Tonight I tried my hand at photographing a few Deep Sky Objects. The Hartman mask was extremely useful for focusing, but after tonight it’s clear that I’m going to need to control the D50 by tethering it to the laptop to get best results. Manipulating the zoom controls for the LCD is awkward at best. I may need to spend some time just practicing focusing on a few different stars.

Saturn was actually the first target before the DSOs. I captured a couple of images at ISO 800 and 4 sec exposure that included the moons Titan, Tethys, Dione, and Iapetus (Rhea was transiting and lost in Saturn’s glare). I reduced the exposure time several steps, but it was hard to see much detail in the LCD (another argument for tethered control), so I moved on.

Next I tried M13, the globular cluster in Hercules. This actually turned out to be the best subject of the night. One of the photos had some jitter from the wind shaking the telescope (did I mention it was occasionally quite breezy?). Most were fairly good, however, with nearly round stars — limited by the sharpness of the focus, most likely. Click the image to see a very large full-sized photograph. If you look closely you can see stars of several different colors in the cluster. M13: FL 2032mm, ISO 800, 30sec exposure, f/10.

M13

Next came M57, the Ring Nebula in Lyra. I captured several images, but they all showed noticeable wind jitter. I’m certain this is telescope vibration and not tracking error because the motion vector varies from one photograph to the next. I merged the four best frames in Registax, stretched to compensate for the motion vector, applied a gamma correction to increase the brightness, then reduced the image size to improve the apparent sharpness of the focus. M57: FL 2032mm, ISO 800, 30 sec exposure, f/10.

M57 - The Ring Nebula

The next target I tried was M27, the Dumbbell nebula. However, even with a 30 sec exposure at ISO 800 there was almost no trace of any nebulosity in the photo, so I moved on.

I decided to re-balance the telescope forward to compensate for the extra weight of the camera on the back. This, of course completed wrecked the scopes alignment so I had to restart. After alignment I focused the camera on Mizar (ζ UMa). It’s a nice blue double, but it’s included here for more than aesthetic reasons. According to SNP, the separation between Mizar A and B is 14 arc-seconds. In the unprocessed photo, the distance between the centers of the stars is approximately 19.3 pixels (along a diagonal). This puts the resolution for the camera at about 0.725 arc-seconds per pixel. By comparing similar measurements of other doubles I should be able to calculate the actual resolution more accurately. Mizar: FL 2032mm, ISO 800, 1/2 sec exposure, f/10.

Mizar A and B

After rebalancing I Attempted several images of the Whirlpool galaxy M51. The cores of M51 and its companion galaxy both appeared tiny and featureless over several photographic attempts.

Location: at home in Tomball, TX
Cloud cover: 0%Transparency: average (3/5)
Seeing: poor (2/5)
Darkness: no moon, city glow
Wind: breezy 10-15 mph
Temperature: 70-75
Humidity: 52% up to 64%
Dew Point: 50-60
Time: 8:30 pm – 10:30 pm CDT
OTA: 8″ SC

Used Live cam to image Cor Caroli (DBL) and Saturn. Live cam does not appear to have as much clarity as the NexImage; images are fuzzier. Still post-processing image data for publishing.

Cor Caroli taken with Creative Live Cam through Celstron 8" SCT under poor seeing conditions. 91 total frames aligned and stacked.

Also observed Saturn visually. Titan, Rhea, and Dione formed a nearly equilateral triangle off one limb of the rings, Tethys orbited outside the other limb. Iapetus still at relatively small separation from Saturn.

Saturn and five of its moons taken with Creative Live Cam through Celstron 8" SCT under poor seeing conditions. Two separate exposure settings for Saturn and for its moons. 253 total frames, aligned, stacked, and heavily processed.

M40 DBL in UMa faint and unremarkable, approximately equal magnitudes.

M85 GAL in Com appeared as a very faint fuzzy.

Algorab DBL in Cor – easy split, guessed delta mag 4 or 5. SNP lists Algorab as 2.9, doesn’t show companion or even indicate Algorab is a double.

24 Com – yellow primary, blue secondary. Guessed magnitudes 4 and 5, SNP lists them as 5.0 and 6.6, but online reference listed them as 5.2 and 6.5. In fact, I’ve noticed that researching star magnitudes online there is a lot of variability inthe magnitudes reported for most stars. Not sure what to make of that yet.

Location: at home in Tomball, TX
Cloud cover: none
Transparency: above average (4/5)
Seeing: average (3/5)
Darkness: no moon, city glow
Wind: none
Humidity: 50%-75%
Temperature: low 60’s
Start Time: 8:20 pm CDT
End Time: 10:30 pm CDT
OTA: 8″ SC

Saturn alternately fuzzy & clear; Iapetus “close” to planet, Titan and Rhea distinct, Dione & Tethys occasionally lost in glare and turbulence.

M35 OC was amazing, brought Amanda outside to see. Many, many stars (guide info said 70+) over a narrow magnitude range within 1/2 degree region.

38 Gem DBL, could not see color difference. Guessed delta mag between 3 and 4; SNP lists them as 4.7 and 7.8.

β Mon TRIPLE, split with 12.5mm Plossl, appeared DBL in 25mm.

NGC 2392 (eskimo nebula) appeared as a fuzzy disk with a distinct central star. No detail visible.

ζ Can DBL/QUAD (tegmen); ζ1 and ζ2 easily split, close binaries beyond ability of 8″ SCT.

ι Can DBL; blue and yellow easy split. estimated yellow about 1.5 mag brighter than blue. SNP actually lists them as 4.0 and 6.6, so more like 2.6…

NGC 3242 PNEB, also called “Ghost of Jupiter”. Appeared as a fuzzy disk with no detail and no central star. Seems smaller than Jupiter (in arcsec).

location: Tomball, TX
time: 730pm-900pm
cloud cover: 0%
transparency: 100%
seeing: average (3/5)
darkness: city sky glow, 1st quarter moon
wind: 5-10mph

lunar terminator crossed montes apenninus, mountain peaks were outstanding. high contrast thin fissures in SE mare vaporum: rima hyginus and rima ariadaeus. long parallel hills near rima hyginus seem un-crater-like, perhaps formed by tectonic activity?

rings of Saturn appeared as a line segment through the planet’s disc. Rhea and Dione out to the left of the rings. Tethys beyond the right edge of the rings, sometimes swallowed by bad seeing. Titan bright about 4x ring diameters from Saturn, Iapetus approx, 4x farther than Titan and surprisingly off the “line” of Saturn’s rings, probably due to orbital inclination.

location: Tomball, TX
time: 830pm-1030pm
cloud cover: 0%
transparency: 100%
seeing: avg (3/5) to poor (2/5)
darkness: city sky glow, full moon
wind: 5-10mph nnw
humidity: 30% up to 50%
temperature: 59F-53F
dewpoint: 31F-39F

M42 in 25mm. Less nebulosity discernible than normal presumably due to full moon.

Observed iota cancri; color of primary (reddish) not as distinct as nights past.

No detail visible in Mars.

Saturn’s moons best in 25mm. Titan and Rhea clear, Tethys and Dione occasionally obscured by bad seeing, Iapetus a challenge, often obscured.

Waxing full moon very bright. First time to attempt identification of features. ID’d Tycho, Copernicus, Kepler, Aristarchus, and Mare Crisium.

Location: Tomball
Temperature: upper 40’s
Clouds: none
Seeing: average (3/5)
Transparency: good (4/5)
Instrument: 8″ SCT

First night to observe from Zeke’s place. The sky is slightly darker than home and the area has wider overhead field of view than home.

Observed Saturn in 25mm, several moons visible. Titan, Rhea, and Iapetus were clear. Dione sometimes faded out with bad seeing. Tethys was occasionally visible but quite faint just above and to the left of the rings. Both Dione and Tethys were easier in the 15mm, which developed a smudge.

Also visited a few double stars. Iota cancri was splendid contrast of red and blue.

We observed m42 and discussed the process of star formation within nebulae.

Zeke wanted to see Mars. The “dark” patch of Syrtis Major was visible — an area of just slightly diminished brightness compared with the rest of the planet.

Location: Tomball, TX
Cloud cover: none
Transparency: good (4/5) or maybe excellent (5/5)
Seeing: good (4/5)
Darkness: city sky glow, nearly full moon
Limiting Magnitude: n/a
Wind: mild w/ occasional gusts
Humidity: 60% early up to 75% later
Temperature: 60F to 53F
Start Time: 8:30 pm CST
End Time: 11:00 pm CST
OTA: 8″ SC

aligned on capella, sirius, castor, and ruchbah (celestron spells it rukbah). goto could sometimes put target in 9mm field.

double star night – observed four doubles.

polaris (alpha ursae minoris) – always see polaris/double when aligning, but spent extra time observing. primary is significantly brighter than secondary, but both are clear even in 25mm. would like to learn how to use angle and separation to align scope on true north.

castor (alpha geminorum) – two blue stars with similar magnitudes. easy split in 15mm.

algeiba (gamma leonis) – closest pair of the evening, two red stars with moderate difference in brightness.

iota cancri – widest pair of the evening, red primary moderately brighter than blue secondary.

planetary observations

mars – imaged with and without the bushnell barlow. color and clarity of image both deteriorated. with 7.9mm other pinpoints visible, did not check SNP until later, not sure if one of the points may have been phobos or deimos. despite generally good conditions could not discern much detail except one edge seemed to have a touch of blue/white.

saturn – in high-power ep dione like a chick right under saturn’s “wing”, rhea less than a ring radius away, titan 3-4 ring diameters away. with lower power iapetus seen farther away on the other side of planet from other moons. several other stars also in wide field, required SNP reference to pick iapetus from stars.

photo: Saturn with Dione, Rhea, and Titan (click image to see Titan)

moon – viewed terminus briefly to estimate seeing conditions. very little turbulence in 15mm. still have no idea how to identify what I’m looking at.

view all photos at flickr

Location: Tomball, TX
Cloud cover: none
Transparency: clear
Seeing: moderate (3/5) or maybe poor (2/5)
Darkness: city sky glow, no moon
Limiting Magnitude: n/a
Wind: mild/none
Humidity: 65%-75%
Temperature: mid-40’s
Start Time: 8:00 pm CST
End Time: 10:00 pm CST
OTA: 8″ SC
EP: 25mm mostly, also 32mm for M44 and 10mm for Saturn

Need to learn names of stars in Cassiopeia if for no other reason than for picking alignment stars.

Mars – observed briefly, noticed that disc is no longer completely circular. Other details lost in atmospheric turbulence.

Ceres – used SNP to get visual geometry and RA/Dec. Asteroid visible at the intersection of two lines of stars slightly wider than a right angle. Did not realize until looking in SNP later that Ceres would move so “far” within just an hour. Might observe twice tomorrow night an hour or more apart. SNP reference shows that observation time must have been about 8:20 or 8:30 pm, but actual time was 9pm and later. SNP location was Houston instead of Tomball — could that make such a big difference?

M42 – Trapezium clear, nebula surrounding like wings of a heraldic eagle

M44 Beehive – small almost equilateral triangle near center with dim star on one edge

Saturn – rings distinct though nearly edge-on. Visible moons: Tethys, Titan, Dione, and Iapetus, plus three stars in the field of view. Dione and Tethys uncertain at first, stronger with continued observation. Did not see Enceladus (too dim or bad seeing?) or Rhea (maybe lost in Saturn’s glare?), both of which SNP shows very close to Saturn.