Sky this Week » Diffuse Nebula

M42, M43, and NGC 1977

Vern — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 20:04:41 +0000

The Orion nebula is the brightest nebula visible from Earth and is always a treat to visit in a scope of any size or binoculars. In this image, M42 is the bright butterfly shape surrounding the trapezium. Messier 43 is directly above M42. It appears as roundish neblosity surrounding star NU Orionis. Dark lanes can be seen extending southward toward M42. Toward the top center of the image, the shape of the running man can just barely be distinguished above 3 bright stars. With the naked eye these stars appear as a single star just above the Orion Nebua.

Images were taken with Stellarvue A1010 80mm refractor and Canon Xti camera. Camera was set at ASA 400 with separate exposures of 30 seconds and 120 seconds. The Stellarvue A1010 was mounted on a Losmandy rail on top of a Celestron Nexstar11. The Nexstar11 was guided using a Stellacam II video camera and PHD Guiding software. Sky was clear, no clouds, temperature was 37°F, transparency was very good, and turbulence was around 5/10 though sometimes a bit better.

Messier 20 (NGC 6514)

Vern — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 23:51:38 +0000

Messier 20 (NGC 6514), known as Trifid Nebula in the constellation Sagittarius is favorite place for many of us to visit on summer evenings. It is a fun object to photograph because the nice contrast between the blue reflection nebula and the red emission nebula. I created some wallpaper sized versions 1600×1200, 1280×1024, 1024×768, and 800×600.

Image taken early this morning around 2am from Louisville, CO with Celestron Nexstar11 telescope, Celestron F6.2 focal reducer, and Canon 300D Rebel camera. ImagePlus used to dark subtract, flat field and bias correct, align, stack, brightness and color enhance 10 images. Two minute exposures used at ASA 400. The sky was mostly clear, transparency varied from fair to good. Temperature was 64 to 62°F, no wind, turbulence was around 6/10.

NGC 6992 Northeast portion of Veil Nebula

Vern — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 21:03:52 +0000

Summer is getting close and fond remembrances from last summer of the western veil viewed through Gary’s 30 inch dob linger. The view of the veil from a dark, transparent site with a large aperature scope is stunning. Quite obviously a video camera from my light polluted back yard cannot get close, but here it is anyway.

Image taken with Celestron Nexstar11, Meade F3.3 focal reducer, and Astrovid Stellcam2 video camera at 256 integration, 9/14 gain, and medium gamma. Fifteen minutes of video was dark subtracted, flat field and bias corrected, aligned and stacked with Registax3. Sky clear, temperature 67°F, transparency very good, humidity 60%, no wind, and no clouds.

The veil nebula is the remnants of a supernova that occured an estimated 5 to 10 thousand years ago. NGC 6992 is the northern portion of the eastern part of the expanding debris cloud. The veil nebula is quite large (230 x 160 arc-minutes) and has various catalogue designations (6992, 6995, 6960, 6970, etc.) as it was not known that the faint portions were part of one object.

The flame nebula (NGC 2024) and horsehead nebula (Barnard 33)

Vern — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 17:54:41 +0000

Despite yesterdays dire weather predictions of snow and wind here in the Denver area, views from the backyard last night were better than expected. The transparency wasn’t great, lots of high thin clouds visible. Large banks of clouds were moving rapidly across the sky. One of my neighbors was out drawing circles in the clouds with a spot light. Turbulence was only fair, maybe 5/10. I set up the Stellacam2 and F3.3 focal reducer on the Nexstar11. Despite all the negatives, the flame or burning bush nebula was pretty impressive on the notebook screen. I was moved to reflect at how marvelous the Orion region of the sky is. Thankfully, God created such wonders for us to explore.

Encouraged by views of NGC 2024, I decided to give another try at locating the elusive horse head. Armed with an excellent widefield image of the Alnitak region I found on the internet, I moved slowly south from Alnitak, a half screen at a time, comparing the stars on the widefield image with those on the monitor. After I reached the location where it was supposed to be, I adjusted the integration time and gain on the Stellacam2. I was quite amazed to find that the dim outline of the horsehead was easily seen. I’ve been searching for this object since I bought the Stellacam2 over two years ago.

M45, The Pleiades

Vern — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 05:29:03 +0000

Here is the result of last nights experiment to see if I could guide well enough to take two minute exposures. Also, it was a check to see if any subtle nebulosity could be detected in a two minute exposure. The answer to both questions was, “well sort of”. I clearly need more practice in the back yard before I try at a dark sky site. Equipment was a Stellarvue A1010 and Canon 300D direct focus guided by Toucam 740 hooked up to C11. I intended to auto guide, but couldn’t communicate with the scope. I ended up watching the notebook screen and pressing the keys on the controller. Three 2 minute exposures at ISO 800.

Orion

Vern — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 10:43:41 +0000

It is now about 2 am in the morning. It has been a beautiful evening, the sky is very transparent, no wind, air turbulence is fair (6/10), and temperature is around 23 deg. F. Above image of M42 taken with Stellarvue A1010 and Canon 300D. Tonight, through a 32 mm eyepeice on the Nexstar11, M42 looked three dimensional with subtle shades of blue and red visible in the nebulocity.

I put on the Stellacam2 and 0.33 focal reducer. I tried to find B33, the horsehead, but no luck seeing it with the Stellacam2.

For the past hour, I’ve been exploring the region to the west of M42. Some amazing structures visible on the monitor.

M1

Vern — Thu, 24 Nov 2005 07:17:25 +0000

Thursday evening I set up the Stellacam2 along with a 0.33 focal reducer on the Nexstar11 and recorded M1 for half an hour. Stellacam was set to 8/14 gain and 256 integration. Sky was clear, turbulence 6/10, temperature 35 degrees F.