Deep-Sky Targets for New Moon - April 2021

The New Moon is fast approaching! Here are some deep-sky target suggestions for imaging on the Astronomical Telescopes for Educational Outreach (ATEO) remote telescope locations by Insight Observatory's partner, Telescopius.com...

	M4 - Globular Cluster Constellation Scorpius Mag.: 5.40 - Size: 36' RA 16hr 23' 35" DEC -27º 28' 30" ATEO-3 - Deep Sky Chile - altitude 87.1º at 05:29 hrs
	Tr 16 - Open Cluster Constellation Carina Mag.: 5.00 – Size: 10' RA 10hr 45' 06" DEC -60º 16' 59" ATEO-3 - Deep Sky Chile - altitude 87.1º at 05:29 hrs
	M101 - Pinwheel Galaxy Constellation Ursa Major Mag.: 7.90 – Size: 28.8' RA 14hr 03' 12" DEC 54º 20' 58" ATEO-1 - SkyPi Remote Observatory - altitude 70.0º at 02:34 hrs.
	M67 - Open Cluster Constellation Cancer Mag.: 6.90 – Size: 25' RA 08hr 51' 17" DEC 11º 48' 59" ATEO-2A - SkyPi Remote Observatory - altitude 67.5º at 21:22 hrs.
	M8 - Lagoon Nebula Constellation Sagittarius Mag.: 5.00 – Size: 45' RA 18hr 03' 41" DEC -25º 37' 00" ATEO-3 - Deep Sky Chile - altitude 84.9° at 07:09 hrs.
	M3 - Globular Cluster Constellation Canes Venatici Mag.: 6.30 – Size: 18' RA 13hr 42' 11" DEC 28º 22' 34" ATEO-1 - SkyPi Remote Observatory - altitude 84.1º at 02:13 hrs.
	IC 2948 - Bright Nebula Constellation Centaurus Mag.: 7.00 – Size: 1.3º RA 11hr 39' 24" DEC -64º 31' 59" ATEO-3 - Deep Sky Chile - altitude 56.0° at 00:45 hrs.
	HCG 44 - Galaxy Cluster Constellation Leo Mag.: 10.00 – Size: 16.4' RA 10hr 18' 00" DEC 21º 48' 43" ATEO-1 - SkyPi Remote Observatory - altitude 77.5º at 22:49 hrs.
	NGC 3324 - Gabriela Mistral Nebula Constellation Carina Mag.: 6.70 – Size: 16' RA 10hr 37' 18" DEC -59º 19' 59" ATEO-3 - Deep Sky Chile - altitude 60.8° at 23:43 hrs.
	NGC 5033 - Spiral Galaxy Constellation Canes Venatici Mag.: 10.20 – Size: 10.7' RA 13hr 13' 27" DEC 36º 35' 36" ATEO-1 - SkyPi Remote Observatory - altitude 87.7º at 01:44 hrs

Help support Insight Observatory's educational outreach efforts by submitting your deep-sky image requests today on our Personal Image Request (PIR) application or logging in to your ATEO Portal account to request on our Basic or Advanced Image Request forms.

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New ATEO Portal - Less is More!

Insight Observatory is very excited to announce the release of its new ATEO Portal!

As we gathered valuable feedback from many of our Insight Observatory ATEO Portal subscribers over the past few years, we wanted to ensure that accessing the Astronomical Telescopes for Educational Outreach (ATEO) for educational and standard use was an easy and pleasurable experience.

When we launched the first version of the ATEO Portal in the fall of 2017, we only had one remote telescope available to access, the 16" f/3.75 Dream Aeropace Systems astrograph reflector (ATEO-1). At the time, we didn't foresee the remote telescope network expanding with affiliate imaging systems located around the world.

M42 - The Orion Nebula imaged on ATEO-1 and processed by Utkarsh Mishra using Insight Observatory's new Advanced Image Request application, now available on the new ATEO Portal dashboard.

The first version of the ATEO Portal was designed and developed with the advanced astrophotographer in mind, fully automating the imaging process. Well... After listening to and taking suggestions from our portal users, we decided to "tone it down" a bit and get back to basics. The new version of the ATEO Portal is 100% intuitive and user-friendly, to the point where the user instructions fit on one section of the portal's dashboard.

Screen capture of Insight Observatory's new ATEO Portal dashboard displaying its new "Basic Image Request" application.

There are now two options for accessing Insight Observatory's remote telescope network for requesting image data. One option is "Basic Image Request". This option is similar to the Insight Observatory's Personal Image Request (PIR) application. The difference is that there are more imaging parameter options to select.

Screen capture of Insight Observatory's new ATEO Portal dashboard displaying its new "Advanced Image Request" application.

Another option is the "Advanced Image Request". This option will allow users to request specific custom image data from Insight's remote telescopes, including start date, which telescopes to image on, the number of images, filters to use, exposure lengths, and right ascension and declination coordinate input if needed. Image set requests can also be made on this application for Starbase, Insight Observatory's image set repository.

Here are just a few more changes to the image request process using the new ATEO Portal dashboard:

• Image Credit System Removed - ATEO Portal users will no longer be required to purchase imaging credits in advance. The new portal dashboard works on a "pay as you go" model.
  
  
• Scheduler Removed - The "Advanced Image Request" application will allow users to request an optional start date for acquiring their image data. This allows us to image your object at its best position in the sky and avoid bad weather cancellations.


• Telescope Console Replaced - The "Advanced Image Request" application has replaced the Telescope Console, making requesting image data from all of our remote telescopes very quick and easy.


• Automatic Image Data Upload Removed - Image data requests will be reviewed by Insight Observatory staff to confirm the quality of data is 100% satisfactory before uploading to the ATEO Portal user's home folder.


• Image Queue Added - There is an image queue in the new ATEO Portal dashboard, allowing users to monitor the current status of their image request(s).

You may access the new ATEO Portal dashboard using your previous login credentials, and you still will have access to your user profile and Starbase image set repository from the new ATEO Portal.

Access ATEO Portal

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Starbase Subscription Rates Reduced!

Insight Observatory has significantly reduced its subscription rates for Starbase, Insight Observatory's image set repository. ALL image sets regardless of what imaging system was used are now ONLY $0.05 USD (cents) per imaging minute for Standard subscribers and $0.04 USD (cents) per imaging minute for Educational subscribers.

IC 434 - The Horsehead Nebula in Orion processed with free image data available for download on Insight Observatory's image set repository, Starbase. Imaged on ATEO-1 and processed by Daniel Nobre.

Starbase subscription proceeds go toward funding Insight Observatory's educational outreach efforts. Log into Starbase now with your ATEO Portal credentials and you will be able to download an image set of IC 434, The Horsehead Nebula imaged on Insight Observatory's Astronomical Telescope for Educational Outreach, ATEO-1.

ATEO-1 with processed image data of M81 and M2 Galaxies in Ursa Major processed by Daniel Nobre and M63 - The Sunflower Galaxy in Canes Venatici processed by Utkarsh Mishra.

ATEO-1 is Insight's 16" f/3.75 Dream Aerospace Systems astrograph reflector remote telescope hosted at SkyPi Remote Observatory in the dark skies of New Mexico, USA.

ATEO-2A with processed image data of M17 - The Omega Nebula in Sagittarius, and M33 - The Triangulum Galaxy in Triangulum. Image data processed by Utkarsh Mishra. 

Other image sets available in Starbase were imaged on our affiliate remote systems, ATEO-2A, a 5" f/5.8 Williams Optics APO refractor located in New Mexico along with image sets acquired from ATEO-3, our affiliate remote telescope hosted at Deep Sky Chile located in the Rio Hurtado Valley, Chile.

ATEO-3 with processed image data of NGC 2070 - The Tarantula Nebula in Dorado (Large Magellanic Cloud) processed by Daniel Nobre, and NGC 253 - The Sculptor Galaxy in Sculptor processed by Utkarsh Mishra.

Learn more about Starbase or access Starbase here with your ATEO Portal login credentials to download your free IC 434 - Horsehead Nebula image set. New image sets are added to Starbase monthly and include calibration files.

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Featured Deep-Sky Object - The Omega Nebula

Insight Observatory's featured deep-sky object for this post is M17, the Omega Nebula, also known as the Swan Nebula, Checkmark Nebula, and the Horseshoe Nebula (cataloged as Messier 17 or M17 or NGC 6618). 

The Omega Nebula is an H II region in the constellation Sagittarius and was discovered by Philippe Loys de Chéseaux in 1745. Charles Messier cataloged it in 1764. It is located in the rich starfields of the Sagittarius area of the Milky Way.

M17, the Omega Nebula imaged on Insight Observatory's ATEO-3 located in the dark skies of Chile. image data by Franck Jobard and processed by Utkarsh Mishra.

M17 is between 5,000 and 6,000 light-years from Earth and it spans some 15 light-years in diameter. The cloud of interstellar matter of which this nebula is a part is roughly 40 light-years in diameter and has a mass of 30,000 solar masses. The total mass of the Omega Nebula is an estimated 800 solar masses.

It is considered one of the brightest and most massive star-forming regions of our galaxy. Its local geometry is similar to the Orion Nebula except that it is viewed edge-on rather than face-on.

The open cluster NGC 6618 lies embedded in the nebulosity and causes the gases of the nebula to shine due to radiation from these hot, young stars. However, the actual number of stars in the nebula is much higher. It is also one of the youngest clusters known, with an age of just 1 million years.

The Swan portion of M17, the Omega Nebula in the Sagittarius nebulosity is said to resemble a barber's pole.

Insight Observatory's 5" f/5.8 Williams Optics APO Refractor (ATEO-2A) located in the dark skies of New Mexico, US (left) and processed image data of M17, the Omega Nebula from 2.5 hours by Utkarsh Mishra (upper right) and Michael Petrasko (lower right). Image data acquired by John Evelan.

Insight Observatory has recently started an image set for Starbase of M17 that will be ready for download within the next few months. This image set is currently being created on the 5" f/5.8 Williams Optics APO refractor (ATEO-2A) located in New Mexico. So far there are 2.5 hours of data from the image set completed and the total is planned to be between 6 and 8 hours of data integration. The images of the Omega Nebula pictured with the ATEO-2A imaging system above were processed with the 2.5 hours of data taken so far on ATEO-2A.

M17, the Omega Nebula (pictured right) imaged and processed by Frank Jobard with the 12.5" f/9 Ritchey Chretien, ATEO-3 (pictured above left) housed in Deep Sky Chile's remote observatory located in the dark skies of the Hurtado Valley, Chile (pictured lower left).

Insight Observatory currently has image sets of M17, the Omega Nebula, available for download on Starbase that was imaged on the 12.5" f/9 Ritchey Chretien remote telescope, (ATEO-3) located in dark skies of Chile. These image sets contain 4.5 hours of Red, Blue, and Green data and 8 hours and 15 minutes of H-Alpha data.

You can subscribe to and download these M17 image sets and others by signing up for an ATEO Portal account or signing into your existing portal account to access Starbase.

Source: Wikipedia

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Monsoon Madness!

Get 20% OFF Imaging Credits and Starbase Image Set Subscriptions on Insight Observatory's 16" f/3.75 Dream Aerospace Systems astrograph reflector (ATEO-1)!

Offer valid from June 1, 2020, Thru August 31, 2020.

Now that the summer months are arriving in the southwest, US, they may bring us fewer clear nights. However, when the nights are clear, the deep-sky gems in the summer Milky Way are there for the taking.

Insight Observatory has decided to celebrate the "rainy season" with a summer discount of 20% OFF imaging credits and Starbase image set subscriptions on our fast and wide field of view 16" f/3.75 Dream Aerospace Systems astrograph reflector remote telescope located at nearly 7,800' in the dark skies of New Mexico.

Insight Observatory's 16" f/3.75 Dream Aerospace Systems astrograph reflector (ATEO-1) remote telescope is housed in Gamma Observatory at SkyPi Remote Observatory located at nearly 7,800' in Bortle 1 dark skies of New Mexico.

ATEO-1 Discounted Imaging Rates:

• Standard: $48.00 USD per imaging hour - Savings of $12.00 per imaging hour
• Education: $39.00 USD per imaging hour - Savings of $10.80 per imaging hour

ATEO-1 Starbase Image Set Subscriptions:

• Standard: $0.08 cents per minute of image set exposure time
• Education: $0.06 cents per minute of image set exposure time

Get quality image data acquired from ATEO-1 to process images like these...

M13 - The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules, M16 - The Eagle Nebula, and M63 - The Sunflower Galaxy all imaged on Insight Observatory's 16" f/3.7 Dream astrograph reflector (ATEO-1) remote telescope. M13 and M63 images were processed by Utkarsh Mishra and M16 images were processed by Bubba Daniels.

If you have any questions regarding our "Monsoon Madness" summer discount, please Contact Us.

Sign-up or log in to access your ATEO Portal account to take advantage of this special offer.

Enjoy and Clear Skies!
The Insight Observatory Team

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Telescopius - Astronomy Planning Made Easy

Insight Observatory recently developed a beneficial partnership with Telescopius.com (formerly known as DSO-Browser). Telescopius is a great online tool for astrophotographers who are planning an astrophotography session. The website provides plenty of useful information covering the deep-sky objects visible from your telescope's location and hosts an active community with an image gallery to share your images.

The Insight Observatory Astronomical Telescopes for Educational Outreach (ATEO) locations are listed in the Telescopius Observatory Parameters section.

Since developing and releasing the ATEO Portal, Personal Image Request (PIR), and Educational Image Request (EIR) online applications for accessing Insight Observatory's three remote telescopes, we have always provided a link to Telescopius.com to allow imagers to get some recommendations for deep-sky targets. Our online applications, in text, provided the ATEO remote telescopes' geographic coordinates and locations so the user or student could enter them on Telescopius.com to view and choose targets from our two remote observatory locations. Recommending using Telescopius to our users was very helpful with selecting targets both in the classroom and for personal use.

In late February this year, Insight Observatory and Telescopius partnered up to bring the perfect deep-sky target selection possible with the use of the ATEO remote telescope network. Insight Observatory's two remote telescope locations are now integrated into the website. When a user or student chooses one of our three telescopes to image with, then clicks telescopius.com to look for target recommendations, the location of the telescope and observatory is immediately selected. There is no longer a need to enter in the coordinates and locations manually. If you go directly to telescopius.com and click in the "Observatory Parameters" field, you will see Insight Observatory listed. When clicked on, it displays all three ATEO remote telescope locations. SkyPi Remote Observatory for ATEO-1 and ATEO-2A and Deep Sky Chile for ATEO-3. One of my personal favorite "What's in the Sky Tonight" features is the hourly and monthly altitude graph that displays the rise, transit, and set times of a deep-sky target. That gives the imager information for the best time to capture that object.

Screenshot of Telescopius.com's Telescope Simulator tool demonstrating the field of view of M45, The Pleiades through Insight Observatory's 16" f/3.7 astrograph reflector, ATEO-1.

Telescopius' owner and developer, Sebastian Garcia, went above and beyond in addition to the features he developed previously mentioned. Sebastian also added all three ATEO remote telescopes to the Telescopius Telescope Simulator. This tool allows users and students to select a telescope and deep-sky target to analyze the field of view (FOV). There have been numerous occasions when working in the educational environment when we would receive questions from instructors asking which telescope would be the best to image certain objects. Now users and students can see how the object "fits" in the field of view of the telescope they are choosing. This makes the process of our educational programs more intuitive than they already are.

Insight Observatory would like to thank Sebastian Garcia for his contributions and efforts to our ongoing mission of "Bringing the Universe to Classrooms Around the World!"

Telescopius is a free online application and is funded largely by donations via Patreon and PayPal.

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Introducing "Starbase"

There has been a new module added to Insight Observatory's ATEO Portal. This new module has been designated "Starbase". Starbase is a repository of images captured by the Astronomical Telescopes for Educational Outreach (ATEO), organized by the image target into image “sets”. These image sets can be purchased (referred to as “subscribing” to) and downloaded.

M13 - Globular Cluster in Hercules processed from Starbase Image Sets by subscriber Utkarsh Mishra.

An "image set" is composed of one or more images of a specific deep-sky target or subject. Images captured as part of an image set will typically be imaged within the timespan of a few months. On the Starbase portal page, the "Image Sets" tab will display a list of all the available image sets in Starbase.

After the ATEO Portal was rolled out last year, Insight Observatory started receiving requests from image processors asking to deliver image data from the ATEO remote telescopes. Although there are a few avid ATEO Portal users who take advantage of the Scheduler and Telescope Console to gather image data, we also realized there were many image processors that simply wanted the image data from the telescopes. They had no interest in reserving time and imaging on the telescopes themselves. Therefore, we came up with an intuitive design for a new portal module that would allow portal users to browse, purchase, and download previously imaged image sets. 

Screenshots of Insight Observatory's newly released Starbase image datasets repository accessed thru the ATEO Portal.

In the midst of developing Starbase, we were simultaneously populating the image library and by doing so taking requests of deep-sky targets from image processors.  We called the process "Image Sets on Demand". As we continue to populate Starbase with image sets, we are continuing to take image data requests through our "Image Sets on Demand" form.

Starbase Subscription Rates:

Subscription rates are determined by whether you registered with Insight Observatory as a Standard or as an Educational user.

The rates as of January 2020 are as follows:

ATEO-1

• Standard: $0.10 per minute of image set exposure time
• Education: $0.08 per minute of image set exposure time

ATEO-2A/2B

• Standard: $0.18 per minute of image set exposure time
• Education: $0.15 per minute of image set exposure time

ATEO-3

• Standard: $0.20 per minute of image set exposure time
• Education: $0.17 per minute of image set exposure time

To access Starbase, log into your Insight Observatory ATEO Portal account. If you don't have a portal account, you may sign up for one HERE at no cost. Once you are logged into Starbase, there is a "Support" tab to the right on the portal page that explains in-depth how to use the new Starbase module.

Log In or Sign-Up Here!

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Illuminating The Iris Nebula

Insight Observatory had the opportunity to be involved in another imaging collaborative. This time, a mosaic image of The Iris Nebula, also known as NGC 7023 and Caldwell 4. This deep-sky object is a bright reflection nebula in the constellation Cepheus. Paul Swift, a talented and well-known astrophotographer teamed up with another accomplished astrophotographer, Carmelo Falco, to produce this illuminating image of the Iris Nebula below.

Mosaic image of The Iris Nebula, also known as NGC 7023 processed by Paul Swift using data collected by Carmelo Falco, Insight Observatory, and the majority of the data by Paul himself.

This mosaic of the Iris Nebula is made up of data from different focal lengths. 380mm, 1330mm, 1525mm, and 3400mm. This image shows some magenta at the core in the form of reddish photoluminescence. The data collected by Paul Swift was from his backyard in Valencia, Spain. His setup consists of VSD Vixen 380mm and 14" Orion Optics AG 1330mm Newtonian astrograph on a Paramount MX mount, an SX-46 CCD camera with an SX Maxi wheel (with Luminance, Red, Green and Blue filters) from Starlight Xpress Ltd.

The central area image data of the nebula was collected by Carmelo using a 16" f/7.8 (customed 3400mm) Ritchey-Chretien telescope on an RM500 mount accompanied by an Apogee Asping GG16m CCD camera, Orion SteadyStar - Lodestar guiding system, and a Baader Luminance, Red, Green and Blue filter set.

The Three imaging systems used to collect data of NGC 7023, The Iris Nebula. Carmelo Falco's 16" f/7.8 Ritchey-Chretien (left), Paul Swift's 14" Orion Optics AG (above right), and Insight Observatory's 16" f/3.7 Dream astrograph reflector, ATEO-1, (lower right).

Additional Luminance data for the outer areas of the nebula was collected by Insight Observatory's 16" f/3.7 astrograph reflector, ATEO-1. This image data was purchased by Mr. Swift as part of Insight's "Datasets on Demand" service where astrophotographers may request data to be acquired from ATEO-1 and ATEO-2A for the purpose of combining the image data with their own. After delivery of the requested image data, it is then added to the Starbase dataset library. Starbase is a deep-sky dataset subscription service that will be accessible via Insight Observatory's ATEO Portal this mid-summer.

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Annual Visit to SkyPi Remote Observatory

Its that time of year again! Insight Observatory Systems Engineer, Muir Evenden and I are onsite at SkyPi Remote Observatory in Pie Town, New Mexico performing annual maintenance and systems upgrades to the Astronomical Telescopes for Educational Outreach (ATEO). Since we installed the 16" f/3.7 astrograph reflector, ATEO-1, exactly two years ago this month, we have been running the remote robotic telescope entirely with a Raspberry Pi. Although the Pi was very dependable to run the entire imaging system, we figured it was time for an upgrade. We successfully installed a Fitlet 2 Mini PC installed with Linux to run the ATEO Portal software that is integrated with The SkyX. With the upgrade in memory to 4GB and the 64GB external USB storage devices, we have noticed a difference in speed performance. The Raspberry Pi will remain in place for redundancy.

Insight Observatory Managing Member / Systems Engineer, Muir Evenden with ATEO-1.

Another priority item on the "to-do" list on our visit is the collimation of the telescope's mirrors. The last time we performed this was on our last visit a year ago. Fortunately, we have found it necessary to only perform collimation only once a year so far. However, if collimation needs to be done again before our next visit in 2020, the reliable staff at SkyPi Remote Observatory is there to perform the task if needed in our absence.

Insight Observatory team members Michael Petrasko and Muir Evenden performing maintenance on ATEO-1.

Another important task to be completed was by installing a new flat field table in the Gamma observatory where the ATEO-1 imaging system is housed. Muir has been successfully acquiring sky flat fields in the past at twilight using a script he wrote, however, although that method was successful, it can be tricky at times. John Evelan, Managing Member of SkyPi Online Observatory, LLC, was gracious enough to install an LCD backlit flat field table on the observatory wall for our use. Other items on the list of tasks for ATEO-1 completed consisted of adjusting the shutter on the Proline 16803 CCD camera, LRGB, V filter inspection, performing a T-Point adjustment in the SkyX, focusing the guide scope and having a tree-topped that obstructed the southern view from the observatory.

Affiliate remote telescopes ATEO-2A and ATEO-2B at twilight during testing with Venus rising (lower left).

After our chores are completed with ATEO-1, we will be moving on to our affiliate remote robotic telescopes, ATEO-2A and ATEO-2B. We will be working with John, who owns the Williams Optics 5" f/7 refractor, ATEO-2A, and the Celestron 11" f/10, ATEO-2B dedicated planetary telescope. John and his staff at SkyPi have a fully modified Omega observatory where both telescopes are tandemly mounted on a Software Bisque GT1100S mount. We will be working on integrating those two imaging systems into the ATEO Portal as well as Insight Observatory's new "Starbase" dataset library that is currently in development to be released in mid-June 2019.

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ATEO-2 Doubles Up!

Insight Observatory's affiliate telescope ATEO-2 (owned by SkyPi Remote Observatory) which was originally set up solely with a Williams Optics 5" f/7 refractor now has a companion. The staff at SkyPi Remote Observatory has installed a Celestron 11" Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope (ATEO-2B) to the same mounting system in the observatory. The 11" SCT is planned to be used primarily for remote planetary imaging. The crew at SkyPi has also been working tirelessly, testing and fine-tuning the mounting system as well as making modifications to the observatory, designated as Omega that houses ATEO-2. The Williams Optics 5" refractor (ATEO-2A) imaging system is now back in operation after it needed to be disassembled to add its companion, the Celestron 11".

ATEO-2 Shown with the Tandem Remote Imaging Sytems inside of SkyPi Remote Observatory's Omega Roll-Off.
 Williams Optics 5" Refractor for Deep-Sky Imaging and Celestron 11" Planetary Imaging Telescope.

The planetary imaging system will be equipped with an Optec Focuser and Celestron Skyris 236C Color CMOS Camera. The timeline for the availability of this imaging setup is planned for February 2019. However, being that the 5" refractor is now available, John Evelan, managing partner at SkyPi Remote Observatory, has thoroughly tested the imaging system from his home in Mesa, Arizona. John acquired some imaging data of M38 and NGC 1907 open clusters in the constellation Auriga on the night of December 5th, 2018. This data was taken with the Starlight Xpress SXVR-M25C color CCD camera that replaced the ATIK 490EX Color camera that was originally installed on the refractor. Although the ATIK performed well, we collectively agreed the wider field of view on the SXVR-M25C would be more impressive.

Open Clusters M38 and NGC 1907 in Auriga. Image Taken by John Evelan and Michael Petrasko on ATEO-2
with the Williams Optics 5" f/7 Refractor Imaging System.

ATEO-2 will be accessible on the ATEO Portal in the near future, however, it is now available via Insight Observatory's Public Image Request Form (PIR) and Educational Image Request Form (EIR) for gathering astronomical images from the classroom.

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ATEO-1 Zooms In On NGC 7094

Planetary nebulae are interesting deep-sky objects because they are very similar yet very different. ATEO-1 recently imaged NGC 7094. This relatively bright planetary nebula in the constellation Pegasus is embedded in this faint integrated flux nebula visible in this image cataloged as LBN152.

The primary exercise of imaging the nebula was to demonstrate how the Proline 16803 CCD camera that is attached to the 16" f/3.75 Dream Aerospace Systems astrograph remote online imaging telescope can not only capture a nice wide field but also have the capability of zooming into a deep-sky object without losing very much resolution. 

Planetary Nebula NGC 7094 in Pegasus cropped image on the 16" f/3/7 astrograph (ATEO-1) - Image by Insight Observatory.

The image above is displayed at 100% and cropped for the purpose of concentrating on the planetary nebula itself. Below is the original sized field of view image of NGC 7094. 

Planetary Nebula NGC 7094 in Pegasus with original field of view on the 16" f/3/7 astrograph (ATEO-1) - Image by Insight Observatory.

The central star of this nebula belongs to the class of PG 1159 stars - hydrogen-deficient post-AGB stars on their way to the white dwarf cooling sequence. However, a fraction of them show small amounts of atmospheric hydrogen and are referred to as hybrid PG 1159 stars, which is the case for this object.

We look forward to all of our ATEO Portal users capturing planetary nebulae and displaying their unique characteristics.

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The Andromeda Galaxy Revisited and NGC 6822

Now that the ATEO Portal is complete and in full use for accessing imaging data on ATEO-1, we decided to revisit an old friend... M31, The Andromeda Galaxy. It was just a little over a year ago that we acquired our first image of our closest galactic neighbor. Insight's first image of M31 was a 60-second Luminance image taken remotely with TheSkyX software on the Raspberry Pi that controls the 16" f/3.75 Dream Aerospace Systems astrograph remote telescope. This was before the ATEO Portal was ready for beta testing.

M31 - "The Andromeda Galaxy" Imaged via Insight Observatory's ATEO Portal on it's
16" f/3.7 Remote Robotic Telescope (ATEO-1). 

The latest image above was taken completely through the ATEO online access portal. This image, a bit more impressive, was taken on the morning of October 5th, 2018, with filters Luminance at 600 seconds along with Red, Blue, and Green at 300 seconds. All binning 2x2 and the image processing were done in PixInight and Photoshop CS6.

While the Andromeda Galaxy makes quite an impression, we thought why not image another galaxy of a completely opposite type. NGC 6822 was loaded into the Telescope Console on the ATEO Portal as a target as well. The specifications of this image are Luminance 300 Seconds, RGB 120s, and all 2x2 binning.

NGC 6822 - "Barnard's Galaxy" Imaged via Insight Observatory's ATEO Portal on it's
 16" f/3.7 Remote Robotic Telescope (ATEO-1).

NGC 6822 (also known as Barnard's Galaxy, IC 4895, or Caldwell 57) is a barred irregular galaxy approximately 1.6 million light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. Part of the Local Group of galaxies, it was discovered by E. E. Barnard in 1884, with a six-inch refractor telescope. It is one of the closer galaxies to the Milky Way. It is similar in structure and composition to the Small Magellanic Cloud and is about 7,000 light-years in diameter.

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ATEO Portal Released with Instructional Videos

Insight Observatory is pleased to announce the official release of its Astronomical Telescopes for Educational Outreach (ATEO) Portal. This online gateway allows educators and the general public to access their network of remote robotic telescopes for astronomical imaging and research. Unlike Insight's Public Image Request Form (PIR), the portal allows users to create a user account, reserve telescope time, and enter specific image data requests. The image data is then uploaded to a secure cloud folder after the observing run is completed.

Screen Capture of the Astronomical Telescope for Educational Outreach (ATEO) Online Telescope Portal.

ATEO Portal Instructional Videos have been published on Insight Observatory's YouTube Channel that covers each module of the online telescope access portal, from creating a new user account to planning what objects are to be imaged during a scheduled reservation.

The Astronomical Telescopes for Educational Outreach (ATEO) Portal can be accessed at https://ateodev.insightobs.com.

ATEO Portal New User Registration

ATEO Portal New User Registration - Instructions on how to sign up for a user account on the Astronomical Telescopes for Educational Outreach (ATEO) Portal that accesses Insight Observatory's network of remote robotic imaging telescopes.

ATEO Portal User Profile

ATEO Portal User Profile - Instructions on how to use the Astronomical Telescopes for Educational Outreach (ATEO) Portal User Profile to edit user information, purchase imaging credits, and access image data.

ATEO Portal Scheduler

ATEO Portal Scheduler - Instructions on how to use the Astronomical Telescopes for Educational Outreach (ATEO) Portal Scheduler to reserve imaging time on Insight Observatory's remote robotic telescopes.

ATEO Portal Telescope Console

ATEO Portal Telescope Console - Instructions on how to use the Astronomical Telescopes for Educational Outreach (ATEO) Portal Telescope Console to plan what objects are to be imaged during a scheduled reservation.

If you are interested in creating an account on the ATEO Portal or have any specific questions, please contact support@insightobservatory.com.

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NGC 7023 and NGC 7380 Imaged with ATEO-1

Now that the ATEO Portal (that allows online access to the Astronomical Telescopes for Educational Outreach) has been completed and is fully operational, the crew at Insight Observatory scheduled multiple imaging runs on ATEO-1 for testing. Rather than image popular, brighter objects such as M31, the Andromeda Galaxy, and M33, the Triangulum Galaxy, both used around the time of first light, a few lesser-known deep-sky objects became the targets for this portal test run. NGC 7023, the "Iris Nebula" and NGC 7380, the "Wizard Nebula" were the picks for this automated run on the ATEO Portal.

NGC 7023, the "Iris Nebula" imaged via the ATEO Online Portal at 300 seconds LRGB (Binning 1 for L / 2 for RGB) Image by Insight Observatory on ATEO-1 - 16" f3.7 Astrograph imaging telescope.

The "Iris Nebula", also known as NGC 7023 and Caldwell 4, is a bright reflection nebula and Caldwell object in the constellation Cepheus. NGC 7023 is actually the cluster within the nebula, LBN 487, and the nebula is lit by a magnitude +7 star. The nebula shines at magnitude +6.8 and it lies 1,300 light-years away and is six light-years across.

This reflection nebula can be fully appreciated through astrophotography and imaging, as seen in the 5-minute image above. The dominant color of this reflection nebula is blue, with interstellar dust lit up by the central young star.

NGC 7380, the "Wizard Nebula" imaged via the ATEO Online Portal at 300 seconds LRGB (Binning 1 for L / 2 for RGB) Image by Insight Observatory on ATEO-1 - 16" f3.7 Astrograph imaging telescope.

The Wizard Nebula, also known as NGC 7380, is an open cluster discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1787. William Herschel included his sister's discovery in his catalog and labeled it H VIII.77. It is also known as 142 in the 1959 Sharpless catalog (Sh2-142). This reasonably large nebula is located in Cepheus. It is extremely difficult to observe visually, usually requiring very dark skies and an Oxygen-III filter.

Located 7200 light-years away, the Wizard nebula surrounds the developing open star cluster NGC 7380. Visually, the interplay of stars, gas, and dust has created a shape that appears to some like a fictional medieval sorcerer. The active star-forming region spans about 100 light-years, making it appear larger than the angular extent of the Moon. The Wizard Nebula can be located with a small telescope toward the constellation of the King of Aethiopia (Cepheus). Although the nebula may last only a few million years, some of the stars being formed may outlive our Sun.

Short-timed exposures like these can surprisingly bring out so much detail with this telescope and imaging system and make it ideal for educational exercise as well as personal use. If you are interested in taking images like this with our newly released remote telescope portal, please view our recent instructional video on how to sign up for an account.

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