gallery

French Moonbow (right)

b y P E T E R VA N H O E C K E

Members of the Belgian astronomy association VVS-Io Evergem were delighted to

see a moonbow in the aftermath of a storm at a dark-sky site near Puimichel, France,
last July 16th. Colorless to the eye, the moonbow displayed the rich hues of its daylight counterpart to the cameras patient gaze.

Saturn (below)
b y D AV I D H A N O N

This detailed tricolor CCD image was made last October 7th when the planet was a
few days before opposition and 8.395 astronomical units (780 million miles) from
Earth. Our view of the dramatic ring system will continue to improve for the next five
or so years as the southern face of the rings tilts further into our line of sight.

Sunset on Posidonius (below right)

by REMY COURSEAUX

French amateur Remy Courseaux photographed the crater Posidonius near the terminator of the waning gibbous Moon in August 1996. For small telescopes, the 60mile-diameter crater is a prominent feature on the edge of Mare Serenitatis.

The Galaxy NGC 3628 (facing page, bottom left)

by JOSE G. TORRES

Visible in the same low-power telescopic field as the well-known galaxies M65 and
M66 in Leo, this edge-on spiral with a prominent dust lane is a popular target for
backyard observers with dark skies.

The Whirlpool Galaxy, M51 (facing page, bottom right)

b y C . C AVA D O R E , J . L O P E Z , a n d A . J A C Q U E Y

Obtained in March 1997, this stunning view of perhaps the most recognized galaxy
in the heavens demonstrates the remarkable strides that amateurs have made with
CCD imaging in recent years. Not long ago even professional observatories were unable to produce color views showing this level of detail.

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May 1998 Sky & Telescope

1998 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

1998 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

Sky & Telescope May 1998

127

Cygnus Milky Way (above)

b y J A S O N WA R E

Milky Way star fields in northeastern Cygnus serve as a

backdrop for the Cocoon Nebula (lower left) and the
graceful river of obscuring dust that flows to its west.
The Cocoon itself is a star cluster involved with emission and reflection nebulosity, which gives rise to its
purplish cast.

The Dumbbell Nebula, M27 (left)

b y A L K E L LY

This tricolor CCD image made last August 30th transforms the well-known planetary nebulas boxy visual
appearance in a typical amateur telescope into a colorful oval glowing with the predominantly green light
emitted by ionized oxygen atoms.

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May 1998 Sky & Telescope

1998 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

HOW THEY DID IT

French Moonbow
28-millimeter f/2.8 Nikkor lens, Fujicolor Super G 800
film, 30-second exposure.

Saturn
7-inch f/9 Astro-Physics refractor working at f/90
with eyepiece projection. SBIG ST-8 CCD camera and
exposures of 2, 3, and 8 seconds through red, green,
and blue filters, respectively.

Sunset on Posidonius
Takahashi 9-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope with
Barlow projection yielding f/58. 1-second exposure
on Kodak Technical Pan 2415 film. Negative digitally
scanned and processed with Adobe Photoshop.

The Galaxy NGC 3628

Meade 10-inch f/10 LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope fitted with an Optec f/3.3 MAXfield focal reducer. SBIG ST-7 CCD camera, composite of two
3-minute exposures. Field 16' wide centered at
11h 20.3m, +13 36'; north is up.

The Whirlpool Galaxy, M51

16-inch f/4.5 Newtonian reflector, CCD camera with
Thomson 512-pixel-square, thinned, back-illuminated
chip. Exposures of 480, 660, and 780 seconds through
red, green, and blue filters, respectively. Field 18' wide
centered at 13h 29.8m, +47 12'; north is up.

Cygnus Milky Way

Meade 12-inch f/2.2 Schmidt camera. Two 17-minute
exposures on Kodak 120-format Ektar 25 film were
stacked and copied to make a pair of transparencies.
The transparencies were stacked and printed to make
a pair of internegatives, which were stacked to make
the print used for this reproduction. Field 4 13 wide
centered at 21h 44m, +48.2; north is up.

Evening Planetary Lineup (upper image)

by TIM BARNWELL

Shortly after sunset on New Years Day, Tim Barnwell

photographed the crescent Moon near Jupiter, with
fainter Delta Capricorni some 2 to the planets left.
Venus is the bright star near the horizon, while Mars
appears near the center of the field.

The Dumbbell Nebula, M27

17 12-inch f/4.5 Newtonian reflector and homemade
Cookbook CB245 CCD camera. Exposures of 5.5, 8.5,
and 12.5 minutes were taken through red, green, and
blue filters, respectively. Field 8' wide centered at
19h 59.6m, +22 44'; north is at upper left.

Evening Planetary Lineup

35-mm camera with 50-mm lens set at f/4, Kodak Ektachrome 400 film, 4-second exposure.

Geostationary Satellites (lower image)

b y S T E FA N O S P O S E T T I

This extraordinary CCD image by Swiss observer Stefano Sposetti shows the trails of seven faint geostationary satellites (curved streaks) recorded during a 12.6hour period last January. The horizontal streaks are
stars that crossed the 13'-wide field during the exposure made with a stationary telescope. Most of the
satellites appear to brighten around midnight, when
they are near opposition.

Geostationary Satellites
Celestron 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope with
an f/6.3 focal reducer. Hi-SYS 22 CCD camera. Combination of 368 2-minute exposures that began at
17:11 Universal Time on January 10th and ended at
5:51 UT on the 11th. Field is 13' wide.

1998 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

Sky & Telescope May 1998

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