The beautiful face-on galaxy M33 in Triangulum is quite a challenge for the deep-sky imager.  For one, it’s low surface brightness is deceiving and it requires a lot more, lot longer subs than you might think.  Secondly - it is pretty big! (more…)

It’s still not great imaging during August due to the continuing light evenings and early mornings, and I see from my notes that it is still getting on for 11.00 p.m. before it is worth setting up for an imaging session (more…)

It’s still not good with regards to dark skies or sociable hours to image during July.  I see from my notes that it is not worth starting imaging much before 11.00 p.m. but after no imaging for the whole of June - cabin fever starts to set in. (more…)

There is no imaging object of the month for June!

Looking back over the years I see that it is not only far too late before it is dark enough to start imaging, but also that it gets light far too early in the morning as well.  At best there are only 3-4 hours maximum of imaging time, and even then the sky doesn’t get really dark, so the quality of your images obtained during this month won’t match those acquired at other times of the year. (more…)

There are a superb pair of galaxies that are ideally positioned during May for imaging, and I find myself drawn back to them year after year.  The galaxies are M81, also known as Bode’s galaxy and M82, also known as the Cigar galaxy, both residing in Ursa Major.  M81 lies at a distance of 4.5 million light years and shines at magnitude 6.9, whereas M82 is about 17 million light years away and is a rather faint magnitude 8.4.  M81 is a nice spiral galaxy, whereas M82 (also known as Arp 337 a unique Arp galaxy, and NGC 3034) is a strange cigar-shaped irregular galaxy associated with an arc of three magnitude 20 quasars, and a peculiar jet of filaments (which show up very well under H-alpha) emanating from the nucleus.  There’s plenty more yet in this region! (more…)

Spring is galaxy season in the imager’s diary, and for my April imaging object of the month I am choosing not a single galaxy, but a whole chain of galaxies, Markarian’s Chain at the border of the constellations Virgo and Coma Berenices.

You need a wide field of view to capture this galaxy-rich region of space, and the accompanying image is a 2-frame mosaic using the already large field of view of 3.33 by 2.22 degrees of a single Sky 90/M25C frame!  (more…)

The constellation Cancer is quite well placed during March, and Cancer contains a couple of very nice open clusters that make excellent imaging objects, namely M44 the Beehive cluster or Praesepe or NGC2632, and M67 [NGC2682] which doesn’t seem to have a “popular” name.

For the March imaging object of the month I shall choose M44 which lies at a distance of 515 light years. (more…)

We are still blessed with the magnificent sight of Orion moving across the Southern horizon during February.  Orion’s Belt consists of three very bright stars, Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka, with Alnitak being the east most (left) star of the three.

Although most astronomers are aware of the proximity of the Horsehead and Flame nebulae to Alnitak (Alnitak is always a difficult star to deal with in processing Horsehead wide-fields) - what is not generally appreciated is the large amount of faint emission and reflection nebulosity in the region as a whole.

The accompanying image (which made the both the cover, and centre two-page spread of the October 2007 issue of Practical Astronomer) comprises 4 hours and 45 minutes worth of RGB data in 900 and 1,000 second subs.  No H-alpha data was taken due to bad weather conditions.

It is clear from the image that a lot more data needs to be taken to bring out all that faint nebulosity lying in Orion’s Belt.  This needs at least 4-hours worth of H-alpha using 20-minute subs, and the same using both H-beta and OIII filters as well.  I hope to be able to get the narrowband data together this year - weather of course permitting .

Give this region a try - you need a big (3-degree) field of view to get all the Belt stars in the frame, and you can see you will need a LOT of total exposure time.  Very best of luck to you in your attempts at imaging this fascinating (and difficult) region.

Well, we are still in the depths of winter in January, so all the winter constellations are still very well-placed for imaging. 

The Horsehead nebula (Barnard 33) in Orion is very well placed this month for imaging.  The dark horse’s head is illuminated in front by several deep-sky objects:

• The massive emission nebula IC434
• The amazing flame nebula (NGC2024) to the horse’s left (North of the horse)
• A bright reflection nebula NGC2023 slightly South East of Alnitak
• And of course, Alnitak itself (the most eastern star in Orion’s belt) blazing away next to the flame nebula

With so much going on in this 2 degree by 1 degree region of space - no wonder this is probably the most highly photographed area of the night sky.

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For December, the imaging object of the Month could be any number of goodies in Orion or neighbouring Monoceros.  So it could be M42 the Great Nebula in Orion, or the nearby Horsehead region lying close to the brilliant belt star Alnitak. 

Moving eastwards towards Monoceros we have the Cone nebula and Christmas Tree cluster, and again nearby we have the fabulous Rosette nebula.  Any one of these remarkable deep-sky objects would make a suitable “Imaging Object of the Month” - but for this year I have chosen Caldwell 49 which is also known as the Rosette nebula, NGC2237, the Great Nebula in Monoceros, or Swift’s nebula.

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