tough to observe visually.
It proved to be a challenge for me as well. Skies were pretty dark last night, and this image was the result of 64 frames of 180 seconds each - for a total integration time of 3.2 hours - the longest integration I have done yet. This is also the first image for a new scope configuration. I added a top plate to the tube assembly and moved the guide scope to that. This allowed me to add a Pegasus Astro Systems Pocket Powerbox then - this provides power to all devices as well as to two heater straps which are now wrapped around the objectives of the main and guide scopes to prevent dew formation.