|
M83 (Galaxy)
This is a colour (LRGB) image of the well known galaxy M83.
|
 |
|
PGC 2248 (Cartwheel Galaxy ESO 350-40)
This is an object familiar because of the spectacular Hubble Space Telescope images of it, referred to as the Cartwheel Galaxy (there's a few called that!).
I am really happy with the results of this image, for an amateur telescope like mine. A gusty wind was blowing at between 15 and 25km/hr for the whole night, but I still managed to achieve reasonable data.
I only had time for a short burst of RGB data before it went behind trees, so the RGB isn't so good. I also need to l
|
|
|
NGC 1672
This is a very interesting and detailed face-on galaxy. I'm quite pleased with the results I achieved with this object.
I did try colour, but cloud came in after only one colour frame was taken, so that will be my next goal for this object.
|
|
|
NGC 534, 544, 546, etc
This image contains galaxies: NGC 534, NGC 544, NGC 546, PGC 109183, PGC 109178. These range in magnitude from 13.4 at the brightest to 17.96 at the faintest.
I took this image while attempting to sort out autoguiding on my portable setup, so it was somewhat of an afterthought.
The night had a bit of cloud drifting through, the CCD fogged up (desiccant plug requries recharging), and I didn't autoguide (because of the cloud)! And yet I ended up with quite a pleasing result, ama
|
|
|
Large Magellanic Cloud 100mm
I'm quite happy with this photograph of the Large Magellanic Cloud. It's probably one of the better ones I have.
This image does suffer from "DSLR Syndrome" being the lack of red, which is its biggest down fall (put your hand up if you'd like to donate a modified DSLR to me, please!).
The stars are nice and sharp right across the field of this image. The image shown here is a crop, primarily for aesthic reasons and to crop out the amp glow in the bottom right.
There i
|
|
|
NGC 1313
A photograph of NGC 1313 taken as part of the automated Project NGC. I'm stunned at the large size and detail in this object, yet it seems to be relatively rarely photographed by amateur astronomers. I'm keen to get back to it and capture some more exposure, but that's unlikely to happen for a little while.
|
|
|
M31 (Andromeda galaxy)
Andromeda Galaxy. This object is rarely above the horizon for us in southern Western Australia. Here it was imaged 15 degrees above the horizon. It appears my tracking wasn't up to scratch or some other distortion was in play because the image suffers from trails. It also appears a little out of focus, or it could just be the poor viewing conditions near the northern horizon.
I'm quite happy with this image considering all.
|
|
|
Small Magellanic Cloud
|
|
|
NGC 3271, NGC 3268, NGC 3267
A cluster of galaxies including NGC 3271, NGC 3268, NGC 3267 and about 14 other PGC galaxies down to about magnitude 19.0 (not labelled).
|
|
|
NGC 2613
This is a very nice semi-edge on spiral galaxy, I'm not sure my attempt does it justice.
|
|
|
NGC 1566 LRGB
The galaxy NGC 1566 (Spanish Dancer) is a spectacular southern galaxy. Interestingly it has relatively little colour variation - very blue all over.
I'm reasonably happy with the result largely because of the good amount of exposure time achieved before it hit a tree.
|
|
|
NGC 1232 LRGB
The galaxy NGC 1232 (and NGC 1232A) in LRGB.
Being my first image in colour using the SBIG ST7 camera (and new Astornomik LRGB filters) there is definitely some improvement to be made.
|
|
|
IC 5358 Sculptor Galaxies
This single image shows 21 galaxies, most around magnitude 17 with a few (IC5358 for example) being brighter - mag 9.1, 12.8 for IC 5353.
I believe there are more galaxies shown in the image which are not labelled in TheSky, they are probably catalogued as PGC galaxies though.
The viewing conditions were average but not as bad as the previous night where there were 45km/hr wind gusts. No wind on this night but very turbulent viewing conditions- stars were blinking on and off t
|
|
|
NGC 289
NGC 289, quite a nice face on spiral galaxy. From the colour images I see around it has quite a nice blue colour to it.
The wind was gusting quite heavily during the imaging for this object so I am surprised at the level of quality achieved.
Unfortunately I didn't achieve as much of the fainter outer arms of the galaxy as I was hoping for, I believe simply because of light pollution.
Note: The image tag is incorrect, 300s should be 180s.
|
|
|
NGC 7755
NGC 7755, quite a nice face-on spiral galaxy. Relatively poor viewing conditions where around when taking this image, so not spectacular quality.
Exposures 8 through 15 weren't used because they were affected by the moon, and then focus when the telescope passed the meridian. FocusMax wouldn't auto-focus on the FOV because the galaxy was the object it chose to focus on.
|
|
|
Large Magellanic Cloud 40mm
The LMC, taken at the ASWA Dryandra Astro Camp in March of 2006. This wide field shot was easy to take unguided at 300 seconds exposure length.
The lack of red in the image is a trait of the un-modified 350D camera. Compare this image to an older film image and you can see the difference.
|
|
|
Large Magellanic Cloud 40mm Crop
This is a cropped copy of the original 40mm FOV. See the original here.
This is brighter but not quite as fine detail (I don't think) as the 70-200mm version of roughly the same FOV.
|
|
|
NGC 4567 and 4568
A pleasing result from only 33 minutes of exposure time. Unguided.
|
|
|
Galaxy Cluster - PGC 48896
Another attempt at faint PGC imaging. This one not so successful. The night had periods of still dew air and periods of wind gusty enough to push the telescope around (having the big dew tube on - like a sail).
12 PGC objects in this FOV: 95980, 95968, 95982, 95970, 95955, 95965, 48896, 48915, 96003, 96002, 683751, 95959.
Because of the gusty breeze the image doesn't exhibit great sharpness or clarity, but still clearly shows these objects which are down to Mag 18.0
|
|
|
Galaxy - Virgo cluster
Not the usual Virgo cluster of galaxies, this is a selection of faint (down to Mag 19.5) galaxies. There are 13 in the image.
The image is one of my continuing attempts to reach fainter limits with my setup. Next stop: 20 minute exposures.
This image was also the first I have taken with my setup automated. I started it going and left it while I slept to take 15 exposures, then 5 dark frames, then 5 bias frames, park the mount, etc. Very happy with the results considering I spe
|
|
|
Galaxy - Hydra cluster
I've just started working with long exposures - 10 minutes and longer on my ST7-ME having just got DEC autoguiding working. I was going to add more FOV's to this image, but clouds, moon and other circumstances prevented that for weeks and I now want to move on.
I've labelled PGC29012, PGC29017, PGC914194, PGC29054, PGC29053, PGC29052, PGC912992 and PGC192090.
I have put question marks next to objects that appear to not be stars, they look like galaxies to me but don't show up
|
|
|
M61
Took this while hoping the viewing conditions would clear enough for me to to get back to imaging fainter PGC objects.
Not spectacular but good for the poor conditions - thick smoke from nearby fires and thin cloud coming in at the end. The only thing worse would have been a complete cloud out.
I've had to push the processing more than I would have liked to get some detail out of it, giving it an unfortunate 'processed look'.
|
|
|
Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC)
A single exposure slide film shot of the Large Magellanic Cloud. The image has some trailing but when processed turns out OK. It was the first trip out to dark skies with my Losmandy GM8. I was guiding manually through my Megrez 80 with the illuminated eyepiece. Average polar alignment and no PE, so hence the trailing.
|
|
|
IC 2375, IC 2377, IC 2379
This image contains 3 galaxies: IC 2375 (Mag 13.9), IC 2377 (Mag 14.6), IC 2379 (Mag 13.7). They make quite a nice combination in the image. I may end up with a better image if I get around to processing the raw images some more.
|
|
|
NGC 2556
I found it amazing that (according to Astrometrica) I'm getting stars down to magnitude 20.8 in these 3 minute exposures for this and other recent images. That's increadable if you ask me.
Anyway, this is NGC 2556 - not a particularly fascinating image but it's interesting to note the jagged looking edge of the galaxy.
Also interesting is a spot down the bottom left, almost off the bottom of the image, that appears to have moved throughout the exposures. It stands out because
|
|
|
NGC 3312 Cluster
This may not be a cluster as officially designated, but it is astunning field of galaxies.
Visible in this image is 14 galaxies: NGC 3312, NGC 3311, NGC 3309, NGC 3316, PGC 155483, PGC 753342, PGC 753354, PGC 31542, PGC 141487, PGC 753828, PGC 141485, PGC 141483, PGC 31476, PGC 141484!
The image has been slightly enhanced to darken the background and brighten the galaxies, as such the galaxies brightness relative to the visible stars is not 100% accurate, but is close.
|
|
|
NGC 1448
Some bad trailing in this image, but still one for the collection.
The thumbnail image is strangely bright, click the image to see the much better original image.
|
|
|
NGC 1232
This is a spectacular face-on spiral galaxy. Almost a perfect example of a spiral galaxy, very rare. This is a pretty good image of it for my equipment, fairly good detail and sharpness in the image.
|
|
|
NGC 2442
This is another fine galaxy, with good detail visible throughout. My image shows reasonable sharpness and detail, with a little more exposure time needed to smooth out the noise. This was unguided and hence exposures limited to 180 seconds with a little bit of trailing visible (not quite round stars).
|
|
|
NGC 1566
Another nice galaxy visible during summer. Nice spiral detail. I need much more exposure time before I get the full extent of the spiral arms, 240 second integrations at least.
|
|
|
NGC 1532
A large galaxy, extending well beyond my field of view. I need to montage at least 3 fields of view to have the complete object shown. Also more exposure time is needed here, this was the end of the night so just a quick sample taken.
|
|
|
NGC 253: Silver Coin Galaxy
The Silver Coin galaxy. This is a composite image consisting of 3 stacked images. Visually this is one of the easiest galaxies to see through a telescope, photographically because of it's large size it can be a challenge to fit in the field of view.
|
|
|
NGC 1365
NGc 1365 is a spectacular sprial galaxy in Fornax. This is well suited to the chip size of the ST7 with the LX200.
|
|
|
Galaxy Cluster - Fornax Galaxy Cluster
This images covers part of the Fornax Galaxy Cluster. The galaxies within the field of view are labelled with their NGC designation. It's amazing how many galaxies are shown here in this one relatively small field of view.
Included in this single image are: NGC 1374, NGC 1379, NGC 1380, NGC 1381, NGC 1387, NGC 1389, NGC 1399, NGC 1404. Amazing!
|
|
|
NGC 1350
|
|
|
NGC 1097
|
|
|
M64: Black Eye Galaxy
|
|
|
NGC 613
|
|
|
M83: Pinwheel Galaxy
Considering the short exposure time there is a lot of detail in this commonly photographed galaxy. Sharper focus, more exposure time and better autoguiding would produce a significantly better image.
|
|
|
NGC 300
A nice face-on spiral galaxy. This would be well suited to a composite image to fit more in the FOV. Good detail could be a acheived with more exposure time and better focus.
|
|
|
Galaxy - NGC1316 and NGC 1317
|
|
|
M104: Sombrero Galaxy
I decided I should have an image of the Sombrero, it's almost mandatory as an Astro Photographer. This is not a great image, I hope to improve on it sometime. The exposure contrast is challenging, as is the focus to acheive fine detail in the dust ring.
|
|
|
NGC 1808
A gusty easterly wind was whipping through every 100 or so seconds. Considering all the image didn't turn out too bad. Much more exposure required for finer detail though.
|
|
|
M83 - Pinwheel Galaxy
This isn't a spectacular shot until you look at how it was taken. It's taken using a wide field 80mm F/6 refractor, with slide flim. I've included this to show what's possible, of course it isn't a good image from the perspective of sprial detail, etc.
|
|
|
PGC 311744 and 8 galaxies
This is a short exposure showing 9 PGC galaxies and several stars.
|
|
