last night's pics

nytecam · #1 (**permalink**) 23-03-2010, 09:13 AM

Been clear for the last couple of nights - last night took pics of moon in west and second showing faint earthshine

High in the NE, beneath the Plough, I located the very faint comet called C/2007 QE Siding Spring [=place of discovery in Australia] with tiny tail

nytecam · #2 (**permalink**) 24-03-2010, 10:36 AM

More pics from the other night but of objects much further away

Left pic of the quasar 3C273 in Virgo in 200s exp with inset 5s exp that still clearly show the quasar at an amazing 2 billion lightyears [2BLY] distance. 3C273 = #273 object in 3rd Cambridge Catalogue of quasi-stellar objects [QSO] or quasar = the core of extremely brilliant but distant galaxies that appears 'stellar' in the telescope

This quasar is one of the furthest objects in space that can be seen with a moderate/large amateur telescope

The negative image [right] is an adjacent starfield with four galaxies marked [two very faint and only visible in monster telescopes!] - these galaxies are, by comparison to 3C273, much closer to earth by a factor x50. Hope it's of interest

All the pics taken with a 350mm fl /5 lens [much as 'birders' hereabout use] + CCD camera.