Posts Made By: Dennis Persyk

IC405 is an emission nebula glowing richly in red H-alpha light. By employing a selective spike filter that passes only the H-a emission line, one can block out light pollution and even the effects of a nearby full moon.

You may view filtered and non-filtered views of IC405 that illustrate the unique properties of the H-a filter at
http://home.att.net/~dpersyk/new.htm

I hope you will take a look and find the comparison interesting.

Clear skies,

Dennis Persyk
Igloo Observatory Home Page http://dpersyk.home.att.net
Hampshire, IL

Up until now, I have been imaging relatively bright comets, magnitude 9 and brighter. This comet at magnitude 16.3 was a real challenge! Whereas I usually see the comet in a 5 second centering image, this comet remained invisible until I stacked 11 5-minute images. I had to trust my digital setting circles that the comet was somewhere in the FOV.

Image 11 x 5 minutes unguided with 4-inch refractor at f/5.4; MX716 camera.

Note how bright magnitude 13.1 nebula IC 381 is in comparison to the comet.

Image at
http://home.att.net/~dpersyk/new.htm

Clear skies,

Dennis Persyk
Igloo Observatory Home Page http://dpersyk.home.att.net
Hampshire, IL

I needed an imaging fix so I imaged NGC 7380 by Hydrogen-alpha at night and the large sunspot group 0564 by day. Between imaging and processing that leaves little time for sleep!

Images at
http://home.att.net/~dpersyk/new.htm

Clear skies,

Dennis Persyk
Igloo Observatory Home Page http://dpersyk.home.att.net
Hampshire, IL

NGC 4884 is at the center of a group of galaxies in Coma Berenices. I only got 14 minutes of exposure before clouds rolled in but I was surprised at the number of galaxies I captured.

Images at
http://home.att.net/~dpersyk/new.htm

Please take a look. Comments on my web page are always welcome/

Clear skies,

Dennis Persyk
Igloo Observatory Home Page http://dpersyk.home.att.net
Hampshire, IL

Image at
http://home.att.net/~dpersyk/new.htm

Barnard dark nebulae are dark patches of sky with dense dust clouds which obscure the stars behind the clouds. Early astronomers thought these were merely areas devoid of stars but Barnard taught otherwise. The most famous and often photographed dark nebula is B33, the Horsehead.

While processing my B26 images I noticed a considerable luminosity surrounding AB Aurigae, the bright 7.1 magnitude star just left of center. At first I thought the luminosity was an artifact – internal scatter in the scope optics from the bright star. Upon further investigation I found that I had captured the van den Berg 31 reflection nebula.

Nebula vdB 31 is reportedly a tough visual target with an 18-inch scope, although I found one brave sole on the web who claimed to have seen it in a 12-inch scope. It is an interesting imaging subject. I imaged it with a 4-inch refractor and MX716 CCD camera combining 9 unguided exposures of 5 minutes each.

Clear skies,

Dennis Persyk
Igloo Observatory Home Page http://dpersyk.home.att.net
Hampshire, IL

Abel 1367 is a group of faint galaxies in Leo. I imaged a whole bunch of them with the 4-inch refractor and MX716 camera.

Images at
http://home.att.net/~dpersyk/new.htm

Please take a look. Comments on my web page are always welcome.

Clear skies,

Dennis Persyk
Igloo Observatory Home Page http://dpersyk.home.att.net
Hampshire, IL

Images at
http://home.att.net/~dpersyk/new.htm

I imaged C/2003 H1 LINEAR with considerable difficulty last night. The comet was low in the sky towards Chicago at an elevation of only 20 degrees. The sky glow was bright and my visual limiting magnitude in that sector was about 1.0 . I could barely see magnitude 8 stars in the 11 inch SCT.

But the CCD camera overcomes these obstacles that thwart the visual observer and I got some good images that show a 5 arc minute curving tail. I also have a short video showing the comet moving across Hydra.

I have kept the images and video short for my dialup modem friends who will not have to wait long to see the web page. My broadband viewers will see the page instantaneously. Please take a look.

Clear skies,

Dennis Persyk
Igloo Observatory Home Page http://dpersyk.home.att.net
Hampshire, IL

Images at
http://home.att.net/~dpersyk/new.htm

I have prepared a series of images of IC 468 (Thor’s Helmet) that illustrate the benefits of stacking images. Images with total integrations from 10 seconds to 4200 seconds are presented.

I also show images with and without an H-alpha filter. The contrasts are striking. I hope you will take a look and find the page informative.

Clear skies,

Dennis Persyk
Igloo Observatory Home Page http://dpersyk.home.att.net
Hampshire, IL

The pair fit nicely into the FOV of my 4-inch refractor and MX716 camera. There are some interesting dust lanes in the proximity and a distinct dark notch near M78.

Image at http://home.att.net/~dpersyk/new.htm

Clear skies,

Dennis Persyk
Igloo Observatory Home Page http://dpersyk.home.att.net
Hampshire, IL

A couple of experienced imagers noted that my image was clipped too much (sky too dark). The histogram indicates that they were indeed correct. I did not know what this region should look like so I inadvertently threw away luminosity that I had mistaken for noise! I am learning, slowly but surely.

The reprocessed image and the original are at
http://home.att.net/~dpersyk/new.htm

I welcome comments from everyone as to your impressions of the before/after images. Thanks for looking.

Clear skies,

Dennis Persyk
Igloo Observatory Home Page http://dpersyk.home.att.net
Hampshire, IL