I've been experimenting with taking wide-angle long exposures with the camera mounted on the Vixen SP. Here is an image made in September 2012 of the Milky Way, with the constellation
Cygnus on the left, and the constellation
Aquila on the right. Prominent features include:
- The North America Nebula, on the left.
- The Great Rift (the dark lane that stretches across the middle of the image from left to right).
- The Cygnus Star Cloud (the bright region just above the middle, from about the center of the image and extending to the left)
This image also encompasses part of the area that is being studied by the
Kepler mission.
Note, too, that the Great Rift appears less dark on the right. This is due to light pollution from town.
The following was a test image made after focusing the camera on
Jupiter during a brief imaging session in early November 2012. Jupiter is the bright star near the center of the image. The reddish star to the upper-right of Jupiter is
Aldebaran, in the constellation
Taurus. Also visible are star clusters
NGC 1746 (which is actually an
asterism partially composed of
two open clusters),
NGC 1647 and the
Hyades cluster. The vertical streak is the light trail made by an airplane.
 |
| Jupiter; Canon EOS Rebels XS on Vixen SP mount; 1x30 |
After focusing the camera, I pointed it at
Messier 31, the Andromeda Galaxy:
 |
| Messier 31, the Andromeda Galaxy; Canon EOS Rebel XS on Vixen SP mount; 6x150 |
My primary goal was to image the area surrounding the constellation
Perseus. My time was running short and Perseus had just cleared the trees, so I pointed the camera in that direction and got enough subs for the image below. Some of the items visible here are the
Double Cluster (above and right of center), and the
Heart and
Soul nebulae (the faint red patches below and left of center):
-crv-ds-rotate-crop-resize.png)
