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The photographs on this page have been taken by
Johathan Putsman

For a new series starting January 2008 - click here

October 2007
I recently bought a cooled CCD camera, the Atik 16ic. This entry-level monochrome camera offers lower noise, greater sensitivity, better resolution (detail, not pixel count) and more dynamic range than a digital SLR. The downside is the much smaller field of view. The pictures of NGC 7331, M13 and M57 were taken using this camera.
>> Click on any of the four following images to see a larger version <<

NGC 7331 in Pegasus
I am particularly pleased with the image of NGC 7331 in Pegasus - at magnitude 9.5, this galaxy was on the limit of visibility in the eyepiece. Four other galaxies are seen as fuzzy blobs in the image, below the main galaxy. Together they make up the so-called 'Deer Lick Group'. The other galaxies are, clockwise: NGC 7335 (mag 13.4), NGC 7336 (mag 14.5), NGC 7340 (mag 13.7) and NGC 7337 mag 14.4).

M13
M57
The fourth image is something rather different - a widefield view of Cygnus taken with a Canon 400D and 70mm camera lens. The number of stars in this region of sky is simply stunning! This is because Cygnus is towards the centre of the Milky Way. The North American Nebula (NGC 7000) is visible just below centre and right a bit - Mexico and the Gulf are quite nicely visible. Messier 39 is the little cluster of stars to the left of the image.
The four images below (M13, M15, M27 and M92) were taken over the weekend of 25th to 26th August 07, and all with the same setup:
6" F/5 Meade Schmidt-Newtonian and a Canon EOS 400D. They all comprise twenty 30-second exposures at ISO 1600 giving 10 minutes of exposure time. They were stacked in Deep Sky Stacker with some extra processing in PixInsight LE to remove light pollution.

It is interesting to compare the relative size and brightness of M13, M15 and M92. (They were all taken with the same number and duration of exposures.)

M27 came out well, despite the almost full moon.

Click on any of the images to see a full size version.

M13
M13
M15
M27
M27		 M92 M92
The next image is a re-processing from earlier this year. I was able to bring
out a bit more detail in the galaxies at the expense of a noisier, lighter sky background.
M81-M82
M81 - M82 (re-processed from earlier image below)
Some Jupiter images taken on July 7th 2007. I was experimenting placing my 2x APO barlow before and after my helical focuser to get different image scales. The two centre images were taken with the Toucam placed immediately after the barlow, giving around 2.25x magnification. The two outside images had a helical focuser between the barlow and the camera and yield around 3.25x magnification by my estimates.

I think it is really good to see how fast Jupiter rotates! The Great Red Spot is rotating into view on some of the later images. I am quite pleased with the images given how low Jupiter appears this year - only about 16 degrees.

The usual setup: 6" Meade Schmidt-Newtonian, Toucam, processed in Registax. Due to the rotation of Jupiter, I keep the AVIs to a maximum of 2 minutes, which is 1200 frames when recorded at 10 fps. I tend to stack the best 600-1000 of them.
The next seven images on this page - added 22nd April 2007

The Moon

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M81 and M82

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M45

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M42

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M31

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M27

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Flame Horsehead Nebula

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A new view of Saturn.
Saturday 19th March 2007
using the 14" at High Top.
Taken with a Philips Toucam Pro II and a 2x APO barlow.
About 1150 images stacked in
Registax V4 (out of 2400).
Saturn
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Saturn and Moons
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Moon image
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