The
Great Nebula in Orion. This 10 minute, unguided exposure was taken with
a Meade 8-inch LX200 (courtesy of Don Tabbutt) at f/10 using Kodak Royal
Gold 1000 film. Location: Otter Creek Observatory,
October 1998.
Please click on each image for a full-size version, complete with observer's notes.
3 Views of Orion
The
Great Nebula in Orion. This 10 minute, unguided exposure was taken with
a Meade 8-inch LX200 (courtesy of Don Tabbutt) at f/10 using Kodak Royal
Gold 1000 film. Location: Otter Creek Observatory,
October 1998.
M42
and More. This 7 minute, guided exposure was taken with the Meade 8-inch
at f/6.3 (using a focal reducer) using Kodak Royal Gold 1000. In addition
to M42 and 43, hints of the beautiful blue reflection nebula NGC 1977 can
be seen on the right side of the image. Location: OCO, November 1998.
The
Orion Express. This is the shortest of the 3 exposures- 4 minutes unguided
using Periodic Error Correction. Taken with the Celestron C-11 using Kodak
Royal Gold 1000 film. Location: OCO, February 1997.
The Rosette Nebula. East of Orion, this larger, fainter nebula
lies in the Winter Milky Way. This image is a 20 minute guided exposure
with the Meade 8-inch at f/6.3, using Kodak Royal Gold 1000. It was heavily
processed to remove skyglow and bring out the nebulosity. Location: OCO,
November 1998.
The Helix Nebula. This image was taken with the Meade 8-inch, using
a Lumicon Deep-Sky photographic filter. The filter gives the stars a pink
tinge, but helps to bring out the red in the nebula. This image was exposed
17 minutes on Kodak Royal Gold 1000 and was completely unguided (a testament to the LX200's superior
tracking ability). More image notes inside. Location: OCO, October 1998.
Summer Milky Way Sights
M17, The Swan Nebula. This 45 minute, guided exposure was taken with an 8-inch
f/4 Takahashi Newtonian reflector (courtesy of Chuck Allen), using a 3-inch f/15
Unitron Refractor as a guidescope. It was exposed on Fuji 800 Hypered film.
Location: Wyandotte Woods, in Harrison Crawford National Forest in Southern Indiana.
M8,
The Lagoon Nebula. This 30 minute, guided exposure was taken with the same
setup as the Swan Nebula, above. Note the small globular cluster NGC 6544
at lower left, which appears reddish-orange in this image.
The
The North America Nebula, M39, and Milky Way Clouds. Two views of the North America Nebula. The first is less than perfect, but brings out striking color. It was taken with a 300mm lens. The second view is a 25 minute exposure, taken with a 135mm lens using Kodak Royal Gold 1000. Also visible in this
image is the bright open cluster M39, in the upper left corner. The bright blue star Deneb and the Pelican Nebula are to the right
of the North America. Location: OCO, November 1998.
M16,
The Eagle Nebula. This 27 minute, guided exposure was taken with the Meade
8-inch at f/10 using Kodak Royal Gold 1000. A Meade ETX was used piggyback
for guiding. Location: Mt. Washington KY, October 1997.
M27,
The Dumbbell Nebula. This 27 minute, guided exposure was taken with the
Meade 8-inch at f/10 using Kodak Royal Gold 1000. An off-axis guider was
used for tracking. Along with the full size image, we have provided a detail
of the center. Location: OCO, October 1998.