21 Mar 2017

In-door astronomy takes a new step forward! Last Wednesday during a lecture in Silkeborg the SONG telescope on Tenerife was used to photograph online a couple of classical deep sky objects.

SAC's Mads Fredslund Andersen in 2015 won the IFA IDEAS competition with a suggestion to install a camera equipped 6" telescope mounted piggyback on the remotely controlled Hertzprung SONG telescope on Tenerife.
At a lecture for a group of amateur astronomers from Midtjysk Astronomiforening at Silkeborg Højskole on Wednesday 15 March 2017 Mads obtained 'first light' with the camera, on two targets selected by the amateurs: The Whirlpool Galaxy M51 and the Orion Nebula M42.

The camera and telescope were remotely controlled directly from Mads' laptop and the filtered black-and-white images were later combined into these fine colour images.
The new SONG facility opens a lot of new opportunities for fast response sky photography and for outreach using the camera and telescope also when it is not in use for serious astronomical work.
Each black-and-white exposure took around 10 minutes.

[Image]
(A) The new blue 6" telescope with camera mounted on the SONG telescope on Tenerife.
(B) Sunset while the SONG telescope awaits a night's work. In the background the volcano Teide, and somewhat further away the planet Venus.
(C) M51.
(D) The Orion Nebula.