Mike's Astro Photos

Archive for 2011

Dec.29 2011

M51 – The Whirlpool Galaxy

by , under Galaxies

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

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Dec.23 2011

The right side of the Moon

by , under Lunar

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!

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Dec.14 2011

Geminid Meteor Shower Photos 2011

by , under Comets & Meteors

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

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Dec.05 2011

Galaxy NGC 891

by , under Galaxies

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!

NGC 891 – December 03, 2011

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

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Nov.27 2011

Comet C/2009 P1 Garradd

by , under Comets & Meteors

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

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.
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Nov.19 2011

Spiral Galaxy – NGC 7331

by , under Galaxies

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

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Nov.10 2011

Asteroid 2005YU55 – Close Pass with Earth

by , under Comets & Meteors

A very large asteroid, 2005YU55 passed by Earth Tuesday November 8th . It reached its peak closeness around 6:30 PM that evening. I made an attempt at photographing it, but failed due to technical reasons. I later found a post explaining the procedure I needed to execute and I was able to successful target, track and photograph the asteroid the following night.

Here’s a short animated gif of the asteroid while it is being tracked. The asteroid is the little dot in the center and the long lines moving are stars. Each exposure is 30 seconds long. The asteroid was only a few degrees from the near full moon and it was also pretty cloudy, so the image is hurt by this, but hey, the asteroid is still there!

Near Earth Asteroid 2005 YU55 - November 9th, 2011

Here is a youtube version of the asteroid sequence above, but just with more frames.

Here’s another animated gif of the asteroid. This time the stars are being tracked, so they are stationary as the asteroid flies across the field of view. Each frame in this clip is a one minute exposure.

Near Earth Asteroid 2005 YU55 - November 9th, 2011

Here is a youtube version of the asteroid sequence above, but just with more frames.

Both of these videos were taken November 9th, 2011 between 8 and 10 PM EST using an RCOS 14.5 telescope.

If you are searching for information on the 11/11/11 meteor, you don’t need to worry about 2005YU55. Its gone and won’t be impacting Earth anytime soon.

Here’s a good article about the asteroid with a map of its path relative to Earth and also a 3d video close-up of the asteroid obtained using a radio telescope.

http://news.discovery.com/space/nasa-makes-a-movie-asteroid-2005-yu55-in-radar-111109.html

and here’s a pretty good Australian news program about this asteroid and NEOs in general.

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Nov.09 2011

Astrophotos and Meteorites from Paris

by , under Comets & Meteors

The first email I read while waiting for my luggage at the Charles De Gaulle airport on Oct 9th was titled “New Meteorite in Paris”. The story, about a new french meteorite that had crashed through the roof of a home in Draveil France (a Paris suburb) had just been published on the same day I landed in Paris. This was certainly a sign that our journey was ‘universe’ approved.

Map of Draveil Meteorite Strewnfield

I had pitched the trip to my wife as two days of astro work in Greece and then fun time in Paris. How was I going to explain the need to go meteorite hunting, while we were visiting the most exciting city in the world? I struggled and ultimately decided the French would have to find the remaining pieces of the Draveil meteorite on their own, but while I was there I certainly wanted to have a look at what was already found.

Chergoch Meteorite - Sotheby's Paris France

By our second day in the city, fatigue had caught up with us and we decided to take it easy and just wonder around the city. In the back of my mind I wanted to ‘wonder’ into Alain Carion’s gallery — Dr. Carion is a world renowned Parisian meteorite collector and dealer. He has a shop in the center of Paris and he holds a piece of the newest meteorite fall. Visiting the Carion gallery was on my todo list for the trip anyway, so I figured we could explore the city while pursing this unofficial goal. I was still learning my way around and a little disoriented and we ended up walking away from Carion’s gallery instead of towards it.
As we were walking down the street, we observed an official military ceremony in process in front of an important looking building. It took us a few moments to learn this was the home of the French president and we were watching the changing of the guard. As we past by on the opposite side of the street, my wife looked into a shop window and saw a huge triceratops head. She said, ‘look at this’. To our surprise we had stumbled into Sotheby’s auction house and they just happened to be showing off a large lot of dinosaur fossils, minerals and meteorites (click link for gallery of items on auction block). Random luck, cosmic forces or the will of the universe had guided us to some of the finest meteorites in Paris!

Galerie Alain Carion

On our last day we went to the Galerie Alain Carion. The shop is located in one of the nicest parts of the city, an island in the Seine just a stones throw from Notre Dame. The collection is literally first class with an amazing selection of meteorites, minerals and a few fossils too.
Alain is a well known and well respected meteorite scientist, collector, dealer and hunter. I have heard a lot about his work and I have one of his meteorite books. Alain also has a piece of the Draveil meteorite which he acquired from its original owner Mrs. Comette. I was really looking forward to visiting the shop and meeting Alain.
When we arrived at the store front I was not disappointed. A stunning collection of meteorites, minerals and fossils was on display in the main window. There were several meteorites I immediately recognized including a huge slice of the pallasite esquel, a few big hunks of carbonaceous chondrite Allende and several nicely sculpted pieces of sikhote alin shrapnel, one of which I recognized from Alain’s book.
Here’s a picture of some meteorites in the front window of the Galerie Alain Carion. The sikohte alin in the bottom right is no longer there…

Carion Meteorites

When I looked in the far corner of the window I saw this picture. I later learned it is a hand painted original from one of Carion’s sons. Like the sikohte alin meteorite, the picture is no longer in the window.

Dellin Carion Original - Meteorite hits Tie Fighter

Alain was kind enough to meet with us and pose for a picture.

Dr. Alain Carion & Mike Hankey - Paris France 2011

He even showed us his fragment of the Draveil meteorite — the latest witnessed fall found on Earth and for all intensive purposes the first and only Parisian meteorite (not exactly, but close enough only 12 miles away).

Draveil Meteorite - Paris France October 2011

It was our last night in Paris and of course the clouds started to clear up for the first time since we arrived.

Seine River - Paris France

I knew the almost full moon would be rising shortly after dusk. I wanted to recoup some of my earlier losses and make it home with an astrophoto or two. So we got dinner at a fine crepe place and then walked around taking pictures of the city, the moon and Jupiter.

Moon, Jupiter & Seine - Paris France October 13th, 2011

Notre Dame at night, with the Moon and Jupiter over top.
Moon, Jupiter and Notre Dame - Paris 2011

The Moon, Jupiter and Notre Dame - October 13th, 2011

The Moon, Jupiter and the Louvre.

The Moon, Jupiter & The Louvre - October 13th, 2011

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Oct.15 2011

Draconids in Delphi Greece – October 7th & 8th 2011

by , under Comets & Meteors

My wife Tracy and I just back from a nine day trip to Europe. We went primarily to photograph the peak of the Draconid meteor shower which was predicted to be abnormally high this year. Unfortunately, the skies over Europe were blocked out with clouds for seven of the nine days we were there, including both nights of the peak. This was ok though, because our secondary mission was to have a good time, and we did do that.

We stayed at a 5 star mountain resort in Greece located in the mountains above Delphi. The first night we arrived, after traveling for over 20 hours I was immensely tired, but the skies were perfectly clear and beautiful and dark and I had to take advantage (i’m glad I did, as this was our only clear night!). Here’s a two minute exposure taken from the deck off of our room after the moon set.

Milkway over Parnassos Mountains - Arachova Greece - October 7th, 2011

Milkway over Parnassos Mountains - Arachova Greece - October 7th, 2011

The next day we scouted out possible locations to observe the meteor shower including the ancient Greek city and ruins. Here are a few shots from some of our potential locations.

Parnasso Mountains

Road to Delphi

Sanctuary of Apollo



The Sanctuary of Athena, as seen from Apollo’s ruins

Sanctuary of Athena - Delphi Greece

Sanctuary of Athena - Delphi Greece

Here are a few more pics of the ruins…

Apollo Temple

Sanctuary of Apollo

Sanctuary of Apollo

Treasury of the Athenians


I explained to Babis Taglis, the owner of our awesome Greek resort, what I was trying to do and he offered to drive around with me and show me some good locations to shoot from. He put a lot of thought into it and took me to some awesome spots. We literally drove to the top of the Parnasso mountain 6200+ feet up!

Babis Taglis - Tagli Resort & Spa

Babis Taglis - Tagli Resort & Spa

There was a service road to the top made of mostly softball sized rocks with the occasional bowling ball boulder in the middle of the road! At certain points I thought the car was going to flip backward. I pushed the rented Mercedes SUV to the limit. The car barely worked in ‘auto’ mode and continued to stall out trying to get up the hill, but when I put it into dedicated 4×4 it worked pretty good. Here are a few pics from the peak of the mountain.

Parnasso Mountain Peak

Parnasso Mountain Peak

Both nights of the Draconid meteor shower were completely clouded out.

Ancient Greek Church

Ancient Greek Church

But I did see this cool falling rocks sign…

Falling Rocks - Delphi Greece

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Sep.28 2011

M31 Astrophoto – The Great Andromeda Galaxy

by , under Galaxies

Here’s my latest picture of the The Great Andromeda Galaxy. Also known as Messier 31, Andromeda is a spiral galaxy about 2.2 million light years away from Earth. In 964 a persian astronomer described the galaxy as a ‘small cloud’. When you look at Andromeda through a telescope, it looks like a smudge or a small cloud. Only with a camera and long exposure, does the galaxy’s true form take shape. The majestic spirals and bright center core reveal a universal grouping of over 1 trillion stars!

Andromeda Galaxy - August 23, 2011

Compare the astrophoto above with a picture of the Andromeda Galaxy from about 1 year ago, or this photo of Andromeda from 18 months ago. Skills, equipment and 1 year’s experience make a big difference in picture quality!

Astro Photo Details
5×10 minute RGB / 150 Total minutes
SBIG ST8300 Camera
Orion ST80 Guide Scope
SBIG 402 Guide Camera
Paramount ME Mount
William Optics FLT98
CCDSoft / The Sky X / CCDStack

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Sep.22 2011

NASA Satellite set to crash in the next 1-2 days.

by , under Misc

You’ve probably heard about this in the last week, but a very large NASA satellite is set to crash to Earth in the next day or two and it will could be a spectacular light show for those living near the end of the track. Here’s the official NASA page about the UARS satellite.

You can see the satellite in the sky now at certain times of day, but the time and place is dependent on your location. To figure out when and where to look, go to this site:

http://heavens-above.com/

Follow these instructions:
1) From the main page, under ‘configuration’, press the link: “select from map”
2) Select your location from the map. Try to get as close to your real location as possible by hitting ‘zoom’.
3) Once your location is selected, press submit and get sent to the main page.
4) Now select the link under Satellites that reads “UARS”
5) This will show you all of the times over the next few days when the satellite will pass over. IF there are no clouds in the sky you should 100% CHECK THIS OUT at this time, cause no matter what it will be COOL, and you have the possibility to see it crash — which will be AMAZING!

If you see the satellite or see it crash, please write me and tell me about it. If you have a camera and tripod, set it up before the pass so you can catch it on film.

Good luck and clear skies!

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Sep.15 2011

Major Fireball In the South West

by , under Misc

There was a major fireball in the south west today that made national news on CNN, MSNBC and the other networks. The American Meteor Society fireball application logged over 100 witness reports. I wrote a blog article today on the AMS website about the 2011/09/14 fireball. Check it out. Good chance it left meteorites, but it might also be space trash.

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Sep.08 2011

Eagle Nebula

by , under Nebula

Here’s a photo of the Eagle Nebula I took back in July. The nebula also referred to as the pillars of creation is a about 6500 light years away from Earth and the column of star forming gas and dust in the center is approximately 60 trillion miles high. At least we know there are somethings in the universe bigger than our national debt.

Eagle Nebula - July 2011

Here’s a higher zoom picture of the center area.

Eagle Nebula - July 2011

Primarily visible during the summer months, the Eagle Nebula is one of the most majestic and awe inspiring objects in the night sky.

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Sep.02 2011

Milky Way Meteor

by , under Comets & Meteors

We were without power for 3-4 days this week due to hurricane Irene. The power outage coincided with the new moon phase leaving the skies in northern Maryland darker than I have ever seen before. I was a little bummed that I couldn’t fire up the observatory, so I made the most of it and took some tripod shots of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Here’s a lucky shot of a bright meteor, low on the horizon. Based on the elevation angle of 8º and assuming a 80km starting point for illuminated flight, this meteor would have been about 569km SE of my location or half the distance between Maryland and Bermuda.

Milky Way Galaxy and Meteor - August 28, 2011 11:28 PM EST

Here’s the meteor at full zoom resolution. At a magnitude of 2.0, the bright star directly above the meteor is Diphda.

Milky Way Galaxy and Meteor - August 28, 2011 11:28 PM EST

Here’s another shot of the Milky Way Galaxy from the backyard.

Milky Way Galaxy - August 2011

The power went out early sunday morning. I finally got a generator on Tuesday. The first thing plugged into the generator was my observatory. I was happy to learn that all equipment and PC fired up and operated perfectly on the generator power.

Milky Way Galaxy from Freeland Observatory - August 2011

We were happy to get our power turned back on Wednesday night. Many thanks to all of the utility workers from around the country who came to the east coast to fix our power lines. You guys are much appreciated! I’m hoping hurricane Katia will be a dud or misses us.

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Aug.25 2011

NASA Meteor Workshop – August 3-4, 2011

by , under Comets & Meteors

I recently attended a NASA meteor workshop at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute in Western North Carolina. The workshop consisted of two days of talks put on by the world’s foremost meteor scientists. The talks centered around meteors and video cameras and all sky camera networks and topics relating to the operation and analysis of meteors using different types of cameras and software. There were some VERY cool advanced technologies showcased at this event. I was invited to speak and gave two presentations. The first presentation was about the recent work my company did for the AMS website and the second was an update on the Mason Dixon Meteor hunt. Both presentations were well received and I got a lot of new pointers and ideas that will recharge the meteorite hunt. It was really great to meet the upper echelon of the meteor community and I consider it a privilege being invited to such an exclusive event.

Here is a PDF of the workshop program which contains an agenda and abstracts of each presentation.

Here are the slides from my power point presentation.

For the MDM hunt update I used The Official Page of the Mason Dixon Meteor, as I guide for my presentation.

Here are a few astro photos I took from the PARI site.

NASA Meteor Workshop, PARI NC - August 3rd 2011

NASA Meteor Workshop, PARI NC - August 3rd 2011

Nestled inside the Shenandoah Mountains, PARI has very nice dark skies.

NASA Meteor Workshop, PARI NC - August 3rd 2011

NASA Meteor Workshop, PARI NC - August 3rd 2011

Allowing for a prominent Milky Way.

NASA Meteor Workshop, PARI NC - August 3rd, 2011

NASA Meteor Workshop, PARI NC - August 3rd, 2011

Here’s a picasa photo gallery with a few more pics from the trip.

And a time lapse video of all photos taken over the three days.

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