Category: Star-gazing

Astrophotography – Imaging the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), again

/ Carsten / Leave a comment
Andromeda Galaxy (M31) - 2013/09/03

My target tonight again was our neighbour galaxy Andromeda (M31). I like this object because even after a short exposure time and even with light polluted sky amazing structures become visible. In September 2012 I already took a first shot of M31. This time the result was even better (even without using any flat-field images) and I decided to put it into “My top Astro-Pics” section. It is also available in full resolution. For stacking I used DeepSkyStacker 3.3.2 with Kappa-Sigma Clipping.

Date2013/09/03
LocationBöblingen / Germany
ObjectAndromeda Galaxy (M31)
CameraAtik383L+
Guidingyes, DMK31AU03.AS via OAG
Telescope8" GSO Newtonian
Barlow lensnone
MountEQ6Syntrek
Cooling-15°C
Luminance2x 800s, 1x 600s, 3x 400s, 1x 100s, 1x 20s, bin: 1x1
Red2x 400s, 1x 200s, 2x 100s, 1x 25s, bin: 2x2
Green2x 400s, 1x 200s, 2x 100s, 1x 25s, bin: 2x2
Blue2x 400s, 1x 200s, 2x 100s, 1x 25s, bin: 2x2
Dark2x
Flatnone
Total exposure~1h19min.

Clear skies!

Last updated: June 20, 2022 at 10:34 am

Astrophotography – Imaging the Owl nebula and galaxy M108

/ Carsten / Leave a comment
Owl nebula M97 and spiral galaxy M108 - 2013/06/06

The Owl Nebula (M97) (the little blue circle) is a planetary nebula located approximately 2000 ly away in constellation Ursa Major. It has already been discovered in 1781 by Pierre Méchain – a French astronomer. The cool thing about it is that there is a spiral galaxy M108 which is “close” to that nebula – at least from our perspective.

Date2013/06/06
LocationBöblingen / Germany
ObjectSpiral Galaxy M108 & Owl Nebula M97
CameraAtik383L+
Guidingyes, DMK31AU03.AS via OAG
Telescope8" GSO Newtonian
Barlow lensnone
MountEQ6Syntrek
Cooling-15°C
Luminance8x, 800s, bin: 1x1
Red7x, 200s, bin: 2x2
Green7x, 200s, bin: 2x2
Blue7x, 200s, bin: 2x2
Dark5x
Flat-
Total exposure~3h56min.

In a clear night I was able to shoot this image. With 3j56m the total exposure time is relatively long compared to other images. I did not use any flatfield images for the post-processing. Based on that fact I am quite satisfied with the result.

The image is also available in full resolution.

Clear skies!

Last updated: June 20, 2022 at 10:46 am

Imaging the “Witch’s broom” nebula (NGC6960)

/ Carsten / 1 Comment
final_ngc6960_border
Date2013/05/26
LocationBöblingen / Germany
ObjectWitch's broom nebula (NGC6960)
CameraAtik383L+
Guidingyes, DMK31AU03.AS via OAG
Telescope8" GSO Newtonian
Barlow lensnone
MountEQ6Syntrek
Cooling-15°C
Luminance17x 600s (bin: 1x1)
Red16x, 150s, bin: 2x2
Green16x, 150s, bin: 2x2
Blue17x, 150s, bin: 2x2
Dark3x
Flatnone
Total exposure~4h55min.

Clear skies!

Last updated: June 20, 2022 at 21:11 pm

Astrophotography – Imaging another galaxy – Messier 106

/ Carsten / Leave a comment
Spiral Galaxy M106 with text - 2013/04/19

In July 2012 I already imaged M106 with my DMK31AU03.AS camera (no guiding). Now I wanted to try the same object with the Atik383L+ camera to see the difference.

There are additional galaxies around in that picture – NGC4248, NGC4231, NGC4232, NGC4217 and NGC4226! Here is a full resolution image which better shows the details of the image.

Date2013/04/19
LocationBöblingen / Germany
ObjectSpiral galaxy M106
CameraAtik383L+
Guidingyes, DMK31AU03.AS via OAG
Telescope8" GSO Newtonian
Barlow lensnone
MountEQ6Syntrek
Cooling-15°C
Luminanceunknown
Redunknown
Greenunknown
Blueunknown
Darkunknown
Flatunknown
Total exposureunknown

For stacking I used DeepSkyStacker 3.3.2 with Kappa-Sigma Clipping.

Spiral Galaxy M106 - 2013/04/19

Clear skies!

Last updated: June 20, 2022 at 21:57 pm