1. Astrophotography, Trip Based

New Mexico, October 2014

Our unofficial astroimaging club took a trip down to some of the darkest skies in the lower 48 states in Rodeo, NM, during the new moon at the end of October. Conditions were excellent for all 3 of the full nights we had available to image. The trip was great fun as well as serving a shakedown cruise for some gear and proved to be a learning experience for the many techniques required for this kind of photography. The area was nice and the people were very friendly and accommodating but the drive at 12+ hours was a bit long.
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  • Barnard's Loop

    Barnard's Loop

    Barnard's Loop was a very challengoing object to shoot and process. I think I could have really benefited from having a cooled camera on this target. Nevertheless, I did get some data, showing how the loop forms a faint outer ring around one side of the Orion Nebula complex, with M42, the Flame Nebula, the Running Man Nebula and the Horsehead Nebula just able to be recognized in the frame as well. Equipment: Canon T2i (550D) (astro modified by Gary Honis) iOptron iEQ45Pro Mount Canon 70-300 f/4-5.6 L IS Zoom lens at 70mm and f/4.5 QHY5L-II Guide Camera / Orion 8 x50 Guide Scope Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8.2 (Ripley) Lightroom 5.6 Light Frames: 1 x 420 secs (7 minutes total) @ ISO 800 7 x 600 secs (1 hour 10 minutes total) @ ISO 800 8 x 420 secs (56 minutes total) @ ISO 1600 Dark Frames: 4 x 420 secs @ ISO 1600 Flat Frames 10 x 1/80th sec @ ISO 1600 Details about Barnard's Loop (Sharpless Sh 2-276) From Wikipedia: Barnard's Loop (catalogue designation Sh 2-276) is an emission nebula in the constellation of Orion. It is part of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex which also contains the dark Horsehead and bright Orion nebulae. The loop takes the form of a large arc centred approximately on the Orion Nebula. The stars within the Orion Nebula are believed to be responsible for ionizing the loop. The loop extends over about 600 arcminutes as seen from Earth, covering much of Orion. It is well seen in long-exposure photographs, although observers under very dark skies may be able to see it with the naked eye. Recent estimates place it at a distance of either 159 pc (518 light years)[1] or 440 pc (1434 ly)[2] giving it dimensions of either about 100 or 300 ly across respectively. It is thought to have originated in a supernovaexplosion about 2 million years ago, which may have also created several known runaway stars, including AE Aurigae, Mu Columbae and 53 Arietis, which are believed to have been part of a multiple star system in which one component exploded as a supernova.[3] Full Wikipedia article found here: http:/​/​en.​wikipedia.​org/​wiki/​Barnard's_​Loop

  • California Nebula in RGB

    California Nebula in RGB

    The excellent contrast provided by the dark skies was very evident from the very first night we arrived as I was able to capture a high contrast image of the California Nebula in natural color. Equipment: Canon T2i (550D) (astro modified by Gary Honis) iOptron iEQ45Pro Mount Canon 200mm f/2.8 L Lens @ f/4 QHY5L-II Guide Camera / Orion 8 x50 Guide Scope Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8.2 (Ripley) Lightroom 5.6 Light Frames: 9 x180 secs (27 minutes total) @ ISO 1600 Dark Frames: 8 x 180 secs @ ISO 1600 Details about The California Nebula From Wikipedia: The California Nebula (NGC 1499) is an emission nebula located in the constellation Perseus. It is so named because it appears to resemble the outline of the US State of California on long exposure photographs. It is almost 2.5° long on the sky and, because of its very low surface brightness, it is extremely difficult to observe visually. It can be observed with a Hβ filter (isolates the Hβ line at 486 nm) in a rich-field telescope under dark skies.[1] It lies at a distance of about 1,000 light years from Earth. Its fluorescence is due to excitation of the Hβ line in the nebula by the nearby prodigiously energetic O7 star, xi Persei (also known as Menkib) Full details can be found on Wikipedia here: http:/​/​en.​wikipedia.​org/​wiki/​California_​Nebula

  • M33 Under Darker Skies

    M33 Under Darker Skies

    I took an RGB stack of M33 with the T2i and the Powernewt telescope. Conditions were excellent, and I was able to improve upon my previous efforts shooting this object with more magnification, longer integration times, and a darker sky. Equipment: Canon T2i (550D) (astro modified by Gary Honis) iOptron iEQ45Pro Mount Powernewt 8" Reflector at 568mm and f/2.8 QHY5L-II Guide Camera / Orion 8 x50 Guide Scope Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8.2 (Ripley) Lightroom 5.6 Light Frames: 52 x180 secs (2 hours 36 minutes total) @ ISO 800 Dark Frames: 10 x 180 secs @ ISO 800 Bias Frames 16 x 1/4000th sec @ ISO 800 Flat Frames 10 x 1/160th sec @ ISO 800 Details about The Triangulim Galaxy (M33) From Wikipedia: The Triangulum Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 3 million light-years (ly) from Earth in the constellation Triangulum. It is catalogued as Messier 33 or NGC 598, and is sometimes informally referred to as thePinwheel Galaxy, a nickname it shares with Messier 101. The Triangulum Galaxy is the third-largest member of the Local Group of galaxies, which includes the Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy and about 44 other smaller galaxies. It is one of the most distant permanent objects that can be viewed with the naked eye. Full info can be found here: http:/​/​en.​wikipedia.​org/​wiki/​Triangulum_​Galaxy

  • Heart Nebula

    Heart Nebula

    This is a short stack of the Heart Nebula, taken with a Canon 200mm f/2.8 lens acting as my telescope. The spectrum modified DSLR really picks up the glowing hydrogen-alpha emissions well, even with a relatively short exposure time. Equipment: Canon T2i (550D) (astro modified by Gary Honis) iOptron iEQ45Pro Mount Canon 200 f/2.8 L Lens at f/4 QHY5L-II Guide Camera / Orion 8 x50 Guide Scope Software: Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.8.2 (Ripley) Lightroom 5.6 Light Frames: 5 x 240 secs (30 minutes total) @ ISO 1600 Dark Frames: 4 x 240 secs @ ISO 1600 Details about The Heart Nebula From Wikipedia: The Heart Nebula, IC 1805, Sh2-190, lies some 7500 light years away from Earth and is located in the Perseus Arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. This is an emission nebula showing glowing gas and darker dust lanes. The nebula is formed by plasma of ionized hydrogen and free electrons. Full Wikipedia article is found here: http:/​/​en.​wikipedia.​org/​wiki/​Heart_​Nebula

  • Partial Eclipse With Big Sunspot

    Partial Eclipse With Big Sunspot

    An extra special treat while we were down in NM shooting the night skies was a partial eclipise. Although the level of totality was not very high (the dimming effect was just noticeable) the presence of one of the largest sunspot clusters in the last 25 years made the event extra special. I was able to capture it handheld using an ND 3.0 filter.

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