M27

Revision#3 - Added a Shadow/Hightlight adjustment layer in PS to tone down the center and add more contrast.

The above photo was revised for color balance - hopefully to add a a greater blue teal contrast.

Optics: Takahashi FSQ-106
Mount: Astro-Physics Ap900GTO
Camera: SBIG ST200XM
Filters Astrodon Ha & O3
Dates: July 15 through July 28, 2008
Location: Roswell, Georgia

Exposure Details
Ha = 330 Minutes
O3 = 195 Minutes

The Ha channel was assigned to red with the O3 used for both the blue and green.

IC405 Flaming Star Nebula

Revised for color balance - Thanks for the great help John!

Technical Details

Optics: Takahashi FSQ-106N.

Mount: Astro-Physics AP900GTO.

Camera: SBIG ST2000XM.

Filters: Astrodon 5nm S2, Ha, O3.

Dates: February 2008.

Location: Roswell, Georgia.

Exposure Details:

Ha = 6.5 hours (15-minute individual exposures).

S2 = 4.5 hours (15-minute individual exposures).

O3 = 1.75 hours (15-minute individual exposures).

Sharpless SH2-86

Sharpless SH2-86 is located in the constellation Vulpecula and contains the open star cluster NGC 6823 in the center of the frame.

Optics: Takahashi FSQ-106
Mount: Astro-Physics Ap900GTO
Camera: SBIG ST200XM
Filters Astrodon Ha
Dates: June 17 through July 12, 2008
Location: Roswell, Georgia

Exposure Details
S2 = 480 Minutes
Ha = 300 Minutes
O3 = 330 Minutes

Total exposure 18.5 hrs.

Markarian's Chain of Galaxies

Markarian's Chain of galaxies is a small portion of the Virgo Cluster. The lower right portion of the picture resembles a human face with Messier galaxies M86 and M87 as the eyes, NGC 4388 as the mouth and NGC 4387 in the middle as the nose.

Technical Details:

Optics: Takahashi FSQ-106
Mount: Astro-Physics Ap900GTO
Camera: SBIG ST200XM
Filters Astrodon Luminance
Dates: March 3, 2008
Location: Deerlick Astronomy Village

Exposure Details
L = 225 Minutes

(From APOD 2001 January 26):

Well over a thousand galaxies are known members of the Virgo Cluster, the closest large cluster of galaxies to our own local group. The galaxy cluster is difficult to see all at once because it covers such a large area on the sky. A close examination of the image will reveal that many of the "stars" are actually surrounded by a telltale fuzz, indicating that they are Virgo Cluster galaxies. On average, Virgo Cluster galaxies are measured to be about 48 million light-years away.

Elephant's Trunk Nebula

This one is a small part of SH2-131 that includes the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula IC 1396. The nebula is located in the Constellation Cepheus.

Technical Details:

Optics: Takahashi FSQ-106
Mount: Astro-Physics Ap900GTO
Camera: SBIG ST200XM
Filters Astrodon Ha
Dates: June 4 through July 3, 2008
Location: Deerlick Astronomy Village and Roswell, Georgia

Exposure Details
S2 = 630 Minutes
Ha = 315 Minutes
O3 = 765 Minutes