# 109 | M31---The Andromeda Galaxy
Currently found high in the north-east soon after dark, the Andromeda galaxy can be seen from moderately dark skies as a hazy fuzzball using binoculars. In a medium-sized or larger telescope, the galaxy becomes a city of stars including two small companion galaxies, M32 (slightly below centre) and M110 (upper right). At dark locations with larger telescopes, the dust lanes, visible in this image by Remi Lacasse, can become visible.
Remi's fabulous image, taken from his observatory near Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, is a CCD composite of 6 sections (L=40 minutes, R,B,G 30 minutes each) for a total exposure time of 13 hours. Remi used an SBIG ST10XME camera which was mounted on a Takahashi FSQ106 f/5 refractor.
# 108 | Galaxies M81 and M82
Appearing as "cat-like" eyes staring back towards an observer, galaxies M81 (left) and M82 (right) are easily seen when using a medium-sized telescope from dark skies.
Until recently, imaging galaxies at high resolution tended to be the domain of CCD users. With the recent advent of high-quality digital cameras, galaxy images are becoming more attainable for some.
Derek Baker of Burlington, Ontario took this image from Haliburton, Ontario with a Canon EOS 10D digital camera at the prime focus of his 5" Astro-Physics apochromatic refractor. Mounted on a Losmandy G11 equatorial mount with an autoguider, Derek took nine 5-minute exposures at ISO 400 which were then stacked in Registar and processed using Maxim DL and Photoshop.
# 107 | Shoot For the Moon!
Lunar images are quickly becoming one of the easiest type of astrophoto to shoot due to the simplicity of using a digital camera. Almost any digital camera can get a decent result when held up to the eyepiece of a telescope (called "afocal"). Allow the camera to focus automatically and take a number of shots. Usually the quality of the results are quite surprising to a person first trying astrophotography.
Dustin Wywrot took this image of the Moon on October 11, 2003. Dustin simply held his HP Photosmart 618 digital camera up to the eyepiece his 8" f6 Newtonian reflector on a Dobsonian mount.
# 106 | November 8, 2003 Lunar Eclipse
Those who were fortunate to have clear skies this past Saturday evening were able to watch the shadow of the Earth slowly work it's way across the face of the Moon.
Newmarket, Ontario resident Ken Carter travelled to the Torrens Barrens Dark Sky Preserve in Muskoka, Ontario to watch and image the eclipse.
Ken took this composite image, showing various stages of the eclipse, afocally using a 32mm Meade Super Plossl through a Celestron 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope with a Nikon Coolpix 880 digital camera.
# 105 | Atlantic Aurora
The past week has seen some high auroral activity. Unfortunately a great part of Canada has been clouded out for these spectacular shows. Portions of Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes were lucky enough to witness the strong display of the northern lights on Thursday, October 30, 2003.
Peaking in intensity shortly after dusk, the eastern and southern skies became awash in an eerie blood red. Many observers report the aurora looked near identical to the eye when compared to the result that was captured by the camera.
Calum Ewing took this photo of the aurora while facing south over the Atlantic Ocean from Three Fathom Harbour, Nova Scotia. The aurora was so strong it covered the southern part of the sky where Mars (mid-upper right) was rising.
Calum used a Yashica FX-2 camera with a Yashica 28mm lens set at f4 to take a 15 second exposure using Fuji Superia X-tra 800 speed film.
# 104 | Sunspot 484
This past week has seen two very large sunspots become visible. Spot #484, as seen above in this photo by Mike Ashby of Edmonton, Alberta, is approximately the size of Jupiter. Another very large sunspot, # 486, can also easily be seen by solar observers (although not seen in this photo).
***Note: Do not attempt solar observations without a proper solar filter---see your local astronomy store for purchasing info.
To take his photo, Mike used eyepiece projection with a 15mm Antares eyepiece through an 80mm f11 achromat refractor equipped with a Thousand Oaks Type 3 solar filter while using 400 ISO film.
# 103 | Stunning Saturn
Kitchener, Ontario resident Darryl Archer took this incredibly detailed image of Saturn on October 8, 2003 at 5:30am EDT.
Note the fine details visible on the surface of the ringed gas giant, the different colour variations of the rings themselves and the shadow of the planet being cast upon the rings.
Darryl used a Celestron C14 Schmidt Cassegrain telescope at f28, with a Philips webcam and an IR filter attached and then processed the 244 frames (from the 2500 taken) with K3CCD Tools, Registack and Photoshop.
# 102 | The Butterfly Nebula----IC 1318
This beautiful star forming region in Cygnus, known as IC 1318 or the Butterfly Nebula, looks spectacular in a photograph or digital image, but when seen visually, little resemblance to Jean Guimond's image is found. Photographing or imaging always reveals more detail and colour than what can be discerned with the human eye.
Jean used almost 25 hours of data from August and September to complete this mosaic of 10 images imaged in Hydrogen-Alpha from Cap-Rouge, Quebec.
Jean's equipment was an SBIG ST-10 MXE CCD camera with a CFW-8A filter wheel and a Tele Vue Genesis refractor at f/5 equipped with a Hutech Light pollution filter.
# 101 | NGC 7331
The ability to do digital imaging from almost anywhere and still get excellent results is readily apparent in this CCD image of galaxy NGC 7331 which was taken by Albert Saikaley from his light polluted backyard in Ottawa, Ontario.
Digital imaging is revolutionizing the hobby and allowing many who live in urban areas to create images of astounding quality.
Albert used a Celestron C11 SCT with an ST-7E NABG/Optec filter wheel for his image which uses data taken from September 5, 2003 and last year. Photoshop and AIP4WIN were used to process the images.
# 100 | Scenic Serenity
While many people are still catching a few more winks of sleep, those that are up early in the morning are sometimes treated to peaceful dawn scenes that catch the eye.
Norm Willey, using an Olympus C-3020 at the night mode setting, captured this tranquil setting of the old Moon, Jupiter and Mercury (low in the middle) from his home on Vancouver Island at 6:15am PDT on Wednesday, September 24, 2003.
Observant skywatchers can now find Saturn high in the south-east as well as Jupiter low in the east before sunrise.