# 79 | Winter Wonderland
While the Orion Nebula can be seen quite easily with most backyard telescopes, it takes a photograph to reveal the true amount of nebulosity that can be seen in this area of the nightsky.
Rich with other nebulas such as Barnard's Loop, the Horsehead Nebula and the California Nebula, this photo, taken by Peter Roth of Stouffville, Ontario, shows that this portion of the sky is literally a winter wonderland for astrophotographers.
Peter took his photo while on a trip to southern Arizona, using a 28mm lens for 15 minutes at f2.8 with Kodak Elitechrome 200 slide film while being tracked on a German equatorial mount. The slide was then scanned and processed by Tony and Daphne Hallas.
# 78 | Simple Moon Shots
Practically anyone with a digital camera and a telescope can take an image of the Moon. Although you can purchase adapters to attach the two together, decent results can still be obtained just by holding the camera up to the eyepiece.
Bill Cole held his Nikon Coolpix 4500 digital camera up to the 20mm eyepiece in his brother-in-law's 8" Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and used the auto and macro settings to take this image of the Moon on April 14th from Toronto, Ontario.
# 77 | Jupiter
Easily seen at dusk high in the southern sky, Jupiter is always an interesting object to observe. Surface features rotating across the face of the planet combined with the Galilean moons continually changing their positions makes Jupiter an object that many will spend an entire observing session on.
Dan Doolan of Brampton, Ontario took this image of Jupiter, which shows the Great Red Spot, Europa and Europa's shadow being cast upon the face of the planet on February 25, 2003.
Dan used a 10" Meade LX200GPS telescope and a Vesta Pro Webcam and combined 390 frames with Registax.
# 76 | M81
Many amateur astronomers have observed galaxy M81 through a telescope. Some may have even glimpsed it in binoculars from a dark location. Brian Lula, from his backyard observatory near Princeton, Massachusetts, recently took this incredibly detailed image of M81. Note the numerous pink-coloured areas---all are nebulas where new stars are being formed.
Brian used a 20" Ritchey-Chretien Operating Systems telescope to take this LRBG image (72:24:24:24 minutes respectively) using a Finger Lakes IMG6303E CCD camera.
# 75 | Sunspots
When observed through a telescope with the proper filter, our nearest star can become an interesting object to observe. Although over the past week there has been a lack of sunspots visible, on March 16 when Tom Luker of Peterborough, Ontario was viewing the Sun, three large spots were easily visible.
With a proper solar filter covering the objective lens, Tom used his Sony DSC-P1 digital camera and it attached to a SkyWatcher 130mm refractor with a home-made coupling device to take this shot.
Note: never observe the Sun without proper solar filters. See your local telescope store for information on purchasing a solar filter for your telescope.
# 74 | Globular Cluster M3
Messier object M3 is a beautiful globular cluster located 35,000 light-years from us. At a magnitude of 6.4, the cluster is able to be seen in binoculars as a small smudge and a telescope will begin to reveal individual stars.
Albert Saikaley recently took this auto-guided CCD image (LRGB of 16,5,5,5 minutes respectively) of M3 using a Celestron 11" Schmidt Cassegrain telescope at f4 from his observatory in Ottawa, Ontario.
# 73 | Spiral Galaxy M63
Found in the sky about halfway between Alkaid, the last star in the handle of the Big Dipper, and the star Cor Caroli, M63 is 9th magnitude spiral galaxy located approximately 40 million light-years from us.
Although the galaxy appears as a smudge when observed visually in smaller scopes, this CCD image taken by Bill Gardner shows how much more detail can be seen in an image as compared to the naked eye.
Bill used an SBIG ST-7E CCD camera coupled to an Astro-Physics 155mm refractor mounted on a Astro-Physics 900GTO mount for this LRBG exposure of 70:15:20:40 minutes respectively. Processing was then done with Adobe Photoshop and AIP4WIN.
# 72 | Auroral Activity
The past few weeks, if you've been fortunate to have a clear night sky, you may have witnessed some auroras. Recent auroral activity has been high with reports of brief, but beautiful auroras occuring.
Steve Irvine sent this photo of an aurora that he took on February 26, 2003 from his home in Big Bay, Ontario.
Steve used a Canon A-1 camera with a 28mm lens set at f3.5 for this 30 second exposure using Fuji Superia X-TRA 400 ASA print film.
# 71 | Jupiter
With many of the winter nights cloudy, backyard astronomers and astrophotographers have to find other activities to occupy their time. Luis Eguren took the opportunity to process some old images of Jupiter that he took in December, 2002.
This image, a composite of about 50 frames taken with a TouCam Pro webcam through a 7" Meade Mak-Cassegrain telescope, is a good example of what kind of detail can be seen visually under good conditions with an 8" or larger telescope.
The Great Red Spot is easily visible and two of the Jovian moons, Ganymede and Europa can be seen to the left.
# 70 | Scary Skies
Nightsky watchers know that come dark the sky can occasionally take on a different look. Whether it be an odd aurora or clouds lit by the Moon, sometimes the nightsky can look quite ominous.
Some photos, such as this shot by Aaron Munson of Edmonton, Alberta, which shows clouds being lit by the rising Moon, can look extremely spooky when caught on film.
Aaron used a Canon AE-1 camera equipped with a 28mm lens set at f2.8 and took a 30-second exposure using Fujichrome Sensia 100 speed film from Cresent Falls, Alberta in July, 2002.