Wednesday, December 30, 2009

The Rosette Nebula in Monoceros in Ha


The Rosette Nebula with NGC 2244 star cluster in its middle is beautiful. The mass of the nebula is estimated to be around 10,000 solar masses.
The cluster and nebula lie at a distance of some 5,200 LY from Earth and measure roughly 130 LY in diameter. It is my first Ha picture.
Conditions: minus 20 C and moonlight.
Celestron ED80 - 600 mm at f7.5 piggyback on CPC 1100, Canon 40D modified, Astronomic 12nm Ha filter.
16 x 10 min at ISO 1600. Darks and flats, guided with Stellarvue 200mm f4, NexImage video camera and MaxImDL.
I will revisit the nebula on a later occation to get more data with and without filters.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

The Flame Nebula and The Horsehead Nebula


The Flame Nebula (NGC2024) and The Horsehead Nebula (Bernard33) sticking its head out of the red glowing Nebula IC434. In the constellation Orion.
The blue reflection nebula between the Horsehead and Flame nebula is NGC2024.
Celestron 80ED - 600 mm, f7.5 with 0,8 reducer/flattener, Canon 40D modified - no filters, guided with Stellarvue 200 mm, f4 and NexImage videocamera.
20x5min ISO1600, darks.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

NGC1977 the Running Man in Orion



The NGC1977 is a reflection nebula in the constallation Orion. The nick name 'The Running Man' is a good one.
1500 LY away from us, the light intensive stars in the region reflects all the dust and gas around them.
26x5 min, ISO 1600 with CPC 11, 2800 mm, f10 and Canon 40D modified. Guided with Stellarvue 200 mm, f4 and NexImage. Darks.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

M74 - NGC628 in Pisces




The spiral galaxy M74/NGC628 in Pisces, about 30 MLY away. A low surface object not quite easy to get. Here is my first try.

Celestron CPC11, focal lenght 2800 mm, f10, Canon 40D modified. Guided with Stellarvue 200 mm, f4 and NexImage.

10 x 10 min, ISO 1600, darks.

Friday, October 9, 2009

IC5134 and NGC7129 in constellation Cepheus.







The reflection nebula IC 5134 and associated star cluster NGC 7129. 3000 LY away from us. Unfortunately the moon was up all night.


CPC 1100, 2800 mm, f10, Guided with Stellarvue 200mm, f4 and NexImage video camera.


15x10 min ISO 1600 with Canon 40D (modified).

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

The center of the Nebula NGC 281 in Cassiopeia - The Pacman Nebula




The NGC 281 Nebula in Casseopeia - The Pacman Nebula, is quite hard to get. The field of view in my picture does not quite cover the whole nebula. I will have to come back on the target with larger field of view using my refractor later.

The Nebual is about 10 kLY from us and IC 1590 in the center is an open cluster of stars. It is believed to be a Nebula with star formation.

Telescope Celestron CPC 11, 2800 mm, f10 with Canon 40D modified, guided with Stellarvue 200 mm, f4 and Neximage.

5x10 min ISO 1600.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

MGC 7331 Group in Pegasus







The NGC 7331 group of galaxies in constellation Pegasus. The larger galaxy NGC 7331 is 40-50MLY from us. It is often reffered to as the Milkyway's twin galaxy.

Telescope CPC 1100, 2800 mm, f10, Canon 40D modified, Guided with Celestron 80 ED and NexImage.

11x5min, ISO1600.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

NGC7662 - The Blue Snowball in Andromeda

























The Blue Snowball - a planetary nebula - in constellation Andormeda is small, you need a larger telescope to see i good. Here I have used CPC 11oo, Focal length 2800, f10 with Canon 40D modified. 19x2 min ISO 800 and 8x4min ISO1600, guided with Celestron 80ED and NexImage videocamera.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Messier 52 Open Cluster and The Bubble Neblua, NGC7635




The M52 in the upper center of the image is an open cluster in Cassiopeia with about 200 stars.

The Bubble Nebula in the middle right of the image has a very distinct 'bubble' emmison nebula.

The image is a crop from in the upper right coner, thus some coma in the picture.

Celeston ED80, 600 mm, f7.5, 3x 10 min ISO 800, guided.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

The Pleiades, Messier 45 or Seven Sisters




The Pleiades in Taurus.


Celestron 80ED piggyback on CPC11, Canon 40D modified, 9x10 min ISO 1600, darks. Guided.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

The Pelican Nebula, IC5067 and IC 5070





The Pelican Nebula, IC5067 and IC5070, in the constallation Cygnus. With some imagination you can resemble a pleican in the red nebula. 1800 LY away from us.
Celestron 80ED, 600 mm f7.5, piggyback on CPC11, 6x10 min ISO1600 with Canon 40D modified. Gudied, 20 darks.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Messier 27 - The Dumbell Nebula

















The M27-Dumbell Nebula in Vulpecula is 1360 LY from us. There is a white dwarf in the central region of the nebula.
Celestron 80ED - 600 mm f7.5, piggyback on CPC11, no filters, guided. 10 x 10 min ISO 800, darks, cropped.

NGC 1499 - The California Nebula






The Carlifornia nebula is a beautiful red Nebula in Perseus. 1000 LY from us. Celestron ED80 600mm f7.5, piggyback on CPC11, Canon 40D modified, No filters, Guided.

Only 4x10 min, ISO 1600 before the clouds stopped the session.

Friday, September 11, 2009

NGC6992 - Estern Veil Nebula in Cygnus






The Estern part of the Veil Nebula. Celestron refractor 80ED, 600 mm f7.5, piggyback on CPC 11, Canon 40D modified, 7x20 min ISO 1600. Darks and flats, guided. I will go back to this target when I have some serious filters!

Thursday, September 10, 2009

The Western Veil nebula, NGC6960





NGC6960, The Western Veil nebula in Cygnus is beautiful. The large star is 52 Cygnus, mag about 4. The image has been obtained by Celestron 80ED refractor 600mm f7,5 - piggy back on CPC 11, Canon 40D modified DSLR, 14x10 min at ISO 1600 and full moon. 20 darks, no flats. Guided with NexImage and Stellarvue 200mmf4 guide scope. Full frame.

Monday, September 7, 2009

North American Nebula, NGC7000





The North American nebula, Canon 40D modified, Celestron ED80 600mm f7,5, 6x10min ISO800, 20 darks, no flats. Guided. Binned 2x2. Under full Moon - not at all good conditions.
I really need to get some filters to enhance the nebulas. I plan to come back to that.

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Monday, August 24, 2009

Andromeda Galaxy M31



We finally have got some decent dark skies here in Norway. My first image this autumn is Andromeda - M31-M32- M110.
The Andromeda galaxy is our nabour galaxy only 2.5 MLY away. It has trillions of stars and Magitude 4.4, you can see it easy with a binocular under dark skies.
Celestron ED80 piggyback on CPC 1100 - 600 mm f7.5, Canon 40D modified, 30x4 min guided, ISO 800, 20 darks, no flats.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Messier 58-59-60 and many more Galaxies



This image shows 10 galaxies I identified in the constellation Virgo. By a closer look there are even many more there, but you need a magnified view to see them.
From left to right across the picture are:M60 (elliptic galaxy)at 55MLY with its companion NGC4647, lower in the image NGC4667, M59 (elliptic galaxy) 60 MLY, high up NGC4606 and NGC4607, M58 (spiral galaxy) at 68 MLY, lower - The Siamese Twins NGC4568 and NGC4567, finally a little higher up NGC4564. All NGCs are galaxies. In M60 there is a Black Hole with 3.4 billions solar masses.
15 subs each 9 min, ISO800 with Canon 40D using C80ED, guided. Not ideal conditions, no real dark skies here in May.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Messier 97 and 108 in Ursa Major





The planetary nebula M97, also called Owl Nebula is bottom left in the picture. 2.6 kLY away and Mag 9.9. It is believed to be formed 6000 years ago.
The spiral galaxy M108 seen from the edge is about 50 MLY away with Mag 10.7.
The image was made out of 14 subs (5 at 3 min, 9 at 6 min), ISO 1600, light polluted sky, Telescope C 80ED (600mm, f7.5), Canon 40D, Guided.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

M96 Galaxy Group in Leo





The M96 group, left to right: NGC3373/3389, NGC3371/3384, M105, M95, M96. The are all about 32 MLY away and magnitude about 10-12.
12 frames through Celestron C80ED (600 mm, f7.5), 6min, ISO 1600, Canon 40D(modified) on a light polluted sky. Guided.

Messier81, Messier82 and NGC3077


The M81, M82 and NGC3077 in constellation Ursa Major. M81 (bottom right) is 11.8 MLY away with mag 7.8. M82 (top right) is 11.5 MLY away with mag 9.3 and the smaller NGC3077 is 12.8 MLY away with mag 10.6. 14 images each 6 min, ISO1600 with Canon 40D(modified) through Celestron C80ED, 600 mm, f7.5. Guided with Stellarvue 200 mm f4, Neximage videocamera.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Galaxy NGC4565 in Coma Berenices






The Galaxy NGC4565 position in the sky is interesting since we see the galaxy on the edge. 53 MLY away from us with Mag 10.4. 13 subs each 6 minutes, ISO1600 through CPC 11 using focal reducer 0,63, Canon 40D(modified), Guided with Celestron80ED with NexImage video camera.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Messier 106 in constellation Canes Venatici

















The spiral galaxy M106 has a beautiful pattern in the core. It is located 23.7 MLY from us in the constellation Canes Venatici and has apparent magnitude of 9.1. The image is produced from 28 subs of 6 min each, ISO 1600, CPC11 with focal reducer 0.63 (1760 mm, f6.3), Canon 40D. NexImage guiding with C80ED.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

The Cat's eye galaxy - Messier 94









The Messier 94 or the cat's eye galaxy in Canes Venatici has beautiful structure in the core. It is 16 frames of 6 minutes each, ISO 1600 through the CPC 11 f10, camera Canon 40D(modified). Messier 94 is at distance 16 MLY and has apparent magnitude 9. Guided with C80ED.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Messier 63 - Sunflower Galaxy






The Sunflower Galaxy in Canes Venatici is 37 MLY away from us and has apparent magnitude of 9.3. The photo is 20 exposures of 6 min each, ISO 1600, CPC11-f10, Canon 40D(modified). Guided.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Messier101 - The Pinwheel Galaxy





A new attempt on the famous The Pinwheel galaxy in constellation Ursa Minor. With the distance of 27 MLY from us, it is one of the larger galaxies (almost 2x the Milky Way). It contains enormous hydrogen starforming clouds. Apparent magnitude 8.3. 13 subframes each 6min, ISO3200 throught CPC 11-f10 and camera Canon 40D(modified). Guided C8oED.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Messier 51, The Whirlpool Galaxy









Messier 51 also called the Whirlpool Galaxy, is a beautiful galaxy in Canes Venatici constallation in the northern sky. NGC5195 on top in the pictures is the smaller dwarf galaxy interacting with M51. It has apparent magniturde 8,6. Being 37 MLYs away from us, I used about 3 hours of exposure time to get this picture with my slow f10 CPC 11 telescope and Canon EOS 40Da. If you look carefully there are also other more distant galaxies (IC4278 and IC4277 with magnitude about 16) in the picture. I have adjusted and finetuned my telescope and it paid off, so far my best galaxy picture. Guided with C80ED.

Friday, March 27, 2009

M65 and M66 in the constellation Leo







2 of the 3 galaxies in Leo triplet. M65 to the right is 35 MLY asway(mag 10.3) and M66 to the left is 22 MLY from our solar system (mag 8.9).

Messier 13, a nice globular cluster in Hercules
















Messier 13 in the constellation Hercules 25 kLY distant in the Milkyway. Apparent magnitude 5.8.

Blackeye Galaxy, Messier 64







Blackeye Galaxy (M64) is about 24 MLY away and has apparent magnitude of 9,4. Located in the constellation Coma Berenices, it is a particular galaxy appearance and we all understand it's nickname. It really look like and eye! Astronomers have discovered that there is to rotating systems in the galaxy with opposite directions causing collisions and unusual appearance.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

M42 Orion Nebula with Canon EOS




A starforming nebual located below Orions belt. Apparent magnitude 3, visual to the naked eye.

Saturday, February 28, 2009


The Comet Lulin again, this time with focus on the Comet and because of its velocity through our solar system, the multiple subpictures stacked here are rubbing out the background stars in the constellation Leo.

The Comet Lulin, Regulus and a satellite


The Comet Lulin here passing through Leo contellation with Regulus in the upper part of the picture. Also a satellite is passing.

Friday, February 27, 2009

A close up picture of the comet Lulin Feb 26 - 2009



The comet Lulin was jointly discovered by Asian astronomers in July of 2007. It is probably the first time the comet visits our solar system and will most likely never come back, or at least not in thousands of years. Lulin was closest to Earth on Feb 24. We will still be able to see the comet through March and may be April. Comets normally consist of dirty snow/ice and dust. Being close to the Sun the experts have calculated a water dissipation of 400 l per second! The comet actually travels opostit direction of the planets and therefore are moving fast against background stars viewed from Earth.