Observation Log - August 26, 2001

Observation Log - August 26, 2001 - Tinton Falls, NJ

[A VERY nice night. Temp was 55F, with no dew until just before morning twilight. Ran the dew heater anyway, just to make sure. Also used the dew shield for the first half of the night, but took it off after the moon set around midnight. Configuration on the 12" LX200 was: Crayford focuser/ f3.3 reducer/T-adapter/MX516 camera, with no filters. Tracking was terrific tonight, with three-minute exposures possible. Pointing wasn't quite so good, but didn't give any real problems. I mixed some 1- and 3-minute exposures tonight, so I'll have to be careful when calibrating and processing. Took bias frames, darks and flats at the end of the session, and into morning twilight. -GW]

This is NGC7044 , an open cluster in Cygnus, magnitude 12.0, diameter is 6'. This image was made from 10 one-minute exposures for a 10 minute total integration time. The images were taken between 10:14 and 10:30 p.m. the evening of August 25, 2001. The images were calibrated using MaxIm, aligned and composited, and a Digital Development filter (Kernel, low-pass) was applied. The image was finished with a contrast enhancement. Here is another version that has been resampled to double the image scale.

This is NGC7248 , a galaxy in Lacerta, magnitude 12.4, dimensions are 1'.8 x 0'.9, and the surface brightness is 12.9 mags/sq arcmin. This image was made from 27 one- minute exposures for a total integration time of 27 minutes. The images were taken between 10:39 and 11:15 p.m. the evening of August 25. The images were calibrated using MaxIm, aligned and composited, and a Digital Development filter (Kernel, low-pass) was applied. The image was flattened and finished with a contrast enhancement. Here is another version that has been resampled to double the image scale. Note several other unidentified galaxies in the field

This is NGC6956 , a galaxy in Delphinus, magnitude 12.3, dimensions are 2'.0 x 1'.9, and the surface brightness is 14.5 mags/sq arcmin. This image was made from 61 one-minute exposures for a total integration time of 61 minutes. The images were taken between 11:21 and 12:42 a.m. the morning of August 26. The images were calibrated using MaxIm, aligned and composited, and a Digital Development filter (Kernel, low-pass, more) was applied. The image was flattened and finished with a contrast enhancement. Here is another version that has been resampled to double the image scale. Here is a single frame from this series that shows a probable meteor.

This is NGC7490 , a galaxy in Pegasus, magnitude 12.3, dimensions are 2'.7 x 2'.6, and the surface brightness is 15.3 mags/sq arcmin. This image was made from 10 three- minute exposures for a total integration time of 30 minutes. The images were taken between 12:56 and 1:49 a.m. the morning of August 26. The images were calibrated using MaxIm, aligned and composited, flattened, and a Digital Development filter (Kernel, low-pass) was applied. The image was finished with a contrast enhancement. Here is another version that has been resampled to double the image scale.

This is M32 , a galaxy in Andromeda, magnitude 8.1, dimensions are 8'.5 x 6'.5, and the surface brightness is 10.6 mags/sq arcmin. M32 is at a distance of about 2.5 million light years. This image was made from 10 three-minute exposures for a total integration time of 30 minutes. The images were taken between 1:56 and 2:26 a.m. the morning of August 26. The images were calibrated using MaxIm, aligned and composited, and a Digital Development filter (Kernel, low-pass) was applied. The image was finished with a contrast enhancement. Here is another version that has been resampled to double the image scale. If you examine this image, you'll see the edge of neighboring M31 is visible. Here's an enhanced version that shows detail. And here is a map of part of this region of M31, including some of the open clusters and globulars that are visible in my image.

This is NGC266 , a galaxy in Pisces, magnitude 11.6, dimensions are 2'.9 x 2'.9, and the surface brightness is 13.8 mags/sq arcmin. This image was made from 26 three-minute exposures for a total integration time of 78 minutes. The images were taken between 2:33 and 3:55 a.m. the morning of August 26. The images were calibrated using MaxIm, aligned and composited, and a Digital Development filter (Kernel, low-pass, more) was applied. The image was finished with a contrast enhancement. Here is another version that has been resampled to double the image scale.

This is NGC783 , a galaxy in Triangulum, magnitude 12.1, dimensions are 1'.6 x 1'.4, and the surface brightness is 14.0 mags/sq arcmin. This image was made from 50 one-minute exposures for a total integration time of 50 minutes. The images were taken between 3:59 and 5:11 a.m. the morning of August 26. The images were calibrated using MaxIm, aligned and composited, flattened, and a Digital Development filter (Kernel, low-pass, more) was applied. The image was enhanced with a Kernel filter (low-pass) and finished with a contrast adjustment. Here is another version that has been resampled to double the image scale.