Starship Asterisk*

Little Planet with the Milky Way
Copyrights: David Forteza Azcona The Soul Nebula
Copyrights: Juan I. Jimenez Aquariids meteor shower
Copyrights: Luocheng Turn left for the Milky Way
Copyrights: Dan Oakley The Human Element
Copyrights: Maxwell Palau Spectacular Solar Halo from Mexico City
Copyrights: Juan Miguel Castillo Navarro Trifid Nebula, M21 and the plane
Copyrights: Roger Corrêa The core of Milky way
Copyrights: Sergi Luque NGC 7023 - Iris
Copyrights: Robert Fields Xarco beach and Milky Way
Copyrights: Jerónimo Esquerdo Galiana Mammatus Clouds
Copyrights: Ritesh Bafna

The Sombrero Galaxy

This is an interesting object that really seems to attract attention. The Sombrero Galaxy, also known as M104 or NGC 4594 is located in the constellation Virgo. It’s smaller than our galaxy, measuring 50,000 light years across. It has a very large central bulge and an incredible dust lane in its inclined disk. This is where it gets its name from as it has an appearance of a sombrero.

Sombrero Galaxy LRGB 2015 by Terry Robison, on Flickr

Equipment Used:

Telescope: 10 inch RCOS, F9 Ritchey-Chrétien configuration
Mount: Astro-Physics AP-900 Mount
Camera: SBIG STL-11000 CCD (-20 C)
Image scale: 0.83"/pix
Processing: CCDStack and Photoshop

NGC2736 Pencil nebula and GUM23 in Vela constellation from Blesfontein farm, South Africa: Equipment: Canon FD 300/2.8 lens, ATIK 460, Baader filters, Vixen GP mount
Mosaic of 2 fields 8x3min R,G,B, 12x10min Ha, OIII each.
Copyright : Evzen Brunner

NGC6188 in Ara constellation from Blesfontein farm, South Africa: Higher resolution:http://s6.postimg.org/li53j0d01/NGC6188_fin_1600px.jpg
Equipment: Canon FD 300/2.8 lens, ATIK 460, Baader filters, Vixen GP mount
Taken at May 11 to 13, exposures 8x3min R,G,B, 13x10min Ha, 24x10min OIII
Copyright : Evzen Brunner

Elephant trunk Nebula
http://www.astrowimp.com
Copyright: Tim Christensen
LRGB data 6.5 hours total

Centaurus A is the fifth brightest galaxy in the sky and located in the constellation of Centaurus. Perhaps is most unique feature is that incredible dust lane that runs across its middle. Like many galaxies, Centaurus A contains a supermassive black hole. This is responsible for a giant jet blasting away from its centre. The bright central bulge and unique dust lane are great targets for amateur visual astronomy observations as it can be seen in finder scopes and large binoculars. If you are lucky enough to get to a very dark location with the right conditions, it is visible to the naked eye. However, to truly study all of the wonderful details within, astrophotography is the weapon of choice.

This image was taken from Heathcote, Vic. Australia. It is colour image combining Luminance, Red, Green, and Blue filtered light.

Image center ...... RA: 13 25 28.350 Dec: -43 00 58.52
Focal Length....... 2300.00 mm
Pixel size ........ 9.00 um
Resolution ........ 0.82 arcsec/pix

Instruments
Telescope: 10" Ritchey-Chrétien
Camera: SBIG STL-11000 Mono
Mount: Astro-Physics AP-900
Software: CCDStack, Photoshop.
Image Date: 17 May 2015

3 Hours, 33 Min for Lum Channel
1 Hour, 25 Min for each RGB channel

Terry

Centaurus-A by Terry Robison, on Flickr