Tuesday, March 8, 2022

Monday, March 7, 2022

M46 M47 and NGC2438

Open star clusters M46 (NGC2437) with Planetary Nebula NGC2438 and M47 (NGC2422/2478) are located in constellation Puppis.

Setting : ASI2600MC with TLAPO80/480 f/6; ZWO Guidescope 30/120 and ASI224MC
Lights : 2x90s 5x300s
Software: N.I.N.A, Stellarium, PHD2, APP, CS4







Orion M42 - OIII and ASI2600MC

Past weekend I took the time to optimize my PHD2 guiding skills. The build-in "Guiding Assistance" was used and the camera exposure time was increased from 1s to 2s. The guide pulses in EQMOD are increased from 0.5 to 0.9.
I made sure the 2" flattener was set at exactly 105mm till the + 17mm ASI2600MC chip. 

Setting scope : ASI2600MC and TLAPO80/480 f/6
Guiding : ZWO Guiding scope 30/120 and ASI224MC
Software : N.I.N.A, Stellarium, PHD2, APP, CS4, DeNoise AI
Lights : 10x180s 5x300s
Light 2" OIII filter: 8x300s 3x600s





Globe at Night - Saving Private Orion


Globe at Night is an international citizen-science campaign to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution by inviting citizen-scientists to measure & submit their night sky brightness observations. Past weekend I submitted my backyard data (ID #95057) after observing constellation Orion with a max magnitude of 5.5.

Sunday, March 6, 2022

Asteroid (16) Psyche



Last thursday (March 3) asteroid (or better planetoid) Psyche was in opposition. Psyche is a giant iron-nickel metal-rich M-Type asteroid, about three times farther away from the Sun than is the Earth. Its average diameter is about 226 km.
Psyche might be the partial core of a shattered planetesimal – a small world the size of a city or small country that is the first building block of a planet. If it is, asteroid Psyche can offer a close look at the interior of terrestrial planets like Earth that is normally hidden beneath layers of mantle and crust. Therefor NASA is planning for a mission, NASA's Psyche Mission which is foreseen to be launched with a Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Milestones:
2022 – Launch of Psyche spacecraft from Kennedy Space Center, Florida
2023 – Mars Flyby of Psyche spacecraft
2026 – Psyche spacecraft arrives in asteroid’s orbit
2026-2027 – Psyche spacecraft orbits the Psyche asteroid

Psyche is currently visible in constellation Leo and about magnitude 10.4. I was able to take some pictures on both march 4 and 5. Psyche could be observed near galaxy NGC 3462. Below is a gif picture with a time interval of 50 minutes. 


Setting : ASI2600MC and TLAPO80/480 f/6, ZWO guidescope 30/120 with ASI224MC; 
Lights: 10x300s, 10x180s, darks, bias, flats and darkflats (gif 3x150s & 5x180s)
Software : N.I.N.A, Stellarium, PHD2, APP and CS4.

See for more information : NASA Psyche Mission

Thursday, March 3, 2022

Lecture March 17, Dwarf Galaxies Small but Powerful

The University of Maastricht organises a lecture on Dwarf Galaxies. Prof. dr. Eline Tolstoy from the University of Groningen will discuss the importance of dwarf galaxies.
When : March 17 20h00-21h30
Where: Maastricht University or on line
For more information see this link.



Sunday, February 27, 2022

NGC3226 & 3227 (ARP94)


Galaxy NGC3227 is interacting with dwarf galaxy NGC3226, both are located in constellation Leo and more then 50 million ly away from Earth. Galaxy NGC3227 has an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) and contains a supermassive blackhole (14 million solarmasses). The interacting galaxies are also categorised as ARP 94.

Setting : ASI2600MC with TAL200K f/8.5, guidescope ZWO30/120 with ASI224MC; lights 11x300s, darks, flats, darkflats and bias.
Software : N.I.N.A, APP, Stellarium, PHD2, CS4.
Seeing : moderate with hig clouds.