NGC2903, another try

After a dismal spring this year, we have finally had quite a few nights of clear skies. And I and a few friends had to exploit his. Especially since the weather forecast is looking bad in the coming days, and the Sun is intruding more more. In a few short weeks, there will not be more astronomical twighlight this winter.
I decided to try an oldie goldie. The NGC2903 in Leo. This was the very first deep sky object I imaged in the late 90's. It was just a smeary blob on the film. This time, I decided to try autoguiding for longer sub-frame exposures. 2 minutes seemed ok, since that would allow me to evict all the frames containing satellites and bad guiding. There were a lot of satellites this night. Three satellites in different orbits raced through the tail of Leo simultaniously at one point. So it was obvious there would be a lot of streaks. Only had to evict 7 frames from the stack, so I guess I was lucky.
Tech : Pentax K5, ISO 800, 59x2 min guided exposures, TPO 6" RC, w/APCCD67 reducer (f/6), Celestron Advanced VX, stacked in DDS, processed in PS.

Black-eye galaxy

The skies do have a "black eye". And I have taken a snapshot of it. M64, in the constellation Coma Berenices. The "black eye" is quite obvious in this picture. Taken from one of our usual spots outside of Oslo. I tried a bit longer exposures this time around, using autoguider. Still haven't quite mastered the technique, and the guide-scope iced down, so PHD guider was struggling to follow the star properly, but it managed to keep the stars round'ish.
Tech details : Pentax K5, ISO 800, 45x2 min guided exposureTPO 6"RC w/APCCD67 reducer (f/6), Celestron Advanced VX.

3C273

This may possibly be of the farthest object I will ever photograph. The quasar 3C273. It is also the brightest of the quasars.
Tech details : Pentax K5, ISO800, 4x1min unguided exposures. TPO 6" RC w/AP CCD67 reducer (f/6). Stacked in DSS, processed in PS and IrfanView.

M63

The Sunflower galaxy. A beatiful galaxy. I had some problems with my guiding last night. Kept jumping up and down, but I managed to get about 2 hours with sort-of round stars. At the Harestua Solar observatorium, the skies where exceptionally clear. We could clearly see details in the belts of Jupiter, so I figured I'd try this galaxy. The small galaxy at the bottom right corner is UGC 8313.
Tech details : Pentax K5, ISO-800, TPO 6" w/ AP CCD67 reducer (f/6), Celestron Advanced VX mount, 23x5 min guided exposures, QHY-5II guide camera, Orion Mini Guider scope. Stacking in DSS, processing in PS and IrfanView.

The Iris nebula

While reading up on which objects to shoot at first chance I got this Monday night, I came across an object I had briefly heard of. The Iris nebula. I jotted down the details on a piece of paper I brought with med to Bysætermosan outside of Oslo. A reasonably dark place that many amateurs use for observation and astrophoto. While waiting for the Markarian Chain to get into position, I decided to try and shoot the Iris. A couple of other guys where there that evening, and we looked at a number of nice objects through an 8" cass. The skies where surprisingly sharp. The air was dry, and the atmosphere was steady. I got 55 usable exposures of 1 min length. Stacked them, and did some processing afterwards. It is obvious that this nebula needs darker skies and longer esposure. The nebula was in the direction of Oslo, and was bathed in "yellow hell". But I managed to wringe out some photons that make out some of the nebula, and its darker surroundings.
Tech details : Pentax K5, ISO 1600, 55x1 min unguided exposures, TPO Ritchey-Chretien w/ AP CCD067 reducer (F/6). Stacked in DSS, processed in PS and Irfanview.

Markarians chain

Springtime is galaxy time. At this time of the year, the constellations of Virgo and Coma Berenices are high in the sky. And in them, a myriad og galaxies. The below image is an approximately 3 hour integration of the Markarian Chain. A chain of galaxies strung out across a small piece of the sky. If you click on the image to see it full size, you can make a myriad of smaller, faiter background galaxies. This area is littered with galaxies. But most of them need a bit of exposure to be revealed.
Technical details : Pentax K5, ISO 800, TPO 6" Ritchey Chretien with AstroPhysics CCD067 reducer (F/6), 64x3min exposures, guided with an QHY-5II attached to an Orion Miniguider, PDH guider. Stacked in DSS processed in PS and IrfanView.

NGC2903

This the very first deep sky object I ever tried to image. It was in the late nighties. On film. It was just a small blob. The only difference between it and the stars around it was that it was more oval. I tried imaging it with a 6" newton, and it was a totally different thing. I could clearly see the spiral arms. It is truly a beautiful object. Using a 20" scope on a high location, gave stellar view (pardon the pun).
8x50 sec luminance, 4x40 sec R, G and B. Stacking in DSS. Processing in PS and Irfanview.