This week a huge sunspot rotated into view:
Category Archives: astrophotography
winter galaxies
Winter is not normally a good time for galaxies because the Milky Way is porminent in the sky, but while waiting for comet Lovejoy to rise, I used the time to spend a little exposure time on some bright galaxies.
The Leo Triplet
Trying to catch ISON, got Lovejoy instead
On November 17th I decided at 1:00 to try to take some pictures of comet ISON before it’s rendezvous with the sun.
To get above the fog in the Rhine valley I drove up a still-open (normally closed in winter) mountain pass.
I arrived early at the Furkajoch (a mountain pass in Vorarlberg), so I had the chance to take some pictures of the alpine landscape and of comet Lovejoy.
The full moon and a thin layer of high cirrus cloud made the process of locating and imaging the comet difficult.
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A summer night in the Alps
While bivouacing with my family high in the Alps I took some wide-angle shots of the summer sky:
Nikon AF Nikkor 20mm f/2.8
15s @f/2.8
C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS)
It looks as if 2013 will be a good year for comets. This spring Comet Panstarrs is visible in the darkening sky after Sunset and in December comet ISON should put up an even more impressive show.
“White” Light Image of the Sun
Supernova 2011DH in M51
“White” Light Image of the Sun
A Ring around the Moon
An incoming layer of high cirrus clouds announces a change in the high-pressure weather pattern. The ice crystals in the clouds create a highly visible 22° ring of light, also known as a halo around the first-quarter moon.
Lens: Tokina AT-X 12-24 f/f
Camera: Nikon D200
Exposure: f/4 15s ISO 200
Date: 12th February 2011
NGC 4565
Move your mouse over the image to see annotations for some galaxies.
A larger version of this image which has been annotated with AVM headers can be opened in Microsoft WWT:ngc4565_150mm.jpg
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Telescope:
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150mm f/5 Newtonian, Baader MPCC Coma Corrector |
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Camera
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Nikon D200 |
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Exposure:
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4x300s, ISO 800 |
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Date:
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18th, April 2009 |
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Processing:
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Preprocessing (Dark, Flat & Bias correction), Alignment & stacking in IRIS, histogram adjustment curves, color correction in Photoshop. |