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Object Information: The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) and its companion galaxy, NGC 5194 (Lower Left) are an interacting galactic pair located approximately 23 million light years from earth. It is believed that the enhanced spiral structure of M51 is caused by its gravitational interactions with its companion. This galaxy is located just above the last tail star of the big dipper and can be observed visually with a modest telescope.
Photograph Information:
Exposures: 20×300s Luminescence, 3×150s ea RGB Channel for a total of 1.5 hours of exposure time.
Telescope: Astrotech 6” F/9 Ritchey-Chrétien
Camera : Meade DSI III PRO
Mount : Orion Atlas
Guiding : William Optics ZS66 with Meade DSI Pro I
Posted 3 months, 2 weeks ago. Add a comment
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Object Information: “The Virgo Cluster” of which the above image is a small part, is a cluster of galaxies roughly 60 million light years from our own. It represents the heart of our own “Local Super Cluster” and our galaxy orbits this distant core of galaxies as part of our own “Local Group.” While clusters such as these are common throughout the Universe, the Virgo Cluster is particularly special in that it lies far outside the plain of our own Galaxy’s disk. This enables observers on earth to view its many bright Galaxies with reasonably sized instruments. Under the dark skies of West Texas, the four brightest galaxies in this image were even visible through an eyepiece, using the same 4” refractor through which these images were taken! This is a must see object for anyone finding themselves in dark skies.
Scope: APM 105 @ f/3.1 (“Scopestuff .5x focal reducer”)
Mount: Takahashi EM-11
Camera: Meade DSI III Pro
Exposure Info: 100×30s Lum, 20×30s ea 2×2 binned Meade RGB
Other Details: This image was taken on the fly and since we lacked the equipment to guide on Don Sannes’ Takahashi Mount, we elected to stretch the exposure as far as we could without guiding. This seemed to be between 30 seconds and 120 seconds. We chose the shorter range in order to get the best possible set of data for later processing. In all, we were able to keep over 90% of the sub exposures we collected.
Flat fields were not taken. Partially, this was due to the generosity of the dark skies at the Texas Star Party and the other half of the equation was lack of equipment. However, there is some evidence in the left side of the field that this image would have benefited from flats.
Posted 3 months, 2 weeks ago. Add a comment
Information: Intermediate Elliptical/Spiral Galaxy located in the constellation Centaurus. Very strong source of radio emission. Image taken in Moorook, Australia courtesy of “Global Rent-a-scope” service.
Imaging System Used: SBIG STL-1001E NABG Camera through RCOS 16″ Ritchey-Chrétien Telescope @ f/9.0. Total 2 hours of exposure time via LRGB monochrome imaging.
Posted 6 months, 3 weeks ago. 2 comments
