Imaging cluster Messier 35 and NGC 2158 from Böblingen / Germany

Messier 35 or M35, also known as NGC 2168, is an open cluster of stars in the west of Gemini (left part of the image). To the right there is another open cluster named NGC 2158. Even if the two open clusters are “close” they are not related – their distance is about 9000 ly.

The image is also available in full resolution here.

Date2015/02/19
LocationBöblingen / Germany
ObjectMessier 35 cluster
CameraAtik383L+
Guidingyes, QHY5-II Mono via OAG
Telescope8" GSO Newtonian
Barlow lensnone
MountEQ6Syntrek
Cooling-15°C
Luminance11x, 600s, bin: 1x1
Red9x, 150s, bin: 2x2
Green9x, 150s, bin: 2x2
Blue9x, 150s, bin: 2x2
Dark5x
Flat10x
Total exposure~2h57min.

NGC 2158 is believed to be ~2 billion years old!

Clear skies!

Last updated: June 19, 2022 at 22:20 pm

Greetings from Hercules – Globular Cluster (M13)

Messier 13 (NGC 6205) is a globular cluster of several hundred thousand stars in the constellation Hercules. M13 is also known as Hercules Globular Cluster. Edmond Halley discovered it already in 1714. The globular cluster has an apparent magnitude of 5,8 mag and therefore is well suited for observation and astrophotography by amateur astronomers.

Date2014/06/25
LocationBöblingen / Germany
ObjectGlobular Cluster (M13)
CameraAtik383L+
Guidingyes, DMK31AU03.AS via OAG
Telescope8" GSO Newtonian
Barlow lensnone
MountEQ6Syntrek
Cooling-15°C
Luminance12x 400s, bin: 1x1
Red10x 200s, bin: 2x2
Green10x 200s, bin: 2x2
Blue10x 200s, bin: 2x2
Dark9x
Flat10x
Total exposure~2h46m

The image is also available in full resolution.

Clear skies!

Last updated: June 20, 2022 at 9:55 am

Beauty of space – My best astro-images in 2013

In this short video I summarized all the best astro images I made over the last year. Most of the images have been taken from Boeblingen using a 8″ Newtonian telescope and an Atik383L+ camera. All the images are also available in full resolution on my website. The video has been composed using openshot, an open source video editor for Linux (many thanks to the development team).

Clear skies!

Last updated: June 20, 2022 at 21:24 pm

Astrophotography – Globular Cluster M3

The image is also available in full resolution.

Date2013/04/24
LocationBöblingen / Germany
ObjectGlobular Cluster (M3)
CameraAtik383L+
Guidingyes, DMK31AU03.AS via OAG
Telescope8" GSO Newtonian
Barlow lensnone
MountEQ6Syntrek
Cooling-15°C
Luminance8x 260s, bin: 1x1
Red8x 65s, bin: 2x2
Green8x 65s, bin: 2x2
Blue8x 65s, bin: 2x2
Dark4x
Flat-
Total exposure~1h

Clear skies!

Last updated: June 20, 2022 at 21:55 pm

Imaging Globular Cluster (M5) with DMK31AU03.AS

Further camera settings: Auto max value: 1/15 (auto), Auto reference: 126, Brightness: 5, Gamma: 100, Gain: 500. I also published the image here. For stacking I used giotto V2.21.

Date2012/06/22 - 21:30 UTC
LocationBöblingen / Germany
ObjectM5 (Globular Cluster)
CameraDMK31AU03.AS
Guidingnone
Telescope8" GSO Newtonian
Barlow lensnone
MountEQ6Syntrek
Coolingnone
Luminance6x 65s (IR)
Rednone
Greennone
Bluenone
Dark5x
Flatnone
Total exposure6m30s

Clear skies!

Last updated: June 22, 2022 at 12:22 pm