here's an image I did recently (Dec 1st) of the superb southern Spiral Galaxy NGC 300. Hope you enjoy the image and thanks for looking.
Paul Mayo
Galaxy NGC 300
NGC 300 is another of my favourite galaxies. It's a classic example of a spiral galaxy (Sc type) and appears at Magnitude 8.5 in the southern constellation of Sculptor. Spanning a large 19.9' x 13.8' arc-minutes of the sky and at only 6.5-million light-years distance, stars in this galaxy are on the verge of being resolved into individual stars which results in the hazy like appearance of NGC300. Large bright nebulae and star forming regions appear as bright bluish clumpy knots that trace the spiral arms of this marvellous galaxy.
The relative close proximity of NGC 300 allows astronomers to study Cepheid variable stars that occupy this galaxy. Cepheid stars pulsate in brightness over a particular period of time. A known relationship exists between the time it takes for the star to change in brightness and its luminosity which allows accurate distance calculations to be performed.
Image Exposure Details
Telescope: 304mm f/5 reflector telescope.
Camera: Canon EOS 300D Digital Rebel.
Exposures:
3 x 90 sec. @ ISO 1600.
3 x 7 min. @ ISO 200.
2 x 7 min. @ ISO 400.
Total Exposure time: approx. 37-minutes.
Sky Conditions: Clear but bright sky. Seeing: 8/10 Wind: 0.3/10 Moisture: 1/10.
Guider: hand guided.
Ambient Temperature: 19° C.
Notes: Used Baader Coma Corrector, warm night, camera noise increasing with warmer nights.
you keep producing such lovely work and the best descriptions. I know i have said it before, but you keep producing the great stuff, so it is your fault i repeat myself!!!
"Some "extreme" modifications required the telescope optics be moved 48.5mm closer together so that an attached camera and its adapters would easily reach the telescope's prime focus"
recently, i re-collimated my secondary with a piece of paper between the primary and secondary. the visual side of things is great, but now i can not use my toucam in prime focus. the focus is further in towards the secondary so to speak.
I remember when i first got the scope, the same thing happened. i fiddled back them with the secondary and the prime focus then worked as it was now in the range of the focusser. reading your excellent website again and this jogged my memory.
did you move your primary 40 odd mm up the tube towards the secondary??
i believe that i may be in similiar strife with a canon 350d down the track.
with a 2.4x barlow i have no problems, focus is right in the middle.
Cheryl was looking over my shoulder when I opened up your pic and even she said 'Wowwwww!, what a nice picture'.
High praise from someone who is getting tired of hearing 'Quick, come and look at this pic' as I show her lot's of pics in this site. She usually looks at the pics and says something along the lines of 'yeah, '.
Yes great shot indeed. Look at all the H2 regions, some must dwarf the Orion Nebula if they were in our galaxy.
Amazing to think those photons have been travelling for all those 6.5 million years, and by chance fall into a device that catches them and turns them into an image of where they were created, so we can marvel at it
Scott
Very Very nice Paul. Your skills are a credit to your obsession! I really like the clusters of "stars" within the spiral arms, that detail is fantastic. I bet Scott was green with envy when he saw that one. Your turn Scotty!!
you keep producing such lovely work and the best descriptions. I know i have said it before, but you keep producing the great stuff, so it is your fault i repeat myself!!!
"Some "extreme" modifications required the telescope optics be moved 48.5mm closer together so that an attached camera and its adapters would easily reach the telescope's prime focus"
recently, i re-collimated my secondary with a piece of paper between the primary and secondary. the visual side of things is great, but now i can not use my toucam in prime focus. the focus is further in towards the secondary so to speak.
I remember when i first got the scope, the same thing happened. i fiddled back them with the secondary and the prime focus then worked as it was now in the range of the focusser. reading your excellent website again and this jogged my memory.
did you move your primary 40 odd mm up the tube towards the secondary??
No! not exactly...
With my 'scope that would have meant purchasing another 12-inch mirror mount (the type that could be positioned anywhere along the OTA) and discarding the existing mirror mount (which is quite good one based on the Novak design).
So I got my hacksaw out and made the optical tube shorter by the required amount and then refitted the optics. Yes... I hacksawed my telescope !!
Mind you I spent several weeks convincing myself of the exact measurement and took my time marking and hacksawing. When you look at the 'scope now you would not know it has been modified.
I can tell you when that camera came to focus - I was, well over the moon!
I can use my eyepieces now too, since I bought a 40mm 2" focuser extension tube.
regards
Paul M
Quote:
Originally Posted by davidpretorius
i believe that i may be in similiar strife with a canon 350d down the track.
with a 2.4x barlow i have no problems, focus is right in the middle.
Very Very nice Paul. Your skills are a credit to your obsession! I really like the clusters of "stars" within the spiral arms, that detail is fantastic. I bet Scott was green with envy when he saw that one. Your turn Scotty!!
'.
