Binary system galaxies M77 and NGC 1055

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One of the first results from my outing on 8 Nov 13.  A pair of galaxies that compose a binary system approximately 60 million light years away.  M77 is at the top of the image with NGC 1055 at the bottom.

Full size/details:  http://jeffjastro.com/dso/M77_8Nov13.htm

Binary system of galaxies - M77 (top) and NGC 1055 (bottom).

Vega...and others

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So, this was a test shot just before imaging a few objects on the night of 8 Nov 13...right after I took all of my equipment to the backyard, setup, polar-aligned, focused, etc.  Vega was the second of three targets to align the mount with (to get accurate "go-to" slews when going to the objects I am going to image).

What were you doing 25 years ago?  Well, this is what Vega looked like about 25 years ago as it is roughly 25 light years away.  Very bright, so the test with 10min subs have it really over-exposed :)  However, can see some galaxies in the surrounding of this frame if you look hard enough.  This shot was 2x10min Lum frames and 1x5min each RGB.

I am also including the Lum filter only result to better show surrounding objects.  Note that in this test shot, Vega was not "perfectly" centered, so the optical dim ring around the star is not perfectly centered when looking at the Lum/mono image.  On the positive side, each corner shows perfectly round stars from edge to edge in the 2048x2048 uncropped image with these 10 minute frames :)

I am still working on the data for the other objects, so this is just to give you something new to look at in the meantime :)

Vega (distance: 25 light years)

Vega (Luminance filter only, better showing surrounding dim galaxies)

NGC 281 - Pacman Nebula (in HaRGB)

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Here is the last object from the night of 28 Sep 13.  In fact, I had a short amount of time before the sun rose, so just slewed over to this object without really thinking what kind of result I would get (object dimensions, etc.).  The last few subs I didn't use as the sun was coming up : )

NGC 281 (Pacman Nebula) in HaRGB, 28 Sep 13
TOA-130F, EM200, QSI540wsg
6x20m Ha 3nm (bin1x1); 2x5m ea RGB (bin2x2);

Image/details: http://jeffjastro.com/dso/NGC281_28Sep13.htm

NGC 6888 - Crescent Nebula (in HaRGB)

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Another result from the night of 28 Sep 13...this is the Crescent Nebula.  The 3nm Ha filter is picking up dusty regions that were created by Hydrogen.  The mono-colored result I am including shows just what the Ha filter alone picked up.  The color version includes Red, Green, and Blue filter data.  For the final result, I used the Ha as the Luminance, and also combined the Ha data with the Red filter data for the Red channel, and combined this result with the Green and Blue channel data.  Exposure details (as well as full-size result) for this can be seen here:  http://jeffjastro.com/dso/NGC6888_28Sep13.htm

Here are the two results:

Ha_HaRGB

Ha-only

NGC 7293 - Helix Nebula ("Eye of God")

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Here is a shot from a little later in the week from my previous posts.  I am just now starting to process the data from this night which was 5 days later than the previous targets, and occurring on the night of 28 Sep 13.

For this object, the Helix Nebula (also referred to as the "Eye of God" for obvious reasons :) , I also went to 20 minute frames using the Astrodon 3nm Ha filter for the luminance data, and also mixing the Ha result with the Red channel for the complete RGB portion.  The result I have, below, is oriented exactly as the camera caught it (normally, this is my preference).  The Hubble presentation has this rotated 180 degrees, which makes the outer filaments (lower right) appear as some kind of eyebrows/lashes.  Update: I have since re-oriented my final result at my main site and will include it as an additional image, here.

Further details and larger can be found here:  http://jeffjastro.com/dso/NGC7293_28Sep13.htm

Original orientation.

Re-oriented (slight color adjust and star spikes added).

M57 - Ring Nebula and Comet ISON racing Asteroid Eros

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Small target from the same busy night of 23 Sep 13 :)
(and my first time going to 20min subs)

M57 - Ring Nebula (HaRGB), 23 Sep 13
Equip: TOA-130, EM200, QSI 540wsg
Exp: 4x20m Ha (bin1x1); 1x5m ea RGB (bin2x2)

Full size/details: http://jeffjastro.com/dso/M57Ha_23Sep13.htm

On the same night, I took a quick shot of comet ISON, near Mars.  It turns out that during that time, the second-largest largest known near-Earth object (NEO), asteroid Eros, was racing by as well.  In the 3 frames I took, you could see them both moving.

My final result here is of the best from from the three (so is noisy)...a single 4min exposure and in mono (as this was through a single filter, Lum).  I have annotated the result.

Full size/details:  http://jeffjastro.com/solarsystem/ISON_Eros_23Sep13.htm

Comet C/2012 F6 (Lemmon) with galaxy NGC 6701

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Another one finished.  From the same imaging session on 23 Sep 13 - this dim object was actually my main target, and quite difficult processing, I must say (as it was clearly moving).  It is pretty distant for getting a comet at nearly 3 times the distance to our sun.  I did manage to pick up a not often imaged magnitude 13 galaxy just above the comet as a bonus, however (and described at the link, below).

Comet C/2012 F6 (Lemmon), 23 Sep 13
http://jeffjastro.com/solarsystem/C2012F6Lemmon_23Sep13.htm