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NGC 5128 - Centaurus A
Centaurus A was discovered in 1826 by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop.
Astronomers still debate whether it is a lenticular or a giant elliptical galaxy.
It lies roughly 12 million light‑years away and is a strong radio source with powerful x‑ray jets.
These jets shoot out perpendicular to the galactic plane.
At its center is a supermassive black hole weighing about 55 million solar masses.
This was my second image taken with Telescope Live using remotely operated telescopes.
It’s a real joy to work with such good raw data.
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Messier 83 - The Southern Pinwheel
Messier 83 was discovered by Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille in 1752 and added to the Messier catalog in 1781.
It is one of the closest and brightest galaxies in our night sky.
Classified as a Grand Design Spiral Galaxy, it is very active in star formation along its outer spirals.
This image was taken using the Telescope Live CHI‑1 telescope in Chile.
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Messier 82 - The Cigar Galaxy
Messier 82 is a starburst galaxy in the M81 Group in Ursa Major.
This was one of my first images with Telescope Live in late 2019.
The SPA‑2 telescope uses a square chip but round filters, causing severe vignetting.
The subframes weren’t ideal so I had to crop almost half of the image.
This was my first attempt at blending Ha data with a standard RGB image.
It still has some issues to resolve, which I’ll fix once I learn a couple more Photoshop techniques.
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NGC 6744
NGC 6744 lies about 30 million light‑years away in the southern constellation Pavo.
It spans roughly 170,000 light‑years.
It is an intermediate galaxy, between barred and unbarred types.
This dataset was provided by astrophotographer Dan Crowson.
As I finished processing the image, I zoomed in and counted 108 smaller galaxies scattered throughout.
Wow.
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- Location: El Sauce Observatory, Chile
- Date: December 31, 2019
- Mount: Mathis MI‑1000
- Telescope: Planewave CDK24 f/6.6
- Camera: FLI PL9000 @-25c (CHI-1)
- Exposure: LRGB
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- Location: El Sauce Observatory, Chile
- Date: August 2020
- Mount: Mathis MI-1000
- Telescope: Planewave CDK24 f/6.6
- Camera: FLI PL9000 @-25c (CHI-1)
- Exposure: LRGB
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- Location: IC Astronomy Observatory, Spain
- Date: December 2019
- Mount: OS EQ
- Telescope: Takahashi FSQ-106ED SPA-2
- Camera: FLI PL16803 @-25C (CCD)
- Exposure: HLRGB
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- Location: Remote Dataset (Dan Crowson)
- Date: August 2020
- Mount: Remote Astro Setup
- Telescope: Remote Optical Tube
- Camera: CCD Camera
- Exposure: LRGB
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NGC 2442 - The Meathook Galaxy
Discovered by John Herschel in 1834, the Meathook Galaxy lies about 50 million light‑years away in the constellation Volans in the southern hemisphere.
Its distorted shape was caused by a near miss with another passing galaxy.
That close encounter likely triggered intense star formation in the long lower arm.
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Messier 88
Messier 88 was discovered by Charles Messier in 1781.
It lies about 50–60 million light‑years away and is part of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster.
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NGC 4038‑39 - The Antennae Galaxies
The Antennae Galaxies are a pair of interacting galaxies discovered by William Herschel in 1785 in the constellation Corvus.
They are in the process of colliding, producing pressure waves in gas, dust and magnetic fields that trigger rapid star formation.
This starburst activity has produced massive globular clusters and at least five recorded supernovae in 1921, 1974, 2004, 2007 and 2013.
This image was assembled from six imaging sessions between March and July 2021.
The long tidal tails give the pair their name.
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NGC 6946 - The Fireworks Galaxy
This was my first completed image using PixInsight, a very powerful astro‑image processing program.
All subs were provided by Adam Block as part of his instructional video tutorials.
The data was taken with Telescope Live’s Planewave 24" RC telescope (CHI‑1) in Chile.
NGC 6946 is a face‑on spiral galaxy about 25 million light‑years away.
It was discovered by William Herschel in 1798 and is part of the Virgo Supercluster.
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- Location: El Sauce Observatory, Chile
- Date: January 10, 2021
- Mount: Mathis MI‑1000
- Telescope: Planewave CDK24 f/6.6
- Camera: FLI PL9000 @ -25c (CHI‑1)
- Exposure: 6×10min RGB — Total 1 hr
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- Location: El Sauce Observatory, Chile
- Date: February 8, 2020
- Mount: Mathis MI‑1000
- Telescope: Planewave CDK24 f/6.6
- Camera: FLI PL9000 @ -25c (CHI‑1)
- Exposure: 6×10min RGB — Total 1 hr
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- Location: El Sauce Observatory, Chile
- Date: March–July 2021
- Mount: Mathis MI‑1000
- Telescope: Planewave CDK24 f/6.6
- Camera: FLI PL9000 @ -25c (CHI‑1)
- Exposure: 8×5min LRGB — Total 40 min
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- Location: El Sauce Observatory, Chile
- Date: Unknown
- Mount: Mathis MI‑1000
- Telescope: Planewave CDK24 f/6.6
- Camera: FLI PL9000 @ -25c (CHI‑1)
- Exposure: 7×10min LRGB — Total 1 hr 10 min
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Astronomy Now Magazine Ad
Back in 2019, shortly after I signed up as a customer, I submitted my first image to their gallery — NGC 5128 (Centaurus A).
Shortly after that, their director of marketing emailed me asking if they could use the image in an advertisement in an English astronomy magazine.
Of course I said yes!
Here is a link to the article — I have been officially published — YAY!
Astronomy Now Magazine Ad
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Messier 31 (M31) — The Andromeda Galaxy
The Andromeda Galaxy lies about 2.5 million light‑years from Earth and spans roughly 152,000 light‑years.
It is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way and can be viewed with the naked eye even under slightly light‑polluted skies.
Andromeda is moving toward us and will collide with the Milky Way in about 4–5 billion years, forming either an elliptical or lenticular galaxy.
It is one of the brightest Messier objects.
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NGC 3614
NGC 3614 is a barred spiral galaxy in Ursa Major.
Next to it is what is believed to be a remnant companion galaxy.
In Adam Block’s tutorial he demonstrates how to reveal two tidal streams, but I wasn’t able to accomplish that with my current PixInsight skill level.
Still, it’s a pretty cool galaxy.
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Messier 31 (M31) — The Andromeda Galaxy
Another view of the Andromeda Galaxy, this time focusing on the galactic core using the 27" Officina Stellare ProRC 700 in Oria, Spain.
This galaxy is so bright that you can see it with the naked eye on a clear, dark night.
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Ron's Telescope Live Interview
When I attended the Advanced Imaging Conference in 2022, I stopped by the vendors area to say hi to Marco at Telescope Live.
I’ve been one of their earliest and most active customers, and they had a gift for me — a thank‑you card made from my Rosette Nebula image and a bottle of Italian Chianti.
Mentore asked if I would say a few words about Telescope Live for their website blog.
Here it is:
Ron's Telescope Live Interview
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- Location: IC Astronomy Observatory
- Date: September–December 2021
- Mount: Paramount MX+
- Telescope: Takahashi FSQ‑106ED (SPA‑1)
- Camera: FLI PL16083
- Exposure: 34×30min LRGB — Total 10 hrs
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- Location: Steward Observatory, Mount Lemmon
- Date: February 2015
- Mount: Unknown
- Telescope: Schulman
- Camera: Unknown
- Exposure: Unknown
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- Location: IC Astronomy Observatory
- Date: November 2020–December 2021
- Mount: OS EQ
- Telescope: Officina Stellare ProRC 700
- Camera: FLI PL16803 @ -25c (SPA‑2)
- Exposure: 10×2min RGB — Total 20 min
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NGC 1365 - The Great Barred Galaxy
In the southern constellation Fornax lies the Great Barred Spiral Galaxy.
It is a double‑barred galaxy about 56.2 million light‑years away.
The distance from the tips of the spiral arms is around 200,000 light‑years.
The inner bar structure rotates faster than the larger outer bar.
The outer arms take about 350 million years to complete one rotation.
At the center is a supermassive black hole estimated at about 2 million solar masses.
It rotates just under the speed of light.
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NGC 253 - The Sculptor Galaxy
This galaxy goes by many names — the Sculptor Galaxy, the Silver Dollar Galaxy, NGC 253 and Caldwell 65.
It is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Sculptor.
Caroline Herschel discovered it in 1783 while conducting a systematic comet search.
It is bright enough to be viewed with binoculars and is considered the second most observed galaxy after Andromeda.
NGC 253 is currently in a starburst phase.
A gas‑rich dwarf galaxy likely collided with it about 200 million years ago.
There also appears to be a black hole at its center of about 5 million solar masses.
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NGC 4565 - The Needle Galaxy
This edge‑on galaxy lies in Coma Berenices, in the heart of galaxy country.
It is estimated to be about 13 billion years old and about 45 million light‑years away.
It is more luminous than the Andromeda Galaxy and is thought to be a giant spiral galaxy.
NGC 4565 interacts with two companion galaxies and contains about 240 globular clusters — more than the Milky Way.
I zoomed in and counted 114 smaller distant galaxies.
I included two versions of the image — the second has a darker background that enhances color and detail.
The darker background is below natural sky brightness, making it slightly unnatural.
During final cleanup I counted 214 additional galaxies in the field.
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NGC 4565 - The Needle Galaxy
In this second image of the Needle Galaxy I darkened the sky background more than usual to bring out more natural color and detail.
Since the sky is darker than its natural brightness, this image is not a true representation of the object.
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- Location: El Sauce Observatory, Chile
- Date: December 12, 2021
- Mount: ASA Alt‑Az Direct Drive Mount
- Telescope: ASA RC‑1000AZ
- Camera: FLI PL16803 @ -25c (CHI‑3)
- Exposure: 7×5min RGB — Total 1 hr 5 min
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- Location: El Sauce Observatory, Chile
- Date: August 14, 2021
- Mount: Mathis MI‑1000
- Telescope: Planewave CDK24 f/6.6
- Camera: FLI PL9000 @ -25c (CHI‑1)
- Exposure: 6×10min RGB — Total 1 hr
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- Location: El Sauce Observatory, Chile
- Date: Jun 2021 – Mar 2023
- Mount: Mathis MI‑1000
- Telescope: Planewave CDK24 f/6.6
- Camera: QHY600m @ -25c (CHI‑1) (CMOS)
- Exposure: 18×5min LRGB — Total 1.5 hrs
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- Location: El Sauce Observatory, Chile
- Date: Jun 2021 – Mar 2023
- Mount: Mathis MI‑1000
- Telescope: Planewave CDK24 f/6.6
- Camera: QHY600m @ -25c (CHI‑1) (CMOS)
- Exposure: 18×5min LRGB — Total 1.5 hrs
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Messier 83 - The Southern Pinwheel Galaxy
M83 is a Grand Design Spiral Galaxy with loosely wound spiral arms.
The nearby dwarf galaxy NGC 5253 likely interacted with M83 within the last billion years, triggering massive star formation along the forward edges of the arms.
This galaxy is huge, with a diameter of about 118,000 light‑years.
It is also one of the brightest and closest objects in our night sky at about 15 million light‑years.
Nicolas‑Louis de Lacaille discovered it in 1752 at the Cape of Good Hope, and Charles Messier added it to his catalog in 1781.
I originally processed this object in 2020 using CCDStack and Photoshop (see top of page).
This is my first re‑do using PixInsight.
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NGC 3628 - The Hamburger Galaxy
NGC 3628 lies around 35 million light‑years away and is an unbarred spiral galaxy.
It was discovered in 1784 by William Herschel.
Its most notable feature is the dark band of dust and gas that splits the top and bottom halves.
It has an X‑shaped central bulge, which is indicative of a barred spiral.
Simulations show that bars often form when disk galaxies interact or merge with other galaxies, as NGC 3628 does with nearby M65 and M66.
NGC 3628 is part of the Leo Triplet.
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Image Slide Show with Music - May 2023
This was a fun project.
I selected some of my favorite images — both from my own rig and from Telescope Live — and added a soundtrack of original music.
The file is large, too big for AOL to send, so here are two links: one to download the file and one to watch the presentation on the website.
Both links should work with any browser except Firefox.
The video version has a couple of glitches in the soundtrack and video that I couldn’t fix — sorry.
Watch Video:
Image Slide Show with Music - May 2023
The PowerPoint version has a clean soundtrack and video.
After downloading, open it, select Slideshow at the top, then Start from Beginning.
If it opens in Presenter View, look for the round circle icon to turn Presenter View off.
Download PowerPoint:
Image Slide Show with Music - May 2023
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NGC 3621
NGC 3621 is located in the constellation Hydra and lies about 22 million light‑years away.
Its diameter is about 93,000 light‑years.
It is a flat‑disk galaxy with no central bulge, which is unusual because galaxies with central black holes almost always have bulges.
There is thought to be one supermassive black hole (about 20,000 solar masses) and two smaller companion black holes at its center.
Telescope Live has upgraded all of their cameras to CMOS sensors.
The new CMOS cameras have their own processing challenges compared to the older CCD cameras.
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- Location: El Sauce Observatory, Chile
- Date: April 13–17, 2023
- Mount: Mathis MI‑1000
- Telescope: Planewave CDK24 f/6.6
- Camera: QHY600m @ -25c (CHI‑1) (CMOS)
- Exposure: 18×5min LRGB — Total 1.5 hrs
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- Location: El Sauce Observatory, Chile
- Date: March 2021 – March 2023
- Mount: Mathis MI‑1000
- Telescope: Planewave CDK24 f/6.6
- Camera: QHY600m @ -25c (CHI‑1) (CMOS)
- Exposure: 12×5min LRGB — Total 1 hr
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- Location: El Sauce Observatory, Chile
- Date: March 2021 – March 2023
- Mount: Mathis MI‑1000
- Telescope: Planewave CDK24 f/6.6
- Camera: QHY600m @ -25c (CHI‑1) (CMOS)
- Exposure: 12×5min LRGB — Total 1 hr
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Messier 51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy
One of the most popular objects among amateur and professional astronomers.
Messier 51 (the Whirlpool Galaxy) was discovered in 1773 by Charles Messier.
Its companion galaxy, NGC 5195, was discovered in 1781 by Pierre Méchain.
These two galaxies are interacting and have collided at least twice.
Estimated distance is about 37 million light‑years.
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Small Magellanic Cloud
The Small Magellanic Cloud is one of our closest neighbors in the Local Group.
It is classified as an irregular dwarf galaxy about 200,000 light‑years away.
It retains remnants of a bar structure, suggesting it was once a barred spiral galaxy.
A faint tidal trail indicates past interaction with the Large Magellanic Cloud.
It was once a satellite of the LMC but is now a satellite of the Milky Way.
It contains several hundred million stars and is one of the most distant objects visible to the naked eye.
The large globular cluster to the left is NGC 104, and the smaller one at the bottom is NGC 362.
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Messier 31 (M31) - The Andromeda Galaxy
This image is a re‑do of the one above — the first of many as I improve my processing skills.
It’s a lot of fun to revisit an image I was happy with and try to make it better.
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Messier 31
One last version — I promise.
This one was taken with a wide‑angle camera.
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- Location: IC Astronomy Obs, Spain
- Date: April 23–25, 2023
- Mount: Officina Stellare EQ Fork
- Telescope: Officina Stellare ProRC 700 (5600mm)
- Camera: QHY600m @ -30c (SPA‑2) (CMOS)
- Exposure: 71×120sec LRGB — Total 2 hrs 22 min
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- Location: Heaven's Mirror Observatory, Australia
- Date: May 19, 2021
- Mount: Paramount MX+
- Telescope: Takahashi FSQ‑106ED
- Camera: FLI PL16083 @ -25c (AUS‑1) (CCD)
- Exposure: 6×5min LRGB — Total 30 min
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- Location: IC Astronomy Obs, Spain
- Date: Nov 2020 – Dec 2021
- Mount: OS EQ
- Telescope: Officina Stellare ProRC 700
- Camera: FLI PL16803 @ -25c (SPA‑2)
- Exposure: RGB 10×2min — Total 20 min
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- Sorry, no acquisition data
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