Category Archives: Galaxies

Distant islands of stars

M101 Supernova SN2023ixf

Posted on October 21, 2023 by paul

In May of 2023 a new supernova was reported in galaxy M101. M101 is easy to image from my house and is big enough in the sky that a lot of detail can be resolved. Supernovas often appear brighter than … Continue reading →

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The Whale and the Hockey Stick

Posted on June 4, 2022 by paul

This is NGC 4631 and NGC 4656-7 better known as the Whale and Hockey stick galaxies. Imaged over several nights 21-25th April 2022, I managed only a few hours total due to bad weather.

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Messier 51 in 2022

Posted on April 30, 2022 by paul

I’ve taken a shot at Messier 51 again. Compared to Messier 51 and first light for my Orion Optics 250mm rebuild from last year it is more successful: Conditions were much better and my guiding is considerably better with <> … Continue reading →

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NGC 4725 and NGC4747 have collided

Posted on March 29, 2022 by paul

This is NGC 4725 and cohorts. It looks NGC 4725 had a tangle with 4747 and neither came off well. Imaged from the 22nd to 25th March, total integration time was 9 hours and 15 minutes, (2h20 Blue, 2hr53 Green, … Continue reading →

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Messier 106 and the faint fuzzies

Posted on March 11, 2022 by paul

On one of three clear nights in February, I managed to capture this amazing image: Just three hours of RGB data has captured a host of bright and many faint galaxies. Some of the faintest detected are very red indicating … Continue reading →

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Messier 81 and Messier 82 – a classic pairing

Posted on March 10, 2022 by paul

Making the most of my improved guiding I have been using the big 250mm Newt to image some classic galaxies: This is a combination of several partial sessions that I had to stop for one reason or another. 10hrs split … Continue reading →

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NGC 891, an edge on galaxy in Andromeda

Posted on January 20, 2022 by paul

Broadband imaging is already tricky in the suburbs but I perhaps didn’t help myself by trying to image this lovely galaxy with an almost full moon chasing it across the sky and haze. But still, for 4 hrs of data … Continue reading →

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The Andromeda Galaxy M31

Posted on October 5, 2021 by paul

This is the result of 3hrs and 50 minutes of 5min subs @ ISO800 using my resurrected Canon 550d, Optolong L-pro, Altair 70mm EDT-F on my trusty HEQ5pro. I’m pretty happy with picking up the star bridge between M31 and … Continue reading →

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Messier 51 and first light for my Orion Optics 250mm rebuild

Posted on August 22, 2021 by paul

This LRGB image is the result of 3 hrs of imaging with many lost subs due to cloud and some RA imbalance issues. Probably only 1.5hrs with most of those softened by clouds. This results in a noisy and more … Continue reading →

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Messier 63 – LRGB

Posted on August 22, 2021 by paul

I had a few things to crack like the differential flexure and misting up of the camera that trashed a lot of the subs I took in a 3hr session. As a result, at first when I processed the image … Continue reading →

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