Random Musings of an Amateur Astronomer
Posts tagged Televue NP101is images
IC 2177: The Seagull Nebula
0The thing about the Seattle area and astronomy is that when there is a break in the permaclouds, full moon or not, we take advantage of it by setting up shop. Sadly the last time this happened was about two weeks ago! But luckily that night was a good one for some more Hydrogen Alpha imaging!
Earlier in the day I’d met with a friend at the gym who recently took possession of a beautiful William’s Optics 80mm. (It’s amazing how heavy it is!) While chatting I realized I had mostly gained 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 >
The Leo Triplets
3M65, M66, and NGC 3628 form a beautiful and easy to pluck target from the constellation Leo. Often called the Leo Triplets, Arp classified these as “peculiar galaxies” and noted them as Arp 16. There is some indication these galaxies may have interacted at some point in the past. At about 35 million light years distant, these galaxies are relatively nearby and therefore bright, popular amateur targets. All around magnitude 10, and several arc minutes in apparent length, they are very easy More >
Going Deep… 7.8 Billion Years Deep!
210 years ago
by admin
in Astrophotography
Gravitational lensing occurs when light bends through space due to the gravity of another body. In the first verified case of gravitational lensing (nearly 30 years ago), a mega distant quasar is lensed by an entire galaxy sitting virtually “in line of site” with us. The light from this quasar is bent as it passes the galaxy and is split into two distinct, separate images. Known as the Double Quasar, or Twin Quasar, QSO 0957+561 is located in Ursa Major where it shines near magnitude 17 – More >
Messier 1, The Crab Nebula (NGC 1952)
3Located in the constellation, “Taurus,” the Crab Nebula was first discovered in 1054 A.D by Chinese and Arab astronomers. Messier made this his first catalogue entry, hence the name Messier 1. The name “Crab Nebula” comes from it’s resemblance to a crab.
How to find the Crab Nebula
The Crab Nebula was formed when a star ran out of fuel and blew itself up in a grand explosion called a supernova. The nebula itself are the bits of that star flying through space at nearly 1500km/s. This rate More >
The Bubble Nebula – NGC 7635
4Plagued with one of the worst bouts of “new telescope cloudiness”, it’s been mostly rain for weeks now. Add a nice slice of “can’t view the lunar eclipse tonight because of the clouds”, and one is left with nothing more than memories… or old data to process!
Case in point here is NGC 7635, a beautiful emission nebula about 10,000 light years away (or if you prefer, sixty quadrillion miles. Not a walk in the park!) The “big bright shining star” inside the bubble here is actually responsible More >
An Hour of Andromeda
6I don’t know why this Galaxy seems so difficult a target for me. When I first started to image it with my CPC 1100, I ended up with big piles of the core — since the apparent size is way larger than the field of view on the CPC. Once I realized just how large it was, I remember pulling it up in binoculars and thinking “Woah!”
Since then, I’ve tried imaging it on numerous occasions, but never seem to be able to get quite the excitement or brilliance that others seems to be able to pull from More >
M42: The Orion Nebula
2As I mentioned in the Horsehead Nebula post, Oct 6-7 was a great night and produced some really nice images. Here’s the Messier 42, The Orion Nebula
M42, The Orion Nebula
This image is only 6x five minute exposures with the Televue NP101is. Sigma-clip stacked in MaximDL, Orion Starshoot Pro v2.0, Starshoot Autoguider, and Skyglow Filter were used.
The “trapezium” – the very bright inner stars of the brightest part of the nebula is a wonderful star nursery, where baby stars are springing to More >
IC 434: The Horsehead Nebula
2October 6-7, 2010 were simply stellar nights for viewing and photographing here in Washington. In the upcoming days, I’ll be putting up some of the nicest images that I think I’ve ever put together. So far, my favorite one is The Horsehead Nebula. Every time I read about this, I always read about how difficult it is to see visually. However, I didn’t find it difficult to image at all! And, as a surprise bonus, NGC 2024, The Flame Nebula snuck into my field of view!
I’ll admit I’m not More >
NGC 891
010 years ago
by admin
in Astrophotography
This image is actually from data gathered on Aug 17. Heavily speckled from duddy darks (note the red, blue, green hot pixels), but this image still turned out alright. This stack was done on the NP101is, but with the 1.5 imaging extender on. No filters were used; 3 minute exposures autoguided with PHD and a new Orion autoguider (and not planetary imager!) This could certainly benefit from some additional aperture but I was still pretty pleased with how well it came out. Nice spiral edge-on More >
