It might be a few weeks early, but let’s celebrate Cinqo de Mayo by imaging Messier 104, the Sombrero Galaxy. After two nights of failure (largely the photographer’s fault), Saturday night’s photo session was short but very productive. I finalized my run at Messier 105 & Messier 91, and decided to add a last minute […]
Messier 91
Messier 105 & Friends
This was one of the most frustrating targets I’ve completed. I first tried capturing Messier 105 (NGC 3379 for you “New General Catalog” fans) on Wednesday night, but unfortunately forgot to set the gain on my photos. The result was an underexposed mess that wasn’t salvagable in photoshop. That was only part of the mess […]
Messier 89
Messier 87 & Photogenic Black Holes
M87 made the news last year when scientists from around the world collaborated to take the first photograph of a black hole. Don’t mix the object above up with the object to the right – the supermassive black hole at the centre of the galaxy is incredibly tiny when viewed from Earth. One scientist described […]
Planetary Photography: Venus
Even though my first photo was of a planet (Saturn), I never really took to planetary photography. I had quickly moved on from the “wow I can see the rings” to wanting to see distant galaxies and faint nebula. Even with the much-covered conjunction of Venus and the Pleiades earlier this month, I havent been […]
Messier 108 – The Surfboard Galaxy
Messier 108 is a great example for why we call it Galaxy Season. At this time of year, many of the beautiful galaxies that grace our night skies are high above us. Because you’re shooting straight up, you’ve got much less air to contend with and ultimately get a sharper photo. And with few neighbours […]
Galaxy Messier 90
At around midnight, I switched over from shooting Messier 108 in the northern sky to spiral galaxy M90 (also known as NGC 4569) high in the south. Southern objects can be a problem because There are lots of tall trees to my south My mount is positioned just north of center of the observatory to […]
Messier 97 – The Owl Nebula
Messier 97 is a planetary nebula about 2,000 light years away. Called the Owl Nebula (because of the two dark patches that look like eyes), the greens of oxygen and reds of hydrogen are being illuminated by the star in the centre as it goes through it’s final days before becoming a white dwarf. In […]
