Virgo Cluster in Wide Field Setting
This is the Virgo Cluster of galaxies presented in a wide field setting. The cluster is a popular area for amateur astronomers and professionals alike and contains some very important galaxies, the most important of which is M87, the supergiant elliptical galaxy and one of the largest galaxies in the local universe.
You can see Markarian's Chain demonstrated at an unfamiliar angle in this picture.
The picture is comprised from data captured during late March 2020 and I used my Samyang 135mm DSLR lens connected to G2-8300 cooled CCD camera from Moravian Instruments and Astrodon RGB filters. The picture is comprised of 70 minutes (of five minute exposures binned 1x1) in each of the red, green and blue filters to give a total integration time of three hours and thirty minutes. The data was developed with PixInsight and Photoshop.
The Leo Triplet in a Widefield
The Leo Triplet is a popular trio of galaxies in the constellation of Leo, popular with amateur and professional astronomers alike. They are visible in the late winter and spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Consisting of M65, M66 and NGC 3628, the galaxies are about 35 million light years away. NGC 3628 was never given the distinction of as Messier number for some reason, even though it is as bright as the other two members.
The image was taken with my Samyang 135mm DLSR lens coupled with Moravian G2-8300 cooled CCD camera with Astrodon RGB filters. It consists of seventy minutes (5 minute exposures binned 1x1) in each of the red, green and blue filters to give a total integration time of three hours and thirty minutes.
The triplet was about 45 degrees above the horizon when the exposures were captured. IT was then processed with Pixinsight and Photoshop.
Lunar Pictures from January 2020
A few pictures of the moon that I took with my Meade 14 ACF SCT scope with a ASI 174MM camera in January 2020. The pictures utilised no filters at all.
The Meade 14" is an astounding scope that I liked very much. However, with a heavy heart I subsequently went on to sell this telescope since I felt that in my Bortle 5skies it doesn't offer any significant advantage over and above the Celestron C925; the latter scope being very much more manageable that the huge (and very heavy) 14" Meade. At some point in the future I may regret this decision since the scope excelled on the few occasions I took it to truly dark skies. However, I could not let my heart rule my head and I decided to sell it.