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The Webb Deep-Sky Society 2013 AGM will be held at the Institute of Astronomy (IoA) in Cambridge on Sat 15th June 2013 Click here for the latest Agenda |
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May 2013 - Picture of the Month A 24 Pane Mosaic of The 'Big Dipper' in Ursa Major Image Courtesy of Rogelio Bernal Andreo, California
Click on image for a 'high resolution (6Mb) version Rogelio's Observation Comments: "Here is a 24 panes mosaic image covering the vast area "taken" by the well known Big Dipper in Ursa Major, possibly the most famous asterism in the Northern sky. It was taken during 7 nights at DARC between May 25 and June 1st. It was the "first light" of my FSQ after cleaning the front lens. Processed with PixInsight, Registar (more as an auxiliary tool, not really on the data) and Photoshop. I know it's not the typical "in your face" image, but there's something I like about these rarely seen (in photographs) "high res" vast fields, where not one single object captures your undivided attention. Also, as Wolfgang Promper said: It's the fact that it is a deep image and still you can relate to what you see when looking to the sky unaided. As for the dusty background, as usual, I give a high percentage in its accuracy, but not necessarily for each and every single detail. Surf around and find the "hidden" owl ;-) I personally had a lot of fun doing things like finding Hickson 50 (it is there, just not an easy catch, and when you find it, it's just a blur!) and other objects (lots of cool NGCs and a few popular Messiers of course)... I hope you enjoy it! " Image Details: Date: May 25~June 1st, 2011 Photo: Exposure: 24 panes mosaic. Each pane is L: 4 x 5', RGB: 4x5' each, Total: 31.2 hours Focal: 385mm, f/3.6 Equipment: Imaging Scope: FSQ 106 EDX w/Reducer Camera: STL11k Guide Camera: StarShoot Autoguider Mount: EM-400 Site & Conditions: DARC Observatory. Seeing: Good Transparency: Good Software: Stacking: PixInsight Processing: PixInsight & Photoshop
For more images from Rogelio please visit his Deep Sky Colours website Sketches of Abell 1367, NGC 3681 and NGC 4273 Sketches Courtesy of Dale Holt, UK
Click on sketches for larger versions An Extract from Dale's blog: "...I was determined to return to the Hickson trail and my sights were firmly set on HCG50 widely acknowledged as the toughest and faintest of the 100 groups on Paul Hicksons list, I have seen it written that the threshold for seeing this visually is a 30” telescope under dark skies. I was by no means certain that I would be able to pull it in with the Watec camera and 20” mirror, to add to the concerns it lay just a few arc minutes from M97 the Owl nebula in Ursa Major , a point in the sky that my unwieldy and rather poorly balanced telescope struggles to reach. OK I won’t drag this out, I star hoped to the location without issue, stopping off at M97 and enjoyed the view of this large and amazing planetary nebula, vowing to return after I had hopefully done the ‘business’ with HCG50. From the Owl, I sent the scope the tiny distance to the group, I turned up the exposure time to 20secs and upped the gain a little, the monitor was fuzzy and grainy but it only took a second or so for my eye to pick out the tiny ‘circlet’ of smudges, distinct enough for me to count 5 members without trouble. I was delighted, perhaps it may sound ridiculous but I was buzzing from an adrenaline rush, this s a special moment in my Hickson quest, there were no groups my set up could see, if I could physically point it at them that was. I spent a while adjusting monitor and camera setting until I got the best possible image and then I carefully sketched the ‘galactic fairy ring’, I labelled the members with info that I had available and listed their magnitudes, the brightest being document as mag 18.5 and the faintest as 19.3 the average member magnitudes works out at mag 18.9 incredible, totally incredible, I was delighted! As previously decided I returned to M97 and made a sketch, what a contrast after HCG 50 even the tiny galaxy sharing the field, PGC 34279 appeared bright and sizeable after the diminutive Hickson gathering I had been working on. I used just my finger and pastel dust to create the nebula, the finish on the paper gave a grainy effect which was very representative of the nebulas appearance on the monitor. Moving on, I went after another Hickson group under the dipper asterism of Ursa Major Major, HCG56 was much brighter than the tough HCG50, interestingly Arp peculiar galaxy NGC 3718 dominated the fov and dwarfed the diminutive Hickson group below it. I decided to put the big Arp out of the fov sketch the Hickson and then return to draw the Arp. HCG56 turned out to be an attractive group, (A) member PGC3561 mag 16.1 a rather nice edge on orientated N-S is on the east of the group B-E lie in a nice chain running E-W with hints of interaction and spiral arm extension. As promised I’m back to Arp 214 a quite amazing looking barred spiral galaxy, elongated N-S it looks to have a twist this fact is accentuated by the wonderful snaking dust lane, I thought to myself this looks like a sea shell, perhaps one that has been partly worn away by the tide making it rather like a spinning top, so I’m calling it the ‘Whelk Shell’ galaxy. I hope you like the drawing? So that concludes this nights adventure, midpoint I took a reading with the Sky Quality Meter which read 20.17 but I know cloud and haze built gradually to the point when all was obscured by 12.30, so that reading would have dropped as my observation list grew. So not a bad session after such a dearth of observing of late with new 2 Hickson’s including the toughest in the book and 2 bright showy objects in addition. And so to bed, Dale" More details and preambles on Dale's observations can be seen if you visit his latest blog |
May 2013 - Galaxy of the Month NGC 4565 - The Needle Galaxy in Coma Berenices Image Courtesy of Ken Crawford, Camino, California
Click on image for a high resolution version NGC 4565 was first discovered by the prolific William Herschel in 1785 and is an edge on spiral galaxy also known as the Needle galaxy. There is some debate as to the actual type of spiral but it is thought probably to be a barred spiral. Recent observations with the Spitzer infra-red satellite and radio observations appear to confirm this classification. NGC 4565 is at a distance of about 11.7 Mpc (about 40 million light years) and at that distance would have a size of about 100000 light years (not dissimilar to our own Milky Way). The box like nucleus is however interesting and it would appear to be interacting with one of its neighbours. This may not be NGC 4562 as that galaxy appears to be at a distance of 12.6 Mpc so is a bit further away (probably about the distance to M31 from our own galaxy) so although they may be a bound pair it is unlikely it is stirring much in the way of tides. NGC 4565 also appears to be an AGN with there being some confusion over whether it is a Seyfert or a LINER. NGC 4565 is often used as an example of what our own Milky Way galaxy would be like if seen from the outside, however our galaxy is certainly not (at this time) an active galaxy. It is thought that NGC 4565 has about 240 globular clusters surrounding it, somewhat more than the Milky Way. The area around NGC 4565 is littered with faint galaxies. Many of these were found photographically by Max Wolf and appear in the IC catalogue. The brightest of NGC 4565 companions is NGC 4562 (sometimes called NGC 4565A), however at around 14th magnitude this galaxy is still quite a challenge to find. It was first discovered by Tempel in 1882 with an 11” Refractor. It would appear that many of the IC galaxies discovered by Wolf are random background galaxies and are not associated with NGC 4565. The brightest of these is IC3546 (also known as NGC 4565B from the RNGC). Off the end of NGC 4565 is a very distant cluster of galaxies that is too faint to have been in George Abell’s catalogue but shows up in deep images. NGC 4565 is also one of the brightest members of the Coma I galaxy cloud, a collection of perhaps 206 galaxies. The fast motions of the galaxies in this area maybe a case for a dark attractor. It is odd that such a bright galaxy that is visible in small telescopes and even in some cases binoculars was missed by Messier but it shows how inhomogeneous his searches were. NGC 4565 is probably one of the finest non Messier objects in the sky and shows much in almost any sized telescope and the prominent dark lane is visible with telescopes of maybe 20cm and above. Click here for a Megastar© finder chart of NGC 4565 Owen Brazell - Galaxy Section Director For more images from Ken please visit his Rancho Del Sol Observatory website Object of the Season - Spring 2013 & Summer 2013 The Webb Deep-Sky Society Nebulae & Clusters Section Director Wolfgang Steinicke has requested observations for the following deep-sky objects:- Object of the Season (Spring 2013): Globular Cluster NGC 2419 in Lynx Details are published in DSO159 and the results will be presented in DSO 161 Click here for Object Details Object of the Season (Summer 2013): Planetary Nebula NGC 6210 in Hercules Details will be published in DSO160 and the results will be presented in DSO 162 Click here for Object Details
Click on images for higher resolution versions The complete schedule, including further objects, is published in the Deep Sky Observer (DSO).
Observations should be sent to: steinicke-zehnle@t-online.de Wolfgang Steinicke, Gottenheimerstr. 18, D-79224 Umkirch, Germany. May 2013 - Double Star of the Month There are two pairs for the price on one in the northern half of this month's column. In the extreme north-west of Bootes following eta UMa is a coarse group of bright stars. The two closest together are kappa and iota and both are worth seeking out with telescopic aperture. Kappa Bootis (14 13 29.00 +51 47 23.8) is a long period visual binary with both stars possessing the same proper motion and at a similar distance from us (162 light years). There has been little motion over the past 200 years beyond a slight widening of the separation to 13".6 and a small diminution in the position angle. In 1850 T.W. Webb made the stars pale yellow and bluish whilst in 1915 William Franks recorded yellow and purple. B is a spectroscopic binary with a period of about 5 years. More recently Tokovinin has recorded a 16.9 mag comes at 108" to A which appears to have shared proper motion with AB. Some 25 arc mins south following is iota Bootis (STFA 26 - 14 16 10.07 +51 22 01.3) which is a binocular pair which will benefit from telescopic aperture. The stars are mags 4.8 and 7.4 and are 38" apart. The Irish amateur, Isaac Ward, who used a 4.3-inch Wray refractor, found a comes of mag 12.6 at 92". The spectral types are A7 and K0 and Webb found whitish yellow and lilac. When William Herschel was accumulating his catalogue of double stars he searched every part of the sky and he must have had a good southern horizon. One of the lowest of his finds is Y Cen (13 53 32.75 -35 39 51.2) which at -35 degs could only have been a mere 5 degrees above his horizon even at culmination. He acknowledges that the pair is `too low for accuracy' giving a distance of 54" (currently 68"). The stars are mags 5.5 and 8.7 and it’s not surprising that Herschel missed the duplicity of the primary, later found by Howe. Currently at 1".0 it was nearer 0".7 in the 1780's but as the two components are almost equal it is a fine object for 15-cm at a suitable latitude. The period appears to be 258 years and the position angle is increasing. Burnham and Innes respectively added fainter companions - 12.3 at 28" and 14.8 at 38". Hipparcos puts the system at 167 light years. Bob Argyle - Double Star Section Director |
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DSO 160 - Out Now!
Please Note. A downloadable digital version of DSO160 is not available at this time. Our Publication Manager is currently resolving image resolution and file size problems. A note will be posted on the Bulletin Board and Yahoo Group when a downloadable version is obtainable.
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Deep-Sky Observer (DSO) No 153 - Free Sample
This free journal is DSO 153 from 2010. You can download it as a PDF file onto your computer by right clicking the link below and choosing either 'Save Target As' or 'Save Link As'.... |
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The Witch Head Nebula IC 2118 in Eridanus Image Courtesy of Warren A Keller, New Mexico
Click on image for a high resolution version Warren's Observation Comments "This large and diffuse reflection nebula is illuminated by the bright light of Rigel, the foot-star of Orion the Hunter. The Witch Head lies just over the border in the constellation Eridanus the River at approximately 1,000 light years from Earth. Notice the redder nebulosity surrounding her eye, an indication that star birth is occurring within the nebula. For too long, her enormous structure eluded me. Thanks to the larger field of view of observing partner Mike Miller's refractor, she was acquired in a two-panel mosaic. Looking at the old crone's profile, imagine you can hear the evil cackle of this witchy woman." Image Details Date: 2012 Location: Mayhill, NM Software: ACP, MaxIm DL, TheSkyX Mount: Software Bisque Paramount MX Guide: SBIG ST-i and SV60 Optic: SV152 APO Camera: Apogee Alta U16000 Filter: Astrodon Tru-Balance I Series Exposure: LRGB all x 900s Process: PixInsight, Photoshop CS6 For more images from Warren please visit his Billions and Billions Astrophotography website |
Orion Complex Image Courtesy of Paul A Brierley, Cheshire, UK
Click on image for a high resolution version
Paul's Observation Comments:
"I was very lucky to have a clear sky on Wednesday February 6th. And between 1900hrs and 2100 hrs I was able to image the area around Orion, showing the Horse-Head nebula and M42. Barnard's loop isn't visible. This is one target I hope to capture before we loose Orion next month. I was using my 1000D piggy backed on my Losmandy G11, with a Canon 35-80mm Zoom lens attached. The lens was set to 80mm F6.5. This image is the result of. Sixty times, One minute sub frames. And are UN-guided. Stacked in DSS and processed in CS2."
Regards Observing Co-ordinator Macclesfield AS Blogspot Web Album Peak Star Party |
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Albireo (β Cyg) in the Constellation of Cygnus
Image Courtesy of Prof. Greg Parker, New Forest Observatory, UK Click on image for a higher resolution image Greg's Observation Comments: "[This] was taken with the original Hyperstar (the one with no collimation adjusters) on the Celestron C11 and a tiny little H9C (1.4 megapixel) one-shot colour camera. This would have been around an hour's worth of 60-second subs. One of my very first deep-sky images :)" For more images from Prof. Greg Parker please visit his New Forest Observatory website |
Wide Field Image of the Constellation of Auriga Image Courtesy of Paul Whitmarsh, Uckfield, UK
Click on image for a higher resolution image Paul's Observation Comments: "We have finally had some clear skies :-) when i've not been in the office working! I've been taking some wide field shots. I'm working on one of Orion, but in the mean time I thought I would send this one of Auriga to you. It's a sum of 3 x 300 second exposures, taken with a modified Canon 450D and a 50mm Canon f1.4 lens, used at f4. I also used an Astronomiks CCD CLS filter. The shots were taken on the night of the 2nd Feb 2013. I like these wide field shots as they give a great sense of proportion to the objects included within. The image was taken from my home observatory near Uckfield." |
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The Brightest Planetary Nebulae Observing Atlas - 2nd Edition Courtesy of Massimo Zecchin - Italy Massimo has just completed the 2nd Edition of an atlas of planetary nebulae observed with small apertures and from suburban locations, entitled: "The Brightest Planetary Nebulae Observing Atlas". The atlas is freely available in two versions, Black (for display) and White (printer friendly with the images in negative).
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Warning - Bank Charges If you intend to purchase a DVD and/or publication from The Webb Deep-Sky Society via bank transfer and you are outside the UK then please check what the bank will charge for this transaction. We know of a least one bank abroad that charged 90% of the cost of the item to use their services. |
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