Dave Collings
WR134 by Dave Collings
Submitted September 25, 2023 by Chelsea Chin
WR 134: “The Blue Dolphin”
- Processed and captured as a HOO narrowband.
- 16 hours of just OIII and another 7 hours of Ha to make this image appear in all its splendor.
- I imaged WR 134 from 8-20-2023 to 9-16-2023 for many evening sessions (1 month) of imaging to get enough data to pull out the details!
- PlaneWave CDK12.5
- PW 0.66 reducer
- ATIK 16200 Mono main camera with Chroma narrowband filters.
- Mount is an Astro-Physics 1100GTO CP4.
“The details of the Dolphin are incredible making it easy to identify the nose, head, body, eye, dorsal fin, and tail fin. What a great target for the Planewave 12.5” CDK to show off its capabilities. Very pleased with my final stack image of WR 134. ”
David Collings – Blue Ridge Observatory | Sparta, North Carolina USA
CED214 by Dave Collings
Submitted September 25, 2023 by Chelsea Chin
CED214: “The Emission Nebula”
Check out the details of the rising pillars of dust and smoke from new young star formations.
- This was imaged beginning on 8-31-2-23 and finished on 9-9-2023.
- 18 hours of Ha, OIII, and SII were imaged to stack this beautiful nebula in SHO narrowband.
- Planewave 12.5” CDK
- PW 0.66 reducer
- Main camera: ATIK 16200 Mono captured this incredible detail
- Mount is the Astro-Physics 1100GTO CP4
- Filters used for these sub-frames are Chroma narrowband filters
David Collings – Blue Ridge Observatory | Sparta, North Carolina USA
The Pelican Nebula by Dave Collings
Submitted August 7, 2023 by Chelsea Chin
IC5070: “The Pelican Nebula”
- Plane Wave Instruments 12.5” CDK telescope with the PW 0.63 reducer on the Astro-Physics 1100 GTO CP4 mount.
- Main camera is the ATIK 16200 Mono with Chroma Filters capturing this beautiful 11 hours of Narrowband Ha-OIII-SII.
- Subframe captures were 5 minutes each for the Ha-OIII-SII.
“The details show an active mix of star formations and evolving gas clouds. The foreground has a dark dust molecular cloud.”
David Collings – Blue Ridge Observatory | Sparta, North Carolina USA
M22 by Dave Collings
Submitted July 21, 2023 by Chelsea Chin
This is M22 sitting in the middle of the Milky Way, a stunning amount of stars!
- Captured with my Plane Wave Instruments 12.5” CDK telescope with the PW 0.63 reducer on the Astro-Physics 1100 GTO CP4 mount.
- My main camera is the ATIK 16200 Mono capturing this beautiful 5-hour LRGB Globular Cluster nestled in our Milky Way.
Being 3000 ft up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of NC allows for very dark skies yielding good details of the massive amount of stars in our Milky Way galaxy. Subframe captures were 60 secs each for Luminance and 120 secs each for RGB.
M22 has an estimated 80,000 Suns in its cluster. The age of M22 is estimated to be 12 billion years and is only 10,000 light years from Earth located in Sagittarius.
David Collings – Blue Ridge Observatory | Sparta, North Carolina USA
The Crescent Nebula by Dave Collings
Submitted June 20, 2023 by Chelsea Chin
NGC6888: “The Crescent Nebula”
- Plane Wave Instruments 12.5” CDK telescope with the PW 0.63 reducer on the Astro-Physics 1100 GTO CP4 mount.
- Main camera is the ATIK 16200 Mono with Chroma filters for HA, OIII, and SII.
- Imaged in narrowband HOO for 8 hours total with 4 hours of Ha and 4 hours of OIII.
- Stacked as a bi-color image with Ha to Red, OIII to Green, and Blue with some pixel math allowing some Ha to the Blue channel.
“NGC6888 is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, about 5000 light-years away from Earth. NGC6888 has an apparent magnitude of 7.4. It is formed by the fast stellar wind from the Wolf-Rayet star (WR 136) colliding with and energizing the slower-moving wind ejected by the star when it became a red giant star. The result of the collision is a shell and two shock waves, one moving outward and one moving inward revealing the beautiful OIII and Ha of the Crescent.
Being 3000 ft up in the Blue Ridge Mountains allows for very dark skies yielding good details of deep space objects.”
David Collings – Blue Ridge Observatory | Sparta, North Carolina USA
M63 ‘The Sun Flower Galaxy’ by Dave Collings
Submitted June 12, 2023 by Chelsea Chin
M63: The Sun Flower Galaxy
This is M63 ‘The Sun Flower Galaxy’. It took me 6 weeks to capture all the data needed for this LRGB image due to weathering. I finally got it done after capturing 10 hours of LRGB data.
- Plane Wave 12.5” CDK telescope with the PW 0.66 Reducer on an Astro Physics 1100 GTO CP4 mount.
- Main camera is an ATIK 16200 Mono CCD with an ATIK EFW3 Filter wheel with Chroma LRGB Ha & OIII, SII, HA 3nm filters.
- Guide scope is Astromania 400mm Refractor with an ASI 290mm guide camera.
- A total of 10 hours of imaging was used to create this beautiful LRGB image of M63 “The Sun Flower Galaxy’.
- All sub-frames were 300 sec. each gathering 4 hours of Luminance, 2 hours each Red, Green and Blue.
- Voyager software is used for capture and running the entire observatory. PixInsight was used for stacking the subs and editing to bring out all the fine detail of M63.
“I imaged M63 ‘The Sun Flower Galaxy’ 5 years ago that was published in Sky & Telescope magazine, but this image, today, of M63 using my Plane Wave 12.5” CDK telescope is 3 times the quality and details my old published image from just 5 years ago! Again, it sure says a lot about Plane Wave telescopes!”
David Collings – Blue Ridge Observatory | Sparta, North Carolina USA
Supernova Discovered in M101- The Pinwheel Galaxy
Submitted June 5, 2023 by Chelsea Chin
“This is an extremely rare event that I captured on May 24, 2023.
When I heard NASA thought they saw a super Nova in one of the spiral arms of M101 on May 23rd, I imaged M101 again on May 24th. I did very clearly see the new huge Super Nova, an extremely rare event to image.
They are in black and white by inverting the images to make it easier to see all the stars in the galaxy and the Super Nova.
- The image of M101 on the left was 12 hours of LRGB data inverted and B&W.
- The image on the right capturing the Super Nova in M101 was only 15 minutes of Luminance data only!
That says a lot about the Plane Wave 12.5” CDK !!”
The picture above depicts the original color image published in April, M101 by Dave Collings, now alongside M101 imaged on May 24, 2023.
David Collings – Blue Ridge Observatory | Sparta, North Carolina USA
Cosmic Bat Nebula by Dave Collings
Submitted May 8, 2023 by Chelsea Chin
LDN-43: “The Cosmic Bat Nebula”
- Plane Wave 12.5” CDK telescope with the PW 0.66 Reducer on an Astro Physics 1100 GTO CP4 mount.
- Main camera is an ATIK 16200 Mono CCD with an ATIK EFW3 Filter wheel with Chroma LRGB Ha & OIII, SII, and HA 3nm filters.
- Guide scope is Astromania 400mm Refractor with an ASI 290mm guide camera.
- A total of 9 hours of imaging was used to create this beautiful LRGB image of LDN-43 “The Cosmic Bat Nebula”. All sub-frames were 300 sec.
- 4 hours of Luminance, 2 hours of red, and 1.5 hours of Green and Blue.
“It has amazing detail that even blew me away for a 12.5” Plane Wave Telescope. What a joy to capture this target.”
David Collings – Blue Ridge Observatory | Sparta, North Carolina USA
NGC4725 by Dave Collings
Submitted May 8, 2023 by Chelsea Chin
A beautiful galaxy about 41 Million light years from Earth and spans 100,000 light-years across!
- Image shot in LRGB. 7 hours Luminance, 2 hrs. Red, 2 hrs. Blue and 2 hrs. Green for a total of 13 hours. All sub-frames were 300 sec. exposures.
- Plane Wave 12.5” CDK telescope with the PW 0.66 Reducer on an Astro Physics 1100 GTO CP4 mount.
- Main camera is an ATIK 16200 Mono CCD with an ATIK EFW3 Filter wheel with Chroma LRGBHa & OIII, SII, and HA 3nm filters.
- Guide scope is Astromania 400mm Refractor with an ASI 290mm guide camera.
David Collings – Blue Ridge Observatory | Sparta, North Carolina USA
M101 Pinwheel by Dave Collings
Submitted April 19, 2023 by Chelsea Chin
The M101 Pinwheel stacked after 14 hours of HaLRBG. Captured with the PlaneWave 12.5 CDK telescope.
David Collings – Blue Ridge Observatory | Sparta, North Carolina USA
M100 by Dave Collings
Submitted April 19, 2023 by Chelsea Chin
Captured in LRGB 9-hour image all of 300-sec subframes with the PlaneWave 12.5 CDK telescope.
David Collings – Blue Ridge Observatory | Sparta, North Carolina USA
M104 Sombrero by Dave Collings
Submitted April 19, 2023 by Chelsea Chin
The M104 Sombrero in an LRGB 9-hour image all of 300-sec subframes. Captured with our PlaneWave 12.5 CDK telescope.
David Collings – Blue Ridge Observatory | Sparta, North Carolina USA
IC443 Jelly Fish Nebula by Dave Collings
Submitted April 5, 2023 by Chelsea Chin
Imaged over 3 evenings during a Gibbous Moon! This narrowband image was captured on March 29, March 30 and April 2, 2023 by David Collings at the Blue Ridge Observatory in Sparta, NC.
Captured with our PlaneWave 12.5” CDK telescope using Chroma filters, 3 hrs. of Ha, 3 hrs. of SII and 3 hrs. of OIII for a total of 9 hours imaging.
NGC2359 Thor’s Helmet by Dave Collings
Submitted March 28, 2023 by Chelsea Chin
David Collings – Blue Ridge Observatory | Sparta, North Carolina USA
M20 Trifid Nebula by Dave Collings
Submitted March 23, 2023 by Chelsea Chin
David Collings – Blue Ridge Observatory | Sparta, North Carolina USA
M27 Dumbbell Nebula by Dave Collings
Submitted March 23, 2023 by support@hoydenbranding.com
David Collings – Blue Ridge Observatory | Sparta, North Carolina USA
NGC7635 Bubble Nebula by Dave Collings
Submitted March 23, 2023 by support@hoydenbranding.com
David Collings – Blue Ridge Observatory | Sparta, North Carolina USA
M16 Eagle Nebula by Dave Collings
Submitted March 20, 2023 by support@hoydenbranding.com
Imaged in HOS Narrowband with a PlaneWave CDK12.5.
David Collings – Blue Ridge Observatory | Sparta, North Carolina USA
NGC4631 Whale Galaxy by Dave Collings
Submitted March 20, 2023 by support@hoydenbranding.com
David Collings – Blue Ridge Observatory | Sparta, North Carolina USA
IC405 Flaming Star Nebula by Dave Collings
Submitted March 20, 2023 by support@hoydenbranding.com
David Collings – Blue Ridge Observatory | Sparta, North Carolina USA
NGC7293 Helix Nebula by Dave Collings
Submitted March 20, 2023 by support@hoydenbranding.com
David Collings – Blue Ridge Observatory | Sparta, North Carolina USA
IC1795 Fish Head Nebula by Dave Collings
Submitted March 20, 2023 by support@hoydenbranding.com
David Collings – Blue Ridge Observatory | Sparta, North Carolina USA
M78 Reflection Nebula by Dave Collings
Submitted March 20, 2023 by support@hoydenbranding.com
David Collings – Blue Ridge Observatory | Sparta, North Carolina USA
