Messier 81 was first discovered by Johann Elert Bode in 1774. Consequently, the galaxy is sometimes referred to as “Bode’s Galaxy”. In 1779, Pierre Méchain and Charles Messier reidentified Bode’s object, which was subsequently listed in the Messier Catalogue.

Messier 81 is the largest galaxy in the M81 Group, a group of 34 galaxies located in the constellation Ursa Major. The distance from the Earth to the group is approximately 11.7 Mly (3.6 Mpc), making this one of the closest groups to the Local Group, which contains the Milky Way.

M81 is gravitationally interacting with Messier 82 and NGC 3077. The interactions have stripped some hydrogen gas away from all three galaxies, leading to the formation of filamentary gas structures in the group. Moreover, the interactions have also caused some interstellar gas to fall into the centers of Messier 82 and NGC 3077, which has led to strong starburst activity (or the formation of many stars) within the centers of these two galaxies.

It is hard to belive, but it is my first picture of this object.
Taken during last 2 nights at the observatory.
LRGB image, ~25 x 300s per channel, RGB binned x2.

Altummundi observatory in wintertime

Right now as it became more accessible I enjoy taking the first pictures since autumn. I decided to try to catch the quickly escaping Orion constellation and pointed towards the Horsehead and Flame nebula. The image below was captured during 2 nights on 2010/02/25 and 2010/02/27, giving a total of 4.5h exposure in H-alpha band. It will not be easy to catch color for this image this year. QSI Imaging gave me a very favorable present this birthday with their new QSI 583 WSG firmware update, which allows me to reduce focusing time more than 3 times (50sec instead of almost 3 minutes).

Horse Head and Flame nebula in H-alpha

Let me update you on my Timelapse equipment that I am completing at the moment. I have recently got a new motorized head for my timelapse work. The new Meade DS2000 based timelapse setup is missing only a dolly right now and some more lenses. The new Sigma 20mm 1.8 is on its way and I’ll be able to get it on monday! The new Samyang 14mm F2.8 is also coming and I look forward to get it as soon as it is released. And about the dolly – I designed with a modular approach, it will be made of 3 parts, each of them 1.5m long. The dolly is based on a lightweight aluminium truss and will be driven by Meade 494 controller and motors taken from my old DS80 mount.  So I need to wait for the parts to come.

The power issues seems to be finally solved. The whole rig is powered by a portable 12V/12Ah gel accu and my 5DMKII is powered using a custom made adapter and a canon BP-970 battery. This is a lightweight and highly portable solution givin me more than 7500 mAh of power. Enough for long tiemlapses I hope. As a backup I am also planning on building a custom 12V»7.4V stabilized power adapter to be able to power up 5D right from the accu.

At last, let me share some shots on my observatory working. These were done mainly yesterday, I used also some older stuff. These are rough drafts just to check how the DS2000 and portable power performs. I think I understand how to avoid jerky playback, but still need to understand programming speed a bit more.

Western Veil Nebula by Patryk Kizny (False h-Alpha color)

NGC 6960 - Western Veil Nebula in h-alpha by Patryk Kizny

“The Veil Nebula, is part of the Cygnus Loop, radio source W78, or Sharpless 103. Other parts of the loop include the ‘Eastern Veil’, the ‘Western Veil’ or ‘Witch’s Broom Nebula’, and Pickering’s Triangular Wisp. It is a large, relatively faint supernova remnant in the constellation Cygnus. The source supernova exploded some 5,000 to 8,000 years ago, and the remnants have since expanded to cover an area of ~3×3 degrees; about 6 times the diameter or 36 times the area of a full moon. The distance to the nebula is not precisely known, with estimates ranging from 1,400 to 2,600 light-years. It was discovered on 1784 September 5 by William Herschel. He described the western end of the nebula as ‘Extended; passes through 52 Cygni… near 2 degree in length.’ and described the eastern end as ‘Branching nebulosity… The following part divides into several streams uniting again towards the south.’” [wikipedia.org]

This image is just a starting point for this object. It is solely 7 x 1800s in H-alpha. No doubt, I need twice as much in H-alpha as well as OIII and maybe some SII.

Abell 2218 cluster of galaxies by Patryk Kizny

Abell 2218 cluster of galaxies as seen by Hubble Space Telescope (credit NASA/ESA)

“Abell 2218 is a cluster of galaxies about 2 billion light-years away in the constellation Draco. Acting as a powerful lens, it magnifies and distorts all galaxies lying behind the cluster core into long arcs. The lensed galaxies are all stretched along the cluster’s center and some of them are multiply imaged. Those multiple images usually appear as a pair of images with a third — generally fainter — counter image, as is the case for the very distant object. Abell 2218 was used as a gravitational lens to discover the most distant known object in the universe as of 2004. The object, a galaxy some 13 billion years old, is seen from Earth as it would have been just 750 million years after the Big Bang. The color of the lensed galaxies is a function of their distances and types. The orange arc is an elliptical galaxy at moderate redshift (z=0.7). The blue arcs are star-forming galaxies at intermediate redshift (z=1-2.5). The encircled very red pair is the newly discovered star-forming galaxy at about redshift 7. The lensed galaxies are particularly numerous, as we are looking in between two mass clumps, in a saddle region where the magnification is quite large.” [wikipedia.org]

On my picture Abell 2218 is visible merely as a group of pixel-sized dots in the center of the frame. However it has registered. The picture is just a few 20-minute exposures taken in urban conditions stacked together.

NGC 6960 - Western Veil Nebula (h-alpha + LRGB composite image)

NGC 6960 - Western Veil Nebula (h-alpha)

“The Eagle Nebula (catalogued as Messier 16 or M16, and as NGC 6611) is a young open cluster of stars in the constellation Serpens, discovered by Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux in 1745-46. Its name derives from its shape which is resemblant of an eagle. It is the subject of a famous photograph by the Hubble Space Telescope, which shows pillars of star-forming gas and dust within the nebula.” [wikipedia.org]

My geographic location makes imaging of this object quite difficult. Let me present my attempt – the picture was taken at the mountainside during my recent holiday. The atmospheric diffraction affected the source frames significantly making it really difficult to stack and process. The image is basically 7×1200s in H-alpha + some color frames using bin 3×3 settings. I guess it is worth it to go at least a couple of hundreds kilometers south to get bettter results.

Date: 2009.08.20
Object: Messier 33
Conditions: dark sky, mountainside, no moon
Exposure (monochrome image)

• 7×1200s H-alpha

Exposure (color image)

• L: 7×1200s H-alpha
• R: 5×300s bin3
• G: 5×300s bin3
• B: 5×300s bin3

Messier 33 Triangulum galaxy by Patryk Kizny (Annotated)

“The Triangulum Galaxy (also known as Messier 33 or NGC 598) is a spiral galaxy approximately 3 million light-years away in the constellation Triangulum. The galaxy is also sometimes informally referred to as the Pinwheel Galaxy by some amateur astronomy references and in some public outreach websites. However, the SIMBAD Astronomical Database, a professional astronomy database that contains formal designations for astronomical objects, indicates that the name “Pinwheel Galaxy” is used to refer to Messier 101, and several other amateur astronomy resources and other public outreach websites also identify Messier 101 by that name. It is the third largest galaxy in the Local Group, a group of galaxies that also contains the Milky Way Galaxy and the Andromeda Galaxy, and it may be a gravitationally bound companion of the Andromeda Galaxy. The Pisces Dwarf (LGS 3), one of the small Local Group member galaxies, is possibly a satellite of Triangulum.” [wikipedia.org]

Here’s my attempt on imaging this object. I had a very good weather in the recent days and a lot of free time. The picture was taken during two nights in the mountainside.

Date: 2009.08.20
Object: Messier 33
Conditions: dark sky, mountainside, no moon
Exposure:

• L: 9×1200s
• R: 6×600s bin2
• G: 6×600s bin2
• B: 6×600s bin2

NGC 281 Pacman Nebula (LGRB false-color image)

NGC 281 Pacman Nebula (LRGB Ha composite image)

NGC 281 Pacman Nebula (LRGB Ha annotated image)

NGC 281 Pacman Nebula (Ha image)

“NGC 281 is an H II region in the constellation of Cassiopeia and part of the Perseus Spiral Arm. It includes or is near the open cluster IC 1590, the double star HD 5005, and several Bok globules. It is visible in amateur telescopes from dark sky locations. It is sometimes unofficially referred to as the Pacman Nebula owing to its fancied resemblance to the eponymous hero of the arcade game Pac-Man.” [wikipedia.org]

Messier 27 - Dumbbell nebula (cropped)

Messier 27 - Dumbbell Nebula (annotated image)

Messier 27 - Dumbbell Nebula (full frame)

“The Dumbbell Nebula (also known as Messier 27, M 27, or NGC 6853) is a planetary nebula (PN) in the constellation Vulpecula, at a distance of about 1,360 light years. This object was the first planetary nebula to be discovered by Charles Messier in 1764. At its brightness of visual magnitude 7.5 and its diameter of about 8 arcminutes, it is easily visible in binoculars, and a popular observing target in amateur telescopes.” [wikipedia.org]

I took this picture during last night at full moon.

Date: 2009.08.08
Object: Messier 27
Conditions: full moon
Exposure:

• L: 10×600 Ha
• R: 5×300 bin2 + Ha
• G: 7×300 bin2
• B: 7×300 bin2

“Messier 13 or M13 (also designated NGC 6205 and sometimes called the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules or the Hercules Globular Cluster) is a globular cluster in the constellation of Hercules.

Discovery and visibility
M13 was discovered by Edmond Halley in 1714, and catalogued by Charles Messier on June 1, 1764.

It is located at right ascension 16h 41.7m and declination +36° 28′. With an apparent magnitude of 5.8, it is barely visible with the naked eye on a very clear night. Its diameter is about 23 arc minutes and it is readily viewable in small telescopes. Nearby is NGC 6207, a 12th magnitude edge-on galaxy that lies 28 arc minutes directly north east. A small galaxy, IC 4617, lies halfway between NGC 6207 and M13, north-northeast of the large globular’s center.

Characteristics
M13 is about 145 light-years in diameter, and it is composed of several hundred thousand stars, the brightest of which is the variable star V11 with an apparent magnitude of 11.95. M13 is 25,100 light-years away from Earth.

Arecibo message
The Arecibo message of 1974, designed to communicate the existence of human life to hypothetical extraterrestrials, was transmitted toward M13. The reason was that with a higher star density, the chances of a life harboring planet with intelligent life forms, were higher. Even though the message was transmitted, M13 will no longer be in that location when it arrives. The sending of the message was more of a technological demonstration, rather than an actual attempt to contact life.” [wikipedia.org]

And here’s my picture – rather a quick shot, just a few short exposures in luminance taken on July 27th, 2009.