Vern’s Weblog

The Orion nebula is the brightest nebula visible from Earth and is always a treat to visit in a scope of any size or binoculars.  In this image, M42 is the bright butterfly shape surrounding the trapezium. Messier 43 is directly above M42. It appears as roundish neblosity surrounding star NU Orionis. Dark lanes can be seen extending southward toward M42.  Toward the top center of the image, the shape of the running man can just barely be distinguished above 3 bright stars.  With the naked eye these stars appear as a single star just above the Orion Nebua.

Images were taken with Stellarvue A1010 80mm refractor and Canon Xti camera. Camera was set at ASA 400 with separate exposures of 30 seconds and 120 seconds.  The Stellarvue A1010 was mounted on a Losmandy rail on top of a Celestron Nexstar11.  The Nexstar11 was guided using a Stellacam II video camera and PHD Guiding software.  Sky was clear, no clouds, temperature was 37°F, transparency was very good, and turbulence  was around 5/10 though sometimes a bit better.

An image of the open cluster M45 in the constellation Taurus from last evening after moonrise.

Images taken from light polluted Louisville, CO with Stellarvue A1010 80mm refractor telescope and Canon Xti camera at direct focus. Nine 4 minute exposures were dark subtracted and flat field corrected, stacked, aligned and enhanced with ImagePlus. 

This was a guiding experiment using “PhdGuiding” software available from Stark Labs. Overall, the software did  a good job of guiding.  I have the Stellarvue mounted on a Losmandy rail on the Nexstar11.  A Stellacam II was used as a guide camera and the Nexstar11 as a guide scope. The Stellacam II is excellent as a guide cam due to its low light sensitivity.  No problem finding guide stars with the Stellacam!  The “Phd Guiding” user interface is quite good, far better than most packages. Setup up is simple and the price is right (free).  Only problem I had was the serial interface used to connect to the Celestron locked up after I exited the “Phd Guiding” program.  A logout corrected the problem. It only happened once fortunately. Automated guiding is certainly more fun than tweaking buttons.

Located in the constellation Andromeda is a sextet of faint galaxies (NGC 48, 49, 51 and IC 1534, 1535 and 1536). Estimated distance is 300 million light years.  NGC 51 is the brightest of the group at vmag 14.1

Image taken from Louisville, CO at 21:31 to 21:46 MST with Celestron Nexstar11 telescope, Meade F3.3 focal reducer, and Stellacam II video camera.  SCII set at 9/14 gain, no gamma, and integrate 256 frames (8 sec). Dark subtracted and flat field corrected with ImagePlus, aligned and stacked with Registax4. Sky was mostly clear, temperature 40 °F, no wind, transparency very good, and turbulence 5/10.

Stephan’s quintet (NGC 7317, 7318A, 7281B, 7319, and 7320) in the constellation Pegasus is a grouping of 5 galaxies in a 3.5 arc-min area. The largest and brightest of the group, NGC 7320, is located in the lower left of center. Due to difference in red shift, the conventional view  is that NGC 7320 is not part of the other 4 galaxies in the group. It is instead actually part the nearby NGC 7331 group.  However there is evidence of a connecting tail extending from 7320 which implies interaction with the the other galaxies. Some astronomers, such as Halton Arp, maintain that because of this the current beliefs about red shift should be re-examined. 

The galaxies 7318A and B located near the center of the image are quite interesting as well. Not only are they interacting but they also have differing red-shifts. Galaxy 7318B is currently moving toward the others at high speed setting up a tremendous shock wave larger than our own milky way galaxy in size.

Location was Crow Valley Campground in the Pawnee Grasslands just north of Briggsdale, CO. Temperature was 44°F and humidity was 56%. The sky was mostly clear with a few thin clouds, no wind, turbulence around 6/10, and transparency varied from good to very good. Fifteen minutes of video taken with Celestron Nexstar11 telescope, APT wedge, Meade F3.3 focal reducer, and a Astrovid Stellacam II video camera. Camera set at 9/14 gain, integrate 256 (8 sec), and medium gamma. Images were dark subtracted and flat field corrected with ImagePlus, aligned and stacked with Registax3.

Messier 15 located in the constellation Pegasus is one of the densest planetaries known. Located northeast of the center of the globular is a challenging object to find, planetary nebula Pease-1. This was the first nebula discovered within a globular by Francis Pease in 1928.  

Follow the directions by Doug Snyder to locate this planetary which very near the core of M15 — you’ll need a high power eyepiece, an O3 filter, dark skies, and large scope to observe it directly.

Image taken on Sept 5, 2006 around 07:25 UT with a Celestron Nexstar11, Meade F3.3 focal reducer, and Astrovid Stellacam II. Temperature was 51°F, 75% humidity, sky was clear, transparency was very good, and turbulence about 6/10, in bright moonlight.  Stellacam II set at 9/14 gain, integrate 128 frames (4 sec exposure), medium gamma. The 15 minutes of video was dark subtracted; flat field and bias corrected with ImagePlus; aligned and stacked with with Registrax3; enhanced  and cropped with Photoshop Elements2.