Exploring the Suffolk Virginia Night Sky – Astronomy, Astrophotography, Telescopes, EAA – Planets and Stars and Nebula and Galaxies – Looking, Learning, Sharing… Let's see what we can see…
Clear and cold last night. Temperatures in the upper 20s. I uncovered the telescopes and set things up before dark. I started observing just after dark, about 6:30 PM. Good observing session, captured a few more open clusters, a galaxy, and tried a couple of other targets. Packed things in just after 9 PM since it was a school night.
M38 Open Cluster in the constellation of Auriga. Live stack of 30 x 20 second exposures with 350 gain.
M39 Open Cluster in the constellation of Cygnus. Live stack of 30 x 20 second exposures with 350 gain.
M52 Open Cluster in constellation of Cassiopeia. Live stack of 30 x 20 second exposures with 350 gain.
M110 a dwarf elliptical galaxy that is a satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy. Live stack of 30 x 30 second exposures with 350 gain.
M43 De Mairan’s Nebula in Orion. Captured some pretty interesting details in the dark clouds of the nebula. Live stack of 30 x 10 second exposures with 350 gain.
M43 is just right of center, that’s M42 to the right of M43. It’s doing what M42 does… saying “Look at me!”
Now for a few things which did not work, at least not as well as I had hoped…
First I tried to capture M77, but there was some light glow which was overtaking the image. Not sure if it was a neighbors flood lights or if it was some reflection from the Moon. I had nice framing of M77 and NGC 1055 I was just not able to get a good capture due to the glow where ever it was coming from. This was pretty disappointing, as I really did have a nice framing of M77 and NGC1055. Will definitely be back to try these again another night.
Attempted IC 1805, The Heart Nebula. I wasn’t expecting much, and that’s what I got. Live stack of 30 x 30 second exposures at gain 400.
Nice stars but the nebula just did not resolve. I expect this may be beyond the capabilities of the camera and scope. The apparent magnitude of the Heart Nebula is around 18, that is pretty dim. I may try again on another night when I have more time, but not expecting miracles.
Now on to the Horsehead Nebula in Orion. I have captured this one before with different gear. It is a difficult target. I live stacked 25 x 45 second exposures and you can just start to see the horse head just left of center.
That round shadow just under the horsehead, I am pretty sure that is a speck of dust either on the scope glass or the camera. I need to get that taken care of in the day light. I’ll be back with the dust speck gone to do some more longer, guided, exposures.
Had a great time observing. Added 5 more objects to my Messier Log. Enjoy!
