Greenhawk Observatory

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PARTNERS Greenhawk Observatory is a private observatory located in Sunnyvale California.The observatory is a roll-off roof observatory housing a C-9.25" SCT scope with an 80 mm APO mounted on an Astro-Physics 900 mount.Its primary use is astrophotography using an Orion StarShoot Deep Space CCD Camera.

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About Greenhawk Observatory

Greenhawk Observatory is my backyard observatory built in June 2009 with the kind help of Ido Liron and Kevin Von Aspern. After tiring of the countless hours spent on setting up and tearing down equipment, I decided to create a permanent setup. Originally, it housed my Orion Atlas GQ mount. Since May 2010, thanks to my SMCAS and PAS colleague Ken Lum, it now houses his Astro-Physics 900 mount.I hope you take the time to enjoy the images I have taken and come back to visit as I keep working to improve my efforts.To learn more about the process of building a roll-off roof observatory please click here.Chanan Greenberg, December 2010

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Nebulae

Solar System

uranus
sun
sun spot 1
saturn and moons march 26 2008
saturn march 26 2008
moon study
lunar eclipse aug 28 2007
comet hartley 103p
jovian system
jupiter-and-galilean-moons-large
lunar pic september 2003_cg

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yosemite star party setup
m31
polaris star trails
star party star trails and half dome
sea of stars
na-neb
m45 and half dome
milky way tracking
imaging setup
half dome star trails
challenger 30 inch scope
bob climbing fp
bob and chanan at fremont peak
bob inc
bob ido and chanan

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Comet Hartley 103P

Comet McNaught C2009

The Galaxy Song V2

The Galaxy Song - Original

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Roll over with the mouse over any image. Click on the image to enlarge. Click on the arrow on the image to get information about the image. (Not available on the Solar System and Other images).

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San Mateo County Astronomical SocietyPeninsula Astronomical SocietyFremont Peak Observatory AssociationCollege of San Mateo: Astronomy
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Ron Wodawski's New CCD AstronomyCCD Calc ApplicationAmateur Digital AstrophotographyHow to build a roll-off roof observatory

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Meeting Buzz Aldrin

About Me

Thanks for visiting my website.My name is Chanan Greenberg, I am happily married to Ayelet and I am the proud father of Ronnie and Adam. I work for a software company called Model N, and I serve as a senior director of business development for the company.My interest in astronomy goes back to my childhood, to the evening walks I used to take from my parents house over to my granparents place, during winter nights I used to look at Orion's belt and wonder about the stars. My interests were further fueled by my grandfather who used to take me out to his balacony with his binoculars to look at the heavens and occasionally viewing the moon with his 60mm refractor. My interest remained limited to being a "couch astronomer" viewing every TV show that was remotely connected to the topic.About seven years ago, my wife (who has lived to regret this move just a little) prompted me to get off the couch and do something about it. I joined the San Mateo County Astronomical Society and for the first 3 years, used a manual non GOTO 6" Newtonian scope which was a great way to discover and learn about the skies. I gradually progressed to an 8", then 10" and now a 12" GOTO Tracking Dobsonian. Since 2006 I have been serving as the Vice President of the San Mateo County Astronomical Society and I am also a member of the Peninsula Astromonical Society with intermitent membership at the Fremont Peak Observatory Association.Since 2007 I developed a keen interest in Astrophotography and this web site captures my efforts to-date. I hope you take the time to enjoy the images I have taken and come back to visit as I keep working to improve my efforts.Chanan Greenberg, December 2010

DOWNLOADS

Amateur Astrophotography Updated.pdf

Fremont Peak June 2008.ppt

Building a Roll-Off Roof Observatory for under $1,400 Screen resolution.pdf

Glacier Point Yosemite August 2010.pptx

Orion.pptx

Chanan Greenberg Astrophotography 101 2010.ppt

Horsehead

The Horsehead and Flame Nebulae

Object Type: Emission and Dark Nebula

Scope: 80 mm APO

Exposure Time: 110 minutes

The Horsehead Nebula (also known as Barnard 33 in bright nebula IC 434) is a dark nebula in the constellation Orion. The nebula is located just to the south of the star Alnitak, which is furthest east on Orion's Belt, and is part of the much larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. The Horsehead Nebula is approximately 1500 light years from Earth. It is one of the most identifiable nebulae because of the shape of its swirling cloud of dark dust and gases, which is similar to that of a horse's head when viewed from Earth. The shape was first noticed in 1888 by Williamina Fleming on photographic plate B2312 taken at the Harvard College Observatory.

The red glow originates from hydrogen gas predominantly behind the nebula, ionized by the nearby bright star Sigma Orionis. The darkness of the Horsehead is caused mostly by thick dust, although the lower part of the Horsehead's neck casts a shadow to the left. Streams of gas leaving the nebula are funneled by a strong magnetic field. Bright spots in the Horsehead Nebula's base are young stars just in the process of forming.

Rosette
The Rosette NebulaObject Type: Emission NebulaScope: 80mm APOExposure Time: 360 minutesThe Rosette Nebula (also known as Caldwell 49) is a large, circular H II region located near one end of a giant molecular cloud in the Monoceros region of the Milky Way Galaxy. The open cluster NGC 2244 (Caldwell 50) is closely associated with the nebulosity, the stars of the cluster having been formed from the nebula's matter. The cluster of stars is visible in binoculars and quite well seen in small telescopes while the nebula itself is more difficult to spot visually and requires a telescope with a low magnification. A dark site is a must to see it. Photographically the Rosette Nebula is easier to record and it is the only way to record the red color which is not seen visually.

Bubble

The Bubble Nebula

Object Type: Emission Nebula

Scope: C-9.25" SCT

Exposure Time: 95 minutes

NGC 7635, also called the Bubble Nebula, Sharpless 162, or Caldwell 11, is a H II region emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia.

It lies close to the direction of the open cluster Messier 52. The "bubble" is created by the stellar wind from a massive hot, 8.7 magnitude young central star, the 15 ± 5 M SAO 20575 (BD+60 2522).

The nebula is near a giant molecular cloud which contains the expansion of the bubble nebula while itself being excited by the hot central star, causing it to glow.

It was discovered in 1787 by Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel. The star SAO 20575 or BD+602522 is thought to have a mass of 10-40 Solar masses.

Cocoon

The Cocoon Nebula

Object Type: Emission & Dark Nebula

Scope: C-9.25" SCT

Exposure Time: 120 minutes

IC 5146, also Caldwell 19, and the Sh 2-125, Cocoon Nebula, is a reflection/emission nebula and Caldwell object in the constellation Cygnus.

IC 5146 is a star cluster and the nebula is Sh2-125. It shines at magnitude +10.0/+9.3/+7.2. Its celestial coordinates are RA 21h 53.5m, dec+47° 16. It is located near the naked-eye star Pi Cygni, the open cluster NGC 7209 in Lacerta, and the bright open cluster M39.

The cluster is about 4,000 ly away, and the central star that lights it formed about 100,000 years ago ; the nebula is about 12 arcmins across, which is equivalent to a span of 15 light years. When viewing IC 5146, dark nebula Barnard 168 (B168) is an inseparable part of the experience, forming a dark lane that surrounds the cluster and projects westward forming the appearance of a trail behind the Cocoon.

Crab

The Crab NebulaObject Type: Supernova RemnantScope: 10" NewtonianExposure Time: 30 minutesThe Crab Nebula, Messier 1 (M1, NGC 1952), is the most famous and conspicuous known supernova remnant, the expanding cloud of gas created in the explosion of a star as supernova which was observed in the year 1054 AD. It shines as a nebula of magnitude 8.4 near the southern "horn" of Taurus, the Bull. The supernova was noted on July 4, 1054 A.D. by Chinese astronomers as a new or "guest star," and was about four times brighter than Venus, or about mag -6. According to the records, it was visible in daylight for 23 days, and 653 days to the naked eye in the night sky. The Supernova 1054 is one of few historically observed supernovae in our Milky Way Galaxy. The nebulous remnant was discovered by John Bevis in 1731, who added it to his sky atlas, Uranographia Britannica. Charles Messier independently found it on August 28, 1758, when he was looking for comet Halley on its first predicted return, and first thought it was a comet. Of course, he soon recognized that it had no apparent proper motion, and cataloged it on September 12, 1758. It was the discovery of this object which caused Charles Messier to begin with the compilation of his catalog. It was also the discovery of this object, which closely resembled a comet (1758 De la Nux, C/1758 K1) in his small refracting telescope, which brought him to the idea to search for comets with telescopes (see his note). Messier acknowledged the prior, original discovery by Bevis when he learned of it in a letter of June 10, 1771. This nebula was christened the "Crab Nebula" on the ground of a drawing made by Lord Rosse about 1844. The nebula consists of the material ejected in the supernova explosion, which has been spread over a volume approximately 10 light years in diameter, and is still expanding at the very high velocity of about 1,800 km/sec. The energy emitted by the pulsar rotating at the center of the gravity equals 100,000 solar outputs which is causing the gas in the nubula to glow.It has now been established that this pulsar is a rapidly rotating neutron star: It rotates about 30 times per second!

Crescent

The Crescent NebulaObject Type: Emission NebulaScope: C-9.25"Exposure Time: 80 minutesThe Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888 or Caldwell 27) is an emission nebula in the Cygnus constellation, about 5000 light years away. It is formed by the fast stellar wind from the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 (HD 192163) colliding with and energizing the slower moving wind ejected by the star when it became a red giant around 400,000 years ago. The result of the collision is a shell and two shock waves, one moving outward and one moving inward. The inward moving shock wave heats the stellar wind to X-ray emitting temperatures.

Network Nebula eastern veil network nebula

The Network Nebula (Veil East)Object Type: Supernova RemnantScope: 80 mm APOExposure Time: 161 minutesThe eastern part of the Veil Nebula also known as the Network Nebula, radio source W78, or Sharpless 103, or 'Witch's Broom Nebula' is a relatively faint supernova remnant in the constellation Cygnus. The source supernova exploded some 5,000 to 8,000 years ago, and the remnants have since expanded to cover an area of ~3x3 degrees; about 6 times the diameter or 36 times the area of a full moon. The distance to the nebula is not precisely known, with estimates ranging from 1,400 to 2,600 light-years. It was discovered on 1784 September 5 by William Herschel. He described the western end of the nebula as "Extended; passes thro' 52 Cygni... near 2 degree in length." and described the eastern end as "Branching nebulosity... The following part divides into several streams uniting again towards the south."

Elephant Trunk

The Elephant Trunk NebulaObject Type: Emission & Dark NebulaScope: C-9.25"Exposure Time: 95 minutesThe Elephant's Trunk nebula is a concentration of interstellar gas and dust in the star cluster IC 1396 and ionized gas region located in the constellation Cepheus about 2,400 light years away from Earth[. The piece of the nebula shown here is the dark, dense globule IC 1396A; it is commonly called the Elephant Trunk nebula because of its appearance at visible wavelengths, where it is a dark patch with a bright, sinuous rim. The bright rim is the surface of the dense cloud that is being illuminated and ionized by a very bright, massive star that is just to the west of IC 1396A. The entire IC 1396 region is ionized by the massive star, except for dense globules that can protect themselves from the star's harsh ultraviolet rays.The Elephant Trunk nebula is now thought to be site of star formation, containing several very young (less than 100,000 yr) stars that were discovered in infrared images in 2003. Two older (but still young, a couple of million years, by the standards of stars, which live billions of years) stars are present in a small, circular cavity in the head of the globule. Winds from these young stars may have emptied the cavity.The combined action of the light from the massive star ionizing and compressing the rim of the cloud, and the wind from the young stars shifting gas from the center outward lead to very high compression in the Elephant Trunk nebula. This pressure has triggered the current generation of protostars.

Blue Snowball

Blue SnowballObject Type: Planetary NebulaScope: C-9.25"Exposure Time: 60 minutesNGC 7662 otherwise known as the Blue Snowball Nebula is a planetary nebula located in the constellation Andromeda.The distance to this nebula is not known with any real accuracy. According to the Skalnate Pleso Catalogue (1951) the distance of NGC 7662 is about 1,800 light years, the actual diameter about 20,000 AU. In a more recent survey of the brighter planetaries, C.R.O'Dell (1963) derived a distance of 1,740 parsecs or about 5,600 light years, increasing the actual size to 0.8 light year, or nearly 50,000 AU. It has a faint central star that is variable, with a magnitude range of 12 to 16. The central star is a bluish dwarf with a continuous spectrum and a computed temperature of about 75,000K. The nuclei of the planetary nebulae are among the hottest stars known.NGC 7662 is a fairly popular planetary nebula for casual observers. A small refractor will reveal a star-like object with slight nebulosity. A 6 in. telescope with a magnification around 100x will reveal a slightly bluish disk. Telescopes of diameter 16" or greater may reveal slight color and brightness variations in the interior.

Gamma Cygni gamma cygni ic 1318

Gamma Cygni NebulaObject Type: Emission NebulaScope: 80mm APOExposure Time: 80 minutesGamma Cygni ( Cyg, Cygni) is a star in the constellation Cygnus. It has the traditional name Sadr (also spelled Sadir or Sador).The traditional name comes from the Arabic word صدر adr, "chest", the same word which gave rise to the star Schedar (Alpha Cassiopeiae).This star is surrounded by a diffuse nebula called IC1318, or the Gamma Cygni region. The section seen in this image is often called the Butterfly Nebula.

Helix

Helix NebulaObject Type: PlanetaryNebulaScope: 10" NewtonianExposure Time: 27 minutesThe Helix Nebula, also known as The Helix or NGC 7293, is a large planetary nebula (PN) located in the constellation of Aquarius. Discovered by Karl Ludwig Harding, probably before 1824, this object is one of the closest to the Earth of all the bright planetary nebulae. The estimated distance is about 215 parsecs or 700 light-years. It is similar in appearance to the Ring Nebula, whose size, age, and physical characteristics are similar to the Dumbbell Nebula, varying only in its relative proximity and the appearance from the equatorial viewing angle. The Helix has often been referred to as the Eye of God on the Internet, since about 2003.

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M56 M66 v2 Web M65-and-M66-March-2011.jpg

M65 and M66 GalaxiesObject Type: GalaxiesScope: C-9.25 SCTExposure 180 minutesM65 and M66 are about 36 million light years away.M65 was discovered by Charles Messier and included in his Messier Objects list. However, William Henry Smyth accidentally attributed the discovery to Pierre Méchain in his popular 19th century astronomical work A Cycle of Celestial Objects (stating "They [M65 and M66] were pointed out by Méchain to Messier in 1780"). This error was in turn picked up by Kenneth Glyn Jones in Messier's Nebulae and Star Clusters. This has since ramified into a number of other books by a variety of authors.The galaxy is low in dust and gas, and there is little star formation in it, although there has been some relatively recently in the arms. The ratio of old stars to new stars is correspondingly quite high. In most wavelengths it is quite uninteresting, though there is a radio source visible in the NVSS, offset from the core by about two arc-minutes. The identity of the source is uncertain, as it has not been identified visually, or formally studied in any published papers.To the eye, M65's disk appears slightly warped, and its relatively recent burst of star formation is also suggestive of some external disturbance. Rots (1978) suggests that the two other galaxies in the Leo Triplet interacted with each other about 800 million years ago. Recent research by Zhiyu Duan suggests that M65 may also have interacted, though much less strongly. He also notes that M65 may have a central barit is difficult to tell because the galaxy is seen from an oblique anglea feature which is suggestive of tidal disruption.Messier 66 (also known as NGC 3627) is an intermediate spiral galaxy about 36 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1780. M66 is about 95 thousand light-years across with striking dust lanes and bright star clusters along sweeping spiral arms. M66 is part of the famous Leo Triplet, a small group of galaxies that also includes M65 and NGC 3628.Gravitational interaction from its past encounter with neighboring NGC 3628 has resulted in:An extremely high central mass concentration;A high molecular to atomic mass ratio;A resolved noncorotating clump of H I material apparently removed from one of the spiral arms. This third result shows up visually as an extremely prominent and unusual spiral arm and dust lane structures as originally noted in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies.