Tarantula Nebula from the US!

Hello:
We took this image two nights ago from Mauna Kea. The equipment used was a Sky90 on a G-11 mount with a ST2000 taking 6 60s unguided unfiltered images. At the time the object was 1.39 degrees above the horizon, at 23 airmasses! This was our first night out with the camera and it was windy, so the image quality is a bit rough.

Cheers
Mike Connelley
Josh Walawender

Attached Image:

Very very good!

Rolando

Hey, thats my territory!!

Nice shot.

Greg.

1.39 degrees above the horizon...? Woh! Nice image from the wrong hemisphere! 8)

Hello Mike

You must of been happy to grab something so south and It's a nice shot too.

This feat belongs in the Astromart forums hall of fame. The scope probably looked like it was pointed below vertical while making this image. It really looks like a tarantula in this image! This would seem to be the equivalent of seeing omega centauri from Toronto or M51 from the Falklands.

> object was 1.39 degrees above the horizon

amazing!

Amazing that one can image so close to the horizon.
Bravo!

We did this mostly on a lark, to see what it would look like. I had just bought the ST-2000 and don't have my filter wheel yet, so we were just out playing with the camera to see what it could do. Mike suggested the Tarantula Nebula and we managed to find it with binoculars just above the slope of Mauna Loa, so we swung over there with the scope.

After this "success" there was talk of trying to get 47 Tuc. Technically it does not rise here, but the summit of Mauna Kea has a dipping horizon ...

aloha,
Josh Walawender