Telescope: Light Switch 8 @ f/6.2 (Optec 0.62x focal reducer), altaz mode

Camera: Full Spectrum Modified Canon 600D, interval timer

Filter: GSO IR Blocking Filter

Guide scope: None

Exposure: 39x10sec, ISO 1600, saved as RAW

Darks: Internal (Long Exposure Noise Reduction On)

Flats: 32×1/10sec, Tee shirt flats taken at dusk

Average Light Pollution: Red zone, Bortle 8, fair transparency

Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 18.6

Stacking: Mean with a 1-sigma clip.

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Deep Sky Stacker, Nebulosity, Photoshop

NGC 457 is one of my favorite open clusters in just about any size telescope. It makes a fine target for binoculars and small telescopes and becomes a very rich field in larger scopes. The two bright distinctive foreground stars makes it fairly easy to locate. In a small telescope it is worth taking some time with this field. At first your eye may only see the two bright foreground stars and a few of the brighter stars of the cluster. As your eyes relax you may start to see some of the fainter background stars and the cluster will begin to blossom into a beautiful field of stardust.

NGC457 is currently well placed high in the northeast after sunset.

Telescope: Light Switch 8 @ f/6.2 (Optec 0.62x focal reducer), altaz mode

Camera: Full Spectrum Modified Canon 600D, interval timer

Filter: GSO IR Blocking Filter

Guide scope: None

Exposure: 38x10sec, ISO 1600, saved as RAW

Darks: Internal (Long Exposure Noise Reduction On)

Flats: 32×1/10sec, Tee shirt flats taken at dusk

Average Light Pollution: Red zone, Bortle 8, fair transparency

Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 18.6

Stacking: Mean with a 1-sigma clip.

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Deep Sky Stacker, Nebulosity, Photoshop

M2 is a big, beautiful globular cluster that is well placed in the eastern sky in late summer and early fall. It is an easy target for a small telescope. Under dark skies it can even be glimpsed without a telescope or even binoculars. M2 is about 37,500 light years away and lies beyond the galactic center. Like most globular clusters M2 is an ancient relic of the early universe with an estimated age of about 13 billion years.

M2 is currently in high the southwest at sunset.

Telescope: Light Switch 8 @ f/6.2 (Optec 0.62x focal reducer), altaz mode

Camera: Full Spectrum Modified Canon 600D, interval timer

Filter: GSO IR Blocking Filter

Guide scope: None

Exposure: 40x10sec, ISO 1600, saved as RAW

Darks: Internal (Long Exposure Noise Reduction On)

Flats: 32×1/10sec, Tee shirt flats taken at dusk

Average Light Pollution: Red zone, Bortle 8, fair transparency

Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 18.6

Stacking: Mean with a 1-sigma clip.

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Deep Sky Stacker, Nebulosity, Photoshop

M15, a bright, condensed globular cluster in a relatively lonely stretch of sky in Pegasus. It is one of the oldest known globular clusters with an estimated age of 13.2 billion years and the first globular cluster found to have a planetary nebula (Pease 1), one of only four planetary nebula associated with a globular cluster. M15 is also one of the most condensed globular cluster and at some point in the distant past it experienced a core collapse that may have heralded the formation of a black hole in its nucleus. This is supported by the fact the M15 is an x-ray source.

M15 is currently in high the south at sunset.

Telescope: Light Switch 8 @ f/6.2 (Optec 0.62x focal reducer), altaz mode

Camera: Full Spectrum Modified Canon 600D, interval timer

Filter: GSO IR Blocking Filter

Guide scope: None

Exposure: 31x10sec, ISO 1600, saved as RAW

Darks: Internal (Long Exposure Noise Reduction On)

Flats: 32×1/10sec, Tee shirt flats taken at dusk

Average Light Pollution: Red zone, Bortle 8, fair transparency

Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 18.4

Stacking: Mean with a 1-sigma clip.

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Deep Sky Stacker, Nebulosity, Photoshop

Globular clusters are relics of the ancient universe and M13 is no exception with an estimated age of 12 billion years. Their great age is an indication of their unusual stability. One consequence of this stability is that any heavy elements that their stars have made remains buried in their cores and the cluster itself has little, if any, interstellar dust. M13 is one of the few globular clusters with a dust-like feature that can be seen as a dark lane extending to the upper left of the core. It is possible that this dust lane is an independent object that just happens to be in front of the cluster.

M13 is currently in the northwest at sunset.

Telescope: Light Switch 8 @ f/6.2 (Optec 0.62x focal reducer), altaz mode

Camera: Full Spectrum Modified Canon 600D, interval timer

Filter: GSO IR Blocking Filter

Guide scope: None

Exposure: 29x10sec, ISO 1600, saved as RAW

Darks: Internal (Long Exposure Noise Reduction On)

Flats: 32×1/10sec, Tee shirt flats taken at dusk

Average Light Pollution: Red zone, Bortle 8, poor transparency, low altitude

Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 17.8

Stacking: Mean with a 1-sigma clip.

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Deep Sky Stacker, Nebulosity, Photoshop

M3 is a beautiful example of a globular cluster in a relatively lonely stretch of sky. The cluster is a member of the galactic halo and spends much of its time orbiting well outside the plane of the galaxy. It is presently 33,000 light years away from us, 40,000 light years from the galactic core, and 33,000 light years ‘above’ the galactic plane. Home to about 500,000 stars, M3 is relatively young as globular clusters go with an estimated age of 8 billion years.

This is one of a series of images that I have been taking to explore using relatively simple equipment and techniques and the firt image taken with my Light Switch 8 at f/6.2 using my modified 600D. The LS8 did okay in its native f/10 configuration, but reducing the focal length a bit made the tracking a bit more forgiving. This late-season image of M3 is a good example of how nice it is having the option of using a simple setup. With my usual imaging gear I’m limited to imaging object on the east side of the meridian. However, with this simple altaz system there’s nothing to align, I just pluck it down out in the middle of my backyard where I have access to more of the sky and there’s no meridian flip to worry about. In this case I caught M3 about as late as I could with it getting low in the west as twilight ended. Another aspect of using a simple system is that I can cover a lot of territory fairly quickly. Here I am on the doorstep of December and I’m still processing images from September!

Fun stuff.