M27, Messier_27, NGC_6853, Dumbbell Nebula

m27
M27 is a planetary nebula which was born some 10.000 years ago when the blueish star in the center exploded and became a white dwarf star. It lies around 1300 light years away, plus or minus several 100, and is thus a member of our Milky Way galaxy. The nebula itself emits light. This is caused by highly energetic ultraviolet light radiated by its center white dwarf star which ionizes and rarefies the gas in the nebula. The gas then re-emits this energy in different wavelengths, among which is visible light. Most of this visible light is green and is emitted by rarefied double ionized oxygen [O III] ions at 500.7 nm. The outer red is emitted by ionized atomic hydrogen, Hα at 656 nm. The image shows details up to magnitude 17.

Further reading : Wikipedia, APOD, SEDS, NOAO, ESO

Equipment : Meade LX200-10"-Classic at f/10, SuperWedge, Canon EOS 40D, PEC trained but unguided.
Image : Stack of 7 5-minute exposures. FOV is 30x20 arc minutes.
Processing : Camera controlled by the supplied Canon software via USB. PC controlled via VNC. Stacking done with DeepSkyStacker 3.2.1. Image levelling done with CinePaint, Curves done with the GIMP.
Date : 20080913
Location : Eindhoven, my backyard :)
Moon phase : 1 day before full moon

M103, Messier_103, NGC_581

m103
M103 is a loose open cluster consisting of only 172 stars at a distance of around 8500 light years, plus or minus 1000 :) The cluster (and its stars) are only 25 million years old. The center contains one red giant star. The bright binary star is Struve 131 which is not a part of the cluster. Pity.

Equipment : Meade LX200-10"-Classic at f/10, SuperWedge, Canon EOS 40D, PEC trained but unguided.
Image : Stack of 5 5-minute exposures. FOV is 30x20 arc minutes.
Processing : Camera controlled by the supplied Canon software via USB. PC controlled via VNC. Stacking done with DeepSkyStacker 3.2.1. Image levelling done with CinePaint, Curves done with the GIMP.
Date : 20080913
Location : Eindhoven, my backyard :)
Moon phase : 1 day before full moon

M31, Messier_31, NGC_224, Great Andromeda Galaxy

m31
M31 is the nearest neighbouring galaxy to our own Milky Way galaxy. It is still around 2.5 million light years away. It is a spiral galaxy and part of the local group of galaxies. In this local group of 30 it is the largest; it consists of a trillion (10^12) stars. I clearly need to make a mosaic or reduce my telescope f/ratio as M31 does not fit in this image, its angular diameter is seven times that of the moon. I like the dark lanes in the image.

Equipment : Meade LX200-10"-Classic at f/10, SuperWedge, Canon EOS 40D, PEC trained but unguided.
Image : Stack of 5 5-minute exposures. FOV is 30x20 arc minutes.
Processing : Camera controlled by the supplied Canon software via USB. PC controlled via VNC. Stacking done with DeepSkyStacker 3.2.1. Image levelling done with CinePaint, Curves done with the GIMP.
Date : 20080913
Location : Eindhoven, my backyard :)
Moon phase : 1 day before full moon

I'm lucky, I still have a lot of other objects to image :
MessierMap M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9 M10 M11 M12 M13 M14 M15 M16 M17 M18 M19 M20 M21 M22 M23 M24 M25 M26 M27 M28 M29 M30 M31 M32 M33 M34 M35 M36 M37 M38 M39 M40 M41 M42 M43 M44 M45 M46 M47 M48 M49 M50 M51 M52 M53 M54 M55 M56 M57 M58 M59 M60 M61 M62 M63 M64 M65 M66 M67 M68 M69 M70 M71 M72 M73 M74 M75 M76 M77 M78 M79 M80 M81 M82 M83 M84 M85 M86 M87 M88 M89 M90 M91 M92 M93 M94 M95 M96 M97 M98 M99 M100 M101 M102 M103 M104 M105 M106 M107 M108 M109 M110

Hans Lambermont