April 15: A Group Effort
Early this year, Mike Sherick pitched the idea that all of us using JMSM Observatory dedicate our time to imaging a single target. With this effort, it should be possible to acquire an exceptionally deep image that we can all then process as we'd like. After some discussion, I choose our first target to be The Pinwheel Galaxy (M101) and its neighbor NGC5474.
Mostly during the month of March, Mike, Dean Salman, Rick Wiggins, and I collected approximately 44 hours of data through Clear, Red, Green, Blue and Hydrogen-alpha filters. This is my version of the image. Click the above image to see larger versions and some of the technical details.
April 13: Contrasting Scales
The Owl Nebula (M97) and the galaxy M108 provide a very interesting pairing in the sky. Both objects appear very luminous and similar in size, but the two are separated by millions of light years. The Owl Nebula (M97) is a planetary nebula at about 2600 light years distant. M108 is a spiral galaxy approximately 45 million light years distant - or about 17000x further than M97.
This is taken with the TMB152 and STL-6303 out at JMSM Observatory through Clear, Red, Green, and Blue filters.
Click the image above to view larger images and some more of the technical details of the image.
June 28: M106 - Near and Far
This is my first image using two different cameras and telescopes, separated by almost 1000 miles!
The Hydrogen-alpha data for this image was acquired using the facilities at JMSM Observatory. The rest of the data (LRGB) was acquired in my own backyard "observatory".
It was fun to work on this data with this in mind. Even though I didn't plan this composition when I took the Ha data, it seemed to work out well in the end.
Click the image above to see the details and larger versions of the image. Or keep reading...
April 23: The Southern Pinwheel Redux
As is so often the case, once I post an image and get some feed back I go back over it again. Compare this version with the previous. What do you think?
Click the image above for larger versions.
April 22: The Southern Pinwheel
Commonly a target for Southern Hemisphere astronomers, M83 is still available from the Northern Hemisphere in some locations. Good dark skies and a decent southern clearance are a necessity. Fortunately JMSM Observatory has both!
This is a total of almost 12 hours of exposure time though Clear, Red, Green, and Blue filters over the course of four nights. Click the image above for full details and larger images.
March 23: Care for a Galaxy?
M86 - a huge galaxy near the center of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster. This is my first production image from the JMSM Observatory in New Mexico (owned by Mike Sherick). Click the image for the full image details and larger versions.