Constellation Orion Revisited

We are having a 'real' winter this year in Northern VA, so there have been no opportunities to do any astrophotography. A double-shot snowstorm over the past week has kept me in the house, but has also given me a chance to process some astro photos I took in December 2009.


The pictures were taken with a (Hutech modified) Canon 50D DSLR, Orion 80mm ED APO telescope, Orion Atlas GoTo mount. The Atlas mount was guided by Skywatch 80mm refractor and Orion Starshoot Autoguider using PHD guiding software.


I am experimenting with image stacking software (REGISTAX 5) to enhance astro pictures I photograph. Here are two pictures I have produced using Registax.


M42 - The Orion Nebula. I shoot this nebula a lot because of its beauty and brightness. Above and left of M42 is M43, a much fainter nebula nebula with a light blue glow surrounding a grouping of stars. I hope to get better pictures of M43 before Orion slips into the western sky.

[Total exposure time: 12 minutes, (6 x 120 sec.) with the camera set at ISO-640.]





Two objects are pictured in this image:

(1) NGC-2024 (the Flame Nebula) is located just left of the brightest star (Alnitak).

(2) IC434 (the Horse Head Nebula) is the dark cloud (that some say looks like a horse head) located along the edge of the reddish gas cloud that trails downward and to the right of Alnitak.

[Total exposure time: 16 minutes (6 x 16o sec.) with camera set to ISO-640.]




Hope to post more images soon.

Clear Skies!

StarPilot


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Time Warps ... and ... Space Pictures

First the Time Warp ...

This morning I was watching TV while eating breakfast. When the Today Show (which I sometimes suffer through on weekends) ended the host said something about your 9AM news begins now.


My eye caught the time on my VCR/DVD player which said: 9:27 AM. Meanwhile, the time on the TV said 9:00AM. I immediately became confused. I asked Char to check the time on the microwave oven. It too said: 9:27 AM. Confusion and illogic ruled! How could it be 9:00 when all my clocks said 9:27 ? Yikes! Did we have a time warp and I missed it ?


Then logic and reason caught up with my increasingly dumb-founded brain. While the Today Show was on, I paused 'Live TV' (we have TIVO) to make breakfast so I could see some scenes they were going to show from the upcoming movie: '2012'.


After cooking some sausage and eggs I un-paused 'Live TV' and watched the last 30 minutes of the Today Show. Apparently, I had the TV paused 27 minutes while cooking breakfast and forgot. Char and I had a good laugh over that one. Makes me wonder what kind of trouble Char and I will get ourselves into when we are Geezers.


Now the Space Pictures ...


I finally had an opportunity to do some deep space imaging last Sunday evening after weeks and months of clouds, humidity, rain and exhaustion when conditions were good but I was too tired to care.


Here are a few 'raw' images of some deep space objects I photographed that night. By raw image, I mean that I have not retouched these images with software. They are shown as I captured them. Using special astronomy software I can stack several of these images together and come up with a more defined picture, but that is time consuming and I don't have time to do that right now.


Messier Object 31 (M31) - The Andromeda Galaxy is our closest neighbor in the galactic neighborhood. Some astronomers think Andromeda and our galaxy, The Milky Way will collide in about 8 billion years. Uhhhhhhhmmmmm, I for one am not concerned about what happens 8 eons from now.






Messier Object 42 (M42) - The Orion Nebula is a very bright winter object that can be seen naked-eye in very dark skies and easily seen with binoculars. You will see many more photos of M42 as winter progresses and it gets higher in the sky. The picture looks so washed out, because M42 is low in the sky right now and is affected by light pollution.







Messier Object 45 (M45) - The Pleiades, or Seven Sisters as some call it is an open cluster that contains seven blue stars and dozens of other bright stars. It is easily seen in the ENE sky just after dark in the Fall and is straight overhead in the winter. The haze around the seven blue stars is left over dust from when the stars were born.





I also photographed M1, The Crab Nebula and M33, The Triangulum Galaxy, but these pictures were too faint to appreciate. Guess who I will be imaging next ?


That is it for now. Hope you liked the pictures.


Star Pilot, AKA Star Geezer


P.S. - I am planning a post sometime soon to dispel the hype that the movie 2012 is causing, so stay tuned. In short, the world will NOT end on 12/21/2012". Besides, if it did, what could we do about it anyhow ?


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Something New

At long last I had a chance to take some astro photos. I have a loooooong way to go to master my new telescope, mount and camera, but these two images, though raw and untouched are better than anything I have done previously.

M42 - The Great Orion Nebula (My hopes of imaging several Orion deep space objects have been dashed from consistently cloudy skies. Orion is moving out of sight quickly, so I may have to postpone that task until Fall).

M81 (Bodes Galaxy) & M82 9Cigar Galaxy) upper-right & lower-left respectively, are two of many deep space treasures in the constellation Ursa Major (The Big Dipper). In the weeks to come I hope to image many of these objects.




Come back soon. If the weather cooperates, i will have many more pictures to share.

Star Pilot (soon to become Sky Voyager, maybe)

M42 - The Great Orion Nebula

Pictured is: The Great Orion Nebula.

This deep space object is the brightest and most recognizable Nebula visible from Earth.

Here are a few facts about The Great Orion Nebula, also known as Messier 42 (M42):

* The nebula is located in the constellation Orion, specifically the Belt of Orion.

* It is located 1,270 light years from Earth and measures 24 light years across.

* The nebula is the nearest active star-forming region to our solar system.

* Orion is one of the most easily recognized constellations in the winter night sky.

* The Great Orion nebula is visible to the naked eye.

M42 is one of my favorite astrophotography targets, because even an amateur like me can produce a robust picture.

The picture is RAW and was not manupulated in software except to enhance brightness. Equipment used to produce the image included:

Orion (Celestron) 9.25" Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope
Celestron f/6.3 Focal Reducer/Corrector
Orion Atlas GoTo Mount (tracking via SkyScan)
Nikon D80 DSLR (Unmodified)
Sensitivity: ISO-500
Exposure: 85 Seconds

Check back in a couple of days for my next post which will include a whole series of Messier objects that I photographed recently.

Clear Skies!

StarPilot

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Finally! A Clear Night

If you live in Northern Virginia and are sick of the cloudiness, I apologize. It was all my fault. How dare I buy a new telescope and hope for clear skies to actually enjoy the darn thing.

A couple nights ago the clouds parted, so I high-tailed it outside to do some star-gazing. I squeezed in a couple hours of observing time before the clouds rolled in.

Here are some pictures from my outing.


M34 (Open Cluster )is located in the constellation Perseus. M34 is 1,400 light years from Earth and contains around 100 stars.

M39 (Open Cluster) is located in the constellation Cygnus. The object is an estimated 800 Light Years from Earth.

M42 (The Great Orion Nebula) is the brightest diffuse nebula visible from Earth. Located on the sword of the constellation Orion, M42 is a favorite target for amateur and professional astronomers alike.

-For the amateur, M42 can make even the cheapest telescope look good.

-For the professional, M42 is one of the most active star-forming regions in the night sky.

@@ Weather permitting I will photograph the entire Orion Nebula some evening and post a special blog featuring M42's many treasures.

M45 (The Pleiades) is a prominent Fall and Winter open cluster that is located in the constellation Taurus. M45 is also called the "Seven Sisters" named for the seven hot blue-stars that dominate the cluster.

M31 (Andromeda Galaxy) is a favorite target of mine. Visible from early Fall to late Winter, this galaxy is a popular target of astronomers, because it is easy to find and is visible in even cheap, department store telescopes. Within proximity of M31 are M110 (looks like a bright-fuzzy star just left of M31) and M32 (faint galaxy to the lower-right of M31). You will see me include many pictures of M31 in my postings.

Hope you enjoy the images as much as I did taking them.

StarPilot

"Night Under the Stars" (April 12th, 2008)

Moon near Half-phase



Leo Triplet Galaxies M65, M66 and NGC3628




M3 Globular Star Cluster



M13 Globular Star Cluster



M37 Star Cluster



M51 Whirlpool Galaxy



M81 and M82 Galaxies



I attended my first Norther Virginia Astronomy Club (NOVAC) event on Saturday, April 12th. It was a public viewing event at Crocket Park in Fauquier County, Va . At these events, astronomy club members set up telescopes for the public to view celestial objects . It is a good way to get more people involved in astronomy.


When I arrived at 8PM the temperature was 75F with no wind. By 10:30PM the wind became gusty (15-20MPH with higher gusts) and the temperature dropped to 48F. Glad I brought my 'Hoodie', because I needed it.


I had a chance to give public viewers a tour of the night sky by guiding my telescope at: Saturn, The Great Orion Nebula (M42), Galaxies M81 & M82 (in Ursa Major), Globular Star Clusters ( M3 and M13) and Open Star Cluster M36, M37, M38 and M45 (The Pleiades).


By 11PM most public viewers departed, so I took the opportunity to do some astrophotography. Viewing and photography conditions were not the best, but this being the first cloudless night in weeks, I was not going to complain.


The posted pictures are not the best quality, because the wind was blowing my telescope around, and moisture in the upper atmosphere reflected a lot of light from an exceptionally bright Half-Moon.


Quote of the Day: Astronomy's much more fun when you're not an astronomer!


StarPilot

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Observation Log for April 2nd, 2008

Finally! After a month of cloudy nights, I was able to take my telescope outside and view some celestial objects. The temperature was near 40F, there was no wind and seeing conditions were fair. The night was also moonless. My only problem was light pollution. Four of my neighbors decided to turn on their proch lights, and one in particular chimed in by running two ground-level flood lamps. Gee! Thanks Mike!

Because of the light pollution, I was unable to take any pictures due to light glare glossing over everything in my camera's viewfinder.

I am not allowed to use a shroud (a mini-tent that covers my head) to block ambient light, because I do my viewing in the front yard and my 'young bride of 31 years' said NO! Something about being viewed by the neighbors as being wierd. :(

In Lieu of pictures, I have added links to Wikipedia articles for each celestial object I viewed. Please bear in mind that the Wiki pictures are from Hubble and other multi-million dollar telescopes. My view of each object was much less detailed.

• - M36, M37, and M38 (Star Clusters) in the constellation Auriga
• Observation: M36 & M38 appeared as richly dense star fields with thousands of visible points of light. M37 was an impressive open cluster. This is my first sighting of these Messier objects.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_36

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_37

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_38

• - M42 (Orion Nebula) in the constallation Orion
• Observation: The view of M42 was great through my 5mm, 13mm and 24mm eyepieces. The stars in the 'Trapezium' were razor sharp.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_42

• - M51 (Whirlpool Galaxy) in the constellation Ursa Major (Big Dipper)
• Observation: The galaxy was faint and I did not see the cloud aligned near the tail due to light pollution and some haze near the horizon, where this object sits. This is my first sighting of M51.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_51

• - M66, M67 and NGC3628 (Galaxies) in the constellation Leo (called the Leo Triplet)
• Observation: I was able to see all three galaxies, though NGC3628 was more like a smudge because of local light pollution. This is my first sighting of these Messier objects.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_65
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_66
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_3628

• - M81 and M82 (Galaxies) in the constellation Ursa Major
• Observation: I was able to make both these Messier objects out in descent detail using an 8mm eyepiece, and better detail using 13mm and 24mm eyepieces. Very impressive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M81
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_82

• - Saturn near the star "Regulus" in the constellation Leo
• Observation: Using the Baader 5mm eyepiece I was able to make out faint hints of the Cassini divide in the rings and some surface details. This has been my best view of Saturn to date.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn


I was offered to take my telescope to a co-workers home in a more rural area. I think I may take him up on that offer when the weather warms a little more.

Clear Skies!

StarPilot

First Light ... A Time Honored Tradition

M42 - Orion Nebula (from picasaweb.google.com)



M44 - Beehive Star Cluster (from http://www.astropix.com/)



M45 - The Pleiades Star Cluster (from http://www.astropix.com/)



M81 & M82 Galaxies (from http://www.astropix.com/)



Saturn (from apod.nasa.gov)



IC434 HorseHead Nebula (In Orion) (from http://www.astropix.com/)

First Light is a "time honored" tradition carried out by Backyard and Amateur Astronomers. It is marked by the first night an astronomer 'gathers light' , or looks through a new telescope. You can read all the reviews you want, but you never really know how a scope is going to perform until you point at a celestial object and look through the eyepiece.

On February 25th at 7:30PM I gathered 'First Light' in my new Orion 80mm ED on a SkyView Pro Goto mount. There was a narrow period of 'somewhat' cloudless skies between frontal systems, so I took advantage of the opportunity before the 'white puffies' moved back in.

I performed my first-ever polar alignment (pointing the telescope at Polaris), then let the Goto mount do the rest. I dialed in Messier Object M44 (Beehive Star Cluster) into the computerized hand controller and pressed 'Enter'. The motors quietly whirred for 30 seconds or so, then the hand controller 'beeped' to tell me I had arrived at my celestial destination.

As I looked into the 25mm Sirius Plossl eyepiece, M44 was glistening at me with a cluster of bright and faint stars.

After observing M44 for a time, I took a tour of the sky to view other familiar space objects. Here are the highlights of what I observed:

- M42 (Orion Nebula) looked light-gray and pale-blue. I was able to resolve the four major and two faint stars of the trapezium, which looked razor-sharp. I stared at it for several minutes.

- M45 (The Pleiades) looked grand as ever, and I was surprised to see some nebulosity surrounding the 'Seven Sisters' with the telescope aided eye.

- M81 and M82 (Galaxies) looked great. Just as I thought they may appear through an eyepiece. I will have to study the galaxies individually some time.

- Saturn looked like someone painted the ringed planet onto the end of my scope. I saw faint hints of the Cassini Divide, but clearly saw lines in the planet's atmosphere and even saw the black of space between the rings and the planet.

- However, when I dialed up IC434 (Horsehead Nebula) clouds moved in and ended my session after 45 minutes. It was a memorable 'First Light' with my Orion 80mm ED.

I look forward to many more viewing and astrophotography sessions with my new scope. I didn't do any astrophotography this night, because I just wanted to enjoy the view of celestial objects from the new scope.

Question: You may wonder why I didn't do a 'First Light' report when I bought my ETX-125 ?
Answer: I didn't know about First Light, and I wasn't running a BLOG.

Personal Observation: I become concerned when I ask myself a question, and then answer it. I will really become concerned if I give myself the 'silent treatment' for taking one position, rather than the other when answering a question. :)

The pictures are stock photos from the Internet. (Most are from http://www.astropix.com/). I posted them to give readers a sample of the views I saw through my telescope eyepiece. Most pictures are representative of what I saw, exept for the starbursts in M45 and the detail in Saturn.

I plan to take high quality pictures of these heavenly objects some day, but I didn't want to complicate the experience of 'First Light' with my new scope and mount.

Thanks for Checking In!

StarPilot