M2

This is an opportunity to compare images of the same object (the M2 globular cluster) by two different telescopes. The image on the right is from the Yerkes Observatory 24" reflector (University of Chicago). The one on the left is from my telescope in my backyard using the ridiculously inexpensive Pictor 208XT CCD camera. Since it is an unguided image, the best results were obtained by stacking a series of short (10sec) exposures. I took 60 exposures, of which 9 were used. I spent a fair amount of time making sure the telescope was collimated, focused, and thermally equilibrated. The image itself has been digitally enhanced (maximum entropy ; digital development; unsharp mask; gamma correction). The end result speaks for itself. The resolution of my 12" backyard scope compares quite favorably with the professional observatory image (I should add that the Yerkes image is quite a bit larger that the cropped section I show here).