Observation Log - October 3, 2000

Observation Log - October 3, 2000 - Tinton Falls, NJ

[Note: weather was a little difficult tonight. Humidity was very high, and I had to run the heaters on high all night long. Even with the heaters, I had to stop often and clear dew from the corrector with an air blower. I even noticed light patches of fog rolling by on occassion. -GW]

M74, The Phantom, a spiral galaxy in Pisces, magnitude 9.2, dimensions 10'.5 x 9'.5, distance is 32 million light years. This galaxy is nicknamed "The Phantom" due to the difficulty of viewing it visually. Although it is brighter than 10th magnitude, the large size of the galaxy means that it has a very low surface brightness, and is quite faint in most telescopes. Images were taken using the f/6.3 focal reducer, for an effective f/ratio of f/4, and the Homeyer color filter wheel was in place. This is a composite made from 47 images of 1 minute each, for a total integration time of 47 minutes. Each image was processed with dark frame removal and flat field and then composited using the new AstroArt 1.5 image processing software. The composite image was saved as a FITS file, and then moved into MaxIm for final processing. This image was touched up with an FFT filter (low-pass mild) and finally a contrast adjustment. Images were taken between 03:00 and 03:55 a.m., the morning of October 3rd, 2000. Here is another version of this image, but processed with Digital Development (FFT, low-pass, hard) to bring out more detail at the galaxy core.

NGC7814, a galaxy in Pegasus, magnitude 10.6, dimensions 4'.7 x 2'.4, 12.8 mag/sq arcmin, distance is 54 million light years. Images were taken using the f/6.3 focal reducer, for an effective f/ratio of f/4, and the Homeyer color filter wheel was in place. This is a composite made from 26 images of 1 minute each, for a total integration time of 26 minutes. Each image was calibrated with dark frame removal and flat field and then composited using the MaxIm CCD v3 image processing software. The composite image was saved as a FITS file, then flattened, and gradient filtered. Then a Digital Development filter (FFT, low-pass, hard) and an FFT (low-pass, medium) and finally a contrast stretch. Images were taken between 12:23 and 12:57 a.m., the morning of October 3rd, 2000. Here is another version of this image, resampled to double the image scale.