Astropage

Monkey head!

Marco Verstraaten — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 18:41:28 +0000

Nothing personal! It’s actually the nickname of NGC2174, a nebula in Orion. I captured this in two days under a cold and clear night. One of the last opportunities to capture a nebula this season since my equipment is now setup for galaxies. No more narrowband OIII & SII filters in my filterwheel.

It therefore is a LHaGB composite of this beautiful nebula, clearly showing a monkey head in silhouette.

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Edge viewed galaxy NGC 4565

Marco Verstraaten — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:44:58 +0000

Viewed from the side NGC 4565 really is a very nice galaxy to image. Not the best circumstances: bad seeing and the moon high up in the sky, but it’s a nice image. I shoot with a clear luminance filter and maybe it’s better to get a lightpollution filter to get more contrast and detail.

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Auriga, some open star clusters.

Marco Verstraaten — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:43:32 +0000

While waiting for some of the deeper targets, I captured some open clusters in Auriga to get the rig steamed up! Got a couple of nights for this. Normally not a target for my setup, but they should be in anyones album.

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Hunt for aurora

Marco Verstraaten — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:23:53 +0000

During the more or less predicted chances of seeing the Aurora on the 24th of January, I had some time to make this panorama view at the shore of Kornwerd. The Aurora didn’t show up but I liked the view over here!

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Bubble Nebula in narrowband

Marco Verstraaten — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 11:26:15 +0000

Processing images shot in narrowband is timeconsuming, as is taking enough data to get a descent result. But it’s worth the effort if the result is there!
I’m pleased with this result!

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NGC 7380, The Wizard

Marco Verstraaten — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 12:15:26 +0000

I just love this hobby! Look at those colors, which are obtained by using SII, Halpha and OIII 5nm. smallbandfilters ,used in a Hubble pallet. (SII/Halpha/OIII = R/G/B)
Just over 14.5 hours of exposure during the short summer nights (in terms of darkness)! I used some Halpha data recorded last year as well.

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Veil West, NGC 6960

Marco Verstraaten — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 12:54:49 +0000

I’m not too sure about this image. Should I add more? Or add RGB? How to mix the colors?
I allready spend 6 nights on this image and we don’t get that many clear nights in Holland. So Lets move on and finish this one! I can always add more next season!

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NGC 6888, the Crescent nebula

Marco Verstraaten — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 08:47:08 +0000

The nights in this time of year are short here at 51 degrees north. Also, cause it’s not getting fully dark, the usage of narrowband filters is a must. Nebulas like the Crescent are bright in halpha and OIII, making them a perfect season object. Imaging sessions are short because of the temperature changes, affecting the focus stability of the optics. So in my case the first “dark” hour is to cool down the optics to a sort of stable situation. Whats left is a imaging time of about 3 to 4 hours only.

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Lunar Eclips

Marco Verstraaten — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 09:23:10 +0000

Just in time the clouds started to fade into the distance for the lunar eclips, the 15th of June 2011. I found a nice backdrop (foreground actually) for my photo of the rising moon. Unfortunately the clouds on the far horizon did not go away so I had to make another composition for the images I was about to take.
I used a setting with Dutch windmills for these shots.

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Bode’s Galaxy

Marco Verstraaten — Sun, 08 May 2011 13:42:28 +0000

Just finalized the processing of this beauty! I needed some extra processing since collimation wasn’t perfect. Focus shifted a bit as well during capturing, but I think it turned out pretty good at the end.

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