Starship Asterisk*

APOD Submission
Fish swimming through dust - LDN1251 Anglerfish Nebula

Copyright: Paweł Radomski


Here is a direct link to Astrobin with details: https://www.astrobin.com/8re28n/B/
https://cdn.astrobin.com/thumbs/IUMWkGO ... TZ0INm.jpg
Happy watching

Best wishes
Paweł Radomski

Touching the magellanic cloud in the south of the world.
Copyright: Marcelo Maturana Rodríguez (@matuutex)
Location: LLanquihue National Reserve, Lakes Region, Chile
Date: 05 October 2021
Instagram: @matuutex
Nikon d5600, Tokina lens 14/20mm f2
Exif: 14mm f2 iso 1600 15 segs
Vertical panorama (3 Photos)

Touching the magellanic cloud in the south of the world. by Marcelo Maturana, en Flickr

la luna llena de agosto, y el transito de un avión.
boeing 737 desde Tucumán hacia aeroparque, Bs As, Argentina.
30/08/2023, 22:05hs, desde Roldan, Santa Fe, Argentina
la imagen es una composición de dos fotografías
sobrexposición para captar la silueta del avión, y exposición correcta para la luna.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/531 ... 3c73_k.jpg

Higher definition: https://www.astrobin.com/d3lyfg/

From Messier 52 to NGC 7635.

The featured image depicts two beautiful celestial objects: Messier 52 & NGC 7635. On the left hand side, Messier 52 - or M52 - is an open cluster containing several hundreds stars. M52 is easily spotted in binoculars. However, a telescope along with a camera accentuates this cluster's fainter members, as shown on the image.

Even though such celestial jewels do not let human eyes indifferent, probably the most mesmerizing object in the field of view is the Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635).

NGC 7635 is a mere 34" away from M52 and both objectfs can be glimpsed in the same field of view. The Bubble Nebula is an emission nebula in Cassiopeia, located 12,000 light-years from the Sun. This is a large and extremely faint nebula which requires long exposures.

Copyright: Aygen Erkaslan (@ae_astrophotons)
Data @ Insight Observatory
SHO
Ha: 40x900s
Ha: 19x1800s
Oiii: 20x1800s
Sii: 30x1800
RGB (stars)
10, 10, 10 x 180s

Here’s comet Nishimura the morning of 9-7-23 from a fairly light polluted California city/town backyard. Stacked 50 of 20 sec exposures using a Meade LX200, Astropixelprocessor, and Startools. I’ll keep tweaking all the bazillion software knobs but really liked how this comet is turning out. BTW Chris’ picture above is incredible.

Hello,
APOD Submission
Cosmic Ghost - vdB141 Ghost Nebula

Copyright: Paweł Radomski


Full data about the photo: https://www.astrobin.com/55kl03/0/
Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/astroscapes_pawel_radomski/

Happy watching
Pawel Radomski

https://cdn.astrobin.com/thumbs/j35VSeQ ... XURFLk.jpg

COMET C/2023 P1 (Nishimura) from Gran Canaria Island

Nice comet at sunrise from Cabreja Mountain Volcano in Vega de San Mateo, Gran Canaria Island. Canary Islands at 1000 meters over sea level wit a 135mm f/2 ISO 1600. Single shot 4" Canon EOS R

08.09.2023 05:30 UT

Frank A. Rodriguez Ramirez
astroeduca(a)gmail.com
www.instagram.com/astroeduca

COMET C/2023 P1 (Nishimura) from Cabreja Mountain Volcano

Nice comet at sunrise from Cabreja Volcano in Vega de San Mateo, Gran Canaria Island. Canary Islands at 1000 meters over sea level wit a 135mm f/2 ISO 1600. 10 x 4" Canon EOS R

08.09.2023 05:40 UT

Frank A. Rodriguez Ramirez
astroeduca(a)gmail.com
www.instagram.com/astroeduca

Comet over a Neolithic menhir


full : https://www.flickr.com/photos/julienlooten/

Copyright: Julien Looten



It is certainly one of the most remarkable astronomical phenomena of this summer 2023: the passage of comet C/2023 P1 (Nishimura). Discovered recently by a Japanese amateur, this comet is heading inexorably towards the Sun, reaching its luminous apogee this weekend. It is even possible to observe it through binoculars, or even with the naked eye.

C/2023 P1, with its long-period orbit, had not crossed the Sun for 437 years. When comets - celestial bodies from the cold regions of the solar system - approach our star, the ice in their nuclei sublimes, releasing a long trail of dust that reflects the Sun's light.

Photographing this phenomenon was no easy task. A number of factors had to be taken into account, including light pollution (which is very high towards the north-east in northern France). You also needed to find a site high up where you could get an unobstructed view of the horizon, as the comet skims the horizon before the sun rises a few minutes later... And you needed good weather, which was the case that morning

I went to Amiens at around 4am (yes, it was a rude awakening...), on the plateau that separates the Hallue and Ancre valleys, to stand at the foot of the 'Oblicamp stone', a Neolithic menhir! This famous period saw the advent of human sedentarisation, marked by agriculture and livestock farming, as well as the imposing standing stones known as menhirs. To give you an idea, this menhir is 2.4m high, 1.8m wide and 1.4m thick, so you can imagine the colossal effort required to place this block of stone at the top of the hill... Why? We still don't know... As is often the case, my photographs make the link between our universe and our past, and this one fits perfectly into that theme!

Exif :
Sky: 9 x 30s with equatorial tracking
Ground : 3 x 30s without tracking
Canon 6d II - Samyang 135mm
Siril processing - Ps
08/09/2023 - around 6am

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/Julien.Looten.Photographie
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw7-pYRMRd7/

Comet Nishimura (c/2023 P1) captured on the morning of September 6th. This comet was discovered by an amateur astronomer, Hideo Nishimura on August 11th! The comet is now in the constellation Leo and located 86 million miles away and will make its closest approach to Earth on September 13th. It’s also fairly close to the Sun which makes it more difficult to observe. The comet is much brighter now and I was able to find it with binoculars from my backyard. Also, the Moon is much less bright which helped deliver a much better result versus my last photo.

Telescope: 8” RASA f/2
Camera: Zwo ASI2600MC Pro
Exposure: 25 x 1min
Mount: Zwo AM5
Guiding: ASI120mini, 60mm scope
Filter: None
Software: APT, DSS, Pixinsight

Sharpless 2-115 is an emission nebula just North and West of Deneb, in the constellation Cygnus. It displays a chaotic morphology of gas emissions and dark nebulae. In the relatively high-resolution image presented here, pillars and Bok globules can be readily identified. Adjacent to Sh2-115 is a round structure originally cataloged as a planetary nebula. Sh2-116 was included in the assigned the catalog number Abell 71 in 1966 and hypothesized to be a planetary nebula by Perek and Kohoutec in 1967 (Perek, L. & Kohoutek, L. 1967, Catalogue of Galactic Planetary Nebulae) . A morphological study by Pismis, Hasse, and Quintero in 1991 (https://iopscience.i.../10.1086/132891) reclassified Abell 71/Sh2-116 as an HII region.

Data for this image was collected during Summer 2023 from Schenectady, NY. Out of the 55 hours of collected data, close to 42 hours of data were used to generate this image. Data was pre-processed in Pixinsight, color mapping was performed in Photoshop according to modified SHO palette, and final image processing was completed in Pixinsight. RGB stars were used in place of narrowband stars.

Teleskop-Service Ransburg ONTC 10in f4 with TS Riccardi-Wynne 2.5in coma corrector
Astro-Physics 1100GTO-AE
Qhyccd Astronomical & Scientific Camera 268M
Farpoint Astro Astrodon 3nm Ha, SII, OIII and RGB (Gen 2 E-series) filters

41 hours 52 minutes of combined exposure time

Full details and high-resolution image: https://astrob.in/q3hbsq/0/

This is my Crescent Nebula photo. Image details and full resolution are here: https://astrob.in/btmddk/0/

I think this image uniquely shows the depth of the Crescent Nebula. It is an HOO image. Background hydrogen clouds are visible and make good depth feel. Also beautyfull cover of ionized oxygen gas is visible. That's actually my (and my partners) first narrowband photo.
https://cdn.astrobin.com/thumbs/GILP4M0 ... TZ0INm.jpg

C/2023 P1 Nishimura
A stack of a few shots on September 8 at dawn, before the comet disappears in the morning sky from Hohe Wand in Austria.
Hope you like it.
Tahnks!

First contact by Wael Omar, on Flickr

First contact with Comet Nishimura.
Last night I drove 5 hours away from home to find dark clear sky and wait till before dawn . The comet had only few minutes before sunrise and it was very hard to spot it. After struggling with my tracker I finally took few subs for the comet and blend it with the foreground where I stand during Blue hour.
I needed to climb a very steep mountain to catch this image but that worth it .

Camera: Sony A7III Ha astro modified

Lens: Redcat 51

Settings:

Foreground image: ISO 400, 1/20 second, F 8 with sigma 1.4 lens 50 mm.
Sky: 18 images, ISO 3200 , F4.9, 10 seconds.
All images (foreground and sky )taken during same night in same place.
Location: Western desert, EGYPT.

Credit: Wael Omar WO /https://www.instagram.com/waelomar_astrophotography/

The Colourful Angel Nebula in Monoceros
http://www.rolfolsenastrophotography.com
Copyright: Rolf Wahl Olsen Link to full resolution image: https://www.rolfolsenastrophotography.c ... /i-PrpbH5L

The Angel Nebula is a strikingly colourful nebula that includes NGC 2170 and NGC 2182. It is located some 2,500 light-years away towards the constellation Monoceros and is part of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, a region of active star formation in our Milky Way galaxy. The Angel Nebula owes its name to the ethereal and delicate appearance of its dust and gas clouds, which resemble the outstretched wings of an angel.
The interplay of light, dust, and gas makes the nebula one of the most colourful areas in the entire sky. The celestial scene features subtle variations in colour and intensity throughout its expanse, adding complexity and depth to the nebula's overall appearance. These variations are primarily due to differences in the density and composition of the interstellar material within the nebula, as well as variations in the temperature and luminosity of the embedded stars.
Within the nebula, several young, massive stars are concealed by the surrounding dust and gas clouds. These stars are part of the ongoing process of star formation and their intense radiation and powerful stellar winds contribute to the nebula's intricate structure and colourful glow.
Illuminated by the brilliant, hot stars within and around it, the nebula glows, scatters and reflects their light to produce a stunning display of colours. Vivid blue regions are indicative of the presence of dust particles that scatter blue light while allowing longer wavelengths to pass through. The patches of red and pink are primarily caused by the glow of Hydrogen emission (H-alpha) and warmer orange hues result from reddening of starlight by smaller dust grains and molecules in the nebula.
Image details:
Date: February - April 2023
Exposure: LHaRGB: 680:930:120:110:145 mins, total 33 hours 5 mins @ -25C
Telescope: Homebuilt 12.5" f/4 Serrurier Truss Newtonian
Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider
Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2, Astrodon 3nm Ha
Taken from my observatory in Auckland, New Zealand

SH2-115.
Are about 13 hours of total exposures in Ha (18x900''), SII (18x900'') and OII (16x900''), acquired between August 16th and 18th, 2023 from our Astrodivers remote observatory

Telescope: Tecnosky Fast 300mm, f/3,4
Camera: ASI 6200M
Filters: RGB Chroma

Sh2-115 by Astro Divers, su Flickr

VdB 152 is a dark nebula located about 1400 light-years away in the constellation Cepheus. Part of these interstellar clouds, which become visible only in long exposure photos, is illuminated by the reflected light of a nearby star, giving the upper part its characteristic blue-blue color.
SkyWatcher Newton 200mm f/5, SkyWatcher NEQ 6 Pro, Atik 4000 LE. 24x600s L, 3x600s RGB

VdB 152 by Alessandro Carrozzi, su Flickr

https://www.astrobin.com/6n0wjp/

Messier 78

Messier 78 (M 78), or NGC 2068, is one the brightest reflection nebula in the sky, located in Orion near the celestial equator.

M 78 is easy to locate, about 3° northeast of Alnitak, the easternmost star in Orion's Belt. Small telescopes show it remarkably well, and reveal the two illuminating stars, which appear like a double nucleus in the compact "comet head". These two stars, HD 38563A and HD 38563B, are responsible for making the cloud of dust in M 78 visible. The nebula fans out to the southwest and suggests a faint comet tail.

As a reflection nebula, M 78 is a cloud of interstellar dust which shines by the reflected and scattered light of nearby stars. This celestial marvel is part of the Orion complex, a large cloud of gas and dust centered on the Orion Nebula (M 42) and is about 1,600 light years distant. It is the brightest portion of a vast dust cloud which includes NGC 2024 (the Flame Nebula) near Zeta Orionis, NGC 2071, NGC 2067, and the very faint NGC 2064. All these nebulae are associated with the molecular cloud LDN 1630.

The featured imaged was imaged remotely via a Dreamscope 16” astrograph located in the USA (insight observatory, Pie Town, NM) in LRGB.

Thanks for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Aygen Erkaslan

Copyright: Aygen Erkaslan (@ae_astrophotons)
Optics: Dreamscope 16” f/3.8 astrograph
Camera: FLI Proline 16803
Filters: LRGB
Total integration time: 9H
Location: Insight Observatory, NM, USA
Date: 2023

LDN 1355 - The helping hand nebula

url: https://www.facebook.com/tommaso.m.stella
Copyright: Tommaso Stella
Date: 2023-08-18,19,20
Location: Stigliano (MT) ITALY
SQM: 21.2
Lights: 42x600s RGB + 22x600s Mono
Total exposure: 10.6 h
Telescope: Apo Triplet TS PhotoLine 102 @ f/5.6
Camera: QHY294 mono + Omegon veTEC 571C V4
Filters: Optolong Astronomy Filter L-CCD
Mount: Skywatcher AZ-EQ6 GT
Processing: DeepSkyStacker, PixInsight, Photoshop CC

Airglow bands in south of Chile.
Copyright: Marcelo Maturana Rodríguez (@matuutex)
Location: Calbuco Volcano, South of Chile (41°19′58″S 72°36′40″O)
Date: 31 May 2022
Instagram: @matuutex
Nikon d5600, Tokina lens 14/20mm f2 iso 2500 20 segs
360° Panorama

Airglow bands in south of Chile. by Marcelo Maturana, en Flickr

LRGB01crop by georges chassaigne, sur Flickr
RC astrosib 20" F/2.7 + camera Kepler 4040 cmos
Total RGB=23h30mn
ccdautopilot + the skyX +Pixinsight + Photoshop
From hosting E-eye (Fregenal de la sierra (Spain)
Full data:
https://www.georges-chassaigne.fr/433170348/ngc-5033

Hello,

Attached you will find my image of Sh2-129 AKA The Flying Bat & Giant Squid Nebulae taken from Kuwait desert on Aug 9th to 12th 2023.





Location:
Al Salmi desert, Kuwait (Bortle 5/6).

Acquisition details

Ha 40 x 600” (6hr 40min)
Oiii 162 x 300” (13hr 30min)
Oiii 72 x 600” (12hr 00min)
R 19x300” (1hr 35min)
G 20x300” (1hr 40min)
B 20x300” (1hr 40min)

Total integration time 37hr 05min

Gears:
M: Sirius EQ-g
T: WO Z81 w/0.8x reducer
C: ZWO ASI2600MM Pro
F: Antlia


Processing:
Stack in Astropixelprocessor
Processed and tone mapping in Pixinsight and photoshop

Thank you,

Ahmed Alqallaf
instagram: www.instagram.com/astroaq
astrobin: https://www.astrobin.com/oerm40/

Barnard 150; The Sea Horse Nebula from Bortle 5-6 skies

Copyright: Tim Schuurman
Emmen, The Netherlands

Another dark nebula captured under challenging Bortle 5-6 conditions, but the effort put in paid off in the end.

Data aquisition: September 3 - 10 2023. 395 frames of 5 minutes, total integration of 32 hours and 55 min.
Optics: Skywatcher QUATTRO 150P/0.85x Aplanic Coma Corrector (F/3,45).
Filters: Optolong L-pro.
Camera: Altair Astro 269C PROTEC HYPERCAM, cooled to -10°C, GAIN 282 (HCG), offset 150.
Mount: Skywatcher NEQ6.
Guiding: 9x50 Finderguider/QHY5.
Focusing: ZWO EAF.
Control: N.I.N.A. (mount (EQmod)/camera/guiding (PHD2)/autofocus/platesolving (ASTAP)/meridian flip).
Datareduction: 25 darks / 25 flats / 25 darkflats.
Processing: PixInsight (Starless [RC Astro SxT] DBE / SPCC / RC Astro BxT / RC Astro NxT / GHS / SCNR).
https://www.flickr.com/photos/199090376 ... en-public/

Cosmic Kaleidoscope: A Tapestry of Nebulae and first color image of the pulsar wind nebula around pulsar PSR B1951+32 - SHO by William Ostling, on Flickr

Cosmic Kaleidoscope: A Tapestry of Nebulae and first color image of the pulsar wind nebula around pulsar PSR B1951+32 - Natural Color by William Ostling, on Flickr

Full post here: https://theastroenthusiast.com/first-pu ... rocessing/

You can find all details at the astrobin post here: https://www.astrobin.com/zzoau6/
Credits: Tim Schaeffer, Carl Björk, William Ostling

The first-ever color image of the pulsar wind nebula around pulsar PSR B1951+32
At the core of this intricate scene lies PSR B1951+32, a pulsar surrounded by a pulsar wind nebula (PWN). This PWN, visible in a stunning array of colors, takes its place as the centerpiece of this image, capturing the imagination and serving as the first-ever color image of its kind in visible light. It pulsates with life, its energetic emissions shaping the surrounding space and illuminating the cosmic tapestry.


PSR B1951+32: The pulsar at the center of this composition, surrounded by its pulsar wind nebula, emits powerful beams of radiation as it rapidly rotates. These emissions influence the surrounding space and provide a unique backdrop to the cosmic scene.

This image is a testament to the boundless beauty and diversity that our universe holds, inviting us to explore the mysteries of the cosmos and the intricate stories written in the stars, with OU-7, OU-8, and the PWN of PSR B1951+32 adding their brilliance to this cosmic kaleidoscope.

Sh2-129/ OU4, The Flying Bat and Squid Nebula

This is it, the culmination of the entire summer's worth of imaging. My region did not get out from under the winter/spring permacloud until late May, then came thick wildfire smoke, which pretty much stuck around in varying thickness for the entire summer. Many of the nights that I imaged these objects were cut short by clouds, fog, or smoke, and MANY subs were tossed. What you see in the final image is the best I could get over 20 nights, and out of the those, perhaps only 3 of them were not spoiled by the environment or the moon. I knew this object pair was going to be tough, I just didn't realize HOW tough! If I'm one thing, it's that I am stubborn as a bull, so I stuck to my decision and just kept collecting photons for what felt like an eternity. I've never processed such a massive data set before, fortunately I recently built a PC that chugged through all the data in big gulps. I am pleasantly surprised how well all the data stacked up, especially on OU4. The effort was totally worth the work and the wait!

Full resolution JPEG: https://astrob.in/azflsd/0/
Equipment
Imaging Telescope: William Optics SpaceCat 51
Imaging Cameras: ZWO ASI2600MM Pro
Mount: Astro-Physics Mach2 GTO
Filters:
Chroma Blue 31 mm · Chroma Green 31 mm · Chroma H-alpha 3nm Bandpass 31 mm · Chroma OIII 3nm Bandpass 31 mm · Chroma Red 31 mm
Software:
Open PHD Guiding Project PHD2 · Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight · Russell Croman Astrophotography BlurXTerminator · Russell Croman Astrophotography NoiseXTerminator · Russell Croman Astrophotography StarXTerminator · Starkeeper Voyager

Acquisition details
Dates:
July 9, 2023 · July 10, 2023 · July 17, 2023 · July 18, 2023 · July 30, 2023 · Aug. 8, 2023 · Aug. 12, 2023 · Aug. 15, 2023 · Aug. 16, 2023 · Aug. 17, 2023 · Aug. 19, 2023 · Aug. 22, 2023 · Aug. 23, 2023 · Aug. 26, 2023 · Aug. 27, 2023 · Aug. 29, 2023 · Aug. 30, 2023 · Aug. 31, 2023 · Sept. 1, 2023 · Sept. 3, 2023

Frames:
Chroma Blue 31 mm: 60×180″(3h)
Chroma Green 31 mm: 60×180″(3h)
Chroma H-alpha 3nm Bandpass 31 mm: 297×300″(24h 45′)
Chroma OIII 3nm Bandpass 31 mm: 653×300″(54h 25′)
Chroma Red 31 mm: 60×180″(3h)
Integration: 88h 10′
Avg. Moon age: 13.83 days
Avg. Moon phase: 48.49%

Basic astrometry details:
Astrometry.net job: 8440953
RA center: 21h04m51s.8
DEC center: +60°39′46″
Pixel scale: 3.113 arcsec/pixel
Orientation: 91.643 degrees
Field radius: 3.212 degrees
Resolution: 6178x4126