Submitted by: Dieter.Wolf@DNSint.com [22 Jun 05]
just saw your photos from the trip to 'Oracle Observatory'; especially the Milky Way in Sagittarius is just a 'wow' for me. You only can do such pretty pictures with a DSLR and really 'dark skies'; no way for city areas. But at least I remember having seen the Milky Way from inside the city in my younger days - long time ago. If you're looking precicesly to your Milky Way in the 'Summer Triangle' you may catch what I did from my garden in Munich, Southern Germany: M57; 2005-05-29; 01:00 CEST; MEADE LXD55 SN-10 with ToUCam SC1 at prime focus; 40x20s exposures
have a look at my 'Oracle Observatory'. Well I don't need LED's on the tripod legs; the nearly full moon is competing against one of my street lights which one of them is illuminating my garden brighter...
So what to do in this extra ordinary dark midsummer scenario? Good old bright M13! 2005-06-19 00:15 CEST; LXD55 SN-10 with ToUCam SC1 at prime focus; 60x30s exposures Looking forward to seeing your D70 / SC-8 results. Dieter from Munich, Germany
Submitted by: Dieter.Wolf@DNSint.com [14 May 05]
a very clear night (May 11th, 2005 around midnight CEST) with fst 5m in my garden (Munich, southern germany) allowed me to do the following shots with LXD55 SN-10 and ToUCam SC1 at prime focus: M13, the great GC in Hercules, some 100.000 stars close together, 20x20s exposures
M51 & NGC5195, (for me) the most beautiful pair of face-on interacting galaxies (Canes Venatici), 78x25s exposures
As Job Geheniau mentioned shortly on your ETX site, I - too - had to go to work the next day but stayed far behind 1 o'clock in the morning...did I mention it will be cloudy again the next days.
Submitted by: Dieter.Wolf@DNSint.com [12 Apr 05]
the last days were beautiful spring weather in Southern Germany so I tried some deep sky objects. Two of them shown here. M 109 / NGC 3992 a barred spiral galaxy (SBc) in UMa, 50 mio ly away, 7'x4'. Although visual brightness of 9m.8 looks not so difficult, the surface brightness of only 13m.5 brought me close to the limits - not for my equipment, but for my observation site in the outer parts of the city of Munich (fst 4m.5; three street lights flooding my garden with the legs of the tripod throwing shadows!) Nevertheless you see the central bulge, the bar and three arms. 2005-04-02, 23:00 CEST, LXD55 SN-10, ToUCam SC1 at prime focus, 50 x 35s exposures
M 82 / NGC 3034 the famous irregular 'Cigar Galaxy' in UMa, 'only' 11 mio ly away, 9'x3' (edge-on) You see the 'chaotic' structure with starburst areas as well as dark bars and lanes and nice colors. 2005-04-04, 23:00 CEST, LXD55 SN-10, ToUCam SC1 at prime focus, 80 x 30s exposures Tomorrow starts a rainy period - my wife will like it.
please find attached two more photos of last weeks nice clear nights: M65 / NGC3623 a Sb galaxy of 'Leo Triplett', about 8' x 2' and 9m.3 visually 2005-04-03 00:30 CEST, LXD55 SN-10 with ToUCam SC1 at prime focus, 40x 25s exposures Besides the bright bulge you only see a touch of the galaxies arms; would have expected more, but could not do longer exposures. The light on the right down corner is NOT amplifier glow but one of my 'beloved street lights'; will try an umbrella in future...
M108 / NGC3556 a nearly edge-on Sc galaxy in UMa, about 8' x 1' and 10m.7 visually 2005-04-02 23:40 CEST, LXD55 SN-10 with ToUCam SC1 at prime focus, (only) 22x 25s exposures I would like to have much more frames, but with the galaxy nearly at the cenit my scope touched the tripod legs after a short series of frames. Despite 10m.7 this galaxy is easy to catch and shows nice details - bright star and dust regions