The above image is made of 75 x 1 minute subframes shot on the night of July 18, 2020 northwest of Gainesville, Texas. I used my Canon T3i DSLR with 70 to 250mm zoom lens set to 135mm. Subframes were shot at ASA 1600. I combine the subframes using AstroArt 7.
C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) or Comet NEOWISE is a long period comet with a near-parabolic orbit discovered on March 27, 2020, by astronomers during the NEOWISE mission of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) space telescope. At that time, it was an 18th-magnitude object, located 2 AU (300 million km; 190 million mi) away from the Sun and 1.7 AU (250 million km; 160 million mi) away from Earth.[3]
NEOWISE is known for being the brightest comet in the northern hemisphere since Comet Hale–Bopp in 1997.[4] It was widely photographed by professional and amateur observers and was even spotted by people living near city centers and areas with light pollution.[5] While it was too close to the Sun to be observed at perihelion, it emerged from perihelion around magnitude 0.5 to 1, making it bright enough to be visible to the naked eye.[6] Under dark skies, it could be seen with the naked eye[7] and remained visible to the naked eye throughout July 2020.[8] By July 30, the comet was about magnitude 5,[9] but binoculars were required near urban areas to locate the comet.
The above image is made from stacking 59x1 minute images shot at ASA 800. The camera used was a Canon T3i with 55mm lens. The camera was mounted on a tripod with tracking mount but not the best polar alignment. The images were taken on July 20, 2020 at a location northwest of Gainesville, Texas. Learned that my DLSR is pretty noisy camera. Thanks to John Love for processing the images in AstroArt 7 to obtain the above results.
NGC 281, IC 11 or Sh2-184 is a bright emission nebula and part of an H II region in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia and is part of the Milky Way's Perseus Spiral Arm. This 20×30 arcmin sized nebulosity is also associated with open cluster IC 1590, several Bok globules and the multiple star, B 1. It collectively forms Sh2-184, spanning over a larger area of 40 arcmin. A recent distance from radio parallaxes of water masers at 22 GHz made during 2014 is estimated it lies 2.82±0.20 kpc. (9200 ly.) from us. Colloquially, NGC 281 is also known as the Pacman Nebula for its resemblance to the video game character.
Edward Emerson Barnard discovered the nebula in August 1883, describing it as "a large faint nebula, very diffuse." Multiple star 'B 1' or β 1 was later discovered by S. W. Burnham, whose bright component is identified as the highly luminous O6 spectral class star, HD 5005 or HIP 4121. It consists of an 8th-magnitude primary with four companions at distances between 1.4 and 15.7 arcsec. There has been no appreciable change in this quintuple system since the first measures were made in 1875.
The above image is a stack of 11 x 10 minute sub frames. The images were taken with an AT6RC scope and a Starlight Express camera SXVR-M25C cooled to -5C. The mount is an Astro Physics AP-900 with CP4 controller. The guide scope is an 80 mm refactor and a Meade DSI camera. The images were captured using Astro Art 7and the guiding was done using PHD2. Calibration and some of the post processing was done in Astro Art 7 and the final processing was completed in Photoshop 5.
M17 know as the Swan Nebula as well as the Omega is between 5,000 and 6,000 light-years from Earth and it spans some 15 light-years in diameter. The cloud of interstellar matter of which this nebula is a part is roughly 40 light-years in diameter and has a mass of 30,000 solar masses. The total mass of the Omega Nebula is an estimated 800 solar masses.
It is considered one of the brightest and most massive star-forming regions of our galaxy. Its local geometry is similar to the Orion Nebula except that it is viewed edge-on rather than face-on.
The above image is a stack of 30 x 5 minute sub frames. The images were taken with an AT6RC scope and a Starlight Express camera SXVR-M25C cooled to -5C. The mount is an Astro Physics AP-900 with CP4 controller. The guide scope is an 80 mm refactor and a Meade DSI camera. The images were captured using Astro Art 7and the guiding was done using PHD2. Calibration and some of the post processing was done in Astro Art 7 and the final processing was completed in Photoshop 5.
This is the first time out under darks skies for my new to me AP900 mount with CP4 controller I acquired in March with a trip to Tucson, AZ. The imaging scope is an AT6RC and the guide scope is and 80mm refactor. Imaging camera is a Starlight Express SXVR-M25C. Guide camera is a Meade DSI.
