Starship Asterisk*

Veil Nebula supernova remnant in a less often used narrowband OHS palette.

Colorful Veil Nebula by Jarmo Ruuth, on Flickr

Processed from Telescope Live Data.

The Reaper
https://i.imgur.com/K4j2Wug.jpg
Copyright: Brent Newton

This is the LDN 673 region shot under Bortle 1 skies of the 2021 Okie-Tex Star Party in Western Oklahoma. I spent 6 nights in total shooting - primarily focusing on Luminance - though the transparency conditions were poor most the week so out of 16 hours total I only used about 13. I found the shape of this nebula reminiscent of the Lovecraftian Reapers from the Mass Effect series (leading to my title).

William Optics Star71-II Petzval APO (344mm f/4.9)
ZWO ASI1600MM-P shot using Gain 76, 1x1 binning, -10C
Lum: 183x120", Red: 69x120", Green: 69x120", Blue: 73x120", compiled and processed in PixInsight

Click to view full size image: Astrobin Link

Annotations available via this page

Also featured as the AAPOD2 for 23 December, 2021

SH2-124
Click on above to enlarge.

Full info & higher resolution @ https://www.kinchastro.com/sh2-124.html

The Cocoon Nebula in HaLRGB

Equipment:
ASI2600MM-Pro
Optolong 2" HaLRGB filters
Orion 8" f/4 Newtonian
Starizona Nexus .75x reducer/cc at f/3
EQ6R-Pro

Image Details:
Ha- 40x300s, gain 100, -10c
L- 100x60s, gain 100, -10c
R- 80x120s, gain 100, -10c
G- 80x120s, gain 100, -10c
B- 80x120s, gain 100, -10c
Total integration: 13 hrs
Dates imaged: 8/17/22-8/18/22
Image location: My backyard in Parker, CO, USA

Acquisition / Edits
Acquired in NINA, Processed in Pixinsight and Photoshop

Astrobin: https://www.astrobin.com/ccyki9/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/colorado_astro/

Images taken on October 25-26, 2019
Two Canon 6D (modified) 47 Lights each, Sigma 35mm Art at f/5.6
Total exposure time: 7 hours and 50 minutes
using darks, flats, bias and a few lights with Cokin Diffuser P-830.
Processed with Pixinsight, cosmetic corrections with Photoshop
Location: Ebenwald (near Vienna), Austria



https://www.stern-bild.at/images/galeri ... otated.jpg Copyright: Helmut Liebhaber
https://stern-bild.at/

CS, Helmut

Eastern Veil Nebula

Equipment:
ASI533MM-Pro
Astrodon 5nm Ha/OIII, RGB filters
Orion 6" f/4 Newtonian
Skywatcher Quattro CC
EQ6R-Pro

Image Details:
Ha- 90x300s, gain 100, -10c
OIII- 80x300s, gain 100, -10c
RGB stars 30x30s, gain 100, -10c
14 hours total integration

Dates imaged: 8/17/22-8/18/22
Image location: My backyard in Parker, CO, USA
Bortle 5 sky

Acquisition / Edits
Acquired in NINA, Processed in Pixinsight and Photoshop

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/colorado_astro

This summer I have been capturing this beautiful nebula that was photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995 and that made the phrase "the pillars of creation" so famous
In this case I have obtained the images through a total capture of 18.5 hours divided into 15-minute photographs for each filter Ha, OIII and SII.
Here are my technical data:
Telescope: Skywatcher Esprit 150 ED
Mount: Paramount ME
CCD: Atik 460EX Mono
Filters: Astrodon HA, SII, OIII 31mm, 5nm
Software: SGpro, TSX for adquisicion, Pixinsight and Photoshop for process
Thanks friends!!!
Messier 16 by Carlos Uriarte, en Flickr

This is a rather obscure, though beautiful, region in the summer sky in the northern hemisphere, Sharpless 86.

Telescope: 14.5" RCOS
Mount: Paramount ME
Camera: SBIG STX-16803 with AO-X
Processing software: Pixinsight and Photoshop
Acquisition software: ACP, Scheduler, TheSkyX Professional Edition, Maxim and Focusmax
Lots of detail, about the object and the processing, are at the webpage linked below (in addition to four different versions--LRGBNB, two ways of doing the Hubble palette, and pure Ha--each in four different resolutions):
Webpage: http://www.de-regt.com/Astronomy/Sharpless_86.htm

Enjoy!

SH2-101 Tulip Nebula/Cygnus X-1 Shockwave (HOO)

Sharpless 101 (specifically Sh2-101) is also known as the Tulip Nebula and is located approximately 6000 light-years away in the constellation of Cygnus (The Swan). Stewart Sharpless first cataloged this rich H II emission region in 1959 in his second catalog of nebulae. Early photographic images of this area resembled a flower, and this gave rise to its common name.

Also in this region is the first black hole ever discovered, Cygnus X-1. First detected in 1964 from an x-ray instrument sent aloft on a sounding rocket, Cygnus X-1 was the brightest x-ray source seen from Earth. In 1971 radio signals were detected and these were used to locate the x-ray source as coming from a star known as HDE 226868. This star is a supergiant but alone, does not have the ability to produce the energetic x-rays seen. It was concluded that HDE 226868 must have a dark companion with the ability to heat gases in the system to the millions of degrees of temperature necessary to produce x-rays. Measures of doppler shift in the spectrum of HDE 226868 allowed the orbits of the star and its companion to be determined and based on the mass required for these observed orbits - and the fact there was no light signature from its companion - it was proposed that Cygnus X-1 was indeed a back hole - potentially the first-ever detected! It is now believed that Cygnus X-1 is pulling gas from its companion towards its event horizon. This spinning superheated disk of gas is the engine that produces the x-rays seen from Earth.

Interesting bit of trivia: in 1974, Kip Throne famously bet Stephen Hawking that Cygnus X-1 was a black hole. In 1990 Hawkings conceded that X-1 was a black hole and Throne won the bet.


Details:
Imaging Telescope: Sky-Watcher Quattro 250P · Stellarvue SV105-3FT
Imaging Cameras: ZWO ASI294MM Pro
Mount: Astro-Physics Mach2 GTO
Filters: Chroma H-alpha 3nm Bandpass 31 mm · Chroma OIII 3nm Bandpass 31 mm
Accessories: Stellarvue SFFR102-3FT · TeleVue 2" Paracorr Type-2 (VIP-2010)
Software: Open PHD Guiding project PHD2 · Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight · Starkeeper.IT Voyager
Frames: Chroma H-alpha 3nm Bandpass 31 mm: 85×300″(7h 5′) bin 1×1, Chroma OIII 3nm Bandpass 31 mm: 101×300″(8h 25′) bin 1×1
Integration: 15h 30′



https://astrob.in/78uhzd/D/

IC 4592 The Blue Horsehead Nebula and Comet K2 PanSTARRS 18 Aug 2022
13- 3 minute subs taken from Bortle 3 skies outside of Limon, Colorado. Imaging started at the end of astronomical twilight at 9:30 pm MDT. The comet was between 26 degrees and 21 degrees elevation. There were some high clouds. ZWO AM5 mount guided, Canon EOS Ra, Sigma 120-300mm lens at 300mm f/3.5, ISO 1600.Post-Processing PixInsight with darks, flats, dark flats, NSG, NoiseXTerminator, Starnet2, Bill Blanshan's pixel math expressions for star reduction, Photoshop.
There are some internal reflections around the stars on the left side due to lens imperfections.
Thank you for your time and consideration

Hershel's image of the upper orion molecular complex by William Ostling, on Flickr

Full write-up here: https://theastroenthusiast.com/hershels ... r-complex/

Stunning new view from ESAs Herschel space observatory of the iconic Horsehead Nebula in the context of its surroundings. The image is a composite of the wavelengths of 70 microns (blue), 160 microns (green) and 250 microns (red), and covers 4.5×1.5 degrees. The image is oriented with northeast towards the left of the image and southwest towards the right.

The Horsehead Nebula resides in the constellation Orion, about 1300 light-years away, and is part of the vast Orion Molecular Cloud complex. The Horsehead appears to rise above the surrounding gas and dust in the far right-hand side of this scene, and points towards the bright Flame Nebula. Intense radiation streaming away from newborn stars heats up the surrounding dust and gas, making it shine brightly to Herschels infrared-sensitive eyes (shown in pink and white in this image).

To the left, the panoramic view also covers two other prominent sites where massive stars are forming, NGC 2068 and NGC 2071.

Extensive networks of cool gas and dust weave throughout the scene in the form of red and yellow filaments, some of which may host newly forming low-mass stars.

Website: https://theastroenthusiast.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_astronomy_enthusiast/

The Sun in h-alpha taken on the morning of Saturday, August 21, 2022. Conditions were very good: seeing (i.e., atmospheric turbulence) good, transparency outstanding, and excellent solar activity (over 200 GB of footage came out). This image depicts the sunspot group AR3078 close to the edge surrounded by beautiful filaments and prominences.
Technical data: Tecnosky 152mm achromatic refractor at 3800 mm focal length with Daystar Quark Chromosphere filter. ZWO ASI 174MM. Mosaic of 3 images.

AR 3078 in H-Alpha - August 21st 2022 by Alessandro Carrozzi, su Flickr

Sh2-174 Valentine Rose Nebula
it is a very faint and old planetary nebula, its white dwarf is displaced. It has a magnitude of 14.74 and I have needed many hours of exposure to complete this image. It is only 9 degrees from polaris. It is located in the constellation Cepheus and is 980 light years away.
To obtain a signal I have needed 85 lights of 900" in Halpha and OIII
Captured from june to august 22
Process HOO palette with Pixinsight and Photoshop
Telescope: Sky-watcher Esprit 150 ed
CCD: Atik 460ex mono
Paramount ME Mount
Captured by SGpro
Filters: Astrodon 5nm 31mm Halpha and OII
Sh2-174 Valentine Rose nebula by Carlos Uriarte, en Flickr

Youtube Astroterrat:https://ytube.io/3Pyw
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carlosuriarte_/
Flickr: https://bityl.co/AzVn
Astrobin: https://www.astrobin.com/users/CarlosUriarte/

A closer look at M 104
Copyright: Jon Talbot
M 104 has always been one of my favorite galaxy’s. I try to image it every few years. It's tough to get a lot of detail within the spiral arms since its very bright and also it doesn't rise very high in the N. Hemisphere so you're always shooting through a lot of atmosphere. Since I upgraded my scope a few years ago I imaged it once but not at the full resolution possible. This year I figured I’d try that. My 6” refractor has a max theoretical resolution of .76 arc seconds using the Dawes limit. My 1x1 bin resolution is .64 arc seconds so I’m well sampled in my typical seeing of around 1.8-2 arc seconds. I shot all my luminance data using very short 60s exposures and RGB using 120sec unguided exposures. Some RGB I shot at 300sec only because I hadn’t changed the automation script yet. In any case the short exposures really helped with retaining pinpoint stars. I ended up with about 2hrs 50min of luminance data which isn’t very deep but M 104 is bright. That combined with the RGB data gave a total exposure time of 11hrs or so. In processing I decided to drizzle the data up. It would provide no increase in resolution at all but provide a more pleasing image scale to work with. The drizzled data was .32 arc sec/pixel and that is the image here. The image is cropped to show only the area around M104. I think this is about the best one can do with this sized aperture. Hope you enjoy it.
Scope: Stellarvue SVX 152T, Camera: ZWO ASI 6200 MM pro, Chroma 50mm LRGB filters.
web link: https://www.starscapeimaging.com/M104_2 ... _2022.html

Smoking pipe of Corona Australis

more information: https://www.astrobin.com/zzt7d2/

Very interesting to see the interstellar dust extends more than 4 degrees of sky
July 26th, 2022
13th Encounter Brazil of Astrofotography, Formosa, Brazil
Author: Le Le

Lens: Canon 200mm EF f2.8
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MM Pro

IC 5070, PELICAN NEBULA
46 hours in SHO

Newton skywatcher 200/800
zwo asi 1600
ioptron GEM 45
Antlia 3NM SHO
https://cdn.astrobin.com/thumbs/0S43Vb- ... muqi8S.jpg


https://www.astrobin.com/6834cf/

Thanks, Nicolas

BUTTERFLY NEBULA - NGC6302



It is a bipolar planetary nebula, with two apparent lobes, located in the constellation of Scorpiun.
I did two different processings, the main image was processed to highlight the nebulosities around it. The top left image, I made a unique processing for the small planetary nebula. I was very happy to be able to get the full curvature with the larger lobe detail.

BEST DETAILS:
https://www.astrobin.com/full/5oarqj/0/

EQUIPMENT:
Esprit 150mm triplet
ASI 6200mc
Mount CEM120
150x300"
100x50"

LOCATION: Munhoz - MG - Brazil
DATES: 07/13/2022 and 08/02/2022

Copyright: Fernando Oliveira de Menezes
(Organizing author of the book Amateur Astrophotography in Brazil)
https://clubedeautores.com.br/livro/ast ... -no-brasil

Southern sky and Southern land by Delberson Tiago de Souza, no Flickr

The Eagle and the Omega by Delberson Tiago de Souza, no Flickr

Etheral gas and dust: Hubble's stunning 3-color mosaic of the Tarantula nebula by William Ostling, on Flickr

Full write-up here: https://theastroenthusiast.com/hubbles- ... la-nebula/
If you want to look at a zoomable version, the gigapan is here: http://www.gigapan.com/gigapans/230324

The Tarantula Nebula is more than a thousand light-years in diameter, a giant star forming region within nearby satellite galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud, about 180 thousand light-years away. Within the Tarantula, intense radiation, stellar winds and supernova shocks from the central young cluster of massive stars, cataloged as R136, energize the nebular glow and shape the spidery filaments. Dark dust lanes obscure some of the ionized gas lending spectacular depth to the space.

If you have any science background or love learning, I really recommend reading the papers about the creation and discoveries of this image:

Paper 1: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013A ... S/abstract

Paper 2: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015A ... C/abstract

When I process Hubble data, there are images that I revisit again and again and again. This is perhaps my favorite region in all of the archives to work on — the sheer magnitude and beauty of this object never ceases to amaze me. Hubble spent years imaging this region – it took nearly 60 orbits!, with a combined exposure time of five straights days (143.08 hours). The result is a spectacular 140.2 megapixel mosaic spanning 100 parsecs across.

It’s hard to do an image of this magnitude justice, but I did my best to process it properly. With each image nearly 2.8 gigbytes, it took hours to do anything, and reaching this final draft took me nearly two weeks! This image is a false-color composite spanning visable and near-infrared wavelengths, allowing me to display the stunning nebulosity and tendrils of dark dust spanning this image.

Website: https://theastroenthusiast.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_astronomy_enthusiast/

Jupiter - The moon Io transiting above the GRS and casting it shadow at the limb on August 23rd and approximately one month from opposition. ( LX200ACF 305mm OTA, CGE Mount, ASI290mm Cmos, PowerMate 2.5x Barlows, Astronomik RGB filter set.)

Target: Sh2-126 in HaLRGB Astrobin: https://www.astrobin.com/lvzyqb
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/colorado_astro
Equipment:
ASI2600MM-Pro
Optolong 2" HaLRGB filters
WO Redcat 51
EQM35-Pro
ZWO EAF
ZWO 2" EFW
Image Details:
Ha-70x300s, gain 100, -10c
L- 60x120s, gain 100, -10c
R- 60x120s, gain 100, -10c
G- 60x120s, gain 100, -10c
B- 60x120s, gain 100, -10c
Total integration: 13.8 hrs
Acquisition / Edits
Acquired in NINA, Processed in Pixinsight and Photoshop

Hi all,

This is my first submissions here and hope it will go well.

I started to photograph the sky at the time of "dinosaurs" with Kodachrome slides... with a C8, while I was a PhD student in France, back in 1990. Coming back to my country (Greece) I was fully dedicated to my field (Biological Oceanography - Study of whales and dolphins) and had not much time for Astrophotography. Two years ago, during the exceptional Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, I took out my 30 years old C8 and realized that lucky imaging, cameras, and technology in general have allowed modern amateur astronomers to make magnificent observations and photos of celestial objects. Three months ago I upgraded to a C14 Edge.

Coming back from a sperm whale expedition and as Jupiter's opposition is approaching, I was eager to photograph the giant planet again. I dedicated all my vacation the last 15 days and nights in chasing good seeing in two consecutive nights, which is very rare where I live (Vouliagmeni, southern suburbs of Athens, Greece). Every night, until the sunset I was capturing Jupiter for 4 hours (and occasionally Saturn) and then I was processing the captures the next day.

On the 21st and 22nd of August I was lucky enough to have good seeing. I started to compose a full map of Jupiter to create an animation of the planet's full rotation. Not even in my deepest dreams, I could even imagine that I would have such a result as the one I am submitting! Tutorials and kind advices by Damian Peach and Christopher Go helped improve my techniques. I am a happy man now!

I used the C14 Edge, Celestron Barlow 1.6x, ASI 290 camera, RGB filters and the software Firecapture, Autostackert!3, Registax, WinJupos and Photoshop. In total, 293 captures (videos) consisting of almost 1.5 million frames (before discarding the worst) were processed to achieve the full map of Jupiter. The photos were taken from my veranda in Vouliagmeni (southern suburbs of Athens), Greece.

The GIF Animation and the full map are found in the following links:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/523 ... 55a9_o.gif

https://www.flickr.com/photos/193268479 ... 309591853/



and just a single frame of the Animated GIF, which is far to big in MBs to insert...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/193268479 ... 309488042/

Thanks a lot for considering my submission.

Best wishes,
Alexandros
--
__________________________________________________________

Dr. Alexandros Frantzis
Scientific director
Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute
Terpsichoris 21
16671 Vouliagmeni,
GREECE
Tel.: +30-210-8960108
e-mail: afrantzis@otenet.gr
website: http://www.pelagosinstitute.gr
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVyp-e ... b0Lr5psk0g
__________________________________________________________

I have just posted my submission regarding a full map and animated rotation of Jupiter, but made the typical mistake in the links...

I would like to edit my post, but cannot find the way.

I upload here the correct links:

The full map:
and just a single frame of the Animated GIF, which is far to big in MBs to insert:
Sorry for this!

Best wishes,
Alexandros

The Head and Heart of The Scorpius