February 2025 - Astrophography

M 81 Galaxy

M81 NGC 3031 Bode's Galaxy or Bode's Spiral Nebula — M 81 Galaxy 9/9/2007 03:52 AM TEC 140 f/7 APO Telescope

M81 Galaxy, 9/9/2007 03:52 AM Latitude: 43° 48.407′ North Longitude: 122° 43.528′ West 3252’ June Mountain 22 miles South of Dexter. OR. Seeing: E Transparency: 7, Bortle: 2, SQM: 21.90 Telescopes / Optics: TEC 140 f/7 prime focus 980mm Mount : AP1200 GOTO Camera: SBIG ST8XME CFW8) -20°c FOV: 48’ x 32’ Filter: LRGB Astrodon e series Information: M81 LRGB Ha= M 81 Total LRGB -Ha 215 min: Total of 3 hrs, 35 minutes. (additional Data 11-12-2008 & 02/9/2018 ST10XME) CCDSoft, CCDStack & Photoshop

M81 Galaxy also known as: NGC 3031, UGC 5318, MCG+12-10-010, PGC 28630, Bode’s Galaxy. M 81 Galaxy is 26.9′ x 14.’ arc-minutes.

M 82 Galaxy

M 82 NGC 3034 Cigar Galaxy — M 82 NGC 3034 Galaxy 10/26/2008 3:39 AM

M 82 NGC 3034 Galaxy; 10/26/2008 3:39 AM. Latitude: 43° 31′ 21″ North Longitude: 122˚ 52’ 35” West 4658 ft. Snow Peak S/E of Cottage Grove. OR. Seeing: E Transparency: 7 Seeing: E. SQM: 21.94 Telescopes / Optics: TEC 140 f/7 980mm Mount : AstroPhysics 1200 GOTO Camera: SBIG ST10XME CFW8a; 90 Minutes ( L=45 min; RGB= 45 min.; FOV 106’ x 72’ Filters: Astrodon LRGB series E Information: Used CCDSoft, CCDStack, AIP (Richard Berry), Photoshop.

This Galaxy was believed to be an irregulars galaxy, but in 2005 two spiral arms were discovered. They were missed because of the core’s brightness and their blue color. Star bursts from M82 indicate a hotbed of super nova activity from young massive stars.

The Hubble Space Telescope (2005), revealed 197 massive clusters in it’s star-burst core. The clusters average 200,000 Solar Masses. M82 has an apparent size of 11.2′ x 4.3′ and lies 12.4 Mly away. In 2010 radio astronomers found a strange object that may be a micro quasar.

In perspective M81 lies approximately 130,000 light years away. Making for a nice view of two galaxies in most amateur telescopes. This Galaxy is also known as NGC 3034, 5322, Arp 337, Cigar Galaxy, PGC 28655 and 3C 231.

M81 & M82 Galaxies

M81 and M 82 Galaxies — M81 & M82 stack of 7 TEC 140 f/7 Canon 20D 9/12/2007 2:16 – 3:00 AM 300 sec subs 9/11/2007 June Mountain TEC 140 prime

This pair of Galaxies are a beautiful site in armature telescopes and visible through binoculars. Both galaxies fit within the field of view of binoculars and small telescope. They are gravitationally locked, approximately 12 Million Light Years from Earth.

This was an early attempt to image with new DSLR cameras. This image was taken with a Canon 20D. Canon 20D: 8.2 megapixel APS-C 22.5mm x 15.0mm. Amp glow was an issue with this camera. The ISO 100-1600 extended to 3200-with lots of noise. Series of 7×300 sec. images at ISO 800 & 1600. Darks were taken to minimize noise and amp glow. It was a far cry from current DSLR’s and Mirrorless Cameras.

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.