Tag Archives: Galaxies

ColdMOS Images

M51 – Whirlpool Galaxy in LRGB

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Another Image that I have previously imaged with the Atik Camera, again demonstrating a different resolution obviously showing off a bit more detail, here’s the image previously:

Equipment Used:
Imaging Scope: Sky-Watcher Quattro 8″ F4 Imaging Newtonian
Imaging Camera: Qhyccd 183M 20mpx ColdMOS Camera at -20C
Guide Scope: Sky-Watcher Finder Scope
Guide Camera: Qhyccd QHY5L-II
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ8-Pro GEM Goto Mount
Filterwheel: Starlight Xpress Ltd 7x36mm EFW
Filters: Baader Planetarium 36mm LRGB Filters

Software:
Image Acquisition: Main Sequence Software SGPro 3
Guiding: PHD2
Image Processing: PixInsight

Target Details:
Name: M51 / NGC5194 / Whirlpool Galaxy
Constellation:Canes Venatici
RA: 13h 29m 53.00s
Dec: 47° 11′ 51.10″
Distance from Earth: >23 Million Light Years

Image Details:
Luminance: 101×150 Second Exposures
Red: 85×150 Second Exposures
Green: 85×150 Second Exposures
Blue: 85×150 Second Exposures
Total Exposure Time: 14.83 Hours

Acquisition Dates: 6 Apr 2018, 19/20/21 Apr 2018, 5/6/7/8/9 May 2018

 

 

 

ColdMOS Images

Leo Triplet in LRGB

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This is not the first time I have imaged this trio of trespassers, I have imaged them before on the same scope but with my previous Atik 383L+ CCD Imager, so again similar to M81 and M82, you can clearly see the difference in resolution the new camera offers, here’s the previous image taken from my previous post here:

Equipment Used:
Imaging Scope: Sky-Watcher Quattro 8″ F4 Imaging Newtonian
Imaging Camera: Qhyccd 183M 20mpx ColdMOS Camera at -20C
Guide Scope: Sky-Watcher Finder Scope
Guide Camera: Qhyccd QHY5L-II
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ8-Pro GEM Goto Mount
Filterwheel: Starlight Xpress Ltd 7x36mm EFW
Filters: Baader Planetarium 36mm LRGB Filters

Software:
Image Acquisition: Main Sequence Software SGPro 3
Guiding: PHD2
Image Processing: PixInsight

Image Details:
Luminance: 101×150 Second Exposures
Red: 101×150 Second Exposures
Green: 101×150 Second Exposures
Blue: 101×150 Second Exposures
Acquisition Dates: 18/19/20/21 Apr 2018,  4/5/6/7/8/9 May 2018

Total Exposure Time: 16.83 Hours

Target Details: Leo Triplet
Constellation: Leo
RA: 11h 19m 36.15s
Dec: 13° 17′ 2.90″
Distance from Earth: 35 Million Light Years
Galaxies: M65 (Top Right), M66 (Bottom Right) and NGC3628 (Bottom Left) also known as The Hamburger Galaxy or Sarah’s Galaxy

ColdMOS Images

M81 and M82 Bodes Galaxy and Cigar Galaxy in LHaRGB

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After much waiting, I finally have the RGB Data to go with the luminance layer, a new learning curve was the HDR Compose process in PixInsight, I used this to include the 300S Exposures I had previously that were burning out the core.

Equipment Used:
Imaging Camera: Qhyccd 183M Back Illuminated ColdMOS Camera at -20C
Imaging Scope: Sky-Watcher 8″ Quattro F4
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ8 Pro
Guide Camera: Qhyccd QHY5L-II
Guide Scope: Sky-Watcher 90×50 Finder
Filter Wheel: Starlight Xpress Ltd 7x36mm EFW
Filters: Baader Planetarium LRGB + 7nm Ha
Image Acquisition: Main Sequence Software SGPro
Image Processing: PixInsight

Image Details:
101x150S in LRGB, Total 16.83 Hours
25x300S in LRGB, Total 8.33 Hours
25x600S in Ha, Total 4.16 Hours
Total exposure time: 29.32 Hours
BIAS, Darks and Flats subtracted
Target: M81 and M82 in Ursa Major
Acquisition Dates: Feb. 11, 2018,  Feb. 12, 2018,  Feb. 16, 2018,  Feb. 23, 2018,  Feb. 24, 2018,  March 13, 2018,  March 14, 2018,  March 15, 2018,  March 16, 2018,  March 19, 2018,  March 20, 2018

CCD Images

M97 and M108 – Owl Nebula and Surfboard Galaxy in LRGB

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M97 and M108

The Owl Nebula (also known as Messier 97, M97 or NGC 3587) is a planetary nebula located approximately 2,030 light years away in the constellation Ursa Major.  It was discovered by French astronomer Pierre Méchain on February 16, 1781

Messier 108 (also known as NGC 3556) is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781 or 1782. From the perspective of the Earth, this galaxy is seen almost edge-on.

The image consists of the following
23x180S – Red
23x180S – Green
23x180S – Blue
25x180S – Luminance

25 Darks, 25 Flats and 25 BIAS frames have also been applied

Equipment Used:-
Imaging Scope: Sky-Watcher Quattro Series 8-CF F4 Imaging Newtonian
Flattener: Sky-Watcher Aplanatic Coma Corrector
Imaging Camera: Atik Cameras 383L+ Mono CCD -20C
Guide Scope: Celestron Telescopes C80ED Reftractor
Guide Camera: Qhyccd QHY5L-II
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ8 Pro
Filterwheel: Starlight Xpress Ltd 7x36mm EFW
Filters: Baader Planetarium 36mm Unmounted LRGB
Image Capture: Main Sequence Software SGPro
Image Stacking: Maxim-DL
Image Processing: PixInsight

CCD Images

Leo Triplet of Galaxies

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Leo Triplet In LRGB (above) and LRGB+HA (below)

The Leo Triplet consists of three galaxies at a distance of around 35 million light years, M65 (top right), M66 (bottom right) and NGC3628 (left).  I have always aimed at imaging the triplet since I started imaging but never got around to it.

M65 (NGC 3623) and M66 (NGC 3627) are classed as intermiediate spiral galaxies and NGC3628 is also known as the Hamburger Galaxy or Sarah’s Galaxy and is classed as an Unbarred Spiral Galaxy.

The image consists of:-
29x300S of Luminance
14x300S Red, Green and Blue
15x600S of 7nm HA in the LRGB+HA Image
25 Darks and flats subtracted from all frames

Equipment Details:
Imaging Telescope: Sky-Watcher Quattro 8-CF F4 Imaging Newtonian
Imaging Camera: Atik Cameras 383L+ Mono CCD
Coma Corrector: Sky-Watcher Aplanatic Coma Corrector
Guide Camera: Qhyccd QHY5L-II
Guide Scoope: Celestron Telescopes C80ED Refractor
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ8 Pro
Filter Wheel: Starlight Xpress Ltd 7x36mm USB EFW
Filters: Baader Planetarium LRGB + 7NM HA

Image Aquisition: Main Sequence Software SGPro
Image Pre-Processing and STacking: Maxim-DL
Post Processing: PixInsight

In my opinion, there’s only a subtle difference between the LRGB and LRGBHA images, personally I preffer the LRGB Version, the data was captured over multiple nights since the beginning of 2017 but in total gives 5.91 Hours on the LRGB Image and 8.41 Hours for the LRGB+HA Image

CCD Images

M81 and M82 Galaxies in LRGB+HA

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By far my biggest challenging project to date, maybe not by image acquisition, but by processing.  The above two galaxies caused me lots of grief when trying to process, they just did not come out right with my normal method of processing, so I turned to PixInsight to process them, and I anm so glad I did, the whole learning curve put me back to almost the same level I was at in 2008, but the steep learning curve paid off

M81 and M82 Galaxies in Ursa Major

Image Details
29x300S in LRGB
17x600S in 7nm HA
25 Darks and 25 Flats applied

Equipment Details:
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ8 Pro
Imaging Scope: Sky-Watcher Quattro 8-CF 8″ Newtonian F4
Imaging Camera: Atik Cameras 383L+
Guide Scope: Celestron Telescopes C80ED
Guide Camera: Qhyccd QHY5L-II
Filter Wheel: Starlight Xpress Ltd 7x36mm
Filters: Baader Planetarium LRGB+HA 36mm Unmounted

Proccessing:
Stacking and Combining: Maxim DL
Processing: PixInsight 1.8 x64

The images were taken over a number of nights since the beginning of december and totals 12.5 Hours of exposure time