M97 galaxy & M108 Owl Nebula - Dec 30, 2010 Using a 5-inch refractor
and a QSI Camera allowed me to nicely frame this pair of objects. In this image
the �eyes� of the Owl Nebula (M 97), a planetary nebula, are clearly visible.
The barred spiral galaxy Messier 108 is to the northwest of M 97.
Charles
Banville |
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M78/NGC2068 - Dec 29, 2010 This reflection nebula is located in the
constellation Orion. Image taken from the Victoria Centre Observatory using the
TeleVue NP127 at f/5.2 at the QSI583C CCD imager.
Charles
Banville |
|
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Observing at
the Plaskett - Dec 4, 2010 Finally....clear skies on a Plaskett
night!!! Last evening saw a good turnout at the 1.8m Plaskett telescope at
the DAO. Attendees were new member Dan, Lauri, John, David G, Dorothy and
Miles, Chris and Gerry, and myself. David L, Brenda, and Sid also popped it
to say hi and warm up from their work at the VCO.
Dan acquired an image set of Stephan's Quintet. Dorothy and Miles
acquired images of a SNR (Cas A, I think).
On behalf of the RASC-Victoria Centre, I would like to extend our sincere
thanks to the HIA for their generosity in offering us the Plaskett telescope
for these sessions in 2010, and to Dave Balam for being our accommodating
and knowledgeable T.O. I'm sure you will all agree we are very fortunate to
have access to this historic telescope, and we appreciate it.
Sherry Buttnor |
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Time lapse video created by John McDonald of the scene
outside the Plaskett as RASC members were imaging inside.
A star trail version generated from the same set of photos. |
Jupiter at the VCO - Nov 10, 2010 Jupiter at the VCO using the
Meade 14 SCT with 2x Powermate, Nikon D70s 1000 ISO 125th Second.
Malcolm
Scrimger |
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The ISS Over Gonzales Observatory - Nov 8, 2010
The International Space Station flies over the Gonzales Observatory in this
10-minute exposure.The last two weeks has seen a number of ISS flybys as its
orbit took it over North America in the evening. I managed to capture a few
of those flybys; one from Royal Roads University and another from Gonzales
Hill Regional Park.
Charles
Banville |
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Southern Milky Way from New Zealand -
Nov 1, 2010 This time lapse video was created from a sequence
of photos taken from near Rotorua, New Zealand looking in a southerly
direction at the Milky Way. The nebula Eta Carina, alpha and beta
Centauri, and the bottom star of the Southern Cross are visible above the
ridge line of the nearby hills.
Joe Carr
HINT: Click on the little four segment icon beside "HD" in the
lower right corner of the video window to view in high definition. |
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Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy from Lake Okareka, New Zealand - Nov 1, 2010
This photo of the LMC is taken at 70 mm focal length with a total exposure
of 69 minutes shows the distorted shape and extended wispy structures quite
well. It is about 14,000 light years across, 160,000 light years from us and
roughly 1/10th the mass of the Milky Way about which it is orbiting.
John
McDonald |
|
Southern Milky Way from New Zealand - Oct 26, 2010 Cropped portion
of Milky Way from Warkworth, New Zealand. This image has labels to
assist with the unusual orientation, however there is another image in the
same gallery without labels. Conditions were clear for an hour or so,
22�C, some light pollution from Auckland. Tripod-mounted modified
Canon T1i.
John
McDonald |
|
Jupiter with GRS - Oct 16, 2010 I haven't done a formal sketch in a while and I'd barely call this one but for documentation purposes I forced myself to do this one quick and dirty. The seeing was mostly 3-4/5 but every once in awhile there were moments when it was perfect. I did this sketch over about 10 minutes
using my f/5 317.5mm truss dob @ 158X using a 10mm Ethos.
Bill Weir |
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Comet Hartley from Anza-Borrego State Park, California - Oct 13, 2010
While in San Diego I took the opportunity to visit California�s largest
State Park, the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. The park is located between
San Diego and Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California. That evening
I waited for the Moon to set and aimed my telescope at Comet Hartley. A few
days earlier the comet passed by the Double Cluster in Perseus. In this
image the comet is surrounded by open clusters.
Charles
Banville |
|
Star trails from the California desert - Oct 13, 2010
While in San Diego I took the opportunity to visit California�s largest State Park, the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. The park is located between San Diego and Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California.
This photo was taken from Culp Valley, within the park.Charles
Banville |
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Comet 103P Hartley 2 near the Double Cluster - Oct 8, 2010 I got up early this morning to get a glimpse of the comet. With very little time I wanted to get a snapshot as well so I grabbed a tripod and my D700 and pointed near the Double Cluster. This would indeed be a snapshot as there was no time for the more elaborate tracking gear with dawn approaching. For this type of image this is probably the shortest exposure I've used outside of lunar and solar imaging. ISO 3200 and 4 seconds at f/2 worked nicely for a quick shot.
David
Lee
|
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Large Magellanic Cloud & Tarantula Nebula - Sep 11, 2010 The Large
Magellanic Cloud with the Tarantula Nebula, NGC 2070 in the constellations
Dorado and Mensa.
My ship pulled into Valparaiso a week ago and the weather has been great.
Michel Michaud and I drove 60 km north-east of Valparaiso to a Chilean
National Park - Parque Nacional La Campana (S33.003� W71.127�). The site we
selected for astrophotography was fairly dark and we got three clear nights
out of four.
Charles
Banville |
|
Small Magellanic Cloud & 47 Tucanae - Sep 10, 2010 The Small
Magellanic Cloud is one of the closest galaxies to our own Milky Way. Framed
here with two large globular clusters; NGC 362 on the left and 47 Tucanae
(NGC 104) on the right, both in the constellation Tucana.
My ship pulled into Valparaiso a week ago and the weather has been great.
Michel Michaud and I drove 60 km north-east of Valparaiso to a Chilean
National Park - Parque Nacional La Campana (S33.003� W71.127�). The site we
selected for astrophotography was fairly dark and we got three clear nights
out of four.
Charles
Banville |
|
M31 the Great Galaxy in Andromeda - Aug 15, 2010 Way, way past dark-thirty at the
10th Annual RASCALS Star
Party 2010 and I was getting pretty sleepy. But I couldn't resist
taking a few shots at M31 just to see what would happen.
Sherry
Buttnor |
|
NGC7822 nebula in Cepheus - Aug 14, 2010 Pillars of gas, dust, and
hot-burning young stars form the center of NGC 7822. A giant molecular cloud
spreads across much of the constellation Cepheus. This nebula is on the
northern edge of this glowing star forming region about 3,000 light-years
away from us.
This photo was taken from the
10th Annual RASCALS Star
Party 2010 held in Metchosin.
Joe Carr |
|
M33 the Triangulum Galaxy - Aug 14, 2010 M33 from three sessions, one at the
7th Annual RASCALS Star Party
2007 at the Victoria Fish and Game site, one at the DAO in
Victoria in 2007, and one at the
10th Annual RASCALS Star
Party 2010 held in Metchosin.
John
McDonald |
|
M8 and M20 Nebulae - Aug 14, 2010 This part of Sagitarius is very rich and colorful.
M8, the Lagoon Nebula is the dominant feature, a glowing cloud of hydrogen
gas lit by newly formed stars in the cluster NGC 6523. The Trifid nebula,
M20 in the upper centre has striking blue and red emission regions with
prominent dark lanes. This photo was taken from the
10th Annual RASCALS Star
Party 2010 held in Metchosin.
John
McDonald |
|
IC1318 Butterfly Nebula & Sadr - Aug 13, 2010
The area around Sadr (Gamma Cygni) features various nebulous regions
which show in this photo as pink and red patches surrounding Sadr - the brightest
star. This photo was taken from the
10th Annual RASCALS Star
Party 2010 held in Metchosin.
Joe Carr |
|
Planetary Trio from Hawaii - July 31, 2010 It has been mostly
cloudy during my stay in Hawaii. One evening I drove to Leeward Oahu and
observed bright Venus, Saturn, and Mars set over the Pacific Ocean.
Charles
Banville |
|
Big Dipper - Ursa Major - July 28, 2010
A view over the Royal Oak golf course and Ursa Major. I was trying to
photograph an Iridium Flare but got the timing and location wrong. It's been
too long since I have done some astrophotography.
Malcolm
Scrimger |
|
Solar prominence & plage in Ha - July 19, 2010 4:05pm PDT As I
observed the Sun this afternoon using my Lunt solar telescope, there were
two prominent features visible: a moderate sized prominence and some huge
areas of plage on the surface. I employed a High Dynamic Range technique to
capture both features in one image.
Joe Carr |
|
North American to Veil Nebulae - July 17, 2010 The stretch of sky
in Cygnus that reaches from the North American and Pelican to the Veil
Nebulae is incredibly rich with glowing emission and dark nebulae as well as
amazing star clouds. This is a deep exposure of the region with a 100 mm
lens. Taken on a cool, clear night at Cattle Point.
John
McDonald |
|
Tail end of Cygnus wide field - July 17-18, 2010 This wide field
photo of the tail end of Cygnus was taken from a church field in Central
Saanich as a test for a potential dark site. Yard lights and heavy dew
proved to be a challenge. The dew in particular meant I had to eliminate
half the shots taken during the session. Despite these obstacles, the
resultant photos turned out amazingly well.
This photo is the full frame from the original showing (L to R): NGC7000
region: North America Nebula, IC5070 Pelican Nebula. Sadr region: IC1311,
IC1318, NGC6888 Crescent Nebula
Joe Carr |
|
M20, The Trifid Nebula - July 16/17, 2010 Photo taken with an
Orion SS Pro CCD on a very clear, cloudless night at LB Pearson College,
Metchosin, BC using a AT8RC telescope on an EQ6 mount autoguided with an OAG
camera and PHD.
Guy
Walton |
|
M31, Andromeda Galaxy, M32, M110 - July 16, 2010 The vast
Andromeda spiral galaxy is the largest member of our Local Group of
galaxies. It has two small neigbouring galaxies, as well as some knots of star forming
regions which appear as small blue coloured clouds in this photo. The dark
lanes in Andromeda are quite distinct.
I used a Hutech-modified Canon T2i dSLR utilizing an IDAS UIBAR-III filter
prime focus on the Victoria Centre Observatory's Tele Vue NP127is apo
refractor on a Paramount ME.
Joe Carr |
|
M16, Eagle Nebula in Hydrogen Alpha - July 6/7, 2010 Photo taken
with an Orion SS Pro CCD at LB Pearson College, Metchosin, BC using a AT8RC
telescope on an EQ6 mount autoguided with an OAG camera and PHD. Used an
Astronomik 12 nm. Ha filter.
Guy
Walton |
|
ISS passage over VCO - July 5, 2010 I have cobbled together a
fisheye lens using an old supplementary lens that was made for a Canon
Coolpix and attached it to a regular DSLR lens. The combination works quite
well. I have put some images taken with it on my Zenfolio page.
- They start with an
ISS pass image taken at the VCO last night.
- This is followed by an
image from the CU that shows the Plaskett and surroundings as well
as the sky.
- The third one is of a
fairly dark sky at the VCO on Friday night.
John
McDonald |
|
M101 or NGC5457 - Pinwheel Galaxy - July 2, 2010 Taken at Victoria
Centre Observatory using a Meade 14" SCT equipped with a Hyperstar operating
at f/2, QSI 583c CCD camera.
John
McDonald |
|
NGC 4725, NGC 4712 and NGC 4747 - June 12, 2010
After the CU closed, I captured an image of NGC 4725 Saturday evening at the
VCO using the QSI-Hyperstar camera on our 14" SCT. NGC 4725 is an
intermediate barred spiral galaxy about 40 million light-years away in the
constellation Coma Berenices. Two other galaxies are also seen in this
image, NGC 4712 to the left and NGC 4747 to the upper right.
John
McDonald |
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Comet C/2009 R1 McNaught - June 12, 2010 On Friday evening I went
to Mount Tolmie in order to get a clear view of the north-east horizon.
Comet McNaught rose just after 1:00 and I was able to get a few shots before
twilight. Photo taken using a Borg 77EDII at f/4.3 on Takahashi EM-11 mount
; Hutech modified Canon EOS 5D Mark II.
Charles
Banville |
|
M13 Hercules Cluster - May 8, 2010 The Great Globular in Hercules is
one of the best known globular clusters in the northern sky. Photo
taken at the VCO using the TeleVue NP-127 at f/5.2, SBIG ST-2000XM &
Paramount ME. Charles
Banville |
|
New Moon, 27:35 hours old - May 14, 2010 21:40:47 PDT I was able
to image the very young new Moon at our VCO observing session using a SW
Equinox 80 Apo Refractor and a Nikon D80. Thanks Bill for the tip.
Guy
Walton |
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NGC 4632 Whale Galaxy and NGC 4656/57 Hockey Stick Galaxy - May 13, 2010
The Hockey Stick galaxy NGC 4656 and 57 is near the Whale galaxy, NGC
4632 and the distortion of both is likely from the interactions they have
had with each other and with NGC 4627, the small galaxy near the Whale.
Maybe the Whale is really an opposing hockey team and penalties are needed.
I have imaged this combination before but managed to get a lot more exposure
for this one. Subsequent processing has added more colour and detail.
John
McDonald |
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NGC�s 4438 and 4435, a.k.a. The Eyes, M86, and M84 - May 7, 2010 This
photo was taken from Pearson College Observatory, and shows a section of
Markarian�s Chain in the constellation: Virgo.
Optics: TeleVue NP-127 at f/5.2, SBIG ST-2000XM
Mount: Losmandy G-11
Charles
Banville |
Annotated image |
NGC4565 Needle Galaxy - May 6/7, 2010 The Needle Galaxy is a
magnificent edge-on spiral galaxy in the faint constellation Coma Berenices
and is the largest edge-on galaxy visible in our skies. This color image
reveals the galaxy's bulging central core dominated by light from a
population of older, yellowish stars. The core is dramatically cut by
obscuring dust lanes which lace its thin galactic plane. Smaller Galaxy
NGC4562 is also visible in this field.
Photos taken at the Victoria Centre Observatory using the 14" Meade LX-200
SCT & Hyperstar f/2 optic; QSI 583c colour CCD camera.
Joe Carr |
|
M104 - Sombrero Galaxy - May 5, 2010 This photo was taken from
Pearson College Observatory, and shows the Sombrero Galaxy with its
distinctive dust lane in the constellation: Virgo.
Optics: TeleVue NP-127 at f/5.2, SBIG ST-2000XM
Mount: Losmandy G-11
Charles
Banville |
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7.9 day Moon - April 21, 2010 The Moon imaged with the VCO 14" SCT
and Hyperstar using the QSI583cs CCD camera.
John
McDonald |
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15hr old Moon - April 14, 2010
20:23 hrs PDT I ended up going to Mt. Doug. because I wanted to be as
high up as possible. I ate supper at the top, set up my ED80 and my 10X50
binos, and watched the Sun set. Noticing the exact hill behind which the Sun
set would be key to any possibility, as the Moon would be setting further
north than the Sun did. Those thin wispy clouds made any possible naked eye
sighting impossible but it still didn't stop the effort. I was also able to
show many people Venus (naked eye) and both it and Mercury through my little
refractor.
I did though keep scanning the appropriate area with my binos and saw in a
clear blue patch what looked to me like the thinnest, pale white/grey,
properly orientated crescent. I though at first it was just one of the cloud
wisps but stayed steady on the object and noticed how it didn't move as the
background did. I stayed on it for several minutes and the shape never
changed until a grey patch moved in front of it and I never caught site of
the crescent again. This was at exactly 2023hrs PDT (watch set by the NRC
website). While I was observing the crescent with my binos I did switch to
my refractor for a moment at 18X but found it made the background too bright
and I saw nothing. When I switched back to the binos it reappeared. This to
my mind helps confirm for me that I was seeing what I believed I was seeing.
Even though a naked eye sighting and record didn't happen, I'm thrilled with
what I did accomplish. To my limited math skills I think this is a hair
under 15hrs old Moon optical sighting.
Bill Weir |
Solar prominences in Ha - March 19, 2010 There were multiple solar
prominences visible on the Sun this afternoon, however a series of three in
one group stood out as particularly spectacular. Reports from the previous
day told of a single huge arching prominence at this same location on the
solar disk. I took a series of photos through my Lunt solar telescope using
my Canon 7D dSLR a-focally. See the other photos for a full disk view and
for close-ups of the other prominences.
Joe Carr |
|
Seagull Nebula, IC2177 in Ha - March 19, 2010 Taken from Pearson
College. Equipment: SW Equinox 80mm Refractor on SW EQ6 mount autoguided
with an OAG camera. Orion Filter Wheel with Astronomic 13nm Ha filter.
Imaging camera: Orion SSPro V1.
Guy
Walton |
|
ISS over Victoria - March 17, 2010 The International Space Station
is seen flying over Victoria as observed from Mount Tolmie using a Canon 7D
dSLR and a Bower 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye lens.
Charles
Banville |
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Plaskett photography - March 12, 2010 The weather
cooperated for Victoria Centre members, so they could use the
1.8m Plaskett telescope at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory to acquire
photos of a wide variety of objects. M1 Crab Nebula, NGC2903 galaxy, M82
Cigar Galaxy (all by John McDonald).
Thanks to Dave Balam, our very
capable telescope operator.
Collection of Plaskett 2010 Photos - taken by Victoria Centre members
|
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Great Orion Nebula complex - March 6, 2010 My first image produced
with the Williams Optic 66 acquired earlier this years. The entire complex
nebula is quite nice and detailed compare to previous M42 images taken with
CCD. Next things to learn... flats and darks!
Michel
Michaud |
|
Northern Star Trails - Feb 17, 2010
This image is a combination of 30 second images taken continuously all night
from Yellow Point Lodge on Vancouver Island. The date was 2010-02-17 during
the Vancouver Olympics so the ski regions and city lights show up in the
lower right. Many lights from boats and airplanes can also be seen.
Northern Stars Overnight - a time lapse video using the same still photos. John
McDonald |
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Horsehead with Ha combined with Color - Feb 17, 2010 This image was created using my Ha image of February 17, 2010 as a luminance
layer and my color image of January 20, 2008 for the RGB layers. I used
ImagesPlus 3.50a to align, scale rotate, split LRGB and combine the
Luminance (Ha) and RGB channels. Photoshop and Noise Ninja were used to
finish the image.
Guy
Walton |
|
The Bubble Nebula NGC 7635 - Jan 15, 2010 My first attempt at enhancing a LRGB image with hydrogen alpha through
the VCO's TeleVue NP127is & a SBIG ST-2000XM CCD camera using LRGBHa
Astrodon filters.
Charles
Banville |
|
Plaskett photography - Jan 15, 2010, 7pm-10pm PST The weather
finally cooperated for Victoria Centre members, so they could use the
1.8m Plaskett telescope at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory to acquire
photos of a wide variety of objects. Thanks to Dave Balam, our very
capable telescope operator, it appears everyone had their chance to image some of the
objects from their lists before the high haze took its toll on the seeing.
Observing log (text file).
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Orion Nebula in H alpha - Jan 6, 2010 The Orion Nebula is a lovely
sight visually and is strikingly beautiful when imaged in the light from the
rich field of excited hydrogen gas that is feeding star formation in its
core. Taken from Yellow Point Lodge, on southern Vancouver Island. John
McDonald |
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