Loads of Galaxies
Below is a shot of some of the Virgo group of galaxies, centred around the ellipticals M59 and M60, taken on the darkest most transparent night we’ve had for a while. Taken with the Atik 314L+ through the Equinox ED80, it’s a stack of 22 x 5 min luminance frames taken through a CLS filter.
I reckon there are about 15 galaxies visible in this image. They’re perhaps more easily seen in the negative image shown below:
It’s also worth attaching a map of the area from SkyMap Pro, and I’ve also tabulated those that I’ve identified. 17th magnitude is pushing it a bit, but it’s definitely there!
Galaxy Size Magnitude
M60 7.6′ x 6.2′ 8.8
M59 5.4′ x 3.7′ 9.7
NGC4638 2.2′ x 1.4′ 11.1
NGC4647 2.9′ x 2.3′ 11.4
NGC4607 2.9′ x 0.7′ 13.0
IC809 1.0′ x 1.0′ 13.2
NGC4637 1.2′ x 0.5′ 13.8
IC3653 30″ x 30″ 13.8
IC3665 54″ x 36″ 14.3
IC3670 30″ x 24″ 15.0
IC3684 1.1′ x 0.4′ 15.1
PGC42846 36″ x 16″ 15.4
PGC42634 37″ x 20″ 16.2
PGC42758 27″ x 27″ 17.1
Tags: 
Mars
The nearly-full moon was so bright tonight that the only sensible target seemed to be Mars! This was taken through a newly-collimated 8″ LX200R with an Opticstar PX-75C camera using a x2 Barlow. Approximately 400 frames out of 2200 were processed in Registax 5.
Measuring the brightness of 2012aw
I thought I’d use the image of the supernova to estimate its magnitude a little more scientifically. Firstly, the image was loaded into Matlab and displayed as a contour plot. This has the advantage that the exact position of maximum intensity is easier to pinpoint than it is on the original image. I selected 14 stars in total and measured their intensities using Matlab’s Data Cursor tool.
I then looked up the magnitudes of the corresponding stars on SkyMap Pro. This allowed me to plot a calibration curve which looked to be approximately linear. From this I was able to read off the magnitude of the supernova (shown as the green square) as 13.22 ± 0.29.
M95 and 2012aw
Tonight’s been really quite misty and murky, but as we’ve just had six clear nights in a row, I shouldn’t complain too much 8-) I decided to use the Atik on the ED80, and binned 2 x 2, with exposures of 2 min through a CLS filter; I’d hoped I might be able to get a few mist free frames that way. Anyway, this is a stack of 35 such frames, and although the galaxy is really quite small and faint on this, the supernova is very obvious.
NGC5033 and NGC5005
Spring is galaxy season, as the band in the evening skies from Ursa Major down through Canes Venatici, Coma Berenices and on to Leo and Virgo contains more than its fair share of bright examples. This image shows some lesser known ones in Canes Venatici. At the bottom of the image is NGC5033, wuth NGC5005 being visible in the upper right. The faint smudge lower right is magnitude 13.6 NGC5002. 26 x 5min subframes with the 400D through the MN190.
Supernova 2012aw
This supernova appeared recently in M95 in Leo. This image is from just 3 x 2min through the MN190 with the Atik 314L+ with CLS filter. The supernova looks to be currently around 13th magnitude.
Needle in a Hairstack…
Another galaxy in Coma Berenices is this magnitude 9.5 edge-on spiral, NGC4565, aka the Needle Galaxy. Taken with the Canon 400D through the MN190, this is a stack of 23 x 5min exposures at ISO800.
At least three other galaxies are visible in the image. NGC4562 is the mag. 13.7 galaxy below and to the right; mag. 14.6 NGC4565B is apparent towards the upper right corner of the image; mag. 16.9 IC3571 is faintly visible just above the centre of NGC4565.
NGC4559
NGC4559 is a relatively bright (magnitude 9.6) galaxy in the constellation of Coma Berenices. This shot was put together from 20 x 5min exposures at ISO800 captured on the 400D through the MN190.
The Leo Trio
No Spring observing season would be complete without imaging this group of galaxies in Leo – M65, M66 and NGC3628. This image was the first one I’ve tried using my Canon 400D through the MN190, and although I could have had better flat frames, it still came out reasonably well. It’s a stack of 18 x 5min frames at ISO 800.
M3
Another quick test of the polar alignment; I managed to capture 5 x 5min R, G and B frames with the Atik through the MN190 before the fog built up and obliterated the stars – I’ll collect some luminance frames later. Still it’s not too shabby!
Next day…
23 x 5min luminance frames through a CLS filter taken and combined with the colour frames:
- Annular Solar EclipseAnnular Solar Eclipse […]
- GALEX: The Andromeda GalaxyA mere 2.5 million light-years away, the Andromeda Galaxy really is […]
- Herschel's Cygnus XThe Herschel Space Observatory's […]
- Star Formation in the Tarantula NebulaThe largest, most violent star forming region known in the whole […]