Last Sat, like the other week (see [here]), took Birmingham Astronomical Society out to the University of Birmingham Observatory. It was again a lovely clear night - far from what was predicted earlier in the week. We were able to learn from the observing of earlier in the month and I'm rather pleased with the images we produced (again, I'm sure we can do much better but this is a definite increase in quality).
Let start with an image that we observed last time (you can really see the increase in quality from the last one, [here]) - M51 - the Whirlpool Galaxy (10x30 secs in r,g 10 x 1min b):
The next image was actually the last we observed on the night, as it didn't rise above the horizon limit of the telescope early (actually it was around 2am), the Eagle Nebula (M16) - with this one I feel longer exposures are definitely needed (and maybe a H-alpha image) but not a bad start (10x30 secs in r,g 10 x 1min b) with the pillars of creation clearly visible :
Going back to the galaxies we had a look at the sombrero galaxy (M104) with a much clearer view than last time (10x30 secs in r,g 10 x 1min b) with the dust lane nicely visible (this includes a cosmic ray removal routine):
The barred spiral M106 in the constellation Canes Venatici. (5 x 30 sec in rg, 5 x 1min b):
M109 (also known as NGC 3992) is a barred spiral galaxy approximately 46 million light-years (30s in r,g,b):
M108 (also known as NGC 3556) is an edge-on spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major (30s in r,g,b):
The quasar (arrow points it out) 3C273 (1min exposure bg20 filter), it is the optically-brightest quasar in our sky (m ~ 12.9), and one of the closest with a redshift, z, of 0.158:
M105 (also known as M105 and NGC 3379) is an elliptical galaxy in the constellation Leo (30s bg20):
M 87 (also known as M87, Virgo A or NGC 4486) is a giant elliptical galaxy and brightest galaxy within the Virgo cluster, located some 55 million light years away (image is 30s bg20) - our image clearly shows other galaxies in the cluster:
Away from the galaxies we took images of a couple of globular clusters. M92 is a globular cluster in the constellation Hercules (5 x 30s in rg, 5 x 1min b):
M13 (NGC 6205, sometimes called the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules) is a globular cluster in the constellation of Hercules (5 x 30s in rg, 5 x 1min b):
We started the evening with a quick image of M1 - the Crab Nebula which is a supernova remnant in the constellation of Taurus (10 x 30 rg, 1min b):
To show some science we had a quick play with the spectrograph and we managed to take a low resolution image of Saturn (30s exposure with central wavelength of H-alpha), with the planet in the centre of the spectrum (looking down vertical axis) with the rings outside (clearly less bright):
For pointing purposes we also aimed the spectrograph at Mizar, getting:
It was an absolutely excellent night of astronomy, lets hope the next one is so clear!
