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Best of Images by Dan Doolan
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Welcome to my album of
Astrophotographic images!
It is here that I have
progressed over the past ten plus years in trying to capture the
perfect Astronomical image. Starting with a modified Webcam, the Starlight Express MX7-C and now the Canon Rebel XT
all from my humble set-up in Southern Ontario Canada.
above - M27 - Nebula
M27 Cropped RCX400 guided (10 x
600sec) 100 min exposure
Telescope: RCX400 12" f5.4 Prime
Focus - Canon Rebel XT (FR 6.3 - Lumicon Deep-Sky Filter (Hb, OIII, Ha)
RC Gradient X
Comet Lulin - Feb. 28th 2009
Composite 40
minute exposure - Sat. Feb. 28th. She was flying by about 5
degrees NW from Regulus from my backyard. I used
the Canon Rebel attached to my Orion 80mm 2 minute subs - she
sure was moving fast!
In order to eliminate star trials I first aligned on the comets nucleus
and did a Sigma Median Combine eliminating the Star field trails
then I combined the clean comet image over the star field. The
result is a 40 minute exposure with no star trails!
Can you spot the two galaxies along the tail, they are 3020 and
NGC 3024 in the magnitude 12-13 range.
The Beautiful "Seven Sisters" - M45
20 x 3minutes exposure - LP Filter
& FR
Telescope: Orion ED80mm Prime
Focus w/ 0.8 FR - Canon Rebel XT Acquired using DSLR Focus; ImagesPlus 2.80; Noise Reduction by NEAT.
Guided - PHD
Feb 13th, 2009
M42 - The Great Orion Nebula
22 x
3minutes exposure - LP Filter
& FR
Telescope: Orion ED80mm Prime
Focus w/ 0.8 FR - Canon Rebel XT Acquired using DSLR Focus; ImagesPlus 2.80; Noise Reduction by NEAT.
Guided PHD -
Feb 16th, 2009
*****************************************************************************
Rosette Nebula and Star Cluster -NGC2244
March 22 & 23, 2007
The
final image of the Rosette Nebula a beautiful large nebula complex in
Monoceros. Over two nights of acquiring the data last week, I was able to
use just over 3 hours in exposure time
(cropped).
Worked on the color balance and bringing out the Ha data thanks to the
Lumicon DSF.
Camera: Canon Rebel XT
(Lumicon Deep Sky Filter); Telescope: Orion EDO80mm Refractor; Guided on the
RCX400 3 hour Exposure over two
nights March 22nd and March 23rd. (5min Subs);
Calibrated darks and Raw images with ImagesPlus
2.80 Acquired using DSLR Focus;
Post-production using Adobe CS2; Noise Reduction – Neat Image Demo SW;
Location: Caledon Ontario
IC 5146 in Cygnus
July 28th & July 30th
2008 - Exposure 2.66 hours Orion 80EDmm, Mount used: EQ6
Guided 5 minute subs using PHD; Camera: Canon Rebel XT
IC 5146 is an open Cluster and Nebulosity
Andromeda Galaxy
(Reprocessed)
Taken over two nights from my
observatory in Caledon, Ontario - 4.1 hours in total exposure (my deepest one
yet) time through the Orion 80ED, LP Filter with SCT 6.3 reducer. Camera: Canon
Rebel XT Acquired: Focus DSLR Reduced ImagesPlus 2.80 Post: Adobe CS2
Nov 23rd, 2006
1 9x ten minute subs 1600ISO
Averaged; 12x five minute subs 1600ISO Averaged; Combined ADD Darks Grad x and
NEAT applied. Reprocessed with Noel Carboni v1.5 Astronomy Tools for Photoshop.
M31 is the famous Andromeda
galaxy, our nearest large neighbor galaxy (2.2 Million Lights years), forming
the Local Group of galaxies together with its companions (including M32 and
M110, two bright dwarf elliptical galaxies), our Milky Way and its companions,
M33 which I took a shot of two nights ago.
.jpg)
The Monkey Nebula (NGC2174) in the constellation Orion.
Taken March 20th,
2007
from my
observatory in Caledon, Ontario - Poor Seeing - 16 x 5 minute in total exposure time through the Orion 80ED, LP Filter. Camera: Canon
Rebel XT Acquired: Focus DSLR Reduced ImagesPlus 2.80 Post: Adobe CS2; Nick C
Astronomy Tools 1.5v
(Published in SkyNews magazine.)
NGC7000 Close-up of the North American
Nebula.
Orion ED80mm
guided (11x500sec) 1.5 hour exposure - no Filter Sept. 26th 2006
Telescope: Orion ED80mm f6 Prime
Focus - Canon Rebel XT Acquired using DSLR Focus; Calibrated and Stacked
in ImagesPlus 2.75; applied Curves, Levels, Colour in Photo Shop
CS; Noise Reduction by NEAT.
North American Nebula
(NGC7000) & The Pelican Nebula .
Orion ED80mm
guided (11x300sec) 1600 ISO exposure - FR 6.3 and my new LP
filter Oct 31, 2006
M71 Globular Cluster
Orion ED80mm
guided (11x300sec) 1600 ISO exposure - FR 6.3 and my new LP
filter July 18th 2007
NGC6960 VEIL West
Cropped RCX400
guided (4 x 600sec) 40 min exposure
Telescope: RCX400 12" f5.4 Prime
Focus - Canon Rebel XT (FR 6.3 - Lumicon Deep-Sky Filter (Hb, OIII, Ha)
NGC6992 VEIL Nebula East
Cygnus Cropped
Orion ED80mm guided (12x300sec) 1 hour exposure - No Filter
Telescope: Orion ED80mm f6 Prime
Focus - Canon Rebel XT Acquired using DSLR Focus; Calibrated and Stacked
in ImagesPlus; applied Curves, Levels, Photo Shop
CS; Little Noise Reduction by NEAT. Sept 26th 2006
Mars
Meade RCX400
Webcam - 12.06.2005 1000
Frames Stacked
M51 Whirlpool Galaxy
Wide Field
Telescope: Orion EDO80mm Refractor; Guided on the my new EQ6
mount. EQdirect (Shoestring Astronomy) and guided
using PHD software. 12 x 5 min exposures
M3 Globular Cluster
18 minutes
exposure 21/06/2007
M57 Ring Nebula and IC
1296
RCX400
Saturn 03.27.2006
Meade RXC400
Webcam
Oct. 28th 2007
Comet Holmes
Double Click on Image to expand.
10sec single .jpg exposure - Canon Rebel - 12" Meade RCX400
June 21
Wide Field of NCG5229 (upper Right); M51 (Middle);
IC4263 & NGC 5169 (Lower Left)
 Click here
The
final image consisted of 12 x 5 minute sub-exposures.
Camera: Canon Rebel XT -
No filter
Better Colour; Telescope: Orion EDO80mm Refractor; Guided on the
my new EQ6 mount. EQdirect (Shoestring Astronomy) and guided
using PHD software.
Darks applied. Touched up in
CS2.
June 19
 Click here
M3
The
final image consisted of 12 x 3 minute sub-exposures.
Camera: Canon Rebel XT -
No filter
Better Colour; Telescope: Orion EDO80mm Refractor; Guided on the
my new EQ6 mount. EQdirect (Shoestring Astronomy) and guided
using PHD software.
June 17th
Click here
NGC6207 (upper right) & The Great M13 Globular Cluster
The
final image consisted of 12 x 3 minute sub-exposures.
Camera: Canon Rebel XT (Lumicon Deep Sky Filter); Telescope: Orion EDO80mm Refractor; Guided on the
my new EQ6 mount. EQdirect (Shoestring Astronomy) and guided
using PHD software.
March 20th
New moon of Spring.
Taken from my
observatory in Caledon, Ontario - - 1 x 0. 5 sec in total exposure time
through the Orion 80ED, LP Filter. Camera: Canon Rebel XT Acquired: Focus DSLR R
March 18th
The Flame and Horse Head Nebula
Taken from my
observatory in Caledon, Ontario - Poor Seeing - 16 x 5 minute in total exposure time through the Orion 80ED, LP Filter. Camera: Canon
Rebel XT Acquired: Focus DSLR Reduced ImagesPlus 2.80 Post: Adobe CS2; Nick C
Astronomy Tools 1.5v
Feb 23st
Click to enlarge image
The Moon passing by The Pleiades (M45) or The seven Sisters.
A quick snapshot taken
from my driveway in Caledon, Ontario - Poor Seeing - 2x 0.5sec exposure
300m lens Canon Rebel XT camera.
Dec 19th
Click to enlarge image
Above - M1 Crab Nebula
Taken from my
observatory in Caledon, Ontario - Poor Seeing - 600sec x 6 1 hour in total exposure time through the Orion 80ED, LP Filter. Camera: Canon
Rebel XT Acquired: Focus DSLR Reduced ImagesPlus 2.80 Post: Adobe CS2; Nick C
Astronomy Tools 1.5v (Reprocessed 02.04.2007 - Spike added)
Nov 23rd & 24th
Above - M33 - the Pin wheel Galaxy
Telescope: Meade RCX400 12" f8 Prime
Focus w/ 6.3 FR - Canon Rebel XT
Acquired using DSLR Focus; ImagesPlus 2.80; applied Curves, Levels, Colour in Photo Shop
CS2; Noise Reduction by NEAT.
Total
exposure - 3 hours using 5 minute sub-frames.
The Pinwheel Galaxy, M33, is a very
large, beautiful, face-on spiral galaxy. Several emission nebulae inside of M33
can be seen as red pink patches in this photo.
Comet Swan
Comet Swan - tails enhanced
Above - Comet Swan - 2x300sec exposure - LP Filter & FR
Telescope: Orion ED80mm Prime
Focus - Canon Rebel XT
Acquired using DSLR Focus; ImagesPlus 2.80; applied Curves, Levels, Colour in Photo Shop
CS2; Noise Reduction by NEAT.
Aug 8th 2006
Above - M101 Pinwheel galaxy Cropped RCX400 guided (12x300sec) 1 hour exposure
(A little noisy need more data)
Telescope: RCX400 12" f5.4 Prime
Focus - Canon Rebel XT (FR 6.3 - Lumicon Deep-Sky Filter (Hb, OIII, Ha)
July 22nd 2006 (Reprocessed)
 click on the image
Above - M57 Cropped Wide Field (45 minutes) RING NEBULA taken on June 30th
Telescope: RCX400 12" f8 Prime
Focus - Guided Canon Rebel XT
July 19th 2006
 click on the image
Above - M17 Swan Nebula Cropped (15 x 120 sec)
Guided 15 x120 sec; Graded each frame (5 x 120 "Added" into Three Groups then "Combined" in
ImagesPlus. Used new Filtering technique to create more depth.
Telescope: Orion 80mm ED
Camera: Canon Rebel XT, 800ISO, 15x120sec; Guided
on the back of my RCX400.
Acquired using DSLR Focus; Calibrated and Stacked
in ImagesPlus; applied Curves, Levels, RC Gradient X Terminator in Photo Shop
CS; Little Noise Reduction by NEAT.
J
July 18th 2006
click on the image
Above - M92 Cropped Wide Field (15 x 120 sec) Globular Cluster
Telescope: Orion 80mm ED - Guided
Canon Rebel XT
June 30th 2006
click on the image
Above - M57 Cropped Wide Field (45 minutes) RING NEBULA
Telescope: RCX400 12" f8 Prime
Focus - Guided Canon Rebel XT
June 24th 2006
click on the image
Above - M5 Cropped Wide Field
June 24th 2006
Above - M16 Wide Field (46.6 minutes) Cropped
Here is a wide field shot I took
of M16 Eagle Nebula.
Telescope: Orion 80mm ED
Camera: Canon Rebel XT, 800ISO,
14x200sec or 46.6 minutes exposure. Guided on the back of my RCX400.
Acquired using DSLR Focus;
Calibrated and Stacked in ImagesPlus; applied Curves, Levels, RC Gradient X
Terminator in Photo Shop CS; Little Noise Reduction by NEAT. Applied some new techniques that I
picked up from Tony H. down in Suffern, NY's NEAF Imaging Forum last month. Not like the Hubble, of course,
but as you know this is the famous "pillars of creation" image but not bad for a
46 minutes shot. I love the columns of hydrogen gas and dust!
June 15th, 2006
Above - M27 - Dumbbell Nebula (1 hour exposure) RCX400 12"
& Canon Rebel XT
This is a shot
I took on June 15 2006 of the Dumbbell Nebula; it is the
brightest planetary nebula in the night sky, it was the
first planetary to be discovered in the night sky by Charles
Messier on July 12, 1764. This is what is left over from an
exploded star, very cool! It lies about 1200 light-years
away from us so the light image that you see in this shot
has been traveling for over 1200 years to get here.
The Dumbbell contains multiple gas shells moving away from
the central star which you can see. The blue colour is
oxygen and the Red colour is Nitrogen moving away from the
core at about 30km/sec. I hope to capture some Hydrogen
Alpha later next week. The central star of M27 is quite
bright at mag
13.5, and an extremely hot
blueish
subdwarf dwarf at about 85,000 K
June 4th, 2006
Above - M3 - Globular Cluster (30 minute exposure) RCX400
12" & Canon Rebel XT
This is a shot
I took on June 4th of M3 3 x 10 minute exposures. My first
successful attempt at 10 minute guiding.
I used a
program called K3CCD 3 works well with my Mintron Video
Camera.
Above - M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy (50 minute exposure) RCX400
12" & Canon Rebel XT
This is a shot
I took on June 5th of M51 50 minute exposures. Getting
better, poor seeing that night. will try again soon
for this is one
of my personal favorites.
.
theta Aquil - Beautiful Blue star
NGC2924 - Flame & Horse head Nebula
 Jupiter
- 02.25.2005 Meade LX200 GPS 10"/Webcam
This is a shot I took on 02.25.2005. Jupiter ith Europa and her shadow. Double on the image to
enlarge.
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