Starship Asterisk*

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Mosaïc of 2 pics taken with an objective Canon of 200mm, open at f/d=1.8, an EOS body 7D baader at 800iso. 10X3min= 30minutes each.

jérôme ASTREOUD (FRANCE)

Some belated comments here.

Chapdelaine, thanks for processing the Hubble data of globular cluster NGC 1049 in the Fornax Dwarf Galaxy, and thank you so much for showing us an image of the Fornax Dwarf Galaxy itself, so that we can see for ourselves how remarkable it is that such an itty bitty dwarf galaxy would sport such a brilliant globular cluster!

Ignacio Diaz Bobillo, thank you so much for that great image of M96 and M95 awash in the reflected orange light of brilliant Mars. It is so interesting, too, to se how SN 2012aw has changed color so radically since it was discovered. In the first pictures the supernova was noticeably blue, but in your picture it is clearly yellowish. This behaviour is to be expected from supernovae - they usually change color from blue to red - although I think the color change was rapid in this case. Anyway, your picture is hugely interesting! Thanks!

Marco Lorenzi, what a lovely Lambda Centauri Nebula! I love this particular nebula. Lambda Centauri itself is a nice bright blue star, although not amazingly ultra-blue (it belongs to spectral class B9). But the nebula is lit up by a fantastic grouping of O-type stars. According to my software, there are at least five O-type stars here, and there may be more. And your image is wonderful!

Lynn Hilborn and Reinhold Wittich, thanks! You have both photographed impressive giant spiral M106 and some of the other galaxies nearby. Special thanks to Lynn for naming NGC 4217. Lynn, you also bring out the fact that NGC 4217 is a yellowish galaxy. (It might have looked a bit bluer if we had seen it face on.) The small elongated dwarf galaxy next to M106, NGC 4248, is bluish in your image, and my software confirms that its color is relatively bluish. You have also photographed two interacting distant galaxies (at about 4 o'clock), NGC 4231 and 4232. According to Principal Galaxy Catalog these two galaxies are about 330 million light-years away and quite bright. They also look quite blue to me, so I would think that they are forming a lot of new stars as a result of their interaction.

Reinhold Wittich, your image is quite lovely, too. The details are sharp, the colors beautiful, the composition is very fine. Tell me something, though. In your image, the small elongated dwarf galaxy NGC 4248 next to M106 has a brilliant reddish spot at the end of a bar-like structure. I couldn't see that reddish spot in Lynn Hilborn's image. However, the red spot may be real. It could be a large emission nebula situated at the end of the bar of NGC 4248. And indeed, strongly barred galaxies often show vigorous star formation at the end of their bars. However, I'm curious. The red spot might be a bright emission nebula, or it might possibly be some sort of defect. What do you think, Reinhold?

Lorenzo Comolli, I'm amazed at your photographic Messier Marathon carried out during a single night!

Kerry-Ann Lecky Hepburn, that's a beautiful Orion Nebula!

Lorand Fenyes, thanks for the galaxies! They look fine.

Oh, Velimir Popov, I love your blue, blue Iris Nebula!

John Gleason, that's a richly detailed image of the Vela supernova remnant. That aqua color looks just like OIII emission, which of course it is!

Paolo Pinciaroli, thanks for photographing one of my favorite galaxies, M94! I love that brilliant blue inner ring. You have brought it out beautifully!

messier63, I like how Comet Garradd looks green, even though galaxies M81 and M82, with their lower surface brightness, look colorless in your image.

Rothkko, I guess that is the Sun? It looks broodingly impressive in your image.

Rafael Defavari, wow, six Saturnian moons! Titan at lower left is the one one I recognize. Saturn looks good too.

Marco Lorenzi, here is that "ghost" again! I can see its V-shaped smile and one or possibly two eyes looking at us, as it is raising one of its arms to scare us! No, really, I can see that the raised arm is really the cometary globule. Good image!

Thanks to everyone who contributed images here!

Ann

Ann wrote:Rothkko, I guess that is the Sun? It looks broodingly impressive in your image. Ann

Gracias, Ann. Sí, es el Sol... desconocía el nombre de la mancha solar para haber titulado la fotografía con ella, y preferí no poner título. Saludos. // Thank you, Ann. Yes, is the Sun... it did not know the name of sunspot to have titled the picture with her, and preferred not headlining. Best regards