Tag: atik383l+

NGC2175 from La Palma

/ Carsten / Leave a comment
NGC2175 - Open Cluster - 2019/01/09
Date2019/01/09
LocationLa Palma / Spain
ObjectOpen cluster NGC2175
CameraAtik383L+
Guidingyes, QHY5-II Mono via OAG
Telescope8
Barlow lensnone
MountEQ6Syntrek
Cooling-10°C
Luminance8x 600s, bin: 1x1
Red7x 150s, bin: 2x2
Green7x 150s, bin: 2x2
Blue7x 150s, bin: 2x2
Dark2x
Flat10x
Total exposure~2h13m

On Wednesday, 9th January I imaged the open cluster NGC2175 the first time from La Palma. The seeing tonight again was very good – around 1.5~2″!

For post-processing I used the free software DeepSkyStacker and GIMP.

The full resolution images is available here.

Clear skies!

Last updated: May 18, 2022 at 9:13 am

Trifid nebula M20 & open cluster M21 from La Palma

/ Carsten / Leave a comment
Trified nebula (M20) & open cluster M21 - 2017/07/22
Date2017/07/20
LocationLa Palma / Spain
ObjectTrifid nebula (M20) & open cluster M21
CameraAtik383L+
Guidingyes, QHY5-II Mono via OAG
Telescope8
Barlow lensnone
MountEQ6Syntrek
Cooling-10°C
Luminance8x 600s, bin: 1x1
Red7x 150s, bin: 2x2
Green7x 150s, bin: 2x2
Blue7x 150s, bin: 2x2
Dark2x
Flat10x
Total exposure~2h12m

Tonight I decided to image the Trifid nebula (M20)
which is quite “close” to the Lagoon nebula M8 from my last session. The seeing tonight was around ~2.4″ which could have been better – but certainly it was still sufficient.

Back in 2013 I already imaged the Trifid nebula with the same equipment but from Boeblingen. It is interesting to see the difference here.

For post-processing I used the free software DeepSkyStacker and GIMP. The full resolution images is available here.

Clear skies!

A look at the “Lagoon nebula” from La Palma

/ Carsten / Leave a comment
Lagoon nebula (M8) - 2017/07/20

Tonight I was able to proof that the “Lagoon nebula” M8 was still there ~4100 years ago – wow! With a teapot, a sunlounger (probably better a starlounger) and the right music the night passed quickly 🙂

The total exposure time was ~1h36m. The seeing conditions were around 2.2″. It was a clear night without wind. I used my 8″ GSO newton telescope with an Atik383L+ camera (see here). And again I am amazed which image quality is possible with this equipment on this dark sky within this short exposure time. Below is just the luminance part of the image which shows some sharp details of the nebula.

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Astrophotography from Los Llanos de Aridane – Pinwheel Galaxy M101

/ Carsten / Leave a comment
Pinwheel galaxy M101 - 2017/03/31

End of February 2014 I already recorded M101 from Boeblingen near Stuttgart. The total exposure time was about 6 hours (!). This time I did a 2h40m exposure from Los Llanos de Aridane on La Plama with exactly the same equipment. This is the result. From my perspective the two pictures do not have a big difference despite the colour tone which of course depends on the post processing.

Date2017/03/31
LocationLa Palma / Spain
ObjectPinwheel Galaxy M101
CameraAtik383L+
Guidingyes, QHY5-II Mono via OAG
Telescope8" GSO Newtonian
Barlow lensnone
MountEQ6Syntrek
Cooling-10°C
Luminance10x 600s, bin: 1x1
Red8x 150s, bin: 2x2
Green8x 150s, bin: 2x2
Blue8x 150s, bin: 2x2
Dark2x
Flat10x
Total exposure~2h40m

However, it’s interesting to compare the results with respect to their total exposure time: The image recorded from Boeblingen was exposed more than two times longer.

M101-both_half_overlay
M101-both_full_overlay

As a result of the long exposure time the stars are not as perfectly round as the ones with a shorter exposure time. Despite that I am happy to see what is still possible from a city like Boeblingen 🙂 Finally I combined both images to one final image by rotating one image until it matched exactly. Maybe I am wrong but I think in the end this combined image has a little more detail than each of the pictures alone. A full resolution image is available here.

Last updated: June 16, 2022 at 12:17 pm

3 Galaxies at once – Messier 65, Messier 66 & NGC3628

/ Carsten / 2 Comments
M65, M66 & NGC3628 - 2017/03/29
Date2017/03/29
LocationLa Palma / Spain
ObjectMessier 65, Messier 66 & NGC3628
CameraAtik383L+
Guidingyes, QHY5-II Mono via OAG
Telescope8" GSO Newtonian
Barlow lensnone
MountEQ6Syntrek
Cooling-10°C
Luminance9x 600s, bin: 1x1
Red9x 150s, bin: 2x2
Green9x 150s, bin: 2x2
Blue9x 150s, bin: 2x2
Dark2x
Flat10x
Total exposure~2h37m

I was able to record this image of three galaxies in a quite windy but clear night with my own equipment. This night I was based on a quiet place in Tacande on La Palma. I used my 8″ GSO Newton telescope in combination with an Atik383L+ cooled camera. The optics were mounted on an EQ6 Syntrek mount. The total exposure time of the resulting image is about ~2h37m.

It is a combination of 9 luminance frames a 600 seconds exposure time (binning 1×1) and 9 frames a 150 seconds exposure time (binning 2×2) for red, green and blue frames.
A full resolution image is available here.

The three objects shown on the picture are M65, M66 and NGC3628 (also known as the Hamburger Galaxy). All are located in constellation Leo. M65 and M66 were discovered by Charles Messier in 1780. Both are intermediate spiral galaxies and between 35 million and 36 million light-years away. The Hamburger Galaxy is an unbarred spiral galaxy also about 35 million light-years away which was discovered 4 years later by William Herschel.

Clear skies!

Last updated: June 16, 2022 at 12:30 pm