Deep Sky Archives - Astrophotography by Alex Conu

Nov 19

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Crux

The Southern Cross (Crux) and The Coalsack dark nebula. I used a diffusion filter to enhance star colour and to make the constellation even more obvious. Crux is probably the most famous constellation in the Southern skies, even though it has the smallest surface of all the 88 constellations in both hemispheres. Date and place: January 12 2017; Stonehenge Aotearoa, New Zealand Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III Lens: Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L Exposure: 8 x 60s Aperture: 2.8 ISO: 1600 Tracker: Fornax Mounts LighTrack II

Nov 19

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Three Galaxies

One image, three galaxies. To the left there’s part of our own Milky Way and to the right two of its satellite galaxies, the Magellanic Clouds. Date and place: January 12 2017; Stonehenge Aotearoa, New Zealand Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III Lens: Zeiss Otus 28mm f/1.4 APO Distagon T* Exposure: 9 x 100s Aperture: 1.4 ISO: 1600 Tracker: Fornax Mounts LighTrack II

Nov 19

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The Large Magellanic Cloud

This is the Large Magellanic Cloud and is a satellite of the Milky Way. It can only be observed from the Southern hemisphere. It’s a pretty large object in the sky (more than 20 times the apparent diameter of the Full Moon), visible in the direction of the constellations Dorado and Mensa. It is at a distance of around 160000 light-years from the Milky Way. The turquoise patch in the galaxy is the Tarantula nebula. Date and place: January 12 2017; Stonehenge Aotearoa, New Zealand Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III Lens: Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L Exposure: 13 x 180s Aperture: 2.8 ISO: 3200 Tracker: Fornax Mounts LighTrack II

Dec 15

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The Milky Way near its Center

This a view of the Milky Way right above its center. The region is very rich in star clusters and nebulae. The most prominent two nebulae visible on the lower part of the image are M8 (The Lagoon Nebula) and M20 (The Trifid Nebula) – the red-blue one. Lots of star clusters are visible in the image, like Messier 23, right next to the right edge of the photo Date and place: May 13 2013; Lisa, Romania Camera: Canon EOS 60Da Lens: Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L at 125mm Exposure: 13 x 180s Aperture: 4 ISO: 2000

Jul 19

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M8 and M20 Nebulae

M8 (Lagoon Nebula, at the bottom of the frame) and M20 (Trifid Nebula) can be easily identified in the summer skies, even with the naked eye, near the main stars of Sagittarius. This region of the sky is very rewarding for astrophotographers and it gets even more interesting if you go to Southern latitudes. Date and place: May 8 2010 and August 12th 2013; Traian and Valea Frumoasei, Romania Camera: Canon EOS 450D Baader modified and Canon EOS 60Da Telescope: Skywatcher 80ED and Pentax 75 SDHF Exposure: 6 x 600s + 4 x 300s Aperture: 7.5 and 6.6 ISO: 1600

Jul 19

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Around Cygnus

Cygnus is a northern constellation lying on the plane of the Milky Way, deriving its name from the Latinised Greek word for swan. The Swan is one of the most recognisable constellations of the Northern summer and autumn. Cygnus contains Deneb, one of the brightest stars in the night sky and one corner of the Summer Triangle. Date and place: August 8 2013; Valea Frumoasei, Romania Camera: Canon EOS 60Da Lens: Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art Exposure: 3 x 360s Aperture: 2.8 ISO: 1000

Jul 19

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M13 Globular Cluster

Edmond Halley noted, in 1716: “This is but a little Patch, but it shows itself to the naked Eye, when the Sky is serene and the Moon absent.” Of course, M13 is now modestly recognised as the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules, one of the brightest globular star clusters in the northern sky. Telescopic views reveal the spectacular cluster’s hundreds of thousands of stars. Date and place: March 13 2011; Colibasi, Giurgiu, Romania Camera: Canon EOS 450D Baader modified Telescope: StellarvueSV 80ED Exposure: 10 x 7 min Aperture: 7 ISO: 800

Jul 19

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NGC7000 (North America) Nebula

The North America Nebula (NGC 7000) is an emission nebula, visible in the direction of the constellation of Cygnus (The Swan). You can find the nebula close to Deneb, the brightest star in Cygnus. NGC 7000 covers an area four times larger than a Full Moon. Even though, it’s not visible with the naked eye because of it’s low surface brightness. But, The North America Nebula is an easy target for astrophotographers. You can shoot it at any focal length and you’ll get interesting results. Date and place: May 8 2010; Traian, Teleorman, Romania Camera: Canon EOS 450D Baader modified Lens: Skywatcher 80ED Exposure: 5 x 600s Aperture: 7.5 ISO: 1600

Jul 19

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Markarian’s Chain (galaxies from the Virgo cluster)

Across the heart of the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies lies a striking string of galaxies known as Markarian’s Chain. It is called a chain because, when viewed from Earth, the galaxies lie along a smoothly curved line. It was named after the Armenian astrophysicist, B. E. Markarian, who discovered their common motion in the early 1960s. Member galaxies include M84 (NGC 4374), M86 (NGC 4406), NGC 4477, NGC 4473, NGC 4461, NGC 4458, NGC 4438 and NGC 4435. At least seven galaxies in the chain appear to move coherently, although others appear to be superposed by chance. Date and place: May 8 2010; Traian, Teleorman, Romania Camera: Canon EOS 450D Baader modified Telescope: Skywatcher 80ED Exposure: 7 x 600s Aperture: 7.5 ISO: 1600

Jul 19

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The Great Orion Nebula

The Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42) is a diffuse nebula, that can be easily observed under Orion’s Belt. The object is at about 1350 light years from Earth and is the closest regions of massive star formation. The Great Orion Nebula is around 24 light years across. It’s one of the most photographed objects in the sky. It will show even in short exposures, taken from a tripod. M42is best observed and photographed in the Northern hemisphere during winter time. Date and place: November 16 2010; Fundulea, Calarasi, Romania Camera: Canon EOS 450D Baader modified Telescope: Stellarvue SV 80ED Exposure: 1x600s + 3x300s + 3x120s + 3x60s + 3x30s + 3x15s + 3x5s + 3x1s Aperture: 6 ISO: 400

Jul 19

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Leo Triplet (Galaxies M65, M66 and NGC3628)

This popular group is famous as the Leo Triplet – a gathering of three magnificent galaxies in one field of view. Crowd pleasers when imaged with even modest telescopes, these galaxies can be introduced individually as NGC 3628 (left), M66 (bottom right), and M65 (top right). All three are large spiral galaxies. They tend to look dissimilar because their galactic disks are tilted at different angles to our line of sight. NGC 3628 is seen edge-on, with obscuring dust lanes cutting across the plane of the galaxy, while the disks of M66 and M65 are both inclined enough to show off their spiral structure. Date and place: March 21 2010; Colibasi, Romania Camera: Canon EOS 400D Baader modified Telescope: Skywatcher 80ED Exposure: 7 x 300s + 3 x 600s Aperture: 7.5 ISO: 800

Jul 19

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The Great Andromeda Galaxy

The Great Andromeda Galaxy is one of the farthest objects visible to the naked eye. It can be easily observed even in a light polluted sky. To image the galaxy, you need to take multiple exposures with pretty different exposure times so that you get a correct rendition of both the centre of the galaxy and its outer edges. Date and place: August 16 2012; Valea Frumoasei, Romania Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III Telescope: Skywatcher 80ED Exposure: 16 x 600s + 4 x 300s + 4 x 100s + 4 x 60s + 1 x 30s + 1 x 15s Aperture: 7.5 ISO: 800