My Astrophotography

M57

The Ring Nebula taken at Columbus on the night of 10/1/2011. I upgraded from a Nikon D3000 to a D5000 and added an autoguider. The difference is obvious. This is a 5-minute exposure stacked 10 times and cleaned up with a dark frame. Then further processed in Photoshop.

Leo Triplet

A single 30-second exposure of the Leo Triplet using my D5000 through an 80mm Vernon Scope refractor. Not a bad image for only 30 seconds. I need to get more of this group.

Omega Centauri

Omega done using my D5000 through an 80mm Vernon Scope refractor. Taken on 4/21/2012 at Columbus. Omega was a naked-eye object that night, it looked like a small cloud in binoculars. I don't think I've ever seen it that far above the southern horizon.

Saturn, obviously

Not as impressive as Bill Pellerin's planetary work, but getting better.

Triffid Nebula - M20

Taken on the C-14 at Columbus. 5 minutes un-guided at ISO 6400. Noisy and not tracking perfect, but getting better.

The Whirlpool Galaxy - M51

My best so far. A lot of noise as I was shooting at ISO 6400. 10 minutes with no guiding. The tracking error on the C-14 at Columbus isn't really all that bad. The stars are a little egg-shaped, but really not too bad.

M42

Taken from my back yard. Nikon D5000, Meade 2080 on a Celestron CG-5, using a 6.3 focal reducer. 10-12 frames at ISO 3200, stacked in DeepSky Stacker with bias and dark substitutions. Processed in Photoshop. Not bad, if I do say so myself.