MX716 Images

Deep Sky (MX716) , 2005

2004

The weekend of 7-9 January 2005 and some days after saw the most appalling weather in the North of England and Scotland with winds gusting in excess of 100 mph, floods, power and water supply failures. But there were still occasional quiet spells and I was able on a couple of nights to obtain some more images of Comet Machholz.

The closest pass of the comet to the Pleiades occurred on 7th. January, but a storm was at full strength, with high winds and pouring rain, knocking out the mains electricity supply for 30 hours and washing out the water mains to the town, not fully restored until 14th. January after heroic efforts by the Water Company. The following evening a brief clearance allowed me to snatch an image with my Olympus camera, piggybacked on the Mirage, with the mount running on battery power. Timed at 2025 UST, 270 mm equivalent focal length, 16 seconds at ISO400 .

By 10th. January the power was back on although still no mains water, the skies again cleared for a while and the wind moderated. Now with the MX716, first with a 135 mm camera lens, hoping to obtain a decent view of the tails. But because of a less than transparent sky the tails are only visible when the image is heavily processed, hence the noise in this image. Several 1 minute frames at f5.6, median combined using the comet as the focal point, giving slight star trails. The Ion tail points to the left, and the Dust tail downwards.

Over the years I improved my processing techniques, and returned to this image in January 2009, in particular using curves and noise reduction in Photoshop. So now the whole image is smoother without the comet head being 'blown out' . Yes, that is a star just to the right of the comet's core - the core is not fragmented.

Then I fitted my 35 mm lens. Although the comet was now well away from the Pleiades, the wide field of the lens was able to enclose both objects. I'm quite pleased with this one! Again several frames at f5 median combined, this time 3 minutes each, also 3 minutes for RGB. But the wide field meant that alignment on the stars didn't markedly blur the comet.

This image and the above were taken between 2200 and 2230 UST. Then the clouds rolled in again. There is an interesting asterism of faint (11-12 mag) stars to the left of the comet, which bears a resemblance to a ladies hairpin or 'Kirby Grip'. I hereby name it 'The Hairpin'!! It's aligned N-S, just over 1 degree in length at 3hrs 31min RA, +29deg 45min DEC

Comet Machholz, although with a disappointingly faint tail nevertheless was well placed high in the sky, visible to the naked eye and a good binocular object. As it moved North into Perseus from its encounter with the Pleiades, it passed close enough to the California nebula for both to be captured with the MX716 camera and 35 mm lens on 13th. January 2005. And this time, although the tails were more apparent, the long ion tail is lost among the background stars. L 7 x 3 minutes, RGB each 3 minutes.

This image appeared in the April-June 2005 issue of the SPA magazine

The obvious follow on was of course the California nebula. But when I moved over to centre Aldebaran in the field of view prior to changing to the 135 mm lens and refocusing, I realised that the Hyades cluster in Taurus nicely filled the 35 mm frame! So here it is. L 9 x 3 minutes, RGB each 3 minutes.

Note the Open Cluster NGC1647 in the upper left corner.

Then of course NGC 1499, the California nebula in Perseus with the 135 mm lens. L 7 x 5 minutes, RGB each 5 mins.

The final target for the night was NGC 2392, the Eskimo planetary nebula in Gemini. This time with the Mirage at f10. L 15 x 90 secs., RGB each 90 secs. The sky had been slightly hazy all night, noticeable as halos around the brighter stars. The resemblance of the nebula to an Eskimo parka is best seen with the image upside down as in this enlargement here.

The night of 15/16th. January 2005 was windy but clear between occasional passing thin clouds, and I decided to image M106, a barred spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici. With decent results. MX716, Mirage at f6.3, L 6 x 4 minutes full resolution, RGB each 3 mins fast hi-res.

Although it was getting very late, the initial images of M106 were so promising that I decided to revisit M51. And I'm very glad I did, obtaining easily my best image to date of this beautiful galaxy. MX716, Mirage at f6.3, L 8 x 4 minutes, RGB each 2 minutes binned 2x2.

This image was published in the April 2005 issue of Astronomy Now

I overlooked the processing of this one at the time it was imaged, and can't remember the exact circumstances! But it is Open Cluster NGC1502 in Camelopardalis, the small cluster which lies at the foot of Kemble's Cascade.

MX716, Mirage8 at f10. L 15 x 3 minutes, RGB each 3 minutes. Imaged around 1 am (0100UST) on 21st. January 2005.

As Comet Machholz proceeded North, it passed near the Double Cluster in Perseus. Again poor weather intervened at the closest approach around 28th. January, but an opportunity on 1st. February found the targets all within the frame of my MX716 and 35 mm camera lens. L 6 x 4 minutes, RGB each 4 minutes. Also clearly visible in this heavily star-studded image are nebulosities IC1848 and IC1805 (the rightmost of the two). The Double Cluster is of course bottom right.

Comet Machholz, although with a disappointingly faint tail nevertheless was well placed high in the sky, visible to the naked eye and a good binocular object. As it moved North into Perseus from its encounter with the Pleiades, it passed close enough to the California nebula for both to be captured with the MX716 camera and 35 mm lens on 13th. January 2005. And this time, although the tails were more apparent, the long ion tail is lost among the background stars. L 7 x 3 minutes, RGB each 3 minutes. This image appeared in the April-June 2005 issue of the SPA magazine
The obvious follow on was of course the California nebula. But when I moved over to centre Aldebaran in the field of view prior to changing to the 135 mm lens and refocusing, I realised that the Hyades cluster in Taurus nicely filled the 35 mm frame! So here it is. L 9 x 3 minutes, RGB each 3 minutes. Note the Open Cluster NGC1647 in the upper left corner.
Then of course NGC 1499, the California nebula in Perseus with the 135 mm lens. L 7 x 5 minutes, RGB each 5 mins.
The final target for the night was NGC 2392, the Eskimo planetary nebula in Gemini. This time with the Mirage at f10. L 15 x 90 secs., RGB each 90 secs. The sky had been slightly hazy all night, noticeable as halos around the brighter stars. The resemblance of the nebula to an Eskimo parka is best seen with the image upside down as in this enlargement here.