I’ve been working on this image for awhile now. I’ve gathered images over two nights for about 6 hours of total integration. I was interrupted by two nights of clouds and last night I had to wait till almost 9 PM before the clouds went away, but then I got a good 3 hours on it. The nebulas are in the Orion B molecular cloud complex and about 1,350 light-years from Earth. It takes a lot of exposure to show the dust clouds around the nebulas. The large area of red is part of Barnard’s Loop, a huge emission nebula that encompasses nearly half of the Orion Constellation.
This is one of my favorite parts of the night sky to photograph. I have no idea how the name of Casper the Friendly Ghost Nebula was arrived at but that is what is shown in Stellarium. Of course the official designation of M78 is most often used. Taken with Canon 500 f4 lens, Canon 7DMII H-alpha modified camera, Losmandy G11G mount, guiding with Lacerta M-Gen III and an Astronomics 60mm guide scope.
As always, one can right click on the image and open in a new tab to see a larger image.
Tonight, with luck, I will be shooting the Cosmic Bat. Stay tuned for that!
Another year gone by. Birding has been very slow here and not much else worth mentioning until now, when the moon is starting to rise later every night. I did make a move of my campsite. I got tired of listening to dogs barking all the time and left the county campground. I’m now located in a remote site and enjoying the quiet here.
NGC 1300 again. I’ve been adding more exposure to this when I can, but it is in a difficult location, low in the south. I still like the look of this galaxy and will keep trying. This is the Monkey Head Nebula (NGC2174). This is a nebula that I’ve never imaged before. I do not see a monkey head in there, but maybe someone else can. It is located in the Orion constellation, about 6400 light years from Earth. I took about 5 hours of exposure with the C8.Another planetary nebula, Cleopatra’s Eye. The nebula is very small, less than an arc minute, so not much bigger than Jupiter from Earth. I thought I’d give it a try one night while waiting for the Monkey Head Nebula to rise. It is very bright and I’m thinking I could photograph this at much higher magnification and with fast exposures. Maybe I will try it some night. And here’s a bird. Another Long-eared Owl in The Thicket. I was able to get a pretty clear shot this time.
December has been kind of disappointing for astrophotography. The weather varied from cloudy and cold to cold and clear, but more clouds than I would expect. It seems to me that there are more cloudy nights the last couple of years than I experienced in my first winters in the Sonoran Desert. Only one rain event in December and that was .15 inches in Ajo. Birding has really slowed down.
I spent far more time on this than I should have. M45, the Pleiades, but I used my Canon 6D, a full frame camera and not modded for H-alpha. This gives me a much wider field of view and that is what I wanted, to show the dust clouds surrounding this bright reflection nebula. I have never tried to image the Witch Head Nebula (IC 2118)with the 500 f4. I used the 6D for this too, for the wider view. IC 2118 is an extremely faint reflection nebula. It is a cloud of gas and dust illuminated by nearby supergiant star Rigel in the constellation of Orion. It is about 900 light-years from Earth.For this I used the H-alpha camera to capture the red light emitted by the ionizing hydrogen in this emission nebula, the California Nebula. At 500mm it completely fills the frame. Lots of galaxies in this image. Located in the constellation of Cetus, this group of galaxies makes a good area to image. At the top right is spiral galaxy NGC 1042 and in the lower left is NGC 1052. There are at least 8 galaxies visible. Right click and open in a new tab to see a larger image. NGC 1398, located in the Fornax constellation. It is about 65 million light years away. It has an interesting double ring structure at the center. This is one I’d like to spend a lot more time on but it is so low in the south that I can only get about an hour on it per night. To see a really good image of this galaxy, check this LINK. Saturn and Jupiter approaching an historic conjunction. It has been about 800 years since they have been seen this close together. December 21 is the date that the two are at their closest and Saturn will be within the area of the Jupiter’s Galilean Moons. Jupiter and Saturn are actually 456 million miles apart. Saturn is nearly twice as far away from Earth as Jupiter.
I took this last night with the C8. I had to really overexpose to get some of Saturn’s moons and then combine images for this composite. The largest moon, above Saturn, is Titan. I think the other three are Rhea, Tethys, and Dione. Saturn has lots of moons but most are far too small to see from Earth. Only 13 have diameters greater than 30 miles. Titan is larger than the planet Mercury. The four Galilean moons of Jupiter are much easier to photograph. Going out from Jupiter, they are Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.
Finally, some rain. Last night a thundershower moved through and it rained hard for about 30 seconds. There was a little more rain overnight but altogether it didn’t add up to much, I suspect about .1 inch. I need to get a rain gauge, I guess. There is a weather station in town but it has been offline for a few days now, so it is not very reliable. Not much for new birds in the area. I have been getting some very nice photos at the golf course.
My favorite new photo, a Cedar Waxwing displaying the red, waxy tips of the secondary feathers. Here’s a link to good article about those red waxy feather tips. Another Western Bluebird feeding in the palms. They let me get very close. A Long-eared Owl in The Thicket. This would be a very nice photo if it weren’t for that stick in front of the owl’s face. It is very difficult to get any clear shots, or for that matter any shots at all. They are like ghosts in the trees. It is impossible to sneak up on them, they know I’m there, it is just a matter of seeing them before they fly. They have excellent camouflage and are masters at finding a roost where I can’t see them. Another shot of the Hepatic Tanager, probably the best photo I have so far. Notice the notched tanager bill, diagnostic. I saw this Sharp-shinned Hawk soaking its feet in the community pool at Bud Walker Park. I was able to get very close but had to shoot through a woven wire fence. It still came out pretty good. M77, Cetus A, a galaxy in the constellation Cetus. This galaxy has a very bright core surrounded by a very faint layer of stars and dust. This adds up to a difficult exposure job. Charles Messier and William Herschel described this galaxy as a star cluster in 1780, but now we know M77 is a galaxy.
I’d like to put more time on this, maybe tonight. On the other hand, I’m about ready to put to 500 f4 on the mount and shoot some nebulas for a change.
The full moon is waning to the new moon on December 14. I have had three nights with enough dark sky for a few hours of astrophotography. Of course, now is when the clouds decide to roll in. For the next three days, it is forecast to be mostly cloudy, but the good news is, there is a good chance of some rain on Wednesday. It has been cold at night, down around freezing. Now with the clouds moving in the night temperatures won’t drop much below 50 F.
The Sculptor Galaxy. I have done this galaxy before with the 500 f4 lens, this is the first time with the C8. This is a large and bright galaxy. Even at this latitude, it never rises more than about 35 degrees above the southern horizon, so it is less than ideal for photography. I put about 3 hours into this and think it came out pretty good. It is a starburst galaxy with a high rate of star formation. This leads to lots of young stars, very bright and blue, giving the outer rings a strong blue color. Older stars in the center are more yellow. NGC 1232, a very faint galaxy that is over 60,000,000 light years from earth. Before I imaged this I had read that it was faint and low surface brightness, making it difficult to photograph, so I was surprised that this came out so well. Like the Sculptor Galaxy, it is low to the horizon. Another of the low-hanging galaxies of the south, this is NGC 1300. Like both of the galaxies above, it is in the constellation Eridanus. It is about the size of our galaxy, and about 60 million light years out there. NGC 1055. I posted this one last week, but now I have added more photos to it. I really like this galaxy. Of all these galaxies that I have posted recently, I suppose it all adds up to 4 or 5 trillion stars in total, maybe more. I wonder if there is someone or something else out there photographing the Milky Way? it seems quite likely. I found this in Stellarium and decided to try it just because of the name. Darth Vader’s Starfighter Galaxy, NGC 936. The view through a telescope doesn’t show the fainter part of this galaxy, just the bright core and outer bars, so I can see how it got the name. I decided to watch Star Wars that same night. I used a 200mm f2.8 lens for this, the California Nebula, and captured the dust clouds seen on the left too. A composite image of the moon rising over the Batamote Mountains, east of my campsite.
As always, right click on an image and open in a new tab to see a larger image.
Nothing much new here. The big excitement lately has been a McCown’s Longspur at the golf course. Mark Otnes saw it first, yesterday morning, just before I got there. We had planned to go to Alamo Canyon later, but he found this longspur first and we spent more time on it than planned. Alamo Canyon turned out to be dry and not very birdy anyway. This is the first record of McCown’s Longspur in the Ajo area and for the most part, the entire Sonoran Desert. There are more records in Arizona east of Tuscon and in northern Arizona.
The full moon is finally fading and I should be doing astro again, probably starting tomorrow night. Looks like a series of clear nights coming up too.
McCown’s Longspur (now called the Thick-billed Longspur) in winter plumage. A very rare bird in this part of the world. My annual photo of a Black-throated Sparrow, this one on an Ocotillo stem. Gilded Flicker. This bird was feeding on palm berries and landed on this branch with soft light and the sun behind me, very close, which makes for a nice image. Probably the best photo I have of this species. Here it is again, on the palm. Male Mountain Bluebird on the golf course green at sunrise. It was 32 F. this morning, kind of chilly. I can add Western Bluebird to my list of birds photographed eating palm berries. An out of season Hepatic Tanager at the golf course. Very unusual this late in the fall. One of six Long-eared Owls I found in The Thicket a few days ago. Another coyote that I got very close to.
With astrophotography going away for awhile it is time to start focusing the camera on wildlife again.
A Cedar Waxwing feeding on palm berries. Another Summer Tanager. In all the time I have spent in Ajo I’ve never seen a Summer Tanager here until this fall. This fall I have seen three different Summer Tanagers. A Townsend’s Solitaire in Bud Walker Park. One of my favorite birds, I can never pass up a good shot, although the light was not very good in this situation, Photoshop saved the day. A Variegated Meadowhawk on a nice perch. It let me get very close too.
The moon is growing bright again. I gave up astro a couple of nights ago due to the moon, which now is setting pretty late, and the clouds which have not encouraged me to get up early. Back to normal sleep mode for awhile.
I added more exposure to M1. This is without a doubt the best image I have made of this supernova remnant. Mellote 15, the star cluster at the heart of the Heart Nebula. The nebula’s red color and its heart shape are driven by the radiation from this small group of stars near the nebula’s center. NGC 1055, 52 million light-years distant, with a diameter of about 115,800 light-years. I’ve done this before with the 500 f4 but it looks much better with the C8, due to its small apparent size. Those two stars that appear so bright are actually 6-7 magnitude, probably not even visible to the unaided eye. There is another very small, distant galaxy in the lower right. My final version of Hind’s Variable Nebula. I really like how it turned out. Not so pleased with this one though. NGC 1333 with about 7 hours of exposure. Looks like I need another 7. I’m getting tired of it. Also known as the Embryo Nebula, it is a faint reflection nebula in the constellation Perseus. The Whirligig Galaxy, NGC 488. A large galaxy in a far away place, 90 million light years in the constellation Pisces. I’ve been spending a lot of time learning how to better process planetary images. Now, one can see the faint, blue atmosphere of Mars (this image was made in October when Mars was closer to Earth), around the edge where the atmosphere is the thickest from our point of view. Olympus Mons is clearly visible on the right a little below center. To the left of Olympus Mons are three smaller volcanoes, Ascraeus Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Arsia Mons.
Astrophotography has been great the last few nights. I have been working on two objects that require a lot of exposure, one of them is close to being done and the other will take more time. While waiting for my preferred targets to rise high enough in the sky, I have been shooting a few new galaxies, ones that I’ve never imaged before. An added benefit to being out at night is watching the local wildlife, mostly Merriam’s Kangaroo Rats and a Kit Fox that I’ve been seeing in the area.
The Superman Galaxy, NGC 7479. About 105 million light years away in the constellation of Pegasus, the odd shape is thought to be due to a recent merger of two galaxies. I guess no explanation is needed for the name. NGC 891, this galaxy looks a lot like the Needle Galaxy that I have imaged before, but it is a different galaxy, located in Andromeda, about 30 million light years from Earth. Here is one of my faint, long exposure subjects, Hind’s Variable Nebula. I posted an image of this some time back, but now I have a lot more exposure on it. I really like this image, one can see the dark dust cloud being pulled into the star forming region that lights up the nebula. Located at the edge of the Taurus Molecular Cloud, Hind’s Variable Nebula is about 400 light years from Earth. M1, the Crab Nebula. I have done this before, this is the first time with C8 telescope and guiding. Last winter, before I started autoguiding, I had to throw out half of my subs before stacking. Last night, I only lost 2 out of 50 subs. I will probably take more tonight, if I can stay up long enough.
Finally, once again I am able to do more astrophotography. The last three nights have been pretty good, tonight the jet stream is directly overhead so the atmosphere is very unstable. I think I will catch up on sleep.
M74, also known as the Phantom Galaxy. Due to its low surface brightness, it has a reputation for being hard to see in a telescope. Thirty-two million light years distant, this galaxy is located the constellation Pisces. It contains an estimated 100,000,000,000 stars. And here is NGC 772, the Fiddlehead Galaxy, again. I’ve added about 3 more hours of exposure to this. Very faint and distant, about 130 million light years, but it is twice the size of our Milky Way Galaxy. NGC 770 is a dwarf galaxy, seen to the upper right of NGC 772, and its gravity is probably responsible for the odd shape of the larger galaxy. NGC 1514 is a planetary nebula in the constellation of Taurus. It is very small and I am pretty happy with how this turned out. I tried this last winter before I started guiding the C8, but had to throw out half of my subs. Now that I’m guiding, I only lost 4 subs out of 70, all ninety second exposures. This is my latest project photographing a very faint object. This is NGC 1555, also known as Hind’s Variable Nebula. This is a variable nebula, illuminated by the star T Tauri, in the constellation Taurus. Both star and nebula vary significantly in brightness but not necessarily at the same time, adding to the mystery of the intriguing region. Struve’s Lost Nebula, visible for only a few decades in the 19th century, was in this area but has not been seen since. It was probably illuminated by another star that is now obscured by dust. I’ve only got about an hour on this so far and it already looks pretty good.
