Messier 33 - Triangulum galaxy

Messier 33 (Triangulum galaxy) is 2.4 - 3.1  million light years away from earth and contains contains about 40 billion stars, which is significantly less than the Milky Way (400 billion) and Andromeda Galaxy (1 trillion).  This image was obtained in the dark zone of Shenandoah National Park over three nights and consists of 6 hours of imaging using Mach 1 GTO mount and Takahashi FSQ 85 ED telescope. The data was processed in Pixinsight and Photoshop Elements.

M45 Pleiades

M45 Pleiades

The imaging data for M45 Pleiades was captured in the Shenandoah National Park on September 24, 2017. The telescope was a Takahashi FSQ 85ED and the mount was an Astrophysics Mach 1 GTO with guiding provided by Borg 50 mm guidescope and phd2 software. Imaging camera was a Nikon d750 full frame. The photo consists of 11 images of 600 seconds each (1.83 hours of acquisition) which were stacked in Deep Sky Stacker (DSS).  This raw image was then processed in Pixinsight to obtain the final image.

Milky Way Timelapse Augusta, MT

Click this line to watch the Milky Way Time lapse. 




400 20 second images were obtained over 2.8 hours with Nikon d750 full frame camera using Nikon 18 mm prime lens at f 2.8.  The data was processed in LRTimelapse.

Augusta, Montana Milky Way Panorama

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Montana Milky Way panorama composed of 21 images using Nikon D750 camera and 50mm 1.4 @ 2.0.

Processed in Adobe Lightroom 6.

Deep Sky Imaging

The rain and moon have been difficult for the past few weeks since the new telescope and mount have arrived.  The learning curve has also been steep.  Here is the first acquisition obtained in Shenandoah National Park over two nights, 138 minutes of imaging.

Technical card:

        Telescope:  Takahashi 85ED FSQ
        Mount:         Astrophysics Mach 1 GTO with CP4
        Imaging Camera:  Nikon D750 (unmodded)
        Mounting Rings:    95mm Prima Luce
        Guiding Camera:   Unguided
        Software:    Cartes du Ciel
                           Astrotortilla
                           Backyard Nikon
                           Deep Sky Stacker
                           Pixinsight
                           Adobe Lightroom
        Dates:      May 16, 2017 and May 18, 2017
        Frames:   23 @ 6minutes (2.3 hours)
       
        Location:  Shenandoah National Park, VA  USA
       

Backyard Bird of Prey

I just received this image of a Cooper's hawk (hard to differentiate from a sharp-shinned hawk) who has his evening dinner in his talons.  Check out the scattered feathers.  The photo was sent to me by one of my park friends (Mike T.) that I met in River Bend Park today.  He took the photo locally in his backyard.  The photo is real nature and I decided to share it with you on my site.  Thanks Mike.

River Bend Park birds of Wonder

I met several friendly people from around the globe enjoying River Bend Park today.  A smile and a genuine "hello, how are you?" goes a long way.  So many interesting people to engage. It was a great people day!

Two exciting bird encounters in River Bend Park today.  A repeat sighting of an eastern screech owl in its natural habitat of a hollowed out tree.  Must be his home as I have seen the owl on two occasions in the same tree.

 



The treat of the day was the bald eagle at the nest on the Potomac River!   At least one young eaglet could also be seen in the nest from time to time during my observing period of 2 hours.  Glad the bald eagles selected this nesting site on an inaccessible island in the middle of the river.