Observation Log - December 27, 2000 - Tinton Falls, NJ

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[NOTE: Very cold, ending at about 15 degrees. Difficult night with a 10 to 20 mph breeze all night long. Got a late start. Configuration was Crayford focuser, f/3.3 reducer, 1.25" visual back, MX516 camera. I did not use the IR blocking filter tonight. -GW]

NGC3184, a barred spiral galaxy in Ursa Major, magnitude 9.8, dimensions 8'.5 x 7'.8 and a distance of 39 million light years. The frames were shot between 2:07 and 3:25 a.m. the morning of December 27. This composite was made from 20 exposures for a total integration time of 20 minutes. All images were processed in AstroArt with darks, flats and flat-darks, then aligned and composited. Then I used a mild unsharp mask before moving the image into MaxIm. Once there, I finished with a contrast stretch.

NGC3953, a spiral galaxy in Ursa Major, magnitude 10.1, dimensions 6'.5 x 3'.4 and a distance of 45 million light years. The frames were shot between 3:50 and 5:24 a.m. the morning of December 27. This composite was made from 19 exposures for a total integration time of 19 minutes. All images were processed in AstroArt with darks, flats and flat-darks, then aligned and composited. Then I used a mild unsharp mask before moving the image into MaxIm. Once there, I applied a Digital Development filter (kernel, low-pass) and finished with a contrast stretch.

NGC3726, a spiral galaxy in Ursa Major, magnitude 10.4, dimensions 6'.1 x 4'.1 and a distance of 36 million light years. The frames were shot between 5:31 and 6:17 a.m. the morning of December 27. This composite was made from 12 exposures for a total integration time of 12 minutes. All images were processed in AstroArt with darks, flats and flat-darks, then aligned and composited. Then I used a mild unsharp mask before moving the image into MaxIm. Once there, I finished with a contrast stretch.