Starship Asterisk*

NGC 6744 Galaxy - A galaxy similar to the Milky Way

BETTER DETAILS:

https://www.astrobin.com/full/6lvfz1/0/?nc=user

NGC 6744 is a spiral galaxy believed to be similar to our Milky Way, however, NGC 6744 is almost twice the diameter of the Milky Way.
It is about 30 million light years away in the southern constellation of Pavo (the Peacock), and is as bright as 60 billion suns.
I always wanted to record this wonder of the sky, fortunately this year I managed, were 4 nights to make the most of frames and try to make it.

Equipments:

Apo 150mm triplet
Qhy 16200

During the month of July and August, 2019

29 L 500 "
47 RGB 300 "

Munhoz - MG - Brazil

Processing and Capture:
Software: Pixinsight, Adoble photoshop, APT, PHD, Polemaster, SharpCap

Copyright: Fernando Oliveira de Menezes

This image of Arp 271, comprising the interacting galaxy pair NGC 5426 and 5427 in Virgo, utilizes imagery acquired remotely from the 9157-ft summit of Mt. Lemmon by the Arizona SkyCenter’s 0.8-m Schulman Telescope (f/7), using an SBIG STX (KAF-16803) camera equipped with an anti-blooming gate, 2x2 binning, and Astrodon Gen II RGB filters. CCDStack v2 software was used to form an initial RGB image by combining the means of largely unguided 15-min blue and green exposures taken on 4 May 2019 (the chosen guide star was too faint for use), with the mean of guided 10-min red frames from June 3rd. The total integration time in these three channels was 60, 65 and 50-min, respectively. PhotoshopCC 2018 was used subsequently to color a synthetic luminance image prepared from that result with the RGB frame, and to perform high-pass filtering, color-enhancement (lab-color-mode), star-shaping (due to the inclusion of non-guided images), artifact (e.g., residual dust donut) removal, noise filtering and application of a mild unsharp mask.

The Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635) in Cassiopeia is a visualization of the shock front produced by the supersonic wind propagating away from the massive O-star BD+60o2522 as it interacts with the surrounding interstellar medium. More than 40 times as massive as the Sun, this star is only about 2 million years old; the nebula is likely considerably younger (perhaps only 40,000 years old). At a distance of about 8790 lys (GAIA DR2), this 20.6 x 18.9 arcmin field-of-view spans approximately 52.5 x 48.4 lys; the bubble itself is about 8.1 lys in diameter. This narrowband-enhanced image utilizes unguided 1-min exposures obtained remotely at the Burke Gaffney Observatory at St. Mary’s University in Halifax between July 2016 and September 2018. The 0.61-m Planewave CDK24 reflector operating at f/6.5 was outfitted with an Apogee Aspen CG-16M camera binned at 2x2 and Astrodon Gen II (E-Series) LRGB and Ha filters. Unguided OIII (Baader filter) images were obtained also on the same telescope using an SBIG STXL-11002 CCD camera with the same pixel size, binning and exposure. These images were integrated in CCDStack2 to produce mean background-flattened channel images in the L, R, G, B, H-alpha and OIII bands of 1.23, 1.20, 1.15, 1.13, 1.30 and 2.07-hrs duration, respectively. After blending the narrowband data into the broadband channel-mean images using PhotoshopCC 2018 to enhance the nebula’s detail, a high-pass-filtered version of the blended Luminance was colored by a narrowband-augmented RGB image. The radial profiles of the stars were adjusted subsequently to reduce distortions from the lack of guiding, and the background noise was reduced. Prominent structures were emphasized further using an unsharp mask, and the largest stars were puckered to reduce their apparent sizes.

Iris Nebula

Copyright: Jeffrey Sines



Iris Nebula 011220 by Jeffrey Sines, on Flickr

• Imaging telescope or lens:GSO 200/800 F/4

• Imaging camera:Nikon D5100 full Spectrum Modded

• Mount:Sky-Watcher EQ6 SynTrek

• Filters:Optolong UV/IR Cut, Astronomik H-alfa 6nm

• Accessories:Explore Scientific HRCC Coma Corrector, Selfmade Peltier CoolingBox

• Frames:
  Astronomik Ha: 53x420" ISO200
  rgb: 111x300" ISO200

• Integration: 15.4 hours

• Locations: Camerino, Macerata, Italy

Il paesaggio di Alnitak by Corrado.gamberoni, su Flickr

GALAXY under the tree

APCS - SONY A6000
Lens - SIGMA f1.4 - 16mm
Taken from place: Babia Hora, Slovakia

Click for the original: https://jurgen.sk/SHARE/photos/2019/jur ... C07115.jpg
Copyright: Juraj Gerek ja@jurgen.sk

M33 HaLRGB 60 hours unguided

Copyright: Saulius Adomaitis
Source:E-Eye Estremadura
Officina Stellare UCRC 300 on 10Micron mount unguided
HaLRGB 360x600s
Pixinsight - Demure at linear stage, deconvolution of L and Ha, LHE plus selective mixing of Ha and Luminance

https://www.astrobin.com/05jwvj/?nc=user

SH2-284 Wikipedia:-
Sh2-284 is a HII star forming region of gas and dust located in the constellation Monoceros approximately 15 thousand light years from the Earth. This remarkable nebula resembles the more familiar Rosette Nebula (Caldwell 49). Along the edges of Sh2-284 are several "elephant trunk" formations. These are monstrous pillars of gas and dust that stretch into the central void of the nebula. Perhaps the most prominent of the pillars is located to the left center of the nebula. It resembles the forefinger of a hand pointing to the stars in the center of the nebula. These pillars are formed by intense radiation and stellar winds radiating from the very hot stars of the central open cluster designated Dolidze 25. The radiation and wind from the cluster is responsible for clearing the central void in the surrounding nebula. Dolidze 25 is a very young cluster with an estimated age of approximately 3 to 4 million years.


www.KinchAstro.com

Sun pilar over San Pedro de Atacama (Chile)

Copyright: Mikel Martínez
fotoastro.blogspot.com.es

Sony a6300 + Sony 10-18

Sun pilar S Pedro de Atacama by Mikel Martínez, en Flickr

Taken in www.spaceobs.com

Orion's smile

The Barnard's loop hugging M42 and Horsehead nébulas.

Copyright: Mikel Martínez
fotoastro.blogspot.com.es

Equipment: Canon EOS 6D mod + Samyang 135mm f2.8

Orion's smile by Mikel Martínez, en Flickr

Messier 33
3 décembre 2019 - 5 janvier 2020



Technique
Instrument Télescope Astrographe UNC 254 mm f/4
Imageur Caméra CCD QSI 540WSG à -25°, guidage Atik GP
Exposition L 22x600 sec en bin 1x1 le 3:12:2019, RGB 8x300 sec en bin 1 x1 le 05:01:2020, Ha faite mais pas intégrée aux images. 30:12:2019
Prétraitements 8 Dark /8 Flat/8 Offset
Traitements Prism 10, Photoshop CS3

alex.

https://flic.kr/p/2ijuQcd

Jon Minnick
Fish Head Nebula - IC 1805

The Andromeda Galaxy in LHaRGB
https://www.astrobin.com/full/dqz3dt/0/
Copyright: Brent Newton Hope I submitted this correctly

William Optics Star71 APO
ZWO ASI1600MM-P

36 hours of exposure over 2 panels, taken throughout September 2019 from Kansas and during the Okietex Star Party
L: 68 x 240s, 96 x 120s Ha: 43 x 300s RGB: 34 x 240s/ea per panel)

Also available on my website in greater detail (with annotations) HERE

NGC2655 (ARP 225)

First opportunity to image since November. The Julian winter skies prevented imaging in December. So more holiday time with the family. (-:

I wanted to start the new decade with something very difficult, very far and rarely imaged. NGC2655 at 80 Million Light Years - FAR beyond the bright stars of our own Milky Way galaxy (shown here) - was my choice.

"Floating in the serenity of the universe like a cosmic ammonite shell, NGC 2655 is an impressive example of a lenticular galaxy. Located 80 million light years away towards the constellation of Camelopardalis (The Giraffe), its series of outer shell structures and faint tidal loops are nicely complemented by internal dust lanes near its core.

Its panoply of morphological kinematics are indicative of a merger between two galaxies in the past, an intergalactic event that is now known to be a common feature of the evolution of galaxies. Other signatures of a past merger that aren't apparent to the eye are vast clouds of neutral hydrogen surrounding the galaxy that were uncovered in observations made using radio telescopes.

The unusual appearance of NGC 2655 brought it to the attention of the famous astronomer Halton Arp who added it to his atlas of peculiar galaxies under Arp 225. Another distinction is that the core is very luminous, which means that NGC 2655 belongs to the category of active galaxies known as Seyfert galaxies, which were named after the astronomer Karl Seyfert. The luminosity of Seyfert galaxies is thought to derive from a transfer of matter onto an accretion disk around a supermassive black hole.

The diameter of NGC 2655 is approximately 200,000 light years but the envelope of neutral hydrogen gas discovered in the 1980's is about 500,000 light years."

https://www.astrobin.com/sa3bk0/

Flight over the lunar South Pole

This image shows a detailed view of the southern limb of the Moon. The sunset terminator is at left, and is approaching the well-known craters Clavius and Tycho as the Moon nears Last Quarter. The prominent mountains on the limb at the top of the image rise over 6000m above the surrounding terrain. The image was taken with an ASI183mm monochrome camera and C9.25 Edge HD telescope, using a green filter (bandpass 500-575nm). 1000 individual frames were stacked, out of 5000 collected in total. Color was added separately with data collected at the same time with a Nikon D5600 and a 6" Newtonian telescope. The image was captured on September 21, 2019 at 12:28UT.

Full size image is available by direct link below (or by navigating through the Flickr thumbnail link):

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/494 ... aa7c_o.png

Flight over the lunar South Pole by Tom Glenn, on Flickr

High Resolution Moon

This image records detailed lunar features over the entire visible surface of the Moon as it approaches Last Quarter. The full-sized image is 7000x10,000 pixels, with an image scale of 409m/px as measured near the apparent center of the lunar disk (sub-observer point). This is sufficient for the resolution of small craters to about 1km diameter across the image. The image is a mosaic composed of four panels taken with a C9.25 Edge HD telescope and ASI183mm camera using a green filter (bandpass 500-575nm), combined with color data taken with a Nikon D5600 and a 6" Newtonian telescope. The monochrome image panels are each composed of stacked images, corresponding to 1000 stacked frames (out of 5000 total per panel). The image was acquired on September 21, 2019 at approximately 12:30UT (monochrome imaging spanned about 30 minutes, with color captured after). The full sized image is available by direct link below (might be slow to load), or by navigating through the Flickr thumbnail link.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/493 ... e94c_o.png

High Resolution Moon by Tom Glenn, on Flickr

KuriousGeorge wrote: ↑Sun Jan 26, 2020 5:08 am NGC2655 (ARP 225)

First opportunity to image since November. The Julian winter skies prevented imaging in December. So more holiday time with the family. (-:

I wanted to start the new decade with something very difficult, very far and rarely imaged. NGC2655 at 80 Million Light Years - FAR beyond the bright stars of our own Milky Way galaxy (shown here) - was my choice.

"Floating in the serenity of the universe like a cosmic ammonite shell, NGC 2655 is an impressive example of a lenticular galaxy. Located 80 million light years away towards the constellation of Camelopardalis (The Giraffe), its series of outer shell structures and faint tidal loops are nicely complemented by internal dust lanes near its core.

Its panoply of morphological kinematics are indicative of a merger between two galaxies in the past, an intergalactic event that is now known to be a common feature of the evolution of galaxies. Other signatures of a past merger that aren't apparent to the eye are vast clouds of neutral hydrogen surrounding the galaxy that were uncovered in observations made using radio telescopes.

The unusual appearance of NGC 2655 brought it to the attention of the famous astronomer Halton Arp who added it to his atlas of peculiar galaxies under Arp 225. Another distinction is that the core is very luminous, which means that NGC 2655 belongs to the category of active galaxies known as Seyfert galaxies, which were named after the astronomer Karl Seyfert. The luminosity of Seyfert galaxies is thought to derive from a transfer of matter onto an accretion disk around a supermassive black hole.

The diameter of NGC 2655 is approximately 200,000 light years but the envelope of neutral hydrogen gas discovered in the 1980's is about 500,000 light years."

Click to view full size image

https://www.astrobin.com/sa3bk0/

Wow, that's a fantastic image! And I had most certainly never seen this galaxy before! (Hope you don't mind that I inserted a version of your picture from your website, as the attachment wouldn't have shown up when I quoted your post.)

You quoted a text that described NGC 2655 as a galaxy with a "series of outer shell structures". I disagree. Take a look at the picture of NGC 474, which is a true shell galaxy, and note how it differs from NGC 2655. The shells of NGC 474 are extremely circular and sharp, and the obvious tidal features are also elegantly symmetrical.

I think that NGC 2655 is a fantastic spiral galaxy. Its spiral arms are broad and diffuse, because NGC 2655 no longer forms any stars, but the arms are still clearly discernible, and they are very long. One outer arm appears to make almost two full turns around its parent galaxy!

The arms are asymmetrical, like practically all galactic spiral arms are. That's all the more proof that they are spiral arms and not shells.

It's a superb image! Thanks!

Ann

A COMET AND THE DOUBLE CLUSTER
Copyright: Alan C Tough

Comet C/2017 T2 (PanSTARRS) seen here approaching the famous Double Cluster in Perseus. This image was taken remotely, from New Mexico on January 24, using iTelescope T14. The total integration time, through LRGB filters, was 45 minutes.

Highest resolution image here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/7776810@N07/49440787523/

As always, thanks so much for your feedback Ann! I'm not that smart, so most of that description is from Sakib Rasool as used on Mark Hanson's version of this object...

viewtopic.php?f=29&t=39026&start=25

brent1123 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 26, 2020 4:41 am The Andromeda Galaxy in LHaRGB
https://www.astrobin.com/full/dqz3dt/0/
Copyright: Brent Newton

Click to view full size image

Hope I submitted this correctly

William Optics Star71 APO
ZWO ASI1600MM-P

36 hours of exposure over 2 panels, taken throughout September 2019 from Kansas and during the Okietex Star Party
L: 68 x 240s, 96 x 120s Ha: 43 x 300s RGB: 34 x 240s/ea per panel)

Also available on my website in greater detail (with annotations) HERE

Great picture, Brent! I love the way the bluish halo envelops Andromeda like a mist.

I can see that this is your first post here. You are very welcome back with more images!

Ann

CTA1 supernova remnant
http://www.skymonsters.net
Copyright: Nicola Montecchiari

nicola montecchiari wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2020 9:50 am CTA1 supernova remnant
http://www.skymonsters.net
Copyright: Nicola Montecchiari
CTA1_cn.jpg

Very nice! This goes very well with your image of CTB 1.

Moon halo over Paranal by Juan-Carlos Munoz-Mateos, on Flickr

M78 (NGC 2068) is a diffuse reflection nebula, 1600 light years away and located in the constellation of Orion.
Together with her we can also see the nebulae NGC 2064, NGC 2067, NGC 2071 and various HH objects, the latter are formed when the ionized gas expelled by the young stars collides with denser gas and dust, causing the phenomenon of triboluminescence. (source Wikipedia)

Below the data of the shot:
Copyright: Paolo De Salvatore - ZENIT Observatory
Location: Manciano (Grosseto) - Italy
Telescope: Officina Stellare RiLa 300
Focal: 1150 mm
Mount: 10Micron GM2000 HPS II
CCD: Moravian G3 16200
Filter: 50mm Astrodon LRGB
Exposure details:
L 191 x 300" bin 1
R 32 x 120" bin 2
G 32 x 120" bin 2
B 32 x 120" bin 2
Sensor Temperature: -25°
Integration: 19,1 h

M78 - NGC 2068 Nebula by Paolo De Salvatore, su Flickr

Colourful crescent moon
www.astronomica.es
Copyright: Jaime Fernandez
Each colour represent different mineralogy: silicates, titanium, iron and other.
LRGB image, where luminance was obtained from 12 images mosaic monochrome video camera (24000 frames in total), and color comes from an old Canon 350D DSLR camera.
All capture technical details: http://www.astronomica.es/imagen.asp?id ... d_prod=429

In memory of that master geologist who taught me that the Moon is much more interesting than I ever imagined.

Colorful crescent moon (full sized image, 1950x1400 pixel, 841KB) by Jaime Fernandez