The Suffolk Sky

Horsehead Nebula – 01/15/2012

Sunday night was beautiful. A little cool but very clear. I had left my equipment set up just as it was Saturday night so everything was still aligned pretty well. Just a few minor tweaks and the GOTOs and guiding were spot on. Love it when you slew to an object and GOTO puts it dead center field of view (and stays that way). Guiding was working very well, only having to make minor adjustments. I have an error in my mount that shows itself about every half an hour or so were Dec goes a bit hairy. On this night the error was there but the guider was able to correct it without chasing it (so awesome when things work well ).

I was originally planing to get some more time on M78 but I started by taking a couple of guided 5 minute shots of the Horsehead Nebula (IC 434) with very good results. I ended up with nearly 2 1/2 hours of exposures, with just over 2 hours of them usable. This is my best image of the Horsehead Nebula yet. Really helps when you can increase the exposure time.

This image was taken using my AT66ED with the Orion Star Shoot DSI II guided with the Orion StarShoot Autoguider on the Celestron C6. The image is a stack of 25 x 5 minute exposures combined with 5 x 5 minute darks.

Several of us had just had some discussions about the Horsehead Nebula at BBAA SkyWatch on Friday. This is one of the few things I have imaged that I have not been able to see through the eyepiece. I have tried through my scope and through others but I have not been able to make out this faint Nebula in Orion’s belt.

Very happy with this one.

NGC2024 and M78 Images from 01/14/2012

Here are my images from Saturday 01/14/2012. Started out really cloudy but then cleared for a bit. Clouds rolled back in again just after midnight.

My equipment was working great. I love it when everything gets set up and works just like it is suppose to with out having to spend tons of observing or imaging time to get things right. Tonight was one of those nights. Alignment was right on, GOTOs were perfect, and guiding was making the corrections as it should.

These images were taken with my Orion Star Shoot DSI II camera through my AT66 while guiding with Starshoot Autoguider on the Celestron C6.

This image is 15 x 2 minute exposures of the Flame Nebula (NGC2024) in Orion. Equipment was working well and guiding was right on. I think it turned out nice. Next time I will up the exposure time a bit more. There is still a lot of detail in there that can be brought out with more data.

Messier 78 (M78) in Orion was my second target of the night. Again this is 15 x 2 minute exposures. I would have taken more of this one but the clouds moved in and ended imaging for the night. I really need to revisit this one and get some longer exposures.

While I was taking the darks and before the clouds obscured everything but the rising moon I took a few minutes to check out Mars. Could not make out any details but the red planet is bright and easy to find. Will be focusing a camera on Mars soon.

Jupiter GRS Transit and the Moon – 01/06/2012

It has been a good little while since I have been out to do any imaging. I have not really been out much at all over the last few months. When I have been out it has just been for a quick look.

Friday night there was a clear sky and I was able to spend a couple hours observing and imaging a great red spot (GRS) transit of the planet Jupiter.

I was not feeling well and I had told myself if there were any issues with the equipment it was going to be an observing only night. Luckily everything worked out OK.

The moon was nearly full so I knew I would not have much luck with deep sky objects but I did have a quick look at M42 in Orion (still one of my favorites). It looked nice but a little washed out. The next target was the planet Uranus. I was not expecting to be able to see it very well and was surprised when it the blue/green disk appeared in the eyepiece.

At around 7:45 PM I moved to Jupiter and set up the Celestron NexImage Camera. Seeing was actually OK early on and I was quickly able to get decent focus. I took a couple of quick test shots and things looked pretty good.

Over the next hour or so I took a series of 1 minute video captures of Jupiter to record the transit of the Great Red Spot across the planets surface. The seeing declined considerably after 8:30 or so and the wind picked up. The images are still OK but the earlier images have a bit more detail. Still pretty neat seeing the disturbance in the southern equatorial band caused by the GRS.

The GRS is noted on the flickr page for this image which can be found here.

As the wind picked up and seeing declined I decided to take a couple quick shots of the moon. I have not taken the time to identify the features yet, but the pictures turned out nice.

Just after 10 PM I decided to call it a night. A great observing and imaging session, hopefully it will not be such a long wait for the next one.

M51 Whirlpool Galaxy with Supernova

Check it out! A supernova in M51 the Whirlpool Galaxy. Pretty cool stuff.

More information on the supernova can be found here www.universetoday.com/86261/supernova-discovered-in-m51-t…

The supernova is tagged on the Flickr page which can be found here http://www.flickr.com/photos/herseyc/5797898286/.

M51- Whirlpool Galaxy with Supernova
06/03/2011 – Suffolk, VA
Camera: Orion Star Shoot DSI II
Scope: Astro-Tech 66 ED
Focal Length: 400mm
Mount: Celestron AS-CG5 GOTO
Exposures: 30 x 2 minute
Guided: Yes – Celestron C6-SGT/Orion Starshoot Autoguider/PHD
Stacked with DeepSky Stacker 3.3.2

Galaxy Weekend!

A couple galaxy shots I took last weekend.

First was M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy. This is a stack of thirty 60 second shots through the AT66 with my Orion StarShooter DSI II. I guided through the C6-SCT. I think it turned out pretty good.

This is M101, the Pinwheel Galaxy. Again it is a stack of thirty 60 second shots through the AT66 with my StarShooter DSI II and guided with the C6. Unfortunately it was directly over my neighbors house and their motion activated flood lights kept coming on. You can make out the Pinwheel but there is a lot o noise there. Will definitely try this one again soon.

Hoping for a clear sky this weekend so I can get a few more shots.

Go outside and look up!

Saturn – 04/02/2011

Here is an image Mary Shannon and I took of Saturn on Saturday, April 2, 2011. Seeing was pretty poor so it was hard to get focus, took several 120 second captures and this is the one that turned out the best with 130 usable frames. Tried to use a 3x barlow and then a 2x barlow but seeing was just not steady enough.

Despite the bad seeing I think this image turned out pretty nice.

Saturn – 04/02/2011
Backyard – Suffolk, VA
Scope: Celestron C8-SGT
Mount Celestron CG5-Goto
Camera: Celestron NexImage Solar System Imager
600 frames – 120 second AVI 5 fps – 130 frames stacked
Stacked using RegiStax V5

If you look close you can just make out the Cassini Division in the rings. Look closely at the rings to the left and right of the planet and you can just make out the dark divide. Looking forward to getting another try at Saturn in better seeing.

It was actually a pretty nice night despite the seeing being kind of shaky. Visually the planet looked awesome and we could see 4 of Saturn’s moons.

The sky was very dark and after a getting a few shots of Saturn we took a look at M65, M66, M81, and M82.

Nice night to be out looking at the stars.

Imaging/Observing Log – January 29, 2011 – IC434 (Horsehead Nebula) and M42 (Orion Nebula)

I wanted to get these posted to share. I will update with details fore each before the end of the week. Enjoy…

The Orion Nebula (M42)

Flickr link for this image is http://www.flickr.com/photos/herseyc/5401039974/in/photostream/

Open Cluster – M37

Flickr link for this image is http://www.flickr.com/photos/herseyc/5401127642/in/photostream/

The Horsehead Nebula – IC434

Flickr link for this image is http://www.flickr.com/photos/herseyc/5400436753/in/photostream/

Imaging/Observation Log – 11/27 and 11/28/2010 – NGC1055, NGC6960, and NGC457

An absolutely great weekend. It was pretty chilly out but the sky was nice and clear on both Saturday and Sunday night.

I was looking for a nice deep sky galaxy target for Saturday night and after looking at M74, NGC7331, and NGC1055 I decided on NGC1055 as the object I was going to image. I ended up having nothing but problems. I could not get the autoguider to work, tried using both the camera port and the ASCOM driver but I was not able to get the mount to guide consistently for more than 5 or 6 minutes.

I took over 90 minutes or exposures but only ended up with 15 or so where the stars were even somewhat round. Here is what I was able to get with 15 2 minute exposures.

Here is the Flickr page for NGC1055

Not very pretty but the faint galaxy NGC1055 is there.

I had much better luck on Sunday night. I found that the mount was a bit off balance and I have a feeling that was what caused the guiding issue on Saturday. I was able to guide for over an hour without any issues while imaging NGC6960, the Veil Nebula, and I think the picture turned out nice. It is a stack of 34×2 minute exposures. NGC6960 is also known as the Veil Nebula and this is only a small piece of it. I plan to have another go at this with my DSLR to get a wider field.

Here is the Flickr page for NGC6960

A couple weeks ago I created a small diffraction mask for the AT66. Nothing fancy, just a piece of card board cut to fit over the AT66′s dew shield and two pieces of thin elastic strings. I decided to give it a try on NGC457, the Owl Cluster. Again, guiding was working well and I was able to get 30 minutes of usable exposures (15 x 2 minutes). The diffraction spikes can be seen in the bright stars. I think it worked pretty well, but I think the elastic strings need to be a bit thinner, I’ll have to see what I can come up with.

The Flickr page for NGC457 can be found here.

Imaging/Observation Log – 11/06/2010 – M33 Triangulum Galaxy

This weekend was my first chance in several weeks to do some imaging. Things have been busy and when I have had down time either the clouds moved in or I just had time for a quick look. The weather report for the weekend was promising – mostly clear and cool. Friday night there were a few clouds moving through so I really did not do any imaging. I took the time to get the mount balanced and aligned and get the guiding working.

Saturday night was clear and cool (cold actually). The mount had a good polar alignment and was balanced well thanks to my efforts the night before. Seeing was pretty good – probably a 7 maybe even an 8, as was transparency at about 7-8. I decided to focus my imaging efforts on a single target – Messier 33 (M33) Triangulum Galaxy.

My guiding was working pretty well I was able to guide rock solid for 35 minutes then there were some issues, I think maybe there is a bad place in the mount since I have had this issue before. I need to take the time to look into this so I can get some longer exposures and sets, but it was cold and I was happy with what I had. I took a little over 30 minutes of 2 minute exposures of M33 and ended up with 13 very nice subs to stack. I also took 10 minutes of darks (5 x 120 seconds) to use.

Here is a quick shot I took of the laptop while imaging. You can see the PHD Guiding window to the left and the Maxim DL Essentials window (with M33) on the right.

The image of M33 is a stack of 13 120 second color images taken with the Orion Star Shoot DSI II attached to my Astro-Tech 66mm scope (400mm Focal length), no other filters, reducers or correctors were used. I used my Celestron C6 SCT (with f/6.3 focal reducer) and the Orion Star Shoot autoguider camera to guide.

This is just the stack and adjustment of the RGB, Luminance, and saturation in Deep Sky Stacker. I did not do any post processing clean up in gimp (except to convert it to jpeg).

I am really happy with this image and I learn a bit more each time I go out. This is definitely a nice target that I will revisit.

Flickr page for this image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/herseyc/5154280096/

I have some narrow-band filters on the way so I am looking forward to experimenting with them

Comet 103P/Hartley 2 – Just barely got it.

Saturday night Mary Shannon and I went hunting for Comet 103P/Hartley 2. I had tried to find the Comet in the eye piece the night before but did not have any luck. I know I was looking in the right place but I think it may have been a little too early in the evening and there was just too much light pollution.

Saturday night we decided to give the camera a try. We piggy backed the Nikon D60 with a 100mm f/2.8 lens on the 8″ SCT, pointed the SCT at the star SAO 21677, and opened the shutter on the camera 30 seconds at a time hoping to catch the comet.

Here is the result of twenty-two 30 second exposures at ISO400 without any dark or flat frames. We just barely got it, the comet is almost out of the frame, look for the green comet at the bottom, just to the right of center line.

Here is one I put together with the Comet and a couple of landmark stars identified.

I also added notes on the flickr page for this image to help identify the Comet.

I took a few darks, but did not use them in processing. I am going to try to get a few flat frames and will end up reprocessing this with flats and darks.