Telescope: Meade 12” LX850 ACF @ f/8, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: ZWO ASI071 MC Pro, -10C, Gain 200

Filter: Orion Imaging Skyglow Filter

Guide scope: Astro-Tech 60mm, ASI290MM Mini, PHD2

Exposure: 17x240sec, saved as FITS

Darks: 32x240s, saved as FITS

Flats: 32×0.2sec, Tee shirt flats taken at dusk

Average Light Pollution: Red zone, Bortle 8, poor transparency, haze and clouds

Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 18.4 mag/arc-sec^2

Stacking: Mean with a 2-sigma clip.

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Nebulosity, Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop

NGC 2683 is a moderately bright, nearly edge-on spiral galaxy in Lynx. The relatively bright inner core is a fairly easy visual target for modest size telescopes while the faint outer expanse becomes visible in long exposure images. This is the first in a series of images that I hope to take of galaxies that are a bit off of the beaten path in the coming months using either this 12” LX850 or my trusty SN10. It will be fun seeing which performs better; the high resolution of the LX850 or the fast optics of the SN10.

NGC 2683 is currently well placed high in the northeast during the early evening.

Telescope: Meade 12” LX850 ACF @ f/8, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: ZWO ASI071 MC Pro, -10C, Gain 200

Filter: Orion Imaging Skyglow Filter

Guide scope: Astro-Tech 60mm, ASI290MM Mini, PHD2

Exposure: 15x240sec, saved as FITS

Darks: 32x240s, saved as FITS

Flats: 32×0.2sec, Tee shirt flats taken at dusk

Average Light Pollution: Red zone, Bortle 8, poor transparency, haze and clouds

Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 18.4 mag/arc-sec^2

Stacking: Mean with a 2-sigma clip.

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Nebulosity, Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop

M51 is a beautiful face-on spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici, just south of Alkaid, the bright star that lies at the eastern end of the Big Dipper’s handle. The spiral arm that appears to connect M51 to the nearby companion (NGC 5195) is a bit of an illusion. The companion actually lies behind M51, and if you look closely you can see that the spiral arm is silhouetted against the background galaxy. Modern observations with radio telescope and computer modeling suggest that the companion has made at least two passes through the main disk of M51. During the first, it approached M51 from behind, passed through M51, swung around in an orbit that took it in front of M51, then back through the disk where it lies now behind M51. These passes set off bursts of star formation that gives the arms of M51 their beautiful blue color.

Under dark skies the spiral structure of M51 shows quite well, but from my light polluted backyard all I can see are the cores of the two galaxies. On this particular evening a band of clouds passed overhead about an hour after I started this sequence and I lost nearly all of the source images. Still, the result is very pretty. M51 is currently well placed rising in the northeast during the early evening.

Telescope: Meade SN6 Comet Tracker at f/3.6, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: Full Spectrum Modified Nikon D5300, Baader Mk III MPCC

Filter: 2” Radian Triad Ultra Hb, OIII, Ha, SII filter

Guide scope: Orion 50mm, ZWO ASI120MM mini

Exposure: 18x120sec, ISO 200, saved as RAW

Darks: Internal (Long Exposure Noise Reduction On)

Flats: 32x60sec, LED tracing tablet covered with 3 layers of muslin

Average Light Pollution: Red zone, Bortle 8, poor transparency, moonlight, haze

Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 17.0 mag/arc-sec^2

Stacking: Mean with a 2-sigma clip.

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Backyard Nikon, Deep Sky Stacker, Nebulosity, Photoshop

NGC 2359 (Thor’s Helmet) is similar to the Bubble Nebula in Cassiopeia (NGC 7635) in that it is a bubble blown out in the interstellar medium from the fierce solar wind of a Wolf-Rayet star, an extremely massive pre-supernova giant. These stars are very rare, extremely hot (45,000 – 90,000F), and expel their outer layers at very high speeds. The spherical shell is the shock-front formed as the expanding gas pushes against the surrounding emission nebula.

NGC 2359 is currently well placed rising in the southeast during the early evening.

Telescope: Meade SN6 Comet Tracker at f/3.6, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: Full Spectrum Modified Nikon D5300, Baader Mk III MPCC

Filter: Orion Imaging Skyglow Filter

Guide scope: Orion 50mm, ZWO ASI120MM mini

Exposure: 15x60sec, ISO 200, 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, bright moonlight

Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 18.0 mag/arc-sec^2

Stacking: Mean with a 2-sigma clip.

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Backyard Nikon, Deep Sky Stacker, Nebulosity, Photoshop

M38 is the westernmost of three relatively bright open clusters in Auriga, the others being M36 and M37. M38 is the largest of the three and is a wonderful object in small telescopes. Just to the south is the smaller and fainter open cluster NGC 1907.

M38 is currently well placed high in the northeast during the early evening.

Telescope: Meade SN6 Comet Tracker at f/3.6, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: Full Spectrum Modified Nikon D5300, Baader Mk III MPCC

Filter: Orion Imaging Skyglow Filter

Guide scope: Orion 50mm, ZWO ASI120MM mini

Exposure: 16x60sec, ISO 200, 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, bright moonlight

Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 18.0 mag/arc-sec^2

Stacking: Mean with a 2-sigma clip.

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Backyard Nikon, Deep Sky Stacker, Nebulosity, Photoshop

M37 is the easternmost of three relatively bright open clusters in Auriga, the others being M36 and M38. M37 is the richest of the three and appears as a nice patch of stardust in small telescopes. In larger telescopes it blossoms in to a grand sight.

M37 is currently well placed high in the northeast during the early evening.

Telescope: Meade SN6 Comet Tracker at f/3.6, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: Full Spectrum Modified Nikon D5300, Baader Mk III MPCC

Filter: Orion Imaging Skyglow Filter

Guide scope: Orion 50mm, ZWO ASI120MM mini

Exposure: 17x60sec, ISO 200, 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, bright moonlight

Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 18.0 mag/arc-sec^2

Stacking: Mean with a 2-sigma clip.

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Backyard Nikon, Deep Sky Stacker, Nebulosity, Photoshop

M36 is one of three relatively bright open clusters in Auriga, nestled in between M37 to the east and M38 to the west. M36 is the smallest of the three and is a tad sparse, but it does very well in small telescopes and is one of my favorite stops with my little ETX-60. If you look closely you will see a little puff of nebula on the right edge of this field; a beautiful, small, red emission nebula, NGC 1931.

M36 is currently well placed high in the northeast during the early evening.

Telescope: Meade SN6 Comet Tracker at f/3.6, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: Full Spectrum Modified Nikon D5300, Baader Mk III MPCC

Filter: Orion Imaging Skyglow Filter

Guide scope: Orion 50mm, ZWO ASI120MM mini

Exposure: 70x60sec, ISO 200, 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

Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 18.4 mag/arc-sec^2

Stacking: Mean with a 2-sigma clip.

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Backyard Nikon, Deep Sky Stacker, Nebulosity, Photoshop

This is M13, the Great Cluster in Hercules. Also in the picture is the galaxy NGC 6207 (Mv 11.6) in the upper left corner, and about halfway between NGC 6207 and M13 is the tiny galaxy IC 4617 (Mv 15.2). 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 lower left of the core. It is possible that this dust lane is not really associated with M13, but instead is an independent object that just happens to be in front of the cluster.

M13 is currently a morning object, rising in the northeast after midnight and is high overhead at dawn.

Telescope: Meade SN6 Comet Tracker at f/3.6, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: Full Spectrum Modified Nikon D5300, Baader Mk III MPCC

Filter: Orion Imaging Skyglow Filter

Guide scope: Orion 50mm, ZWO ASI120MM mini

Exposure: 95x60sec, ISO 200, 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, bright moonlight

Lensed Sky Quality Meter: 18.0 mag/arc-sec^2

Stacking: Mean with a 2-sigma clip.

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Backyard Nikon, Deep Sky Stacker, Nebulosity, Photoshop

M65 (right) and M66 (left) along with NGC 3628 (top) form a group known as the Leo Trio. These three actually form a gravitationally bound subgroup of the Leo I galaxy cluster. The warped shape of NGC 3628 is a result of interactions with M65 and 66. Visually, M65 and M66 are fairly easy to spot in modest sized telescopes, while NGC 3628 is much fainter due to the dust lying along the galactic plane. With a larger scope NGC 3628’s dust lane shows some wonderful detail.

The Leo Trio rises in the northeast a hour or so after sunset and is high overhead after midnight.