The following tables show both black & white and color images of
the Messier Objects obtained at the 3towers Observatory.
Contrast the images from this suburban/urban observatory using a
12-inch telescope in light polluted skies with images of the
same objects taken at the Grasslands Observatory,
which contains a 24-inch telescope at a superb dark sky site.
What is apparent is how well modest equipment can perform.
The black and white images were obtained with either an
Apogee KX260
or an Apogee AP7 CCD camera. They range from single 30 second
exposures to images made by combining up to 20 ninety second
exposures. The color images consist of separate exposures
through Photometeric Red (R), Green (V), and Blue (B) filters
using an
Isis FW1 filter wheel. For a detailed general discussion of
color imaging, see
Tri-Color Imaging in the
Grasslands Observatory Image Gallery. All images are
oriented with the North at the top and the West to the right.
