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 13 - The Great Globular Cluster - First Light for My Askar FRA400 Platform
Messier 13: The Great Globular Cluster in LRGB - First light on my new portable rig.
I have recently shared my efforts to pull together a new lightweight portable rig - but at that time I had NOT yet tested it and confirmed that it would perform to my satisfaction. This test confirmed the viability of the platform.
M101 - The Pinwheel Galaxy: Things don't always work out!
I first shot the Pinwheel Galaxy last year using my One-Shot-Color Camera. I wanted to try it again and see what I could get using a mono camera and L,R,G,B & Ha filters with a longer set of exposures.
So I recently imaged this target over the span of 5 nights, starting on May13. I collected the normal LRGB filter data and I also collected some narrowband images through my Hydrogen-Alpha Filter. The equipment is pretty automated now so I could get things running and then try to sleep on the sofa - still keeping a general eye on things during the night…..
Messier 63 - The Sunflower Galaxy in HaLRGB (First Light on My New ZWO ASI2600MM-Pro Camera!)
Messier 63, The Sunflower Galaxy in LRGB. First image using the new ZWO ASI2600mm-Pro Camera!
C49: The Rosette Nebula in SHO
Astrobin Top Pick!
Also known as the "Skull Nebula" and Caldwell 49, the Rosette Nebula is a large HII region of bright gas and filaments of dark dust, located in the constellation of Monoceros. The open cluster NGC 2244 (discovered by John Flamsteed in 1690) is associated with this region - the stars of which were formed within this molecular cloud. Located 5000 light years away, and measuring 65 light years in diameter,
NGC 4631 - The Whale and the Hockey Stick (NGC 4656) - A second attempt, this time in LRGB-Ha…
The Whale and the Hockeystick are two galaxies are found in the constellation Canes Venatici, about 30 Million Light years away. This is my second time shooting this target and the first where I used a mono camera and captured LRGB along with some Ha subs folded in for good measure. As it worked out, I captured a possible supernova that was recently discovered as well.
Messier 81: Bode's Galaxy and Messier 82: the Cigar 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 65, 66, and NGC 3628: The Leo Triplet
The Leo Triplet, also known as the M66 group, is a small group of galaxies located about 35 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. The three prominent galaxies involved are M65 (bottom left), M66 (top left), and NGC 3628 (right). 2.9-hour integration on the William Optics 132mm Telescope Platform
Messier 108 - The Surfboad Galaxy
Messier 108, also known as NGC 3556 and the "Surfboard Galaxy", is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation of Ursa Major and is 45.9 Million Light years away. M108 is about 110,00 light-years across and presents at an angle of 75 degrees from our line of sight. M108 has a massive black hole at its center that is estimated to be 24 million solar masses - about 8 times the size of the black hole at the core of our own Milky Way.
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.
SH2-155 - The Cave Nebula
SH2-155 - The Cave Nebula - also known as Caldwell 9, is a diffuse nebula found in the constellation Cepheus. It is actually a part of a much larger complex of nebulae n the region which includes the emission, reflection, and dark nebulae. The designation indicates that this part of the Sharpless Catalog of emission nebulae which are located north of the declination -27 degrees. Sh2-155 is located 2400 light-years away and is an ionized HII region with evidence of star formation activity.
IC 405 - The Flaming Star Nebula
IC 405 - The Flaming Star Nebula, also known as Caldwell 31, is a nebula in the constellation Auriga surrounding the bright blue irregular variable star AE Aurigae. This nebula is located about 1500 light-years away and is about 5 light-years across. The red portions are from emission nebulae, while the bluer portions are reflection nebulae, reflecting the light of AE Aurigae.
IC 1795 - The Fish Head Nebula in SHO
IC 1795, also know as the Fish Head Nebula, is an area of new star formation with glowing gas and dust, in the constellation of Cassiopeia. It is actually a portion of the larger Heart Nebula complex (IC 1805) that is located about 6000 light-years from earth. Since my scope cannot fit the entire Heart nebula into its field of view, I opted to frame just the fish head portion of the nebula. This was to be shot with my Mono camera and narrowband filters so that I could get the Hubble Palette colors that I am quite fond of.
NGC 281 - The Pacman Nebula in the Hubble Palette
NGC 281 - The Pacman Nebula. Also known as IC 11 and Sh2-18,4 this is a bright emission nebula located 9500 light-years away in the constellation of Cassiopeia and is part of the Perseus arm of our own Milky Way galaxy. Captured with a mono camera on my Astro-Physics 130mm Platform.
Messier 1 - The Crab Nebula with an SHO/RGB Blend
Messier 1 - The Crab Nebula. Also, known as NGC 1952 and Taurus A. Now, THIS is a pretty cool object! This is the remains of a star that went Supernova and was seen as a bright daytime star back in 1054 by Chinese Astronomers. It was discovered by English astronomer John Bevis in 1731. It was also independently discovered by Charles Messier in 1758 when he was trying to find the return of Halley's Comet.
IC 5070 - The Pelican Nebula in SHO
IC 5070 - The Pelican Nebula. This rich region of gas and dust is located 1800 light-years away in the constellation of Cygnus, the Swan. It is separated from the North American Nebula by a dark region of dust. The Pelican Nebula is very active in star formation and the growing collection of hot new stars being created there are slowly transforming cold gasses to hot gases that are ionized.
NGC 7293 - The Helix Nebula
NGC 7293, better known as the Helix Nebula, Caldwell 63 and in pop culture as "The Eye of God" or the "Eye of Sauron" - is a planetary nebula located in 655 light years away in the Constellation Aquarius. Planetary Nebulae are formed when an intermediate to low-mass star sheds its outer layers as it reaches the end of its life. The Helix Nebula is one of the closest planetary nebulas to the Earth, is estimated to be about 2.5 light years in diameter.
NGC 7635 - The Bubble Nebula in SHO
NGC7635 - The Bubble Nebula - A narrowband image in the Hubble Palette. Also known as Sharpless 162 and Caldwell 11. The Bubble Nebula can be found in the constellation Cassiopeia, not far from the Open Cluster Messier 52. This area is a rich HII region and the bubble itself was created by stellar winds from a massive hot blue Wolf-Rayet star, AO 20575, that shed its material about 300,000 years ago to form the bubble. This star is 44 times larger than our sun. The Bubble itself is found in a massive molecular cloud that contains the expansion of the bubble and is excited by the same star, causing it to glow as well.
NGC 6946 - The Fireworks Galaxy - Mono LRGB Version
NGC 6946 - The Mono Camera Version.
Known as the Fireworks Galaxy and Caldwell 12, this object is a face-on spiral galaxy on the boundary between Cepheus and Cygnus' constellations. It is located 25.2 Million Light years away and is about 1/3 of our own Milkyway Galaxy size. Another image taken simultaneously was done on a OSC camera so that the two images could be compared.
NGC 6946 - The Fireworks Galaxy - OSC Version
NGC6946 - The OSC Camera Version, Known as the Fireworks Galaxy and Caldwell 12, is a face-on spiral galaxy on the boundary between Cepheus and Cygnus' constellations. It is located 25.2 Million Light years away and is about 1/3 of our own Milkyway Galaxy size. Another image taken simultaneously was done on a mono camera so that the two images could be compared.
Messier 33 - The Triangulum Galaxy
M33, also known as NGC 598, or more commonly known as either the Triangulum Galaxy, is located 2.73 Million Light Years away in the constellation Triangulum. It is the third-largest member of the local group of galaxies which includes M31 the Andromeda Galaxy, and our own Milky Way. It is a spiral form galaxy - once of the first spiral galaxies identified as such back in 1850. It is one of the most distant objects that can be seen with the unaided eye.