Astrophography

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Look Up & Enjoy the Night Sky – Visit Local Astronomy Clubs – Go to Star Parties, Observatories

Sharing the Wonders of the Night Skies, an Amateur Astronomers endeavors to capture and share the Night Skies on Film and Digital Media.

Astronomy Clubs

Temecula Valley Astronomers (TVA)

Orange County Astronomers (OCA)

Riverside Astronomical Society (RAS)

The Astronomical League (Search for Clubs)

Mount Palomar Observatory – A private facility owned and operated by California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The Facility has a great Visitors Center, and amenities. It is one of the only Working Observatories to offer Guided Tours . If you live in or visit Southern California you must see The 200″ Hale Telescope .

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Comet Linear C/2001 A2

C/2001 A2 (LINEAR) is a non-periodic comet from the Oort cloud discovered by LINEAR on 15 January 2001. — Comet Linear C/2001 A2 Canon F1 and 100mm f/2.8 lens, 14min exposure on Kodak ED200 slide film

Comet Linear C/2001 A2 photographed from Indian Ridge. Indian ridge is a remote observing site East of Vida, OR. Latitude: 44°00′ 4.10”North Longitude: 122°15’26” West 5242’ Seeing: E Transparency: 6-7 Bortle: 2 SQM: 21.68. Mount: Losmandy G11 Stepper motors, non-GOTO. Telescope: Celestron C11 used for guiding. Canon F1 with Canon 100mm f/2.8 lens piggyback. Kodak Elite Chrome 200 slide film pushed 1, 14 min. exposure. Slide # 5 was scanned with a Nikon ED5000. The Tiff file was then processed in Photoshop.

Only chance in Oregon to see the comet and view the Leonid Meteor Shower. November 18, 2001 9:30 PM till 2:30 AM November 19,2001. Very cold and 2 feet of snow, around 0-10 degrees with winds of 10-15 mph. Images were shortly limited to only a few minutes. Ice would form on the lens when exposed to the air. Alcohol was used to clear the ice and clean the lens filter. Lucky to capture this comet with just a 100mm f/2.8 lens. The comet is in the center, at 5 o’clock below a red star, Comet Linear is greenish with a slight halo.

Comet Linear C/2001 A2 was discovered by LINEAR on 15 January 2001. LINEAR, the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research, program is expanding astronomers’ knowledge about the population of asteroids and comets in our solar system.

Crescent Nebula NGC 6888

9/9/2007 2-4 AM Latitude: 43° 48.407′ N Longitude: 122° 43.528′ West 3252 feet; June Mountain 22 miles, South of Dexter. OR. Seeing: E, Transparency : 7 Bortle: 2, SQM:21.91 Telescopes / Optics: TEC 140mm f/7 980mm Mount: Astrophysics AP1200 GOTO Camera: SBIG ST8xme CCD & CFW9 FOV: 0.81º x 0.54º FOV: 28’ 48”’ x 19’12” FWHM: 3.95” Filter: Astrodon LRGB series E Gen. 2 (Ha 9nm Schuler. Information: NGC 6888 (Crescent Nebula) Captured with CCDSoft. LRGB=3 x 300 seconds; Ha (9nm)= 3 x 600 seconds -20°c. Total L (Ha) RGB= 90 minutes Processed with CCDStack2 and Photoshop CS6

NGC 6888 called The Crescent Nebula, also known as Caldwell 27 and Sharpless 105. It lies within the constellation of Cygnus, approximately 5,000 light years away. NGC 688 shines at an apparent magnitude +7.4 and 18’ x 12’ in size. It is formed by stellar wind from the bright star HD 192163 colliding with slower ejected wind when it became a Red giant approximately 300,000 years ago. HD192163 is the center bright star also called a Wolf-Ravet star (WR 136). This star now sheds the Sun’s mass every 10,000 years. Burning fuel at a fast rate and nearing it’s end. This star will go supernova.

Veil Nebula NGC 6960

Veil Nebula NGC 6960, 08/17/2001 1:35 AM Latitude: 44˚ 17’ 56” N Longitude: -120˚ 08’ 30” W 5,030 ft. Oregon Star Party 45 mi. E. Prineville , OR . Seeing: E Transparency: 7; Bortle: 1 SQM: 21.96. Telescopes / Optics: Tokina 300mm f/2.8 Mount : Losmandy G11 C-11 Piggyback. Camera: Canon F1 Exposure: 16 min. FOV: 6º 49’ 48” x 4º 33’ 0” Filter: UV Information: Manually guide through Celestron 11” SCT, Film camera piggyback. Used “bright screen” and canon angle finder to focus on nearby star. Elite Chrome 200 slide, film push process at Photo Oregon. Slide # 19 scanned, 4 iterations with Nikon 5000 LED film scanner. Processed using Photoshop and CCDStack

Veil Nebula NGC 6960 found in The constellation Cygnus ruminants of supernova 10 to 20 thousand years age. The Veil Nebula is 2,400 light years away would have been as bright as Venus during crescent stage, magnitude -4.92. 20 times more mass than our sun. Filament with Bright star is NGC 6960 also called “Witch’s Broom” near 52 Cygni magnitude of 4.2, Western Veil. Eastern Veil’s bright area is referred to as NGC 6992 trailing off into NGC 6995 known as the “Network Nebula”

The Perseus Galaxy Cluster (Abell 426)

10-25-2008 5:36:13 UT Latitude: 43° 31′ 21″ North Longitude: 122˚ 52’ 35” West; 4658 ft. Snow Peak; S/E of Cottage Grove, OR Seeing: E Transparency: 6 SQM: 21.98. Telescopes / Optics: TEC 140mm f/7 Mount: AstroPhysics 1200 GTO. Camera: SBIG ST10xme CCD & CFW10 FOV: 48’ x 32’ FWHM: 2..24-2.95 Filter: Astrodon LRGB series E Gen. 2 Ha 9nm Information: The Perseus galaxy cluster (Abell 426) is about 250 million light-years from our galaxy and contains more that 500 catalogued galaxies. The brightest member is NGC 1275, near the left edge of the image, at magnitude 11.6. L=13, RGB=5 ; total 2 Hours 20 min. FWHM Range 2.36-2.68

The Perseus galaxy cluster (Abell 426) is about 250 million light-years from our galaxy and contains more that 500 catalogued galaxies. The brightest member is NGC 1275, at magnitude 11.6. NGC 1275 is a strong source of radio waves and x-rays. Abell 426 is the dominant member of the Perseus-Pisces Supercluster, spanning 15 degrees.. The super cluster extends to 300 million light-years and covers 40 degrees of the winter sky.

Comets: Comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd); Comet 21P Giacobini-Zinner and Comet C/2023 A3

08-27-04:47:16 UT Latitude: 44° 2’ 07.73” North Longitude: 120° 50’ 43.21” West; 3855 ft. Juniper Acres, 30 miles East of Bend, OR Seeing: E Transparency: 6 ; Bortle-2 SQM: 21.74 Telescopes / Optics: TEC 140mm f/7 980mm Mount: AP1200 Camera: SBIG ST10xme CCD & CFW10 FOV: 48’ x 32’ FWHM: 2.85” Filter: Astrodon LRGB series E Gen. 2 (Ha 9nm used for Luminance) LRGB 15min. Information: Comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd) passing near Globular Star Cluster M 71 (NGC 6838); processed CCDStack2, Photoshop CS6

9/11/2018 09:51:36 UT Latitude: 33° 29′ 01.48″ North Longitude: 116° 43′ 19.24″ West Elevation: 4321 ft. Jupiter Ridge #4 Observatory, OCA site, near Anza, CA. Seeing: E Transparency: 6 Bortle: 4 SQM: 20.85 Telescopes / Optics: TMB f/4.8 fl/384mm Mount: AP1200 Camera: SBIG ST10xme CFW10 Total exposure FOV: 133.4′ x 89.5′ Filter: Astrodon LRGB series E Gen. 2 FWHM: 2.1 Information: Comet 21P Giacobini-Zinner, Captured with CCDSoft; RGB= 60″ea LRGB= 12 min. total exposureCS6

Comet C/2023 A3 10-14-2024 7:37 PM — Comet C/2023 A3, 10-14-2024 7:37 PM; taken form Camino De La Torre, Temecula, CA Bortle 6 skies Canon 7D II Tripod 2sec. f/2.8 100mm ISO 320