By: Sam Pitts (samsastro.com)
| Telescope / Lens | 50 f/1.4 Canon Lens at f/2.8 |
| Mount Type | Piggyback on Losmandy G11 |
| Camera | Canon F-1 with Bright Screen & Angle B magnifier |
| Filters | 52mm UV |
| Film | Provia 400F (Slide Film) #10 |
| Exposure | 15 minutes; manual guiding Takahashi FS/78 |
| Processing | Slide Scanned – 2400 dpi, Photoshop |
| Date | September 26, 2003 |
| Location | Eagles Rest, south of Dexter, Oregon |
| Conditions | 2557′ magnitude 6 Skies; Clear, steady |
M 31 (NGC224) Andromeda Galaxy
The Andromeda Galaxy is readily visible from a dark sky location as a fuzzy patch of light covering approximately 3+ degrees or 6 times the width of our moon. Andromeda is approximately 2.5 million light years from Earth and 220,000 light years across. Making it much larger than our own Milky Way galaxy at only 100,000 lights years across. In about 5 billion years both our Milky Way galaxy and Andromeda will collide and begin to coalesce, perhaps evolving into an even larger elliptical type galaxy. This image reveals much detail and numerous globular star clusters and nebulae are visible. Amazing for just a 3.2 diameter refractor, but Thomas Back (TMB) was a primer Telescope Maker and his designs live on.
| Telescope / Lens | TMB 80 mm f/6 with Tele-Vue .8 reducer f/4.8 384 mm |
| Mount Type | Astrophysics 1200 |
| Camera | SBIG ST10XME |
| Filters | Astrodon LRGB e-series filters (generation 1) |
| Film | CCD |
| Exposure | 210 minutes (3.5 Hours) LRGB (L=120 min (10 min. x 9 & 5 min. x 6) RGB= 1.5 Hours. (10 min. subs) |
| Processing | CCDSoft, CCDStack, AIP, Photoshop CS2 |
| Date | 09/21/2009 |
| Location | Snow Peak, S/E of Cottage Grove, Oregon 122° 52′ 35″ W, 43° 31′ 21″N |
| Conditions | 4658′ elevation, magnitude 6 Skies; Clear ; Humidity 65-80% 51 degrees, wind 0-3 M.P.H. |
Images below reprocessed with data captured on 10/23/2022 and previous data.
Click full screen on movie below and view.
M31 movie shows resolution captured with just an 80mm refractor zoomed in to background SC Galaxy PGC 90494/ 2MFGC511
M31-Andromeda Galaxy By: Sam Pitts 10/23/2022 10:03 PM Latitude: 33° 29′ 01.48″ North Longitude: 116° 43′ 19.24″ West Elevation: 4321 feet; Jupiter Ridge #4 Observatory, OCA site, near Anza, CA. Seeing: E Transparency: 5 SQM: 20.78 Bortle: 4 Telescopes / Optics: TMB 80mm f/6 @ f/ 4.8 384mm Mount: AP1200 Camera: SBIG ST10xme CFW10 (KAF3200) FOV: 133.4′ x 89.5′ Filter: L=135min (10 & 5 min) RGB =1.5 Hours (3x10min) Ha= 5x10min (50)-20°c Information: Captured with CCDSoft Processed: with CCDStack, Photoshop CS6 & PWP8 Total exposure time = 275min / 4 ½ hours NOTE: Data from 9/20/2009 included with new data taken 10/23/2022.
By: Sam Pitts 2001
This depends on your eyepiece’s magnification and apparent field of view, along with the telescope being used. The eyepiece has a focal length indicated in millimeters. The longer the focal length of an eyepiece (25mm-50mm) the lower the power (magnification) and the wider the field of view. This assumes we are using the same telescope with a fixed focal ratio (f/10) and length (fl/2000). The higher the power or magnification the shorter the focal length in millimeters, resulting in a smaller field of view (FOV).
To determine the magnification of an eyepiece, divide its focal length into the focal length of the telescope’s objective lens or mirror. 8″ f/10= 2000mm focal length (fl).
Telescope: 8″ f/10 – 2000mm fl (focal length)
Plossl Eyepiece 32mm with 50° FOV (apparent field of view)
Magnification 2000mm ÷ 32mm = 62.5x
The field of view with this setup is determined by eyepiece magnification and apparent field of view 50°. Hold an eyepiece and look through it. The circular view of light observed is its apparent field of view. The diameter of this circle is the apparent field of view measured in degrees. Below is a list of apparent field of views with different types of eyepieces.
Tele Vue ® Nagler™ 82°
Tele Vue® Radian™ 60°
Meade® Ultra Wide 84°
Erfle 60°
Orion® Ultrascopic™ 52°
Plossl 52°
Orthoscopic 45°
Kellner 40°
To find the actual field of view, divide the eyepiece’s apparent field of view by the magnification on a particular scope. Using the example above (8′ f/10 scope ).
50° ÷ 62.5 = 0.8°
The 32mm Plossl on an 8″ f/10 (2000mm) telescope will render a true field of view of 48 arc minutes or 8/10 of a degree. Remember the moon is approximately 1/2° (30′) in diameter. Wide field of view lenses may suffer from aberration near the edges due to astigmatism. The stars may be slightly distorted near the edge of the field of view.
A 32mm Tele Vue Nagler 82°, with the same telescope, would have a FOV of 1.312° or 1° 18′ 43.2″
A 32mm Kellner 40°, with the same telescope, would have a FOV of .64° or 38′ 24″
Eyepieces > 32mm are best used with 10″ or larger objectives/mirror and a 2″ diagonal.
Canon F1
Canon 50mm f/1.4 Stopped down to f/2.8
Kodak E200 puhed
8 min exposure
Piggyback Losmandy G11
2 image mosaic/composite/ 3rd image of foreground
| Telescope / Lens | 50 f/1.4 Canon Camera Lens stopped down |
| Mount Type | Piggyback on G11 (Stepper) |
| Camera | Canon F-1 with Bright Screen & Angle B magnifier |
| Filters | 112mm UV |
| Film | Kodak E200 (Slide Film) |
| Exposure | 10 minutes; manual guiding FS/78 |
| Processing | Push 1, Scanned – 2400 dpi, Photoshop |
| Date | July 2003-Milky Way; Diamond Peak 8/2006 |
| Location | Panther Creek, south of Veneta, Oregon |
| Conditions | 1200′ magnitude 6 Skies; Clear, steady |
| Telescope / Lens | TMB 80 mm f/ 6 with Tele-Vue .8 Reducer TRF2008 / reduced TMB to f/4.8 – 384 mm Focal Length |
| Mount Type | Astrophysics 1200 |
| Camera | SBIG ST10XME |
| Filters | Astrodon LRGB e-series of balanced filters (generation 1) 9nm HA |
| Film | CCD |
| Exposure | 345 minutes (5.75 Hours) HaLRGB (Ha=50 min; L=145 min; RGB= 150 min.; (5 min. & 10 min. sub-images) |
| Processing | CCDSoft, CCDStack, AIP, Photoshop CS2 |
| Date | 09/19/2009 |
| Location | Snow Peak, S/E of Cottage Grove, Oregon 122° 52′ 35″ W, 43° 31′ 21″N |
| Conditions | 4658′ elevation, magnitude 6+ Skies; Clear ; |
M 33 (NGC 598) Triangulum Galaxy
M33 is visible to the naked eye from a very dark sky site, Bortle 3 or better. The Triangulum Galaxy is a very challenging naked eye object but it can be seen. M33 is a Type SC galaxy belonging to the local group, 0.9 mpc or 3.1 Million Light Years away. This image was taken with a TMB triplet CNC APO 80mm f/6 with a TeleVue .8 reducer / flattener (TRF2008). The full resolution image actually reveals the hint of structure and stars within the many red nebula knots shown throughout its arms. These Nebula (Red areas) are star forming areas much like the Great Orion Nebula (M42) and Eagle Nebula (M16). I had taken a much shorter image years ago with an Orion ED 80 and wanted to really capture more detail. You can also see several background galaxies in this image.
The bright Red nebula (upper right portion) is NGC 604. NGC form the largest known HII region currently known. The nebula spans 1500 light years. M33 itself is approximately 60,000 light years in diameter, home to 40 billion stars. Our own Milky Way (100,000 LY diameter) is estimated to have 400 Billion stars.