Messier 13 (M13), also designated NGC 6205 and sometimes called the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules or the Hercules Globular Cluster, is a globular cluster of about 300,000 stars in the constellation of Hercules. (Source: Wikipedia) Technical Details Dates: 7/5/2018 Location: Cologne, Germany Imaging Telescope: 8″ GSO f/4 (Carbon Tube) Imaging Camera: Nikon D7000 Filter:…
Messier 3
Messier 3 (M3 or NGC 5272) is a globular cluster of stars in the northern constellation of Canes Venatici. It was discovered by Charles Messier on May 3, 1764, and resolved into stars by William Herschel around 1784. Since then, it has become one of the best-studied globular clusters. Identification of the cluster’s unusually large variable…
Elephant’s Trunk Nebula (IC 1396)
The Elephant’s Trunk nebula is a concentration of interstellar gas and dust within the much larger ionized gas region IC 1396 located in the constellation Cepheus about 2,400 light years away from Earth. The piece of the nebula shown here is the dark, dense globule IC 1396A; it is commonly called the Elephant’s Trunk nebula…
Leo Triplet
The Leo Triplet (also known as the M66 Group) is a small group of galaxies about 35 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. This galaxy group consists of the spiral galaxies M65, M66, and NGC 3628. (Source: Wikipedia) Technical Details Date: 16/3/2016 Location: Cologne, Germany Imaging Telescope: 8″ GSO f/4 Imaging Camera: Nikon D7000…
Heart Nebula (IC 1805)
The Heart Nebula, IC 1805, Sharpless 2-190, lies some 7500 light years away from Earth and is located in the Perseus Arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. This is an emission nebula showing glowing ionized hydrogen gas and darker dust lanes. The very brightest part of this nebula (the knot at the western edge)…
Hot Pixels, Star Alignment and Interpolation
A few months ago, while testing out ways to reduce the effects of light pollution on pictures taken from my downtown “observatory”, I took a few subframes of the Leo Triplet (M 65, M 66 and NGC 3628) with a Baader Planetarium UHC-S filter. As the intent was just to get a first impression of…