Random Musings of an Amateur Astronomer
Astrophotography
Horsehead Nebula in Hydrogen Alpha
2One of the challenges with new equipment (which I always seem to be getting more of) is learning how to use it well. I’m still working on getting my STL 11002 running smoothly. Sure, I tried a few of those real quick Ha shots and of course the Crab Nebula, but still these things take time. One of the things I hadn’t tried was running it on my Televue NP101is. Given the wonderful nebula this time of year, it seems like it might be a good idea to give it a try. The first few shots were dreary More >
The Crab Nebula, Revisited
1Several months back I picked up an interesting imaging package: The SBIG STL11002M, LRGBHa filters, the AO-L Adaptive Optics, MOAG and Remote Head. Aside from the learning curve for the new software control package (CCDSoft, which is awesomesauce), I had an issue which unfortunately required a repair. And, like any good Law of Murphy, receiving the working camera also means a prolonged spell of bad weather.
I ran a few star tests, played around with things and finally came around to settling More >
Halloween: Awesome Astro Outreach!
13 months ago
by admin
in Astrophotography
Countless hoards of children and parents alike stream through my neighborhood each Halloween. I love that it’s still alive here; from talking to others it seems like it is a dying holiday. And so, blessed with “clearer than usual” skies for this time of the year, a last minute thought popped into my mind: Why not try some astronomy outreach from the driveway?
The crescent moon offered a nice crater pocked terrain for the casual child glance and Jupiter came up a few hours later. Neither More >
Face on Spirals: IC 342
2Hidden away by dust from our own galaxy lay a huge galaxy known only as the boring “IC 342″. Nearly 20 arc minutes square, this spiral fills a wide field of view under modest powers. Visually, it’s not much more than a faint, fuzzy star with hints of nebulosity scattered around. Imaging this target is equally dificult given it’s diffuse nature and the dust hiding it away.
I’ve imaged it on several occasions and never been very happy with the result, until now. However, this pushed all my More >
M33 is Back!
0Well it’s been a pretty good August for imaging. While most of the world seems focused on M101 supernovae or Comet Garradd, I went after a slightly different target: M33. I’ve imaged M33 on several occasions with different equipment so I thought I would continue to add to the collection — it’s been almost a year since the last images were taken.
While M33 is very diffuse, it’s also very large. So large that to grab all of it’s spiral nuggets would require a low magnification or a giant More >
Flowers of the Night Sky
1Cygnus is home to a plethora of wonderful objects – both for visual observing as well as imaging. Due to my latitude, it goes right overhead and is easily my favorite constellation – even ousting the hunter of the winter sky, Orion. Filled with gajillions (yes that’s a technical term) of stars, this band of our very own Milky Way galaxy is home to countless nebula, both bright and eerily dark.
Bright nebula such as the Orion Nebula are the ones you’re probably used to seeing. Move forward a More >
M15 and Comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd)
06 months ago
One of the cool iphone apps I use for astronomy is Starmap Pro which includes a great “find comets” feature. Ironically, the brightest one coming up was also the very same one that was mentioned recently in Astronomy magazine as “passing near M15″ and was pretty bright – magnitude 8!
M15 and Comet Garradd
Processing comet images can be a challenge. In particular, comets move fast! Well, they move fast with respect to the background stars. This creates challenges for “stacking” images More >
Conjunction Function
0While the rest of the United States basks in a record setting heatwave, here in Woodinville, WA we are just coming out of a week long rain stretch into what was supposed to be some clear skies. And clear they were – right up until I had set up my equipment. So, after five hours of dysfunctional imaging spoiled by large wafting masses of dihydrogen monoxide, I decided to go ultra short focal length with the Canon Rebel XSI to see if I could capture some of mom nature’s beauty on a wider, less More >
NGC 6960: The Witch’s Broom
2Some of the most beautiful images come the death of stars. Of course, those deaths such as the recent supernova in Messier 51 are so far away that we’re not going to be able to view their beauty (especially against the backdrop of their galaxy hosts!) However, our very own galaxy, the Milky Way is host to it’s fair share of supernova, and the nebulous remnants they leave behind. One such example is the Veil Nebula.
The Veil Nebula is a fairly large complex which is often broken up into three More >
Supernova SN2011dh Caught in Messier 51
4Sometime in late May, early June a star decided that’s its time was up. The largest explosions in nature, supernova occur when massive stars use up all their nuclear fuel. They collapse on themselves and the increase in pressure once again triggers fusion. This results in a massive explosion, first theorized by squirly Caltech Physicist, Fritz Zwicky. To paraphrase Bill Bryson, supernova are very important for a lot of reasons, the least of which is that without them, we wouldn’t be
More >
