Leo Triplet

The Leo Triplet of Galaxies

This Saturday January 21st was or members observing night at my local astronomy club.  Only myself and one other member attended because of cold weather and a lot of cloud cover.  After setting up my gear at sundown, it wasn't until 3:30am that the clouds finally parted!  I started out by capturing light on M80 and M81, but because of its difficult position in the sky, and some technical difficulties, my fellow club member recommended that I try imaging the Leo Triplet.  I was able to capturing over about 1.5 hours on this subject, and I am very happy to have imaged this on such a cold, cloudy January night!

ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY DETAILS:  

(Leo Triplet)

35 x 165" ISO 1600
For a total of 1 hour 36 minutes

Stacked with dark, bias and flats

ES ED80 Apo Triplet
ASCG-5 GT
Orion Mini Guidescope
Meade DSI II
Canon 450d unmodded
Stacked in DSS
Processed in PS CS5

 

The photo on the left is me sitting in the warm room between camera/computer adjustments trying to keep warm.  The photo on the right is an example of how the clouds were teasing us with brief, beautiful views of the stars between 5pm - 2am