Conjunction of Venus, Jupiter, and Mars

Venus, Jupiter, and Mars in conjunction on my morning walk with the dog!  Currently within 5 degrees of each other where they will be until 10/29.  While two planet conjunctions happen with some frequency, three planet alignments are much less common.  The next not occurring until 2021.

Conjunction of Venus, Jupiter, and Mars
Monday‎, ‎October‎ ‎26‎, ‎2015 ‎5‎:‎49‎ ‎AM
Canon EOS REBEL T3i
fixed tripod
30 sec.
f/3.5 18mm
ISO 400
Picasa3 Crop, Label

Deep Sky Images from CSP-25

Great night observing and imaging at CSP-25 (Connecticut Star Party, 25th year). The annual event is put together by the Astronomical Society of New Haven (ASNH) and this year it was held at the Edmund D. Strang Scout Reservation in Goshen, CT on the weekend of October 9-11, 2015. The event was well attended by many local astronomy clubs including my own, Booth Memorial Astronomical Society (BMAS). Thank you ASNH for holding this event.

Continuing with my goal of imaging all 110 Messier Objects and other objects:

Dumbbell Nebula 8:23 pm





M27 - Dumbbell Nebula
Location: Goshen, CT
Date/Time: 10/10/15 8:23 pm
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, Backyard EOS
Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount
Autoguiding: Orion StarShoot G3 attached to and Orion Short Tube 80mm
Focal Length: 600mm
f/7.5
Exposure: 5-60s (total exposure, 5min)
ISO: 800
Post Processing: DSS, PS, Picasa3 (crop)

Note: It turned out OK for what it was, a test. I took better images of the Dumbbell (longer exposure) previously but it was the first object of the night.

Andromeda Galaxy - 9:06 pm








M31 - Andromeda Galaxy, M32 - Satellite Galaxy, M110 - Satellite Galaxy

Location: Goshen, CT
Date/Time: 10/10/15 9:06 pm
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, Backyard EOS
Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount
Autoguiding: Orion StarShoot G3 attached to and Orion Short Tube 80mm
Focal Length: 600mm
f/7.5
Exposure: 6-60s, 15-120s, 1-180s (total exposure, 39min)
ISO: 800
Post Processing: DSS, PS, Picasa3 (Label)

Note: I am pleased with the way this turned out. I have imaged M31 before but not for this long (39 min). I wish I did this for even longer. Maybe next time.

North American Nebula 10:29 pm


North American Nebula
Location: Goshen, CT
Date/Time: 10/10/15 10:29 pm
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, Backyard EOS
Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount
Autoguiding: Orion StarShoot G3 attached to and Orion Short Tube 80mm
Focal Length: 600mm
f/7.5
Exposure: 6-60s, 4-120s (total exposure, 14min)
ISO: 800
Post Processing: DSS, PS

Note: There are certainly much better photos of this object but this was the first time I ever was able to capture any nebulousness.

The Pleiades Cluster - 10:57 pm





M45 - Pleiades Cluster
Location: Goshen, CT
Date/Time: 10/10/15 10:57 pm
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, Backyard EOS
Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount
Autoguiding: Orion StarShoot G3 attached to and Orion Short Tube 80mm
Focal Length: 600mm
f/7.5
Exposure: 1-60s, 5-90s, 16-120s, 3-180s (total exposure, 49min 30s)
ISO: 800
Post Processing: DSS, PS

Note: I am also pleased with the way Pleiades turned out. I have imaged M45 before but not for 49 min. This is one of my favorite objects to observe and image, thus look for more images of this in the future.

Bode's Nebula, the Cigar Galaxy and NGC 3077 - 1:30 am








M81 - Bode's Nebula, M82 - Cigar Galaxy, NGC 3077
Location: Goshen, CT
Date/Time: 10/11/15 1:30 am
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, Backyard EOS
Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount
Autoguiding: Orion StarShoot G3 attached to and Orion Short Tube 80mm
Focal Length: 600mm
f/7.5
Exposure: 22-90s (total exposure, 33min)
ISO: 800
Post Processing: DSS, PS, Picasa3 (crop)

Note: Again, there are certainly much better photos of these objects as well, but this was the first time was able to image this with the help of BMAS members, Elliot Severn and Pete. It did get a little misty while imaging so the sub exposures are not as good as they could be.

Overall I had a decent imaging session but in hind sight I did too much. I should have imaged less objects for longer exposures.

New Project...Messier

My new project - Image all 110 Messier objects.  The Messier Catalog, of course named in honor of Charles Messier, a French astronomer, who in the 1700's while searching for comets began cataloging other objects so they would not be confused with comets to be discovered.

I have previously imaged the following: M3-Globular Cluster, M4 - Globular Cluster, M8-Lagoon Nebula, M13-Globular Cluster, M27-Planetary Nebula, M31-Andromeda Galaxy, M32-Galaxy, M42, Great Orion Nebula, M45-Pleiades Star Cluster, M57-Planetary Nebula, M110-Galaxy.  I plan to organize this better and may re-image some of these as time goes on and I improve my technique.

Lunar Eclipse Composite

Below is my composite of the Lunar Eclipse from Sunday 9-27-15.  The photos were taken with the Boothe Memorial Astronomy Society at the Observatory in Stratford, CT.  I used Photoshop to combine the images and Picasa3 to label the times.  I am new to Photoshop which is why it took so long to process the images.  Also, the my scope had some dew on the objective lens but they still came out OK.  I was happy to get anything at all.  Next time I will connect the anti-dew heating straps earlier to avoid this problem.

Eclipse

Location: Boothe Memorial Park Observatory, Stratford, CT
Date/Time: 9/27/15 08:43 PM
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, Backyard EOS

Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope

Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount

Autoguiding: None
Focal Length: 600mm

f/7.5

Exposure: 1/400s
ISO: 100

Post Processing: DSS, PS, Picasa3 (crop, label)

Eclipse

Location: Boothe Memorial Park Observatory, Stratford, CT
Date/Time: 9/27/15 09:50 PM
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, Backyard EOS

Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope

Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount

Autoguiding: None
Focal Length: 600mm

f/7.5

Exposure: 1/60s
ISO: 200

Post Processing: DSS, PS, Picasa3 (crop, label)

Eclipse

Location: Boothe Memorial Park Observatory, Stratford, CT
Date/Time: 9/27/15 10:41 PM
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, Backyard EOS

Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope

Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount

Autoguiding: None
Focal Length: 600mm

f/7.5

Exposure: 2s
ISO: 1600

Post Processing: DSS, PS, Picasa3 (crop, label)

Eclipse

Location: Boothe Memorial Park Observatory, Stratford, CT
Date/Time: 9/27/15 11:03 PM
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, Backyard EOS

Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope

Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount

Autoguiding: None
Focal Length: 600mm

f/7.5

Exposure: 2s
ISO: 1600

Post Processing: DSS, PS, Picasa3 (crop, label)

Eclipse

Location: Boothe Memorial Park Observatory, Stratford, CT
Date/Time: 9/27/15 11:27 PM
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, Backyard EOS

Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope

Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount

Autoguiding: None
Focal Length: 600mm

f/7.5

Exposure: 1.6s
ISO: 1600

Post Processing: DSS, PS, Picasa3 (crop, label)

Eclipse

Location: Boothe Memorial Park Observatory, Stratford, CT
Date/Time: 9/27/15 11:51 PM
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, Backyard EOS

Telescope: Orion ED80 80mm f/7.5 Apochromatic Refractor Telescope

Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G GoTo Telescope Mount

Autoguiding: None
Focal Length: 600mm

f/7.5

Exposure: 1/160s
ISO: 400

Post Processing: DSS, PS, Picasa3 (crop, label)