Observation Log - July 12, 2000

Observation Log - July 12, 2000 - Tinton Falls, NJ

Sunspot Group This sunspot group was photographed using the Meade 10" LX200, with a full- aperture solar filter (Thousand Oaks), a 13% neutral density filter, and a 24% dark green filter, and a 2X Meade barlow lens. Exposure time on the CCD was 1/100th of a second. The image was created by taking several dozen individual exposures, and then manually selecting the best five. Those five were then combined using MaxIm, and enhanced with an unsharp mask (FFT, low-pass, hard) and a contrast stretch. Here is yet another version of this sunspot group. This one is the single best frame I took, processed with unsharp masking and a contrast stretch. And finally, here is a photograph of the sun (full-disk) taken as the Mees Solar Observatory in white light. This image was taken on the same day to show the relative size and position of the sunspot group on the face of the sun.

NGC7319, Stephan's Quintet, galaxies in Pegasus, magnitudes 12.6 to 15.3, group diameter about 3'.5. The exposures for this composite were taken over two nights, 07/09/00 and 07/12/00. A total of 82 frames were used, with a total integration time of 131 minutes. The Meade LX200 was used with the f/6.3 focal reducer and the Homeyer color filter wheel was in place, giving an effective focal ratio of f/4. The final image was created and processed with dark frame subtraction, flat field, then compositing, Digital Development (kernel, low-pass), and a contrast stretch. Main components are, from the right side going counterclockwise: NGC 7317, m13.6 42" x 30"; NGC 7318A, m13.4 1'.6 x 1'.2; NGC 7318B, m13.1 1'.9 x 1'.2; NGC 7319, m13.1 1'.6 x 1'.2; (left away from group) NGC 7320C, M15.3 24"; (bottom) NGC 7320, m12.6 1'.9 x 1'.0. The tiny galaxy at the far left bottom of the image remains unidentified.

Here is a highly contrast-stretched version of Stephan's Quintet that shows a little more detail in the fainter parts of the galaxies.