Observation Log - April 29, 2001 - Tinton Falls, NJ

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[NOTE: Very nice night, cool with no breeze. The only problem was a little moonlight for the first few hours. The setup on the 12" Meade LX200 was the Crayford focuser/f3.3 reducer/1.25" visual back/ Deep Sky filter/MX516 camera, and no IR blocking filter. Took flats and darks during evening twilight, and those can be used for the previous night's images as well, as I left the telescope set up overnight. The f/3.3 reducer vignettes a fair amount with the DS filter in place, as it forces the camera back about a quarter inch.

This was a nice session with Joe along for company! -GW]

M58, a spiral galaxy in Virgo, magnitude 9.7, dimensions 6'.0 x 5'.0, surface brightness is 12.4 mag/sq arcmin, distance is 41 million light years, diameter is 60,000 light years. The frames were shot between 9:07 and 10:27 p.m. the evening of April 28th. This composite was made from 65 exposures for a total integration time of 65 minutes. All images were processed in MaxIm with darks, flats and bias frames, then aligned and composited. I used a Digital Development filter (FFT, low-pass, medium) and finished with a contrast stretch. This was a re-imaging of this object.

NGC4216, a galaxy in Virgo, magnitude 10.0, dimensions 8'.5 x 1'.7, surface brightness is 11.5 mag/sq arcmin, distance is 50 million light years. Directly above the core is PGC39247, mag 14.9, 42" x 30". The frames were shot between 10:33 and 12:31 a.m. the morning of April 29th. This composite was made from 96 exposures for a total integration time of 96 minutes. All images were processed in MaxIm with darks, flats and bias frames, then aligned and composited. I used a Digital Development filter (Kernel, low-pass) and finished with a contrast stretch.

NGC5850, a galaxy in Virgo, magnitude 10.8, dimensions 5'.0 x 4'.5, surface brightness is 14.3 mag/sq arcmin, distance is 100 million light years. To the right and above is NGC5846, mag 10.0, 3'.0 x 3'.0, sb 13.1 (previously imaged). The frames were shot between 12:38 and 2:25 a.m. the morning of April 29th. This composite was made from 85 exposures for a total integration time of 85 minutes. All images were processed in MaxIm with darks, flats and bias frames, then aligned and composited. I used a Digital Development filter (FFT, low-pass, mild) and finished with a contrast stretch.

NGC5838, a galaxy in Bootes, magnitude 10.9, dimensions 3'.5 x 1'.5, surface brightness is 11.6 mag/sq arcmin, distance is 62 million light years. The frames were shot between 2:41 and 3:44 a.m. the morning of April 29th. This composite was made from 51 exposures for a total integration time of 51 minutes. All images were processed in MaxIm with darks, flats and bias frames, then aligned and composited. I used a Digital Development filter (Kernel, low-pass, more) and finished with a contrast stretch.

NGC6548, a galaxy in Hercules, magnitude 11.7, dimensions 2'.8 x 2'.5, surface brightness is 12.6 mag/sq arcmin, distance is 100 million light years. Below and to the right is NGC6549, mag 13.7, 1'.4 x 0'.5, sb 14.0. The frames were shot between 3:55 and 4:49 a.m. the morning of April 29th. This composite was made from 56 exposures for a total integration time of 56 minutes. All images were processed in MaxIm with darks, flats and bias frames, then aligned and composited. I used a Digital Development filter (FFT, low-pass, mild) and finished with a contrast stretch.