NGC 292 Small Magellanic Cloud

Small Magellanic Cloud, shorty SMC, is a dwarf galaxy, which is gravitationally bonded to the Milky Way. It has an irregular shape, which resembles a droplet. Compared to the Milky Way’s size (100’000 light-years in diameter) it’s significantly smaller (7’000 light-years in diameter) and it’s roughly 200’000 light-years far from us.

SMC is visually accompanied by two globular clusters. NGC 104 at the top and NGC 362 at the left side. The clusters are obviously much closer to us than the galaxy.

This galaxy is quite important for astronomy, because Henrietta Swan Leavitt, an astronomer at the Harvard College Observatory, discovered several variable stars in this galaxy. Variable stars change the intensity in periodic cycles. So, based on the apparent brightness of the variable star, the distance can be determined. Since this discovery, mankind can measure the distance between the galaxies.

The picture is a stack of 159 photos, 2 minutes each. This means in total I was photographing this object for 5.3 hours.

TelescopeWilliam Optics RedCat 51/250 f4.9
Aperture51 mm
Focal length250 mm
MountiOptron Skyguider Pro
AutoguidingZWO 178MM, QHY Mini Guide Scope 30/130 mm
CameraZWO ASI071 MC Pro @-10 °C
Filtersnone
Exposure159x120s, ISO 1600
Date2022-05-30

IC 4592 Blue Horsehead nebula

IC 4592, also known as the Blue Horsehead Nebula, is a stunning region of dust and gas located in the constellation Scorpius, about 4000 light-years away from Earth. The nebula gets its name from the shape of its central dark cloud, which appears to resemble the head of a horse. The blue color of the nebula comes from the reflection of light from nearby stars (Nu Scorpii) off of the dust particles in the cloud.

TelescopeWilliam Optics RedCat 51/250 f4.9
Aperture51 mm
Focal length250 mm
MountiOptron Skyguider Pro
AutoguidingZWO 178MM, QHY Mini Guide Scope 30/130 mm
CameraZWO ASI071 MC Pro @-10 °C
Filters
Exposure50x180s, Gain 95
Date2022-05-30

NGC 5139 Omega Centauri

NGC 5139 Omega Centauri is the biggest globular cluster in Milky Way. Even though this cluster is approximately 17 thousand light-years away from Earth, it can be seen even by unaided eyes. This is because it contains roughly 10 million stars. I managed to see this cluster in a very dark place in Namibia and I must say, it’s brighter than any other object in the sky.

TelescopeSharpstar 94EDPH
Aperture94 mm
Focal length414 mm
MountRainbow Astro RST 135
AutoguidingZWO 174MM, QHY Mini Guide Scope
CameraZWO 2600MM @-10°C
CorrectorF4.4 Quad Reducer
FiltersAntlia LRGB
Exposure38x180s L, 12x180s RGB, Gain 100, bin 1x1,
Date2022-05-30

Milky Way in Namibia

Milky Way is usually visible only if you are in a dark location. For example, there is a desert called Kalahari in Namibia. In this desert, there is an Astro farm Kiripotib. You will see the Milky Way in all its beauty if you get there. We spent several nights just looking at it:

I rented this observatory for a couple of days. Inside is a heavy-duty equatorial mound MK-100, combined with Meade 10″ telescope, which allowed me to capture stunning galaxies like NGC 6744 Galaxy or M83 Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, or NGC 5128 Centaurus A Galaxy.

Milky Way formed an arc in the evening spanning from east to west. Later, it rose up and formed a line from south to north. What a fantastic view we had:

LensSamyang XP 14mm f/2.4 @f2.8
CameraCanon EOS 6Da
MountiOptron Skyguider Pro
Exposure50x20s, ISO 1600
Date2021-05-30
LensSamyang 24mm f/1.4 @f2.8
CameraCanon EOS 6Da
MountiOptron Skyguider Pro
Exposure75x12s, ISO 1600
Date2021-05-31

And here is the most complex picture spanning from the Lagoon Nebula on the left to the Carina Nebula on the right. The picture was made as a panorama stitch of 6 photos. Each photo is a stack of 10 images, each 60 seconds long. This means in total I spent only one hour on this photo.

LensSigma 50 mm f1.4 Art @f2.8
CameraCanon EOS 6Da
MountiOptron Skyguider Pro
Exposure60x60s, ISO 1600
Date2021-05-28

IC 2944 Running Chicken Nebula

IC 2944 Running Chicken Nebula is an H II region located in the constellation Centaurus. It’s a galactic neighbor of the Carina Nebula because they both belong to the Sagittarius spiral arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. I must admit that this was my secondary nebula target for my trip to Namibia. Therefore, I didn’t dedicate much time – only 3 hours. However, the details popped out, so overall, I am happy with this “fake” Hubble palette picture.

And here is an even more “fake” picture, where the stars are completely removed. However, the nebulosity gained a 3D-like look.

TelescopeSharpstar 94EDPH
Aperture94 mm
Focal length414 mm
MountRainbow Astro RST 135
AutoguidingZWO 174MM, QHY Mini Guide Scope
CameraZWO 2600MM @-10°C
CorrectorF4.4 Quad Reducer
FiltersAntlia Ha, OIII, SII 3 nm
Exposure36x300s, Gain 100, bin 1x1,
Date2022-05-29

NGC 6752 Globular Cluster

NCG 6752 is a globular cluster located in the constellation Pavo. It contains approximately 100’000 stars and it is 13’000 light-years from Earth. Like most recently captured deep space objects, this cluster is visible only from the southern hemisphere.

My intention was to capture the cluster with the galaxies surrounding it, but since this part of the sky is full of stars, the galaxies are almost hidden.

TelescopeSharpstar 94EDPH
Aperture94 mm
Focal length414 mm
MountRainbow Astro RST 135
AutoguidingZWO 174MM, QHY Mini Guide Scope
CameraZWO 2600MM @-10°C
CorrectorF4.4 Quad Reducer
FiltersAntlia LRGB
Exposure36x180s L, 10x180s RGB, Gain 100, bin 1x1,
Date2022-05-29

Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex

The Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex is a dense region of gas and dust located in the constellation Ophiuchus, near the border with Scorpius. It is one of the closest star-forming regions to Earth and contains a number of young, hot stars as well as protostars still in the process of forming. The cloud complex is known for its striking red and blue colors, caused by the presence of ionized gas and reflection of starlight off dust grains. Basically, nearly all the colors of the universe can be seen here.

TelescopeWilliam Optics RedCat 51/250 f4.9
Aperture51 mm
Focal length250 mm
MountiOptron Skyguider Pro
AutoguidingZWO 178MM, QHY Mini Guide Scope 30/130 mm
CameraCanon EOS 6Da
Filtersnone
Exposure60x120s, ISO 1600
Date2022-05-29

NGC 6744 Galaxy

NGC 6744 is a galaxy in the constellation Pavo. The galaxy has beautiful spiral arms, which attracted my attention and I spent 4 hours collecting the light coming from this 28 million light-years distant deep space object.

TelescopeMeade 10"
Aperture254 mm
Focal length2097 mm
MountMK 100K
AutoguidingMGEN 240 mm
CameraZWO 071 @-10°C
CorrectorTS 0.67 reducer
Filtersnone
Exposure78x180s, Gain 95, bin 1x1,
Date2022-05-28

M83 Southern Pinwheel Galaxy

Messier 83, sometimes called Southern Pinwheel Galaxy is one of the most difficult deep space objects in the whole of Messier’s catalog. It is located between the constellations Hydra and Centaurus. This galaxy has a very low southern declination (close to the horizon) and this makes it difficult to photograph in Central Europe. I tried a few years ago in La Palma, but my attempt was ruined by clouds and bad weather in general. This time I was better prepared: traveled south and hired a telescope with a much longer focal length. However, after the acquisition in the post-processing stage, I noticed that the final image is not that sharp and it was not really publishable. I was quite disappointed and put the picture in the archive. Recently I came back to this image because a new tool for sharpening was released – BlurXTerminator. I must say, this plugin for Pixinsight makes magical things. It reduces the stars and simultaneously makes the non-stellar object significantly sharper. I managed to turn an unfocused picture into this:

TelescopeMeade 10″
Aperture254 mm
Focal length2097 mm
MountMK 100K
AutoguidingMGEN 240 mm
CameraZWO 071 @-10°C
CorrectorTS 0.67 reducer
Filtersnon
Exposure52x180s, Gain 95, bin 1×1,
Date2022-05-28

NGC 3372 Eta Carina Nebula

Eta Carina Nebula is the southern hemisphere’s most prominent deep space object. In fact, this nebula is the reason why I packed all my portable astro-gear and flew to Namibia. Carina is approximately 4x brighter than the Orion nebula, which could be considered a highlight of the northern hemisphere. Moreover, it’s much larger. The nebula is a combination of emission and dark nebulae, located in the constellation Carina and it’s roughly 8500 light-years away from us.

It was a struggle to get the rig working in Namibia, but after two nights I managed and the next day, when I processed the pictures, a big smile appeared on my face. Well done, mission accomplished.

During our stay at Kiripotib Namibia, the other guest rented a 14.5-inch Dobsonian telescope and allowed us to have a look at the Carina (thank you so much, Peter). It was a simply spectacular view. Such a huge aperture combined with TeleVue eyepieces – WOW effect was there. Moreover, the Dobsonian had a filter wheel with OIII, UHC, and H-beta filters. Just by turning it, one could see a completely different nebulosity. I was really happy to see this beautiful deep space object with my own eyes.

Here is the processed picture in the Hubble color palette.

And here is bi-color version (R-Ha, G-OIII, B-OIII)

TelescopeSharpstar 94EDPH
Aperture94 mm
Focal length414 mm
MountRainbow Astro RST 135
AutoguidingZWO 174MM, QHY Mini Guide Scope
CameraZWO 2600MM @-10°C
CorrectorF4.4 Quad Reducer
FiltersAntlia Ha, OIII, SII 3 nm
Exposure87x300s, Gain 100, bin 1x1,
Date2022-05-27

Saturn

I have been chasing this planet for a very long time. Saturn is the most beautiful planet in the Solar System and yet I haven’t been able to photograph it properly. This is mainly caused by the fact that in the last years this planet had very low southern declination (it has been quite close to the horizon). Therefore, I was not able to capture it from home, and during my travels, to southern places, I never had a suitable telescope with me. Finally, I got an opportunity. I was in the southern hemisphere, specifically in Namibia, and I rented Meade 10″ Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. The first night I photographed Centarus A Galaxy. Early in the morning around 4 a.m. I came to park to scope, but before that, I removed the ASI071 camera. Focal length 3130 mm I prolonged by TeleVue 2.5 Barlow lens to nearly 8 m, attached ZWO ASI485, and captured 2000 frames. Then I selected 25% best frames and here we go:

TelescopeMeade 10"
Aperture254 mm
Focal length7825 mm
MountMK 100K
Autoguidingnon
CameraZWO ASI485MC
CorrectorTeleVue Barlow 2.5x
Filtersnon
Exposure2000x180ms, Gain 222, 25% selected,
Date2022-05-28

NGC 5128 Centaurus A Galaxy

NGC 5128 Centaurus A is a galaxy, which can be found in cancellation, you can guess which one, Centarus. This galaxy is not visible from Europe or from the northern hemisphere. If anyone wants to observe or photograph it, he has to go south. And this is precisely what I did. I went to Namibia, specifically to an Astrofarm Kiripotib. I went there with a plan and this Galaxy was my first and primary target. As for most galaxies, one needs a long focal length. Therefore, I rented a telescope there. Specifically, it was Meade 10″. I brought my own focal reducer TS 0.67 and attached my old ASI071. I made in a total of 133 pictures, each 3 minutes long, and stacked them together. This means nearly 7 hours of exposure time. The dust cloud blocking the light from the galaxy really popped out with the little help of deconvolution.

TelescopeMeade 10"
Aperture254 mm
Focal length2097 mm
MountMK 100K
AutoguidingMGEN 240 mm
CameraZWO 071 @-10°C
CorrectorTS 0.67 reducer
Filtersnon
Exposure133x180s, Gain 95, bin 1x1,
Date2022-05-27

NGC2264 Cone nebula

The Cone Nebula is a molecular cloud of excited hydrogen gas, located in the constellation Monoceros. It belongs to the group of nebulae, which can be observed/photographed during the winter in the northern hemisphere. I tried to capture this object a long time ago without success. I must say, it’s a very difficult one, so I attempted this time with new equipment. Specifically new extra, super, mega narrowband filters, having a bandwidth of only 3 nm. Combined with a small 6″ Newtonian telescope I was able to generate a pretty decent picture.

Here is a fake Hubble palette edit:

And here is a more natural-looking bi-color edit:

TelescopeNewton 150/600 mm
Aperture150 mm
Focal length570 mm
MountRainbow Astro RST 135
AutoguidingZWO 174MM, QHY Mini Guide Scope
CameraZWO 2600MM @-10°C
CorrectorMaxField coma corrector
FiltersAntlia Ha, OIII, SII 3 nm
Exposure142x300s, Gain 100, bin 1x1,
Date2022-03-09

NGC2174 Monkey Head Nebula

Another nebula, which resembles a head of an animal is designated NGC 2174, sometimes called Monkey Head Nebula. After capturing the Horse Head Nebula in the constellation Orion, I waited for a few days for good weather and pointed my telescope again into the Orion, this time to its northern part. Monkey Head Nebula is an HII region, which is approximately 6400 light-years away from Earth. To find a monkey is not that difficult. There is a baboon’s head on the upper left side, which is looking into the constellation Taurus.

The best way to capture this nebula is by using narrowband filters. For this purpose, I ordered a new monochrome camera ZWO 2600MM with a 2″ filter wheel. The filters are equally important as a camera, so I decided on Antlia 3 nm. As a first light, I must say that this combination works really well. I made in total 90 exposures, 5 minutes each, which means over 7 hours of integration time.

TelescopeNewton 254/1000 mm
Aperture254 mm
Focal length950 mm
MountGemini G53f
AutoguidingZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
CameraZWO 2600MM @-10°C
CorrectorMaxField coma corrector
FiltersAntlia Ha, OIII, SII 3 nm
Exposure90x300s, Gain 100, bin 1x1,
Date2022-03-06

B33 HORSEHEAD NEBULA

Horsehead nebula is IMHO the most beautiful deep space object. It is located in the constellation Orion. Everybody knows this constellation because it can be easily identified by three aligned stars (Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka), which forms the belt of the Orion.

The nebula is very dim. Therefore, visual observation is nearly impossible, unless you have a telescope, having at least 1 meter in diameter. To photograph it, one needs a very long exposure time. I used 5 minutes per image and I took 36 of them. The nebula complex is visually very large, so the optimal focal length should be shorter than 750 mm. I used a Newtonian telescope with a focal length of 1000 mm but reduced to 750 mm by the Nexus coma corrector. It turns the Newtonian into a light-collecting bucket, but the quality suffers from that. The stars in the corners are everything, but round. Moreover, I used dual-band filter Optolong L-eXtreme, which increased the contrast of the nebula, but also made the asymmetric halo around the bright stars. I played a bit with the white balance and pushed the colors into the orange tint, to reach the warmer feeling in cold February.

TelescopeNewton 254/1000 mm
Aperture254 mm
Focal length750 mm
MountGemini G53f
AutoguidingZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
CameraZWO 071 Pro @-10°C
CorrectorNexus coma corrector
FiltersOptolong l-eXtreme
Exposure36x300s, Gain 95, bin 1x1,
Date2022-02-09

IC443 Jellyfish nebula

Jellyfish Nebula is a supernova remnant in the constellation Gemini. A very long time ago a supermassive star exploded and emitted a lot of material into space. It is not clear when exactly it happened, but the latest research dates the explosion between a few thousand years and 30’000 years. The shape definitely resembles a jellyfish, having the head at the top and tentacles at the bottom and overall it looks like it floats in the space. It’s interesting how many nebulae have names related to an animal. For example the Seagull Nebula, the Elephant Trunk Nebula, the Eagle Nebula, the Lobster Nebula, the Horsehead Nebula, etc.

TelescopeNewton 254/1000 mm
Aperture254 mm
Focal length750 mm
MountGemini G53f
AutoguidingZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
CameraZWO 071 Pro @-10°C
CorrectorNexus coma corrector
FiltersOptolong l-eXtreme
Exposure48x300s, Gain 95, bin 1x1,
Date2022-02-06

IC2177 Seagull Nebula

I am not a huge fan of birding, but I captured this “Seagull” with pleasure. Initially, I noticed on my wide-angle photo, that there is a giant nebula north of Sirius. I checked in Stellarium what would be the optimal focal length and found out that this is a perfect target for William Optics RedCat combined with an APS-C sensor. Moreover, I was able to fit the M50 open cluster into the field of view (on the left side).

TelescopeWilliam Optics RedCat 51/250 f4.9
Aperture51 mm
Focal length250 mm
MountRainbow Astro RST 135
AutoguidingZWO 178MM, QHY Mini Guide Scope 30/130 mm
CameraZWO 071 Pro @-10°C
Correctorno
FiltersOptolong L-eXtreme 2"
Exposure85x180s, gain 95
Date2022-01-23

NGC1499 California Nebula

California Nebula is a cloud of ionized hydrogen gas (HII region), which can be found in the constellation Perseus. The nebula is 1320 light-years away from Earth and it is 100 light-years long. Visual observation is very difficult, due to very low brightness. The first person who spotted this nebula was Edward Emerson Barnard in 1885. Since it is an emission nebula, it can be relatively easily photographed even under the light-polluted sky, with help of a narrowband filter.

I always wanted to capture this nebula, but the focal length must be relatively short. This is a perfect opportunity to test the William Optics RedCat. This time not with Canon EOS 6Da, but I attached a cooled astro camera ZWO ASI071 and placed the Optolong L-eXtreme dual-band filter.

TelescopeWilliam Optics RedCat 51/250 f4.9
Aperture51 mm
Focal length250 mm
MountRainbow Astro RST 135
AutoguidingZWO 178MM, QHY Mini Guide Scope 30/130 mm
CameraZWO 071 Pro @-10°C
Correctorno
FiltersOptolong L-eXtreme 2"
Exposure105x180s, gain 95
Date2022-01-23

NGC2237 Rosette Nebula

A second deep space object, on which I tested the combination of Canon 6Da with WO RedCat was the NGC 2237 Rosette Nebula (a short description can be found in my previous post). The field of view of this telescope, combined with a full-frame sensor of 6Da is huge. The Rosette on the left can be simultaneously captured with the Cone Nebula NGC 2264 (on the left). I simply love this scope and I cannot wait to test it under the dark sky in broadband.

TelescopeWilliam Optics RedCat 51/250 f4.9
Aperture51 mm
Focal length250 mm
MountiOptron SkyGuider Pro
AutoguidingZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
CameraCanon EOS 6Da
Correctorno
FiltersOptolong L-eXtreme 2"
Exposure42x180s, Iso 1600
Date2022-01-12

IC1396 Elephant Trunk Nebula

I have a new toy. Motivated by a quite bad experience with ASKAR 180 FMA and its chromatic aberration I started to search for a better pocket-size telescope. To decide which one was quite simple. I would say there is nothing sharper and nothing with a better reputation than William Optics RedCat 51mm. The detailed comparison with ASKAR will come a bit later. This is the first light, where I tested the portable setup – iOptron Skyguider on a tripod, Canon 6Da, and the RedCat. The Moon was shining like crazy, therefore I attached the dual narrow band filter Optolong L-eXtreme filter. After 3 hours of collecting the filtrated photons, a pretty nice picture came out of it. I took this DSO using the same camera combined with the ASKAR 180FMA (link) but in broadband. Therefore, it’s like comparing apples and oranges. However, the RedCat looks much sharper and it contains more details. I cannot wait to test the RedCat under dark skies.

TelescopeWilliam Optics RedCat 51/250 f4.9
Aperture51 mm
Focal length250 mm
MountiOptron SkyGuider Pro
AutoguidingZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
CameraCanon 6Da
Correctorno
FiltersOptolong L-eXtreme 2"
Exposure62x180s, Iso 1600
Date2022-01-12