Aquila: The Eagle

Stay away from the horizons when you shoot! This shot was taken with Aquila still fairly high up, but you can see the encroaching sky glow in the lower right corner. I did attempt to remove some of the glow by adding a gradient with a color cast the same as the glow then doing a global color correction and contrast enhancement. It helped, but you can see there is still some left. Unfortunately, the only techniques I know for gradient removal will also remove the Milky Way!

Resources:

• Chris Dolan's informational site on Aquila .

Capricornus: The Sea Goat

Capricornus lies low in the southern sky as seen from the mid-northern latitudes. It is most easily visible in late-summer (depending on how late you like to stay up, you can see it in early summer). Like most areas away from the Milky Way, Capricornus looks relatively bare. Only one Messier object lies in Capricornus.Capricornus looks to me more like a big "V" or even an open mouth than a sea-goat, but I don't get to name constellations… At the time this photograph was taken, two planets and several asteroids were visible in the constellation of Capricornus, although only one of the asteroids was bright enough to show up unambiguously in this photo and even then, only when viewing it at the 800-pixel wide size or larger. Uranus is/was a (marginally) naked eye object, provided you know where to look. Neptune requires at least binoculars. Neither are very impressive. However, they can be distinguished from stars using a telescope, something which is true of all the planets except Pluto. Labeled in the picture are the following objects:

• Planets (2): Uranus and Neptune.
• Asteroids (1): 532 Herculina, which unknown to me at the time, was at its brightest for the year at magnitude 10.2. You can find orbital elements for 532 Herculina at CfA Planetary Sciences Division web site. David Richards has a couple of frames from early 2000 showing the movement of this asteroid over a 24-hour period. Herculina is a main-belt asteroid.
• Globular Clusters (3): M72, M75, and M30.
• Open Clusters (1): M73.
• Planetary Nebulae (1): NGC 7009.
• Stars (2): Giedi Prima, Giedi Secunda, Dabih, Oculus, Nashira, Bos, Armus, and Dorsum, Castra, Deneb Algedi, and Alshat.

With the exception of M30, all the Messier and NGC object are actually part of Aquarius.

Resources:

• Chris Dolan's information site on Capricornus .

Cassiopeia: The Queen

Cassiopeia lies high in the northern sky an is one of the few constellations which are visible year-round from the mid-northern latitudes where I live. Still, the fall and winter are the best times to view Cassiopeia since it lies further from the horizon that time of year. This was taken in mid-October of 2001 on a night when I had hoped to also get a second shot at Cygnus before it sank too low for this year.

The constellation Cassiopeia is often described as a "W" shape (turn your head on its left side and squint). The "W" is not symmetric, but it generally works for finding it in the northern skies.

Labeled in both of these pictures are the following objects:

• Open Clusters (7): M52 (NGC 7654), NGC 225, NGC 457, NGC 663, NGC 869, which together with NGC 884, form the the well-known "Double Cluster" in Perseus, and NGC 7789, an open cluster
• Emission Nebulae (5): IC 1795, IC 1805, NGC 281 (the "Pacman Nebula"), NGC 7635 (the "Bubble Nebula"), and NGC 7822
• Stars (2): Schedir and Caph

Also visible in the image are the stars Achird, Cih, Rucha, and Segin.

The film response of Elite Chrome II seems a bit stronger in the red than the blue which lends an overall reddish hue to everything. Additionally, the color shift (according to Robert Reeve's evaluation) is brownish for long exposure. To compensate for these effects, the color balance has been slightly shifted toward the blue in these images.

• Chris Dolan's informational site on Cassiopeia .

Cepheus: The King

Not far from Cassiopeia lies Cepheus.

This was taken in mid-October of 2001 the same night I took a shot of Cassiopeia. This exposure was cut a little shorter than I had intended due to fog rolling in rather suddenly. Still, it came out reasonably well. Click on the image for a larger version.

The constellation Cepheus is often described as a house shape (turn your head on its right side and squint). None of the stars in Cepheus are as extremely bright, and with it being so close to the Milky Way, it's not hard to miss it when you first go looking (well, I had a hard time finding it). Peaking into the picture at the left is the head of Lacerta, the Lizard and the upper left corner of this picture actually belongs to Cassiopeia.

Labeled in both of these pictures are the following objects:

• Open Clusters (6): M52 (NGC 7654 which is really in Cassiopeia), NGC 7380, NGC 7243 (which is really in Lacerta), IC 1396, M39 (which is actually in Cygnus), and NGC 7235.
• Emission Nebulae (1): NGC 7635
• Stars (5): α (alpha) - Alderamin, β (beta) - Alfirk, γ (gamma) - Er Rai, δ (delta) and μ (mu) Cephei.

ξ (Xi) Cepheus, also known as Kurdah, is not shown on the overlay.

Delta Cephei has no name, but does have a reputation. This is the prototypical Cepheid variable whose regular brightness fluctuations were first discovered by John Goodricke in 1784 [1].

Mu Cephei has a not so well-known name of Erakis and is perhaps better known as William Herschel's "Garnet Star." It is among the most (if not the most) red stars visible to the naked eye from the northern hemisphere. It is nestled up against the edge of IC 1396 and is, in fact, partially obscured by it which also contributes to its redness.

Resources:

• Chris Dolan's information site on Cepheus .

[1] Burnham, Robert Jr., Burnham's Celestial Handbook, vol. 1, Dover Publications, 1978, p.583.

Cygnus: The Swan

Cygnus rises high in the summer sky and it's brightest member, Deneb, anchors on corner of the "summer triangle" whose other corners are Altair and Vega (not visible in this image).

Resources:

• Chris Dolan's information site on Cygnus .

Cygnus: The Swan (take 1)

Object:	Cygnus, Vulpecula, and Sagitta
Location:	Narrowsburg, NY
Observer:	Roland Roberts
Time:	21 Jul 2001 4:00 UT
Camera:	Pentax A3000, 50 mm f/2 lens
Film:	Kodak Elite Chrome II, ISO 200
Exposure:	4 minutes at f/4

This is my first attempt at film-based sky photography. Well, not exactly my first. I shot on roll of film in New York City just trying for star trails with the goal of finding where the sky fog limit was. However, I couldn't tell the difference in any of the prints which all came out with a nice green sky. I attribute that to using Kodak Gold film and having had it developed someplace that couldn't handle special requests. And then there was the roll of film I shot where I didn't correctly engage the film on the take up roller while loading it in the dark, but let's not discuss that now....

This shot comes with its own set of problems. I used slide film, Kodak Elite Chrome II, ISO 200. My camera, a semi-automatic 35 mm, seems to have developed a dislike for my cable release and would randomly terminate the exposure and start taking a new one. I ended up throwing out one 24-exposure roll and of the second roll I only had 5 shots come out worth keeping; only 3 of those were actually at the exposures I had planned. Additionally, because I failed to take a daytime picture at the start of the roll and because the first couple of frames were severely underexposed, the lab cut the slide right in the middle when mounting the slides.

Still, I was quite pleased with this one shot. Not perfect but good enough to be a big motivator for trying some more. The first picture captures the core of Cygnus along with Vulpecula and Sagitta. The low-resolution scan here makes a few features nearly disappear even though they are clearly visible on the film and print. In particular, the Veil Nebula is quite obvious on the print, but after scanning at low resolution and doing an HSV stretch to provide a darker background, it has pretty much disappeared.

Visible in this image (but unlabelled 'cause I deleted the labelled version, doh!):

• (the Swan), Vulpecula (the Fox), and Sagitta (the Arrows).
• Stars (2): Deneb Adige and Albireo.
• Planetary Nebula (1): M27 — the Dumbell Nebula.
• Supernova Remnant (1): NGC6992 — the Veil Nebula.
• Other Nebula(1): NGC7000 — the North American Nebula, IC5068 — the Pelican Nebula, IC1318A and IC1318B, and IC1311.

Delphinus: The Dolphin

This photo actually stretches from Vulpecula at the top left (not quite fully in the frame), across Sagitta, through Delphinus in the center, and down to Equuleus at the bottom. Also visible in the upper right is Altair and part of Aquila.

Resources:

• Chris Dolan's informational site on Delphinus.

Delphinus, Up Closer

Why the funny shape in the image? Well, the shot was taken at f/4 which is only 1/2-stop slower than having the lens wide open. Consequently, there was some horrible lens distortion. Picture Window Pro has a "Lens Distortion" effect that can be used to undo that, at least partially. But the result is you get an image outline that looks like a barrel. Next time I shot a f/5.6 or slower. It's probably best to go all the way to f/8 for a sharp image, but that will also mean an exposure of at least an hour.

Hercules: The Son of Zeus

Hercules passes directly overhead on summer nights in the mid-northern latitudes. Still, Hercules possesses none of the extraordinarily bright stars like Lyra or Orion to make it a readily recognizable constellation. The most recognizable feature for locating Hercules in the night sky is the "keystone" shape which forms the body of Hercules.

Hercules enjoys better name recognition than most of the Greek heroes, even among those immortalized in the constellations. In the United States, at least, there is some feedback in keeping him popular from the movie industry, ranging from the 1939 movie Hercules, though the 1990s series "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys," and even the Disney animation. For general information about the myths surrounding Hercules and more links, have a look at this Russian site.

Interestingly, it would appear that although we know the constellation as Hercules, it was originally known to the Greeks as simply "the Kneeling Man" and the origins of this designation seem to have been lost even to the Greeks.

The following objects are labeled in the image:

• Globular Clusters (3): M13, M92, and NGC 6229.
• Planetary Nebula (1): NGC 6210.
• Stars (6): Kornephoros, Rasalgethi, Sarin, Marsik, Maasym, Kajam.

The planetary nebula NGC 6210 is far too small (0.3") to resolve at any scale available to most amateurs, but it is incredibly bright. It's magnitude is nearly the same as M57 in Lyra, but its size means its surface brightness is much higher. In any event, is shows up as a small reddish speck on this image (although unless you are looking at the small version of this image you will not see it).

The globular cluster NGC 6229 is not so close to the edge of visibility in this image, but there two stars about 5 arc-seconds away to the west which makes it difficult to distinguish except at the highest size available here. Of course, none of the globular clusters show any structure at this scale; the film resolution appears to be about 1-3 arc-minutes.

Resources:

• Chris Dolan's information site on Hercules.

Lyra: The Harp

Technical Notes

This field shows some of the limitations to shooting as fast as possible. First, there is some minor vignetting in the corners. This is not noticeable in daytime photography or even in a lot of astrophotography. It is apparent here in part because of the presence of the Milky which makes this a very rich area. Second, there is some lens distortion at the corners. I'm not sure what this particular aberration is called, but the stars start to look like little crescents. At f/2.8, it is just barely visible (at the larger scales), but it prevents the image from being used in for, say 16x20 prints; 8x10s, maybe.

Resources:

• Chris Dolan's information site on Lyra.

Orion: The Hunter

Orion's popularity stems largely from the brightness of his stars and the easy-to-spot three stars of his belt. Orion is easily visible even from urban locations (I can attest to this as a resident of New York City).

Labeled on this picture are the following objects (links take you off-site):

• Constellations (4): Orion (the Hunter), Lepus (the Hare), Monoceros (the Unicorn), and Eridanus (the River). Only Orion is fully pictured, although most of Lepus is visible.
• Stars (12): Betelgeuse (alpha Orionis), Rigel (beta Orionis), Bellatrix (gamma Orionis), Mintaka (delta Orionis), Alnilam (epsilon Orionis), Alnitak (zeta Orionis), Na'ir al Saif (iota Orionis), Saiph (kappa Orionis), Heka or Meissa (lambda Orionis), Thabit (upsilon Orionis), Tabit (pi-3 Orionis), Algiebba (eta Orionis).
• Open Clusters: NGC 2301, NGC 2264, NGC 2238, NGC 2169, NGC 1662, NGC 1807.
• Globular Clusters: M79
• Nebula: M1, M42, M43, M78, NGC 2237.

Dolan's web site lists Thabit as pi-3 Orionis and Tabit as upsilon Orionis (which is how they are labelled on the chart), but Gibson lists Tabit as a name sometimes given to pi or tau. Oh, and in case you are wondering about the "pi-3" designation, start at the top of Orion's bow/shield and count. The topmost is pi-1, the middle one labelled Thabit is pi-3 and the bottom-most one is pi-5. I don't know the history of how they got named that way.

I have found two references to the name Algiebba, one in an old e-mail list and on on a PDF chart at MIT. I'm not clear where I originally found the name, nor it's origin.

The Jordanian Astronomical Society has a page on Arabic star names which lists multiple names for some of the stars in Orion.

The Rosette Nebula (NGC 2237-2239, 2246) is not quite visible in this shot. A close-up of the region where it sits shows just a hint of the red, annular nebula. This 20-minute exposure on Provia 400F was not quite enough. I've labeled the entire thing NGC 2238, but see the this reference on the SEDS web site which explains a little about the multiple NGC assignments.

Resources

• Chris Dolan's informational site on Orion.
• The Rosette Nebula at www.answerz.org.

Imagining Things?

Some of the items marked on the photo are very nearly invisible, especially after the image is downsampled so it fits on your screen. Am I making them up? Here are some enlargements.

Cropped Region around NGC2238

First is this image of the detail around NGC2238. The image has had its gamma adjusted to 1.5 compared to the main image. The nebulosity is there, but faint in the original. This adjustment makes it just a bit more obvious, though this won't win any awards.

And yes, that tiny, nearly invisible dot in the center of the yellow circle labelled 51 Nemausa really is the asteroid and it really is on the film even if you still aren't quite sure while squinting at your screen.

Cropped Region around M1

Here is a closeup of the M1 region. This is just cropped from the original which produced the main image above. The glow at the top is from Saturn. Right in the center of the marker circle is M1. I've never tried to find M1 from a dark site and my attempts from New York City have been fruitless. So this constitutes my first "viewing" of M1!

About the Pictures

I set out to get a picture of Orion on this particular night, but I had naturally expected to take several pictures. Alas, it was not to be. I arrived in Narrowsburg a little later than expected so it was already dark and I had to haul everything 100 meters up and down a hill to the riverbank through 8-inches of snow in the dark. Then I realized this was the first time I had used my CG-5 mount since I had given it a "tune-up." Among the things I had tuned was the tension on the RA drive. It was too tight and the motors couldn't turn it. So I had to take off the motors and adjust the worm tension in the dark, sub-freezing temperatures. I finally got it working and managed to get everything polar aligned. I strung 100 meters of extension cord to make a hair dryer available for frost removal/prevention. I was finally read to go. Into the house, prep the cameras, back out to mount them. The YashicaMAT-124 would not focus. After some poking (in the dark and cold), I determined the focusing mechanism was broken. Set up the remainder and finally go. Orion had already transited the meridian at this point and was getting closer and closer to the light dome thrown up by nearby Honesdale, PA. But, I got my 20- and 40-minute shots. I moved on to a 20-minute shot of Auriga. At this point, it was nearly 4 AM and I couldn't keep my feet warm. I packed everything back in.

After developing everything, I discovered the two 35 mm cameras were set up incorrectly—I forgot to move the shutter to "B" and had left it on 1/1000 second. Somehow I botched the film advance on the last frame for the picture of Auriga and so I had nothing. But I did get Orion. So I guess you could say I accomplished my goal.

I will be trying again. I had loaded Kodak E200 into the YashicaMAT-124 (the one with the broken focusing mechanism), and the Fuji Provia 400F just didn't have the kind of red response I needed for a 40-minute exposure. In the original, you can see a hint of Barnard's Loop and the Rosette Nebula, but after the gradient removal process it is totally gone. I suspect a longer exposure might have had it, but that's questionable with the sky glow.

Perseus: Rescuer of Andromeda

Sagittarius: The Archer

Scutum: The Shield

Technical Notes

I took some artistic liberties with this one. The silhouetted skyline is real and was actually present in this photo, but the version shown here was taken from a shorter exposure that left it unblurred. This is the view from my dark-sky location looking from the river bank in New York toward Pennsylvania; the tree-line is in Pennsylvania.

Having said that, this view is actually pretty close to what you would see, naked eye. After sitting out in the dark for several hours, the eyes become quite light sensitive and the night sky does not appear dark, especially compared to the tree line on the horizon. The only "fake" part of this is that even the tree line did not appear pitch black to my eyes.

I chose to make a black and white image rather than color because the film I used had a horrible cyan cast and basically no other colors. My conclusion is that the Fuji 1600 has 100% reciprocity failure for the yellow and magenta layers after a very short time. I'm not sure the cyan layer is really still active for the five minute exposures which were used in this composite. There is no discernible difference between the 5 minute and the 10 minute exposures which leads me to believe that the film has given up by the 5 minute mark.

Ursa Major: The Great Bear

Ursa Major, the Great Bear, is the official constellation name, but contained within it is the more well known asterism, the Big Dipper. But's that's not the only name by which it has been known. Other names include "The Plough," and "The Wagon." The full constellation is a bit large to fit into the frame afforded by a 50mm lens, as can be seen in the overlay.

Labeled in both of these pictures are the following objects:

• Galaxies (4): M51 (NGC 5194, NGC 5195, M101, and M108.
• Emission Nebulae (1): M97 (aka the "Owl Nebula")
• Stars (10): Alkaid, Alcor and Mizar, Alioth, Megrez, Phecda, Merak, Dubhe, Giausar, and Thuban. The latter two are in the constellation Draco

M27: The Dumbell Nebula

M27 lies in the small constellation of Vulpecula, the little fox.  It is a large bright nebula easily seen in binoculars from a moderately dark site, even from suburbia.  From within the metropolitan New York City area, you will need a small to moderate sized telescope depending on exactly where you live.  This is easily found in my 8-inch f/6 Newtonian, and is detectably in smaller scopes even here.

The view here is very minimalistic for two reasons.  First, it's all I have since the imaging session when I took this was really a shake-down period for the equipment and things did not go very well.  So the amount of data I have simply won't support a high resolution image.  Second, I wanted to produce something that approximated the visual impression in a modest sized telescope.  While my 8-inch Dobsonian is not large, it's also not really in the "small" category either.  But the above view is about what I see from here in Brooklyn.  If you live under dark skies, you can expect a view like this with a smaller telescope.

In August of 2005, a nova appeared in the sky near M27.  The nova was quite faint and does not appear here, but Jerry Lodriguss captured it serendipitously on an image he was taking about that time.