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.

IC434, the Horsehead

A beautiful object just underneath the belt of Orion. This is one of my favourites, although I have rarely imaged it myself. But I have plans to do a really long and deep exposure of the whole Orion-area. Was planning to this winter. But the bad weather has rendered this impossible. A couple of days ago, I ordered five exposures of this object from a telescope on Tenerife. And here is the result. Not too bad, considering this is just 12.5 minutes of exposure.
20" F/6.8, FLI ProLine PL09000. 15x50sec Luminance, 5x40sec each of R, G and B. Stacked in DSS, processed in PS and Irfanview.

M51 from a favorable location

There can be little doubt that taking astrophotos from a dark site high into the mountains is favorable to inner city with light pollution. But the difference is truly staggering. The following photo was taken with a remote telescope on Teide, Tenerife. The telescope is 20" f/6.8. And has a FLI ProLine FL09000 camera with LRGB filters. I ordered three images of the galaxy M51, and stacked them and combined them manually. The result is staggering, despite the short exposures. 6x50 sec Luminance and 3x40 sec each of R, G and B.

M42, new take on the oldie goldie

I guess M42 is one of the most photographed objects in the sky. And I have taken my fair share of exposures of this beauty in the sky. This Saturday, at an astronomy gathering at Harestua Solar Observatory, the weather was apalling to say the least. So I gave a lecture/workshop on astrophoto processing instead. A couple of the people attending managed to get quite astounding results using "my" methods of processing. This inspired my to go back to this old photo I took in Australia in 2012, and give it another go. I changed the colouring slightly compared to how I have done it previously. And I have changed the way I have added sharpening effects. I will probably do several more rounds in the years to come. Maybe adding more exposure. But with the rather dismal weather prospects, I think processing old images is probably the only thing I'll be doing for a long while ahead. (Click on the image for a full.size view). For some weird reason, Blogger makes the background of this image strongly reddish... Ignore that...
Tech : Pentax K5, ISO 1600, 100x30 sec unguided exposures. TS triplet APO w/ WO field flattener, SkyWatcher EQ-3 Pro Synscan. Stacking in DSS, processing in PS and IrfanView.