Starship Asterisk*

M8 - Lagoon nebula
M8, HII emission nebula, taken from the dark sardinian sky.
https://funkyimg.com/i/35Spk.jpeg
Full-res version

This picture is an integration of 35x120" sub frames taken with a 8" Celestron Rowe Ackermann (RASA)
Camera: ZWO Asi 183 MC-Pro
Mount: Skywatcher EQ6R-Pro
Guiding: ZWO Mini guide scope + Asi 120 M-Mini

ELECTRIC-BLUE PANORAMA
Copyright: Alan C Tough

The summer months are the only time you can see the high-altitude, electric-blue clouds known as Noctilucent Clouds (NLC). NLC form on the edge of space when water vapour condenses and freezes onto small meteoric dust particles. These eerie and extremely tenuous clouds can only be seen under the right lighting conditions: i.e. when the Sun is between 6 and 16 degrees below the horizon and the temperature in the Mesosphere is low enough. Therefore, in the northern hemisphere, the best time to view this phenomenon is from the last week in May to the first week in August (between the hours of 11 p.m. and 3 a.m.).

This panorama, a stitch of 4 x 3.2 second exposures, was captured at 00:20 UT on 2020 June 22, from a field near my house in Elgin, Moray, Scotland.

Highest resolution image here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/7776810@N07/50037061657/

Cederblad 111 - Copyright Casey Good. Taken from El Sauce, Chile.
Imaging telescopes or lenses:Takahashi TOA-150

Imaging cameras:FLI ML16200

Mounts:Astro-Physics 1600 with Absolute Encoders

Filters:L , B , G , R

Dates:June, 2020

Frames:
B: 24x600" bin 1x1
G: 22x600" bin 1x1
L: 33x600" bin 1x1
R: 21x600" bin 1x1

Integration: 16.7 hours

www.good-astronomy.com

Messier 104, The Sombrero Galaxy (Copyright Casey Good/Steve Timmons) - Taken from Fort Davis, Texas.
Imaging telescopes or lenses:Planewave CDK14
Imaging cameras:FLI Proline 16803
Mounts:Paramount MX+
Filters:L , B , G , R

Dates:June 15, 2020

Frames:
B: 12x300" bin 1x1
G: 12x300" bin 1x1
L: 19x900" bin 1x1
R: 12x300" bin 1x1

Integration: 7.8 hours

www.good-astronomy.com

NGC 6559 (Copyright Casey Good/Steve Timmons) - May 2020 taken from Fort Davis, Texas.
Imaging telescopes or lenses:Planewave CDK14
Imaging cameras:FLI Proline 16803
Mounts:Paramount MX+
Filters:Ha , L , B , G , R

Dates:May 27, 2020

Frames:
B: 15x300" bin 2x2
G: 15x300" bin 2x2
Ha: 24x600" bin 2x2
L: 40x600" bin 1x1
R: 20x300" bin 2x2

Integration: 14.8 hours

www.good-astronomy.com

Messier 20, The Trifid (by Casey Good/Steve Timmons) - May 2020 taken from Fort Davis Texas (luminance) and El Sauce, Chile (chrominance).
Imaging telescopes or lenses:Planewave CDK14 , Takahashi TOA-150
Imaging cameras:FLI Proline 16803
Mounts:Paramount MX+ , Astro-Physics 1600 with Absolute Encoders
Filters:L , B , G , R

Dates:May, 2020

Frames:
B: 13x300" bin 1x1
G: 12x600" bin 1x1
L: 42x300" bin 1x1
L: 31x900" bin 1x1
R: 14x300" bin 1x1

Integration: 15.5 hours

www.good-astronomy.com

M100 and surrounding area (by Casey Good/Steve Timmons) - May 2020 taken from Fort Davis, Texas.
Imaging telescopes or lenses:Planewave CDK14
Imaging cameras:FLI Proline 16803
Mounts:Paramount MX+
Filters:L , B , G , R

Dates:June 15, 2020

Frames:
B: 16x300" bin 2x2
G: 16x300" bin 2x2
L: 36x900" bin 1x1
R: 16x300" bin 2x2

Integration: 13.0 hours

www.good-astronomy.com

goodastronomy wrote: ↑Wed Jun 24, 2020 1:18 am M100 and surrounding area (by Casey Good/Steve Timmons) - May 2020 taken from Fort Davis, Texas.

M100.jpg

Imaging telescopes or lenses:Planewave CDK14
Imaging cameras:FLI Proline 16803
Mounts:Paramount MX+
Filters:L , B , G , R

Dates:June 15, 2020

Frames:
B: 16x300" bin 2x2
G: 16x300" bin 2x2
L: 36x900" bin 1x1
R: 16x300" bin 2x2

Integration: 13.0 hours

www.good-astronomy.com

Casey Good and Steve Timmons, you have posted five great pictures in a row here, and I love them all. But I have to single out the one of galaxy Messier 100 and its surroundings. M100 has long been one of my favorite galaxies. In the small version of your picture, M100 seems to shine softly like a work of art, softly reflecting light blue and yellowish light. Your large image shows a delightful separation of blue and knotty (star formation and star cluster-dominated) parts of M100 and smooth and yellow parts of the galaxy (completely dominated by old stars).

And the fact that M100 is so different from its surroundings - displaying a beautiful spiral shape, and containing large populations of both young and old stars - makes the galaxy stand out even more as a rare cosmic beauty.

I find your image delicate and exquisite. Looking at it makes me happy.

Ann

DAY AND NIGHT 🏙

Photo taken during the day and night at the same point, separated by the power pole.

BEST DETAILS:
https://www.astrobin.com/full/grpg7t/0/?nc=user

Equipment:
Canon 6D
Rokinon 14mm f2.4
Daytime Photo: Iso 125, Time: 1/400 sec
Night photo: ISO 1600, time 50 sec

Munhoz - MG - Brazil
May 21, 2020

Copyright: Fernando Oliveira de Menezes

Batmoon!

This was a plan for a long time to capture something interesting crossing the path of the Moon. Everyday, hundreds of fruit bats travel at dusk just after the sunset. I wanted to capture an image of a bat against the moon. With a lot of perseverance and spending much time, I was finally able to photograph the bat passing in the front of the moon. Since the bat was quite fast, you can the blur because of the slow shutter. Also, the bat was flying diagonally from the bottom to the top at angle. Surprisingly, this looks like a shadow of some Bat-shaped ship falling on the moon, but in reality, it is just a beautiful bat passing in front of the Moon!

Details : Shot handheld using Nikon D7000 + Nikkor 200-500 mm lens.

Sh2-54 is an extended bright nebula in the constellation of Serpens.
In its core there are many protostars and many infrared sources; some of these sources, like IRAS 18151−1208, are most probably very young high-mass stars. The older star population in this region has an average age of 4-5 million years, and its components are grouped in the open cluster NGC 6604.
Sh2-54 belongs to an extended nebulosity that includes also the Eagle Nebula and the Omega Nebula. The young high-mass stars of this region constitute the Serpens OB1 and Serpens OB2 OB association.
Because of its proximity to The Eagle Nebula, this area appears not to be imaged very often - but I found it worth the effort in order to show this very active and beautiful area of the sky.
Full details @ https://www.kinchastro.com/sh2-54--ngc-6604.html

Crescent Nebula and Milky Way Stars. KG Observatory, Julian, CA.

https://www.astrobin.com/4a1otk/D/

Ann wrote: ↑Wed Jun 24, 2020 7:30 am

goodastronomy wrote: ↑Wed Jun 24, 2020 1:18 am M100 and surrounding area (by Casey Good/Steve Timmons) - May 2020 taken from Fort Davis, Texas.

M100.jpg

Imaging telescopes or lenses:Planewave CDK14
Imaging cameras:FLI Proline 16803
Mounts:Paramount MX+
Filters:L , B , G , R

Dates:June 15, 2020

Frames:
B: 16x300" bin 2x2
G: 16x300" bin 2x2
L: 36x900" bin 1x1
R: 16x300" bin 2x2

Integration: 13.0 hours

www.good-astronomy.com

Casey Good and Steve Timmons, you have posted five great pictures in a row here, and I love them all. But I have to single out the one of galaxy Messier 100 and its surroundings. M100 has long been one of my favorite galaxies. In the small version of your picture, M100 seems to shine softly like a work of art, softly reflecting light blue and yellowish light. Your large image shows a delightful separation of blue and knotty (star formation and star cluster-dominated) parts of M100 and smooth and yellow parts of the galaxy (completely dominated by old stars).

And the fact that M100 is so different from its surroundings - displaying a beautiful spiral shape, and containing large populations of both young and old stars - makes the galaxy stand out even more as a rare cosmic beauty.

I find your image delicate and exquisite. Looking at it makes me happy.

Ann

Hi Ann,

Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a lovely response! I'm glad you enjoyed it so, and these reactions are what make it worth it Thanks again and have a great day!

The Needle Galaxy (NGC 4565). KG Observatory, Julian CA.

While waiting for M16 and The Crescent Nebula to come into view during the June dark cycle, I'd aim for NGC 4565 from 9:15 PM (66°) to 11 PM (44°).

My goal was to get very detailed in the center, thus only keeping the very best subs over a 10-day dark period.

Fortunately this resulted in 16 15-minute luminance subs (4 hours) with FWHM between 1.85" and 2.21". (-:

Skies were very dark (21.7 SQM) so 2-hours of each R, G and B (rather than my normal 3 hours) provided very good color and low noise.

"NGC 4565 (also known as the Needle Galaxy or Caldwell 38) is an edge-on spiral galaxy about 30 to 50 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices.

NGC 4565 is a giant spiral galaxy more luminous than the Andromeda Galaxy.Much speculation exists in literature as to the nature of the central bulge.

In the absence of clear-cut dynamical data on the motions of stars in the bulge, the photometric data alone cannot adjudge among various options put forth. However, its exponential shape suggested that it is a barred spiral galaxy.

NGC 4565 has at least two satellite galaxies, one of which is interacting with it. It has a population of roughly 240 globular clusters, more than the Milky Way."

https://www.astrobin.com/b1l6ax/

ashwindeshpande wrote: ↑Wed Jun 24, 2020 2:27 pm Batmoon!

This was a plan for a long time to capture something interesting crossing the path of the Moon. Everyday, hundreds of fruit bats travel at dusk just after the sunset. I wanted to capture an image of a bat against the moon. With a lot of perseverance and spending much time, I was finally able to photograph the bat passing in the front of the moon. Since the bat was quite fast, you can the blur because of the slow shutter. Also, the bat was flying diagonally from the bottom to the top at angle. Surprisingly, this looks like a shadow of some Bat-shaped ship falling on the moon, but in reality, it is just a beautiful bat passing in front of the Moon!

Details : Shot handheld using Nikon D7000 + Nikkor 200-500 mm lens.

Thanks, that's very well done and really funny!

Your Batmoon reminds me of the Bat signal in the old Batman and Robin TV show from the 1960s.

Ann

A widefield Moon image, two different image versions
http://www.astro-hp.dk/
Copyright: Niels V. Christensen

And a dusted-off version...

https://www.astrobin.com/us1b7f/

The image was taken in April from Stockholm, with 8 inch newtonian telescope and a ccd camera. 

3 hours luminance 3 hours RGB. 
Under almost a full moon! 

Many days of processing and extermination went to achieve a decent colour.

More technical details here;
https://www.astrobin.com/tqkjvu/?nc=user

Greetings
/Firas

IC 1396 wide-field incl. Elephant's Trunk

Credits: www.instagram.com/robin_onderka

Gear: EOS 6D mod (Astronomik L3) + Samyang 135/2
Photographed from: Beskid Mountains, Czech Republic

20 lights: 60" f/2.4 ISO 1600
10 darks, 20 flats, 50 BIAS

SW: Astro Pixel Processor, Photoshop
Main technique: nebulosity enhance using starless luminance mask, star reduction

IC 1396 wide-field by Robin Onderka, on Flickr

Comet C/2017 T2 PANSTARRS Meets Up With Messier 106 by Transient Astronomer, on Flickr

Image Credit and Copyright Grand Mesa Observatory, Terry Hancock, Tom Masterson

Two ISS solar transits of less than one second on June 24th and 25th.

Very good seeing on June 24th, allowing to clearly see the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft that brought the two astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken on May 30th.

The video of the transit: https://youtu.be/Bku76sBWwME

On 25th, a surprise awaits me: the Canadarm2 robotic arm is deployed and holds an "external palette". This palette is to be used by two astronauts the next day (June 26th) during their spacewalk, to exchange batteries.

This is the very first time the Canadarm2 has been photographed during a transit. Its diameter is only 35 cm, or 0,15 arcsecond at the distance of the ISS. I had already filmed it but on a nighttime passage in 2011, holding the astronaut Steve Bowen while repairing an ammonia pump: https://youtu.be/Hc_SFPnk8iM



Larger image: http://www.astrophoto.fr/transit_iss_20200624_fb.jpg

The Western Veil and Pickering's Triangle in HOO

7.5 hours in H-a and OIII at 400mm f/2, RASA 8 + CGEM II

Copyright: Naresh Singh
IG: https://www.instagram.com/theuniverseismetal

The composite of Several shots taken during C2-MAX-C3 of Annular Eclipse. Canon 60D 1/80 200 f/14 (700 mm telescope attached with DSLR) (ND5.0 filter).
Location: Suratgadh Rajasthan India
Photographer : Rahul Ramtekkar, Ahmedabad, India

Image credits and copyright: H-alpha: KPNO 4.0 M telescope (NOAO/AURA/NSF); color: 1.5 M telescope (EABA/UNC); processing: Kfir Simon, Carlos Colazo, Aldo Mottino.

The Needle Galaxy (Natural Version). KG Observatory, Julian CA.

A little softer – a little sharper. (-:

https://www.astrobin.com/40nkgh/B/