Puimichel 2002
These images were made during my holiday in May 2002 to Puimichel in southern France. This place has very dark sky, clean air and very good weather statistics. We had 6 clear nights in a row including two with excellent transparancy. The CCD camera was in action for three nights, in the other nights I did visual observing and photography
M104, The Sombrero Galaxy in Virgo
Magnitude 8,0 - Size 8,6' x 4,2'
13 May 2002 - C8 at f/6.3 - MX516 - 20 minutes
From the first CCD night at Puimichel. The dark dust disc is easily visible in even smaller telescopes. Here is an image of the Sombrero Galaxy made with one of the 8 m VLT telescopes in Chile.
NGC 4038 / 4039, The Antennae Galaxies in Corvus
Magnitude 10,3 / 10,6 - Size 3,4' x 2,0' / 3,3' x 1,7'
13 May 2002 - C8 at f/6.3 - MX516 - 26 minutes
This object is very difficult to observe from my home due to its low altitude. In the clean air of Puimichel it raises to more than 20 degrees above the horizon making it a much easier target. The two 'antennae' are faintly visible to the left of the two colliding galaxies. Compare this image to the image made with the Hubble Space Telescope
NGC 3953 in Ursa Major
Magnitude 10,1 - Size 6,9' x 3,6'
13 May 2002 - C8 at f/6.3 - MX516 - 28 minutes
This multiarm spiral galaxy was the host of supernova 2001dp. I caught this (rather poor) image of the phenomena in August 2001. The supernova has since faded beyond visibility, it cannot be seen in the new image
NGC 4565 in Coma Berenices
Magnitude 9,6 - Size 14,9' x 2,0'
15 May 2002 - C8 at f/6.3 - MX516 - 22 minutes
The classical edge on galaxy
NGC 5566 in Virgo
Magnitude 10,6 - Size 6,6' x 2,3'
15 May 2002 - C8 at f/6.3 - MX516 - 26 minutes
M57, The Ring Nebula in Lyra
Magnitude 9,7 - Size 1,2'
16 May 2002 - C8 at f/6.3 - MX516 - L:R:G:B = 7:3:2,5:2 min
M5 in Serpens
Magnitude 5,7 - Size 19,9'
16 May 2002 - C8 at f/6.3 - MX516 - L:R:G:B = 10:2,5:3:2 min
M4 in Scorpius
Magnitude 5,9 - Size 26,3'
16 May 2002 - C8 at f/6.3 - MX516 - 9 min
M16, The Eagle Nebula in Serpens
Magnitude 6,0 - Size 7'
17 May 2002 - C8 at f/6.3 - MX516 - 10 min
Here is the Space Telescope view of the pillars in M16
M17, The Omega Nebula in Sagittarius
Magnitude 6,0 - Size 11'
17 May 2002 - C8 at f/6.3 - MX516 - 9 min
M22 in Sagittarius
Magnitude 5,1 - Size 17'
17 May 2002 - C8 at f/6.3 - MX516 - 5 min