Astrophotography Archives - Page 37 of 68

April 2, 2021April 2, 2021

4/2/2021 The Christmas Tree Cluster

Thursday night I went up to the River Ridge Observatory to do some narrow band imaging. One of my targets was NGC 2264 also known as The Christmas Tree cluster, the Cone Nebula, and the Fox Fur Nebula. Starting from the right, see that dark cone on its side? that is, not surprisingly, The Cone Nebula. Immediately to it’s left is another cone but this time a cone of stars with it’s peak almost touching the peak of that nebula. From this orientation, the Christmas Tree Cluster is on its side with its base being that brightest star in the middle. Finally, those swirls and stuff on the left make up the Fox Fur Nebula. These are all part of a common molecular cloud where stars are forming in the constellation of Monoceros, the unicorn. This was made with my 11″ SCT at f/1.9 using a dual narrowband filter and my ZWO ASI294MC Pro. A total of sixty minutes integration.

March 21, 2021March 21, 2021

3/20/2021 Lunar Occultations

I was at the River Ridge Observatory under a first quarter Moon. I had one rig shooting with a narrowband filter oblivious to the moonshine. I had a second rig set up for my DSLR but what to shoot with that bright of a Moon in the way?

Occultations! Serendipitously, I found that the leading dark edge of the Moon would occult, or pass in front of, two fairly bright stars at 9:05 PM just 30 minutes away. I set the remote to take continuous one second images starting at about 9:02 and let it run for two or three minutes 9:05 to be safe. I got a total of about six minutes of single one second shots.

I used Lightroom to process and Photoshop to make a video and here is the result at ten frames or ten seconds per second. You can see the Moon creep up on and blot out the two stars almost at the same time.

March 5, 2021March 5, 2021

3/4/2021 The Orion and Running Man Nebulae

The Orion and Running Man Nebulae. Click image for larger view.

On Wednesday, March 3, I had my first chance to do astrophotography in about six weeks. Orion and the Orion nebula moved three hours closer to the Sun in those six weeks so I wanted to work on that while I could.

This is a composite image of the Orion Nebula (M42 and M43) and adjacent Running Man Nebula (NGC 1977) taken with my 11″ SCT (Elf) and ZWO ASI 294MC Pro at the River Ridge Observatory. This is a composite made from 15 120 second, 15 60 second, 30 30 second, and 30 8 second images. Capture was done with SharpCap Pro, stacked with Deep Sky Stacker, and processing done with Photoshop CC.

This image is on its side to fit most monitors better. This is normally roughly vertical when you look at it. Tilt your head to the left for a better look at the Running Man but in this orientation the main attraction looks a bit like a turkey I think.