Cool November Nights

Even though October was a complete waste as far as the night sky went where I live, I was finally able to get out with my telescope tonight. Even though it's only 4.5" in diameter, I was able to see some things I never have before. It was quite exciting. And this was in-the-city viewing, with all of the light pollution we have too. So, I was able to see the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), the Orion Nebula (M42 and 43), Hyades (in Taurus) which was really awesome, the double cluster in Perseus consisting of NGC 869 and NGC 844 (which was awesome), and a few others. I did try to photograph them, but to no avail. So, now for some info on what I was able to see.

The Andromeda Galaxy
This particular galaxy is probably the most famous in the night sky. It is bright enough, at magnitude 4.4, to be seen with the naked eye. It is also known as M31 (or Messier 31) and NGC 224. This galaxy is like our own Milky Way in that it is a spiral galaxy believed to be similar in mass. It is located approximately 2,500,000 light years away and is found at Right ascension 00h 42m 44.3s, Declination +41° 16′ 9″[1].

Photo courtesy of NASA

The Orion Nebula
This nebula is also known as M42 or NGC 1976. It is referred to as a diffuse nebula (and contains mostly ionized hydrogen) and is located just below Orion's Belt at Right ascension 05h 35m 17.3s, Declination -05° 23′ 28″. At an apparent magnitude of +3.0, it is visible to the naked eye and is approximately 1,344 light years away. The Nebula is part of a much larger nebula known as the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. This Complex extends throughout the constellation of Orion and includes Barnard's Loop, the Horsehead Nebula, M43, M78 and the Flame Nebula. Stars are forming throughout the Orion Nebula, and due to this heat-intensive process the region is particularly prominent in the infrared.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.org

The Hyades
I have never seen this before tonight. I thought it was really neat. I found it by accident. I had been looking for Orion and the Pleiades. Almost in between them, I could see a fuzzy patch, so I pointed my scope at it and saw this open cluster. It is classed as an open cluster because the stars are not as tightly bound by gravity as they are in a globular cluster. It consists of a roughly spherical group of 300 to 400 stars that share the same age, place of origin, chemical content, and motion through space. Hyades is approximately 151 light years away and can be found at Right ascension 04h 27m, Declination +15° 52′. The Hyades Cluster, at apparent magnitude 0.5, lies in the constellation Taurus, where its brightest stars form a rough "V" shape along with the still brighter red giant Aldebaran. Contrary to how it appears, Aldebaran is completely unrelated to the Hyades, as it is located much closer to Earth and merely happens to lie along the same line of sight.

Photo courtesy of SEDS

Perseus Double Cluster
These two open clusters are known as NGC 884 and NGC 869 (or more commonly known as the Double Cluster). They are visible to the naked eye and lie in the constellation Perseus, below Cassiopeia. NGC 884 is approximately 7600 light years away with NGC 869 being about 6800 light years away. They can be found at Right ascension 2h 20m, Declination 57° 08′. In the photo below, NGC 884 is the on the left and NGC 869 on the right. It is said they have blueshifted as well, which is a method of determining their distance using light wavelengths, etc. They are traveling toward Earth at approximately 22km/s.

Photo courtesy www.astrophoto.net

Daytime Crescent Moon

After seeing my friend Bob of Blackholes and Astrostuff post photos of a daytime crescent Moon, I got thinking, I don't think I've really photographed a daytime Moon through my telescope. So, I thought I'd give it a try. I've got to tell you, it's not as easy as it would seem. It is harder to find the Moon when it's not shining at 3 million candle power in a telescope eyepiece. Also, it's much harder to focus on the Moon during the day, especially when it's kind of faint. Below are my first photos taken through my Orion 4.5" telescope. They are all taken with a Nikon D90, some with a 2x barlow and the last two with 3x barlow.

Waning Moon and Jupiter

Not much to say about this. It's pretty obvious what it is. Just happened to catch the Moon and Jupiter the other night before the clouds rolled in. I wanted to try out my new Celestron 2x barlow again and was extremely happy with the results.




These were taken with my 3x barlow.




These ones of Jupiter and three of it's moons were taken with the 3x barlow as well.

Almost Perfect Moon

Tonight the Moon was about 99% full. It was clear out, there was no wind and I was able to capture some great shots. They were all taken through my Orion 4.5" telescope using a Nikon D90.

This first shot was with just the camera and no barlow lens.


These next shots were taken using a Celestron Ultima 1.25" - 2x barlow (part # 93506). I was able to order it from our local store Neural Net Interactive. It was the first time I had used it, so I was anxious to try it. I think the results speak for themselves.






These next two shots were taken using a Antares 3x barlow that I bought from Khan Scope in Toronto, ON. I'm not terribly happy with the overall quality of this barlow. I think if I could, I would have gotten a Celestron one. Oh well, live and learn.

Moon Again

I tell you, I really must love the Moon or I'm obsessed. Something like that. Anyway, I was out again tonight shooting the Moon. They are probably the best shots I've ever taken of the Moon. They were shot through my Orion telescope with my Nikon D90. The first ones with the entire Moon in the frame are with the 2x barlow. I don't have a 2x barlow of my own yet, so I borrowed one from Bob of Blackholes and Astrostuff. Thank you Bob for that. I think they turned out well. Must have been something in the air. Oh, I know, there were no clouds, so it's what was not in the air tonight! The first four shots look to be the same picture, but they are not. Slightly different settings for each one. Anyway, enjoy.

The following pictures were taken using a 3x barlow. Definitely not quite as clear, but that's partly due to the telescope as well. If the scope was bigger with a longer focal length, the pictures should be really clear. However, even these 3x barlow shots turned out good tonight.

More Moon Pictures

The pictures below were all taken on Saturday night. I went out with my Dad and Bob of Blackholes and Astrostuff. They were taken with my Orion telescope, Nikon D90, 2x barlow, t-ring and 1 1/4" adapter. They appear slightly dark and slightly out of focus because there was lots of dew that night as well as cloud cover.

The two pictures below had a jet stream going through the middle and it looked like I broke the Moon.

Sky Charts for June 2009

Below is a B & W and a color sky chart for our area, which is above 40〫latitude.

The above chart is available from skymaps.com

The above color chart is available from Orion Telescopes

My First "Real" Telescope

I picked up a new telescope today from a local guy. It is an Orion StarBlast 4.5" Equatorial Reflector. It's a decently built scope that apparently has good optics. It's a short tube scope, so easily manageable. The tripod and mount are fairly sturdy so they should stand up fine. Once I take some photos through it, I'll put them on this post.



The pictures below were taken last night through my new telescope. Enjoy.