Auriga the Charioteer

The skies have been quite smokey during the past few weeks here in northern Utah, so I am showcasing some of the images I took in February of this year in the constellation Auriga. Auriga hangs high over head in the winter mounts, and contains some of the sky's best open clusters. There are a few emission nebula as well.

 Messier 37 one of the brighter and richest open clusters in Auriga.

 Messier 36, a open cluster with fewer members, but impressive in a telescope

 NGC 1931 emission-reflection nebula of glowing cloud of hydrogen gas with a small star cluster in the center

 NGC 2281 another open star cluster in Auriga

NGC 1778 Open cluster, with fewer members.

 NGc 1857 another open cluster with a bright star near the center

 NGC 1778 Open Cluster

 NGC 1907 an open cluster with a condensed center

NGC 2126 Open cluster with an impressive bright star.

Draco the Dragon

I chose the constellation of Draco to image in this week because it is high in the sky, but the smoke from forest fires has taken it's toll on my images this week. I was able to image some galaxies and planetary nebula. When smoke or haze is thick in the air the images are noticeably reddened  as you may notice below, but the images are interesting anyway. Several Perseid meteor's flashed through some of my images, but I didn't hit the save button quickly enough to record them.

 Messier 102 is a missing galaxy in the Messier Catalog. It is thought that it may have been referring to NGC 5866 shown here.

NGC 4965 is a nice edge on and was discovered in 1788 by William Herschel using a nearly 19 inch reflecting telescope.

 NGC 6503 is a spiral galaxy, about 17 million light years distant and 30,000 miles in diameter.

NGC 6543 is a Planetary Nebula, just barely visible in this image. In much longer exposures it forms a ring around the bright star near it. It was created when an old sun blew off it's outer layers.

NGC 6742, a small faint round bluish ring near the middle of this image is also a planetary nebula.

Swan, Whirlpool, Wild duck, Uranus, and a nice Edge on galaxy.

During the third week of July our family visited the Grand Teton National Park, to relax and enjoy the magnificent beauty of nature. In the past I have wandered down to Jackson lake near Colter Bay, to view the night sky, where as far as I can tell there is no light pollution in any direction. The view really takes your breath away. The sky is filled with the Milky way and so many stars that the constellations seem to dissolve among the myriads of distant suns that fill the sky overhead. It has to be experienced to be understood. No description can adequately describe the view.


I was able to image a few objects before our vacation. Several roadblocks prevented me imaging after our vacation. The moonlight began to interfere with the full blue moon making its appearance at the end of July. Also the software I am using on my video camera was updated and I am going through a learning curve getting it to work the way I want. Below is a few of the objects that I imaged earlier in the month of July

 This is Messier 17 the Omega Nebula, also called the Swan Nebula, in the constellation of Sagittarius. It is an emission cloud receiving its light from  an embedded star cluster. This type of  material is what stars are made from.

 This gorgeous Spiral Galaxy called the Whirlpool Galaxy  in the constellation Canes Venatici. It shows a long arm connecting it to a smaller galaxy nearby. The Spiral arms are are clearly visible in this image suggesting rotation of the Galaxy in space.

Messier 11, also called the Wild Duck Cluster, and is a loose star cluster in the constellation of Scutum.

 This Edge on Galaxy NGC 7814, is located in the constellation of Pegasus. You may notice the dark lane passing through the center of this galaxy. This is obscuring dust clouds hiding the stars in the central region of this galaxy.

This is the Planet Uranus, the seventh planet of our solar system. It is shown here with several of it's moons. The diameter of Uranus is about 16000 miles, nearly twice that of earth. It takes 84 of our years to circle the sun one time. It is composed mostly of Hydrogen and Helium. It was discovered by William Herschell on March 13, 1871. A few days later he observed it again and thought it was a comet because it had moved slightly against the background of the stars.

Pluto and Lyra, Cygnus, and Hercules deep sky images

This was a very unusual and exciting week. The space craft New Horizons finally sailed past Pluto and its five moons, Charon, Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra. Images taken by New Horizons showed massive mountains on Pluto that are over 10,000 feet high. Another surprise was the absence of craters on a large heart shaped area, Tombaugh Regio, named after the discoverer of Pluto, Clyde Tombaugh.

On the left is a beautiful image of Pluto taken a short time before the closest approach of New Horizon to Pluto. You may notice the whitish heart shaped area in the bottom central and right side.














Pictured to the left is Pluto's largest moon Charon. To me it looks similar to our moon without nearly as many craters. Note the large gashes in the left edge. It is estimated that this is a canyon 4 to 6 miles deep.

Here is a picture of the massive mountains discovered on Pluto. They are believed at this time to be made of water ice.











The above pictures and more may be found at
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/index.html

I was able to go outside on one outstanding evening this week, where the Milky way was clearly visible stretching across the sky overhead. Below are a few images taken on the evening of July 13 and the morning of the July 14, 2015.

This is the gorgeous Ring Nebula in the constellation Lyra, another planetary nebula, created by an exploding old star. You can see the remnant star in the middle of the ring. Through an eyepiece it has the appearance of a small smoke ring.

Here is the amazing Globular Cluster M13 in the constellation Hercules, one of the best globular's to view through an eyepiece on a dark night.

Not far from M13, is an often overlooked globular M92. Because it is not quite as bright as M13, it doesn't get observed as often at star parties, but is nearly as impressive to look at as M13. M92 resides in the constellation Hercules.

Here is an impressive open cluster named NGC 6819 located in Cygnus. There are many of these congregations of stars in the Milky Way. Many of them eventually drift apart.

This image shows the remnant of material blown off of an old star that blew up. It is called the Crescent Nebula and is located in Cygnus.

Finally this is a good example of a Spiral Galaxy.  NGC 6946 is in the constellation of Cygnus and is similar to our own Milky way. Our Milky Way would look similar to  this if it were viewed from a position far above it. This galaxy is estimated to be only about 1/3 the size of our Milky way.Note the spiral arms. It is about 40,000 light years across. That's how long it would take a beam of light to cross from one end to the other.

Pluto and Pegasus deep sky images

You may notice if you watch the news during the next several days that there will be a lot news about the New Horizon space craft that is due to pass Pluto on July 14, 2015. Here is a link to the NASA New Horizon site if you want to follow along:

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/index.html

Also NASA will be broadcasting on NASA TV for the next several days to inform the public of what is being discovered. Here is a link to  NASA TV. You can check the schedule for the broadcast regarding New Horizons;

https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/nasatv_live_iphone/#.VaGbevlVhBc

Here is one of the latest images of Pluto and it's moon Charon. No one in the history of the human race has seen what Pluto and Charon look like until now. The pictures in the coming days will have much more detail, and far greater resolution.

This past week I have imaged several galaxies, globular clusters and Planetary nebula, mostly in the constellation Pegasus.  The first is a planetary nebula in Vulpecula. It represents a star that grew old, swelled up and blew off it's outer layers. What you see here is a remnant of that great explosion.

Next is an image of M15, a globular cluster, that is in orbit around our galaxy. It consists of thousands of suns rotating around a common center.

Below is spiral galaxy NGC7331 far outside of the Milky Way, and you may notice several other smaller galaxies nearby. A galaxy consists of billions of suns large and small rotating around a common center.

These two galaxies are NGC 7332 and NGC 7739. They form an interesting pair of galaxies, seen nearly edge on.

Finally we have a beautiful barred spiral galaxy NGC 7479. 

Introduction to Blaine's Astro Blog

This is the first post of my new blog Blaine's Astro Blog. The purpose of this blog is to record and share my activities regarding my Astronomical interests. Also I will post about upcoming astronomical events that I plan on observe and the results of those observations.

Below is a picture of me observing from inside the comfort of my home. A video camera connected to my Meade LX200R telescope sends an image thru WiFi to a computer inside my home. This is how I do most of my observing.

Here  is an example of an image of M20, the Trifid Nebula, taken with my Mallincam Video Camera.