June Mountain, near Dexter, Oregon 122° 43.53 W 43° 48.41′ N
Conditions
3252′ magnitude 6.2 Skies; Clear & Steady
Helix Nebula NGC 7293, a planetary nebula in the constellation Aquarius, 714 Light years away. Discovered by Karl Ludwig in 1824. The helix Nebula formed when an intermediate low-mass star sheds it’s outer layers, leaving a remnant stellar core which will become a White Dwarf star. Helix is 25 arc-minutes in diameter, the outer layer is estimated to have formed 6,500 years ago, while the inner region 12,000 years ago.
This image was taken with a 5.5 inch Tech Engineering refractor on an Astro-Physics 1200 mount from a remote Dark Sky Site. All the equipment had to be setup and calibrated for that location.
An SBIG (Diffraction Limited) NABG CCD Camera, color filter-wheel (CFW8a) using Astro-Don Generation 1 true balance Luminance, Red, Green & Blue filters were used to capture the light channels which were combined to form a color image.
Markarian’s Chain of Galaxies, with 8 prominent members: M84 (NGC 4374), M86 (NGC 4406), NGC 4477, NGC 4473, NGC 4461, NGC 4458, NGC 4438 and NGC 4435. Taken with 80mm TMB Refractor f/4.8 384mm. Constellation of Virgo. Also know as Virgo Cluster
04/20/2018 Latitude: 33 29′ 01.48″ North Longitude: -116 43′ 19.24″ West. 4,321ft., Jupiter Ridge #4 OCA, CA. Seeing: E Transparency: 5.8 magnitude; SQM: 20. 78 . Telescopes / Optics: TMB 80mm f/6, Tele Vue 0.8 reducer f/4.8. Mount: Astro-Physics 1200 GTO. Camera: SBIG ST10xme CCD & CFW10 FOV: 2° 13′ 12″ x 1° 29′ 24″; FWHM: 1.68 +; Filter: Astrodon LRGB series E Gen. Information: Markarian’s Chain of Galaxies, Captured with CCDSoft. LRGB of 3 hours 15 minutes (L=2 hours 15 minutes.; color 60 minutes) -20° C. Processed with CCDStack2, Photoshop CS6.
Markarian’s Chain of Galaxies is part of the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. The chain forms a smooth curve and is named after the American Astrophysicist Benjamin Markarian. He discovered the common motion of the members in the 1960’s. Charles Messier discover of M84 (NGC 4374) & M86 (NGC 4406) in 1781. Both of theses Galaxies are elliptical or lenticular type galaxies. M84 at magnitude 10 (60 Mly) and M86 at 8.9 (52 Mly). The main galaxies include M84 (NGC 4374), M86 (NGC 4406), NGC 4477, NGC 4473, NGC 4461, NGC 4458, NGC 4438 and NGC 4435
The upper left Super Giant Elliptical Galaxy is M87, on of the most massive galaxies of the local group. It has approximate 12,000 globular clusters compared to our Milky Way’s 150-200.
Markarian’s Chain of Galaxies is a delight to view in larger instruments. Using telescope of 14 inches or more in aperture are really satisfying. Use a wide angle eyepiece of 26-50mm focal length to get the full impression of this galactic Cluster.
Early Spring is the best tome to view the Constellation Virgo, The Virgo Galaxy Cluster and Markarian’s Chain of Galaxies.
Comet C/2001 Q4 Neat May 24,2004 Canon Ftb Canon 100mm @ f/2.8 Elite-Chrome E200 Push 1 (Photo Oregon) 6 min exposure Piggyback on Losmandy G11 Mount Guiding through Takahashi FS78 Taken from Dark Skies at Panther Creek, SW of Veneta, Oregon 5.8-6.0 Magnitude skies 2557′ elevation
Comet C/2001 Q4 Neat was discovered on August 4, 2001 by the Near Earth Asteroid Tracking Team (NEAT). This comet spent most of its time in the southern hemisphere until May 2004 when it went North and brightened.
Comet C/2001 Q4 NEAT, came within 0.34 astronomical units ( 1 AU = 92,955,807 Miles ) 31.6 million miles of earth. It reached perihelion (closest approach in it’s orbit) on May 15, 2004 . This hyperbolic comet will be flung out of our solar system, never to be seen again.
AU or Astronomical Unit (roughly earth’s distance from the sun) 93,000,000 miles.
I was lucky to have a clear May night in Oregon to image Comet C/2001 Q4 Neat May 24, 2004.
Silver Sliver Galaxy, NGC 891 Edge on Spiral Galaxy Crop View
NGC 891:
9/7-8/2007 11:14 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: 21.91 . Telescopes / Optics: TEC 140 f/7 prime focus 980mm . Mount : AstroPhysics 1200 GTO. Camera: SBIG ST8XME CFW8) 4½ hours-25°c. FOV: 48’ x 32’ Filter: LRGB Astrodon e series. Information: One of my longest images with lots of data and great signal to noise; ( L-5 min. x 16; L-10 min. x13; RGB- 5 min. x 4ea.) Lots of detail and background galaxies. See next page for a cropped FOV of NGC 891
NGC 891 Edge on Spiral (HV19) Caldwell 23
NGC 891 is a great Edge on Galaxy in the constellation of Andromeda. This Galaxy is 30 million light years from earth. It shines at apparent magnitude 10.8 and 120 thousand light years across. At 13.5′ x 2.5 arc-minutes, it shows up nicely in medium to large amateur telescopes.
This Edge on Spiral galaxy’s dust lanes are prominent and show nice detail in long exposures. The dust lanes are similar to out own Milky Way if observed from the same distance edge on. On a clear summer night, the dark rift from Cygnus down to Sagittarius is now given a different perspective.
William Herschel discovered NGC 891 on October 6, 1784, this galaxy is a member of the NGC 1023 group of galaxies
The TV Show” Outer Limits” featured NGC 891 Galaxy during the end credits. This famous show also featured the Andromeda Galaxy, M67 Galaxy, M67, the Sombrero Galaxy (M104) and Pinwheel Galaxy M101).
NGC 7331 Deer Lick Group of Galaxies and Stephan’s Quintet
NGC 7331 Deer Lick Group of Galaxies and Stephan’s Quintet 140mm f/7 Refractor, SBIG ST10XME LRGB filters Total exposure 4.5 Hours
Telescope / Lens
TEC 140mm f/7 Refractor
Mount Type
Astrophysics 1200
Camera
SBIG ST10XME
Filters
Astrodon LRGB
Film
CCD
Exposure
185minutes (3 hours 5 min); LRGB (L=125,RGB=60@)
Processing
CCDSoft, CCDStack, AIP, Photoshop CS2-CS6
Date
10/25/2008
Location
25 miles SE of Cottage Grove, Oregon; 122° 52.595′ W 43° 31′ N
Conditions
4568′ magnitude 6 Skies; Clear & 5-7 m.p.h. wind
NGC 7331 (Deer Lick Group of Galaxies ) & NGC 7320 Stephens Quintet
The upper left is Stephens Quintet and the lower right is the Deer Lick group in the constellation of Pegasus. NGC 7331 the largest Galaxy in the Deer Lock group is 9° Northwest of ß Pegasi. The lower right edge of NGC7331 is pointed North and the companion galaxies are to the East. Galaxy NGC 7331 resembles what our own Milky Way galaxy would look like some 50 million light years away. This galaxy has an overall brightness of magnitude 10.3 . This group is a nice visual treat in medium to large amateur scope (10″ and up) NGC 7331 is 10.6′ x 3.8′ (the moon is 28′)
Stephens Quintet (upper left) is a small group of interacting galaxies 300 million light years away. You can see the lower two galaxies are interacting and a long arm extents from the one to the right. This detail is readily evident in the full resolution image. NGC7318A & NGC 7318B (magnitude 14) are colliding and nearby NGC 7319 (magnitude 14.4) may also be involved since it has an arm that stretches out. NGC 7320 (Mag. 13.3) is the top oblong one and NGC 7317 (14.8) is out to the left. Out further to the upper right of the main group is NGC 7320C at magnitude 16.6.
NGC 7331 Deer Lick Group of Galaxies cropped View
Galaxy NGC 7331 “Caldwell 30” 40 million light years. 12.1′ x 1.0′ magnitude 10.4. The other lenticular unbarred spirals NGC 7335, 7336 & barred spiral galaxy NGC 7340, elliptical galaxy NGC 7340. They are 332, 365, 348 and 294 million light years distant, respectively.
Discovered by William Hershel in 1784,
Stephan’s Quintet NGC 7318B Cropped View
Stephan’s Quintet is a grouping of 5 galaxies, forming a compact group of galaxies. In the constellation of Pegasus, discovered in 1877 by Edouard Stephan, also known as Hickson Compact Group 92. NGC 7318B collides with the group and a shock wave larger than our own Milky Way galaxy spread between the galaxies. NGC 7320 is only a foreground galaxy at 39 million light years. The other five form a group 220-330 million light years away.
