Starship Asterisk*

Sunrises from Solstice through Equinox to Solstice Camera: point and shoot
Location: Kolozsvár, RO, EU
Copyright: VNP

In fact these are suntrails/startrails showing the projection of the latitudes: 23N, equator and 23S. It amazed me how the curvature of the Sun's path revealed what season it is.

I used a pocket camera (Canon A800) powered by the CHDK firmware, and welding glass as a solar filter. I mounted the camera, made a picture well before sunrise, put on the filter and let the intervalometer do its job until the sun got out of the field of view.


Top row: June 22, 2013; March 20, 2013; December 26, 2013 - each with accurate background, slightly different camera location and different attitude
Middle row: images merged by eye, didn't use panorama software because the camera location changed ==> loose accuracy
Bottom row: same as the middle row but with artificial sky and uniform disk colors ==> loose accuracy

Melotte 15 in the Heart. Heart Nebula (IC 1805).
Copyright: César Cantú

NGC 7293 (Helix Nebula) in HaRGB
Full-size/details: http://jeffjastro.com/dso/NGC7293_28Sep13.htm
Copyright: Jeff Johnson (http://jeffjastro.com)
***Thank you for looking***

Sh2-124 - Hubble Palette
http://www.istarion.net
Copyright: Matts Sporre
Sh2-124 - Artificial Color
http://www.istarion.net
Copyright: Matts Sporre Here I have combined the narrowband data to simulate a "normal" RGB image. As can be expected (since the OIII data is very weak compared to the Ha data) the image will be dominantly red.


Sh2-124 - Red and Blue
http://www.istarion.net
Copyright: Matts Sporre Here I have assigned the narrowband data to "correct" color channels (Ha and SII to the red channel, OIII to the blue channel and OIII to the green channel) similar to the artificial color image, but in addition the OIII data in the blue channel has been stretched to emphasis the OIII regions much in the same manner as for a Hubble composition. Thus the red represents Ha/SII regions and blue represents OIII regions.



There does not seem to be much written about Sh2-124 on the Web.

Galaxymap.org says "Although very little appears in the scientific literature on the mysterious HII region Sh 2-124, located some distance to the west of the Cep OB1 association, recent detailed hydrogen-alpha imaging done for the IPHAS project reveals the structure of this violin-shaped nebula in spectacular detail."

On sharplesscatalog Dean Salman writes "I tried the OIII to see if a narrowband was possible, and there just simply is no OIII in this object". However this is not quite true you just need to gather a lot of data. I had to expose for roughly eight hours at 3x3 binning, correspoinding to 72hrs of data at 1x1 binning (for both OIII and SII), in order to get a decent SNR.

BR
Matts

Venus after sunset

http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_acubens/11731488885/

Nikon D5100
1x13s
iso 1250
18mm
f3.5
12/31/2013
00:42 UT
El Salvador, Central America

By. Sergio Emilio Montúfar Codoñer
semc_@live.com
smontufar247@yahoo.com

NGC 2174 Monkey Head Nebula HaRGB and HST palette.
Taken with Officina Stellare Veloce RH 200( f/3) and SBIG STL 11000 M camera.

Exposure times: Ha: 6x20 mins, SII: 6x20 mins, OIII:6x20 mins, RGB 4x5 mins each colour.

Better quality you can find in my gallery : http://www.astrofun.pl

Quadrantids meteor shower Time: 2014/1/3 18:58-21:33 UTC
Location: Yushan National Park, Taiwan
Optics: Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM -> f/4.0
Camera: modified Canon 5D2
Exposure: 30s at ISO6400

星天日和
https://www.facebook.com/redscosky

Green Flash

f5.6
1x 1/500s
iso 100
55mm

http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_acubens/11731759823/

By. Sergio Montúfar

M78 reflection nebula in Orion

M78 image
Copyright: André van der Hoeven (http://www.astro-photo.nl) / Maximo Ruiz (http://astromodelismo.es/)

Luminance:
Telescope: TEC140
Camera: QSI583 with astrodon L-filter
Exposures: 62x600s and 8x300s (11 hours)

Color:
Camera: Canon 50D (cooled)
Telescope: Orion optics CT8
Exposures: 25x720s (5 hours)

First Northern light of the year
http://astrophotography.fr/
Copyright: Jean-Luc Dauvergne
January 1st, the Kp index was between 3 and 4. I've took this pictures near Tromsø in Norway. The show was amazing ! Happy new year to APOD.

M46 and Planetary Nebula NGC 2438 in Puppis showing a system of three ejecta shells
Copyright: Michael Sidonio

iridiscence, polarized filter

Near Opposition Jupiter with Io and Ganymede
http://astromaphilli14.blogspot.com/201 ... -with.html
Copyright: Michael A. Phillips

Comet Lovejoy (Dec 24th. 2013)
Copyrights: Damian Peach Comet Lovejoy (Dec 28th. 2013)
Copyrights: Damian Peach Comet Lovejoy is Spectacular in the Morning Sky! 12-28-2013
Copyrights: John Chumack

Aurora
Copyrights: Torbjörn Tapani Gal 110-13 and vdB 158
Copyrights: Bob Franke Larger version: http://bf-astro.com/APOD/gal110-13big.jpg

Dissected Sun 2013
Copyrights: Álvaro Ibáñez Pérez Winter Moon
Copyrights: Dani Caxete Aurora Fireworks
Copyrights: Göran Strand

Hubble Sees Cloudy Super-Worlds with Chance for More Clouds (Artist Impression)
Artwork Credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)
An Article: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archiv ... s/2014/06/ Milky Way over Yunnan Astronomical Observatory
Copyrights: Jeff Dai Simeis147
Copyrights: Maurizio Cabibbo

A Beautiful Flower of Sagittarius

Copyright: Ivan Eder, www.astroeder.com
Image, and detalis: http://www.astroeder.com/m20-21_eder_en.html

Subject: IC410 The Tad Poles (imaged in Ha, OIII, SII + RGB)
Copyrights: James Collins

Larger image URL:
http://jimstar11.com/IC410_apod-66.jpg
Web Site: Meadow View Observatory
http://jimstar11.com/

M42, M43 and Trapezium
More info: http://www.stefanofocosi.altervista.org/M43_2013.html
Hi-res: http://www.stefanofocosi.altervista.org ... 013_Hi.jpg
Copyright: Stefano Focosi

NGC 896 & IC 1795 - Nebular Complex in Cassiopea

Narrow-Band Mapped Colors Image of a big nebular cloud in Cassiopea rich of gas and dust structures.

Authors: M.Angelini-F.Antonucci ADARA Astrobrallo
http://www.astrobrallo.com
Full Resolution: http://www.astrobrallo.com/gallery/var/ ... 1389053005
Image Details: http://www.astrobrallo.com/gallery/inde ... 795_S2HaO3

NGC 896 & IC 1795 - Nebular Complex in Cassiopea - Hybrid Version

This image is a mix of a Narrow-Band Mapped Colors Image and a Natural Colors LRGB of the big nebular cloud in Cassiopea - NGC 896 & IC 1795 - rich of gas and dust structures.

Authors: M.Angelini-F.Antonucci ADARA Astrobrallo
http://www.astrobrallo.com
Full Resolution: http://www.astrobrallo.com/gallery/var/ ... 1389053018

Image Details: http://www.astrobrallo.com/gallery/inde ... 5_HYB-Star

SUNSET IN FUERTEVENTURA
Pic take in Fuerteventura Island in december 31 2013. Canon Camara eos 550D
http://www.astrobin.com/full/71393/0/
Copyrigt Serpiente666 (Antonio Montealegre)

NGC 2174: the "Monkey Nebula" - Orion. Narrow Band SIIHaOIII image

This image is a Narrow Band Mapped Colors image of the Nebula NGC 2174, also called "The Monkey Nebula" located in the Orion constellation. The nick name can be easily understood if you reverse upside-down the image below.

Authors: M.Angelini - F.Antonucci ADARA Astrobrallo

http://www.astrobrallo.com
High Resolution (suggested for the overall view): http://www.astrobrallo.com/gallery/var/ ... 1388309605

Full Resolution (suggested for the details): http://www.astrobrallo.com/gallery/var/ ... 1388309619

Image Details: http://www.astrobrallo.com/gallery/inde ... 174-Bin1-R

Happy 2014 to everybody, full of Clear Skies!!

Rose, blooming in the winter night
http://www.nightsky.kr/xe/4529
Copyright: Gwangwook Kim

Orion & Jupiter over Elephant Rock
Credit: Brad Goldpaint
http://goldpaintphotography.com/