Tag: star-gazing

Andromeda Galaxy (M31) - The first time from La Palma

/ Carsten / 2 Comments
M31 - Andromeda Galaxy - 2018/31/31

Date2018/31/31
LocationLa Palma / Spain
ObjectAndromeda Galaxy (M31)
CameraAtik383L+
Guidingyes, QHY5-II Mono via OAG
Telescope8
Barlow lensnone
MountEQ6 Syntrek
Cooling-10°C
Luminance6x 600s, bin: 1x1
Red5x 150s, bin: 2x2
Green5x 150s, bin: 2x2
Blue5x 150s, bin: 2x2
Dark2x
Flat10x
Total exposure~1h38m

Tonight I again decided to image the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) - the first time from La Palma. The seeing tonight was very good - around 1.5~2" which was extraordinary! Also the weather conditions as shown by La Palma HDMeteo were excellent.

Back in 2013 I already imaged the Andromeda Galaxy with the same equipment but from Boeblingen. It is interesting to see the difference here.

For post-processing I used the free software DeepSkyStacker and GIMP.

The full resolution images is available here.

Clear skies!
M31_guiding

weather_la_palma_hdmeteo

Trifid nebula M20 & open cluster M21 from La Palma

/ Carsten / Leave a comment
Trified nebula (M20) & open cluster M21 - 2017/07/22

Date2017/07/20
LocationLa Palma / Spain
ObjectTrifid nebula (M20) & open cluster M21
CameraAtik383L+
Guidingyes, QHY5-II Mono via OAG
Telescope8" GSO Newtonian
Barlow lensnone
MountEQ6 Syntrek
Cooling-10°C
Luminance8x 600s, bin: 1x1
Red7x 150s, bin: 2x2
Green7x 150s, bin: 2x2
Blue7x 150s, bin: 2x2
Dark2x
Flat10x
Total exposure~2h12m
Tonight I decided to image the Trifid nebula (M20) which is quite "close" to the Lagoon nebula M8 from my last session. The seeing tonight was around ~2.4" which could have been better - but certainly it was still sufficient.
Back in 2013 I already imaged the Trifid nebula with the same equipment but from Boeblingen. It is interesting to see the difference here.
For post-processing I used the free software DeepSkyStacker and GIMP. The full resolution images is available here.

Clear skies!

Stargazing time on La Palma - Casa Las Flores

/ Carsten / Leave a comment
Star gazing Casa Las Flores La Palma
It's stargazing time on La Palma again - this time from Casa Las Flores. The little house is located in Aguatavar - close to Tijarafe on a height of about 580m. You have a power supply outside the building, free view to Polaris from both terraces and in July the bright part of the Milky Way is perfectly visible between 22:00 and 4:00 local time. Furthermore you have a coffee maker, a table, chairs, a fast WLAN internet connection and a barbecue. What else do you need? 😀

The image is a single frame recorded with an Canon EOS6D in combination with a Samyang 2.8/14mm lens (15 sec. exposure time, ISO4000) . The post processing has been done with rawtherapee.

Tonight I only test my equipment - for tomorrow I plan to record the bright nebula M8 in the milkyway. So stay tuned for the result!

Astrophotography from La Palma - The Coma Galaxy Cluster - Tacande Observatory

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Coma galaxy cluster - 2017/04/13

Date2017/04/13
LocationLa Palma / Spain
ObjectComa galaxy cluster
CameraModified Canon EOS6D
Guidingyes
TelescopeR120S / 120mm
Barlow lensnone
MountEQ6 Syntrek
Cooling-
Luminance6x RGB frame / 240s
Red-
Green-
Blue-
Dark5x
Flat-
Total exposure~24m
Tonight I again spent the night at the Tacande Observatory on La Palma. There we observed the Coma galaxy cluster. The result is this photo taken with a modified EOS6D camera.

For post-processing I used the free software DeepSkyStacker and GIMP. The full resolution images is available here.

Clear skies!