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, November 3, 2019

Sculptor Galaxy


The Sculptor Galaxy, NGC 253, is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Sculptor. The Sculptor Galaxy is a starburst galaxy, which means that it is currently undergoing a period of intense star formation.A weighted average of the most reliable distance estimates gives a distance of 11.4 ± 0.7 Mly

Luminance only,this is a work in progress.

Location: Via Lactea Observatory, Kristallopigi Paramithia, Greece

Instruments and exposure data
Sky-Watcher EQ6 Pro Belt Drive Mod
Guiding:
W.O ZS80 ED
Meade DSI
Imaging:
W.O FLT110 with dedicated TMB field flattener
FeatherTouch 3'' focuser
Starizona MicroTouch autofocuser
SBIG ST10XME CFW9 Filters: Luminance (Baader Planetarium)
Lum:180*4min  total exposure 12h

Saturday, October 5, 2019

NGC 6951 with IFN


NGC 6951 with IFN
Luminance only,this is a work in progress.

Location: Via Lactea Observatory, Kristallopigi Paramithia, Greece

Instruments and exposure data
Sky-Watcher EQ6 Pro Belt Drive Mod
Imaging:
W.O FLT110 with dedicated TMB field flattener
FeatherTouch 3'' focuser
Starizona MicroTouch autofocuser
SBIG ST10XME CFW9 Filters: Luminance (Baader Planetarium)
Lum:49*7min  total exposure 5h 43min

Thursday, September 26, 2019

NGC 6822 Barnard's Galaxy



NGC 6822 (also known as Barnard's Galaxy, IC 4895, or Caldwell 57) is a barred irregular galaxy approximately 1.6 million light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. Part of the Local Group of galaxies, it was discovered by E. E. Barnard in 1884. It is one of the closer galaxies to the Milky Way. It is similar in structure and composition to the Small Magellanic Cloud. It is about 7,000 light-years in diameter.The galaxy contains regions of rich star formation and curious nebulae, such as the bubble visible in this image. Astronomers classify NGC 6822 as an irregular dwarf galaxy because of its odd shape and relatively diminutive size by galactic standards. The strange shapes of these cosmic misfits help researchers understand how galaxies interact, evolve and occasionally "cannibalise" each other, leaving behind radiant, star-filled scraps.
At only about a tenth of the Milky Way's size, Barnard’s Galaxy fits contains about 10 million stars — a far cry from the Milky Way’s estimated 400 billion.

Ο NGC 6822 ή Γαλαξίας του Μπάρναρντ, είναι ακανόνιστος γαλαξίας που βρίσκεται περίπου 1,6 εκατομμύριο έτη φωτός μακριά, στον αστερισμό Τοξότη. Είναι μέλος της Τοπικής ομάδας γαλαξιών και ανακαλύφθηκε από τον Αμερικανό αστρονόμο E.E. Μπάρναρντ το 1884. Είναι ένας από τους κοντινότερους γαλαξίες, παρόμοιος σε δομή και σύσταση με το Μικρό Νέφος του Μαγγελάνου. Οι διαστάσεις του είναι περίπου 7000 έτη φωτός.

Location: Via Lactea Observatory, Kristallopigi Paramithia, Greece

Instruments and exposure data
Sky-Watcher EQ6 Pro Belt Drive Mod
Imaging:
W.O FLT110 with dedicated TMB field flattener
FeatherTouch 3'' focuser
Starizona MicroTouch autofocuser
SBIG ST10XME CFW9 Filters: Luminance Red Green Blue  (Baader Planetarium)
Lum    :23*8min 39*7min 1*10min -10C bin 1x1 total: 7h 47min
Red     :21*8min -10C bin 1x1 total: 2h 48min
Green:26*6min -10C bin1x1 total: 2h 36min
Blue    :27*5min  -10C bin1x1 total: 2h 15min
Darks 50 Bias 350 Flats 25
Guiding:
W.O ZS80 ED
Meade DSI

Total exposure time:15h 26min  6 nights  Jul 3,8 Aug 2,6,24,27  


A more stretched luminance channel with IFN clearly visible...i suppose

Saturday, July 20, 2019

M33 animated


This is an experimental animated project of M33 from a single image

The gif file is quite large so please be patient!!!

Friday, July 12, 2019

SH2 108 Hubble Palette

playing with starless sh2-108 i ended up to this version




Sh2 108 a close view in Hubble Palette (SHO)
SII as Red
Ha as Green
OIII as Blue

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, 3nm OIII Astrodon, 8nm SII Baader
Sky-Watcher EQ6 Pro

SII  :25*10min bin 1x1
Ha  :11*10min bin1x1
OIII:25*10min bin 1x1

Total exposure time:10h 10min

Location: Via Lactea Observatory, Kristallopigi Paramithia, Greece

Tuesday, June 25, 2019

SH2 108


SH2 108 a close view
The Sadr region, IC 1318, is the busy neighborhood round the mag 2.2 star Sadr or gamma Cygni. It is a large expanse of nebulosity with dominant Ha emission nebulae and various dark nebulae.
We are looking deep into the Orion Arm of our Galaxy in this direction and the nebula is more than 3000 light years from us.

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

Ha:11*10min bin1x1
Total exposure time:1h 50min

Monday, June 24, 2019

Propeller Nebula a more stretched version


Via Lactea Observatory


Via Lactea Observatory


Via Lactea Observatory


View SW

Via Lactea Observatory


View of the interior

Via Lactea Observatory


Almost 18 years ago,i embarked on a very special, difficult and demanding journey in the world of astronomy and especially in astrophotography.
Through the light pollution of Athens, the whole venture seemed almost impossible.

Watching the first shadows of nebulae and galaxies appearing on the computer screen, the pictures of planets with their moons floating into space and the spectacular formations of craters and canyons of our moon, i realized that this is was makes me feel complete, that this is what I love doing.
After long hours of studying and investing a lot of time and money, i believe that i have managed to have a decent course in the field of astrophotography. The only problem that was holding me behind was the lack of a permanent observatory.

Completely by chance i had the opportunity to meet two lovely people , Kostas and Spyros Tsekas. Without their voluntary offer, i would have never managed to full fill my dream and have my own observatory today.I would also like to thank all my friends, relatives and fellow villagers that helped me complete the observatory.
And of course I would like to thank my wife Alice that without her encouragement and understanding I wouldn't even have dreamed of turning my dream into reality.

The Observatory is located in Kristallopigi Paramithias in Thesprotia , where I have settled permanently with my family the last two years. The purpose of the observatory is the dissemination of amateur astronomy in the province of Epirus, through seminars and night sky watching.

Good luck to all with clear skies

Sunday, June 23, 2019

The Propeller Nebula in Cygnus_ Simeis 57


This is the first image taken from Via Lactea Observatory, my own observatory.
Photos of Via lactea Observatory will be published soon.

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:38*10min bin1x1
Total exposure time:6h 20min