Starship Asterisk*

MINERAL MOON


BEST DETAILS:
https://www.astrobin.com/full/rd8hj7/0/

EQUIPMENT:
ZWO ASI 6200MC COLED
Esprit 150mm
Baader Lunar Filter
Date: 05/14/2024
Location: Munhoz - MG - Brazil

PROCESSING AND CAPTURE: Software: Adobe Photoshop, SharpCap, AutoStakkert AutoStackert and Registax 6.

Copyright: Fernando Oliveira de Menezes
(Organizing author of the book Amadora Astrofotografia no Brasil)
https://clubedeautores.com.br/livro/ast ... -no-brasil

LDN43 - The Cosmic Bat

Copyright: Behyar Bakhshandeh, Carlsbad, CA
http://www.deepskyobjects.com/

Panorama aurores non boréales by David Duarte, sur Flickr

Date : Samedi 11 mai 2024, 1h45
Location : Saint Paul Lès Dax, South West France
Voici le panorama final de cette nuit historique avec ces aurores... non boréales
30 photos x 3s de pose
Canon 5D Mark III
Objectif Sigma 50mm f/1.4 ISO 1600
Traitement des 30 photos dans Autopano Giga
Lightroom & Photoshop

PP 81
(c) P. Winkler

NGC 4945
(c) P. Winkler

NGC 5068
(c) P. Winkler

Active Sun of May 20, 2024
Credit: Hamza Ilyas
https://www.astrobin.com/srue3u/
Date: May 20, 2024
Time: 13:31
Frames: 500
FPS: 11.500
Exposure per frame: 7 ms
Locations: Home Garden, London, United Kingdom
Imaging Scope: Lunt LS80MT DS
Equipment:
Cameras ZWO ASI1600MM Pro
Mounts: Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro
Accessories: Celestron Universal 2x Barlow · ZWO EAF
Software: Adobe Photoshop · AstroSharp Ltd SharpCap · Emil Kraaikamp AutoStakkert! · Filip Szczerek ImPPG (Image Post-Processor) · Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight

Doodad in tomato soup - LDN 234


Doodad in tomato soup - LDN 234 by .zombi., on Flickr

Imaging telescopes: Takahashi FSQ-106EDXIII
Imaging cameras: Moravian G3-16200EC
Accessories: Reducer-QE 0.73X
Mounts: Sky-Watcher NEQ6-Pro
Software: N.I.N.A. · PixInsight · Adobe Photoshop

Frames:
Blue: 13×60″ (13′) bin 2×2
Green: 14×60″ (14′) bin 2×2
Red: 13×60″ (13′) bin 2×2
H-alpha 7nm: 44×600″ (7h 20′)

Photographic technique: HaRGB

Integration: 8h
Bortle Dark-Sky Scale: 5/6

Location: Masłomiąca
Dates: 05.2024

Description:
The main source of color in the photograph is the gradient map plus a bit of color from RGB.

Image Credit & Copyright: Przemysław Ząbczyk

Links:
http://www.astrobin.com/users/zombi/
https://www.astropolis.pl/tags/zombi/

AR3664 Mosaic B&W by FabricioBS, no Flickr

AR3664 Mosaic by FabricioBS, no Flickr

AR3664 Mosaic

In May 2024, there was a series of powerful solar storms that produced auroras at much wider latitudes than usual, both in the Northern and the Southern Hemisphere.

On Sunday, May 12th, I photographed the active region that generated these auroras (AR3664), from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

This "picture" is actually a mosaic of 4 frames processed from the best of 2,685 solar images, magnified around 250 times.

The original exposures are monochromatic to capture a higher-resolution image in the visible light spectrum of hydrogen-alpha. The images are in negative, one of them artificially yellow-orange colored.

Equipment:

Sky-Watcher Evolux 82ED
Daystar Quark Chromosphere
ZWO ASI 178 MM
ZWO AM3
AS!3; InPPG; Affinity Photo
357 out of 2.685 frames (0.027s; gain 81) in 4 frames mosaic

AR3664 - Mosaic B&W by FabricioBS, no Flickr

AR3664 - Mosaic by FabricioBS, no Flickr

AR3664 - Mosaic

In May 2024, there was a series of powerful solar storms that produced auroras at much wider latitudes than usual, both in the Northern and the Southern Hemisphere.

On Sunday, May 12th, I photographed the active region that generated these auroras (AR3664), from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

This "picture" is actually a mosaic of 3 frames processed from the best of 2.046 solar images, magnified around 250 times.

The original exposures are monochromatic to capture a higher-resolution image in the visible light spectrum of hydrogen-alpha. The images are in negative, one of them artificially yellow-orange colored.

Equipment:

Sky-Watcher Evolux 82ED
Daystar Quark Chromosphere
Svbony 0.5x reducer
ZWO ASI 178 MM
ZWO AM3
AS!3; InPPG; Affinity Photo
376 out of 2.046 frames (0.007s; gain 35) in 3 frames mosaic

I would like to show you this shot taken on May 21st in the Cappadocia region of Turkey, it shows a hot air balloon passing in front of the solar disk full of its current spots.

The shot was taken at 6.00 in the morning with a Canon EOS-R mirrorless camera, a 100-400 telephoto lens with an Astrosolar filter for solar observation

The title is :

Flying towards the sun


WWW.OTTAVIOGIANNELLA.COM

Barnard 276 - dusty, dark and very cold



Barnard 276 is an impressive Dark Nebula in Ophiuchus in the southern hemisphere.
Dark nebulae consists of interstellar matter (gas and dust) and absorbs the light of stars behind them.
B 276 is an active star forming region and it's very cold there: about -260 °C.

Large images and more infos: https://www.skypixels.at/b276_IAS_info.html

https://www.skypixels.at/bilder/b276_IAS_z60_crop.jpg

Image credits:
Herbert Walter
https://www.skypixels.at/index.html
IAS International Amateur Observatory
https://www.ias-observatory.org/index.php/en/

NGC6888 RGB-HOO

The Crescent Nebula is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, about 5000 light-years away from Earth. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1792.

Copyright: Michael Taivalmaa

Cygnus Loop
Full version : https://cdn.astrobin.com/thumbs/0CrTM6_ ... Of1CZ1.png

The “Cygnus Loop" is the last visible remnants of a supernova that exploded around 10,000 years ago, “only” 1400/1800 light-years away.
The proximity of the supernova, combined with the speed at which matter was ejected and the time elapsed since the explosion, make the “Loop” the largest supernova remnant observable from Earth today, spreading out over some ten square degrees - the equivalent of a dozen full moons!

Takahashi TSA102 - AZEQ6 - Atik Cameras Atik16200
Ha : 100 x 600s bin1
OIII : 100 x 300s bin2
RGB : 180 x 300s bin2
28/07 - 10/08/2021 - Corsica & Fouras (France)
Pixinsight & PS

Copyright: Jean-Baptiste Auroux
https://millenniumphoton.com/
https://www.astrobin.com/users/Jean-Baptiste_Paris/

https://cdn.astrobin.com/thumbs/0CrTM6_ ... tJF4Yj.png

A collaboration between Christian Sasse and I.
This image consists of just over two hours of exposure with a Planewave CDK 17 telescope and a ZWO 6200MM camera shot at Bin 2x2 from Siding Spring Observatory Australia.

Dead Mans Chest NGC 6520 by Blake Estes, on Flickr

Aurora Australis and Milky Way

www.instagram.com/max.nti/
Copyright: Max Inwood

Date: 11 May 2024
Location: Glentanner, New Zealand (43 south latitude)

On May 11th (NZT) the active sunspot region AR3664 produced the most incredible aurora display I have ever seen. Color was clearly visible to the eye, and aurora was occurring even to the north of my location.

I captured this image as a full sky panorama during the event, with the Milky Way near zenith.

A SAR arc can be see wrapping around the back of the Milky Way, near Aquila. Also look out for the two Magellanic Clouds, barely visible through the bright aurora.

Higher resolution: https://www.flickr.com/photos/199702830 ... ateposted/

Sun Halo over Freedom Tower (One World Trade Center), New York

I wanted to share the lucky capture of the Sun Halo over the Freedom Tower on May 26, 2024, and it just lasted for 15-20 minutes. I was doing solar imaging from my apartment, I didn't notice the Halo then. While winding up with my equipment after half an hour, I was drawn to the big Navy Ship leaving NYC (https://tinyurl.com/2peav76w). I started taking pictures of it and immediately noticed a full circular 22-degree Sun Halo around 10:53 AM EDT. Panicking it would disappear soon, I captured a bunch of images on my iPhone. The sun was pretty high up ~58 degrees and I had to use a wide-angle lens iPhone to capture the Freedom Tower & the sun with the full halo in one picture.



Weather at the time of imaging: It was a pleasant sunny morning with a temperature around 66F. There were lots of high clouds as the transparency wasn't that great.

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Tech Specs (For Sun Halo Image):

Camera Body: iPhone 13 Pro Max
Camera Lens: Ultra-Wide Camera - 13mm F1.8

Focal Length: 14mm
Focal Ratio/Aperture: F1.8
ISO Setting: ISO 25
Exposure Time: 1/6135s
Date: 05/26/2024
Time: 10:53 AM EDT
Location: Jersey City, New Jersey

I've seen numerous sun halos on my trips to Canada, California, and Upstate New York but was never lucky to capture it from my home, and that too in front of the Freedom Tower is something very special and I'll cherish it for a long time.

Thanks for stopping by my post and taking the time to review the image and the description!

Thanks & Regards,
Gowrishankar Lakshminarayanan
Member of AAA, NY (http://www.aaa.org/)
Published in Astronomy Magazine
TWANight, Earthsky.org, Space.com, YourESA (ESA in Instagram) Contributor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/astro.gordonfreeman/

Waxing Gibbous Moon, Earthshine, KP-9 Northern Lights at Moonset

I've been a bit late in submitting my pics for the recently concluded Aurora show that lightened lower latitudes in the USA on May 10, 2024, when the Geomagnetic storm reached G5 (Severe to Extreme) thanks to the sunspot AR 3664 emitting CMEs along with Class-X solar flares, triggering KP-9 Aurora that enabled people in New York to view this wonderful night sky spectacle which is a rarity at such a low latitude of 42.95 degrees.

I was curious to see if I could capture the moon with its earth shine by doing a long exposure and in the process capture the Aurora in the backdrop, to my surprise I did get to capture all three elements.

Location of Shoot: Ashokan Reservoir Promenade, Olivebridge, NY
Lat/Long: 41.947847, -74.186388
Date/Time of Shoot: May 10, 2024 10:38 PM EDT, 10:54 PM EDT

Waxing Gibbous Moon, Earthshine, Parallel Beams of Aurora	Waxing Gibbous Moon, Earthshine, Aurora at Moonset

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Tech Specs:
Camera Body: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
Camera Lens: Canon EF 100 mm F2.8 L Lens Macro

First Image:
Focal Length: 100mm
Focal Ratio/Aperture: F4.0
ISO Setting: ISO 800
Exposure Time: 1.6 sec
Date: 05/10/2024
Time: 10:38 PM EDT
Location: Ashokan Reservoir Promenade, Olivebridge, NY

Second Image:
Focal Length: 100mm
Focal Ratio/Aperture: F4.0
ISO Setting: ISO 800
Exposure Time: 4.0 sec
Date: 05/10/2024
Time: 10:54 PM EDT
Location: Ashokan Reservoir Promenade, Olivebridge, NY

Thanks for stopping by my post and taking the time to review the image and the description!

Thanks & Regards,
Gowrishankar Lakshminarayanan
Member of AAA, NY (http://www.aaa.org/)
Published in Astronomy Magazine
TWANight, Earthsky.org, Space.com, YourESA (ESA in Instagram) Contributor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/astro.gordonfreeman/

Magellanic Clouds with Villarica Volcano in Chile.
Copyright: Marcelo Maturana Rodríguez (@matuutex)
Location: Pucón, Aracania Region, Chile
Date: 13 May 2024
Instagram: @matuutex
Nikon d5600, Tokina lens 14/20mm (14mm) f2 iso 2500 20 segs

This capture was made in the Villarrica national park, 10 km from the city of Pucón, in the ninth region in the south of Chile, the actively erupting volcano named Villarrica or in the native peoples Ruka Pillán, or house of the pillán (spirit ), is a stratovolcano of 2947 meters above sea level. high, adjacent to lakes Villarrica and Calafquén, it is one of the most active in South America and has an almost perfect conical shape.

In the photograph we can see the Magellanic cloud aligned with the active eruption of the Rukapillan volcano (Villarrica) where its incandescence welcomes the constellations, we can also appreciate the green airglow present in the scene as a result of australis auroras for days previous.

Magellanic Clouds with Villarrica Volcano in Chile. by Marcelo Maturana, en Flickr

STARLINK-2288 Passover, Polaris & Northern Lights

I wanted to share the composite images of STARLINK-2288 satellite Passover just below the Polaris and above the Northern Lights facing North to North East on May 10, 2024, from Upstate, New York.

STARLINK-2288 Passover with Polaris, Northern Lights

Location of Shoot: Ashokan Reservoir Promenade, Olivebridge, NY
Lat/Long: 41.947847, -74.186388
Date/Time of Shoot: May 10, 2024, 11:26 PM EDT, 11:30 PM EDT

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While reviewing the Timelapse frames I found something similar to ISS flying from North to NorthEast. Curious enough after doing some Google search found out that there’s this neat website called in-the-sky.org that allows you to review Satellite Passovers on the celestial dome for any date and time. This Passover that I captured was between 11:27 pm to 11:30 pm EDT on May 10th at Ashokan Reservoir with the highest magnitude of 5.1 as per heavens-above.com. Though the actual Passover started a little bit early at 11:26 PM EDT, a few clouds over the horizon obscured this passage.

Close inspection of satellite trajectories during these times helped me narrow down to STARLINK-2288 and I confirmed the passover from heavens-above.com to match my images to what shows there.

It was fun research but at the same time I was startled to see there are so many STARLINK satellites roaming around our planet, it’s beyond saturated.

You can see the Starlink-2288 entering close to the North horizon through Auriga, passing through Camelopardalis, entering Cepheus, and disappearing just after that into Earth's shadow. Polaris is easy to locate in this picture and it's right above Cepheus.

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Verification Images on in-the-sky.org & heavens-above.com:

in-the-sky.org chart	heavens-above.com chart

Verification Links on in-the-sky.org:

1. Visit the website for the above lat/long. This URL should do it. Link
2. Change the date to May 10, 2024 and the time to 23:30 EDT
3. Orient the map to see the North to North East celestial dome and make sure you see the constellation Cepheus
4. You should see STARLINK-2288 inside Cepheus and if you click on the current location of the time slider and then use the left and right arrow keys, you should be able to move the time in increments of a few seconds and this will show you STARLINK-2288 disappearing in Earth's shadow at 11:30 PM EDT

Verification Links on heavens-above.com : Direct Link

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Tech Specs:
Camera Body: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Camera Lens: Canon EF 16-35 mm F2.8 L II Lens

Focal Length: 16mm
Focal Ratio/Aperture: F4.0
ISO Setting: ISO 800
Exposure Time: 8.0 sec
Date: 05/10/2024
Time: 11:26 pm to 11:30 pm EDT
Location: Ashokan Reservoir Promenade, Olivebridge, NY

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Post Processing: This image is a composite of 13 images taken between 11:26 pm EDT to 11:30 pm EDT on May 10, 2024. The images were initially processed in Lightroom Classic with the same post-processing settings and exported to Adobe Photoshop 2024 as a stack of layers. I wanted to keep the stars sharp and not let them trail, so I just ensured I only stacked the path of STARLINK-2288 Passover. The base image was taken at 11:26 pm EDT which commences the first sight of STARLINK-2288 rising.

Thanks for stopping by my post and taking the time to review the image and the description!

Thanks & Regards,
Gowrishankar Lakshminarayanan
Member of AAA, NY (http://www.aaa.org/)
Published in Astronomy Magazine
TWANight, Earthsky.org, Space.com, YourESA (ESA in Instagram) Contributor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/astro.gordonfreeman/

M 53 and NGC 5053 in Coma Berenices


(Thumb only)

>>>High Resolution: https://astrophoto-hannover.de/download ... s_Horn.jpg

M53 consists of several hundred thousand stars, is approximately 60,000 light-years away, has a diameter of around 200 light-years, and an incredible age of 13.2 billion years.
NGC 5053 mainly consists of old, metal-poor stars. As recently as 1995, it was considered the most metal-poor globular cluster in the Milky Way. The chemical abundances of the stars in NGC 5053 are more similar to those in the dwarf galaxy than to those in the Milky Way halo. Along with the kinematics of the globular cluster, this suggests that NGC 5053 may have been stripped from the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy. The star density is very low: 3,500 stars are spread over a diameter of about 160 light-years.
There is a tidal bridge connecting M53 with NGC 5053, indicating that the two may have interacted in the past.

Skywatcher 200 1000 @750mm f/3.75
Starizona Nexus Coma Corrector & Reducer
EQ6-R Pro
ZWO ASI 2600 MC Pro (Gain 100, Offset 18, -10°)
RGB (Baader UV/IR Cut Filter): 139 × 30″
Total: 1h 34′ 30″
Bortle 5
Darks, Flats, Darkflats, Dithering
N.I.N.A., Guiding: ZWO ASI 120MM & PHD2
Astropixelprocessor, Photoshop, Pixinsight

Date: May 15, 2024

Location: Hannover, Germany (Bortle 5-6)

Contact:
Website: www.astrophoto-hannover.de
Instagram: @astrophoto_hannover
Astrobin: https://www.astrobin.com/users/Groovynight/
E-Mail: info@astrophoto-hannover.de

Click on the preview to open up larger version for the animation of post flare loops.



--

On May 27th there was an X-class flare (X2.9) peaking around 08:08 UTC (10:08 in Finnish time). At that time I was working, but took a lunch break after 11 in Finnish time and looking at the GONG I decided that I am gonna use some time to image and eat later. The actual flare was long gone but there were quite active post flare loops hanging around so why not go for an animation. I got this material between 11:30 and 12:04 in Finnish time with my 102 mm grab & go H-alpha setup.

I recorded 15 sec videos at around 156 fps (about 2300 frames per video) and took 10 sec breaks between the video captures. Total elapsed time in real life was 34 minutes until I had my laptop disk full of data and could not record more. Exposure time was 6.3 ms and gain 125 (31 % in Firecapture). 81 videos (414 GB of 8 bit SER, about 188 000 frames in total) were taken and data is calibrated with flats in post processing. Some flickering is seen due to thin clouds but nothing major so I did not try to clear that out. Best 400 frames were stacked for each frame of the animation.

Full size video is 3072 x 1198 pixels and shows different post processing at the same time with Earth added as scale.

Location: Espoo, Finland
Link to AstroBin: https://www.astrobin.com/2figmm/
Equipment: Baader D-ERF (110 mm), 102 mm f/7 doublet refractor, Quark chromosphere, tilt adapter, ZWO ASI174MM. Mount SW SolarQuest on a carbon fiber tripod.
Date: May 27th 2024
Time: 11:30 - 12:04 Finnish time
Capture: Firecapture, 81 videos, each 15 seconds at 155 fps, then 10 sec delay before next video.
Processing: Stacking 400 best frames in Autostakkert4!, preprocessing with ImPPG (LR deconvolution) then to Photoshop (additional sharpening via USM and high pass filters + building animation from frames + adjusting e.g. exposure and curves & other tuning)
Outcome: Combined two different processing + BW and colorized versions into a single video in mp4 format (gif also possible)

The Plough, an Aurora and a Meteor - 10-05-24

Seeing an aurora from my home bortle 7 location seemed like a pipe dream. Capturing a meteor at the same exact time must have meant it was a very very lucky day.

This was in fact one of two I had seen during the event. The first one I had seen stream across my camera screen as I was making slight adjustments, and was literally 1 second away from capturing it. Upon reviewing all my video footage luck struck again, I had captured a different one, fairly slow moving but within the field of view of the Western feature I was recording in real time.

It's always wonderful seeing meteors, seeing one during an aurora, well, there are no words...

Image and the real time video can be seen here https://flic.kr/p/2pU5PmC:

The Starfish

Today’s submission is titled The Starfish. I have attempted to take this photograph for three years during my annual trips to Tofino, British Columbia. The first year, I couldn’t find any starfish at all. In the second year, I found some and made an image, but the starfish were so small that you would need a telescope to see them. This past year, after a week of searching, I found a few on my last night of the trip. These starfish were attached to a rock that is at a popular surfing spot, so the waves are very active. To get the foreground, I shot at blue hour and used my Sony A7R(36mp) camera with a 20mm f1.8 lens to get up close to the starfish. The tide was coming in fast, and the starfish was already half submerged, so I worked fast to get the shot. I then set up my star tracker on the safety of the rocky cliffs nearby, shot 15 images of the Milky Way, and stacked them together. The two shots were then combined. I waited until my birthday in May to edit the photo as a gift to myself.

Gear Used:
Sony A7R (full spectrum modified)
Sony 20mm f18
Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer
Kolar Vision UV/IR Cut with H-Alpha Pass
Taken on July 16th, 2023

Galactic Arch in the Black Triangle of Quercy (France)

Copyright: Julien Looten




For the first complete arch of the summer Milky Way (our galaxy), I take you to the Regional Natural Park of Causses du Quercy, located in the Southwest of France. Currently, the weather and the moon prevent such images from being taken again. This region is often nicknamed "the Black Triangle of Quercy" because it is renowned for offering some of the most beautiful night skies in France, and it takes the shape of a triangle in satellite view. Indeed, the near absence of light pollution, due to the small number of towns and villages in the vicinity as well as the local policy of turning off street lights, allows for admiring and capturing the Milky Way in all its splendor.

To create this 180° panorama that reveals the arch of the Milky Way, around fifty photographs were necessary. On the left, you can distinguish the constellation Cassiopeia, in the center and at the top of the arch is the constellation Cygnus with many red nebulae, and on the right, towards the horizon, the bulge (or "center") of our galaxy as well as the nebulae forming the Rho Ophiuchi complex.

Connoisseurs will easily recognize the three stars forming the "summer triangle": Deneb in the constellation Cygnus, Vega at the top center, and Altair below the arch of the Milky Way. This summer triangle is reminiscent of the name of the territory where the photo was taken, the Black Triangle of Quercy.

Under the left arm of the Milky Way, some magenta glows appear on the horizon... These might be faint aurora borealis glows, but this remains to be confirmed.

In the foreground, a "cazelle," a small traditional dry stone hut typical of certain regions of France, especially the Southwest. Used as temporary shelters for shepherds or farmers when they worked in the fields or on the hills, these huts are built without mortar, forming solid and durable walls.

Technical Details:
Panorama of 47 photos, taken with a Canon 6D MK1 Astrodon, Sigma 28mm f1.4 (set to f1.6), 13s exposure. (No stacking, no tracking)

Thanks in advance!

https://linktr.ee/julienlootenphotographie