DSO – AstroFotoBlog

NGC7023 Iris nebula

September 3, 2019 JakubK

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Iris nebula, known as NGC 7023, is a reflection/dark nebula located in constellation Cepheus. It’s 1300 light years far from the Solar system and it has 6 light years in diameter. In the middle of the nebula rules so called baby star, which is only few thousand years old. The star was created partially from the gas which is now illuminated.

The picture was taken under dark skies of Greek island Karpathos during my 2019 expedition. Unfortunately, the weather was very bad. There wasn’t a single cloud on the sky, but it was extremely windy, therefore I got only one single steady night and this night I wanted to capture also other deep space objects. Therefore the picture is a stack of only 37 pictures, each 2 minutes long.

Technical details:

Telescope	Newton 150/600 mm
Aperture	150 mm
Focal length	630 mm
Mount	Avalon M-Zero
Autoguiding	ZWO 174MM, Guidescope 30 mm
Camera	ZWO 071 Pro @-5°C
Corrector	Explore Scientific HR
Filters	Astronomik L-1 - UV IR Block Filter
Exposure	37x120s, Gain 94, bin 1x1,
Date	2019-09-03

M72 Globular Cluster in Aquarius

August 9, 2019 JakubK

Globular cluster

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Aquarius Astronomik L-1 UV IR Block Filter Cluster DSO Explore scientific coma corrector Gemini gf53 Globular cluster M72 Messier72 Newton 254/1000 ZWO ASI071MC Pro

Messier 72 is a globular cluster, which can be located in constellation Aquarius. The cluster is approximately 55 light-years from us, which makes it one of the distant objects from Messier catalogue. M72 is very special deep space object for me, because it’s the last object of Messier catalogue captured by me. Now I am thinking, shall I continue and try to capture NGC catalogue? Or shall I move to southern hemisphere? I am definitely sure that some of the Messier’s objects need to be recaptured.

Technical details:

Telescope	Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture	254 mm
Focal length	1060 mm
Mount	Gemini G53f
Autoguiding	ZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
Camera	ZWO 071 Pro @-10°C
Corrector	Explore Scientific HR coma corrector
Filters	Astronomik L-1 - UV IR Block Filter
Exposure	60x180s, Gain 94, bin 1x1,
Date	2019-08-09

M10 Globular Cluster

June 2, 2019 JakubK

Globular cluster

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Astronomik L-1 UV IR Block Filter Cluster DSO Explore scientific coma corrector Gemini gf53 Globular cluster M10 Messier10 Newton 254/1000 Ophiuchus ZWO ASI071MC Pro

Messier 10 is a globular cluster located in constellation Ophiuchus. This cluster belongs to one of the closest to the Earth – the distance is “only” 14 300 light-years. It has visually many globular neighbors: M12 northwest, M14 east and M107 southwest.

Technical details:

Telescope	Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture	254 mm
Focal length	1060 mm
Mount	Gemini G53f
Autoguiding	ZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
Camera	ZWO 071 Pro @-10°C
Corrector	Explore Scientific HR coma corrector
Filters	Astronomik L-1 - UV IR Block Filter
Exposure	38x180s, Gain 94, bin 1x1,
Date	2019-06-02

M12 Globular Cluster

June 1, 2019 JakubK

Globular cluster

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Astronomik L-1 UV IR Block Filter Cluster DSO Explore scientific coma corrector Gemini gf53 Globular cluster M12 Messier12 Newton 254/1000 Ophiuchus ZWO ASI071MC Pro

Messier 12 is a globular cluster located in constellation Ophiuchus. The cluster is 15,700 light-years away from Earth and contains approximately 200,000 stars. There are another two globular clusters in the vicinity: M10 south-east and M14 east.

Technical details:

Telescope	Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture	254 mm
Focal length	1060 mm
Mount	Gemini G53f
Autoguiding	ZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
Camera	ZWO 071 Pro @-10°C
Corrector	Explore Scientific HR coma corrector
Filters	Astronomik L-1 - UV IR Block Filter
Exposure	32x180s, Gain 94, bin 1x1,
Date	2019-06-01

M40 Double Star

June 1, 2019 JakubK

Asterism

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Asterism Double star DSO Explore scientific coma corrector Gemini gf53 M40 Messier40 Newton 254/1000 Ursa Major ZWO ASI071MC Pro

Messier 40 is a double star located in constellation Ursa Major (in the middle of the picture). Charles Messier was searching for the nebula in this part of the sky, which was observed by Johannes Hevelius. He was unable to locate any nebulous object, but he found this double star and catalogued them under the number 40. Double star should be a system of two stars, which are bonded by the gravity, but the latest measurements demonstrated that these two stars are close to each other only visually and they are completely unrelated.

Technical details:

Telescope	Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture	254 mm
Focal length	1060 mm
Mount	Gemini G53f
Autoguiding	ZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
Camera	ZWO 071 Pro @-10°C
Corrector	Explore Scientific HR coma corrector
Filters	Astronomik L-1 - UV IR Block Filter
Exposure	40x120s, Gain 94, bin 1x1,
Date	2019-06-01

M102 Spindle Galaxy

May 24, 2019 JakubK

Galaxy

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Astronomik L-1 UV IR Block Filter Draco DSO Galaxy Gemini gf53 Lenticular galaxy M102 Messier102 Newton 254/1000 Spindle Galaxy ZWO ASI071MC Pro

Galactic season continues. After capturing M64 galaxy, I pointed my telescope to another one. Specifically to Messier 102 called Spindle Galaxy, which is a lenticular galaxy in constellation Draco. Afterwards I went to sleep and the telescope was collecting the photons coming from there. The light had to travel very long distance, because this galaxy is approximately 40 million light-years from Earth.

Technical details:

Telescope	Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture	254 mm
Focal length	1060 mm
Mount	Gemini G53f
Autoguiding	ZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
Camera	ZWO 071 Pro @-10°C
Corrector	Explore Scientific HR coma corrector
Filters	Astronomik L-1 - UV IR Block Filter
Exposure	55x180s, Gain 94, bin 1x1,
Date	2019-05-24

M64 Black Eye Galaxy

May 23, 2019 JakubK

Galaxy

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Astronomik L-1 UV IR Block Filter Black Eye Galaxy Coma Berenices DSO Evil Eye Galaxy Explore scientific coma corrector Galaxy Gemini gf53 M64 Messier64 Newton 254/1000 ZWO ASI071MC Pro

Messier 64 is a galaxy, which can be located in constellation Coma Berenices. The name “Black Eye” or sometimes “Evil Eye” got from the central dark cloud, which blocks partially the light coming from there. This galaxy is relatively close to us – only 17 million light-year, which is significantly less compared to visually neighboring galaxies in constellation Virgo.

Technical details:

Telescope	Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture	254 mm
Focal length	1060 mm
Mount	Gemini G53f
Autoguiding	ZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
Camera	ZWO 071 Pro @-10°C
Corrector	Explore Scientific HR coma corrector
Filters	Astronomik L-1 - UV IR Block Filter
Exposure	24x180s, Gain 94, bin 1x1,
Date	2019-05-23

M53 Globular Cluster

May 13, 2019 JakubK

Globular cluster

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Astronomik L-1 UV IR Block Filter Cluster Coma Berenices DSO Explore scientific coma corrector Gemini gf53 Globular cluster M53 Messier53 Newton 254/1000 ZWO ASI071MC Pro

Messier 53 is a globular cluster located in constellation Coma Berenices. This cluster is quite far from galactic center of the Milky Way (60 000 light-year), which makes it to be located on the outer edge of our galaxy. However, it heading towards the center with speed approximately 63 km/s. The cluster contains 500 000 stars, but this cannot be verified by the photo I took, because it is 58 000 light-year from Earth and my telescope has very small aperture to resolve this kind of details.

Technical details:

Telescope	Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture	254 mm
Focal length	1060 mm
Mount	Gemini G53f
Autoguiding	ZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
Camera	ZWO 071 Pro @-10°C
Corrector	Explore Scientific HR coma corrector
Filters	Astronomik L-1 - UV IR Block Filter
Exposure	45x300s, Gain 94, bin 1x1,
Date	2019-05-13

M87 Virgo A Galaxy

May 6, 2019 JakubK

Galaxy

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Astronomik L-1 UV IR Block Filter DSO Explore scientific coma corrector Galaxy M87 Messier87 Newton 254/1000 Virgo Virgo A Virgo A Galaxy ZWO ASI071MC Pro

I came back from La Palma, disappointed by the weather. Surprisingly, back home was nice Moonless weather, so I took my telescope out and captured Messier 87, which is bright and super massive galaxy in constellation Virgo. It’s one of the largest elliptical galaxy in observable universe and makes the central sport in galactic cluster in Virgo. This galaxy contains a lot of globular clusters, approximately 12000. In comparison our Milky Way contains only 200.

I am really happy that I captured this galaxy this year, because quite recently was the first photo of a super massive black hole in M87 was captured. I think everybody got across the orange picture, which was an effort of many scientists.

Technical details:

Telescope	Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture	254 mm
Focal length	1060 mm
Mount	Gemini G53f
Autoguiding	ZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
Camera	ZWO 071 Pro @-15°C
Corrector	Explore Scientific HR coma corrector
Filters	Astronomik L-1 - UV IR Block Filter
Exposure	55x300s, Gain 94, bin 1x1,
Date	2019-05-06

M68 Globular Cluster

April 30, 2019 JakubK

Globular cluster

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Astronomik L-1 UV IR Block Filter Avalon M-Zero Chasing darkness Cluster DSO Explore scientific coma corrector Globular cluster Hydra La Palma M68 Messier68 Newton 150/600 ZWO ASI071MC Pro

Messier 68 is a globular cluster located in constellation Hydra. The cluster contains more than 100,000 stars and it is approximately 33,000 light-years away from Earth. The best time for observation is between March and July. Observers from Central Europe have disadvantage, because M68 doesn’t raise much above the horizon. Therefore this cluster was one of my primary targets on La Palma, where M68 is much better visible. However, the weather was bad and I only got 40 minutes between the clouds.

Technical details:

Telescope	Newton 150/600 mm
Aperture	150 mm
Focal length	630 mm
Mount	Avalon M-Zero
Autoguiding	ZWO 174MM, Guidescope 30 mm
Camera	ZWO 071 Pro @-10°C
Corrector	Explore Scientific HR
Filters	Astronomik L-1 - UV IR Block Filter
Exposure	19x120s, Gain 94, bin 1x1,
Date	2019-04-30

M61 Galaxy

April 14, 2019 JakubK

Galaxy

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Astronomik L-1 UV IR Block Filter Avalon M-Zero DSO Explore scientific coma corrector Galaxy M61 Messier61 Newton 150/600 ZWO ASI071MC Pro

Spring offers the best conditions for photographing/observing of the galaxies. This is caused by the fact that the constellations Virgo, Leo and Coma Berenices are visible and there are galaxies anywhere you look. This year, I already captured M58 M88 M89 M90 M91 Galaxies, but there are still some galaxies missing, in order to finish Messier catalogue. One of them was M61 (upper left corner). This spiral galaxy is located in constellation Virgo, it has about the same size as our home galaxy Milky Way and it is approximately 52 light-year away from Earth.

Technical details:

Telescope	Newton 150/600 mm
Aperture	150 mm
Focal length	630 mm
Mount	Avalon M-Zero
Autoguiding	ZWO 174MM, Guidescope 30 mm
Camera	ZWO 071 Pro @-15°C
Corrector	Explore Scientific HR
Filters	Astronomik L-1 - UV IR Block Filter
Exposure	74x180s, Gain 94, bin 1x1,
Date	2019-04-06

M88 M91 Galaxies

March 30, 2019 JakubK

Galaxy

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Avalon M-Zero DSO Explore scientific coma corrector Galaxies M88 M91 Messier88 Messier91 Newton 150/600 ZWO ASI071MC Pro

Messier 88 (right) and Messier 91 are the spiral galaxies located between constellations Coma Berenices and Virgo. Both belong to the Virgo Cluster of galaxies and both are approximately 60 light-years away from Earth. The small galaxy at the very left is called NGC 4571.

Technical data:

Telescope	Newton 150/600 mm
Aperture	150 mm
Focal length	630 mm
Mount	Avalon M-Zero
Autoguiding	ZWO 174MM, Guidescope 30 mm
Camera	ZWO 071 Pro @-15°C
Corrector	Explore Scientific HR
Filters	Astronomik L-1 - UV IR Block Filter
Exposure	47x300s, Gain 94, bin 1x1,
Date	2019-03-30

NGC 2237 Rosette Nebula

March 30, 2019 JakubK

H II nebula

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Astronomik L-1 UV IR Block Filter Avalon M-Zero DSO Explore scientific coma corrector HII region Monoceros Nebula Newton 150/600 NGC2237 Rosette nebula ZWO ASI071MC Pro

Rosette Nebula is a giant cloud of hydrogen gas. The gas is ionized by the star cluster located in the middle and therefore emits the light. Circular shape and the color correspond to the name – the rose. The cluster in the middle can be observed even by using small telescope, but the nebulosity is very dim, therefore in order to see it, one would need perfectly dark sky and very large telescope with low magnification. It’s definitely easier to photograph the nebulosity. My previous photo was done through the narrow band filters, which suppress the light pollution and increases the contrast of the picture. Now I tried it with normal one shot color camera and I must conclude that it went quite well.

Technical details:

Telescope	Newton 150/600 mm
Aperture	150 mm
Focal length	630 mm
Mount	Avalon M-Zero
Autoguiding	ZWO 174MM, Guidescope 30 mm
Camera	ZWO 071 Pro @-10°C
Corrector	Explore Scientific HR
Filters	Astronomik L-1 - UV IR Block Filter
Exposure	16x300s, Gain 94, bin 1x1,
Date	2019-03-30

M93 Open Cluster

March 27, 2019 JakubK

Open cluster

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Avalon M-Zero Cluster DSO Explore scientific coma corrector Hutech IDAS LPS-D2 M93 Messier93 Newton 150/600 Open cluster ZWO ASI071MC Pro

Messier 93 is an open cluster located in constellation Puppis and it is about 3400 light-year away from Earth. The cluster is one of those deep space objects, which I cannot see from my home, therefore I had to pack the gear and enjoy starry night outside. Compared to my previous attempt, I took the laser collimator with me and waited sufficiently long the temper the telescope. Well I was surprised that the stars are slightly oval and there is blue halo on one side and red one on the other side of nearly each star. I was speculating if there is something wrong with the optics, but then I realized that this object has very low declination (it’s not far from horizon), therefore it’s exposed to atmosphere refraction/dispersion. This means that the light must pass through the thick layer of an air. In this case the atmosphere works as a lens and bends red and blue light differently. The effect is described here or here.

Technical details:

Telescope	Newton 150/600 mm
Aperture	150 mm
Focal length	630 mm
Mount	Avalon M-Zero
Autoguiding	ZWO 174MM, Guidescope 30 mm
Camera	ZWO 071 Pro @-20°C
Corrector	Explore Scientific HR
Filters	Hutech IDAS LPS-D2
Exposure	30x60s, Gain 136, bin 1x1,
Date	2019-03-27

M76 Little Dumbbell Nebula

February 14, 2019 JakubK

Planetary nebula

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DSO Explore scientific coma corrector Gemini gf53 Hutech IDAS LPS-D2 Little Dumbbell Nebula M76 Messier76 Nebula Newton 254/1000 Perseus Planetary nebula ZWO ASI071MC Pro

Messier 76 is one out of four planetary nebulae in Messier catalogue. It is one of the dimmest objects in this catalogue. The nebula is located in constellation Perseus and it is 2500 light-years away from Earth. M76 was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780 and in the same year was catalogued by Charles Messier.

The picture is a stack of 58 pictures, each 180s, which means nearly 3 hours of the integration time. However, the conditions were far from optimal, because the Moon was in first quarter and illuminating the skies.

Telescope	Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture	254 mm
Focal length	1000 mm
Mount	Gemini G53f
Autoguiding	ZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
Camera	ZWO 071 Pro @-20°C
Corrector	Explore Scientific HR coma corrector
Filters	Hutech IDAS LPS-D2
Exposure	58x180s, Gain 94, bin 1x1,
Date	2019-02-14

M41 Open Cluster

February 12, 2019 JakubK

Open cluster

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Avalon M-Zero Cluster DSO Explore scientific coma corrector Hutech IDAS LPS-D2 M41 Messier41 Newton 150/600 Open cluster Travel ZWO ASI071MC Pro

In order to complete the Messier Catalogue and capture all of its deep space objects, I have to pack the telescope, mount, camera, cables and batteries and set it up somewhere in the nature with better view. Most of the objects I am able to capture from home, but some of them have very low declination (not far above the horizon) and I cannot see them from my terrace, because there is a hill direction south.

Messier 41, open cluster in constellation Canis Major is one of them. So, I packed my car and went to collect some photons. At least I got the opportunity to test my new mount Avalon M-Zero, which replaced my previous portable mount iOptron CEM25P. The old portable mount was working well, but due to conventional equatorial design, one needs a counterweight, which was in this case 5 kg. This means 1/3 of the total weight. M-Zero is basically single fork mount, which utilizes the weight of the motors and housing as a counterweight. Moreover, M-Zero uses belts and pulleys, which means zero backlash. I can confirm – it works very well. I can save few kgs in my case during my next travel expedition.

The night was cold and since I don’t do the astrophotography in the nature frequently, I faced some issues. First, the portable telescope lost the collimation and I didn’t have the laser collimator with me. Second, I started to photograph before the telescope reached the thermal equilibrium, therefore there was a focus drift. This is definitely not my best picture, but I can at least check another Messier object from the list.

Technical details

Telescope	Newton 150/600 mm
Aperture	150 mm
Focal length	630 mm
Mount	Avalon M-Zero
Autoguiding	ZWO 174MM, Guidescope 30 mm
Camera	ZWO 071 Pro @-20°C
Corrector	Explore Scientific HR
Filters	Hutech IDAS LPS-D2
Exposure	39x60s, Gain 136, bin 1x1,
Date	2019-02-12

M37 Open Cluster

February 8, 2019 JakubK

Open cluster

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Auriga Cluster DSO Explore scientific coma corrector Gemini gf53 Hutech IDAS LPS-D2 M37 Messier37 Newton 254/1000 Open cluster ZWO ASI071MC Pro

Messier 37 is the largest and the brightest open cluster in constellation Auriga. Visually, it has two deep space neighboring open clusters M36 and M38. The cluster was discovered by Giovani Battista Hodierna in 1654 and catalogued by Charles Messier in 1764. The cluster contains a lot of red giant stars and it is approximately 4500 light-year away from Earth.

This is the second deep space object, which I captured in a single night. The clouds rolled in, therefore I was able to capture only 30 pictures, 60 second each.

Telescope	Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture	254 mm
Focal length	1000 mm
Mount	Gemini G53f
Autoguiding	ZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
Camera	ZWO 071 Pro @-20°C
Corrector	Explore Scientific HR coma corrector
Filters	Hutech IDAS LPS-D2
Exposure	30x60s, Gain 94, bin 1x1,
Date	2019-02-08

M36 Open Cluster

February 8, 2019 JakubK

Open cluster

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Auriga Cluster DSO Explore scientific coma corrector Gemini gf53 Hutech IDAS LPS-D2 M36 Messier36 Newton 254/1000 Open cluster ZWO ASI071MC Pro

Messier 36 is an open cluster located in constellation Auriga, not far from the bright star Capella. The cluster is approximately 4000 light-years from Earth and it has diameter 14 light-years. There are another two open clusters in the vicinity. Specifically it is M38 (north-west) and M37 (south-east).

The picture is a stack of 50 images, each has 60 s exposure time, which means less than hour of the integration time. Another Messier object was captures. I hope, I will finish the whole Messier catalogue this year.

Telescope	Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture	254 mm
Focal length	1000 mm
Mount	Gemini G53f
Autoguiding	ZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
Camera	ZWO 071 Pro @-20°C
Corrector	Explore Scientific HR coma corrector
Filters	Hutech IDAS LPS-D2
Exposure	50x60s, Gain 94, bin 1x1,
Date	2019-02-08

M46 M47 Open Clusters

January 30, 2019 JakubK

Open cluster

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Avalon M-Zero Cluster Clusters DSO Explore scientific coma corrector M46 M47 Messier46 Messier47 Newton 150/600 Open clusters Puppis ZWO ASI071MC Pro

Messier 46 (left) and Messier 47 are open clusters located in constellation Puppis. Visually, these clusters are quite close to each other and both fit in the field of view of my smallest telescope. Visual distance is not the real distance, because M46 in approximately 5000 light-years away and M47 is much closer, only 1600 light-years away.

M46 contains roughly 500 members and small planetary nebula called NGC2438 can be found there.

The picture is a stack of 22 pictures, 2 minutes exposure each, which means 44 minutes in total. Unfortunately, my telescope was not properly collimated, therefore the stars are elongated in the upper left corner. Well, I must say that this was the first and the last night in January without clouds, therefore I did not get the chance to recapture this deep space object.

Technical details:

Telescope	Newton 150/600 mm
Aperture	150 mm
Focal length	630 mm
Mount	Avalon M-Zero
Autoguiding	ZWO 174MM, OAG
Camera	ZWO 071 Pro @-20°C
Corrector	Explore Scientific HR
Filters	Hutech IDAS LPS-D2
Exposure	22x120s, Gain 94, bin 1x1,
Date	2019-01-30

M79 Globular cluster

January 15, 2019 JakubK

Globular cluster

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Avalon M-Zero Cluster DSO Explore scientific coma corrector Globular cluster Hutech IDAS LPS-D2 M79 Messier79 ZWO ASI071MC Pro

Messier 79 is a globular cluster located in constellation Lepus. This cluster is particularly interesting, because it can be observed/photographed only in winter and there is no other globular cluster in that part of the sky. Most of the globular clusters are visible in summer, when the galactic center is shows its beauty. This means that most of the globular clusters are close to the galactic center, but M79 is actually at the edge of our galaxy. Diameter of our own Milky Way galaxy is approximately 100,000 light-years. M79 is roughly 60,000 light-years far from galactic center and 42,100 light years away from earth. The study conducted in 2003 revealed the concentration of the stars in constellation Canis Major, which is neighboring constellation to Lepus and it was assumed that there is a dwarf galaxy there. Latest studies disproved this theory and the star concentration is assumed to be caused just by the spiral arm of the Milky Way.

This deep space object is extremely difficult to capture due to its very low declination if observed from Central Europe. Moreover, also the optics was not cooperating this night. I must admit it’s the worst picture of a globular cluster I have ever made. But if I want to complete Messier catalogue this year, I have to publish it as it is. I hope I will get an opportunity to recapture M79 next year.

Technical details:

Telescope	Newton 150/600 mm
Aperture	150 mm
Focal length	570 mm
Mount	Avalon M-Zero
Autoguiding	ZWO 174MM, Guidescope 30 mm
Camera	ZWO 071 Pro @-15°C
Corrector	TS MaxField
Filters	Hutech IDAS LPS-D2
Exposure	22x60s, Gain 134, bin 1x1,
Date	2019-01-15

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