Sky this Week » Planetary Nebula

NGC 2392 Eskimo Nebula in constellation Gemini

Vern — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 04:50:37 +0000

Image below is of NGC 2392, the Eskimo Nebula in constellation Gemini. The one from the Hubble is admittedly just a tad bit better.

Image from last night, Feb 5 after 11 pm, 12 deg. F, no wind, transparency was good, and turbulence was better than usual, about 6/10. All images from Nexstar11, F3.3 focal reducer, and Stellacam II video camera, (4 second integration, 9/14 gain). 30 frames aligned, dark subtracted, flat field corrected, aligned, stacked, and enhanced with Registax4.

NGC 2371 and NGC 2372

Vern — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 04:43:16 +0000

NGC 2371 and 2372, the double-bubble nebula in constellation Gemini. A couple teardrops with 14.8 magnitude star in between.

Images acquired from Louisville, CO. Temperature was 12 deg. F, no wind, transparency was good, and turbulence about 6/10. All images from Nexstar11, F3.3 focal reducer, and Stellacam II video camera, (4 second integration, 9/14 gain). 30 frames aligned, dark subtracted, flat field corrected, aligned, stacked, and enhanced with Registax4.

Sharpless 1 – 89 in Cygnus

Vern — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 18:02:35 +0000

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.

Messier 57, the Ring Nebula

Vern — Tue, 29 May 2007 15:48:55 +0000

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.

Messier 27, the Dumbbell Nebula

Vern — Wed, 23 May 2007 02:32:38 +0000

It was slightly after 4 am and the eastern horizon was brightening when I turned the scope and Stellacam II to take a look at the Dumbbell Nebula in Vulpecula. I’m always amazed by this incredible object. It looked great in Gary’s 30″ dob. Visually through the eyepeice we were able to trace the outer ring in the 30 which the below image doesn’t pick up very well.

Image taken Sunday May 20, 2007 at the Cactus Flats North site in the Pawnee National Grasslands, 8 miles east of Briggsdale, CO. Sky was clear, transparency was good, no wind, temperature around 46°F, and turbulence about 5/10. Telescope was Celestron Nexstar11, F3.3 focal reducer, and Stellacam II video camera. Registax used to dark subtract, flat field correct, align, and stack about 8 minutes of video. Stellacam II set 10/14 gain, medium gamma, and 256 integration (8 seconds).

The Owl Nebula, M97 NGC 3587

Vern — Fri, 18 May 2007 22:02:55 +0000

Messier 97, the “Owl Nebula” is in constellation Ursa Major

A Stellacam II video camera used for capture at 128 integration (4 sec), medium gamma setting, and 9/14 gain. Sky was mostly cloudless, 0-5 mph wind, temperature 53°F, transparency was good though some haze was apparent, and turbulence 5/10. Location was light polluted Louisville, CO.

Messier 15 and Pease-1

Vern — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 06:33:18 +0000

Messier 15 located in the constellation Pegasus is one of the densest planetaries known. Located northeast of the center of the globular is a challenging object to find, planetary nebula Pease-1. This was the first nebula discovered within a globular by Francis Pease in 1928.

Follow the directions by Doug Snyder to locate this planetary which very near the core of M15 — you’ll need a high power eyepiece, an O3 filter, dark skies, and large scope to observe it directly.

Image taken on Sept 5, 2006 around 07:25 UT with a Celestron Nexstar11, Meade F3.3 focal reducer, and Astrovid Stellacam II. Temperature was 51°F, 75% humidity, sky was clear, transparency was very good, and turbulence about 6/10, in bright moonlight. Stellacam II set at 9/14 gain, integrate 128 frames (4 sec exposure), medium gamma. The 15 minutes of video was dark subtracted; flat field and bias corrected with ImagePlus; aligned and stacked with with Registrax3; enhanced and cropped with Photoshop Elements2.

NGC 7635, the Bubble Nebula

Vern — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 22:49:43 +0000

NGC 7635, the Bubble Nebula, in the constellation Cassiopeia is a bubble of gas that has been pushed outward from star BD+60 2522 (the bright star towards the north, ie top, of the bubble). The gas is ionized by the starlight and gives off a glow which may be seen in a large scope, though it is quite faint.

Celestron Nexstar11, Meade F3.3 focal reducer, and Astrovid Stellacam II was used to take the image from Louisville, CO on Sept 5, 2006 around 04:38 UT. Temperature was 57°F, 72% humidity, sky was clear, transparency was very good, and turbulence about 6/10, bright moonlight. Stellacam II set at 9/14 gain, integrate 128 frames (4 sec exposure), medium gamma. The 15 minutes of video was dark subtracted and aligned with Registrax3, enhanced with ImagePlus, and cropped with Photoshop Elements2.

Messier 27 – the Dumbbell Nebula

Vern — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 23:58:20 +0000

Messier 27 (NGC 6853) in the constellation Vulpecula is a show piece object that always is worth the visit on summer and fall evenings. It is relative bright so it makes a great target for astrophotographers as well. Below is my best effort to date, though I think I missed focus just a tad. I had lots of problems taking these. I took 30 images and only came up with about 16 that were usable. Set screws in the T-ring were probably loose as tracking and north alignment were quite good.

Image taken with Celestron Nexstar11 telescope, Meade F6.3 focal reducer, and Canon 300D Rebel at cassegrain focus. Camera was set at ASA 400 with 3 minute exposures. Manually tracked with A1010 telescope, Televue 2.5X Powermate, and Stellcam2 video camera. Temperature was 64 to 58°F, 40% humidity, mostly clear sky, absolutely no wind, and turbulence varied between 6 and 5/10.

I created some wallpaper size images as well 1600×1200, 1280×1024, and 1024×768.

Messier 27

Vern — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 22:07:23 +0000

After imaging the little dumbbell nebula I couldn’t resist taking a look at the “real” dumbbell nebula, Messier 27, in constellation Vulpecula. Two triangular lobes can be seen in the northeast and southwest which give it its “dumbbell” appearance in smaller scopes. Observing in a larger scope or stretching the brightness a bit, reveals a more circular faint halo farther out.

Image taken from Louisville, CO June 27, 2006 at 0:45 MDT with Celestron Nexstar11, F3.3 focal reducer, and Astrovid Stellacam II video camera. Camera settings: integrate 128, gain 9/14, medium gamma. Images were dark subtracted, flat field and bias corrected with ImagePlus. Aligned and stacked 150 images with Registax3. Brightness enhanced with ImagePlus, cropped with Photoshop Elements. Sky was clear, temperature 55°F, 46% humidity, transparency very good, turbulence 6/10.