Category: Deep Sky

Posted on

IC342 the ‘hidden galaxy’

IC342 is a spiral galaxy of magnitude 9 in the northern and obscure constellation of Camelopardalis (‘the Camel’). The low surface brightness makes this a challenging target for clean images. The size is about 20×21 arc minutes, or comparable to almost half the Moon.

IC342 Drogenberg Observatory, Sharpstar 76mm F4.5 APO, 344x120s with ASI2600MC

On the image a nice open star cluster (top left) Berkeley 10 (credit O. VanAelst) and some small galaxies are visible like eg. UGC 2789 magnitude 17

The image was obtained on 4 different nights in September and October 2024. Some nights high Cirrus-clouds were present, which can be seen around the brighter stars as a veil.

Equipment: Sharpstar 76 EDPH F 4.5 camera ASI2600MC and mount GM1000, no guiding.

More details and a full-resolution PNG on Astrobin

This is a post-processing of my image by Marc Verhoeven:

Re processing by Marc Verhoeven
Posted on

A long night under the stars

Last night was pretty clear, with a big Moon dominating the sky. The seeing was also steady and delivered sometimes stunning planet views.

The EDPH76mm F 4,5 could continue (under the moonlight) it’s capture of the Crescent Nebula in the Swan (NGC 6888). The field of view in combination with the ASI2600MC is 236×157 arc minutes or about 4°x 2,5°. With that large field, also the Butterfly nebula around Gamma cygni filled partially the field;

The original test with 9x60s
Final result with 460×30 seconds or 230 minutes.
Jupiter through the 180mm Maksutov. At the right side it’s clear the planet is not yet 100% illuminated. The shadow of the moon Ganymede was on the planet. I forgot to anchor it for stacking so it’s elongated more than it should.
Jupiter with the C14. I had issues with the B/W images, to combine them properly on a color version.

Craters Atlas (upper right), Cepheus & Franklin (middle right & low) ; C14 F11 QHY5III200M IR ; Atlas diameter is 87 kilometers.

Mare Fecunditatis with the elaborate wrinkle ridge system of Dorsa Mawson.

Chang’e 1 was a Chinese Moon space vessel that crashed in 2009 – as intended – on the Moon’s surface; Chang’e is the Chinese Moon Goddess.

Interesting also is Messier A, a young impact crater, with two prominent impact rays stretching out over the mare surface

This website only uses statistical cookies. No personal data is collected or shared.