M17 - The Omega Nebula

The Omega Nebula (M17) is vast star forming region similar to the nearby Eagle Nebula (M16), imaged a few weeks ago, and the Orion Nebula (M42), imaged in January. It is named omega because parts of it resembles the Greek letter omega when looking at it through a telescope. Good eyes can spot this in a dark location on a very clear night.  It is about 5,000 light-years distance compared to 1,300 light-years for Orion.  Number 32 for the Messier Objects with an ED80.

Closeup

Wide-field

M17 - The Omega Nebula
Location: Happy Frog Observatory, Monroe, CT
Date/Time: 07/27/16 11:30 pm
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, 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: Astronomik CLS, 2" (48mm)
Autoguiding: QHY-5L-II-M attached to and Orion Short Tube 80mm
Exposure: 22 x 180 sec (66 min)
ISO: 800
Temp: 37 C
Post Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop, Lightroom

M14 and M9 (also M80)

M14 is a globular cluster (apparent magnitude +8.32) containing several hundred thousand stars and located approximately 30,000 light-years.  Meanwhile, M9, also a globular cluster (apparent magnitude +7.9) containing approximately 120,000 stars located approximately 25,000 light-years from Earth.  Both of these objects were taken when the moon was just past full but the weather was clear so I decided to go out and collect images.  The results were OK considering the moon was out but M14 was clearly better. These images also represent the 30th and 31st Messier Objects I captured with the ED80.

Addendum:
Also imaged M80 the same night.  This was a stretch from my home (The Happy Frog Observatory) as M80 was around 25 degrees altitude and and just above the tree line for a 10-minute interval.  I need to go somewhere else to get a better image, however, I managed to get 3-45 second sub-frames.

M14 IMAGES
Closeup

Crop

Widefield

M14
Location: Happy Frog Observatory, Monroe, CT
Date/Time: 07/20/16 11:00 pm
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, 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: none
Autoguiding: QHY-5L-II-M attached to and Orion Short Tube 80mm
Exposure: 45 x 45 sec (33.75 min)
ISO: 800
Temp: 34 C
Post Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop, Lightroom

M9 IMAGES

Closeup

Crop

New Revision for Messier Catalog

M9

Location: Happy Frog Observatory, Monroe, CT
Date/Time: 07/20/16 11:45 pm
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, 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: none
Autoguiding: QHY-5L-II-M attached to and Orion Short Tube 80mm
Exposure: 1 x 45 sec, 15 x 40 sec, 26 x 35 sec, 37 x 30 sec (44.4 min)

ISO: 800
Temp: 34 C
Post Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop, Lightroom

M80 Image

M80

Location: Happy Frog Observatory, Monroe, CT
Date/Time: 07/20/16 10:45 pm
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, 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: none
Autoguiding: QHY-5L-II-M attached to and Orion Short Tube 80mm
Exposure: 3 x 45 sec (2.25 min)

ISO: 800
Temp: 34 C
Post Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop, Lightroom

M16 - The Eagle Nebula

The Eagle Nebula (a.k.a. the Star Queen Nebula) is part of a diffuse emission nebula approximately 7,000 LY from Earth.  The star cluster associated with the nebula contains approximately 8,100 stars.  Also of note, the central portion of the nebula is know as the "Pillars of Creation' as it's region of star formation.  Images from the Hubble Space Telescope of this region greatly enhanced the scientific understanding of the processes inside the nebula.

Images of the 'Pillars of Creation' are much better viewed from the Hubble gallery as my little ED80 has its limitations.

The represents the 29th Messier Objects with an ED80 checked off the list, just 81 more to go...

Cropped

Wide Field

M16 - The Eagle Nebula
Location: Happy Frog Observatory, Monroe, CT
Date/Time: 07/12/16 00:30 am
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, 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: Astronomik CLS, 2" (48mm)
Autoguiding: QHY-5L-II-M attached to and Orion Short Tube 80mm
Exposure: 30 x 120 sec (1 hr)

ISO: 800
Temp: 32 C
Post Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop, Lightroom

The Ring Nebula, M57, Revisited!

I photographed the Ring Nebula last year around this time for about 2 min. 30 sec. (link).  I imaged it again for a much longer time in an effort to get a better image.  It is easy to locate but hard to see without a big telescope as it is a small object.  Located around 2,300 LY from Earth M57 is a planetary nebula formed when a star explodes and sheds its outer layers.  The explosion, however, is not quite a supernova. The event that produced the ring is believed to have occurred 4,000 years ago. The central star, currently a white dwarf, ionizes the surrounding gas to produce the light display. Also, the central star is very hard to see without a large telescope.

Very Close Up

Close Up

Wide Field

M57 - The Ring Nebula
Location: Happy Frog Observatory, Monroe, CT
Date/Time: 6/25/16 11:30 pm
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i, 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: Astronomik CLS, 2" (48mm)
Autoguiding: QHY-5L-II-M attached to and Orion Short Tube 80mm
Exposure: 27 x 180 sec, 1 x 120 (83 min)
ISO: 800

Temp: 33 C
Post Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop, Lightroom