Astrocups – The perfect Christmas present for Astro-Fans!

Merry Christmas to everyone! Well, if you are still looking for an astronomy related Christmas present you are probably a little late this year 😀 But maybe you just found something for next year… Using some of my best images I composed some fancy “astrocups”. Next time you prepare for your star-gazing event you should have one of these with you! To produce the cups I used the service of https://www.luebeckgeschenke.de/ (more exactly here). The images are designed for the “standard cup (white)” and the “black cup” with a dimension of 1496 × 630 pixels, 200×200 ppi. Here are the three best ones so far:

1. The “Black Hole Cup”

This cup symbolizes a black hole just like the center of M51 – the Whirlpool Galaxy which is printed on the cup. This image is the outcome of a long night in May 2015. Personally I think this cup is best suited for black coffee…

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2. The “Good night Cup”

The “Good night cup” has images of Jupiter, Saturn, our moon and the sun. The photo of the sun has been taken during the partial solar eclipse in March 2015. The moon is a small version of the moon mosaic recorded in July 2015.

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3. The “Star-gazer Cup”

Finally, the Star-gazer cup reminds me on the time I spent on La Palma. The cup is white since the sky is already dark enough there…

Download

Clear skies!

Last updated: June 16, 2022 at 21:24 pm

Imaging the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51)

Today, after a long long cycling tour the weather forecast made me smile 🙂 There was a good chance that most of the clouds will go away between 23:00 and 2:00. Since the moon is going to rise at 2:11am there is a short but sufficient window to do some CCD imaging. Since I only have free view to the south from home, the position of M51 is a quite good compromise. The seeing with my f/5 GSO Newton (F=1000mm) is around 2.7″ – so this is more or less average.

Date2015/05/10
LocationBöblingen / Germany
ObjectWhirlpool Galaxy (M51)
CameraAtik383L+
Guidingyes, QHY5-II Mono via OAG
Telescope8
Barlow lensnone
MountEQ6Syntrek
Cooling-15°C
Luminance6x, 600s, bin: 1x1
Red5x, 150s, bin: 2x2
Green5x, 150s, bin: 2x2
Blue5x, 150s, bin: 2x2
Dark5x
Flat10x
Total exposure~1h40min.

Clear skies!

Last updated: June 17, 2022 at 14:20 pm

Astrophotography – Imaging the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51)

The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) – also known as NGC 5194 – is a big spiral galaxy in constellation Canes Venatici.

Date2013/03/03
LocationBöblingen / Germany
ObjectM51 (Whirlpool Galaxy)
CameraAtik383L+
Guidingyes, DMK31AU03.AS via OAG
Telescope8" GSO Newtonian
Barlow lensnone
MountEQ6Syntrek
Cooling-15°C
Luminance4x, 400s, bin: 1x1
Red3x, 100s, bin: 2x2
Green3x, 100s, bin: 2x2
Blue3x, 100s, bin: 2x2
Darknone
Flatnone
Total exposure~42min.

Clear skies!

Last updated: June 21, 2022 at 20:46 pm

Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) with DMK31AU03.AS

Tonight I imaged my first galaxy using my DMK31AU03.AS! To me this is absolutely fascinating! 🙂 I also published my image here. Here are some more camera details: Auto max value: 1/15 (auto), Auto reference: 126, Brightness: 15, Gamma: 100, Gain: 930. For stacking I used giotto V2.21.

Date2012/06/23 - 21:30 UTC
LocationBöblingen / Germany
ObjectM33 (Triangulum Galaxy)
CameraDMK31AU03.AS
Guidingnone
Telescope8" GSO Newtonian
Barlow lensnone
MountEQ6Syntrek
Coolingnone
Luminance14x 110s
Rednone
Greennone
Bluenone
Dark8x
Flatnone
Total exposure~26min.

Clear skies!

Last updated: June 22, 2022 at 12:13 pm