April - May 2010
NGC 5024 - M53 and NGC 5053(Coma Berenices)
A lovely couple (see the link) of globular cluster at the edge of the Virgo sea of galaxies (13.0', m 7.7). ASA 10", STL11000. 10 hours in total in four nights.
A selection of the best pictures shot during the last year. This page is updated frequently.
July 10, 2010.
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April - May 2010NGC 5024 - M53 and NGC 5053(Coma Berenices)A lovely couple (see the link) of globular cluster at the edge of the Virgo sea of galaxies (13.0', m 7.7). ASA 10", STL11000. 10 hours in total in four nights. |
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April-May 2010Dust and reflection nebulae in Scorpio. |
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April-May 2010A sea of galaxies around M99. |
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April 2010M97 and M108: the Owl and the galaxy. |
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March 2010Distorted spirals! M101 and companions |
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November 2009, February 2010The colorful decoration of the Orion belt. |
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December 2009, January 201018 hrs for the supernova remnant in Taurus: one of the great wonders of the sky. |
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December 2009, January 201018 hrs of integration for the ghost of Rigel |
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November 2009, January 2010The closest galaxy of all in technicolor. |
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December 2009The Orion-Eridanus area in Hα. |
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November 2009A new mounting for the old astrograph: the color-coordinated Gemini 42. |
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October - November 2009Vdb 18 and NGC 1342 (Perseus) ASA 10" STL 11000. LRGB, About 13.5 hrs in four nights. |
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November 2009VdB 14 and 15 (Camelopardalis) ASA 10" STL 11000. LRGB, About 22 hrs in six nights. |
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October 2009IC 1848 (Cassiopeia) ASA 10" STL 11000. LRGB, About 8.6 hrs in three nights. |
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October 2009NGC 1333 (VdB 17), VdB 12, VdB 13 (Perseus) Perseus after Cepheus! ASA 10" STL 11000. LRGB, Over 17 hrs in four nights. |
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September 2009VdB 149, VdB 150, LBN 535 (Cepheus) Final installment of my summer 2009 Cepheus frenzy. ASA 10" STL 11000. LRGB, Over 20 hrs in five nights. |
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August 2009VdB 152 (Cepheus) One of the most striking reflection nebulae of all. ASA 10" STL 11000. LRGB, 19 hrs in four nights. See link for more informations. |
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August 2009NGC 7129 (Cepheus) A very intricate area, including dark clouds, reflection and emission nebulae, an open cluster and even several tiny galaxies! ASA 10" STL 11000. HαLRGB, over 12 hrs in four nights. See link for details and a closer view of the Herbig-Haro objects in the central reflection nebula. |
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July 2009Barnard 169 - 174 and Sh2 134 (Cepheus) A magnificent but rarely imaged area nearby the far more famous ic 1396. ASA 10" STL 11000. HαLRGB, 12 hrs in four nights. |
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July 2009The head of the Scorpio Second light of my portable astrograph from the dark sky of Corse. Canon 135mm f2.0 L series lens closed to f 2.8. STL 11000. R 8x8', G 5x8'; B 7x8' in two nights. |
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June 2009Cepheus Wide Field First light of my portable astrograph. Canon 135mm f2.0 L series lens closed to f 2.8. STL 11000. Hα: 12x16'; RGB 7x8' each. 6 hrs of total integration from my observatory. |
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June 2009VDB 133 and SH2-106 (Cygnus)This is a relatively little known area east of the far more popular Crescent nebula. It shows off a wonderful contrast between the faint reflection nebula VdB 133 and the gentle red glow of the background. The small and bright bipolar nebula near the NW corner is SH2-106.: this is a very interesting star-formation area, and much literature on this fascinating object can be found. The image has been a five nights effort for a total of 12.5 hours. ASA 10", f3.6 STL 11000. Hα: 24x16'; Luminance 19x8' RGB 9x8' each. |
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June 2009NGC 7000 (Cygnus)ASA 10", f3.6 STL 11000. This is a four panel mosaic. 13x16' for each panel. Acquired in 5 nights during the June full moon. |
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April-June 2009NGC 5371 and Hickson 68 (Canes Venatici)7.6 degrees west of g Bootis there is this lovely group of galaxies. On the left the nice barred spiral NGC 5371 (4.2'x3.4') is physically unrelated to the group of galaxies on the right, catalogued as the entry 68 of the Hickson catalogue of compact galaxy group. NGC 5350 (3.2'x2.3') is the most appariscent member of this group, exhibiting a marvelously complex barred spiral. NGC 5354 (S0, 1.4'x1.3') and NGC 5353 (S0, 2.2'x1.1') are immediately to the south and they are surrounded by a common envelope, better seen in a BW and stretched image. Further south there is the unrelated and very blue barred spiral UGC 8841. One feature of this field that attracted my attention, is the lovely colour contrast between the brightest stars in the field, with spectral types ranging from the very red K5 to the blue A2. Click here for a full scale wide field image of the area. ASA 10", f3.6 STL 11000. LRGB composite, bin 1 for all channels. Luminance: 26x8'; RGB: 24x8' per channel. Three nights of acqisition, in total. |
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May 2009LBN 105 - LBN 106 (Hercules)This is one of the very few photographs existing of a very faint reflection nebula in Hercules, about 4° west of β Her. Although this area has been listed in the Sharpless catalogue of emission nebulae as SH2-73, there is no Hα emission at all in the area, but the brightest sections of the nebula shows in the Palomar-Schmidt red plates, and this probably generated the mistake. The nebula covers virtually the entire field and it is illuminated by the integral radiation field originating from the galaxy plane. These very faint reflection nebulae lies at relatively high galactic latitude (about 45°) and are categorized as integral flux nebulae to indicate the particular source of illumination. Careful inspection of the high resolution image shows scores of background galaxies that appears conspicuously reddened by the foreground dust. ASA 10", f3.6 STL 11000. L 53x8' bin 1; RGB 21x8' bin 2 (over 15 hours in total) in four nights. Most of the data have been collected from my very polluted site, and processing has been quite arduous. |
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April 2009, November 2008VdB 15, LBN (Camelopardalis)This is a wide area of faint reflection nebulae representing the north extremity of the Taurus-Cepheus molecular cloud. ASA 10", f3.6 Canon 350D, 55x8' in 3 nights around November 25. It was very cold with excellent sky conditions. |
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March 2009NGC 4631 - NGC 4627 - NGC 4656 (Canes Venatici)ASA 10", f3.6 STL 11000. Pure RGB composite, 11x8' per channel in two nights. |
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March, 2009Field of the Markarian's chain (Virgo) RGB composition. Six hourr of integration in two nights. RGB, bin 1, 14x8' per channel. ASA 10" f3.6, SBIG STL 11000, Baader filters. Published on the June issue of Nuovo Orione.
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February-March, 2009Cone nebula (Monoceros). H LRGB composition. In total about 10 hr of integration. ASA 10" f3.6, SBIG STL 11000, Baader filters.
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March 3, 2009ο Persei, IC 348 and the edges of the B3,4 dark nebulae. This image was shot during a late summer trip to Forca Canapine, a mountain site in central Italy with a wonderfully dark sky. I have been trying to shoot this area for two years, but from my heavily polluted site I was only getting tantalising indications that lots was to be seen here, but nothing more. From a dark site less than three hours of integration showed an amazing landscape of coloured dust and nebulae. Megrez 80, modified Canon 350D, 19x8'. The area around IC 348 and o Persei has been blended in with a shot taken through the ASA astrograph. That explains the spike, of course.
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February 28, 2009Comet Lulin C/2007 N3 A composite image made by two stacks one aligned on the comet one on the stars. Comet stack: 11x2' bin 2x2 RGB. LEO I stack: 12x4' bin 1x1. ASA 10" f3.6, SBIG STL 11000, Baader filters. Published as cover of the May issue of Nuovo Orione.
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January, February 2009M78 (Orion) The first light image for the SBIG STL11000 CCD. A composite image made in three nights. L (bin 1) 32x8': RGB (bin 2) 13x8'; Ha (bin 2) 16x16'. A total of almost 14 hrs. ASA 10" f3.6, SBIG STL 11000, Baader filters.
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February 20, 2009 at about 0:00 UTComet Lulin C/2007 N3 RGB 10x2' each channel at binning 2. Motion has been eliminated by preparing two different stacks, one aligned on the stars, the other on the comet nucleus. The stacks have been blended together through specific luminance masks. Several galaxies are visible in the field, the most prominent being the spiral NGC 4546.
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January 2009The Leo triplet formed by the galaxies (clockwise from the top) NGC 3628 (13.1' x 3.1'), M65 (9.8' x 2.9')and M66 (9.1' x 4.1'). Scores of lesser galaxies can be discerned in the high resolution image. An highly stretched image shows the 80 kparsec tidal tail of NGC 3628 caused by the interaction with the two companions. See for example "STAR FORMATION IN THE TIDAL TAIL OF THE LEO TRIPLET GALAXY NGC 3628" by Chromey et al. 1998.
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January 2009A mosaic of the Seven Sisters. A variation of an old trick has been used to control the diameter of the brightest stars.
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January 2009Reflection nebulae around IC 447 in Monoceror
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Send anything that comes to mind to Gimmi Ratto gimmi@in.cnr.it
Copyright © 1997-2010 by Gimmi Ratto.
