Astronomy and DSLR Astrophotography Blog

Dark nebula is a nebula in the galaxy which absorbs the light from the background. There are two types of them in general – one can be seen because they block the light of the emission nebulas in the background. One of the most spectalular of them is Horsehead nebula in Orion. The others block the light which comes from the stars behind them and those are best seen where the density of the stars is the highest – in the Milky Way. Dark nebulas consist of cold materia in the space, which is not hot enough to transmit the light.

In the night from 23th to 24th August I have gone to Bohor to take some photos of Elephant’s trunk, but I had to end taking photos about at midnight because the object passed the meridian and I couldn’t track it anymore. I had to make quick decision which object to capture the rest of the night and I choose the dark nebulas B334, 336-7 in Aquila, near Altair. I had no internet and I hadn’t a clue how this nebula looks like. Some of dark nebulas are really breath-taking and impressive (who doesn’t know Horsehead). Well, mine isn’t so spectacular, but I am pretty satisfied with the result. The next day I have checked the google image search for this nebula and found nothing, which means that I am one of the first who decided to “burn” his CMOS sensor on this object for some hours After all, that counts as well …

Here you go:

Dark Nebulas B334, B336, B337 @ photo: Primož Cigler

Some technical data about the exposure, equipment and so on:

Object: B334
Date and Location: 23. 8. 2009, Oslica, Bohor
Exposition: 26 x 5min
Camera: Canon 350D, Baader mod., ISO 800, RAW
Optics: Orion Optics Europa 20cm f/4.5
Mount: Vixen GP-DX SS2K
Autoguiding: SW 80/400 with QHY5
Processed in: Iris, Ps

astrophotography astrophotography, camera, canon, constellation, dark nebula, deep-sky, galaxy, milky way, nebula, stars

In the nights from 20th to 21st and 21st to 22nd August I have been capturing the Great Galaxy in Andromeda. I used my 8″ f/4.5 Newton which means 900mm of focal length and too small FOV to get the entire galaxy into one frame so I decided to make a mosaic. I spend the first night for the right part and second for the left part of the image. I combined them in Photoshop. All other data about image are:

Object: M31 and M32 (Andromeda Galaxy)
Date and Location: 20. and 21. 8. 2009, Mali Orehek, Slovenia
Exposition: 2×1 mosaic: 30 x 5min and 36 x 5min
Camera: Canon 350D, Baader mod., ISO 800, RAW
Optics: Orion Optics Europa 20cm f/4.5
Mount: Vixen GP-DX SS2K
Autoguiding: SW 80/400 with QHY5
Processed in: Iris, Ps

M31 and M32 @ photo: Primož Cigler

I hope you like it, I am very satisfied with the result. More is coming soon…

astrophotography astrophotography, constellation, deep-sky, galaxy, images, messier, stars

Yesterday evening it was clear outside and the Moon was rising at about 1.30 so I had 2 hours of total dark and this is enough for testing the new autoguiding camera QHY5. The target was M51, the second time. While I was deciding what to capture I realized that I will have to move to better location since from my backyard the southern sky is totally useless because of road lamps.

I managed to make a new cable for QHY5 so now it works with SkySensor autoguiding port. With that I decreased the number of cables from laptop to my mount from 5 to 3. Now I need only USB connection between PC and Camera, Bulb shutter release cable and USB connection with QHY5, which is great. I am planning to buy a new CCD for astrophotography so after that I will need only 2 cables. No more mess around the scope, finally!

So, I have just processed the image, the result is shown below:

Spiral Galaxy M51 @ 26 x 5min, ISO 800, RAW

I have also taken a shot of my equipment, at the “working” state

My Astrophotography Equipment

astrophotography, equipment astrophotography, autoguiding, camera, deep-sky, equipment, galaxy, images, mount, telescope

I haven’t been writing here for a while. Currently I am studying for my exams … but just one month left. Then I will continue with astrophotography tutorial. Nevertheless, I managed to take photography of galaxy M86 and neighbours last weekend. The picture was caputred with my standard setup: Orion Optics 8″ f/4.5, modded Canon 350D with IDAS LPS P2 filter at ISO 800, RAW on Vixen GP-DX mount. The photography is composition of 30 images, each of 5min. I was capturing from the backyard in front of a house where is a lot of light pollution.

M86 with neighbours

I am very satisfied with the result because I have spent some nights outside recently without any useful pictures, because autoguiding wasnt’ working properly. I had to change some settings and now works again.

astrophotography astrophotography, deep-sky, galaxy, idas, images, messier, stars

I haven’t been writing for a while now because I had so much stuff to do. This year I am finishing my secondary school and I am already preparing for the exams. Nevertheless, I haven’t been so passive at astrophotography. I have to admin that drive for my mount was damaged since summer and I hadn’t been capturing astrophotos for a half of the year. A friend of mine repaired it last month so I ordered some other cool stuff to upgrade it: I changed the holder of secondary mirror (spider) and mounted new rings for guidescope.

Yesterday I calibrated system again and did this shot of NGC2403 galaxy in Camelopardalis:

Galaxy NGC2403, taken with Orion Optics Europe f/4.5 on Vixen GP-DX SS2K @ Photo Credits: Primož Cigler

It’s composition of 26 exposures, each of 5min on ISO800 with Baader modified Canon 350D and IDAS LPS P2 filter. The mount was Vixen GP-DX with SkySensor 2000PC and the telescope Orion Optics Europe 8″ f/4.5. I processed image with Iris, Photoshop and Lightroom. It’s not my the best image of this object, but I am satisfied with a result because it’s a proof that everything is OK with the mount.

My Astrophotography tutorial will be continued as soon as I find more time.

Clear Skies!

astrophotography, personal astrophotography, deep-sky, galaxy, images, mount, telescope

M51 is a spiral galaxy in constellation of Canes Venatici. It’s other name is Whirlpool Galaxy. In fact there is not a single galaxy but it’s two of them: one larger and another smaller. They are located in a distant approximately 23 million ly from us. M51 is one of the object which can be found in Messier’s catalogue of deep-sky objects. It’s frequent target of amateur astrophotographers on the northern hemisphere. The object is 9.0 magnitude and can be seen with binoculars and smaller telescopes.

M51 (Whirlpool Galaxy) @ Primož Cigler

The picture was taken on 8th of April 2007 with Orion Optics Europa 8″ f/4.5 on Vixen GP-DX mount, auto-guided. The exposure was 36 times 3 min, all the images combined with Iris and post-processed with Photoshop. The camera was unmodified Canon 350D at ISO800, RAW.

astrophotography constellation, deep-sky, galaxy, images, messier, spiral, stars