Astrophography

M 42 Great Orion Nebula

Great Orion Nebula M42 & NGC 1973, NGC 1975 & NGC 1977

M 42 Great Orion Nebula, Pictured above. Next to it is M43 (NGC 1982) along with the blue nebula called “The Running man” NGC 1977. The start cluster NGC 1981 is superimposed over the blue nebula. The pinkish nebula composes of M42 & M43 at magnitude 4, and is visible a a one degree fuzzy patch to the naked eye. These nebulae reside in the sword of Orion below the left bright belt star Alnitak. This region of nebulae is approximately 1344 light years from earth and 12 light years in diameter. 60 x 60 arc-minutes .

M42 Orion Nebula & Running Man Nebula NGC 1973 — Zoom in View of Trapezium, 4 central stars formed in the nebula, they are 15-30 solar mass each.

Telescope / Lens	TEC 140 f/7 5.5″ Refractor 980mm focal length
Mount	AstroPhysics 1200
Camera	Canon EOS 20d DSLR
Filters	None
Film	DLSR
Exposure	88 minutes; 5min exposures @ ISO 400, 800, 1600 & 1 minute @ ISO 100
Processing	Deep SkyStacker, CCDStack, Photoshop CS2 & Picture Wind Pro
Date	Images taken 09/12/2007
Location	June Mountain 122° 43.528′ W, 43° 48.407′ N 22 miles S of Dexter, Oregon
Conditions	3232′ clear calm skies magnitude 6

The Orion nebula M42 is even visible in light polluted skies with the naked eye. Dark sky locations show a glowing gaseous area the middle star of the “sword” of Orion. These stars are located south of Orion’s belt. Wide Field eyepieces in a 10-14″ scope really brings out the detail.

Lunar Eclipse 8/28/2007

Lunar Eclipse 8/28/2007, Canon EOS 20D, Lens Tokina 300mm f/2.8 Lens w/ 2xb & Hamma Adapter 1.26Total Focal length 1210 mm f/5.6. Photos taken with remote switch with camera mounted on a Velbon CX 687 Tripod. Exposures 1/500- 1.2 seconds, processed in Photoshop CS2.

Globular Star Cluster M13 (NGC 6205)

M13 Globular Star Cluster in Hercules NGC 6205 TEC140 f/7 Canon 20d

Telescope / Lens	TEC 140 f/7 980mm; TMB 80 f/6 manual guiding
Mount Type	Astro-Physics 1200 mount
Camera	Canon 20D & Angle C magnifier
Filters	N/A
Film	Digital
Exposure	5 minutes x 8 stacked
Processing	Photoshop CS2 Cropped; 2017 CS6 & CCDStack
Date	9-11-2007
Location	June Mountain, South of Eagles Rest, Oregon
Conditions	3232′ magnitude 6.2 Skies; Clear & Steady

The brightest globular cluster in the northern latitudes, the Globular Star Cluster in Hercules M13 (NGC 6205) shines at magnitude 5.8 and is visible to the naked eye from a dark sky site. It is approximately 20 arc-minutes in diameter with around 300,000 stars. Located in western edge of the Keystone in the constellation of Hercules. It takes an 11-12″ telescope to resolve the stars decently, like diamond dust on black velvet. Go to a 14″ or larger at a dark sky site and it is a real treasure! The Great Hercules Globular Cluster of stars lies 22,200 light years from earth. This is roughly one quarter the width of our Milky Way Galaxy.

The larger galaxy, upper right-hand corner is NGC 6207 at magnitude 12.2 , 3 x 1.2 arc-minutes and 45 million Light years distant, about the distance of the Virgo Galaxy Group . The smaller galaxy, just to the upper right of the globular cluster, in between M13 and NGC 6207. This galaxy is IC 4617 magnitude 15.5, 1.2′ x 22″, at 489 million light years away. A visually challenging object through an eyepiece.

DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) cameras are really opening new doors in astrophotography and the Canon 20d and 20da really preform. Currently in 2018, the Canon 6d (full size) and 7d Mark II (APS) have really made monumental strides in Resolution, QE (Quantum Efficiency), Noise, etc.

New M13 Image 8/14/2022

M13 Globular Star Cluster — 4/16/2021 1:22 AM PST Latitude: 33° 29′ 01.48″ North Longitude: 116° 43′ 19.24″ West Elevation: 4321 ft. Jupiter Ridge #4 Observatory; OCA site, near Anza, CA.

Additional data from imaging with TEC 140 f/4.55 f 637mm (APEX-L) SQM: 20.85. Telescopes / Optics: TEC 140mm f/4.55 RGB= 3 x 5 minute; L= 10x x 5 minute -20°c. Total LRGB= 95 minutes. This data was added to existing DSLR & CCD data to go deeper and improve resolution. FWHM: 1.56 average. Processed with CCDStack, Photoshop CS6, Pixel-Insight. Final image has approximately 3.5 hours of data. Several background galaxies are clearly visible.

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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The Pleiades Open Star Cluster M45

Telescope / Lens	300mm f/2.8 Lens; 420mm f/4 Lens DSLR
Mount Type	Piggyback on G11 (Stepper)
Camera	Canon F-1 ; Canon 20D
Filters	112mm UV
Film	Kodak E200 (Slide Film) DSLR
Exposure	2 film exposures 45 min. ea; manual guiding FS/78; 10 DSLR
Processing	Slides scanned Nikon 5000 @ 4000dpi 16bit (130 MB files) 3 images stacked; processed in Photoshop CS5 AIP & CCDStack DSLR images stacked with film in CCDStack
Date	7/25/2003 & 8/20/2004
Location	Oregon Star Party 120° 09′ W 44° 18′ N Indian Trail Springs, Ochoco National Forest (Also Eagles Rest 25 miles SE of Dexter, Or.)
Conditions	5000′ magnitude 6.2 Skies; Clear & Steady

The Pleiades M45, is a well known naked eye Open Star Cluster in the constellation of Taurus (The Bull). The Pleiades (M45) is a young open cluster of stars enshrouded in gas and dust which is illuminated by several bright stars. Also know as the Seven Sisters covering an area of 2° and lying a mere 415-444 light years away. In fact through binoculars you can see nine prominent stars, two of which are the parents of the seven sisters. The stars are of varying brightness and distances from Earth. They vary from Magnitude 2.9 Alcyone 240 light years to Celaeno magnitude 5.5 and 590 light years distant.

The bright stars are middle aged hot B type Blue stars forming the closets star cluster to earth. They formed approximately 100 million years ago. The nebula is not related to the stars and is just illuminated interstellar dust.

This formation of stars (6) is know as Subaru in Japan (to unite). It was chosen as Subaru brand of cars which united 5 companies into one thus the 6 stars depicted for their logo.