Starship Asterisk*

Eight days of sunspots in one composit image 05. August to 12 August 2024.
You see the rotation of the sun and the development of the sunspot groups.

The images were taken using a Canon EOS R6MkII, Canon RF 100-500 lens plus Canon RF2x Entender @1000mm.
Raw development by DxO Photolab and addition of the images using GIMP software.

The Cocoon Nebula shown in the picture has emissive, reflective and dark parts, and is one of the most beautiful celestial objects due to its complex structure.

Located about 4,000 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus. The Cocoon is about 15 light-years in diameter, almost eight times larger than the Solar System.

The emission nebulas usually includes an open cluster of young stars, which formed from the material of the nebula, and those stars excite the nebula to glow. The situation is similar for IC 5146. Although the open cluster of young stars can be found inside the nebula, a foreground star which is a member of another open cluster is responsible for ionizing it.

Three observations led to the idea that the young stars visible in front of the nebula were not born from the nebula shown in the image: The young stars are not only apparently in front of the nebula but are actually a little closer to us, the distribution of stars in the cluster is not consistent with the material distribution of the nebula, and the difference between the mass of the stars and the mass of the nebula is too big.

Used equipment:
- Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro
- Skywatcher 100/900 ED
- ZWO ASI533MC Pro
- ZWO OAG + ASI 120mm-mini
- ZWO Asiair Plus
- Optolong L-Enhance

IC5146 - Cocoon Nebula by Zoltán Incze, on Flickr

Here is NGC 1333 consisting of 27 hours total integration. All of it broadband data from B4, Sweden.

While studying a variable star (NSV 1161) the data collected was stored and finally stacked for a visual representation of the star and its surrondings.

Equipment:
TS ONTC808 8 inch newtonian reflector
HEQ 5 Pro mount, guided.
Dedicated cooled astro camera with IMX571 chip, color.

Software
>N.I.N.A.
Pixinsight

#latteanelcuore by Andrea Amici - Andrystix

In my region there are several places where you can take beautiful photos, but unfortunately the light pollution is intrusive and does not allow you to capture decent images.
I'm always looking for new, remote, secret places, as in this case.
After a very long treasure hunt I managed to find this wonderful panoramic point and I wanted to interpret it as something out of a fairy tale.
For the Milky Way there are about 1 and a half hours of signal captured... I'm really satisfied with the details obtained.

TECHNIQUE:
two panel merged with PS:
top -> 150 shoots stacked with DSS (30s, ISO 1600, f/3.2)
bottom - > one single shoot for the ground (15s, ISO 1250, f/4)
EXIF: Nikon D750 (modded), Nikkor AF-S NIKKOR 20mm f/1.8G ED.

SOCIAL:
@andrystix https://www.instagram.com/andrystix
@andrystix https://www.facebook.com/andrystix

Opposition of Saturn and four of its moon on September 8th. Saturn is in the constellation of Aquarius, at a distance of 1,295,237,042.1 kilometers from Earth.

The sun, marked by sunspots, setting behind Śnieżka in the Karkonosze Mountains

One of my most challenging daily photography trophies this year. Hopefully everything worked fine, perfect for such frames - weather, hazy sky working as perfect ND filter, time estimations, no equipment failure, SD card not forgotten - everything just only to find the exact moment, then the sun appeared setting behind the highest peak of the Karkonosze Mountains, when looking from the observation tower on Kalenica peak.

Sigma C150-600 + Nikon D810
Location: Góry Sowie(Owl Mountains)/Poland
Credit: Ireneusz Nowak

Author Astrobin link: https://www.astrobin.com/users/iro/

BLOOD SUN

• This image is an appeal to the whole world. Brazil has had almost 160,000 fires this year, out of control due to drought, lack of rain and arson. Brazilian fauna and flora are dying.
  
  Today, leaving home, the image was taken at 4:22 pm and shows a cloudless sky, with the Sun at approximately 20 degrees above sea level, with a reddish color, similar to blood, although it would normally have a yellow tone, associated with a grayish sky, due to the large amount of smoke in the city of São Paulo. This phenomenon causes a reflection, reducing the sun's rays, filtering out some colors.
  
  Exactly on today's date, 09/09/2024, according to the Swiss agency IQAir, São Paulo had the worst air quality in the world.
  
  According to the NGO MapBiomas, it shows that, between 1985 and 2020, the area burned in Brazil in this period is more than 1.6 million square kilometers, equivalent to approximately 20% of the Brazilian territory.

Equipment:
Canon 6D
Canon 55mm Lens
F 5/6 ISO 1000
1/4000sec

LOCATION: São Paulo - SP - Brazil
DATE: 09/09/2024

PROCESSING AND CAPTURE:
Adobe Photoshop

Author: Fernando Oliveira de Menezes
Email: Barretosmed@hotmail.com
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/menezes_fo?ig ... _source=qr

Cosmic Dune by Ahmed Waddah, on Flickr

This Image is a composite of the Milky Way shining above the Al Fayoum desert dunes, all taken from the same location on one night. It's hard to believe the summer Milky Way season is already over! I managed to capture many beautiful Milky Way and landscape photos that I'll be sharing soon. I'm also incredibly impressed with the Sigma Art 40mm f/1.4 lens – it's the sharpest lens I've ever used. Both the sky and the foreground in this image were captured with this fantastic lens.

Sky
Nikon Z6II (Modified)
Sigma Art 40mm f/1.4 - f/2.8 - ISO 1250 - 30x60s
Ioptron SGP

Foreground
Nikon D850
Sigma Art 40mm f/1.4 - f/8 - ISO 100 - 1x1/10s

Date: 7th of September, 2024
Location: Al Fayoum Desert, Egypt

https://www.astrobin.com/pexr5a/

Social:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/waddah.photography
Astrobin: https://www.astrobin.com/users/WolfHeart/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/waddahphotography/

Coathanger, Loch Ness Nebula and some more dark nebulae in Vulpecula


(Thumb only)

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

This 3-panel-mosaic covers a spectacular area in Vulpecula, comprising the "Coathanger" (Collinder 399 or Brocchi's Cluster), the "Loch Ness Nebula" and a lot of LDNs and LBNs, floating on a sea of stars.

Celestron RASA 8
Celestron Motorfocuser
EQ6-R Pro
ZWO ASI 2600 MC Pro (Gain 100, Offset 18, -10°)
RGB: 190 x 60" (3h 10'), 191 x 60" (3h 11'), 200 x 60" (3h 20')
Total: 9h 41‘
Darks, Flats, Darkflats, Dithering
N.I.N.A., Guiding: ZWO ASI 120MM & PHD2
Astropixelprocessor, Photoshop, Pixinsight

Date: Aug 12-13, 2024 & July 18, 2023
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

A deep view into the area around Sh2-140 in Cepheus


(Thumb only)

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

I had seen images showing faint gas and dust clouds surrounding Sh2-140 in the constellation Cepheus, and I wanted to make these visible using the RASA at f/2.2, focusing primarily on the RGB data. In the end, I accumulated nearly 25.5 hours of exposure time, with about 20.5 hours dedicated to RGB and 5 hours to H-alpha.
The processing was more challenging than expected because, despite the long exposure time, everything was still quite faint overall. I blended the H-alpha data very subtly to keep the RGB look. I was very pleased that the dust clouds became visible in the lower right of the image, as well as the two reflection nebulae VdB 153 (bottom center) and GN 22 12.3 (top center). Sh2-140 also stood out nicely with its shockwave, along with the gas cloud Sh2-145 (left).
Hope you like it!

Celestron RASA 8 f/2
Celestron Motorfocus
EQ6-R Pro
ZWO ASI 2600 MC Pro (Gain 100, Offset 18, -10°)
RGB: 1223 × 60″ (20h 23‘)
TS 2600 MP (Gain 100, Offset 200, -10°)
Baader H-Alpha Highspeed 3.5nm: 157 × 120″ (5h 14‘))
Total: 25h 37‘
Bortle 5 (19.50 SQM)
N.I.N.A., Guiding: ASI 120MM & PHD2
Astropixelprocessor, Photoshop, Pixinsight
Date: Aug 26-29 & Sep 1, 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

NGC 281 - Pacman Nebula



Say hello to the Pacman Nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia. And in case you were wondering, yes, there is a Ghost nebula nearby as well. Despite being almost 10, 000 light years away the Pacman Nebula is a little larger than the full moon in our night sky.

Why is it glowing in these bright colours? The gas and dust in this region forms new stars, which in turn bombard the remaining gas with UV radiation causing it to emit light. Here we see sulphur in red, hydrogen in green, and oxygen in blue. This is known as the classic Hubble colour palette.

There are some little dark and dusty clumps known as bok globules, these globules and pillars are where new stars are being born. Bok globules sounds cool, right?!

Celestron Edge HD 8
0.7x reducer
ASI294MC Pro
Altair 4nm dualband set
ZWO AM5
27 hours of 300 second subs
Vancouver, BC
Bortle 9
Aug. 28 - 29, 2024
Sept. 5 - 6, 2024

Perseid over Dordogne canyon


Perseid over Dordogne canyon by Martin Giraud

I took this picture during the peak of the Perseid meteor shower on the night of August 11 to 12.

The location is a belvedere that offers a view of the Dordogne river in France. It was quite impressive to see such a wild place, with hills filled with trees and no human constructions. I almost had the sensation of standing in front of the Amazon. With the forest surrounding me, it created a mystical atmosphere, enhanced by the sounds of owls and other nocturnal birds of prey breaking the silence of the night with their frightening cries. When you are alone in the middle of this, it’s easy to get little scares, especially for a city dweller like me.

The picture is a large panorama made up of 30 tiles for the sky and 16 tiles for the foreground. For each tile of the sky, I took 4 photographs with 30 seconds exposures, which I stacked together to create a final image with a total exposure time of 2 minutes. So, if we do the calculations, the sky is a one hour exposure photography !

To capture the sky, I used an equatorial mount to track the night sky.

With the naked eye, you can't see as many details, and our vision is monochrome, but the sky at this location was very clear. We could see the Andromeda galaxy with our eyes, and the details of the Milky Way were quite awesome. The spot is in a Bortle class 3 area, as you can see on the light pollution map: Light Pollution Map.

For the meteors, I used images from two nights of astrophotography that I combined in the same location.

Location : Corrèze, France
Equipment: Canon 6D (astromodded) - Sigma ART 50mm - Star Adventurer
Settings: ISO 2500 - F/2.2 - 30 sec


Martin GIRAUD
https://www.instagram.com/tinmar_g/

Groovynight wrote: ↑Wed Sep 11, 2024 7:57 am A deep view into the area around Sh2-140 in Cepheus


(Thumb only)

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

I had seen images showing faint gas and dust clouds surrounding Sh2-140 in the constellation Cepheus, and I wanted to make these visible using the RASA at f/2.2, focusing primarily on the RGB data. In the end, I accumulated nearly 25.5 hours of exposure time, with about 20.5 hours dedicated to RGB and 5 hours to H-alpha.
The processing was more challenging than expected because, despite the long exposure time, everything was still quite faint overall. I blended the H-alpha data very subtly to keep the RGB look. I was very pleased that the dust clouds became visible in the lower right of the image, as well as the two reflection nebulae VdB 153 (bottom center) and GN 22 12.3 (top center). Sh2-140 also stood out nicely with its shockwave, along with the gas cloud Sh2-145 (left).
Hope you like it!

Celestron RASA 8 f/2
Celestron Motorfocus
EQ6-R Pro
ZWO ASI 2600 MC Pro (Gain 100, Offset 18, -10°)
RGB: 1223 × 60″ (20h 23‘)
TS 2600 MP (Gain 100, Offset 200, -10°)
Baader H-Alpha Highspeed 3.5nm: 157 × 120″ (5h 14‘))
Total: 25h 37‘
Bortle 5 (19.50 SQM)
N.I.N.A., Guiding: ASI 120MM & PHD2
Astropixelprocessor, Photoshop, Pixinsight
Date: Aug 26-29 & Sep 1, 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

This is such a gorgeous image!

I love the round red shape of Sharpless 140, which seems to "bloom" behind a wall of darkness, whose summit is illuminated by starlight. Two blue stars stand out in the center of Sharpless 140, and the brightest of them, HD 211880, a B0.5V-type star, clearly is the ionizing star of this red nebula. Two small blue reflection nebulas also stand out, a red nebula without an obvious ionizing star but apparently sitting inside a large and angular structure of dust adds interest to the image, and the background is full of diffuse reddish and faintly bluish scattered light, and curling and twisting black dust bunnies complete the image.

The richness and depth of this image is amazing. Gorgeous!

Ann

NGC 6888 The Crescent Nebula in Cygnus. Imaged remotely from Spain with the 16in ODK and Player One Poseidon mono camera. Exposure times were O3 60x 300s, Ha 40x180s, RGB 60x 30s in each.
Processed in Pixinsight and Photoshop.

Thanks for looking
Peter Shah

BRAZIL CALLS FOR HELP


This image is an appeal to the whole world. Brazil has had almost 160,000 fires this year, out of control due to drought, lack of rain and arson. Brazilian fauna and flora are dying.

The sun usually at this time has a redish color, similar to blood, although it normally has a yellow tone, associated with a grayish sky, due to the large amount of smoke in the city of São Paulo. This phenomenon causes a reflection, reducing the sun's rays, filtering some colors.

According to the NGO MapBiomas, it shows that, between 1985 and 2020, the area burned in Brazil in this period is more than 1.6 million square kilometers, equivalent to approximately 20% of the Brazilian territory.

Equipment:
Canon 6D
Canon 55mm Lens
F 5/6 ISO 100
1/2500 sec

LOCATION: São Paulo - SP - Brazil
DATE: 09/11/2024

PROCESSING AND CAPTURE:
Adobe Photoshop

Author: Fernando Oliveira de Menezes
Email: Barretosmed@hotmail.com
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/menezes_fo?ig ... _source=qr

(Organizing author of the book Amateur Astrophotography in Brazil)
https://clubedeautores.com.br/livro/ast ... -no-brasil

The Southern Cross

https://www.instagram.com/max.nti/
Date: 9 February 2024
Location: New Zealand

From the South Island of New Zealand, the Southern Cross reaches almost the zenith in the summer sky. This allowed me to bring out a ton of detail and color from this beautiful region of the Milky Way. Seen in this image is the Southern Cross (Crux) in the centre, with Alpha and Beta Centauri to the left (forming the pointers), and the Carina Nebula to the right.

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

Methuselah Nebula
Click on above to enlarge.

Full info @ https://www.astrokin.com/mwp1---pk080-101.html

Saturn at opposition

The image was taken from Buenos Aires, Argentina, on September 8, 2024, at 02:54 UTC, just moments before the exact time of opposition. The photograph showcases Saturn along with its moons Dione, Tethys, and Rhea. The Seeliger effect is also nicely seen.

Dear APOD team,

The image shows two dim nebulae, shark and rotten fish. They somewhat look like they are in a rush and dust creates this beautiful spectacle. I never before seen such framing in these objects photos.

It was taken during two nights: 27 and 28 of August. Image is a stack of 7hr of footage (300s exposure time). It was stretched, colour calibrated, denoised i enhanced colours and brightness.
Bortle 4 sky, moon was under the horizon.

What do you think?

Planet Parade - Panoramic image of 6 planets.
Location: Blood Mountain, Georgia.
Date: 09-Sept-2024; Time: 5:00AM
Copyright: Prashant Naik
Web: https://naikonpixels.com/

From the summit of Blood Mountain in North Georgia, this panoramic image shows five planets—Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—aligned from east to west across the night sky. Mercury was below the horizon. Rising in the east, Orion constellation appears high in the sky with two bright stars Betelgeuse and Regel. Jupiter, the largest planet, shines brilliantly above the horizon at the top, while Mars, with its reddish hue, contrasts against the deeper blue of the pre-dawn sky. Uranus was seen as a faint distant dot. To the west, Saturn casts a subtle glow, and Neptune, appears as tiny dot. This rare alignment is set against the backdrop of the rugged Appalachian landscape, giving a unique view of our vast solar system from Earth.

Processing details: Panorama of 8 vertical images stitched in PTGui. Exposure time 15s, f2.8 at ISO 10000. RAW file processed in Lightroom. Color correction and other minor adjustments done in Photoshop.

The Lobster Claw Nebula

I'm excited to share my image of the striking Lobster Claw Nebula, captured from bright city skies just outside of Chicago. Over three nights, I used a dual narrowband filter (H-alpha and O III) to bring out the nebula’s faint details and processed the image in the HOO palette to highlight its beauty.

Location: Des Plaines, Illinois
Date: September 2-4, 2024
Copyright: Imran Sultan

Saturn over 10 years Lyon France





Some projects take years... especially in astronomy. I dreamed of it ten years ago! Long-winded work, exhausting when you have to get up in the middle of the night and go to work in the wake but it was worth it



Saturn over ten years from Lyon France



For the pleasure of the eyes I propose you a

Photo montage containing 1 shot of Saturn per year since 2014 .



The first image of 2014 , my debut in astrophotography, was shot in afocale with a compact camera Canon SX 260 HS at the focus of a 10 mm eyepiece mounted on a Maksutov 180/2700 mm Skywatcher

The other images were taken with two CMOS colours, first from 2015 to 2017 a ZWO ASI 120 MM + LRVB ZWO filters and then from 2018 to 2024 an Altair 385 C CMOS focusing on a Maksutov 180 / 2700mm Skywatcher



For the 2014 image I use a compact camera Canon powershoot 260 SX in afocale on an eyepiece of 10 mm at the focus of the Maksutov 180/2700 Black Diamond Skywatcher I do not remember the time of exposure but it was very short



For the images from 2015 to 2017 I used a CMOS ZWO ASI 120 MM + LRVB filter ZWO + ADC ZWO + Maksutov 180/2700 + mount NEQ 6



Acquisition of 1500 images in AVI Gain 200 at 22 images per second with sharpcap 3

10% stacking with Autostakkert 3

Cosmetic with Registax and GIMP



For the 2018 to 2024 images I used an Altaïr 385 C + ADC Mark III + Maksutov 180/2700 + EQ6-R mount



Acquisition of 1000 images in AVI gain 1200 at 48 images per second with sharpcap 3

10% stacking with Autostakkert 3

Cosmetics with Registax and GIMP 2.10



All photos were taken from my balcony on the second floor in the heart of Lyon



Several tens of hours were needed to achieve this result



https://www.flickr.com/photos/134093884@N08/53985377290



Lionel Guyonnet

Dear APOD team,
I submit my photograph of the Andromeda Galaxy. It was edited using minimal processing to show it in close to natural colours. I also attached a version with added "moon for scale" because I think it's a great representation of this object size.
Image details:
It was taken on 25 of August 2024. Last quarter Moon. About 4 hours of exposure time. Image was stretched, colour calibrated and denoised.
What do you think?

Also version with moon scale:

This image was taken from my private observatory in Rylstone, NSW, Australia using a TEC-140/Paramount MX+ mount at f14 with an astrophysics BARADV barlow yielding a resolution of .5 arc-sec at 1960mm focal length. The filters were Baader Ha, SII, OIII for an SHO pallet. The camera was a mono Trius SX694 at -20C. Total imaging time was 49.5 hours and the majority of subs in SII and OIII were 1800 sec. Ha , 600 sec. Processing was 90% in Pixinsight and the remainder in Adobe Photoshop CS5. RGB stars were added, 30 sec subs.

Thanks for looking!

Peter

M57 nebula with outter shell
Full version : https://cdn.astrobin.com/thumbs/n3YbLGs ... TZ0INm.jpg

We are pleased to submit to APOD this image of the M57 planetary nebula, showing both fine details in the core and the fainter outter shell.

We made 703 exposures of 120s (i.e. 23h30) for the Ha layer, in order to reveal the weak extensions.

Cassegrain T520 - Paramount ME2 - ZWO ASI 6200MM - Astronomik Filters (LRGB + Ha 6nm)
L : 69 x 120s
R: 50 x 120s
G: 55 x 120s
B: 50 x 120s
Ha : 703 x 120s
Total : 30h54
12 April to 30 June 2024 - Alpes-Maritimes (France)
Pixinsight & PS

Copyright: Team OURANOS (Jean-Baptiste Auroux, Jean Claude Mario, Mathieu Guinot & Matthieu Tequi).
https://team-ouranos.fr/
https://www.astrobin.com/users/Team_OURANOS/