Triangulum Galaxy - M33

I have been trying to image the Triangulum Galaxy for over a month now but I was finally able to get some images over the last week.  The Triangulum Galaxy (M33) is a spiral galaxy approximately 3 million light-years (ly) from Earth in the constellation Triangulum.  It is the third-largest member of the Local Group of galaxies, which includes the Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy and about 44 other smaller galaxies. It is one of the most distant permanent objects that can be viewed with the naked eye.  Although it can be viewed with the naked eye, it is relatively dim and diffuse which means a small amount of light pollution makes this object very difficult to find.

The galaxy is the smallest spiral galaxy in the Local Group and it is believed to be a satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy due to their interactions, velocities and proximity to one another in the night sky. [source: wikipedia]

45 down 65 to go! Link

Triangulum Galaxy

Triangulum Galaxy - M39
Location: Happy Frog Observatory, Monroe, CT
Date/Time: 10/19/16 (8:29 pm) and 10/28/16 (11.45 pm)

Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i(a), Backyard EOS
Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 600mm
f/7.5
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount
Filter: Astrodon UV/IR
Autoguiding: QHY-5L-II-M attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope with Helical Focuser
Exposure: 50 x 180 sec (150 min)
ISO: 800
Temp: 33 C/30 C
Post Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop, Lightroom

M39

Messier 39  (NGC 7092) is an open cluster in the constellation Cygnus.  It is only about 800 light years away from our solar system and  300 million year old.  It is group of about 30 stars may look like they are spread fairly far apart in the sky, but this group is only a 7 light years across.  All of its stars are main sequence and the very brightest of them are just about to evolve into the red giant star phase (source: Wikipedia, Universe Today).

I have now have 44 Messier objects down, only 66 to go! (Messier Objects with an ED80)

I recently purchased StarTools as an addition to my image processing. It seems to be easy to use although certain functions take time.  Also, I had to upgrade my ram to 8 MB from 4 MB as recommended by Ivo Jager (the  developer of StarTools).  I had some troubles doing certain functions such as AutoDev.  Ivo believes it is do to some sort of stretching in DSS even though I did not add any. In any case, I have used it at different points on this image. I like using it after processing with PS because the resolution is better.  It seems when I do it in StarTools first, the resolution goes down, however, this may be do to my limited processing knowledge.

Crop - processing with StarTools after PS

Crop - processing with StarTools first

 Widefield - processing with StarTools after PS

Widefield - processing with StarTools first

M39
Location: Happy Frog Observatory, Monroe, CT
Date/Time: 10/19/16 8:29 pm
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i(a), Backyard EOS
Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 600mm
f/7.5
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount
Filter: Astrodon UV/IR
Autoguiding: QHY-5L-II-M attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope with Helical Focuser
Exposure: 31 x 180 sec (93 min)
ISO: 800
Temp: 33 C
Post Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, StarTools, Photoshop, Lightroom

Hunter Moon 10-15-16

The Hunter Moon from Masuk High School taken on 10-15-2016. It looked like this but to take the photo I had to combine a short exposure (shown against the black sky) with a longer exposure using Photoshop. Hunter's Moon is the second full moon after the equinox, the first being the Harvest Moon.

Crop

Moon - Base image

Nikon D3000

300mm

ISO 200

f/5.6

1/60 sec. - 1 sec.

ISO 200

Original Size

Moon - Base image

Nikon D3000

300mm

ISO 200

f/5.6

1/60 sec. - 1 sec.

ISO 200

Moon 

Nikon D3000

300mm

ISO 200

f/5.6

1/60 sec.

ISO 200

Crop

Moon 

Nikon D3000

300mm

ISO 200

f/5.6

1/60 sec.

ISO 200

The Cooling Tower - M29

Messier 29 (also known as NGC 6913) is an open cluster in the Cygnus constellation. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764, and can be seen from Earth by using binoculars.

The star cluster is situated in the highly crowded area of Milky Way around 4,000 light years away. It has an apparent magnitude of 7.1 and it's age is estimated to be around 10 million years. The four brightest stars form a quadrilateral, and another three, a triangle north of them. It is often known as the "cooling tower" due to its resemblance to the hyperboloid-shaped structures. (source: wikipedia)

This image represents the 43rd Messier object I have imaged with my set-up.  The quest still goes on for all 110: https://sites.google.com/site/messierobjectsed80/or http://astropicskurtzepp.blogspot.ca/. 

Crop

Wide field

The Cooling Tower - M29

Location: Happy Frog Observatory, Monroe, CT
Date/Time: 10/6/16 9:25 pm
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i(a), Backyard EOS
Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 600mm
f/7.5
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount
Filter: Astrodon UV/IR
Autoguiding: QHY-5L-II-M attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope with Helical Focuser
Exposure: 31 x 120 sec (62 min)
ISO: 800
Temp: 30 C
Post Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, StarTools, Photoshop, Lightroom

Veil Nebula Using StarTools

The Eastern Veil Nebula, NGC 6992 reprocessed using StarTools prior to PS and LR2.  This is my first attempt at using this program.  It did bring out more of the nebula, however, it seems that it is slightly less on the clarity or something. That could be my inexperience with using the program though.  Image Details.

Image 1 - Photoshop, Lightroom2

Image 1 - Photoshop, Lightroom2, Astronomy Tools

Image 1 - Photoshop, Lightroom2, Astronomy Tools - LR2

Image 2 - StarTools - No masking or AutoDev or Decon

Image 3 - StarTools, Photoshop - No masking or AutoDev or Decon

Image 4 - StarTools, Photoshop, Lightroom2 - No masking or AutoDev or Decon

Image 5 - StarTools - With AutoDev and other modules

Image 6 - StarTools - With AutoDev and other modules

Image 7 - StarTools - With AutoDev only

Eastern Veil Nebula - NGC 6992

The Eastern Veil Nebula, NGC 6992, is a cloud of heated and ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus. It is a large but relatively faint supernova remnant. The source supernova exploded somewhere between 3,000 BC to 6,000 BC, and the remnants have since expanded to 110 light-years across.  The distance to the nebula is approximately 1470 light-years (source wikipedia).

The entire nebula is too big to imaged with my telescope without a focal reducer.  Visible in this image is NGC 6992, NGC 6995, and IC 1340.  I would not have been able to image this or would have needed many more sub frames last month.  This object is the first I have imaged where my newly modified Canon EOS Rebel T3i (600D). The modification work was done by Hap Griffin at Imaging Infinity. Hap has several options available for DSLR modification. I chose to have the IR Filter Replaced with the Astrodon UV/IR block filter. This modification passes hydrogen-alpha light but blocks IR.

Wide Field

Closeup

Eastern Viel Nebula - NGC 6992, NGC 6995, IC 1340
Location: Happy Frog Observatory, Monroe, CT
Date/Time: 09/25/16 9:25 pm
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i(a), Backyard EOS
Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope
Barlow: None
Focal Length: 600mm
f/7.5
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount
Filter: Astrodon UV/IR
Autoguiding: QHY-5L-II-M attached to an Agena 50mm Guide Scope with Helical Focuser
Exposure: 31 x 180 sec (93 min)
ISO: 800
Temp: 26 C
Post Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop, Lightroom