M57 – The Ring Nebula

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M57 in the constellation, Lyra, is a planetary nebula. Added to Charles Messier’s catalog in January of 1779 who described it as “a dull nebula, but perfectly outlined; as large as Jupiter and looks like a fading planet.” Planetary nebula are not planets, but they are dying stars emitting gases. The particular star that caused this can be seen in the middle of the nebula at 15 magnitude; it is a white dwarf star, and is the remainder of a sunlike star. The central region is dark due to emitting UV light, and the green color is caused by oxygen and nitrogen while the outer red region is hydrogen. The distance is not well known; more about the distance can be read in the link below on the Messier Catalog.

'X' marks the location of M57

‘X’ marks the location of M57

This nebula is very small in the eyepiece, but on a clear night it can be seen shining almost looking like a little cheerio in the sky, or a smoke ring. The starfield around it can sometimes wash out the view, or even a thin layer of clouds can make this a hard target to spot. Given some close bright stars making of the constellation, Lyra, it can be easily located.

M57 – The Ring Nebula 05-30-13

This image is 62 light frames at 45 seconds a piece, ISO 800 with 40 darks. The main image was one stack and process, and the larger image in the upper left corner was another stack with a 2x drizzle applied to it, and then cropped and placed in this image for a slightly larger view.

For last years attempt at the ring nebula click through to the post here.

I get all my Deep Sky object information from The Messier Catalog.

Equipment:
Omni XLT 150 with CG-4 mount
Modded Canon 350D
T-ring and adapter
Intervalometer
Polar Scope for alignment

Bright Aurora in the Adirondacks

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Last night (May 31st into the morning of June 1st) there was a bright geomagnetic storm causing quite an aurora. Usually the aurora is hard to spot visually but the camera will pick it up quite nicely. Last night while snapping some pictures the spikes of the aurora and waves of aurora heading north to south were quite visible.


June 1, 2013 Aurora from Michael Rector on Vimeo.
Video best viewed full screen in HD

I drove 15 minutes south from Plattsburgh to the beach in Port Kent to get away from the nearby city lights and setup for some images. I had enough battery to get about 180 frames at 15 seconds a piece with virtually no space in between them. Was out from about 1-2:30am imaging and just enjoying the beautiful view. Aurora, stars, Milky Way, satellites, a few meteors, and a beautiful moon rise really complimented the night.

Star trails, Aurora, Meteors, and Satellites from Port Kent, NY early morning June 1, 2013

This is the first time I have ever visually seen the aurora which made the night even more worth it. I was heading to bed when I got a message from a fellow local photographer, which you can find at LittlestBee, who told me the aurora was ramping up. I looked at Kp levels and saw that for at least an hour it was going to be in the 6-7Kp range, which is perfect for the Adirondack region.

Me and the Aurora 06-01-13

Me and the Aurora with a Satellite 06-01-13

Aurora with green and pinks 06-01-13

I’m hoping this summer brings us some more great aurora maybe with a little less cloud, and a bit more of a warning before hand so I have time to prepare.

M64 – Blackeye Galaxy

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Discovered by Edward Pigott on March 23, 1779 only a short time before Johann Elert Bode stumbled across it on April 4, 1779. Independently discovered by Charles Messier on March 1, 1780 which was then added to his catalog as object M64. To them this galaxy just looked light a light fuzzy blob in their eyepieces, and the central darkening – forming the dark eye – wasn’t discovered until William Herschel observed the galaxy in 1785 and 1789.
The distance of M64, in Coma Berenices, isn’t well known and a press release from Space Telescope Science Institute gives it a distance of 19 million light years, which seems to be the agreed upon distance. Many others have varying numbers from 14 million light years to 25 million light years. Using a star such as a Cepheid Variable astronomers can use the period and the luminosity to calculate a distance to the star, and the galaxy they are in.
M64 joins a small grouping of galaxies known as the Canes Venatici I or the M94 group.

Box marks the location of M64

Box marks the location of M64

In good seeing conditions this galaxy can be spotted with a pair of binoculars and small to medium telescopes. Will display an irregular shape with an uneven texture, but the core will be quite bright through the eyepiece making that the main part visible to your eye. In telescopes 4-6” you will begin to make out the dust region forming the dark eye.

M64 – The Black Eye Galaxy. 05-04-13

This image is 22 images at 2 minutes a piece and ISO 800 with 24 dark frames to reduce noise. Images stacked in Deep Sky Stacker and post processing done in Photoshop.

All my Messier Object information from: The Messier Catalog. Screen shot of object location taken in Stellarium. Image stacking in Deep Sky Stacker.

Equipment:
Omni XLT 150 with CG-4 mount
Modded Canon 350D
T-ring and adapter
Intervalometer
Polar Scope for alignment

M63 – Sunflower Galaxy

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Discovered first by Pierre Mechain on June 14, 1779, and then included into Charles Messier’s catalog the same day. This was the first Deep Space Object that Messier’s friend, Pierre, had discovered. M63 was one of the first early recognized spiral galaxies. This galaxy is joined in a group of several small galaxies about 6° north of it in the M51 group.

The box marks the location of M63

The box marks the location of M63

Although this galaxy has a visual brightness of 8.6 magnitude I found it a little tricky to pinpoint. I used stars from Ursa Major and Canes Venatici to estimate where to aim the scope and then I had to do a bit of sweeping around with the scope to find it. Visually from where I am it wasn’t much more than a round fuzzy which was mainly the core and a little bit of the spiral disk. This picture brings out a lot more detail than I would have thought this galaxy had.

M63 – The Sunflower Galaxy. 05-05-13

32 images at 2 minutes a piece, ISO 800, and 24 dark frames. Stacked in deep sky stacker and post processing done in Photoshop.

Equipment:
Omni XLT 150 with CG-4 mount
Modded Canon 350D
T-ring and adapter
Intervalometer
Polar Scope for alignment

NGC4565 – Needle Galaxy

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NGC4565, also known as the Needle Galaxy, was discovered by William Herschel in 1785. The Needle Galaxy can be found in the constellation Coma Berenices. This is a prime example of an edge on spiral galaxy, and is visible even through a small telescope. This is a bright galaxy that if it were closer to the Milky Way galaxy it would quite possibly outshine Andromeda. There are two galaxies nearby to NGC4565 and one of which is believed to be gravitationally interacting with it. If our own galaxy was viewed from this perspective at a distance of 50 million light-years it would look very much the same.

The box marks the location of NGC 4565

The box marks the location of NGC 4565

This galaxy was quite easy to spot even from my own backyard. I didn’t magnify the galaxy at all to see it larger in my eyepiece as it may have blocked out too much of the incoming photons to get anymore detail out of it. Quite a view though as this looks like it’s name, a Needle.

NGC4565 – The Needle Galaxy. 05-03-13

This is 29 images at 2 minutes a piece, ISO 800, with 23 dark frames to remove noise. Stacked in deep sky stacker and post processing done in Photoshop.

Equipment:
Omni XLT 150 with CG-4 mount
Modded Canon 350D
T-ring and adapter
Intervalometer
Polar Scope for alignment