Aurora, Leo, Jupiter and Iridium Flare

                                 Aurora, Leo, Jupiter,   Iridium Flare and Meteor ; June19,2004
                                               
Telescope / Lens 35mm  f/2 Canon at f/2.8
Mount Type Piggyback on Losmandy G11
Camera Canon F-1 with Bright Screen & Angle B magnifier
 Filters  UV
 Film  Kodak ED200 (Slide Film) Slide #05
 Exposure 120 seconds; manual guiding FS/78
 Processing Pushed, Scanned – 2400 dpi, Photoshop
 Date June 19, 2004
 Location Eagles Rest, south of Dexter, Oregon
 Conditions 2500′ magnitude 6 Skies; Clear, steady

 

 

 

Orion Rising in the East

 

Wide field image of Venus on left & Orion on right rising over trees.  
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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

M31 NGC224 Andromeda Galaxy

M31       NGC224        Andromeda Galaxy     ST10XME (SBIG) LRGB     3.5 Hour Exposure

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.

 

Milky Way over Diamond Peak, Oregon

 

 

 

 

Taken from Wolf Mt. NW of Diamond Peak
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

M33 NGC598 Triangulum Galaxy

 

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.