Starship Asterisk*

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/3161/rt6z.jpg A widefield picture of the dust in western part of Cepheus. From VdB 141 through NGC 7023 to LBN 468. Taken with Officina Stellare Veloce RH 200 and STL 11000 from central part of Poland.

terry.hancock wrote:Comet ISON
Copyright: Clifford Spohn and Terry Hancock
http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryhanco ... /lightbox/

Click to view full size image

when and where can i see this in the sky?

sun pillar at dawn and in the evening

The Cocoon Nebula
http://astro.i-net.hu
Copyright: Gábor Tóth

http://mikesastro-photos.com/uploads/3/ ... 1_orig.jpg Lynds' Bright Nebula 242 in Cygnus. This object is rarely imaged but has a beautiful structure.

M33 - Triangulum ... a look at Ha
Full-size/details: http://jeffjastro.com/dso/M33Ha_23Sep13.htm
Copyright: Jeffrey O. Johnson (http://jeffjastro.com)
***Thank you for looking***

Autumn Red sprites


Bigger size: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7294/1032 ... 5d5f_o.jpg

On the evening of 12nd October a small storm system crossed Hungary. After the main part of it has left my hometown, Veszprem, I saw that the clouds would soon disappear and as it was still slightly raining with the cloud gaps I went down with the hope of catching a rainbow at moonlight. This could not form but the rainclouds left us very quickly and I could see the distant storms lightnings so I deciced to stay and try to catch some possible red sprites. As soon as the sky became clear temperature fell and humidity rose so the seeing was far from perfect but still with almost cloudless sky sprites began to appear above the distant lightnings.
Later I checked the distance of the storms at the local weather radar, they were about 140kms East of me, which is an ideal distance to see sprites. I could photograph 4 of them until the rising humidity became a fog. With each sprite I catched, the horizon above the storm became bright blue because of the lightning. I have also seen 2 of the sprites with my own eyes, they looked like a very quick upward moving flash of light. With one of the sprites a green meteor also fell into a photo (http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7323/1023 ... 2f91_c.jpg ).
This was the second case I could photograph red sprites, the first was a coincidence 4 years ago and was much fainter then these. But since then I tried to go after this phenomenon and now in an unusual autumn weather I won the chase again.
Photo credit: Monika Landy-Gyebnar
Veszprem, Hungary

Aurora bubble
http://www.astrofotografen.se
Copyright: Göran Strand A 360 degree panorama trapped inside a bubble floating in space.

I present two versions of this object.

Narrowband (R = SII, G = Ha, B = OIII)

http://www.pbase.com/gbachmayer/image/1 ... 9/original

RGB-Version with Ha+OIII enhancements

http://www.pbase.com/gbachmayer/image/1 ... 4/original

VISUAL DECEPTION: Close and Far: (aka 1500 years light versus 16000 years light distance)
Althought both targets.. the open cluster and the nebula seems to be into same plane in the astrophotography... this is a visual deception.¡¡ About 14,5 thousand light years are guilty...

Large image can be seen here :http://afesan.es/Deepspace/NGC%201528,% ... _orig.html

SH2 - 209 is located in one of the outer arms , on the edge of our galaxy, about 16,000 light years ... overshadow by a dust cloud. As any other HII region,it is show when the ultraviolet radiation from surrounding stars ,ionize gas all around., thereby causing the brightness of the light spectrum visible.The surrounding dust is heated by radiation and this allows it to be seen also into infrared spectrum..These regions are characterized by being nest of new stars..

 In this link can be seen SH2 -209 SH2 -206 ( aka NGC 1491 ) portrayed by the WISE telescope in the infrared . SH2 -209 is located to the left of the image.

http://wise.ssl.berkeley.edu/gallery_ngc1491.html

Discovered by William Herschel in 1790 , NGC 1528 is an open cluster (Archinal Brent and Steven Hynes catalog with about 165 stars) , with the brightest set in the order of magnitude 8.7 .. It stretches over about 13 year light into space..It has an estimated age of about 300-370 million years ago ( A modest age , compared with the cluster NGC 6791 in Lyra , which are attributed to between 7 and 8 billion years)
It is approximately at 1530 years light distance.. ... thus ,in the picture,althought both targets seeems to be into same plane ... SH2 -209 is about 14.5 thousand light years more distant .. A trifle ..


The Russian astronomer A. V. Lotkin , has cataloged NGC1528 and NGC1545 ( another small cluster located less than a degree and a half , but not in this image field ) as a possible binary cluster probably captured by "tidal".Both clusters have similar galactic coordinates , ages , distances and mediam radial velocities If they are really a couple ...it could be the second double cluster in Perseus (besides the well-known " Double Cluster " NGC869 and NGC884 ) .

Credits of information :

Deep -Sky Companions : Hidden Treasures (Stephen James O'Meara ) .Cambridge University Press
NASA / JPL -Caltech / WISE Team

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/1725/xy5r.jpg Nice, separated dark nebula LBN 1251 in Cepheus.
Taken with Officina Stellare Veloce RH 200 and STL 11000.

white, 17', and red

IC 1805 mapped narrowband

NGC247 Needle's Eye Galaxy and Burbidge's Chain in Cetus

High resolution at http://www.nightoverontario.com/Astrono ... &lb=1&s=X3

Thanks for looking
Lynn Hilborn, WhistleStop Obs

Higher resolution here http://www.nightoverontario.com/Astrono ... &lb=1&s=X3

Thanks for looking
Lynn Hilborn. WhistleStop Obs

Crepuscular Ray Sunrise and Fogbow
Copyright: Lee Buck
http://lbuckphotos.smugmug.com/Astrophotography

This image was taken at sunrise in a meadow about 20 miles north of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon At the same time, this Fogbow was visible to the west More Grand Canyon images (and full size) can be see here

Looking deep inside the Tarantula Nebula at the super star cluster RMC 136
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3705/1035 ... 7a3c_o.jpg Copyright Michael Sidonio

Destination: Penumbral Lunar Eclipse

A shot I captured of tonight's penumbral lunar eclipse at maximum eclipse with a propeller plane passing through the field.

http://exitpupil.org
Copyright: Scott MacNeill / Frosty Drew Observatory

http://exitpupil.org/images/photos/penu ... l_full.jpg

M-33 or Triangulum Galaxy. Integration time of 1.3 hours total in LRGB. (2x600 each)

Link to larger image: http://cdn.astrobin.com/images/509a6bae ... 421_hd.jpg

An "Illusive" penumbral lunar eclipse.
The Image was taken on October, 18 at 23:55 UT close to the maximal phase of the penumbral eclipse of the Moon.

Techical details: TAL-250K telescope (with reducer, f=1500mm), Canon 1000D camera (ISO 100, 1/400s). Colors and contrast were enhanced a bit.

http://www.forum.belastro.net/files/ecl ... tw_114.jpg Copyright: Dzmitry Kananovich, dzmitryk@belastro.net

Sh2-155
Copyrights: Fényes Lóránd LBN603
Copyrights: Ondrej Kozacik Veil Complex
Copyrights: Jose Mtanous
Larger version: http://mtanous.files.wordpress.com/2013 ... tars_3.jpg SH2 132 in Cepheus/Lacerta
Copyrights: Cesar Blanco M42 and IC434 in Wide Field
Copyrights: Roberto Colombari and Federico Pelliccia

The most distant gravitational lens yet discovered
Image Credits: NASA/ESA/A. van der Wel
More about: http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1319/ Gems in the SMC - NGC 395, NGC 371, IC 1624, NGC 346 and possibly other nebulae
Copyrights: Martin Pugh Evening Bunch from Nemrut Dagi
Copyrights: Tunc Tezel NGC520 (and UGC957)
Copyrights: Adam Block NGC7723
Copyrights: Adam Block

Lenticular Clouds
Copyrights: Robert Fields M31 (Andromeda Galaxy)
Copyrights: Leonardo Orazi ISS/Lunar transit
Copyrights: William Phelps and Jeff Crawford Curiosity Confirms Origins of Martian Meteorites
Image credit: NASA
More about: http://news.agu.org/press-release/curio ... eteorites/ M31 (Andromeda) mosaic
Copyrights: Bill Snyder

Comet ISON 09/10/2013
Copyrights: John Chumack Comet Encke - Oct 12th.
Copyrights: Damian Peach