NGC4449 the Magellanic cloud I didn't know I could see!

 Via the Wikipedia page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_4449 - "NGC 4449, also known as Caldwell 21, is an irregular Magellanic type galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici, being located about 12 million light-years away. It is part of the M94 Group or Canes Venatici I Group that is relatively close to the Local Group hosting our Milky Way galaxy.^[3][4] " 

Magellanic!  My jaw dropped when I saw it.  I admit, I don't always research my targets, I often just shoot what is in the gap of the trees around the house.  I thought this was just another galaxy, but I admit it looked pretty odd and unique but at the time I just wanted to see how well the guiding and SGP automation were behaving. 

 It's awesome to see something related to the Southern Hemisphere SMC and LMC!  I thought I'd never see a related object without having to travel south of the equator!  I was thrilled to get to know such an object and I challenge you to do the same!  It's Mag 10 and likely visible in a decent sized telescope perhaps with the eyepiece as well?! :P

Thanks for reading!

October saw some great clear skies -- Part 1

This month was full of many clear days.  I took advantage


First up is NGC 100, which according to http://cseligman.com/text/atlas/ngc1.htm has "a mere apparent size of 6.2 by 0.6 arcmins." It is also described as "exceptionally elongated galaxy, with a very small nucleus in comparison to its overall size. Such galaxies are sometimes called "superthin" galaxies." Nearby is PGC 1509358 a 17.9th mag galaxy.

Also in the lower left is UGC00219 a bright 15.5mag at a distance of 240,700,000 LY



Come poke around the full 1:1 resolution here


Next up is NGC 7814, another edge on galaxy. The one sports a nice dust lane and in contrast to the above galaxy, NGC100, this galaxy, NGC 7814 is a spiral. It "is sometimes referred to as "the little sombrero", a miniature version of Messier 104." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_7814) Edge on galaxies are very fun and the reddish orange core might be slightly exaggerated in this photo unintentially as I had a color balance issue.






Here's a link to the full 1:1 resolution

In the high res photo, the most astounding thing I've found to date is SDSSJ000302.45 or PGC3377433 in another catalog. At mag 20+ this tiny galaxy has a measured recessional velocity of 115421 km/s in converted distance it's 5.3 BLY away!!! WHAT?!!

Between the galaxy NGC7814 and the three bright starts to its right is the faint galaxy in question. Here's a closer look.

Labeled

Unlabeled

Blink Animation

Finally up a a face on galaxy and part of the Messier catalog, M74.  It's two main spiral arms make it a Grand design spiral galaxy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_design_spiral_galaxy ).

Full res here!!!



My full album of all galaxy photos - https://plus.google.com/photos/+MichaelAPhillips/albums/5825355202588613809?banner=pwa

All deep sky photos are here - http://maphilli14.webs.com/mike-s-deep-sky-photos

All photos are taken with my custom 14" f/4.5 Newtonian ()

Blackeye Galaxy

Fun one, I think I've seen a glimpse of he small dark lane that is the black eye, but this was a refreshing look...

M51 Whirlpool

Almost 4hours of time on this in almost a single night.  Grabbed a few strays on the 2nd night but spent more time on M63 the next night.  Enjoy, I did!

FULL RES HERE: http://www.astrophotogallery.org/showfull.php?photo=5319

Galaxies galore!

Check out the mouse over version for labels!

http://maphilli14.webs.com/Astronomy/8-Webs/DSO/Galaxies/MAP-M84-M86-201000308-large.jpg

Catchup on some DSLR processing - more coming!

Pacman nebula - I didn't think this was enough data and was going to hit it up another night, but it slipped and well, here it is with 1 hour:



IC 342 / Caldwell 5 is a small galaxy.  I think I need better planning software, this was a bit of a tough target but I was happy to see it in the end...

My simple M109 - barred spiral galaxy

I saw the Cloudy Nights (http://www.cloudynights.com/) challenge the other month and was immediately struck by how cool this barred spiral looked.  I had to try and it turns out to be a somewhat hard target at 10th magnitude and small to boot.  Here's my shot.  I wasn't even sure I had in a single 1-2 min test shot and conditions we just average on the transparency with a waxing moon early in the session.  I'm still pretty happy with the result!

Owl Nebula (M97) & M108 Galaxy

This is my single most amount of DSLR data in a single session or night to date.
5min (300s) x 42 = 3.5 hours at ISO 1600

For those not yet introduced to this part of the sky.  M97, the Owl Nebula, is a planetary nebula with a small (visible in this image) 16th mag central star that has gone supernova.  It has pushed out two lobes of space amongst the shell of gas that make the nebula appear like owl eyes.

In the lower right is a nearly edge-on galaxy, Sc type galaxy and about 45 million light years distant.

Optics: Meade LXD55 6" Schmidt Newtonian OTA
Mount: CGE mount on JMI Wheely Bars
Camera: Canon XTi with Hutech LP Filter (LPS-P2-FF)
Focusing Aid: STI focuser
Shutter control: Hap Griffin long exposure cable
Software: MaximDL
Guiding: DMK21AF04 with a piggybacked 4" SkyWatcher via PHD and ASCOM drivers
Operating System: WinXP Lenovo T61 driven via RDP remotely
Pre-Processing: Iris per automated Jim Solomon's Cookbook
Post-Processing: PS CS2 with tips from Jerry Lodriguss

Small PS, the AAPOD today is the same field of view, but much better done!  'Grats!

http://astronomy.fm/aapod/2010-02-20_M108-and-M97-widefield.html

My best Galactic photo yet...

Since the major upgrade to the 6" f/5 Schmidt-Newt OTA on the Celeston CGE with the right LPS-P2-FF filter, I've had lots of variables to work with, including my post-processing routine.

Now I can drive up to and past 10min subs with guiding on the 4" piggybacked skywatcher.  It's pretty cool to work with, but the weather has kept me from practicing very often.

May 19th, I got a try at M101, the CN challenge of the month.

Mine is far from the best, but it's a personal best for me.

I followed my v1 routine which will end up as a blog here soon enough.

Enjoy,

Mike

Leo Triplet before the clouds...

Observation logs

Observations

Object: M65

Galaxy in Leo

Alias: NGC3623

RA:	11h 18m 56s
Dec:	13° 05' 37"
Size:	1.5′ × 8.0′
m(vis):	10.5 mag
Origin:	ObservationManager - Messier Catalog 1.0

Observer Michael A. Phillips Mr. Site Home Begin 2009-04-12 um 20:08:25-05:00 End 2009-04-12 um 20:18:25-05:00 Seeing 3 (fair) Optics LXD55 Filter Hutech idas lps-p2-ff Light Pollution Filter Corrective Camera Canon XTI Sitzung 2009-04-12 um 20:08:25-05:00

Visual impression 7*4min @ 1600 + 16 cloudy ones Darks and old flats Visually with th C8i, I was only able to see M65 and M66 after the clouds moved in. Visual rating: Viewable with direct vision

---

References

Sessions: 2009-04-12 um 20:08:25-05:00

Begin:	2009-04-12 um 20:08:25-05:00
End:	2009-04-12 um 23:30:00-05:00

Weather:	S: ~6/10 Initially T=5/5 then haze and clouds moved in making it T: 1/5
Equipment:	Optics: Meade LXD55 Mount: CGE mount on JMI Wheely Bars Camera: Canon XTi with Hutech LP Filter (LPS-P2-FF) Focusing Aid: STI focuser Shutter control: Hap Griffin long exposure cable Software: MaximDL Guiding: DMK21AF04 with a piggybacked 4" SkyWatcher via PHD and ASCOM drivers Operating System: WinXP Lenovo T43 driven via RDP from inside the house
Comments:	Got 3-4 images under T=5/5 of Leo Triplet before trying to RDP in... and couldn't Then found that XP had crashed and rebooted Couldn't get camera to respond until reboot and or power cycle of XTi Start C8i @ 22:04:00 Then Trans goes to 1/5 :( Tracking on faint star is hit or miss... trying visual via the C8 as seeing on Saturn with no cooling was avg. Was able to see M66/M65 with 'nearly' direct vision, but not nearby 3 galaxy (NGCxxxx) Ceres visually? Maybe?! Definatley a mid-mag object near the Cartes Du Ceil coords MUCH further than the saved user sky location in the C8i

>> Observations <<

---

Observer: Michael A. Phillips Mr.

>> Observations <<

---

Site: Home

Longitude:	35.682°
Latitude:	-78.743°
Timezone:	UT-300 min

>> Observations <<

---

Optics: LXD55

Type:	Schmidt-Newtonian
Vendor:	Meade
Aperture:	152.0 mm
Focal length:	762.0 mm

>> Observations <<

---

Filter: Hutech idas lps-p2-ff Light Pollution Filter

Typ:	Corrective

>> Observations <<

---

CCD Camera: Canon XTI

Vendor:	Canon
Pixel:	3888x2592

*My* 1st light with the new setup - M81/M82

Begin:	2009-02-04 um 20:08:01-05:00
End:	2009-02-04 um 23:59:00-05:00

Weather:	S:? T: 3?/5 Clear, cold and WINDY!
Equipment:	Optics: Meade LXD55 Mount: CGE mount on JMI Wheely Bars Focusing Aid: STI focuser Shutter control: Hap Griffin long exposure cable Software: MaximDL Operating System: WinXP Lenovo T43 driven via RDP from inside the house
Comments:	*MY* 1st light of the Meade LXD55 and CGE!!! What a pleasure to wheel the whole rig out of the garage into the driveway! Used my Celestron knowledge to get a rough align and was able to get fair results of 90sec+ exposures. At f/5 and ISO800 there is a LOT of LP Setup on M81 / M82 to get lots of subs, staying warm inside now as the outside temps dropped into the upper 20's Align was in the double digit of minutes error after a 2x iterative align. No PEC, no polar scope, no guiding, no drift align.

Details of the new setup here: http://maphilli14.multiply.com/photos/album/48/Astronomy_-_Equipment_-_DSO_Setup

NGC 891

I keep pushing my mostly stock C8i SE. A few nights ago I actually managed to get decent tracking for over 3 hours. I was able to salvage ~170 x 60s subs for a not so bad shot.

Hope you like my humble attempt, I was pretty impressed as I think galaxies are on the harder side to capture, unguided on an unmodded DSLR?!

Astronomy - Deep Sky - Galaxies