Astronomy and Astrophotography
    The Eastern Veil - Part of the Veil Nebula :

    The Veil Nebula is a cloud of heated and ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus. It constitutes the visible portions of the Cygnus Loop (radio source W78, or Sharpless 103), a large but relatively faint
    supernova remnant. The source supernova exploded some 5,000 to 8,000 years ago, and the remnants have since expanded to cover an area roughly 3 degrees in diameter (about 6 times the diameter, or 36 times
    the area, of the full moon). The distance to the nebula is not precisely known, but recent evidence from the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) supports a distance of about 1,470 light-years.  In
    modern usage, the names Veil Nebula, Cirrus Nebula, and Filamentary Nebula generally refer to all the visible structure of the remnant, or even to the entire loop itself. The structure is so large that several NGC
    numbers were assigned to various arcs of the nebula. There are three main visual components:

The Western Veil (also known as Caldwell 34), consisting of NGC 6960 (the "Witch's Broom") near the foreground star 52 Cygni;
The Eastern Veil (also known as Caldwell 33), whose brightest area is NGC 6992, trailing off farther south into NGC 6995 and IC 1340; and
Pickering's Triangle (or Pickering's Triangular Wisp), brightest at the north central edge of the loop, but visible in photographs continuing toward the central area of the loop.

    Imaging and Processing: Michael DeMita - 7/2011 - Suburban Atlanta
Capture, Guiding and
Processing:
M25C and HyperStar lens.  
Nebulosity to capture and
PHD to guide.   DSS for
stacking and PS CS4
post-processing.
Image details: 2.5 hours of 1,
2,3 and 4 minute exposures
using an UHC-S filter.  
Telescope was a C11" Edge
HD SCT on a CGEM
mount.   Guide camera was a
Starlight Xpress Lodestar.
    Andromeda Galaxy:

    Photographs were taken using the M25C CCD camera through a Celestron C11" Edge HD SCT on a CGEM mount.  Guiding was accomplished using PHD and imaging was done with Nebulosity.  An IDAS-
    LP  filter was used to take 2 hours of subs, each with between 1 and 5 minute exposures.  The image was done from very light polluted skies in my driveway in the Atlanta area.

    Imaging and Processing: Michael DeMita 7/2011
SXVR-M25C and HyperStar len.  2.5 hours of 1-5 minute sub-frames.  Dust and Scratch feature used to accentuate the gases and minimize stars.
1200 resolution for
the space minded.
1200 resolution for
the space minded.
No Dust and Scratch
(full star) version.

    The Triangulum Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 3 million light years (ly) from Earth in the constellation Triangulum. It is catalogued as Messier 33 or NGC 598, and is sometimes informally referred to as the
    Pinwheel Galaxy, a nickname it shares with Messier 101. The Triangulum Galaxy is the third-largest member of the Local Group of galaxies, which includes the Milky Way Galaxy, the Andromeda Galaxy and about 30
    other smaller galaxies. It is one of the most distant permanent objects that can be viewed with the naked eye.

    Photographs were taken using the M25C CCD camera through an Explore Scientific ED127 refractor at f7.5 using IDAS-LP filter.  This is my first really long (7 hours) set of data - but was done from the horribly light
    polluted skies of Atlanta.  2,3,4,5 and 10 minute sub exposures were combined using DSS and post-processes with PS4.  Regardless of the quality, I finally got my first 'pink' hydrogen gas tones to appear using this
    telescope and going long on the total exposures with a big galaxy.  Guiding was accomplished using PHD and a Lodestar camera on a CGEM mount. Imaging was done with Nebulosity.

    Imaging and Processing: Michael DeMita 8/2011
1900 and 1200  resolutions to the
right.
Archive and first attempts
- Click Here
Most Recent
Astrophotographic
Work (Page 2):
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Equipment and Field Setup
- Click Here
Planetary Work - Click
Here
Page 1
I have long been interested in the this and I am now trying it.  Bought my first scope on 11/1/10.  The photography
side of it is difficult and will take years to learn.  See below for recent work and archives.
Click Page # below for most recent astrophotographic work - higher
page # is more recent:

The Double Cluster (also known as Caldwell 14) is the common name for the naked-eye open clusters NGC 884 (χ Persei) and NGC 869 (h Persei), which are close together in the constellation Perseus.  NGC 884 and NGC 869 are at
distances of 7600 and 6800 light-years away, respectively, so they are also close to one another in space. The clusters' ages, based on their individual stars, are relatively young. NGC 869 is 5.6 million years old and NGC 884 is 3.2
million years old, according to the 2000 Sky Catalogue. In comparison, the Pleiades have an estimated age ranging from 75 million years to 150 million years. There are more than 300 blue-white super-giant stars in each of the clusters.
The clusters are also blueshifted, with NGC 869 approaching Earth at a speed of 22 km/s (14 mi/s) and NGC 884 approaching at a similar speed of 21 km/s (13 mi/s). Their hottest main sequence stars are of spectral type.


    Photographs were taken using the M25C CCD camera through a Explore Scientific ED127 refractor on a CGEM mount.  An IDAS-LP  filter was used to take 2 hours, 33 minutes of subs, each with between 1 and 5 minute
    exposures.  The image was done from very light polluted skies in my driveway in the Atlanta area.

    Imaging and Processing: Michael DeMita 9/2011
1200 resolution for
the space minded.
Capture, Guiding and
Processing:
M25C and ED127 refractpr at
prime focus.  Nebulosity to
capture and PHD to guide.   
DSS for stacking and PS CS4
post-processing.
Image details: 2.5 hours of 1,
2,3 and 4 minute exposures
using an IDAS-LP filter.  
Telescope was a C11" Edge
HD SCT on a CGEM
mount.   Guide camera was a
Starlight Xpress Lodestar.
Page 6