The skies were clear, the seeing was good but some how my observing session early on Tuesday morning quickly became undone. I headed outside at 01:30 UT and set up the tripod and mounted the 25×100 bins. My session, I decided, was going to be split between the constellations Perseus and Cancer; the sole intention here was to grab a few Messier objects to add to the list as well as take a closer look at the double star Eta Perseii and NGC 1499 (The California Nebula).
The first hurdle that became apparent was the position of Perseus. Riding high in the sky I realized that observing was going to be difficult. Not a problem if your a scope user, but if your using bins then be prepared for some major neck strain! I was simply left with two choices: try to observe Perseus at this position or give up - I chose the latter. Reluctantly I moved on to my next target: the constellation of Cancer.
Turning the binoculars south east I began hunting down Cancer but soon found myself sinking in the nebulous orange miasma that light pollution produces. Here I was looking for M44: The Beehive Cluster or Praesepe as it is also known. I was also set on observing M67, a condensed open cluster that can be found near the star Acubens. The only problem was that Cancer was playing hide and seek with me. I could easily make out the top of Leo as it slowly rose out of the east, but try as I might, Cancer just eluded me.
Looking on the positive side of the session, I had an impressive view of the heavens with The Pleiades, The Hyades and The Orion Nebula easily visible with the naked eye while the constellations Auriga, Taurus, Cassiopeia, Andromeda, Draco, Ursa Major, Leo and Orion were all on show and looking stunning. To add to this, at 02:00 UT I also managed to catch Saturn climbing over the roof tops which is always a pleasing sight, however, my 25×100 bins don’t resolve any real detail on the planet itself, so I was content just to gaze at it unaided.
By 02:45 UT I packed up and headed for the warmth of my bed. I was disappointed with my lack of success with Perseus and Cancer, but putting that aside I did enjoy the chance to be back out star gazing. The lack of observing flexibility has got me thinking about investing in a new telescope, but I’ve not decided anything firm yet. For the moment It’s really just a case of wait and see.
Tags: Acubens, Andromeda, Auriga, Cancer, Cassiopeia, Collinder 50, Draco, Eta Perseii, Leo, M42, M44, M45, M67, M76, Orion, Praesepe, Saturn, Taurus, The Beehive Cluster, The Hyades, The Orion Nebula, The Pleiades, Ursa Major
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With a thin layer of frost beginning to form on just about everything, Sunday night was probably the coldest night I’ve experienced thus far. Now you’d be forgiven for thinking that this would mean that the sky was going to be crystal clear which I suppose it was to a certain extent. There were no clouds, but the sky transparency was just a little fuzzy - am I nit picking? Probably! You think I’d had a glut of wonderful crisp starry skies with a gripe like this. Anyway, I wasn’t about to pass up the chance to get out and do some more observing and sketching - just as well as the weather has recently turned and I now have excess cloud cover.
To kick the night off I set my sights on an easy yet pleasing target: Mizar and Alcor in Ursa Major. A simple optical binary which the 25×100 binoculars split more than easily.
From here I returned to an object that I had failed to observe at the beginning of October: the globular cluster Messier 56 in the constellation Lyra. It took a little bit of work to find this DSO as it is quite faint, but once I found it I was no less thrilled. First observed by Charles Messier on January 23rd 1779, the cluster lies 32,900 light years from Earth and spans an area of 84 light years.
Once I was done with M56 I turned my attention to the majestic Orion Nebula which I had tried to grab unsuccessfully during a previous session but was stopped short as a blanket of cloud ended things abruptly. With no such problems to harass me this time around I was able to sketch the nebula easily and I have to say, I think it’s the gem of the whole two hour session.
Tags: Lyra, M42, M56, Mizar, Orion, Strathspey 25x100, The Orion Nebula, Ursa Major, Weather
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The forecast at the Met Office held out - early Monday morning delivered crisp, clear skies with the odd cloud drifting overhead. I wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity like this so promptly geared up to capture another and possibly better star trail image.
The target for the session was the constellation of Orion as it rose over the roof tops towards the south east. Having positioned the tripod and the camera I decided to take a few test shots to make sure that I was focused on infinity as well as frame the image as best I could considering the urban landscape (the backyard).
The final image is a result of thirty six 30 second exposures taken at 24mm using an ISO of 800 with an F/Stop of 4.5. I had originally taken forty six exposures but towards the end of shooting clouds began rolling in and spoiled the view. The exposures were put together in Startrails and post processed in Photoshop.
Orion can be seen rising at the very centre of the picture - I even managed to capture part of The Hyades in there too which can be seen at the top of the shot, again near the centre. All in all I’m pretty happy with my second star trails attempt, but would love to do longer trails, which means either taking more exposures or experimenting with longer exposures, F/Stops and ISO speeds. Certainly food for thought.
After capturing all the exposures that would make up my final star trails image, I decided to go for a wander across the sky using the Bresser 10×50 binoculars. I chanced my luck and decided to see if I could catch a glimpse of NGC 7000: The North America Nebula in Cygnus. No such luck - I’m beginning to think that the skies around Falkirk and Stenhousemuir just aren’t dark enough.
Having no joy with Cygnus I moved on to a current favorite of mine: Auriga and the delights of M36, M37 and M38. I viewed these three open clusters through the Strathspey 25×100 binoculars a few weeks back and I wasn’t disappointed. The view through the 10×50s was no less thrilling if not more stunning. Beautiful deep sky objects and ones I’m certainly going to be observing a lot more in the future. From here I swept over to The Hyades and The Pleiades in Taurus for a quick glimpse but I just couldn’t stop myself from coming back to these two amazing open clusters again and again during the course of my morning observations.
Reluctantly I soon turned my attention to the majesty of M31: The Andromeda Galaxy. No matter how many times I see it, it is always a wondrous sight to behold, but I almost broke my neck viewing it as the constellation itself was positioned almost at the zenith. Moving down towards the constellation Triangulum I eventually found M33, making it only the second time I have seen this fantastic yet elusive galaxy. I spent quite a while in this part of the sky, sweeping backwards and forwards from M31 and M33 just drinking in the mesmerizing view.
Before long I finally surrendered and focused the binoculars on the splendor of M42: The Orion Nebula. Yes I’ve seen The Orion Nebula many,many times before, but it still never fails to make an epic impact on me. Wheeling around to Ursa Major I thought I try and hunt down M81 and M82 but eventually just began browsing around the sky aimlessly. At this point I gradually wound things up and decided to head for the warmth of the house. Unfortunately I never managed to see or capture any Orionids or Taurids, but there is always next time.
Tags: Andromeda, Auriga, Collinder 50, Cygnus, DSLR, M31, M33, M36, M37, M38, M42, M45, M81, M82, NGC 7000, Orion, Orionids, Star Trails, Taurids, Taurus, The Hyades, The Orion Nebula, The Pleiades, Triangulum, Ursa Major, Weather
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The moon was out in force last night (11.10.08) which put paid to half of my DSO search list, but more about that in a moment. I spent the first half of the evening imaging the moon. I wasn’t trying to go for a classic lunar shot per se but a more scenic image of the moon as it passed through the trees at the front of the house. I had the foresight to take a dark frame, but I think that there is still some noise in there that could be processed out. I had taken a number of pictures at F/Stops between 5.6, 8 and 11 as well as shutter speeds between 1/400 and 2 seconds. Best of a bad bunch, the overexposed image above was shot using an F/Stop of 8 at 70mm and an ISO of 400 with a shutter speed of 1/400. A lower ISO and bracketing might be the order of the day next time around. All in all, it’s still a nice image, but the thing that I like about this shot is the fact that I managed (unwittingly I might add) to capture a ‘corona’ around the moon albeit a mild one.
By early Sunday morning I turned my attention to the DSO search. First up was The North America Nebula NGC 7000, The Pelican Nebula IC 5070 and the Veil Nebula NGC 6960, 6992 and 6995 in Cygnus as well as M56 and M57 in Lyra - then I realised that I had zero chance of seeing anything in this part of the sky as the moon was now shinning low in the west.
I turned eastwards determined to carry on my DSO hunt in spite of the moon. Here I was looking for M36, M37 and M38 in the constellation Auriga. These open clusters are really something special - at 25 million years old, M36 is the youngest of the group. Lying 4,100 light years from the Earth, the stars here cover an area of around 14 light years. With a distance of up to 4,600 light years, M37 looks to be the oldest of the group with an age of 300 million years. This cluster contains over 500 stars with at least a dozen of them red giants. At around 220 million years, M38 is the second oldest of the group and lies 4,200 light years away spanning at least 25 light years. As views go, this is a fantastic part of the sky and one I’ll be returning to a lot more in the future.
Traveling south eastwards, I pointed my 25×100 binoculars at what is probably the most famous nebula in the night sky - M42/M43. Otherwise known as the Orion Nebula. This is a spectacular object to observe, and even under my light polluted sky the nebula was visible with the naked eye. Through the 25×100s M42/M43 showed up as a pale blue smear against the night. The nebula covers an area of around 24 light years and is generally considered to be the closest area of mass star formation to Earth. A really wondrous sight.
Last on my list was Collinder 50 i.e. The Hyades in Taurus. This is the nearest open cluster to Earth lying only 151 light years away and containing 300 to 400 stars that all share a commonality. This part of the sky really is best viewed through a pair of 10×50 binoculars so you can savor the cluster in it’s entirety.
By about 02:30 UT I decided to call it quits. Having spent most of Saturday daytime not feeling too well I decided that discretion really was the better part of valor.
Tags: Auriga, Bresser 10x50, Collinder 50, Cygnus, De Mairan's Nebula, DSLR, IC 5070, Lunar Corona, Lyra, M36, M37, M38, M42, M43, M56, M57, Moon, NGC 6960/6992/6995, NGC 7000, Orion, Strathspey 25x100, The Hyades, The North America Nebula, The Orion Nebula, The Pelican Nebula, The Veil Nebula
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The sky early on Sunday morning (05.10.08) was the best I have seen in a long while. The Astroforecast Dot Org put sky transparency at about average but from where I was observing at 02:30 UT it looked a lot better than that. This wasn’t one of my usual sessions, instead it was a great chance to take my shiny new Sony a200 DSLR for a test drive, and believe me, I had no illusions that there were going to be dud shots a plenty and a lot of experimenting going on.
It’s one thing reading up on f/stops, focal length, ISOs and exposures . . . it’s another putting it all into practice. I thought I’d take small steps and start things off by trying my hand at photographing constellations. First on the agenda was Cygnus. Focusing on infinity proved to be a real pain in the neck and I probably should have had the foresight to set the focus ring on the 18mm - 70mm zoom lens earlier in the evening.
Captures were predictably awful, but I persevered. I was pleasantly surprised when I spotted Orion just rising over the roof tops to the south east at 02.44 UT. I quickly positioned the tripod and the camera and began shooting. I started off at f4.5 using ISO 800 and a 5 second exposure. I then upped this to 10 seconds and then finally 30 seconds. It was the 30 second exposure that won the day and offered up the best (albeit slightly out of focus) capture of the evening revealing both M42 (The Orion Nebula) and M43 (De Mairan’s Nebula) as well as the star Iota Orionis which forms the tip of Orion’s sword.
I returned to my original quarry of the evening - Cygnus, which was now sinking slowly towards the horizon. Using an f/stop of 3.5 and a focal length of 18mm I managed to capture this 30 second exposure at ISO 800. Not the most dramatic shot, but it’s early days. Like the Orion shot, light pollution was quite visible in this capture as was some chroma noise, but I managed to process the worst of it out in Photoshop. I should have had the foresight to take some dark frames (note to self: TAKE DARK FRAMES!).
The white giant Deneb can be clearly seen while the star fields and dust lanes of the Milky Way are just visible as they tumble down the length of Cygnus. The top of Lyra can be seen drifting slowly out of view while Vega hovers just above the roof tops. Over to the far right of the image can be seen the constellation Draco or as the ancient Egyptians called it Taweret which means one who is great after the goddess of the northern sky.
By about 03:20 UT the cold really was beginning to set in so I decided to put the DSLR aside, but before I called it a night I decide to do a little observing through the Bresser 10×50s. Turning the binoculars on to Orion, I took a look at M42 and what a view - just stunning. Randomly sweeping the sky, I eventually landed on Ursa Major and took a peek at The Horse and Rider i.e. the stars Mizar and Alcor. Turning towards the zenith I decided to take in another view of M31 before sweeping south on to The Pleiades and finally back to M42 in Orion.
All in all, I’m quite pleased with my first proper attempts at DSLR astrophotography but I’m sure I’ve got a long way to go yet before reaching the next level.
Tags: Andromeda, Bresser 10x50, Cygnus, De Mairan's Nebula, Deneb, Draco, DSLR, Extrasolar Planet, Galaxies, Iota Orionis, Kupier Belt, Lyra, M31, M42, M43, M45, Mizar, Orion, Photoshop, The Orion Nebula, The Pleiades, Ursa Major, Vega
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