Tag: Virgo

M87 Virgo A Galaxy

May 6, 2019
Galaxy
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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:

TelescopeNewton 254/1000 mm
Aperture254 mm
Focal length1060 mm
MountGemini G53f
AutoguidingZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm
CameraZWO 071 Pro @-15°C
CorrectorExplore Scientific HR coma corrector
FiltersAstronomik L-1 - UV IR Block Filter
Exposure55x300s, Gain 94, bin 1x1,
Date2019-05-06

M59 and M60 Galaxies

April 21, 2018
Galaxy
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Galactic season continues. This night I managed to capture many galaxies in one shot. Specifically, it’s Messier 59 Galaxy, located in the center, Messier 60 Galaxy at the top, two visually smaller galaxies – NGC 4606 and NGC 4607, located at the bottom right and NGC 4637, NGC 4638, located in the center left of the picture. All these galaxies are located in constellation Virgo and they are member of Virgo galactic cluster.

The picture is a stack of 54 pictures, each 5 minutes exposure time, i.e. 4.5 hours of total integration time.

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
Exposure54x300s, Gain 94, bin 1x1,
Date2018-04-21

M104 Sombrero galaxy

March 29, 2017
Galaxy
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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