Cosmic Photons Astrophotography : 2017

Every day our eyes catch the light of our memories – time spent with family, the journey to work, a special holiday, a beautiful sunset or a dark starlit night. Each image captured is a picture drawn in light – a photograph: only to be lost in our minds or forever forgotten. Nearly two hundred years ago a small group of amateur scientists achieved what had eluded mankind for centuries – the ability to capture a permanent record of an image seen by their own eyes – a moment in time frozen onto a surface. They had discovered Photography. They were the ‘Catchers of the Light’.

Sunday, June 25, 2017

Gum 85 & 84 and Sharpless 54

The bright "egg" in this image is nebula Gum 85 in Serpens; surrounding it is Gum 84 and surrounding that is Sharpless 54.Sharpless 54 is a larger object as described in the catalog as a 140 arc minutes which extends well beyond this field.This area of sky is located just north of M16, the Eagle Nebula.

Instruments and exposure data:

W.O FLT110 with dedicated TMB field flattener
FeatherTouch 3'' focuser
Starizona MicroTouch autofocuser
SBIG ST10XME CFW9 W.O ZS80 ED
Meade DSI
Filters: 5nm Hα Astrodon
Sky-Watcher EQ6 Pro

Lum:35*10min bin1x1
Total exposure time:5h 50min

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Messier 106

Messier 106 (also known as NGC 4258) is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781. M106 is at a distance of about 22 to 25 million light-years away from Earth. It is also a Seyfert II galaxy. Due to x-rays and unusual emission lines detected, it is suspected that part of the galaxy is falling into a supermassive black hole in the center. NGC 4217 is a possible companion galaxy of Messier 106. A Type II supernova was observed in this galaxy in May 2014.

Instruments and exposure data:

W.O FLT110 with dedicated TMB field flattener
FeatherTouch 3'' focuser
Starizona MicroTouch autofocuser
SBIG ST10XME CFW9 W.O ZS80 ED
Meade DSI
Filters: Luminance Baader
Sky-Watcher EQ6 Pro

Lum:130*6min bin1x1
Total exposure time:18h