Flaming Horsehead

On Sunday night (11/3/13) I dragged a couple friends with me to Mingo Creek Park Observatory for what I figured would be some minor astrophotography and binocular viewing.  We arrived to find the director of the observatory and another AAAP member doing research on Variable Stars using the large reflector telescope.  Not expecting to do any "big scope" observing we were thrilled when they warmly welcomed us into the facility and showed us several deep sky and planetary objects.  We viewed the Dumbbell Nebula (M27), the Orion Nebula (M42), Jupiter, and Uranus (which I had never observed).

When they closed up we went outside and under the moonless and cloudless sky we used the new and improved barn door sky tracking mount to shoot a wide field of Orion.  I wanted to show some of the nebulosity in the constellation, specifically Barnard's Loop or the entire Orion Molecular Cloud Complex but had very poor luck.  I'll try again when the constellation is higher, away from the horizon and light pollution.  I was tickled to see the Flame Nebula (NGC 2024) coming out in the wide shots and decided to target that next.  It's the fuzzy thing located just next to the bottom belt star in the photo.  Even the Rosette Nebula showed itself slightly on the lower left, that'll be a target soon as well.

180sec, f6.3, ISO800

Orion with prominent nebula locations

Just shooting with my un-modified Nikon D90, I was not expecting to be able to image the Flame Nebula very well and was even more amazed when the Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33) began to emerge in my processed shots. This image could definitely (and will) be improved upon with more stacked images but I'm very excited to show this off.

21 images stacked in DeepSkyStacker
f6.3, 60sec, ISO1600

And just a fun shot with my (wife's) car and some light painting.

The Stellar Nursery Next Door

Friday [3/29/13] was a gorgeous clear night, finally.  We started looking for PanSTARRS while waiting for astronomical dusk, found it well below Andromeda and not terribly spectacular.  We're planning on shooting it when it snuggles up to the Andromeda Galaxy 2 degrees apart this Thursday [4/4/13]. Fingers crossed for clear skies!  Once the Sun dropped sufficiently low we spent the few pre-Moon dark hours aimed at the Orion Nebula since it will be disappearing soon with the oncoming summer sky.  With my Nikon D90 attached to the William Optics Telescope mounted to the top of the Meade RCX for tracking we shot 45 second exposures for over a hour.

It's amazing, what looks like a single point of light in the most recognizable star formation of the Northern Hemisphere is actually a unfathomably massive star forming region.  Churning out stars and proto solar systems just down the street from us in our own Milky Way.

 Here she is in all her glory...well at least all the glory I could capture, there's so much going on there.

29 frames stacked in DeepSkyStacker
Williams Optics 81mm, f6, 45 sec, ISO2000 

Better than the previous Orion Nebula image? ...I like to think so.

Last chance at Orion

[Thursday, April 12]
Tonight was my last opportunity to shoot Orion until winter.  It's on the heels of the sun in the southwestern sky in the early evening and is completely out of sight before midnight this time of year.
Arguably, the most recognizable northern hemispheric constellation holds one of the most active star forming regions nearby in our own the Milky Way.  The Orion Nebula (aka: Great Nebula in Orion, M42, NGC 1976) is actually the middle "star" in Orion's scabbard.  If you grab some binoculars and look at Orion's scabbard, the three closer stars lined up almost perpendicularly below the three wider belt stars, you'll see that those three little stars are actually multiple stars in three little open clusters. If you look long enough at (and around; averted vision really makes it pop) the middle group you will see wispy clouds shaped like wings wrapping around the little stars in the center.  Those little stars in the center are a cluster of very young stars called the Trapezium.  The wispy clouds are gas an dust in the process of condensing into stars.  Read an interesting recent post by Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer on the Orion Nebula.

Here she is, this may just be my favorite photo I have ever taken.  I've been trying to shoot Orion for a long time but without a tracking mount it was extremely frustrating. With my camera piggyback mounted on a Meade RCX 400 it's a breeze. Thanks to the Observatory at Bisbee Hill guys for use of the equipment.

15 frames via DeepSkyStacker @ 81mm 40sec f6 ISO1000 

I also pointed the scope at a couple prominent galaxies near the tail of Ursa Major or the handle of the Big Dipper and snapped away.  This is the Whirlpool Galaxy (aka: M51a, NGC 5194) located just under the last star of the dipper's handle (picture the dipper right side up, like a spoon lying on a table).  As you can see, it appears to be a large spiral devouring a smaller galaxy (M51b or NGC 5195) but the smaller galaxy is actually passing behind the Whirlpool, merely gravitationally tugging on it.  This galactic encounter sparks massive star formation in the Whirlpool Galaxy, the pinkish/purplish hues are nebulous regions.

11 frames via DeepSkyStacker @ 81mm 2min f6 ISO2000

This is the gorgeous spiral galaxy M101 (NGC 5457) also near the end of the Big Dipper's handle.  Find it by looking at the last two handle stars and make an equilateral triangle pointing up (again, think of the dipper as horizontal), at the top of the triangle you'll find M101. There's three other galaxies visible in this image as well.  At 10 o'clock from M101 is NGC 5477 and straight to the left edge of the frame from there is a tiny edge-on galaxy NGC 9071.  The Fuzzy blob at the bottom is NGC 5474.

12 frames via DeepSkyStacker @ 81mm 2min f6 ISO2000

Another Ursa Major treat, Comet Garrad was visible (it's the green thingy), it was fantastic night!

[4/13/12]
Friday night was a bit hazy and observing was kind of a flop but this was our beautiful horizon.  Nice lineup of Canis Major, Orion, Taurus, Venus, Pleiades, and Perseus' leg.