Mike's Astro Photos » Mike Hankey

NGC 2175

Mike Hankey — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:57:01 +0000

Here’s a recent astrophoto of NGC 2175, an open cluster centered in the Monkey Head Nebula. Found in target rich Orion, this nebula is a huge cloud of hydrogen gas covering an area larger than the full moon. The star cluster is visible to the aided eye and was first discovered before 1654 by Giovanni Batista Hodierna.

NGC 2175 & The Monkey Head Nebula - January 24th, 2012

Click the picture above for a larger image, or download this huge full resolution desktop wall paper version.

Photo Details

NGC2175

RGB 6X600s / 3 hours total exposure

Camera: SBIG ST8300

Guider: SBIG 402 with MMOAG Off Axis Guider

Telescope: RCOS 14.5

Mount: Paramount ME

Location: Freeland MD

Date: 01/20/2012(RGB), 01/24/2012

Software: The SkyX, CCDSoft, FocusMax, CCDAutoPilot, CCDStack, Photoshop

Jupiter – 1/18/12

Mike Hankey — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:17:37 +0000

Here’s a picture of Jupiter with 3 of its moons from earlier tonight.

Jupiter - January 18th, 2012

Jupiter

Mike Hankey — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 05:39:42 +0000

Here’s a picture of Jupiter and one of its moons. I think the moon is Ganymede, but I’m not 100% sure. I am just getting into planetary work and this is my first serious re-attempt at photographing Jupiter. Planetary photography is a bit different than deep space and requires different cameras, software and techniques. I’ve still got some work to do, but this turned out better than I expected.

Jupiter - January 8th, 2012 7:43 PM EDT

Photo Details
RCOS 14.5 Telescope
Paramount ME Equatorial Mount
DMK41AU02 Astronomy Camera
1000 frames of RGB
Stacked in Registax 5

Quadrantids 2012

Mike Hankey — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 03:14:33 +0000

We had near perfect conditions in Freeland MD for the peak of the Quadrantids meteor shower on the morning of Jan 4th, 2012. Here is a composite image containing 6 Quadrantid meteors captured between 2 and 4 am EDT.

Quadrantid Meteor Shower - January 4th, 2012

I had a multitude of cameras setup to capture the show including: 2 DSLRs, 3 security cameras and a new Orion all sky camera. I’m glad I had a wide variety of instruments because some didn’t work at all and others worked better at some things and worse at others. It was my first night using the all sky camera and I’m disappointed to admit that it captured ZERO meteors. I’m hoping I had a error in my operation. One of my DSLRs filled up the memory card after only 2 hours and I didn’t realize it till the morning. By far the security cameras picked up the most meteors, totaling 53. I found that most of these meteors were detected between 2-5 am. I also captured the most meteors in the southern skies at low elevations.

Here’s a compilation video of all the meteors captured on the security cameras.

While reviewing the DSLR photos I was disappointed to find most of the meteors caught on the security cameras did not get caught on the DSLR. The DSLR only captured about 8 meteors total, compared to 53 on the security cameras, so clearly the DSLR lens is not catching everything. I did find this nice fireball that left a persistent train that last for a few minutes. Here’s a full zoom image.

Quadrantid Meteor - January 4th, 2012

Here’s a single exposure that caught two meteors within a 30 second period. This DSLR exposure was also caught on video and both meteors happened at the same exact time! I repeated the sequence 3 times in the video.

Double Quandrantid Meteors - CLICK TO ENLARGE

Overall, a strong performance for the Quadrantids IMO and a very great way to start 2012!

M51 – The Whirlpool Galaxy

Mike Hankey — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 21:18:12 +0000

Here’s a photo I took from my observatory of Messier 51, the famous Whirlpool Galaxy.

M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy - December 28th, 2011

At an estimated 23 million light years away, M51 is one of the most famous galaxies in the sky and a popular target for amateur astronomers. M51 is an interacting, grand-design, spiral galaxy. Interacting means, the galaxy is merging with another galaxy resulting in a disturbance of both galaxies because the gravitational fields of each are ‘interacting’ with each other. Grand-design is a designation for a special type of spiral galaxy that has prominent, well defined continuous spiral arms. Less than 10% of all spiral galaxies are designated grand-design.

Earlier this year in June 2011, a super nova was discovered inside M51 bringing renewed attention to the galaxy. I don’t think the supernova is still visible in last night’s image. I did look to see if it was there though.

Happy New Year!

Astro Photo Details
30 minutes RGB & 60 minutes of L / 150 total minutes (2.5 hours)
SBIG ST8300 Camera
MMOAG & SBIG 402 Guide Camera
Paramount ME Mount
RCOS 14.5
The Sky X / CCDStack / CCDSoft

The right side of the Moon

Mike Hankey — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:26:56 +0000

Here’s a panoramic image of the moon. This is actually 4 pictures taken of different sections stitched together into one image. I think it would take 20 or more pictures to capture the entire moon with this method.

Moon Panoramic - December 12th, 2011

Merry Christmas everyone!

Geminid Meteor Shower Photos 2011

Mike Hankey — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:21:00 +0000

Last night was the peak of the Geminid meteor shower. I setup my camera around 8:00 PM and photographed continuously through the night. The sky was clear until about 2:00 am and then covered with clouds for the rest of the evening. I was able to catch a total of 11 meteors in that 6 hour window. That’s pretty good considering there was a near full moon for most of the evening.

Here’s my final composite holding 7 of the best images from the night.

Composite of Geminid Meteor Shower - Dec 13th, 2011

I used a Canon 5d Mark II camera with a fisheye 15 MM 1:2.8 lens. The extra large CCD inside the mark II used with the fish eye lens allows you to capture the whole sky. This really improves your odds of catching meteors! Here’s another Geminid meteor pic which shows the field of view through this system.

Geminid Meteor - December 13th, 2011

Galaxy NGC 891

Mike Hankey — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:21:07 +0000

Here’s a photo of the Galaxy NGC 891. This is the first image I have taken with my new system where all things were working perfectly: mount, scope, focusing, temperature & software. I am especially excited about figuring out the automation software because I literally slept through this job!

Astro Photo Details
30s of minute RGBL / 120 Total minutes
SBIG ST8300 Camera
MMOAG & SBIG 402 Guide Camera
Paramount ME Mount
RCOS 14.5
The Sky X / CCDStack / CCD Auto Pilot

Comet C/2009 P1 Garradd

Mike Hankey — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 22:48:02 +0000

Comet Garradd is currently visible right after sunset in the western sky. Here’s a recent photo from the day after Thanksgiving.

Comet C/2009 P1 Garradd - November 25th, 2011

With a pair of binoculars and moderately dark skies you can hunt down Comet Garradd yourself. If you are interested in finding the comet, here is a good guide.

Spiral Galaxy – NGC 7331

Mike Hankey — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 21:04:28 +0000

I’ve been testing out a new scope the last month. I was finally able to get a pretty good shot out of it last night. Here’s a picture of the fantastic spiral galaxy, NGC 7331

Spiral Galaxy NGC 7331 - November 18th, 2011

NGC 7331 is 49 million light years away and approximately 30,000 light years across. It was discovered by Wilhelm Herschel in 1784 and is one of the brightest galaxies not cataloged by Messier.

Astro Photo Details
5×10 minute RGB / 150 Total minutes
SBIG ST8300 Camera
MMOAG & SBIG 402 Guide Camera
Paramount ME Mount
RCOS 14.5
CCDSoft / The Sky X / CCDStack