A Hole in the Clouds

Canon 30D w/ 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM
on Barn door tracker w/ manual crank tracking
4 subs w/ 3 darks
total exposure time/setting:
240sec @ f/2.8 set to 200mm

Sadly it's been terrible for stargazing lately. Spring is trying to roll in here Vermont and with it comes the rain. Haven't seen a clear sky since last time I posted. Well tonight the skies had a little mercy on me and decided to let me have a stab at capturing a beautiful display of two galaxies interacting with one another. Here is the Whirlpool Galaxy, m51, along with it's partner galaxy NGC 5195.

A Pinwheel and a Horse

In the spirit of "galaxy season", you'll notice that many of my posts for awhile will be mostly me trying to get certain galaxies. Tonight I tried for a small and not so bright object, distanced at about 25 million light year away, called Pinwheel Galaxy, m101. As a bonus there are two trails left by two different satellites which just happened to cross infront of my image. One being NOAA 17, a weather satellite, and Cosmos 2428, a russian electronic intelligence satellite.

4 subs 2 darks
3 minutes @ f2.8
FL set to 110mm

I took the opportunity to try and take a stab at the Horsehead Nebula one more time this season and the flame nebula. In the upper part of the image I noticed a fuzzy patch. This turned out to be a nebula that I never saw before called M78.

10 subs w/ 5 darks
1minute @ f2.8
FL set at 175mm

The M81 Group

Tonight I stepped out and tested my barndoor tracker with my telephoto lens. I'm extremely happy about the outcome. I did manage to get an amazing shot of Bode's Galaxy, M81, and M82. As well as two other nearby galaxies.


4 subs w/ 2 darks
120sec @f2.8 per sub
Canon 30D w/ 70-200mm set at 110mm

*Via Lactea*

Via Lactea, or milky way galaxy, is home to an estimated 100,000 million stars. With that in mind have you ever wondered if we are alone in this universe? I don't see how we could be. Take a look at this linked picture and try to talk me into believing it's even a possibility. I have to warn that the size of this picture is huge but you'll get to put our blue green planet to scale within our observational universe.
Existence to scale

Auriga at 70mm

I did a couple test shots to see if I can use my 70-200mm lens on  my Scotch Mount. Truth be told, it was difficult to use on anything higher than 100mm focal length.

This is a widefield of Auriga with the clusters known as M36, off to the upper far left, and M38, a bit right and down from it. What captures me more is the range of colors in those little orbs of gas.
This shot is a single image captured at 30sec @ f2.8.

*A View from the Top*

A shot of the Sun as it dips behind the edge of Earth as seen from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. Want to read more? Read on at Space.com.

*News from the Messenger*

"This image is the first ever obtained from a spacecraft in orbit about the solar system's innermost planet,"

Nasa's Messenger spacecraft snaps the first image from it's orbit around Mercury. Messenger was launched from Earth on August 2004 and has made 3 passes since. It is the first satellite ever complete the difficult task of entering orbit around the sun's closest resident.

Read the whole story at the jump to space.com.

To Tie Off

These last three images are to end my "catch up" of my work. I've progressed quite a bit and I'm excited to see what the future brings in terms of what I can capture now that my skills are getting better. Keep watching I'll post as frequently as I can.

International Space Station making it's transit across North America

Jupiter at Dusk

And the cluster known as the Pleiades, with some nebulosity.

Widefields with Scotch Mount

Orion with faint Barnard's Loop, Meissa Nebula and Rosette Nebula.

Ursa Major

Constellation Perseus and a faint California Nebula. Also more dust lanes of the Milky Way

First Flame and Horsehead.

Before I built my barn door tracker I tried for a rather difficult object to photograph with a telescope. Although it's faint this is my first try at getting NGC 2024, the Flame Nebula. By surprise I caught a faint image of the famed Horsehead Nebula.