Tag: Newton 254/1000

M100 Blow dryer galaxy, NGC 4312 Galaxy

April 6, 2018
Galaxy
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Messier 100 is a spiral galaxy sometimes called Blow Dryer Galaxy. It is located in the constellation Coma Berenices and it is approximately 55 million light-years far from Earth. The diameter is 107 000 light-years, which makes it comparable to our home galaxy Milky Way. M100 is accompanied by small satellite galaxies NGC4323 and NGC4328. The bigger galaxy on the left is called NGC4312.

Finally, nice weather arrived, and what else to photograph during the spring than some galaxies in the Virgo Cluster. The picture is a stack of 40 images, 5 minutes of exposure time each. The star shapes are not as they should be. I was testing a new camera ZWO ASI071 MC Pro and I placed the UV IR cut filter far from the sensor, in order to avoid reflections. The filter is not perfectly attached, so probably it’s tilted. I will have to improve that.

Technical details:

Telescope:Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture:254 mm
Focal length:1000 mm
MountGemini G53f
AutoguidingZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
Camera:ZWO ASI071MC Pro
Corrector:GPU
Filters:UV IR cut
Exposure:40xRGB 300s
Date:2018-04-06

M95 Galaxy

March 29, 2018
Galaxy
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Messier 95 is a spiral galaxy, which is located in constellation Leo. It is 38 million light-years away from Solar system and it belongs to a group of galaxies with M96 and M105. M95 belongs between the galaxies intensively studied by Hubble Space Telescope, in order to determine Hubble’s constant. Collected results were adjusted with help of satellite Hipparcos and the distance of this galaxy was estimated. The galaxy is drifting away from us by speed 766 km/s.

Technical details

Telescope:Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture:254 mm
Focal length:1000 mm
MountGemini G53f
AutoguidingZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
Camera:ZWO ASI071MC Pro
Corrector:GPU
Filters:UV IR cut
Exposure:18xRGB 180s
Date:2018-03-29

M67 Open cluster

March 21, 2018
Open cluster
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Messier 67 is an open cluster located in constellation Cancer and it’s one of the oldest open cluster from Messier catalogue. Therefore it was examined by many scientific studies. The diameter of the cluster is approximately 20 light-years and it’s roughly 2700 light-years away from Earth.

Technical details:

TelescopeNewton 254/1000 mm
Aperture254 mm
Focal length1000 mm
MountGemini G53f
AutoguidingZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
CameraZWO 071 Pro @-15°C
CorrectorGPU
FiltersIR UV cut
Exposure25x180s, Gain 94, bin 1x1,
Date2018-03-21

 

M96 M105 NGC3384 NGC3389 Galaxies

March 21, 2018
Galaxy
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Four bright galaxies in one shot! M96 on the lower left, which I already captured last year. At that time I didn’t know, that there are other galaxies, which can fit into the field of view of my camera. These are: M105 circular, lowest in the galactic triangle, MGC3384 – right in the galactic triangle and NGC3389 – left one in the galactic triangle. These galaxies are located in the constellation Lion and they are visible during the spring. Therefore I call the spring the season of galaxies. The weather last year was much better and I captured many of them. For instance here or here or here or here or here.

Technical details

Telescope:Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture:254 mm
Focal length:1000 mm
MountGemini G53f
AutoguidingZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
Camera:ZWO ASI071MC Pro
Corrector:GPU
Filters:UV IR cut
Exposure:30xRGB 180s
Date:2018-03-21

M50 Open cluster

March 21, 2018
Open cluster
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M50 is an open cluster located in constellation Monoceros, visually not far from the brightest star Sirius. It was catalogued by Charles Messier in 1772 and it’s approximately 3000 light-years away from Earth. The latest research was conducted in 2012 and confirmed that the cluster contains 508 stars – you can try to count them.

Technical details

Telescope:Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture:254 mm
Focal length:1000 mm
MountGemini G53f
AutoguidingZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
Camera:ZWO ASI071MC Pro
Corrector:GPU
Filters:UV IR cut
Exposure:25xRGB
Date:2018-03-21

Moon – Waxing Crescent

March 21, 2018
Solar system
0 Comment

After long period of bad weather, I had the opportunity to take the telescope out and enjoy the clear skies. In the early evening, waxing crescent was setting down, so I took the opportunity and pointed my newton on the Moon. The illumination was only 34%, which means that as soon it gets dark, the Moon is not far from horizon and you have to capture it through thick layer of turbulent atmosphere. The picture is a stack of 700 frames.

Technical details

Telescope:Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture:254 mm
Focal length:1000 mm
MountGemini G53f
Autoguiding-
Camera:ZWO ASI 071
Corrector:GPU coma corrector
Filters:UV IR cut 2"
Exposure:8x1000 frames, best 700 selected
Date:2018-03-21

NGC281 Pacman nebula

January 13, 2018
H II nebula
0 Comment

NGC281 is a HII region, which reminds a head of the main character in very popular game from nineties. It is located in constellation Cassiopeia and it 9500 light-year far from us. This nebula was discovered long time ago by Edward Emerson Barnard and it is possible to observe this nebula by reasonable sized telescope under dark skies. Well, I wouldn’t see probably anything, because I live in light polluted area, therefore I had to use narrow band filters, which block the light pollution.

The picture is composed out of 66 narrow band exposures, which means slightly more than one hour per channel. First one is bi-color composition of hydrogen and oxygen, the others are in Hubble palette (hydrogen in green, oxygen in blue and sulfur in red).

Technical details

Telescope:Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture:254 mm
Focal length:1000 mm
MountGemini G53f
AutoguidingTS 60 mm, ZWO 174 MM
Camera:Moravian instruments G2 8300M @-30C
Corrector:GPU coma corrector
Filters:Baader narrow band
Exposure:8x22xHa, 22xOIII, 22xSII 180 s, bin 1x1,
Date:2018-01-13

 

M106 Galaxy

March 30, 2017
Galaxy
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Galactic harvest continues. Here again, I focused my scope on previously photographed DSO. The galaxy is located in the constellation Canes Venatici (hunting dogs) not far from the famous Ursa Major (great bear) and is approximately 24 million light-years from us.

Telescope:Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture:254 mm
Focal length:1000 mm
Mount:Gemini GF53f
Autoguiding:Orion Mini, TS 50/160 mm
Camera:Moravian instruments G2 8300M @-30C
Corrector:GPU
Filters:Baader L, RGB
Exposure:27xL 300s bin 1×1, 15xRGB 200 s bin 2×2
Date:2017-03-30

M104 Sombrero galaxy

March 29, 2017
Galaxy
0 Comment

Spring is a season of the galaxies. Winter nebulae are gone and constellations Lion, Ursa Major, or Virgo offer stunning deep-space objects. The moon was hidden and the wetter was finally good, so I took to opportunity and pointed my telescope into the constellation Virgo and collected some light coming from the Sombrero galaxy, which has been on the way for 32 million years. This galaxy resembles a Mexican hut because it’s surrounded by a dust belt. This is my second attempt to capture M104. The first one, two years ago, was not that successful. Anyway, it’s better than last time, but I still cannot get to the quality of the Hubble Space Telescope. However, my equipment has a better price/performance ratio 🙂

Telescope:Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture:254 mm
Focal length:1000 mm
Mount:Gemini GF53f
Autoguiding:Orion Mini, TS 50/160 mm
Camera:Moravian instruments G2 8300M @-30C
Corrector:GPU
Filters:Baader L, RGB
Exposure:45xL 300s bin 1×1, 22xRGB 200 s bin 2×2
Date:2017-03-29

NGC6992 Veil nebula

October 31, 2016
Supernova remnant
0 Comment

The most photographed deep-space object by me is the Veil nebula. I simply love this supernova remnant. The previous mosaic picture revealed that the eastern part is slightly brighter, therefore I pointed my telescope with a longer focal length and made this bi-color picture.

Telescope:Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture:254 mm
Focal length:1000 mm
Mount:Gemini GF53f
Autoguiding:Orion Mini, TS 50/160 mm
Camera:Moravian instruments G2 8300M @-30C
Corrector:GPU
Filters:Baader Ha, OIII
Exposure:21xHa, 19xOIII 300 s bin 1×1
Date:2016-10-31

NGC 7635 Bubble Nebula

November 15, 2015
H II nebula
0 Comment

NGC 7635, known as Bubble Nebula is an HII region in the constellation Cassiopeia. Bubble shape structure is caused by the solar wind caused by a massive star.

Well, I must admit, the Hubble Space Telescope has a better resolution, but my telescope has a better price-performance ratio.

Telescope:Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture:254 mm
Focal length:730 mm
MountGemini G53f
AutoguidingZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
Camera:Moravian instruments G2 8300M @ -30C
Corrector:ASA 0.73 reducer
Filters:Baader Ha, OIII, SII
Exposure:39x Ha, 35x OIII, 32x SII, 300 s, bin 1×1

NGC6960 Veil nebula

September 9, 2015
Supernova remnant
2 Comments

The previous picture of the Veil nebula was done by using a focal length of 1000 mm. Since this nebula is huge, I wanted to capture also the other parts. This time I reduced the focal length to 730 mm, by ASA corrector/reducer.

Telescope:Newton 254/1000 mm
Aperture:254 mm
Focal length:730 mm
MountSkywatcher EQ-6
AutoguidingOrion Mini Autoguider
Camera:Moravian instruments G2 8300M @ -30C
Corrector:ASA 2″ corrector/reducer
Filters:Baader Ha, OIII
Exposure:15x Ha, 15x OIII, 600 s, bin 1×1