Milky Way Rising over Observatory
Milky way rising over the southern skies last night. Taken in Heathcote Victoria. Single shot, 25 seconds on Nikon D750, 16mm @f2.8
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Category: Astrophotography
Astrophotography – the difference a color cooled camera makes
Tonight I’m shooting images of NGC4038, and NGC4039, two interacting galaxies. Here is an example taken with a ZWO-1600 cooled camera with the cooling off and on. Both images are 300 second exposures consecutively taken, with the one on the left when the camera was at 11.7 deg C, and the one on the right, cooled to -16 deg C. Proof that cooling makes a huge difference.
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Messier 42 – The Great Nebula in Orion
My first attempt to see what 100 subs looks like. This is only luminance data, but I’m happy with the reuslt, even if it’s not the best image of mine of this target.
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M31 – Andromeda Galaxy
15 minutes of luminance shooting the King…the Andromeda Galaxy, otherwise known as M31. I can retire now after seeing this result.
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Trifid Nebula M20 – Hubble Palette
Here’s a strange colored image of the Trifid Nebula using the Hubble Palette, that might not have worked well, but I like the false color nevertheless. 88 Minutes of integration of HA, OII, SIII using a Celestron Edge HD
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M20 Trifid Nebula in RGB
This is the Trifid Nebula, also known as Messier 20. This is true color and is such an amazing object, that I hope to image from a dark site one day. 5x120s each of RGB Total: 30 minutes of data Processed in Pixinsight Focal Length: 2350mm The object is an unusual combination of an open cluster of stars; an emission nebula (the lower, red portion), a reflection nebula (the upper, blue portion) and a dark nebula (the apparent ‘gaps’ within
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Eagle Nebula M16 in Narrowband
This is Messier 16’s Eagle Nebula. I took 10 minutes of Hydrogen Alpha filter images to get this image. Celestron EdgeHD 9.25 2x120s 6x60s Taken from my backyard in Melbourne.
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Lagoon Nebula in RGB – Messier 8
This is my first attempt at the Lagoon Nebula. I’d not previously noticed how colorful it is. I took about 90 minutes of 60 second exposures in RGB to compile this (30 minutes each). In a good dark sky, this is visible with the naked eye, at about 6,000 light years away. It’s an emission nebula, and is a star producing region. Taken from my backyard observatory.
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Deep Sky Object Sizes in Perspective
I wondered how all the deep sky objects I’ve photographed compare in size relative to each other. So here goes something different. Each image was taken with the same focal length, 540mm at f/2.3 with a 16megapixel camera. That’s 4656X3520 pixels. I’ve reduced each one to 20% to fit them on the same 16MP canvas. In this image you’ll find: The Flame Nebula Orion Nebula (M42) 47 Tuc NGC 5128 Sculptor Galaxy Grus Quartet Horsehead Nebula Southern Whirlpool Galaxy ETA
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M78
This is my first attempt at M78, 11XLRGB of 60second exposures. It’s proven to be a really hard target for me to even get this much detail. Aligned and stacked in Pixinsight. Celestron 9.25″ and Hyperstar with my usual ZWO 160mm cooled to -25 deg. No darks, flats or biases yet. Those are my new years resolution.
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NGC 5128 Centaurus A
This is the last image I managed on Wednesday – NGC 5128 or Centaurus A. It was also my first ever attempt at 120second exposures. I only managed 10x 120 in luminance. I also did it without PHD2 guiding – so my alignment must have been half decent. Stacking in Pixinsight only.
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Rosette Nebula NGC 2237
This is the Rosette Nebula. 15x60s blue 18x60s green 14x60s luminance and 2x120s luminance 20x60s red Taken with Celestron 9.25″ and Hyperstar lens @ f/2.3 and 540mm Processed in Pixinsight only Location: Tanner street observatory, Melbourne city This is by far the toughest object I’ve taken, given it’s really quite faint in comparison to other objects I’ve done. Overall I’m happy with hit. I suppose I’ll get more vivid colors once my narrowband HA filter arrives
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Southern Pinwheel Galaxy
My second LRGB image and this is the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy. It was very low over the horizon on Boxing Day at about 2:30am, so it’s really noisy. Looking forward to better results as the season moves on. This is 10x60s each for RGB and 16 Minutes of luminance. Stacked and processed in PixInsight. Celestron EdgeHD and Hyperstar. ZWO 1600mm cooled to -15 degrees. Taken from my backyard in noise polluted Melbourne. #southernPinwheelGalaxy #astrophotography
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First attempt of the Carina Nebula
First attempt to image the Carina Nebula. Hyperstar, ZWO Cooled to -21deg, from my new very home made observatory in the back yard. 10x30s for each LRGB and 4x60s for extra luminance. Processed all in PixInsight which I am slowly learning! #carinaNebula #astrophotography #ngc3372
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