Sky this Week

Located in constellation Cygnus at RA 21° 14′ 09″ and Dec +47° 46′ 24″ is a faint (vmag 14.5), oblong-shaped planetary nebula known as the “Moth Nebula”. I only picked up the middle part of the “moth” with the Stellacam which may be seen at the center in the image below.  The Stsci Digitized Sky Survey image shows faint “wings” extending to the upper left and to the lower right.

Image above taken from “Cactus Flats North” in the Pawnee National Grasslands near Briggsdale, CO on Saturday morning, Sept. 8, 2007 around 2:33 am MDT. Celestron Nexstar 11 telescope with F3.3 focal reducer and Stellacam II video camera used to capture 30 images. Camera set at full gain (14/14), medium gamma, and 256 frame integration (8 sec).  Registax4 used to flat field adjust, dark frame subtract, align, and stack images. Cropped and brightness enhanced with PhotoShop Elements 2.

Sky was clear, 2-3 mph wind, transparency very good, turbulence about 6/10, temperature 51°.F.

NGC 891 in Andromeda is a unbarred spiral seen edge on from our vantage point in space. It has a thin dark dust lane bisecting the entire cross section. It is a stunning, show piece object when viewed in a large aperature telescope from a dark sky location.

Fortunately we had access to both last Friday evening. We went to the Pawnee National Grasslands near Briggsdale, CO to get away the light pollution and enjoy some nearby dark sky. Gary brought out his 30 inch dob Telekit so we had plenty of aperature to view NGC 891, not to mention many other great objects. 

The above image taken with Celestron Nexstar 11 telescope, F3.3 focal reducer, and Stellacam II video camera. Stellacam II set at gain 14/14 and 256 integration (8 sec).  Registax4 used to flat field correct, dark frame subtract, align, and stack 30 frames. Conditions were great, sky was totally clear, wind 0-5 mph, low humidity, temperature 54°F, and turbulence between 5 and 6/10.

On a clear, dark, summer night I always love taking a look at the great globular cluster Messier 13 when its high overhead. It looks good in small scopes, but the view in a large scope such as my friend Gary’s 30″ dob is stunning. So many worlds, hundreds of thousands of suns in close orbits. Their skies must be filled with bright stars — maybe so many and so bright that their view of the universe is limited.

Image taken around 1 am Sunday morning May 27, 2007 from Louisville, CO with a Celestron Nexstar11 telescope, a F6.3 focal reducer, and a Canon Xti camera. Camera was set to ISO 800 and a 30 second exposure. Registax4 was used to align, stack, and enhance brightness. Sky was mostly clear, temperature 58° F, turbulence between 5 and 6/10, no wind, and transparency was quite good.

Messier 57, the Ring Nebula, is fairly high up in the sky around midnight in late May. It is one of the summer objects that nearly everyone takes a look at if they have a scope and a clear sky. M57 is beautiful to look at and is also one of our best examples of a planetary nebula. The star in the center has expelled envelopes of gas and dust and has collapsed to a white dwarf. Intense radiation causes gases surrounding the star to ionize and glow. The ionized oxygen glows a greenish color and the ionized hydrogen a redish color.

The image above was taken early Sunday morning May 27, 2007, with a Celestron Nexstar11 telescope, a F6.3 focal reducer, and a Canon Xti camera. Camera was set to ISO 800 and a 25 second exposure. Registax4 was used to align and stack 16 images. Sky was mostly clear, temperature 58° F, turbulence between 5 and 6/10, and no wind. Transparency was quite good although the humidity was high and dew was on about everything. Location was Louisville, CO.

Here is above M57 in desktop wallpaper or screen saver size (1280×1024). Send me a note if you would like another size.