399 replies to this topic

[katie_panda]

Last night we had pretty rough seeing, intermittent clouds, and a full moon, but it was the first clear-ish night in a while so I set up. I've been learning my new mount with a small refractor, and decided it was time to try it out with the C8 SCT.

 

M106 and M108 were on my target list because they're Messier objects I haven't observed yet. And they fell in a part of the sky that was far from the moon and staying reasonably cloud-free. The result for M108 wasn't particularly exciting considering the light pollution, bad conditions, and my slow scope. But there's a reason I'm focusing on it here! After an imaging session I like to clean up the images a bit, post them to my blog and social media, and talk a little about what they're showing, even if the results aren't great. And when I looked for interesting facts about M108 I learned there was a supernova detected on March 13th!

 

Comparing my image to higher-quality before and after images found online, I believe that it is visible in my capture! This red dot sits just above a clump (I think a star-forming region but I am not sure) that is visible in most images of the galaxy. But the red dot does not appear in any images I can find before the supernova, and it appears red in other people's images of the supernova.

 

Below is the image, cropped and resized to fit in 500kb, with lines marking the location of the suspected supernova.

 

Captured with my C8 SCT at f/10 and an ASI178MC. 39 15 second subs at 120 gain live stacked in SharpCap with darks applied.

 

[BrentKnight]

Great capture!  Do you have any links to more info on this supernova that you could share (thinking about next months EAA challenge)?

[katie_panda]

Great capture!  Do you have any links to more info on this supernova that you could share (thinking about next months EAA challenge)?

It's SN 2023dbc, I only learned about it from looking at the M108 Wikipedia page. 

 

Looks like they link this as the source:

https://www.wis-tns.org/object/2023dbc

 

It links to some detailed notes.

 

Searching 2023dbc mostly brought up other amateur images. Looking at them plus older images of M108 is how I determined that it was visible in my image.

[BrentKnight]

I was out last evening with the C8 and the ASI533MM-Pro.  My target was the supernova in M108 pointed out by katie_panda.

 

Sky conditions were fair to good, with occasional cloud cover but mostly clear until later in the morning.  I measured SQM-L around 19.60 and I was seeing an average FWHM around 6.

 

 

M108 w/ SN 2023dbc | 30s, 60m, G300, 0° C | BF (Radius) 2.44/(L) 0.35, WD 11.94, Background Subtraction: None, Cropped and rotated | Darks, Flats w/Bias with SharpCap 4.1.10388.0

 

I was able to capture a good bit of the bright HII regions along with the dark mottling of the inter-arm material.  There are about 6 faint stars in the foreground across the surface of this galaxy.  I see no hint of a central nucleus or of a distinct core.  It's probably diminished and hidden behind the tilt of the very mottled spiral arms.  Left of center and above a fairly bright patch of nebula (that I could not find a designation for) I could locate SN 2023dbc.  I could just pick this faint, round spot out from that nearby cloud without enhancement, but it stood out better with WR (as this capture shows).  This is not one of those supernovae that outshines it's host galaxy.  It's actually rather faint, but seems to be holding it's brightness well.  I'd recommend catching it while you can...

[OregonSky]

Brent  -- Nice M108 -  I like the sharpness on the right side dark area too.

 

I took an M108  on March 15  with my 6Se  -  Player One Uranus C  - 8 second Images for 7 minutes.  300 Gain.  Sharpcap 4.1   - No Darks Flats or Filters.     Rotated and Cropped.     Manual Focus.    It lacks that clarity but does show the Supernova. 

As always looks better on my computer than here.

 

[BrentKnight]

As always looks better on my computer than here.

 

That's why I started using AstroBin more...

[bigbangbaby]

I was out last evening with the C8 and the ASI533MM-Pro.  My target was the supernova in M108 pointed out by katie_panda.

 

Sky conditions were fair to good, with occasional cloud cover but mostly clear until later in the morning.  I measured SQM-L around 19.60 and I was seeing an average FWHM around 6.

 

 

M108 w/ SN 2023dbc | 30s, 60m, G300, 0° C | BF (Radius) 2.44/(L) 0.35, WD 11.94, Background Subtraction: None, Cropped and rotated | Darks, Flats w/Bias with SharpCap 4.1.10388.0

 

I was able to capture a good bit of the bright HII regions along with the dark mottling of the inter-arm material.  There are about 6 faint stars in the foreground across the surface of this galaxy.  I see no hint of a central nucleus or of a distinct core.  It's probably diminished and hidden behind the tilt of the very mottled spiral arms.  Left of center and above a fairly bright patch of nebula (that I could not find a designation for) I could locate SN 2023dbc.  I could just pick this faint, round spot out from that nearby cloud without enhancement, but it stood out better with WR (as this capture shows).  This is not one of those supernovae that outshines it's host galaxy.  It's actually rather faint, but seems to be holding it's brightness well.  I'd recommend catching it while you can...

Nice capture. What's your view of mono vs OSC? Is the mono camera noticeably delivering on its higher sensitivity spec? 
 

[BrentKnight]

Nice capture. What's your view of mono vs OSC? Is the mono camera noticeably delivering on its higher sensitivity spec? 
 

Short answer...yes.  And it's much easier to use.

[bigbangbaby]

Easier in what way? I'm tossing around getting a mono camera and, like most things in this hobby, they aren't inexpensive. I like seeing objects in color, though using a filter wheel may be too much complexity for EAA.

[alphatripleplus]

Reminder:

 

 

 

 

The Observation Report topic is not an equipment discussion topic, or a topic for discussion of questions unrelated to the observations that are posted.  Posts that do not include significant observational discussion will be removed at moderator discretion. 

 

 

 

If you have equipment questions, please post them elsewhere.

[Tfer]

After tweaking the collimation on my C11, I was patiently waiting for a night where I could try to push it a little.

 

Planetary Nebulae are my preferred targets for capturing details in EAA, but there simply isn’t much up there right now, aside from galaxies.

 

There are a few galaxies where I can dig for details, and they are well placed right now.

 

The seeing and transparency were superb last night. The crescent moon looked like it was pasted onto black, with no light scattering to be found.  The stars above about 30° refused to twinkle.

 

Light wind gusts were the only impediment, but my scope is very well shielded from that.

 

The first one I looked at, was M64 - the Blackeye Galaxy.  This was one of the only ones I could see decently with my old 4.5” reflector, and it’s the one I keep coming back to.  Compact and bright, it’s a very simple EAA target, but the ‘ribs’ of the Blackeye are what I now try to resolve.

 

The second target is the Needle Galaxy - NGC 4565.  The fringes of the dust lanes against the galaxy itself.  I try to resolve as many knots as I can.  It’s another very simple EAA target, and probably one of the first that many people will have a go at.
 

M64: 294MC into C11/gain 450/10” subs/TI 23’

 

NGC 4565: 294MC into C11/gain 450/10” subs/TI 17’

 

Flats, darks, unsharp mask (luminance channel), Gaussian blur (lightly) applied via SharpCap.

Attached Thumbnails

• 
• 

[Larry Mc]

hi all,

Spent the middle part of last week at the Calhoun County Dark Sky Park in WV.  (38 deg).  Thought I'd share a portion of my observing report.

 

Tuesday 4/18:   With the clock now past midnight, the ‘witching hour’ of Centaurus collimating on the meridian was fast approaching. It was time to prepare for the highlight of my entire trip, EAA observing the great globular cluster Omega Centauri!

After first settling on a nearby bright 2nd mag star “Menkent” (theta Centauri) to check the camera focus with the bhatinov mask, I then slewed the telescope further south, to the peculiar galaxy NGC5128, also known as ‘Centaurus A’. While I have observed this interesting galaxy several times over the last half-dozen years from the ridge at Calhoun, as part of my Arp Peculiar Galaxy project work, this galaxy was in my ‘top three’ list of objects for this camping trip.
I was looking forward to getting a clear EAA view of the galaxy from the new observing field’s low southern horizon, and I was not disappointed.

At around 7.5 degrees elevation, the giant elliptical galaxy NGC5128 with its bisecting dusk-lane was a fine looking object!

 

 

(8" SCT @ f6.3 on an Atlas Gem, ZWO ASI294MC camera with L-Pro filter, 3 minute subs, dark & flat calibration frames, PHD guided, livestacked using Sharpcap for 15 minutes).

 

I would have liked to have stayed awhile longer on this peculiar galaxy, but the deep-sky object that was the whole reason for being at Calhoun in April was also nearing peak altitude on the southern meridian. I had to move on.

So I then slewed the telescope nearly horizontal, to the lower position of Omega Centauri, NGC5139, which was approaching the meridian and its maximum elevation of about 3.44 degrees. After a 15 second subframe exposure, the globular cluster filled the center of the monitor display, with streamers of stars extending towards the edges of the field. Quite a sight! According to info in the ‘Annals of the Deep Sky”, at a distance of 17,000 light-years and with a diameter of around 270 light-years, a number of Omega’s astrophysical characteristics points to the possibility that the ‘cluster’ is actually the remnant nucleus of a dwarf galaxy that was consumed by the much larger Milky-Way, similar to several other ‘globulars’ such as M54. Here’s the observation:

 

 

(8" SCT @ f6.3 on an Atlas Gem, ZWO ASI294MC camera with L-Pro filter, 15 second subs, dark & flat calibration frames, PHD guided, livestacked using Sharpcap for 75 seconds).

 

I was able to immediately see the dark feature called the "Eye of Omega", which is possibly a dark molecular cloud that is in front of the cluster in our line-of-sight. This is generally only seen visually, as most images are longer exposures to pull-out more of the fainter cluster stars. (to me the feature resembles a skull,,,,)   I would have liked to have gone a little deeper on the EAA observation, but telescope mount was in an awkward near horizontal position, and PHD guiding wasn’t doing very well.

Thought it would be interesting to show a comparison of NGC5139 to M13 at the same scale: (M13 was about 19 deg in elevation)

 

 

(8" SCT @ f6.3 on an Atlas Gem, ZWO ASI294MC camera with L-Pro filter, 15 second subs, dark & flat calibration frames, PHD guided, livestacked using Sharpcap for 5 minutes).

 

With this observation, I had finally got a good observation of the greatest globular cluster in the sky, a bucket-list astronomical goal that I had been carrying with me since the mid-80’s when I had a brief glimpse of omega thru a 10” dob. Life is good!!

 

For those interested in reading the entire observing report, here's a PDF link: http://stellar-journ...oun-Apr2023.pdf

 

 

 

 

[Larry Mc]

another EAA observations from Calhoun:

Tuesday 4/18: (just before making the Omega observation)

With the crisp, clear sky horizon to horizon, I knew tonight was the chance I needed to finally get the very last Abell Planetary nebula for my survey project – Abell35 in Hydra. My last try for Abell35 was at Calhoun last October, where my hopes for observing it were crushed when it rose within the morning zodiacal light that washed it out. LOL!
Tonight, the planetary would be in the clear, though at a low altitude of around 25 degrees, making the large, extended nebula even fainter. So I slewed the scope over to beta Crv, a +2.7 mag star called ‘Kraz’; sync’d the mount, and then slewed to Abell35.
After switching to the L-eNhance narrowband filter, a quick 30 second exposure showed the dim planetary was centered in the field, so I set Sharpcap for a 180 second sub-exposure and let that livestack for 15 minutes. Here’s the EAA observation:

  

 

(8" SCT @ f6.3 on an Atlas Gem, ZWO ASI294MC camera with L-eNhance filter, 3 minute subs, dark & flat calibration frames, PHD guided, livestacked using Sharpcap for 15 minutes).

 

At the end of the observation, displayed on the monitor was a pretty red (Ha) & blue-green (OIII) planetary oval. My Abell Planetary Nebula project that I started back in 2017 was now complete.

You can find all my Abell observations here: http://stellar-journ...llplanetary.htm
 

Edited by Larry Mc, 26 April 2023 - 02:07 PM.

[Far_Southern_Skies]

Proxima Centauri - our closest star.

 

We often simply refer to Rigel Kentaurus, or Alpha Centauri (a binary system of two very bright stars: Alpha Centauri A and B) as the closest star to Earth at 4.3 light years distance. However. their wide companion, a red dwarf, is currently about a seventh of a light year closer to us. This star is referred to as Proxima Centauri. It has not yet been confirmed that Proxima is gravitationally bound to Alpha Centauri A and B. If so, it will be a huge orbit with a period of several hundred thousand years. Three Exoplanets have been confirmed orbiting Proxima.

 

Proxima is magnitude 13 and just over two degrees from Alpha Centauri A and B. It has a proper motion of a couple of arc seconds per year. I have always wanted to observe Proxima and, if possible, detect it's proper motion. Visually, it was just out of range for my 140mm refractor. Alpha Centauri A (mag 0.00) and B (mag +1.33) is the third brightest star in the sky. Their separation is 7.7 arc seconds. It is easily split visually and is one of the hero binary systems in the southern sky

 

EAA observations have now made this possible. If I repeat these observations over coming years I should easily pick up Proxima's proper motion.

 

Firstly, Alpha Centauri A and B.

 

My EAA rig is working at 548mm focal length, so a simple one frame snapshot was the only way I could record an observation that split A and B. And, of course no chance of being able to capture Proxima in the same FOV as it is over two degrees away and my FOV is just over one degree.

 

Rigel Kentaurus_2023-05-16_ED103S_ASI585_SC_1X0.09ms_Gain300 with significant crop.

 

 

 

Next, Proxima Centauri. A simple stack of the star field easily revealed Proxima.

 

Proxima Centauri_2023-05-16_ED103S_ASI385_SC_23X4.0s_92s_Gain252

 

 

I am planning to revisit Proxima over the coming years. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to reveal Proxima's proper motion.

Edited by Far_Southern_Skies, 29 May 2023 - 06:54 AM.

[steveincolo]

I’d be curious about how much the orbits of the Proxima exoplanets are influenced by A and B.  

[PeterAB]

Far_Southern_Skies,

 

Thanks for posing EAA results from the south.   Please keep the good work.

 

I was in Australia for the April 20, 2023 eclipse working visual with a 5" reflector.  I split Alpha Centauri A and B.   I also looked for Proxima Centauri, but, soon figured out that seeing it and identifying would be completely different issues in the rich star field. 

 

Peter

[PeterAB]

I made a series of EAA observations of open star clusters in Auriga March 25, 2023.    There was a waxing crescent moon.   Transparency to just under magnitude 4 naked eye.    Seeing fair.  

 

Sorry for the delay getting these observations posted.  I know these objects are out of view until next winter.

 

There are several reasons I chose these objects.   I like star clusters.  They do well being viewed in the city with moon light both visual and EAA.    They do well with short exposures.

 

I am also going through lists and observing programs.   Some of these objects are on Don Pensack's list of 500 best deep sky objects for viewing with a 4" refractor visually under moderately dark skies.    The objects on Don's list generally do well observed EAA from my home in the light polluted city.   Many have been on the monthly observing challenges.   I am plugging away at Don's list.

 

May of these star clusters are also on the  Astronomical League open star cluster program.    Imaging is allowed for this program, so I'm taking the EAA route.   This avoids needing to sketch,  which I am slow and mediocre at. 

 

Astro Tech 102EDL F714 f7 refractor, asi294mc, 1.0x flattener,  IR-UV cut filter.   SharpCap live stacked with darks and flats.  Gain 130.   Annotated by Astrometry.net.  North up, east left.   1.5 x 1 degree views.

 

NGC 1798.   465 seconds (31x15s).  There are 50 stars.   brightest are magnitude 13.   No hint of this open cluster visually.   Fairly faint EAA view against the rich star field, but, easy to pick out.   Astro League and 500 best object.

 

Annotated

 

NGC 1893.  105 seconds (7x15s).   Open cluster is bright in the center.   270 stars.  This is also a bright nebula IC410.   Just visible in this image even though I did not expose for the nebula.   The brighter stars in this cluster were eyepiece visible and look nice.   Nebula was not eyepiece visual.   Astro League and 500 best object.

 

Peter

 

[PeterAB]

More open clusters from March.   Same conditions as previous post.

 

NGC 1912 (m38).  180 seconds (12x15s).   Big and bright.   Easy EAA and visual.   Astro League and 500 best object.

 

NGC 2281 (Broken heart cluster).     225 Seconds (15x15s).   There are 100+ stars in this cluster including the bright stars in the center of this image.   The bright stars are eyepiece visible.  This is a 500 best object.

 

NGC 2126.  300 Seconds (20x15s).   This is the small group of stars around the bright white star in the middle of the image.   I don't think the bright star is a member.    Brightest cluster stars are m13.   This was not eyepiece visible.  This is on the 500 best list.

 

Peter

[PeterAB]

One last star cluster from March 25, 2023.   Same conditions and equipment as previous posts.

 

NGC 2192.  360 seconds (24x15s).    This cluster is fairly small and dim.   40 or so starts the brightest are magnitude 14.   Not at all eyepiece visible from the city.  This is a 500 best list object.

 

Annotated

 

Peter

[Far_Southern_Skies]

Alpha Centauri A and B is also a spectacular daytime target. Two close, bright, jewel like points of light against the bright blue sky background.

 

 

Far_Southern_Skies,

 

Thanks for posing EAA results from the south.   Please keep the good work.

 

I was in Australia for the April 20, 2023 eclipse working visual with a 5" reflector.  I split Alpha Centauri A and B.   I also looked for Proxima Centauri, but, soon figured out that seeing it and identifying would be completely different issues in the rich star field. 

 

Peter

[BrentKnight]

Peter,

 

Great star cluster captures.  Now that the moon is up, clusters are a great target - I'll have to test out the 130PHQ soon.

 

Do you do the Trumpler classifications for these clusters?  The AL program makes that a requirement for the certificate.  I have to admit, that's not my favorite part and I've got a pile of cluster images I need to go back through.  Often my estimates are nowhere near what the "official" classifications are.

[Larry Mc]

hi all,

Spent the May New Moon at the ORAS Observatory dark-sky site (in Western PA). Tought I would share one of my EAA observations.

 

Monday 5/15/2023: 

Spent the first half of the evening hunting Hickson galaxy clusters, Around 2am, I set aside the galaxy cluster project to make a deep observation of the edge-on galaxy NGC4565 in Coma Berenices. The May issue of Sky&Tel has a great article on page 20 by author Howard Banich about observing the bright spindle galaxy with its prominent dark-lane, along with all the little, faint background galaxies in the same general field. (I love using Sky&Tel's visual observing articles for EAA!).

By real-time adjusting the livestack histogram levels and brightness within Sharpcap, I was able to observe the objects described within the article.

Here’s the ‘wide-field EAA observation of NGC4565 showing both the main galaxy and the brighter neighbor galaxies of +13.4 mag spiral NGC4562 south of and +16.9 mag irregular galaxy IC3571 to the north of the main galaxy. Also the small spirals IC3543 & IC3546 could be found a little distance away to the northwest of the big spiral.

 

(using my 8" SCT @ f6.3 on an Atlas Gem, ZWO ASI294MC camera with L-Pro filter, 5 minute subs, dark & flat calibration frames, PHD guided, livestacked using Sharpcap for one hour).

 

But the real fun was using the magazine article as a guide in pulling in the really faint smudges of +17.7 and +19 mag galaxies NGFP9 F378-0021738 & NGFP9 F378-0021761 just to the east of NGC4565’s core, and a small galaxy cluster off the SE edge of NGC4565 spiral arms called RX J236.9+2550 all greater than +17.5 mag.

Here's a more livestack 'stretched' zoom/crop and also using the 'negative' tool.

   

 

(also using the 8" SCT @ f6.3 on an Atlas Gem, ZWO ASI294MC camera with L-Pro filter, 5 minute subs, dark & flat calibration frames, PHD guided, livestacked using Sharpcap for one hour).

 

I am always amazed how I can replicate visual observations that  require very large aperture scopes using just an 8" SCT optical tube and ASI294MC camera with EAA techniques. 

[MarMax]

Really nice Larry.

 

If you don't mind, can you share your other camera settings as well as settings for your flats?

 

I've never considered a 5 minute sub for EAA and have only tried 1 minute subs a couple of times, even at a dark site. I'm sure you've answered this before but are you using a Starizona f/6.3 Corrector?

[alphatripleplus]

Reminder:

 

 

 

If you have equipment questions, please post them elsewhere.

Moderator Note:

 

 Reminder (again):

 

Please post your equipment related questions in another topic.

[PeterAB]

Peter,

 

Great star cluster captures.  Now that the moon is up, clusters are a great target - I'll have to test out the 130PHQ soon.

 

Do you do the Trumpler classifications for these clusters?  The AL program makes that a requirement for the certificate.  I have to admit, that's not my favorite part and I've got a pile of cluster images I need to go back through.  Often my estimates are nowhere near what the "official" classifications are.

 

For my observing, I normally make a log entry in while observing.     This could be clicks on my planetarium log or a voice memo on my of my electronic gadgets.    I record seeing, transparency,  instrument details, observation location and an impression of what I have seen.    This is  typical what AL programs like to see.  

 

A nice thing about EAA vs visual is you have an image to take a second look at.   I often see more details when writing a CloudyNights post or an entry in a log for an AL program.

 

I am just starting the open cluster program and am working on figuring out the Trumpler classification system.   I'm be doing the classifications off of the saved image, rather than the live view.  

 

I hope this is an okay post in the observation thread.    Not so much an observation, but, how I do my observation logs and the details that I like to put in my posts.

 

Peter