Messier 46 and a Planetary Nebula

 Over a couple of nights I have used the camera as an enhanced eye, looking at all sorts of objects (Messier objects, open  clusters, galaxies, etc.). One that I had not seen before and took my fancy for a photo target was MEssier 46, which has in the space between us and it, a planetary nebula.

As my usual, not enough subs, especially in colour (8 min or thereabouts), plus 30 in L.

Wikpedia: Messier 46 or M46, also known as NGC 2437, is an open cluster of stars in the slightly southern constellation of Puppis. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1771. Dreyer described it as "very bright, very rich, very large." It is about 5,000 light-years away. There are an estimated 500 stars in the cluster with a combined mass of 453 M☉, and it is thought to be a mid-range estimate of 251.2 million years old.

The planetary nebula NGC 2438 appears to lie within the cluster near its northern edge, but it is most likely unrelated since it does not share the cluster's radial velocity.

Another Leo triplet member, NGC 3628

 PRoblems again with DSS not detecting enough stars; didn't have many lights anyway and lost most of the R, G and B when stacking. Hence, very noisy image. Maybe I should use the lens corrector and make a smaller FOV?

Horsehead Nebula and one of a triplet

 Over a couple of nights I took subs of Barnard 33 The Horsehead Nebula in Orion and Messier 66, one of the members of the Leo Triplet of galaxies. Both images have around 100 mins on La,d 30 each of R, G and B.

Barnard 33 The Horsehead Nebula in Orion

Wikipedia: The Horsehead Nebula (also known as Barnard 33) is a small dark nebula in the constellation Orion. The nebula is located just to the south of Alnitak, the easternmost star of Orion's Belt, and is part of the much larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. 

The dark cloud of dust and gas is a region in the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex where star formation is taking place. It is located in the constellation of Orion, which is prominent in the winter evening sky in the Northern Hemisphere and the summer evening sky in the Southern Hemisphere.

Colour images reveal a deep-red colour that originates from ionised hydrogen gas (Hα) predominantly behind the nebula, and caused by the nearby bright star Sigma Orionis. Magnetic fields channel the gases, leaving the nebula into streams, shown as foreground streaks against the background glow. A glowing strip of hydrogen gas marks the edge of the enormous cloud, and the densities of nearby stars are noticeably different on either side.

Heavy concentrations of dust in the Horsehead Nebula region and neighbouring Orion Nebula are localized into interstellar clouds, resulting in alternating sections of nearly complete opacity and transparency. The darkness of the Horsehead is caused mostly by thick dust blocking the light of stars behind it. The lower part of the Horsehead's neck casts a shadow to the left.The visible dark nebula emerging from the gaseous complex is an active site of the formation of "low-mass" stars. Bright spots in the Horsehead Nebula's base are young stars just in the process of forming.

M66 in Leo

Wikipedia: Messier 66 or M66, also known as NGC 3627, is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the southern, equatorial half of Leo. It was discovered by French astronomer Charles Messieron March 1, 1780, who described it as "very long and very faint". This galaxy is a member of a small group of galaxies that includes M65 and NGC 3628, known as the Leo Triplet, or the M66 Group. 

M66 has a morphological classification of SABb, indicating a spiral shape with a weak bar feature and loosely wound arms. The isophotal axis ratio is 0.32, indicating that it is being viewed at an angle. M66 is receding from us with a heliocentric radial velocity of 696.3±12.7 km/s. It lies 31 million light-years away and is about 95 thousand light-years across with striking dust lanes and bright star clusters along sweeping spiral arms. As of 2018, five supernovae have been observed in M66: SN 2016cok, 2009hd, 1997bs, 1989B, and 1973R. The one detected in 2016, SN 2016cok was discovered by the All-Sky Survey Automated Survey for Supernovae, and it has been categorized as a Type IIp supernova.

M82 Cigar Galaxy in Ursa Major

 A beautifully clear, moonless night. Last session I had imaged Bode's Nebula, so I though I would do its companion, M82 tonight. Around 32 mins in RG and B and 102 mins in L, all at 1x1, gain 139.

Wikipedia:

Messier 82 (also known as NGC 3034, Cigar Galaxy or M82) is a starburst galaxy approximately 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. A member of the M81 Group, it is about five times more luminous than the Milky Way and has a centre one hundred times more luminous. The starburst activity is thought to have been triggered by interaction with neighbouring galaxy M81. As the closest starburst galaxy to Earth, M82 is the prototypical example of this galaxy type. SN 2014J, a type Ia supernova, was discovered in the galaxy on 21 January 2014. In 2014, in studying M82, scientists discovered the brightest pulsar yet known, designated M82 X-2.

Bode's Galaxy in Ursa Major

 The previous night I had collected five hours of data on M106 to find that DSS couldn't find enough stars in the subs!!  I think it must be the contrast reducing effect of a full moon. I need to revisit that one to be sure.

Anyway, in order ot check it wasn't a problem with DSS, I took some more subs of M81 and then combined them with ones I took in April last year. So, around 5 hours of L and 40 mins each of R, G and B.

I must admit, I am quite pleased!

M106 in Canes Venatici

 Not a lot of data, only about 1 hour in L and 20 mins in RGB, plus DEW!!!

Prior to this , a lot of trouble with the software. Could not get Plate Solving to work in APT. Then the whole thing crashed when I didn't disconnect from EQMOD ASCOM properly. SO, virtually everything ended up being reinstalled. The nan hour or two having trouble getting  the drivers to load; In the end I had to install them as Administrator - considering  I was logged on as Admin, very strange.

Now, everything seems to be ok and at least I managed to get some data, although most of it through a dew covered front plate.

And of course, full moon!

Still worth saving, just!

An interesting galaxy, see below.

Wikipedia:

Messier 106 (also known as NGC 4258) is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781. M106 is at a distance of about 22 to 25 million light-years away from Earth. M106 contains an active nucleus classified as a Type 2 Seyfert, and the presence of a central supermassive black hole has been demonstrated from radio-wavelength observations of the rotation of a disk of molecular gas orbiting within the inner light-year around the black hole. NGC 4217 is a possible companion galaxy of Messier 106.A Type II supernova was observed in M106 in May 2014.

M106 has a water vapor megamaser (the equivalent of a laser operating in microwave instead of visible light and on a galactic scale) that is seen by the 22-GHz line of ortho-H2O that evidences dense and warm molecular gas. These water vapors give M106 its characteristic purple color. Water masers are useful to observe nuclear accretion disks in active galaxies. The water masers in M106 enabled the first case of a direct measurement of the distance to a galaxy, thereby providing an independent anchor for the cosmic distance ladder. M106 has a slightly warped, thin, almost edge-on Keplerian disc which is on a subparsec scale. It surrounds a central area with mass 4 × 107M⊙.

It is one of the largest and brightest nearby galaxies, similar in size and luminosity to the Andromeda Galaxy. The supermassive black hole at the core has a mass of (3.9±0.1)×107 M☉.[15]

M106 has also played an important role in calibrating the cosmic distance ladder. Before, Cepheid variables from other galaxies could not be used to measure distances since they cover ranges of metallicities different from the Milky Way's. M106 contains Cepheid variables similar to both the metallicities of the Milky Way and other galaxies' Cepheids. By measuring the distance of the Cepheids with metallicities similar to our galaxy, astronomers are able to recalibrate the other Cepheids with different metallicities, a key fundamental step in improving quantification of distances to other galaxies in the universe.

NGC 2841 in colour

 A very crisp and cold night.  I added more luminance data and also collected some RGB for NGC 2841. There is now around 4 hours in L and an hour each in R, G and B.

NGC 2841 in Ursa Major