M104 Sombrero Galaxy

©2007 Richard Murray
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Notes: This is a luminance image taken with a robotic telescope in southern Australia. The color image will follow soon. The second image is a crop of the full size image.

Each time I image this I get just a little more detail in the galaxy's dark lanes. Be sure and take a look at the full size image.

Imaging Details:

Date: 1-20-08
Object: M104 Sombrero Galaxy
Telescope: RCOS 10" - FL 1510mm @ F/6 (GRAS-15)
Mount: Paramount ME
Camera: SBIG ST-8XME NABG
Filter: Luminance
Exposure: Luminance-20 min (5 min subs)
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CS2, PixInsight
Location: Moorook, South Australia

M81 Spiral Galaxy

©2007 Richard Murray

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Notes: Ok, here is the color version of the image posted several days ago. This is an LRsGB image with the sG meaning 'synthetic green' as no green filter was actually used during imaging.

Imaging Details:

Date: 1-11-08
Object: M81 Spiral Galaxy
Telescope: Takahashi TOA 150 (GRAS3)
Mount: Paramount ME
Camera: SBIG ST-10 XME ABG
Filter: Clear
Exposure: Luminance-25 min [5 min subs], Red-9 min (3 min subs),
Blue-9 min. (3 min subs)
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CS2, PixInsight
Location: GRAS Observatory, Mayhill, NM

M81 Bode's Spiral Galaxy

©2007 Richard Murray

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Notes: With Michigan's clouds still not going away I used one of the GRAS robotic telescopes in New Mexico to image this beautiful galaxy which is part of our local group. You can see M81's faint satellite galaxy off to center left.

I also took some color images which I'll upload later when processing is done.

Imaging Details:

Date: 1-11-08
Object: M81 Spiral Galaxy
Telescope: Takahashi TOA 150 (GRAS3)
Mount: Paramount ME
Camera: SBIG ST-10 XME ABG
Filter: Clear
Exposure: 25 min [5 min subs]
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CS2, PixInsight
Location: GRAS Observatory, Mayhill, NM

Horsehead and Flame Nebula Narrowband Color

©2008 Richard Murray


©2008 Richard Murray

Notes: Here's the color version of the image that was taken on Christmas night (see Ha black and white image below). This is lower resolution than I'd like because of the 2x2 binning and the moon being out but the colors did turn out better than I expected.

I used Ken Crawford's tutorial on combing Ha, OIII and SII filtered images using levels and cliping masks.

Click image for full size.

The second image was created using Peter's Photoshop Actions. I just took the top image and used the new action step 'Increase Dynamic Range'. That's all. I think it improved the image quite a bit. Clicking on the two images for full size will show the difference better.

Imaging Details:

Date: 12-26-07
Object: Horsehead Nebula (IC434) and Flame Nebula (NGC2024)
Telescope: W.O. 80mm Super APO
Mount: LX90
Camera: Atik 16hr
Filter(s): Astronomik Ha 6nm, OIII 14nm, SII 14nm
Exposure: Ha 4x10 min subs, OIII 3x10, SII 3x10, Binning 2x2
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CS2, PixInsight
Location: Burke Ave. Observatory, Three Rivers, Michigan

Horsehead and Flame Nebula

©2007 Richard Murray

Notes: I started imaging this on Christmas night. Clear nights have been so rare lately I have to go out whenever the skies open up. This was taken on a very bright night with the sixteen day old moon very high in the night sky. Only use of a narrowband filter could result in any kind of useful image so I used an Ha 6nm filter for the above image.

I also got some OIII and SII filtered images so in a few days I'll show the color version which should be fairly colorful despite that pesky moon.

Imaging Details:

Date: 12-26-07
Object: Horsehead Nebula (IC434) and Flame Nebula (NGC2024)
Telescope: W.O. 80mm Super APO
Mount: LX90
Camera: Atik 16hr
Filter(s): Astronomik Ha 6nm
Exposure: Ha - 4x10 min subs, Binning 2x2
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CS2
Location: Burke Ave. Observatory, Three Rivers, Michigan

Comet 17P/Holmes Bicolor Narrowband

©2007 Richard Murray

Notes: This is a first light image from my new observatory and is a bicolor image using Ha and OIII narrowband filters with a synthetic green channel. This isn't the natural color of the comet but it does bring out more detail of its inner structure.

The bottom image is a color negative of the above image.

When Comet 17P/Holmes exploded back in October of this year it shed about 1 percent of it's mass which is the equivalent to the Earth losing its entire crust! At this point the comet is actually larger in the sky than the full moon.

Imaging Details:

Date: 12-1-07
Object: Comet 17P/Homes
Telescope: W.O. 80mm Super APO
Mount: LX90
Camera: Atik 16hr
Filter(s): Astronomik Ha 6nm and OIII 14nm
Exposure: Ha - 1x10 min and 3x5 min subs, OIII 1x4 min sub (clouded out)
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CS2, PixInsight
Location: Burke Ave. Observatory, Three Rivers, Mi

Just One Clear Night

©2007 Richard Murray

Notes: It's a well known fact in the amateur astronomy community that if you buy a new astronomy gadget you can suffer for days or weeks (depending on the gadget) with cloudy weather. It's been cloudy for three weeks now since I had my new observatory built so I figure I have about a week to go before clear skies. :>))

Since I don't have anything else to take pictures of, above is the latest picture of my observatory through my den window.

Getting Closer to First Light

The Captain and I are almost ready for our first voyage, er ah, I mean first light. I almost thought I heard him say "Take her out Sulu. :>))


©2007 Richard Murray

Notes: We have electric power now. Notice the futuristic gym flooring and the nifty red rope lights. Also the warm room curtains are up. The advantage of installing gym flooring is it's made out of rubber, so if you drop some equipment it doesn't break; it just bounces.

Burke Avenue Observatory Amost Complete

Some pictures of the roof open and the inside.


©2007 Richard Murray

Notes: The roof stops rolling at the beginning edge of the warm room.

Burke Avenue Observatory Almost Done

About six hours left till it's finished!


©2007 Richard Murray

Notes: This is the result of two days work and about a half day to go. Oh boy!

It's 10' x 14' in size with a 5' x 10' warm room and a 9' x 10' scope area.

IC5070 Pelican Nebula

©2007 Richard Murray

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Notes: This was a short exposure run just to test out the GRAS3 scope in New Mexico (1 of 6 scopes available for rental at that location).

The good news is the Tak 150 has about the same field of view as my 80mm Megrez APO which means I can combine images taken at my home observatory with those taken with the Tak in New Mexixo. :>))

Imaging Details:

Date: 10-8-07
Object: IC5070 Pelican Nebula
Telescope: Takahashi TOA 150
Mount: Paramount ME
Camera: SBIG ST-10 XME ABG
Filter: Astrodon Ha
Exposure: Ha - 30 min [10 min subs]
Processing: CCDStack, Photoshop CS2, PixInsight
Location: GRAS Observatory, Mayhill, NM

Orion and Running Man Nebula - M42 & NGC1977

©2007 Richard Murray

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Techno Stuff: 10/6/07 Camera: SBIG STL-11000M , Imaging Scope:TAK FSQ-106 ED, One 60 sec exposure with a clear filter, Autoguided, Processed with CCDStack, Photoshop CS2, PixInsight

Notes: I'd like to say I went out and bought a bunch of new insanely expensive equipment but I didn't. This is my first image taken using equipment that is part of the Gobal-Rent-A-Scope stable of fine instruments which are located throughout the world.

This image was taken by me over the internet with a robotically controled scope located in the central part of South Australia on 10/6/07 at 3:30am Ausie time. Here in the US at my location it was in the early afternoon.

Keep in mind this is not a stack of exposures. It is just one 60 sec exposure through a clear filter when the moon was at 33% illumination. Not bad at all for such a short time.

The Beginning Of My New Observatory

The hole is dug for the pier.


©2007 Richard Murray

The base for the pier is complete.


©2007 Richard Murray

Notes: Construction should begin on 10-11-07 and be completed within two or three days. The observatory is going to be a 10' by 14' with a 5' by 10' warm room. More images to come . . .

VdB142 "Elephant Trunk" in Ha:sG:OIII

©2007 Richard Murray

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Techno Stuff: 6/20/07 Camera: ATK-16hr, Imaging Scope: Megrez 80mm APO at F/6, mounted on LX90 8" SCT, Ha 6nm 80 min total with 20 min subs, OIII 14nm 90 min total with 30 min subs, no binning, Darks Applied, Autoguided with QGuide and PHDGuide from LX90, , Processed with CCDStack, Photoshop CS2, PixInsight

Notes: This is an Ha:sG:OIII narrowband image with Ha mapped as red, OIII as blue and a synthetic green generated from the Ha and OIII images. I took this back on June 20th but didn't have a chance to process it until now.

I didn't plan on the colors turning out this way but I think the black and orange are appropriate with Halloween just around the corner. :>))

In the two images below the colors are remapped to red:green:blue respectively.

Here's an Ha:OIII:OIII version.


©2007 Richard Murray

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And here's an OIII:Ha:OIII version.


©2007 Richard Murray

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And here is a collage of all three.