Pretty Pictures
Most of the work we do does not involve color pictures - we might take images in different filters, but we are mostly concerned with the careful measurement of stellar brightness (photometry). However, as part of the training process we typically do take pretty color images to prove that the students know how to use the remote telescopes - these are a selection of those images.
M101, Taken by Lindsey Bell using T80 in Spain (20230223). This was an RGB image with total exposure time of 18 min. What's cool about this is we also got a neat shot of the galaxy NGC 5474, in the lower left of the image. This galaxy is a companion of M101, and the distortion from it's larger neighbor is obvious even in this image.
NGC 5128 (Cen A!) by Lindsey Bell using telescopes in Utah, 2x120s in each of RGB.
M57, the Ring Nebula by Francisco Quintana. 3x30 s in RGB using T18 in Spain.
M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy by Bernardo Santos using T14 in New Mexico (top). Another shot of M51, this time taken with T24 in Spain, with an exposure time of 3 x 300 s (E Torkildsen)
M88, Spiral Galaxy by Noor Shams. 300s RGB image with T68 in New Mexico
M63, Spiral Galaxy by Noor Shams. 300 s B/W image with T24 in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California.
M83, Spiral Galaxy by Noor Shams. 300 s B/W image with T32 in Australia
NGC 4755, The Jewel Box Cluster by Noor Shams. 300 s B/W image with T32 in Australia
Centaurus A, Starburst galaxy by Noor Shams. 300 x B/W image with T32 and Australia
Eta Carina Nebula, by Brennan Heim. 300s x RGB image using T30 in Australia
Mendel Observatory Messier Catalog
With the purchase of our new camera (Moravian G4), we set about taking pictures of the Messier objects, in order to both build confidence and experience with the camera, as well as present nice pretty pictures of the brightest non-stellar sources in the sky, the Messier objects. In most cases these images were taken in RBV filters, combined with AstroimageJ, and light processing done in either AstroImageJ, or in GIMP. We aren't going specifically for consistency between these images, but generally our default is 5 min in each of the three filters, usually with some stacking done.
M3, 7.5 min exposure. CLD, 5/8/2023
M42, ~15 minute exposure. CLD, 3/21/2023
M63, 15 minute exposure. CLD, 4/21/2023
M82, ~15 minute exposure. BL, 5/30/2023. The wavy lines here are a result of insufficient exposure time on the flat field.
M95, 15 minute exposure. CLD, 5/21/2023
M96, 15 minute exposure. CLD, 5/8/2023
M105 (plus NGC 3384 and NGC 3389), ~10 min exposure. CLD, 4/21/2023