As reported at CNN.com, professional astronomers involved with the VISTA telescope in Chile, have obtained a superb image of the Helix nebula in the constellation Aquarius. See the article here.
M33
A large, but low-level surface brightness galaxy. Imaged by the Meade DSI II. Click images to enlarge.
M33 location
Observing log 10/24/2011: M27 imaged with Meade DSI II
A rare clear Fall night. M27 – a closer view.
Right Ascension 19 : 59.6 (h:m)
Declination +22 : 43 (deg:m)
Distance 1.25 (kly)
Visual Brightness 7.4 (mag)
Apparent Dimension 8.0×5.7 (arc min).
See the technical description of this fascinating object here.
8/12/2011: Perseid meteor shower
I will be posting some wide-angle long exposures of the meteor shower here on 8/23/2011.
From Spaceweather.com:
Space Weather News for Aug. 12, 2011
METEOR SHOWER
: The Perseid meteor shower is underway. International observers are now reporting more than 20 meteors per hour as Earth passes through a stream of debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle. Forecasters expect the shower to peak on the night of Aug. 12-13. The best time to look is during the hours before dawn on Saturday morning, August 13th, when the glaring Moon is relatively low and meteor rates are highest. Visit http://spaceweather.com for full coverage.
WATCH OUT FOR THE SPACE STATION, TOO: Consider it a cosmic coincidence.
During the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, the International Space Station will fly over many US towns and cities. The behemoth spacecraft is easy to see if you know when to look. Check SpaceWeather.com’s Simple Satellite Tracker for flyby times: http://spaceweather.com/flybys/
Observing session 7/31/2011
Hot and humid night. Used the Orion heating strap on the objective lense and it kept it dry for the night. Images were captured with Sony a330 DSLR. Prime focus on F/4. Imaged m27, the Dumbell nebula for the first time. Other images are M13 with a very faint NGC6207 on the left of the frame, M57, and M5 (with a satellite passing through). Observed M101, M82, and M51 in Ursa Major, but there is just too much scattered light pollution in that area of the sky at my location to get a good exposure of those targets.
Observing session 7/8/2011
Black River Astronomical Society observing session at the Nielson observatory. 1/2 Moon tonight, so one could not see much up there. Add to the fact the humidity and foggy optics. Used prime focus with Sony a330 on the Meade LXD75 sn-10″. Imaged the Ring nebula (M57) and then the Sunflower galaxy in Ursa Major, but the images were too washed out from the Moonlight. I did get a decent shot of M13 in Hercules though. This is the best shot with all of the Moon glow.
Observing session 6/30/2011
Used the Sony a330 SLR. First is a picture of the heart of Cignus, Sadr. The small open cluster NGC 6910 is seen nearby. Of course, I have to post some more images of M57, as they keep getting better.
Observing session 6/29/2011: Sony a330 SLR test
Sony a330 SLR astro-photography test. I stole my wifes camera and mounted it with T-adapter on the Meade LXD-75 SN-10″. The SLR is already outperforming my Meade DSI II CCD camera. Here are a few test shots (PhotoShop auto-levels enhanced). Ring nebula – one of the pics has a line going through the shot: I believe it to be a firefly due to turbulence in the line. A lot of them were out that night. Secondly are test shots of my favorite Star, Vega. Last, M13. More to come as I get more experience with this camera.
M51 Supernova secondary images
6/5/2011: Test various exposures with the Meade DSI II CCD. Best images were obtained at 35 seconds. Reference Observing session 4/29/2011 for before/after comparison.
Supernova in M51: 6/1/2011
As presented by NASA at http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html, I was taking some test images on Wednesday, June 1, and captured the Supernova in M51, as I discovered after being notified of the event from friends. Here is an upprocessed raw CCD image of it. Reference Observing session 4/29/2011 for before/after comparison.
