04 Nov 05 - Deep Space test of Canon 350D

  I'm pleased with this picture, although I wish I would have done a longer cumulative exposure and tried a higher ISO (like maybe 1600). That said, this image is reduced to 50% of original size. The larger size is pretty noisy, but details such as nebulosity in M33 is evident.

 M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy

 This is a luminance layer I've captured to use in composing an LRGB color image of this signature galaxy. So far, the color layer has proved challenging to get.

Here it is enlarged.

 You can see the first (unsuccessful) attempt at adding a color layer here: color version.

 I use this galaxy, 37 million light years away, as a benchmark for my capturing and processing education - since it was the first deep space object I attempted to capture.

And here are my previous attempts to get a good picture. I think my technique has improved in the last year.

 2Feb05 - Horsehead Nebula & Flame Nebula

 This is a composite of a color layer taken 1 Feb with my SC2.5, and the H-alpha pictures I took on 2 Feb05. I needed longer color exposures, but I'm happy with the result.

The image is a 2 picture collage put together in iMerge.

Explore Orion here.

  2Feb05 - The Horsehead & Flame Nebula (in Ha)

  With my ATK2HS & Astronomik Hydrogen Alpha filter. A 2 picture collage to get both nebulae in the photo. I'm happy with the sharp outline of the horsehead and the detailed tendrils around it.

Explore Orion here.

  1Feb05 - M42

  Last night I captured a color layer for my previous H-alpha version of M42. I'm quite pleased with the result. even without the H-alpha luminance layer, a lot of detail was visible in the SC2.5 camera image.

Explore Orion here.

  29 Jan 05 - Orion's Belt & Sword

  Again, first light for the 50mm Lens. Attached to ATK2HS on a camera tripod (non tracking). This is a collage of 3 pictures (one cut down by half or so). Visible is the Great Orion Nebula and related objects, and the Flame Nebula.

                          Mouse over for labels.

Explore Orion here. - see close-ups in context.

 29Jan05 - The Double Cluster

 First light for the 50mm SLR Lens. Attached to ATK2HS on a regular, non tracking camera tripod.

  Although I'm unable to add my H-alpha image (below) for luminance, this still came out okay for my first color image of M42.

It was about 20 degrees as I took this one and the picture below. I was experimenting with getting diffraction spikes by having a shoelace crisscrossed over my 80mm refractor lens. I think the lace was a bit wide!

   Just for fun, some holiday spirit.

 16 Dec 04 - M42 in Orion

 The Great Orion Nebula is approximately 1,600ly from Earth, but is the brightest diffuse nebula in the sky - easily visible with the naked eye, it is the jewel in Orion's sword.

This image is a combination of images taken with a Hydrogen-Alpha filter and with an IR/UV filter. The image was made with my Orion 80mm ST scope and a focal reducer.

16 Dec 04 - M42 in Orion (H-alpha)

 The Great Orion Nebula is approximately 1,600ly from Earth, but is the brightest diffuse nebula in the sky - easily visible with the naked eye, it is the jewel in Orion's sword.

This image is was taken with a Hydrogen-Alpha filter,  my Orion 80mm ST scope and a focal reducer.

  This open cluster is the most recognizable in the sky. Popularly known as the "7 sisters," it consists of many more dimmer stars and the brilliant blue sisters we know.

  Mouse over the image to see the names.

 17 Nov 04 - NGC 891 in Andromeda

  A classic example of an edge-on spiral, NGC 891's prominent dust lane makes it an

   attractive target for photographers.

 04 Oct 04 - Supernova 2004et in NGC6946

This supernova exploded about 10 million years ago in NGC6946. It was discovered on 22 September by Stefano Moretti. The image at left is a composite of a black & white image taken with my ATK2HS and a color image taken with my SC2.5 modified webcam. The b&w image is below.

  The calculations show the supernova at magnitude 12.7.

21 Sep 04 - Stephan's Quintet

This close grouping of galaxies near NGC 7331 (below) is famous because it seems to show three galaxies colliding. I need a much deeper picture to show the detail. I captured a color layer, but I'm unsure if I'll be able to apply it.

Most of the quintet are approximately 300 million light years away, in Pegasus.

 21 Sep 04 - NGC 7331 revisited.

I intended to get a new, deeper pic of 7331 and then capture a color layer. Unfortunately, clouds rolled in before I could get the color layer with my color cam. Another night, perhaps. This does show more detail than the picture below, however.

Mouse over the picture for labels.

 14 Sep 04 - NGC 7335 and neighbors

 NGC 7335 has been called our galaxy's "twin" because of similar structure to the Milky Way. It is an inclined spiral galaxy approximately 49 million light-years away.

Also marked are some of the companion galaxies in this group, which is very close to Stephan's Quintet, a more famous grouping of galaxies.

 M31 - Andromeda Galaxy.

See my Andromeda Page for a large mosaic and other information.

 14 Sep 04 - The Bubble Nebula

  Like the Crescent Nebula (below, 2 Sep) this nebula is caused by high-velocity stellar winds coming from a  massive, hot, blue star.

 14 Sep 04 - Cygnus X1

  You can't actually see it, but this is a picture of a suspected black hole. Cygnus X1 is a strong radio source orbiting a large star (marked). It is one of the best candidates scientists have identified as a possible  black hole.

  For more information go to: http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~spac250/steve/ident.html

12Sep04 - Supernova 2004dj

I revisited 2004dj. You can see my first picture of it below. I plan on revisiting this supernova as often as I can over the coming year or so to perhaps be able to demonstrate its fading. This is limited by its rising time. This was taken at 0308AM, local time.

 11 Sep 04 - The Cocoon Nebula

This is a composite of images taken with my B&W ATK2HS and my color SC2.5. Unfortunately, I don't think I captured enough color images, so the color is washed out a bit.

This nebula is about 5500ly away, in Cygnus.

  This is the luminance layer used above, taken with my ATK2HS with IR blocking filter.

11 Sep 04 - The Helix Nebula

This planetary nebula is one of the closest planetary nebulas to us. It is estimated to be about 450ly distant.

This object is difficult for me because it is fairly low in the south, where I have to deal with light pollution from New York City.

04 Sept 04 - The Crescent Nebula

This is a wide-field view, using my finder/guide scope, an Orion ShortTube 80mm. I had some tracking issues which contribute to the funky star shapes.

 2 Sep 04 - The Crescent Nebula

5,000 light years away in Cygnus, this bright emission nebula is the result of a hot Wolf-Rayet star (the bright bluish star near the center of the picture) approaching supernova. The star is creating powerful stellar winds that excite the gaseous shell it ejected 200,000 years earlier.

A more morbid name for this nebula is "The Van Gogh's Ear Nebula."

This image is "first light" with my Astronomik H-alpha filter. It is also my first attempt to use color layers produced by my SC2.5 modified webcam to colorize the images from the ATK2HS black and white camera. I'm quite pleased with the result.

To see the component images and procedures click here.

 2 Sep 04 - The Crescent Nebula (H-alpha)

First light for this filter. It is the luminance layer in the image above.

Click here for full-sized picture
Click here to see my first version.

 23 Aug 04 - NGC 7023

A combination of emission, reflection and dark nebulosity surrounding a fairly young star.

My poor color shot below demonstrates the need for longer integration times with color cams, however, it is important to note that both the seeing and my tracking were better on the night I took the black & white image.

 23Aug04 - Supernova 2004dj in NGC 2403.

This supernova was discovered July 31st of 2004 by Koichi Itagaki in Japan. It is one of the brightest in years. For more information on this supernova or supernovae in general, go to Rochester Astronomy's page.

The light from this galaxy travels about 12 million years to reach Earth. This means that when this star exploded we were probably in the Miocene Epoch.

 23Aug04 - IC1318 in Cygnus

The heart of Cygnus, around gamma Cygnus, is ablaze with nebulosity. This is part of that region.

06 Aug 04 - Alberio and companion

One of the most beautiful double stars due to the color difference. This is the "head" of Cygnus.

06 Aug 04 - M52 "The Scorpion"

This is an open star cluster located in Cassiopeia, approximately 5,100 light years away.

22 Jul 04 - M17, The Swan Nebula

This picture was taken from the darkest sky site I've taken my scope to yet. From a campground overlooking the ocean at Cape North, Cape Breton Island (Nova Scotia) I had a beautiful sky. The only light pollution was from the amazing northern lights display over the ocean.

However, the photographic conditions weren't so good... the wind was very gusty. Out of about 65 frames of The Swan, I could only use 13.

04 Jul 04 - M57 (The Ring Nebula)

I have quite a few shots of this one, but this is certainly my best so far. July 03/04 was a banner night.

Note the central star and the structure in the ring. I'm trying to decide if those "fingers" I see extending from the Ring's 4/5 o'clock position are really there.

Not sure if this is the accurate color or not, but it is what came out!

04 July 04 - The Eagle Nebula

I didn't really think about the symbolism of capturing the Eagle Nebula on the Fourth of July (especially since it was the 3d of July in the Eastern US Time Zone) but it is a cool coincidence.

This fiery eagle is perhaps 7,000 light years away.

Vega - 04 Jul 04

There is something about Vega's blue color that makes me think it is our summer star. It is dazzling through my 80mm superfinder, and this picture captures some of that.

04Jul04 - Mizar & Alcor

Mizar (on the left) is a double star. In fact, it is a double-double, but you can only see the two primaries here.

04Jul04 - Polaris

Polaris is famous for its position near the celestial pole. As such, it is the North Star and all the stars in the sky appear to revolve around it. Interestingly, it is also a double star.

 21 Jun 04 - Lagoon Area

I have to admit, I was a bit lost as I took this picture, but I believe it is part of the lagoon nebula. There is Nebulosity all through this picture. It is from my first light with my SC2.5 cooled webcam. I'm learning to process. This was done with YRGB processing in IRIS, touchup in Photoshop.

Who gets a new camera and doesn't point it at M57? My first color shot. I think my YRGB processing still needs work - a bit too much green here perhaps.

My tracking was pretty poor.

This is one of my first pictures with my peltier cooled color webcam.

I'm still learning how to process these photos.

 08Jun04 - M27 (The Dumbbell Nebula)

I took three pictures of this object, though three filters to see if the difference was significant. It wasn't... but that might be different with a color camera.

All pictures are available on my latest page.

09 Jun 04 - NGC4565

This is a huge edge-on galaxy.

08Jun04 - VirgoA (M87).

A rather fuzzy and difficult to resolve elliptical galaxy. I believe it was one of the first galaxies discovered outside of the local group. It is also HUGE. According to Starry Night Pro, it contains several trillion solar masses and has a 3-billlion solar mass black hole at its core. It is surrounded by 15,000 globular clusters.

I believe its companion, NGC4478 is pictured on the south margin of this photo.

 30 May - M57 (The Ring Nebula)

My focus was a bit out for this one, but still a good effort. I'll be revisiting this interesting planetary nebula soon.

17 May 04 - M109

This is a nice example of a barred spiral. The central bar shows up quite distinctly.

17 May 04 - M108.

17 May04 - M97 (The Owl Nebula).

My second nebula attempt. I used a Meade Broadband Nebular filter, and I'm pleased with the results.

17 May 04 - NGC 3628. This is the third  of the "Leo Triplets." It is a large, edge on spiral that is "disturbed." You can see some "wings" off each side that give this object an intriguing shape. I did a negative image to show them more clearly. You can see it here:

15 May 04 - NGC 3242 (Eye Nebula or Ghost of Jupiter Nebula).

This is my first nebula pic. It was low on the horizon and I had to discard a lot of frames because of scudding clouds. However, I managed to get the distinctive "eye" shape.

In the original picture, you can see why it is called the "ghost of jupiter" due to its size and shape in a small telescope.

Planetary Nebulae are stars that, late in life, have shed gas which glows from the energy being released by the star. They are often round-ish in shape when viewed through a small telescope, thus the name "planetary" nebula.

14May04. Leo Triplet 1 & 2. Pretty pleased with the details in M66. I took another with M66 centered that I will process soon.

14May04 - M66 (Leo Triplet 2).

This was taken after the image above, centering on M66. The original image has been enlarged in Photoshop 200%.

14May04 - The Sombrero Galaxy (M104)

05May04 - M82 (The Cigar Galaxy)

I had to race a full moon to catch this one. I'm pleased with the details in the dust lanes, despite the rather bright sky.

This galaxy is the neighbor of M81, below. Someday I hope to do a collage that shows both of them on the same night.

This is my second attempt at M51, which was the first DSO I attempted to image.

You can see the progress I've made here.

29APR04. M81

I was racing against clouds to get this one, and light clouds came by several frames. Some of the stars are burned out from processing as I tried to get the arm detail out.

M81 (Bode's Galaxy) and its neighbor M82 are two famous galaxies in close proximity to the Big Dipper (Ursa Major). M81 is large and fairly bright to the eye, but the arms have a low surface brightness that makes it tricky to process.

01May04, M13.

M13 is a globular cluster, sometimes called the "Great Hercules" cluster.

Compare with my previous attempt, here.

29APR04. NGC 4425.

I was exploring Markarian's Chain and looking for "The Eyes" when I imaged this galaxy. It is visual magnitude 12 or so, which makes it the faintest galaxy I've imaged so far. It was getting cloudy again, so I had to overprocess this image.

21APR04 - M101, The Pinwheel Galaxy

Seeing was fair, but light clouds were approaching.

This Galaxy is huge. It is about 170,000 light years across, and it is about 27 Million Light Years from us.

Its apparent magnitude is about 8.50.

 21APR04 - M63, The Sunflower Galaxy

Seeing was fair with some wispy clouds coming in.

M63 is a barred spiral. It is about 37 Million Light Years away and has an apparent magnitude of 8.50.

16 Apr 04

The Blackeye Galaxy.

Seeing was good.

16 Apr 04. Good seeing and my second attempt at M03. A vast improvement, as you'll see if you click on the picture.