2015

I first imaged NGC3953 spiral galaxy in Ursa Major in Spring 2015 with the 10" RC telescope, and at the time resolved to return to image the wider field which includes several smaller galaxies in line, including NGC 3917 ( the larger edge on galaxy). Eventually a couple of clear nights in January 2016 allowed me to capture Luminance (8th Jan) and RGB (11th Jan) with this result. QSI 683 camera with Meade 127 refractor TSFLAT2 flattener and SX AO unit. Luminance 16 x 15 minutes, RGB each 4 x 15 minutes. All binned 2x2. Full size And an annotated full size version is here.

     

     

Popularly known as 'The Spider and the Fly, IC417 (SH234) on the right, and NGC1931 (SH237) are emission nebulae in Auriga. I've never imaged this pair, and decided on the night of 14th January to give it a go - a lovely clear night with the Moon out of the way after 10 pm, not that it would have made much difference to the Hydrogen -alpha data which I collected first. But a lot of people have imaged with a mixture of narrowband and 'normal' colours. So I did the same. I'm not totally convinced, but it will have to do for now. I'll maybe go for OIII and SII next opportunity. So... 14 x 15 minutes H-alpha for Luminance, 5 x 10 minutes each RGB. Everything binned 2x2. QSI 683 on Meade 127 refractor with SX AO and TSFlat2. Red a mix of R and Ha. Full Size

  

Towards the right (West) side of the 'Head' of Cetus (around 7 degrees West of Menkar), there is a quite large asterism taking the form of a question mark. Unlike the well known formation in Leo, this one isn't backwards. An early target this time of year - moving into the West, so I resolved to have a go at it before it was too late and on Wednesday 10th February the forecast was for a clear evening. Wrong - cloudy! Clear later, but too late for this target. So I had another go on Thursday 11th. Moon getting rather close, but with clear sky forecast until midnight I reckoned on getting enough subs to be able to counteract background glow. Wrong again! The clouds rolled in within an hour!! Must be a great job, weather forecasting - you can get it completely wrong time after time and still keep your job!  So in the end I only got 3 x 5 minute subs each R G B unbinned. QSI 683 on TS65 quad. But with noise reduction, gradient extermination etc., could be worse! No chance to get more data this year for me now. Moon too close and getting brighter, and then I'm away until 12th March by which time it will be low in the West. Maybe next year! Larger size

  

The evening of Wednesday 10th February 2016 was forecast to be clear, but started out cloudy. I was to be out for a couple of hours earlier and hoped to image the 'Question Mark' in Cetus, leaving the system running unattended, but it was not to be. But it did clear later and I had a go at another target, the interesting small mag 10.9 galaxy NGC 3504 in Leo Minor. Still not enough time to get a full set of data before again the clouds rolled in, but enough for a starter. As you can see it's unusual - distinctly barred and with a faint ring. The other face on spiral is mag 12.3 NGC 3512. A smattering of faint background galaxies. At the moment, 8 x 10 minutes Luminance binned 2x2, QSI 683 on RC10.  Hopefully I will have an opportunity to complete the image this season. I was inspired to try for this by Adam Block's superb image here. And when I study that more closely I realise that the 'ring' is actually made up of two diffuse extended spiral arms. Fascinating! Perhaps it will be more apparent in my image when I have collected more Luminance and colour data. UPDATE After some weeks of poor weather and a couple of clear nights missed while I was on the Indonesia Eclipse tour, I managed to obtain more data including colour on the night of 31st March. So the finished image consists of 18 x 10 minute luminance and 7 x 10 minutes each RGB, all binned 2x2. Full size

   

I don't know why I let myself get sucked in to imaging galaxies that have been beautifully presented by Adam Block. After all he has a 32" telescope 9100 feet above sea level in Arizona, whereas I have a 10" telescope 680 feet above sea level in Northumberland! But I see one that takes my fancy, and can't help myself! Anyway here is Adam's image of NGC 3344 in Leo Minor. As you can see it's a gorgeous face on spiral with a scattered rim. The rim is the tricky part! I managed to get data over a couple of nights - the second night of 8th April was a bonus, forecast poor, but stayed clear for a few hours. So my image consists of 19 x 10 minutes Luminance, RGB each 5 x 10 minutes, all binned 2x2. QSI 683 on RC10" Truss at f8 with SX AO unit. North is up. Full size I positioned the galaxy off centre to pick up the small ones towards the bottom of the picture - around 18th magnitude.There are a few more dotted around, possibly even fainter. Incidentally for anyone who wants similar inspiration from Adam, you might find this page interesting:.

             

Over the years I have from time to time topped up or taken better images of my Messier list. Still incomplete and I realised I didn't have any images of the interesting barred spiral galaxy M58 in Virgo. Some short dark clear spells at the end of April and early May gave me an opportunity to collect data. Relatively lacking in contrast so I had to collect quite a lot of subs, ending up with 19 x 10 mins Luminance and 8 x 10 mins each RGB. All binned 2x2, QSI683 on RC10. Rather strange blue clumpy areas, which are also seen clearly in other images of this galaxy, so not problems with my data! Full size

                          

NGC 1502 in Camelopardalis is a small and relatively innocuous cluster, similar in size to the much better known and colourful Jewel Box Cluster in Crux. But its claim to fame is that it lies at the foot of the magnificent waterfall of stars known as Kemble's Cascade. After many cloudy nights, the evening of 5th September was unexpectedly clear and I was able to collect data for this beautiful combination of stars. QSI 683 on TS65 Quad . Luminance 13 x 5 minutes, RGB each 8 x 5 minutes, all unbinned. Enhanced star colours and spikes using Noel Carboni's actions and Star Spikes Pro to make this image really sparkle! Earlier image here. This image appeared in the November 2016 issue of Astronomy Now magazine, and was the winning image in the 2016 UKAI Summer Clusters competition. Full size (1.4 MB!)

                                           

The 'Iris' nebula (NGC7023) in Cepheus is riding high at the moment, and is associated with substantial dusty areas. I hoped to image it in the dark Kelling Heath skies when there from 26th September to 2nd October, but as those who were there will know there were very few opportunities, and I had to return on Sunday 2nd when it was forecast to be clear. But the clear sky also smiled on me at home, so I was able to fulfill my ambition after all! QSI 683 with SX AO unit and TSFlat2 flattener on TMB105. 12 x 10 minutes luminance, RGB each 6 x 10 minutes. Gentle tweak with Star Spikes Pro. All unbinned. Full size (1.2 MB)

                                                 

The night of 3rd October was clear for a few hours and I managed to get some data on NGC7789 - 'Caroline's Rose' in Cassiopeia before the clouds rolled in. QSI683 on Meade 127 with TSFlat2 and SX AO unit. L 9 x 5 minutes, RGB each 4 x 5 minutes, tweaked with Noel Carboni's actions. All unbinned. Full size (2 MB)

                                   

             

When I came across this image (and others) of this very interesting object, Arp227 (NGC474 and friends) in Pisces, I resolved to give it a go: But I soon found that although I have reasonably dark skies here they are not dark enough nor clear enough to do it justice - the background light pollution and imperfectly clear sky adds a lot of noise when stretched to show the outlying faint areas. I persevered over a couple of nights, 25th November being my best chance, but to no avail - when stretched as far as reasonable, only a hint of the outlying shells of stars and gas. This image is 25 x 20 minutes Luminance, RGB each 6 x 20 minutes, all binned 2x2. QSI 683 on 10" RC. I'll have to move to La Palma! The three larger galaxies (reading from left to right) are NGSs 474, 470 and 467. The two small edge on galaxies below and to the left of NGC 467 are PGC 4765 (the vertically oriented one) and PGC 4755. Full size Later: There is an extremely deep image in a 2018 APOD here (Opens in a new page)

 

Well, it's taken me a little over two years to finish this one - first imaged in October 2014 after seeing this marvellous image from Adam Block. NGC 90 and friends in Andromeda. But the night of November 28th was crystal clear and although as often happens the clarity came with poor seeing, the SX AO unit helped to keep things reasonably crisp. And here is the final result. 'Mouse over' the medium image (click on the thumbnail) for names and magnitudes of many (though not by any means all!) of the galaxies. Luminance 11 x 15 minutes plus 8 x 20 minutes, RGB each 4 x 15 minutes. All binned 2x2. QSI 683 with SX AO unit on RC10 f8. Never going to match 32" at 9000 ft., but I'm quite pleased with it., indeed with the background darkened further, rotated and clipped it is now my computer desktop image. Full size Phew!

                                      

This beautiful barred spiral galaxy, NGC3359, lies just 2 1/2 degrees from the bright star Dubhe in Ursa Major, so easily found, and at mag 10.3 a visual target for a medium sized scope. But imaging reveals that as well as the easily seen bright core, there is a lot of wispy detail towards the extremities. Consequently I needed quite a lot of data to keep the 'noise' down. Captured over a couple of nights, final data on 4th December 2016. Maybe a hint of extended spiral arms. QSI 683 with SX AO unit on RC10. Luminance 7 x 10 minutes +11 x 15 minutes, RGB each 7 x 15 minutes. All binned 2x2. Full Size

                        

I first imaged Messier 77 (Cetus A) in 2004, but only the bright inner parts of this galaxy, failing to capture the faint outer areas. So vowed to return some time for much longer exposures. And some clear nights towards the end of December 2016 smiled on me. So here is the result. QSI 683 on RC10 Truss with SX AO. Luminance 10 x 10 minutes (from October 2014!) plus 14 x 15 minutes on 27th December. RGB on 28th December, each 4 x 15 minutes. All binned 2x2. North is left. Why did I use the October 2014 data? And why didn't I persevere with it then? Well, weather didn't help at that time, but for some reason there were extra diffraction spikes. I couldn't track down the cause, so decided second time round to do a fresh set. But there again were the spikes. And they were in almost all the frames except the last two. A total mystery, but no getting away from them, so I included the older data. Full size

2017