Starship Asterisk*

Dust around Ngc 7497

Ngc7497 Lrgb old image reworked with new lrgb (290':130':90':150') from T2 Chilescope. by gc.iaffaldano, su Flickr

Copyright Iaffaldano Giuseppe Carmine

Copyright: HuiChieh (mydarksky.org)
Higher resolution link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mydarksky ... 187782598/

No, this is not a galactic battle.

During one of our trip to Mauna Kea in March 2018, we were treated with this "laser light". We almost went crazy when we saw the laser coming out from one of the Keck Observatory on our way up the mountain for sunrise shooting. To us, it was just like a "holy light" - a light that we heard a lot about on adaptive optics (AO) but never thought we are going to see one with our own eyes.

We jumped out of the jeep at the first best location we can find and started shooting away. The moment was short and after a while, the sky brighten and the stars faded away. Here was one of the shot of the laser "attacking" the galactic center, and two of my fellow friends in the foreground (on the right, and left of center).

Weather here in the UK has been very poor, but i managed to get M42 , i have been wanting to try it for years. Was captured 11 years ago when i started the hobby , but due to my location , i only get 45 minutes per night. I managed 40 minutes RGB and 90 Halpha, i did 3 sets of exporures
Halpha, 900 second subs , RGB 600 second.
I also did RGB in 5 sec subs ans 29 sec subs for the core and surrounding area
Captured with Williams Optics FLT 98mm APO
SXVH 694 mono ccd -10 degrees
Astrodon filters and 5 nm for Halpha
Maxim for capture and stack
photoshop for processing
managed in total 3.5 hours of combined data
My location is in Bungay, UK bortle 4 skies

Performing a complex dynamic tango and even at a distance of some 60 Million light years, NGC 1316 & 1317 have still managed to spread stars over an area of our sky the size of the Full Moon!..including a faint loop of stars, extending to the lower left in the image, which is almost the size of the whole rest of the galaxy merger!

You can see a full size image here: https://pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/ima ... 9/original

The full extent of the debris spread out by this gravitational interaction is showcased clearly in this enhanced luminance version: https://pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/ima ... 1/original

Copyright: Michael Sidonio

IC 1613 is an irregular dwarf galaxy, 2.3 million light years from earth. There is little dust associated with it which enables many background galaxies to be seen through it. IC 1613 helped astronomers work out how to utilize variable stars to determine the expansion rate of the universe. IC 1613 most closely resembles the nearby, transition-type dwarf galaxy Pegasus. There are many young blue star clusters and there is a bright HII region in the upper left.

Images obtained in September/October/November 2020 at Sierra Remote Observatories near Fresno, California
Astrodon CRGB filters
Clear: 36 x 20 minutes = 12 hours binned 1x1
Red, green, blue =16 x 15 minutes each = 4hours binned 2x2
Total exposure time =24 hours
RCOS 20 inch, Paramount ME II, SBIG 11K with AOL
Acquired with The Sky X, Processed with PixInsight.
https://pbase.com/martinasc1/mascherl_a ... o&page=all
Martin Ascherl
asc1@flash.net

Comet C/2020 M3 (ATLAS) is seen about a degree away from Bellatrix on the evening of November 14, 2020. On this date, the comet is at its closest approach to Earth. The image was made of a stack of 73 fifteen second exposures taken with a Canon 80D and a Canon 200 mm f/2.8L II lens with a doubler. (ISO 2000, f/5.6, 400 mm). A few passing high clouds added a soft layer of diffusion to the brighter stars in the field of view. StarSpikes Pro was used as well as Nebulosity and Lightroom for processing.

Comet C/2020 M3 (ATLAS) near Bellatrix by Marion Haligowski - Thanks for 1M Views!, on Flickr

This is an image of the full Cygnus Loop. It barely fits in the field of view of my 275mm scope, such a huge object, but very impressive.
This was shot on the night of September 15th 2020, from my home in the northern part of The Netherlands.

Optics: Sharpstar 61EDPH
Camera: Astro modified Canon 750D, Optolong L-Enhance filter
Subs: 66 x 600 seconds ISO 3200

This image is of the Sunflower Galaxy, Messier 63.
Although I shot the data a few months ago, I only recently got to edit the data. And I was amazed by the fine details found in this galaxy.

The data was shot on the night of may 15th, form my home in the Northern part of The Netherlands, Bortle class 5 skies.

Optics: TS-Optics 115mm Triplet APO
Camera: Astro modified Canon 700D
Subs: 62 x 300 seconds ISO 1600

Hope you all like it,

regards Thomas

The Perseus Cluster of Galaxies. KG Observatory, Julian CA.

We had a very heavy rain on November 8th with 60 mph winds. This finally cleared into an unusually transparent and steady sky. FWHM on the 15-minute Luminance subs was between 1.4" and 2.1". Perfect conditions for shooting tiny distant galaxies. (-:

https://www.astrobin.com/4063x8/

(C/2020 M3) with Bellatrix star 14-11-2020
Canon 6d Moded
Skywatcher EQ-6
Sky Watcher 500 mm ED
Copyright:Raphaël Dubuc

https://www.flickr.com/photos/163323639 ... ed-public/

Amateur Detection of Light Echoes from Supernova 1987a
http://www.rolfolsenastrophotography.com
Copyright: Rolf Wahl Olsen I have now made a couple of better images of the Light Echoes from Supernova 1987a.
This image shows what I believe is the first amateur detection of light echoes from SN1987a - 33 years after the event.

1: Colour animation of 8 years expansion of the light echoes: https://www.rolfolsenastrophotography.c ... -3qZNGWP/A
2: An illustration of the supernova location and expanding light sphere: https://www.rolfolsenastrophotography.c ... -kBQ4vcX/A

All images, cropped and full size, are available here: https://www.rolfolsenastrophotography.c ... nova-1987a

The light echoes are produced when the initial flash from SN1987a is subsequently reflected off interstellar dust as light travels outward from the event. Direct light from the supernova was observed on Earth in 1987, and we then see light reflected from dust in the interstellar space arriving later because it has travelled further to reach us.
The animation was created by subtracting two Luminance images taken almost 8 years apart, on 24th Oct 2012 and 21st Sep 2020 respectively, in order to create a difference image which was then superimposed on a regular colour image of the area. The expanding light echoes appear as roughly circular concentric arcs, centered on SN1987a's location. This clearly shows how they have expanded during the 8 years.
The echoes also appear to be moving outwards at superluminal speed: With a shift of ~47 pixels in the image, and an image resolution of 0.764"/pixel, the movement corresponds to around 28 light years at the distance of the Large Magellanic Cloud where the supernova occurred (163,000 light years away). This is clearly much faster than the speed of light given there are only 8 years between the images. This apparent superluminal speed is only an illusion though, and does not represent the actual speed of the outward travelling light.

Image details:
Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand

October 2012:
Exposure: LRGB 83:67:27:27m, total 3hrs 24mins @ -30C
Telescope: Homebuilt 10" f/5 Serrurier Truss Newtonian
Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2

September-November 2020:
Exposure: L 65m, total 1hr 5mins and H-Alpha 435m, total 7hrs 15mins @ -25C
Telescope: Homebuilt 12.5" f/4 Serrurier Truss Newtonian
Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider
Filters: Astrodon 3nm H-Alpha and LRGB E-Series Gen 2

"Matterhorn"


360° panoramic view (crop around 270°) consisting of 4 shots + one for the high lights. From the left: the Gorner Observatory, Monte Rosa, Mars, Breithorn, Saturn, Jupiter, the Moon, the Matterhorn, and below the Gorner glacier. One of the most beautiful places in the world.


5 shots with Sony a6600 (aps-c camera) and Samyang 8mm f2.8
Size = 11302 x 5651 = 63 megapixels

"Nox Atacama"

a 360° panorama of Toconao Canyon in the Atacama Desert. From the left, the Magellan Clouds, the Milky Way with Jupiter near the center of the core, my figure, the town of San Pedro of Atacama in the middle of the Desert.

18 shots at 14mm f2.8 for 30 seconds iso 6400 each with Sony a7s + 14mm f1.8 Sigma Art
11191 x 5596 = 63 megrapixels

THE ANDROMEDA GALAXY - M31
Copyright : Massimo Tosco
http://www.massimotosco.it/image-galler ... alaxy.html

Copyrights: Raul Villaverde Fraile, Domingo Pestana y Nicolas Romo
NGC 1499_2020_RGBHALFA by Raul Villaverde, en Flickr

http://home.dslserver.net/post/Nov2020% ... 0storm.jpg

These two images of Mars were taken on 2020-10-10 and 2020-11-16 with a Celestron C14 EdgeHD telescope plus a Televue 2x Powermate and a CMOS camera (QHY5III290C). They were nearly showing exactly the same face of Mars. The one taken in October was when Mars just passed the closest point to Earth and migrating towards opposition. The whole Martian surface is fully illuminated, the Solis Lacus (“The eye of Mars”) just past the central meridian is clearly seen. Mars was obviously smaller in the one taken in November as Mars is leaving us, at the same time a phase illumination of 95% was present. Some of the surface features including Solis Lacus were obscured by a large scale dust storm spreading over Mars for already a week.

NGC 253 - The Sculptor Galaxy

Best details

https://www.astrobin.com/full/x4gunn/0/?nc=

Equipment:
Apo ESPRIT triplet 150mm
New asi 6200mc
72 x 300 seg
Cem60 mount

July 20-25, 2020
Munhoz- MG- Brazil

Processing and capture:
Software: Pixinsight , Adobe Photoshop, Sequence generation pro, PHD, Polemaster, SharpCap

Copyright: Fernando Oliveira de Menezes

Aquisition and processing Emil Pera
25 hours exposure
DDM60, Moravian G3-16200, WO Megrez90, Astrodon

https://www.astrobin.com/users/psemil/

Aquisition and processing Emil Pera
Two panel mosaic with 32 hours exposure
DDM60, Moravian G3-16200, WO Megrez90, Astrodon

https://www.astrobin.com/users/psemil/

NGC 300

LRHaGB : full size : http://www.cielaustral.com/galerie/photo123f.jpg

47 Hrs total frames
done with CDK20, Moravian G4-16000 on Paramount ME2 near Actacama Desert in Chile, El Sauce Observatory

http://www.cielaustral.com
Copyright: Team CielAustral with J.C CANONNE, G.CHASSAIGNE, N.OUTTERS, P. BERNHARD, D. CHAPLAIN & L. BOURGON

The chaotic filamentary structure of the Cygnus Loop or Veil Nebula, a supernova remnant in the constellation Cygnus (SH2-103, SNR G074.0-08.6), is in full display in Pickering's Triangle (NGC 6979). The bubble of expanding glowing gas is what is left of a powerful explosion of a progenitor star estimated to be 12-15 times as massive as our Sun. Distance from Earth and the age of this supernova remnant has gone through several refinements over the years and the most recent estimate (Fesen et al, 2018) puts the Cygnus Loop at roughly 2,400 light years from Earth, with a diameter of 130 light years, and an age of roughly 21,000 years.

Pickering's Triangle was discovered in 1904 by Williamina Fleming, one of the founding members of the Harvard Computers, an all female team hired by the Harvard College Observartory director Edward Charles Pickering. The discovery was made through analysis of photographic plates. While Pickering's Triangle is the most common name for this deep sky object, following the custom at the time to name the object after the senior member of the discovery team, it is also referred to as Fleming's Triangular Wisp.

Williamina Wisp is also credited with having discovered the Horsehead Nebula in 1888 from a photographic plate made by astronomer W.H. Pickering, brother of E.C. Pickering.

Data was processed with Pixinsight (calibration, stacking, and linear processing), Starnet (as a PI plugin), Photoshop (non-linear processing) with Topaz Denoise AI for noise reduction.

High resolution image:
https://astrob.in/xm1fcn/0/

Equipment:
TS ONTC 10in f4 Newtonian
ZWO ASI1600MM Pro
Astrodon 3nm Ha and OIII, RGB filters
AP1100GTO mount
Sequence Generator Pro 4
PixInsight 1.8.8-6
Adobe Photoshop CC
Topaz Denoise AI

Integration time: 19 hours
Location: Schenectady, NY (USA)

Hi,

My submissions:
The Heart of the Soul Nebula - IC 1871
The Soul Nebula - IC 1871




Full frame and cropped versions.

Imaging telescope: Explore Scientific 127mm ED TRIPLET APO.
Imaging camera: ZWO ASI1600MM Pro-Cool.
Mount: iOptron CEM60.
Dates: Nov. 14, 2020 , Nov. 15, 2020 , Nov. 16, 2020.
Frames:
Chroma 3nm Ha: 20x600" (gain: 200.00) -10C bin 1x1.
Chroma 3nm OIII: 18x600" (gain: 200.00) -10C bin 1x1.
Chroma 3nm SII: 21x600" (gain: 200.00) -10C bin 1x1.
Integration: 9.8 hours.
Location: UAE desert, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Copyright: Wissam Ayoub.

https://astrob.in/7ppk37/B/

Thank you,

North American Migration

North American (NGC 7000) and Pelican Nebula (IC 5070)

Image taken: 11/14-11/17/2020
Telescope: Sharpstar 76mm with reducer
Camera: Aprogee 8300

Copyright: Jason Matter

Exploring the Universe in One Night
I shot 15 different targets in one night using an H-alpha filter. Each photo is one 600s exposure. I did some linear noise reduction on each photo with MLT in Pixinsight, then I stretched them. I made the collage using Adobe Spark and then finished the final adjustments in Photoshop.

Each photo 1x600s at 200 gain, -20c from Bortle 4 skies *Edit: I forgot to mention that some of photos were software binned 2x2.
Equipment:
Astro-Tech AT115EDT
EQ6-R Pro
ASI1600mm Pro
ASI224mc
Baader 1.25" Ha 7nm filter
ASIair Pro and ZWO EFW filter wheel

NGC 1313 (the Topsy-Turvy Galaxy, ESO 82-11, PGC 12286, VV 436 and others) is an odd, barred spiral located approximately 13,900 light-years away (https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3 ... 2/2/50/pdf) in Reticulum.

Luminance – 12x600s – 120 minutes – binned 1x1
RGB – 8x300s – 40 minutes each – binned 1x1

240 minutes total exposure – 4 hours

Imaged on October 10th and 11th and November 16th and 17th, 2020 at the El Sauce Observatory – Telescope.Live (Rio Hurtado, Chile) with a FLI PL 16803 on an ASA 500N at f/3.8 1900mm.

LRGB - https://www.flickr.com/photos/dcrowson/ ... 1/sizes/l/
LRGB – crop - https://www.flickr.com/photos/dcrowson/ ... 7/sizes/l/



Dan - https://www.flickr.com/photos/dcrowson/