Nova Dawn Astrophotography

26/08/2023

New Blog post!

29/08/2022

(also known as Caldwell 93 and nicknamed the Great Peacock Globular) is a in the constellation Pavo. It is the fourth-brightest globular cluster in the sky, after Omega Centauri, 47 Tucanae and 22, respectively. It is best seen from June to October in the Southern Hemisphere

Equipment
EdgeHD 9.25”
70G
ZWO294 MC Pro
neodymium filter

Processed & Photoshop

Location

28/08/2022

12/08/2022

Sunset clouds above Auckland

03/07/2022

Night out under the stars and milkyway

03/07/2022

NGC 4755, also known as the Jewel Box or Kappa Crucis Cluster, is one of the finest open clusters in the sky. It's located in the small southern constellation of Crux and at magnitude +4.2 is bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.
60 x 60 second exposures for clouds.
Celestron EdgeHD 9.25”
ZWO294 MC Pro
iOptron CEM70G

29/05/2022

The Sombrero galaxy, Messier 104 (M104). The galaxy's hallmark is a brilliant white, bulbous core encircled by the thick dust lanes comprising the spiral structure of the galaxy. As seen from Earth, the galaxy is tilted nearly edge-on. We view it from just six degrees north of its equatorial plane. This brilliant galaxy was named the Sombrero because of its resemblance to the broad rim and high-topped.

At a relatively bright magnitude of +8, M104 is just beyond the limit of naked-eye visibility and is easily seen through small . The Sombrero lies at the southern edge of the rich cluster of and is one of the most massive objects in that group, equivalent to 800 billion . The galaxy is 50,000 light-years across and is located 28 million light-years from Earth.

M104's rich system of globular clusters, estimated to be nearly 2,000 in number - 10 times as many as orbit our Milky Way galaxy. The ages of the clusters are similar to the clusters in the Milky Way, ranging from 10-13 billion years old. Embedded in the bright core of is a smaller disk, which is tilted relative to the large disk. X-ray emission suggests that there is material falling into the compact core, where a 1-billion-solar-mass black hole resides.

In the 19th century, some astronomers speculated that M104 was simply an edge-on disk of luminous gas surrounding a young , which is prototypical of the genesis of our solar system. But in 1912, astronomer V. M. Slipher discovered that the hat-like object appeared to be rushing away from us at 700 miles per second. This enormous velocity offered some of the earliest clues that the Sombrero was really another , and that the was expanding in all directions. Credit Hubblesite org.

Equipment:

MC Pro
EdgeHD 9.25

14/03/2022

100 million light years from our solar system. 😲

Sometimes the image doesn’t do it justice but the fact it’s 100 million light years away 🤯 was a work in process but weather had other ideas decided to process before I forget how to.

Three galaxies in the center and many faint ones hiding.

NGC 2293 is a lenticular galaxy located in the constellation Canis Major. It is located at a distance of circa 100 million light years from Earth, which, given its apparent dimensions, means that NGC 2293 is about 160,000 light years across. It was discovered by John Herschel on January 20, 1835. NGC 2293 forms a pair with NGC 2292 and has an HI ring that surrounds both galaxies.

NGC 2292

NGC 2292 is a 10th magnitude Spiral Galaxy appearing in the constellation Canis Major. It is 100 million light years from our solar system.

NGC 2292 appears roughly 4.3 x 3.8 arcminutes in size, corresponding to a physical diameter of 125595 light years. It is a spiral galaxy of morphological type S0, and is receding at 2321 kilometers per second - about 0.8% of light speed.

NGC 2293

NGC 2293 is a 11th magnitude Spiral Galaxy appearing in the constellation Canis Major. It is 55 million light years from our solar system.

NGC 2293 appears roughly 4.4 x 3.4 arcminutes in size, corresponding to a physical diameter of 70737 light years. It is a spiral galaxy of morphological type S0-a, and is receding at 2037 kilometers per second - about 0.7% of light speed.

NGC 2295

NGC 2295 is a 13th magnitude Spiral Galaxy appearing in the constellation Canis Major. It is 84 million light years from our solar system.

NGC 2295 appears roughly 2.3 x 0.6 arcminutes in size, corresponding to a physical diameter of 56940 light years. It is a spiral galaxy of morphological type Sab, and is receding at 2031 kilometers per second - about 0.7% of light speed.

Equipment

Equipment
William optics SpaceCat
ZWO 533
IOptron CEM70G

17/09/2021

Another cloudy night in Auckland / Tāmaki Makaurau. Moon halo pops up.

31/08/2021

NGC 6334: The Cat's Paw Nebula

Sadly image was plagued by high whispy cloud only noticeable on processing and very visible the data from the William Optic SpaceCat wide field which ended up in the bin so this is the best of a bad bunch.

Nebulas are perhaps as famous for being identified with familiar shapes as perhaps cats are for getting into trouble. Still, no known cat could have created the vast Cat's Paw Nebula visible in Scorpius. At 5,500 light years distant, Cat's Paw is an emission nebula with a red color that originates from an abundance of ionized hydrogen atoms. Alternatively known as the Bear Claw Nebula or NGC 6334, stars nearly ten times the mass of our Sun have been born there in only the past few million years.
Credit

Captured:
ZWO294 MC Pro
Celestron EdgeHD 9.25”
iOptron 70G

22/08/2021