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Lost 40 Astro

A page sharing my lifelong interest in all things related to astronomy, space, aviation, science fact and science fiction.

03/26/2026

The other night as clouds started to roll in I was able to eek out 30 minutes + on the globular cluster M3. Globs can be kind of a nightmare to process at times and I personally find that less is generally more. M3 is a nice big glob very similar to M13 in appearance and is thought to be the first object in the Messier Catalog that Charles Messier discovered himself.

Acquisition details:
M3/NGC 5272 Globular Cluster
Constellation Canes Venatici
Apertura Telescopes Carbonstar 200
ZWO ASI2600MC Pro OSC camera (no filter)
ZWO ASI220MM mini guide camera and scope
ZWO AM5 mount on Apertura Anchor Pier
Scope and imaging control via ASIair and IPad app
36x60 second subs in Bortle 3
Image stacked and processed wholly in Pixinsight
Converted to png file for posting

03/23/2026

The Sunflower Galaxy from the evening of March 19th. Happy to be getting better weather but it's still a roller coaster. Yesterday it was near 90F. Today's high was 51. Still focusing on galaxies for now and running fairly short integrations. At f4 with an 8" aperture I'm getting decent results in my Bortle 3 skies.

Acquisition details:
M63/NGC 5055 Sunflower Galaxy
Constellation Canes Venatici
Apertura Telescopes Carbonstar 200
ZWO ASI2600MC Pro OSC camera (no filter)
ZWO ASI220MM mini guide camera and scope
ZWO AM5 mount on Apertura Anchor Pier
Scope and imaging control via ASIair and IPad app
70x60 second subs in Bortle 3
Image stacked and processed in Pixinsight with minor tweaking in Adobe Lightroom
Converted to png file for posting

03/22/2026

A moonless night with near perfect transparency yielded good results on the Southern Pinwheel. Plus warm enough to loiter outside during the night without a stitch of fashionable knitwear too. This one gets in a good position for me after midnight now. Was going to try for the Lagoon or Eagle Nebula but I couldn't make it another hour or so after finishing this one up.

Acquisition details:
M83/NGC 5236 Southern Pinwheel Galaxy
Constellation Hydra
Apertura Telescopes Carbonstar 200
ZWO ASI2600MC Pro OSC camera (no filter)
ZWO ASI220MM mini guide camera and scope
ZWO AM5 mount on Apertura Anchor Pier
Scope and imaging control via ASIair and IPad app
70x60 second subs in Bortle 3
Image stacked and processed in Pixinsight with minor tweaking in Adobe Lightroom
Converted to png file for posting

03/19/2026

Galaxy season continues. M104 is always a fun one as there's not really any other galaxy quite like it. The thin edge on disc with a dark dust lane and a bright core bulge resembles a large Mexican sombrero and it is in fact called the Sombrero Galaxy. On the border of the constellations Corvus and Virgo, M104 is a member of the Virgo Supercluster of galaxies and is the first of the so called lost Messier objects or objects determined to be observed by Charles Messier or his colleague Pierre Mechain but not part of initial publications of his catalog.

03/18/2026

An experiment of sorts using the 800mm focal length Carbonstar 200 and the ASI2600MC Pro on Jupiter. Not really the right scope or camera for planetary imaging but still pretty impressed with what I got all things considered. A single 90 second video here consisting of 1802 individual frames stacked in ASIAir. This image won't tolerate a lot of enlargement but two of the Galilean moons are visible here as well as a hint of the GRS.

03/17/2026

It seemed appropriate to set my sights on M13 on Friday the 13th. The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules is considered the best glob viewable in the northern hemisphere. I wish I could've spent more time on it but unsettled weather conditions and persistent cloud bands rolling through cut this session short. Still...a good acquisition and the first glob I've shot using the Carbonstar 200 rig. M13 was discovered by pioneering comet observer Edmund Halley in 1714 and Charles Messier observed and added the glob to his catalog in 1764.

03/15/2026

I only wanted 6 more subs!

03/12/2026

The galaxies M95 and M96 in the constellation Leo form 2/3rds of the M96 group of galaxies. Just out of frame here is M105 which is the 3rd member.

03/09/2026

Galaxy season kicking into gear now. Virgo, Leo, and Coma Berenices are packed with galaxies and those constellations are up all night starting in March. Here is a 2-fer shot of a couple of Messier galaxies (and others)...M59 and M60. Recorded discovery was by Johann Gottfried Kohler in April 1779 while comet hunting. Charles Messier also being a comet hunter documented M59 and M60 a few days later.

M60 is an elliptical or lenticular galaxy with an extremely close bluish companion galaxy cataloged as entry 4647 in the NGC. It seems to be unclear if the two galaxies are actually interacting.

M59 left of center is pretty much a featureless elliptical galaxy and for me the quintessential "may as well get that while I'm here" object which is an easy feat with my current rig.

Acquisition details:
60x120 second subs with the Apertura Carbonstar 200/ASI2600MC Pro/AM5 Mount. Control via ASIAIR. Stacking and processing in Pixinsight.

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