Utah Skies Presents

Jeff Stys

Astrophotographer-of-the-Month

Galaxies

Photograph Details

Length of Exposure: 120 Minutes
Guiding: Manual
Type of Film: Fuji Super G+ 800
Date Photographed: 1997-08-08
Observing Site: New Hampshire (front yard)
Photograph Notes: The film showed a great deal of fog from the long exposure under light-polluted skies.
This image could be improved by stacking shorter exposures to increase the signal to noise ratio. Guiding was
excellent for such a long manually-guided exposure.

Object Details

Common Name: The Pinwheel Galaxy
Catalog Designation: M33
Constellation: Triangulum
Visual Magnitude: 5.7
Angular Size: 73x45 arc min
Distance from Earth: 3,000 kly
Right Ascension: 1 hour 33.9 min
Declination: +30 deg 39 min
Photograph Details

Length of Exposure: 2x 60 Minutes
Guiding: Manual
Type of Film: Kodak Pro 400 (PPF)
Date Photographed: 1999-05-10
Observing Site: New Hampshire (dark site)
Photograph Notes: This image is a digital composite of two 60-minute exposures. The digital processing and photoshop enhancement was done by the photo lab of Tony and Daphne Hallas. 
Object Details

Common Name: The Whirlpool Galaxy
Catalog Designation: M51
Constellation: Canes Venatici
Visual Magnitude: 8.4
Angular Size: 11x7 arc min
Distance from Earth: 37,000 kly
Right Ascension: 13 hours 29.9 min
Declination: +47 deg 12 min
Photograph Details

Length of Exposure: 60 Minutes
Guiding: Manual
Type of Film: Kodak Pro 400 (PPF)
Date Photographed: 1999-05-10
Observing Site: New Hampshire (dark site)
Photograph Notes: 

Object Details

Common Name: The Pinwheel Galaxy
Catalog Designation: M101
Constellation: Ursa Major
Visual Magnitude: 7.9
Angular Size: 22.0 arc min
Distance from Earth: 27,000 kly
Right Ascension: 14 hours 3.2 min
Declination: +54 deg 21 min

 

Nebulae

Photograph Details

Length of Exposure: 20 Minutes
Guiding: Manual
Type of Film: Kodak Multispeed Ektapress 640
Date Photographed: 1998-08-01
Observing Site: New Hampshire (dark site)
Photograph Notes: During the exposure dew began to form on the correcter plate and the sky was not entirely dark as dawn was approaching. Just as I was waiting for Orion's Nebula to clear the horizon, the car battery died and I just barely got the LX200 powered up again in time to take the photograph before the sun came up. 

Object Details

Common Name: The Orion Nebula
Catalog Designation: M42
Constellation: Orion
Visual Magnitude: 4.0
Angular Size: 85x60 arc min
Distance from Earth: 1.6 kly
Right Ascension: 5 hours 35.4 min
Declination: -5 deg 27 min
Photograph Details

Length of Exposure: 30 Minutes
Guiding: Manual
Type of Film: Kodak Ektapress Multispeed 640
Date Photographed: 1998-07-25
Observing Site: New Hampshire (dark site)
Photograph Notes: So far this is the only photo I have taken of the Trifid nebula and unfortunately it is slightly out of focus. Guiding is decent for a manually guided photo, but could certainly be improved. 
Object Details

Common Name: The Trifid Nebula
Catalog Designation: M20
Constellation: Sagittarius
Visual Magnitude: 9.0
Angular Size: 28.0 arc min
Distance from Earth: 5.2 kly
Right Ascension: 18 hours 2.6 min
Declination: -23 deg 2 min
Photograph Details

Length of Exposure: 60 Minutes
Guiding: Manual
Type of Film: Kodak Multispeed Ektapress 640
Date Photographed: 1998-08-01
Observing Site: New Hampshire (dark site)
Photograph Notes: Tracking was excellent during the exposure due to drift alignment.
Object Details

Common Name: The Helix Nebula
Catalog Designation: NGC7293
Constellation: Aquarius
Visual Magnitude: 
Angular Size: 
Distance from Earth: 
Right Ascension: 
Declination: 

 

Star Clusters

Photograph Details

Length of Exposure: 30 Minutes
Guiding: Manual
Type of Film: Kodak Ektapress Multispeed 640
Date Photographed: 1998-08-01
Observing Site: New Hampshire (front yard)
Photograph Notes: This exposure was not adequately guided, resulting in significant star trails.
Object Details

Common Name: The Hercules Cluster
Catalog Designation: M13
Constellation: Hercules
Visual Magnitude: 5.8
Angular Size: 16.6 arc min
Distance from Earth: 22.8 kly
Right Ascension: 16 hours 41.7 min
Declination: +36 deg 28 min

 

Planets

Photograph Details

Length of Exposure: Unknown
Guiding: None
Type of Film: Kodak Ektapress Multispeed 640
Observing Site: New Hampshire (front yard)
Photograph Notes: This is an eyepiece-projection exposure taken through a 9.7mm super plossl and variable tele-extender. The photo was shot on Kodak Ektapress Multispeed 640 (PJM) only because I needed to finish off the roll. A finer grained film is preferable for planetary photography. This is about as sharp as I can get a planetary image without a moving to a ccd camera. Focus is extremely difficult at such high magnification and the image is prone to blur from poor seeing (atmospheric turbulence), shutter vibrations, and light wind. This is my first attempt at photographing the 5th planet from the sun.

Object Details

Common Name: The Planet Jupiter
Catalog Designation: Jupiter
Constellation: Not Applicable
Visual Magnitude: 
Angular Size: 
Distance from Earth: 
Right Ascension: Not Applicable
Declination: Not Applicable

Want to see more?
Checkout previous Utah Skies Astro-photographers of the Month