Students
in Astr112: Stars, Galaxies, and the Universe worked in teams
of 2-3 students to take photographs with our new
Optical Guidance Systems telescope. Each team visited the Observatory
and worked with the Observatory staff to photograph their object and take
the necessary calibration images ("darks" and "flats").
The teams then performed all the calibration steps to make their final
image, and wrote a brief caption. Here are their (slightly edited) results:
Photo
by Chris Adema, Anastasia Barnett, and Michelle Lassa
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M1:
Crab Nebula
We
made this image by going up to the observatory and took the picture
using the new telescope. We then used these pictures and combined
them with dark and flat pictures taken on the same night with the
same exposure for the dark (300 seconds). We took out the hot pixels
so the picture would look better. We aligned the pictures so that
we would have more acurate data. We changed the brightness and contrast
of this picture so that the unimportant light would fade out. The
Crab Nebula is 6,000 light years away. This is a supernova remnant.
We took the picture on the 14 of April in 2003.
Caption
by Jill Walters, Wendy VanderZwaage, and John Sleek
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M51:
Whirlpool Galaxy
We observed the Whirlpool Galaxy,
M51, which is a Spiral Galaxy. The distance to the object is 37000
kly, and it was observed on the 23rd of April, 2003. We had one
exposure per 60 seconds. The processing we applied to the data was:
1)subtracted the dark image in the flat image 2) removed the hot
pixels. 3) adjusted the contrast. Interesting structures visible
in our photograph is that
there is a collision that is about to occur with a smaller galaxy.
M51
is sometimes referenced as Rosse's Galaxy or Lord Rosse's "Question
Mark.
Photo
and caption by Kevin Ha, Jon Jerdan, and John Park
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Photo by Dan Park, Hannah Old and Gabe Michelson |
M81:
Bode's Nebula
Bode's
Nebula, also known as galaxy M81, along with its near-twin M82,
is one of the brightest of the nearby galaxies, dominating the Northern
Hemisphere. At 6.8 magnitudes, it is bright enough to have been
reportedly seen with the naked eye. Spiral arms and nearby star
clusters are in clear evidence. This picture of it, taken twice
over exposures of 5 minutes, has been cleared of light contamination
due to exposure, dirt on the lenses, and hot pixels. The galaxy
itself is elliptical type Sb, and the picture was taken on April
23, 2003.
Caption by Gabe Michelson
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Photo and caption by Brad Peterson, Joe Rice, and Dickson Siu |
M82:
Peculiar Galaxy
This is an image of the irregular galaxy M82 (NGC 3034), type Ir-II
which is located in Ursa Major. The galaxy is 12 million light-years
away from Earth and was observed on April 9th 2003. Our group took
two images with a telescope. Next we subtracted the flat frames and
the dark frames as well as the flat frames for the dark frames and
then aligned the images. After setting the brightness and contrast,
we combined them together and created one final image. Lastly we adjusted
the brightness and contrast of the final image. An interesting observation
is there is a vein of dust visible crossing the core of the galaxy
and makes the bright spot in the core darker. The galaxy is nicknamed
“The Cigar Galaxy” because of its irregular shape. |
Photo and caption by James Keating, Ben Hendrikse, and Matt Pasma |
M88:
Spiral Galaxy
Distance-60,000 kly
Date of Observation- 4/23/03
Data- 2 exposures, 300s each
First we
located our data and calibration files, then recorded the data on
a table, then we organized our data into directories, defined a data
reduction group, reduced the data, examined the data, removed hot
pixels, aligned the images, set the brightness and contrast for all
images, averaged them, set the contrast on the final image, and then
we printed it. Some interesting things in the photo are the long sprial
arms of the galaxy, also the fact that we are seeing the disk at somewhat
of an angle which makes viewing extremely pleasurable.
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M91:
Spiral Galaxy
This galaxy was observed on
April 23rd at 10:40pm. We took two exposures, the first at 300 seconds
and the second at 60 seconds. We reduced the background movement by
negating darks and flats, then adjusting the photo with the histogram.
There are several other stars in the photo of this spiral galaxy.
Photo and caption by Amanda Dykema and Annie Mas |
 |
M96:
Spiral Galaxy
Our image is the spiral galaxy M96. Its magnititude is 9.9. We observed
M96 on May 6, '03. We took 2 light images and 2 dark images to find
out our information.
Photo and caption by Jim Blaauw and Matt Koning |
 |
M100:
Spiral Galaxy
This is a grand design spiral. It was observed on April
22 2003. This galaxy is 56 million light years away from Earth.
It is located in the spring
consolation of Coma Berenices. An interesting structure is the spiral
arms. The photos were taken at a 5 minute exposures. In this lab
we took flats and darks and cleaned up the clutter from the photos.
Photo
and caption by Andy Maxwell and Greg Collins
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Photo and caption by Nate Maguire and Kayla Placencio |
M104:
El Sombrero Galaxy
This picture was taken at Calvin Observatory and edited in
Science Building 177 on May 8, 2003. We took two exposures each at
90 seconds. We subtracted dark images as well as flat images form
our raw data. We then averaged our two pictures ogether to get our
final product. There is a dust lane surrounding the galaxy, which
is very very interesting. William Herschel found this object independently
on May 9, 1784. |
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M106:
Spiral Galaxy
This is an image of M106, an Sb spiral galaxy. It is 21-25 million
light years away and moving away at a rate of 537 km/sec (21-25 million
light years ago). The image was observed and photographed on April
9, 2003. Two five minute exposures where taken and then an average
of 5 darks and 6 flats were subtracted from the two five minute exposures.
The resulting images were then aligned using the centroid method and
combined together. One of the spiral arms is clearly visible on the
top part of the galaxy, another spiral arm is faintly visible on the
bottom part of the galaxy.
Photo and caption by Noah Pauw and Nate Van Denend |
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Stars
in the Rosette Nebula
The source name is the rosette Nebula. Actually, our image
is a cluster of stars that are part of this nebula; they are the new
bright stars
that have formed in that open star cluster. We observed the cluster
on the 10th of April. We had taken two pictures, both five minutes.
One image was out of focus, and the other had stray light (possibly
from the street) enter the telescope. To get the final image, we added
dark, flat, and dark for the flat. We did have one slight problem
when the file sizes did not match, but that was soon remedied. The
image that we have is of the young stars in that cluster.
Photo and caption by Dana Hardin, Hilary Kempkers, and
Elise Elzinga |
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