Uranus and Neptune

Here are a couple of quick captures of Uranus and Neptune taken yesterday. These are simply record shots and have not been processed. The planets are currently quite close together in the Southern part of the sky at mid-evening. The distinctive colors of the planets are unfortunately
not seen in these images.

Uranus

Neptune

The Ring again

Here's another image of the Ring Nebula captured during yesterday's marathon imaging session!

Dumbbell (M 27: NGC 6853)

Yesterday was probably my most productive imaging day ever! This image of M27 was captured with the 14 inch scope, Mallincam, and 05x focal reducer. The image captures some of the subtle features of this planetary nebula rather well. This is probably the best image I have been able to capture of the Dumbbell.

NGC 7814; Caldwell 43

This is an image of the "Little Sombrero" galaxy captured on 11/10/2014 with the 14 inch scope, Mallincam Jr Pro and a .5x focal reducer. NGC 7814 is 40 million light years from earth and is seen edge on. The core is very bright and the dust lane of the galactic disk is clearly visible. This is a stack of 8 images of 20 seconds' duration. The magnitude of the galaxy is 11.6. The image scale is rather small, so this is a signifcantly cropped image.

Skyshed Pod arrives!

Today was a big day. The 5-bay Skyshed POD arrived! These are certainly the biggest boxes I have ever received. Below are a couple of pix of them in my garage. I hope to begin construction at the site next week, although that will depend very much on the weather.

A budding, future astronomer inspects the dome package

The three boxes fill the car space in my garage! The 14 inch is crowded off to the side

B&W Ring

Showing a little more detail than my earlier B&W image. Captured 10.26.2014

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LRGB of Ring Nebula 10.26.2104

Last night was truly as perfect a night as anyone could wish for: good transparency and good seeing--a rare combination here in Indiana! As I was setting up the scope, I noticed a bright light crossing a little south of the zenith. At first, I thought it was an Iridium Flare, but, as it showed no signs of fading, I quickly realized it was the International Space Station. I have never really looked for the ISS before, so it was a real treat to see it pass over Indiana. 

Last night was my first attempt to do LRGB imaging. I had done one or two RGB images of Mars earlier in the year, but I had never tried to image deep sky objects and to add the luminance channel.

Here is my first attempt at an LRGB image. This image was taken with the ASI120MM and combines RGB and luminance filters. My combination is not the best as I am not a Photoshop expert, but it's not too bad for a first attempt at "multichannel" imaging.