This image is combination of LRGB and Ha light frames totaling 38 hours of exposures.
Unfortunately the frame is quite tight because I had only one guide star to go with.
There is a odd almost starless area at the right side of the galaxy where no Ha-areas are visible nor will there born any new stars. This is some kind of mystery why it exist and how has it formed.
Image taken with Harlingten Atacama Observatory’s 20″ Planewave CDK telescope and Apogee Alta U42 CCD using LRGB and Ha filters.
My image of NGC 4945 was selected as NASA’s Astronomy Picture of The Day.
Here is the link to APOD-page:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150528.html
Here you can see my other astronomy images:
I have started to operate a 20″ PlaneWave CDK telescope in San Pedro de Atacama. It’s mainly used for scientific surveys but every now and then I have opportunity to take some pretty pictures. Conditions are excellent down there. Average seeing is around 1.8 FWHM, sometimes even less. This observatory is sponsored by Caisey Harlingten.
I’ve been configuring ACP automation software to be able to automate most of our observations. We are also changing the dome control electronics to be able to operate it remotely.
This is 172 minutes of LRGB data.
This is my first light using using 20″ PlaneWave CDK telescope in Atacama Chile. I was using only photometric filters to acquire colors for this magnificent nebula. Total exposure is 84 minutes.
I had a chance to shoot one moonless night in the middle of the monsoon at New Mexico. I picked up this target because I already had some data for it from previous sessions. This is total of 291 minutes of HaLRGB frames combined together with Photoshop.
Another image from NM couple nights ago. This galaxy is also called the Sunflower galaxy. Total exposure of 120 minutes.
Finally back in business. Two months since I was able to operate our remote observatory in New Mexico due broken motor to open up the roof. Now it’s fixed. First test image of the RC1. This is total of 80 minutes of LRGB exposures of this nice globular cluster.
After long wait and a lot of work and configuration I’m happy to announce that we have our second operational RC telescope in Rancho Hidalgo. Thank you Mark Hanson for your valuable help.
This is M78 image where data is combined from last year and this year. LRGB = 40:40:30:40 minutes.
Framing was a bit challenging due to lack of guiding stars.
