Tag: telescope

Astrophotography – Gamma-Cygni-Nebula (IC1318)

/ Carsten / Leave a comment
Gamma-Cygni-Nebula (IC1318) - 2013/09/23

Gamma-Cygni-Nebula (IC1318) – also known as Sadr Region – is a diffuse emission nebula in constellation Cygnus. It is about 1500 ly away from earth. It was discovered 1893 by Edward Barnard (not to be confuse with Edward Bernays …), an astronomer from the US. He was one of the pioneers of astrophotography.

Date2013/09/23
LocationBöblingen / Germany
ObjectGamma-Cygni-Nebula (IC1318)
CameraAtik383L+
Guidingyes, DMK31AU03.AS via OAG
Telescope8" GSO Newtonian
Barlow lensnone
MountEQ6Syntrek
Cooling-15°C
Luminance3x 800s, bin: 1x1
Red3x 200s, bin: 2x2
Green3x 200s, bin: 2x2
Blue2x 200s, bin: 2x2
Dark4x
Flat-
Total exposure~1h06min.

The bright star to the top left corner is Gamma Cygni, forming the intersection of an asterism of five stars called the Northern Cross. According to latest measurements it is approximately 1800 ly away from the sun.

The image is also available in full resolution.

Clear skies!

Last updated: June 20, 2022 at 10:27 am

Astrophotography – Heart Nebula (IC1805)

/ Carsten / Leave a comment
Heart Nebula (IC1805) - 2013/09/05

The Heart Nebula (IC1805) is about 7500 ly. away from our earth and located in constellation Cassiopeia. It was already discovered by William Herschel in 1787. With a bit of fantasy one can guess why the nebula was named Heart Nebula. The Heart Nebula is an emission nebula consisting of ionized hydrogen gas and dark dust lanes.

Date2013/09/05
LocationBöblingen / Germany
ObjectHeart Nebula (IC1805)
CameraAtik383L+
Guidingyes, DMK31AU03.AS via OAG
Telescope8" GSO Newtonian
Barlow lensnone
MountEQ6Syntrek
Cooling-15°C
Luminance10x 800s, bin: 1x1
Red10x 200s, bin: 2x2
Green10x 200s, bin: 2x2
Blue10x 200s, bin: 2x2
Dark4x
Flat-
Total exposure~3h53min.

The image is also available in full resolution.

Clear skies!

Last updated: June 20, 2022 at 10:28 am

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