Bob's AstroGallery

A.k.a.: Leo Triplet
Type: Spiral galaxies
Distance from earth: Approx. 36 +/- 5 million ly
Constellation: Leo
Telescope: Sky-Watcher Explorer-200PDS Newton
Camera: Canon EOS 550D
Exposure: 25x 25s @ ISO1600, no darks or flats
Filters: None
Additional accessories: None

This is the second picture taken with this new setup (although the Canon DSLR isn’t new, it’s my old buddy).
I’m amazed at what can be shown with such short exposures!
Still on my wishlist: coma corrector and IDAS-LPS P2 filter (I wish I never sold this one!).

Note: There is a supernova, it goes by the name of sn2013am, visible in M65 (the upper right galaxy).

A.k.a.: Sunflower Galaxy
A.k.a. NGC 5055
Type: Globular Cluster
Distance from earth: Approx. 37.000.000 ly
Constellation: Canes Venatici (hunting dogs)
Telescope: Robtics 115mm triplet apo @ F/6.9
Camera: Atik 383L+ monochrome
Exposure: 14x 300s + 1x dark pixel map
Filters: Hutech IDAS LPS-P2
Additional accessories: Robtics field flattener, Starlight Xpress USB filter wheel

A.k.a. NGC 6218
Type: Globular Cluster
Distance from earth: Approx. 15.700 ly
Constellation: Ophiuchus
Telescope: Robtics 115mm triplet apo @ F/6.9
Camera: Atik 383L+ monochrome
Exposure: 10x 300s + 1x dark pixel map
Filters: Hutech IDAS LPS-P2
Additional accessories: Robtics field flattener, Starlight Xpress USB filter wheel

This is only a small part of the Virgo cluster of galaxies, which contains about 1500 galaxies in total.
In this image, the following galaxies are easily spotted, from right to left: M84, M86 with NGC 4402 above, NGC 4425, NGC 4438, NGC 4435, NGC 4461, NGC 4458 and NGC 4473 in the far left, upper corner.
Close inspection will reveal even more smaller and fuzzy galaxies.

Type: Spiral Galaxy
Distance from earth: ranging anywhere between 50.000.000 and 60.000.000 ly, and beyond
Constellation: Virgo
Telescope: Robtics 115mm triplet apo @ F/6.9
Camera: Atik 383L+ monochrome
Exposure: single 600s shot, no darks
Filters: Hutech IDAS LPS-P2
Additional accessories: Robtics field flattener, Starlight Xpress USB filter wheel

This is actually the very first image taken with the new (secondhand) Atik 383L+ monochrome camera and the Starlight Xpress filter wheel.
It was just a test, because I wanted to see how deep it could go. I think it’s a great start, considering it’s only a single shot.

A.k.a. Whirlpool Galaxy
A.k.a. NGC 5194
A.k.a. Arp 85
Type: Spiral Galaxy
Distance from earth: Approx. 23.000.000 ly
Constellation: Canus Venatici (Hunting Dogs)
Telescope: Robtics 115mm triplet apo @ F/6.9
Camera: Atik 383L+ monochrome
Exposure: 8x 600s + 1x 600s dark
Filters: Hutech IDAS LPS-P2
Additional accessories: Robtics field flattener, Starlight Xpress USB filter wheel

The smaller, interacting galaxy is known as NGC 5195. Both galaxies are also referred to as M51a and M51b (the last one being the smaller galaxy).

A.k.a.: NGC 7078
Type: Globular cluster
Telescope: Robtics 130mm triplet apo @ F/6.9
Camera: Atik 314L
Exposure: 17x300s, 4 darks, no flats
Filters: Hutech IDAS LPS-P2

The first version was made 1 year ago, minus 10 days, with the DSLR.

A.k.a.: Dumbbell Nebula
A.k.a.: NGC6853
Type: Planetary Nebula
Distance from earth: Approx. 1350 light years
Radius: Approx. 1.5 light years
Camera: Atik 314L Color
Exposure: 14x 300s, 5 darks, no flats
Filters: Hutech IDAS LPS-P2

After many weeks of bad weather and no clear skies, last night finally showed proof that there is actually something behind those clouds.
Unfortunately it was short-lived, after setting up my gear, I was able to take only 3 frames of M3; the clouds were already coming back, fast.
But it was worth it, I could finally test the Intes Mikro 0.6x focal reducer.
This reducer does not correct for anything, unlike most SCT focal reducers, and I had hoped it would produce coma-free pictures.
As you can see in the picture, it isn’t nearly coma free – and this was taken with a small CCD camera!
Vignetting is also quite apparent. I didn’t make any flats though, those would take care of this problem perfectly.

This really is unfortunate, because it means I still have to wait for Celestron to produce their dedicated C9.25 EdgeHD focal reducers, which will undoubtedly be very costly.

Wolfgang Ransburg, from Teleskop-Service, was kind enough to sell me a discount Intes Mikro focal reducer, with the option to return it in case it wouldn’t live up to our expectations (he thought, or hoped, that this reducer would fit the EdgeHD series).
So, from this short test alone, I think I can safely conclude that this focal reducer is not compatible with the C9.25 EdgeHD.
If I would use my Canon DSLR, with its much larger CMOS chip, the coma will be much worse.

Type: Globular Cluster
A.k.a.: NGC 5272
Constellation: Canes Venatici
Distance From Earth: 33,900 light years

Camera: Atik 314L color
Exposure: 3x240s light frames, 0 dark frames, 0 flats.
Filters: Hutech IDAS LPS-P2
Telescope: C9.25 EdgeHD
Focal reducer: Intes Mikro 0.6x

Type: Globular Cluster
A.k.a.: NGC 6205
Constellation: Hercules
Distance From Earth: 25,100 light years

Camera: Atik 314L color
Exposure: 26x30s light frames, 0 dark frames, 0 flats.
Filters: Hutech IDAS LPS-P2
Telescope: C9.25 EdgeHD

I still can’t make any new images, so I decided to redo some post-processing some images.
One of these reworked images is M81, hope you like it!

Type: Spiral Galaxy
A.k.a.: NGC3031, Bode’s Galaxy
Constellation: Ursa Major
Distance From Earth: 12,000,000 light years
Diameter: 95,000 light years

Camera: Atik 314L color
Exposure: 43x600s light frames, 0 dark frames, 0 flats
Filters: Hutech IDAS LPS-P2
Telescope: Skywatcher 120 ED Pro