Sunday, March 30, 2014

Leo Trio

All three galaxies lie within the constellation Leo and all three galaxies are spiral galaxies.  NGC 3628 (Edge on) has a thick dark dust lane that is visible.  The Leo Triplet is about 30 million light years away.


Leo Triplet
5min X 20 RGB
Camera: QHY8pro F/2
Telescope: Celestron 11" Edge HD guided
Mount: Celestron CGE Pro
Location: Lubbock, TX
Dates: Early morning, March 29, 2014
Captured with Nebulosity and guided with PHD guiding. 
Processed with MaxIm DL 5 and photoshop.
 
 

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Messier 82 and supernova

M82 is a distance of 12 million light-years. It has thick areas of dust and sprays out hydrogen gas and has a bright center that creates massive star formations. The supernova is not in the central star-forming region but above the center of the galaxy.  On January 21, 2014, a group of astronomy students spotted a supernova in M82.  The supernova itself did not happen on January 21st, but did occur about 12 million years ago.  It's light is just now reaching Earth.  So, the supernova itself is ancient history, but it takes light 12 million years to travel to Earth.  Located in the constellation Ursa Major (Big Dipper).

Messier 82 (Cigar Galaxy)
5min X 12
Camera: QHY8 F/7
Telescope: Celestron 11" Edge HD guided
Mount: Celestron CGE Pro
Location: Zodiac Ranch, Fort Davis, TX
Dates: Early morning, February 28, 2014
Captured with Nebulosity and guided with PHD guiding. 
Processed with MaxIm DL 5 and photoshop.
 
 

Monday, March 3, 2014

Horsehead Nebula

The Horsehead Nebula is a emission nebula in the constellation Orion the Hunter.  Just under the star Alnitak, this nebula is 1500 light years from Earth.  It's one of the most identifiable nebula due to its shape of a horses head.  This is where stars are born. 

Horsehead Nebula (IC 434)
5min X 11
Camera: QHY8 F/5
Telescope: Takahashi FS106 guided
Mount: Celestron CGE Pro
Location: Zodiac Ranch, Fort Davis, TX
Dates: Early morning, March 1, 2014
Captured with Nebulosity and guided with PHD guiding. 
Processed with MaxIm DL 5 and photoshop.