Starship Asterisk*

Posted: **Tue May 15, 2018 10:44 pm**

The Head and Claws of Scorpius by Transient Astronomer, on Flickr

Image Credit and Copyright Tom Masterson

Posted: **Wed May 16, 2018 2:06 am**

M106 with Ha Jets
LR(Ha)GB

Larger images and info:
https://www.astrobin.com/347056/0/?nc=user

Nick Pavelchak
Altamont, NY

Posted: **Wed May 16, 2018 3:34 am**

Copyright: Mark Hanson

NGC 4449 in Canes Venatici

"Belonging to the class of Magellanic type irregular galaxy, NGC 4449 is a small but lovely cosmic denizen of the constellation Canes Venatici. It is very close (in astronomical terms) at 12.5 million light years.

Blazing across its structure is a starburst of young blue stars and active red nebulae forming new stars at a (fast) and furious pace! Detailed analysis of the starburst has determined that it started 500 million years ago. For many years, it was hypothesized that the starburst observed in NGC 4449 was triggered by an interaction with another galaxy.

Enter astronomer extraordinaire David Martinez-Delgado and his pro-am collaboration project to document tidal streams in nearby galaxies. His tidal stream survey has uncovered previously unknown tidal streams in many galaxies. Utilizing a group of amateur astrophotographers led by Jay GaBany with a worldwide network of telescopes and remote observatories, it has been possible to obtain very long exposures that would not normally be possible with professional observatories due to limitations imposed by time allocation constraints. The group of amateur astrophotographers includes many famous people such as Ken Crawford, Adam Block, Fabian Neyer, a certain Mark Hanson and many others.

Deep images taken by the tidal stream survey group uncovered an extremely faint tidal stream, which is the remnant of a former dwarf companion. Special image processing techniques combined with very long exposures are able to reveal very faint features that would not normally be visible. This stream can be seen as the ghostly elongated tidal feature to the south of NGC 4449. It was first discovered in 2007 by Igor Karachentsev and followed up for a definitive detection by the tidal stream survey team. The stream has a size of approximately 23,000 x 5000 light years.

The accretion of smaller galaxies is a major contributing factor to galaxy assembly and is a major topic of research in astrophysics. Revealing the dim past of galaxies can help gain insight to their future and address related topics such as dark matter distribution."

Description by "Sakib Rasool"

Taken from "Stellar Winds Observatory" a/k/a Stan Watson Observatory at Dark Sky New Mexico
PlaneWave 24" LRGB, 570,240,240,240

Full Resolution image here: https://www.hansonastronomy.com/ngc-4449

Thank you,
Mark Hanson

Posted: **Wed May 16, 2018 8:57 am**

markh@tds.net wrote: ↑Wed May 16, 2018 3:34 am Copyright: Mark Hanson

NGC 4449 in Canes Venatici

NGC 4449Apodsmall.jpg

"Belonging to the class of Magellanic type irregular galaxy, NGC 4449 is a small but lovely cosmic denizen of the constellation Canes Venatici. It is very close (in astronomical terms) at 12.5 million light years.

Blazing across its structure is a starburst of young blue stars and active red nebulae forming new stars at a (fast) and furious pace! Detailed analysis of the starburst has determined that it started 500 million years ago. For many years, it was hypothesized that the starburst observed in NGC 4449 was triggered by an interaction with another galaxy.

Enter astronomer extraordinaire David Martinez-Delgado and his pro-am collaboration project to document tidal streams in nearby galaxies. His tidal stream survey has uncovered previously unknown tidal streams in many galaxies. Utilizing a group of amateur astrophotographers led by Jay GaBany with a worldwide network of telescopes and remote observatories, it has been possible to obtain very long exposures that would not normally be possible with professional observatories due to limitations imposed by time allocation constraints. The group of amateur astrophotographers includes many famous people such as Ken Crawford, Adam Block, Fabian Neyer, a certain Mark Hanson and many others.

Deep images taken by the tidal stream survey group uncovered an extremely faint tidal stream, which is the remnant of a former dwarf companion. Special image processing techniques combined with very long exposures are able to reveal very faint features that would not normally be visible. This stream can be seen as the ghostly elongated tidal feature to the south of NGC 4449. It was first discovered in 2007 by Igor Karachentsev and followed up for a definitive detection by the tidal stream survey team. The stream has a size of approximately 23,000 x 5000 light years.

The accretion of smaller galaxies is a major contributing factor to galaxy assembly and is a major topic of research in astrophysics. Revealing the dim past of galaxies can help gain insight to their future and address related topics such as dark matter distribution."

Description by "Sakib Rasool"

Taken from "Stellar Winds Observatory" a/k/a Stan Watson Observatory at Dark Sky New Mexico
PlaneWave 24" LRGB, 570,240,240,240

Full Resolution image here: https://www.hansonastronomy.com/ngc-4449

Thank you,
Mark Hanson

Nice picture!

I like the fact that you bring out the faint old reddish disk surrounding the fire of blue and pink star formation along a bar-like structure in NGC 4449.

Oh, and I like the fact that y ou bring out the very, very faint companion too. Since the companion is composed of old red and yellow stars only (plus, we may assume, dark matter), it is probably heftier than it looks.

Ann

Posted: **Thu May 17, 2018 2:53 pm**

IC 1805 - Heart Nebula
https://www.masterdarks.com
Copyright: John Kasianowicz, Mike Selby, Andy Chatman

: Click to view full size image

Full size image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/macnmotion/41441478574

Full image details on our website: https://www.masterdarks.com/ic-1805-heart-nebula/

IC 1805, an emission nebula approximately 7,500 light years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia, is named the Heart Nebula due to its heart shaped appearance. The open star cluster Melotte 15 lies in the middle of the heart. The nebula is part of a large star forming complex in the Perseus arm of the Milky Way galaxy. The bright knot at the lower right (which some might liken to a male body part) is separately classified as NGC 896, and was the first part of IC 1805 to be discovered.

Comprising mostly glowing hydrogen, this nebula would appear red if imaged in LRGB. We have imaged it using narrowband filters, mapping Sulfur 2, Hydrogen Alpha and Oxygen 3 to R, G and B respectively to reveal great detail in the Hubble palette. 76 individual exposures totalling more than 25 hours were shot from the dark skies of West Virginia. Image processed using PixInsight and Photoshop.

Data collected in West Virginia using our jointly owned Astrophysics AP 305 f/3.8 scope, in collaboration with:

John Kasianowicz, Mike Selby, Andy Chatman

Image processing: Andy Chatman

Posted: **Fri May 18, 2018 8:50 am**

Lunar Cycle
Copyright: György Soponyai

I've been unsuccessfully trying to complete a whole Lunar cycle capturing project for months as bad weather and clouds always made me stop after 5-10 days.
The previous month was an exceptionally cloudless/clear one so here is the result at last:

2018.04.18. - 2018.05.16.
various locations in Hungary

Canon EOS 5D Mark II + Canon EF 200/2.8L

Posted: **Fri May 18, 2018 9:07 am**

Supernova Remnant VRO 42.5.01 in the constellation of auriga.
Copyright by Frank Iwaszkiewicz
https://deep-sky-astroteam.de/en/Nebula ... -vro-42501

Posted: **Sat May 19, 2018 4:42 am**

NGC 5053 and M53
www.alsonwongastro.com
Copyright: Alson Wong

: Click to view full size image

Posted: **Sat May 19, 2018 3:55 pm**

I leave here our last work.
A beautiful composition in which Deneb appears as the spectator of this beautiful landscape.
Copyrights: Raul Villaverde, Domingo Pestana and Nicolas Romo.

NGC7000_2018 by Raul Villaverde, en Flickr

Posted: **Sat May 19, 2018 8:40 pm**

THE JEWEL BOX

: Click to view full size image

Copyright: Alan C Tough

The Jewel Box (NGC 4755, Caldwell 94) is a magnificent open cluster in the southern constellation Crux.

To image this object I logged on remotely to iTelescope T31 at the Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales, Australia. Total imaging time, through LRGB filters, was 18 minutes.

Highest resolution version here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/7776810@N07/42216311921/

Posted: **Sun May 20, 2018 2:59 pm**

NGC 4676 - Mice Galaxies
https://www.masterdarks.com
Copyright: Mike Selby, Andy Chatman, Stefan Schmidt

: Click to view full size image

Full size image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/macnmotion/27354487667

Full image details on our website: https://www.masterdarks.com/ngc-4676-mice-galaxies/

NGC 4676, known as the Mice Galaxies, are two spiral galaxies in the constellation Coma Berenices, approximately 290 million light years from Earth. The long tails result from tidal action — the relative difference in gravitation pull on the near (colliding) and far sides of the galaxies.

This image was taken with our Officina Stellare RiLA 600 f/5.0 telescope on an Officina Stellare direct drive polar fork mount. An FLI ML16200 CCD camera, chilled to -25C, captured 16-1/2 hours of luminance detail and 9 hours of color detail. The imaging system is controlled using Voyager software. Image processing in PixInsight and Photoshop.

Imaged and processed in Samphran, Thailand by the SC Observatory team: Mike Selby, Andy Chatman, Stefan Schmidt

Posted: **Sun May 20, 2018 6:44 pm**

M101 Pinwheel Galaxy & Co.

One of my favorite galaxies, which I never tire of revisiting.

Authors: Alberto Pisabarro, Jim and Linda Powell.

More resolution:

Imaged in Deep Sky West, Rowe, New Mexico
Telescope: TEC160ED
Mount: Paramount ME
Camera: SBIG STXL16200+SBIG filter wheel STXL-FW8G
Filters: Astrodom Tru-Balance E-Series Gen 2
L: 54x900s
R: 12x1200s
G: 13x1200s
B: 13x1200s
Astrodon 5nm H-Alpha filter: 12x1800"

Posted: **Sun May 20, 2018 7:23 pm**

Hi,
I would like to bring to your attention the picture below I made a few nights ago from the La Silla Observatory (ESO) in Chile.

Chile is the home of many astronomical observatories because its sky is among the best one on Earth. The picture below is a panoramic composition of the whole sky revealing the Milky Way above the ESO-3.6m telescope, hunting for new worlds. The Magellan clouds can also been seen on the right of the picture. However, what is also pretty clear in this picture is the orange ring circling the southern sky. This light is not an astronomical event nor an atmospheric phenomenon but the Sodium-based street lights of nearby cities. Such light pollution was not visible from La Silla Observatory a few years ago and is the result of the fast economical development of Chile. The night sky is an heritage that we should all protect, not only because it is the playground of astronomers but because it is our window to the Universe. The night sky reminds us every day how modest we are compared to the vastness of space !
If the Chilean sky is getting polluted by this orange layer, we will be just one step before no star is observable on Earth. This would prevent the next generations to see the treasure of the night sky.

With this picture, I hope to broadly show that the night sky is a heritage of humankind and should be protected against pollution.

Milky Way over the ESO 3.6m telescope by Alexandre Santerne

Credits: Alexandre Santerne (Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, CNES, Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille) / ESO

Posted: **Sun May 20, 2018 7:44 pm**

Hi,

I would like to bring to you this other picture I made from the ESO La Silla Observatory in Chile, last night. This picture is a 10-hour star trail composition.

Olbers' paradox revisited

If the Universe was static and infinite, there should be an infinite number of stars. As a consequence any line of sight towards the sky should ends on a bright stellar surface. If this was true, the night sky should not be dark, but bright. This is called the Olbers' paradox and was one of the first evidence of a dynamic, not-infinite Universe. However, there are so many stars that can be seen from the ESO La Silla Observatory in Chile that if we stack pictures of the sky over 10 hours, as done in this composition, we have the impression that the night sky is full of stars.

Olbers' paradox revisited by Alexandre Santerne

Credits: Alexandre Santerne (Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, CNES, Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille) / ESO

Also available as a time lapse https://youtu.be/7JwGW1gV8ew

Posted: **Sun May 20, 2018 7:45 pm**

Milky Way and Zodiacal Light
http://www.mdieterichphoto.com
Copyright: Matthew Dieterich

: Click to view full size image

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/956/27367 ... be3b_o.jpg

While in Chile, we stayed at Cerro Tololo Observatory for a few nights and were able to catch a break in the clouds. The Milky Way shined bright with the Zodiacal Light over the observatories. This was my first time seeing the Zodiacal Light, which is dust in our solar system being illuminated by the sun. I've been yearning to see this incredible sight of the Zodiacal for a long time!

Posted: **Mon May 21, 2018 12:01 am**

Saturn and M22 in Sagittarius

Saturn appears above the bright globular cluster M22.

Taken on May 7, 2018, between 1:30 am and 2:00 am with a Canon 40D DSLR through a Tamron 300mm f/2.8 telephoto lens, tracked on a Super Polaris EQ mount.

Taken from near Barry's Bay, Ontario, Canada.

Exposures: 10 x 91 seconds (15 min 10 secs total) at settings f/2.8 and ISO 1600.

: Saturn and M22

Posted: **Mon May 21, 2018 9:04 pm**

Opposition Jupiter Rising

This is an image, and reflection, of Jupiter rising in the east over Spectacle Lake, in Ontario, Canada, on May 8, 2018 at 9:17 pm.

According to the 2018 RASC Handbook (page 107), Jupiter reached opposition at UT 1 am on May 9, 2018.

Taken with a Canon 40D DSLR set at ISO 200 through a 50mm lens set at f/3.5, for a 10-second exposure. The camera was on a fixed tripod.

Posted: **Tue May 22, 2018 11:51 am**

M13 - The Great Cluster in Hercules by Paddy Gilliland FRAS, on Flickr

Posted: **Wed May 23, 2018 4:32 am**

Seyfert's Sextet from KG Observatory, Julian, CA.

This object was a challenge at only 2' x 2' and between magnitude 15 and 16.

Seyfert's Sextet is a group of galaxies about 190 million light-years away in the constellation Serpens. The group appears to contain six members, but one of the galaxies is a background object and another "galaxy" is actually a separated part of one of the other galaxies. The gravitational interaction among these galaxies should continue for hundreds of millions of years. Ultimately, the galaxies will merge to form a single giant elliptical galaxy.

The small S-shaped galaxy, NGC 6027d, is not interacting with the other galaxies in the cluster, but is in the background and just happens to be in the same line of sight. The galaxy is nearly 900 million light years from Earth and is believed to be extremely large in size at magnitude 16.47.

Imaging telescope or lens:Planewave CDK24
Imaging camera:FLI Proline 16803
Mount:Planewave L600
Guiding camera:Starlight Xpress Ultrastar
Focal reducer:None
Software:Planewave PWI4, Planewave PWI3, PixInsight 1.8, Maxim DL6, PHD Guiding 2, Neat Image V7, Photoshop CS3, Sequence Generator Pro
Filters:Astrodon 50mm R, Astrodon 50mm B, Astrodon 50 mm G, Astrodon 50mm L
Accessories:FLI CFW-5-7, Astrodon Monster MOAG, Hedrick Focuser, Planewave Delta-T, Planewave EFA
Resolution: 1486x1392
Dates: May 15, 2018, May 17, 2018
Frames:
Astrodon 50 mm G: 12x300" -20C bin 1x1
Astrodon 50mm B: 8x300" -20C bin 1x1
Astrodon 50mm L: 24x300" -20C bin 1x1
Astrodon 50mm R: 12x300" -20C bin 1x1
Integration: 4.7 hours
Darks: ~20
Flats: ~80
Flat darks: ~80
Bias: ~20
Avg. Moon age: 1.12 days
Avg. Moon phase: 2.81%
Mean SQM: 21.60
Astrometry.net job: 2071130
Locations: KG Observatory, Julian, CA, United States
Data source: Backyard

Posted: **Thu May 24, 2018 5:25 am**

ISS and Moon May 24, 2018 01:05:13 UTC

Larger image and info:
https://www.astrobin.com/348327/?nc=user

Nick Pavelchak
Altamont, NY

Posted: **Thu May 24, 2018 3:25 pm**

Sun, sunspot and planets

Copyright : Fayçal Demri
Location : Algiers

This image consists of 4 different images of the sun and 3 planets of the solar system.

The photo of the Sun was taken on October 27, 2014 in Algiers with an 8-inch telescope (Celestron C8), a solar filter and a monochrome camera (DMK51). We recognize the very large sunspot AR 2192.

The photo of Mars was taken on May 3, 2016 at 1:06 UT in Algiers with an 11-inch telescope (Celeston C11), Barlow x2 lens and a color video camera (ASI120MC).

The photo of Jupiter was taken on May 02, 2016 at 22:00 UT in Algiers with an 11-inch telescope (Celeston C11), Barlow x2 lens and a color video camera (ASI120MC).

The photo of Saturn was taken on June 14, 2014 at 1:06 UT in Algiers with an 11-inch telescope (Celeston C11), Barlow x2 lens and a color video camera (DFK51).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/138473014 ... ed-public/

Posted: **Fri May 25, 2018 6:17 am**

NGC 3628 - Hamburger Galaxy
https://www.masterdarks.com
Copyright: John Kasianowicz, Josh Balsam, Mike Selby, Dhaval Brahmbhatt, Scott Johnson, Mike Bushell, Rich Johnson, Andy Chatman, Stefan Schmidt

: Click to view full size image

Full size image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/macnmotion/41613716464/

Full image details on our website: https://www.masterdarks.com/ngc-3628-hamburger-galaxy/

NGC 3628, named the Hamburger Galaxy, is an unbarred spiral galaxy in the constellation Leo, approximately 35 million light years from Earth. Along with Messier galaxies M 65 and M 66, it forms the Leo Triplet, a small galaxy group. It derives its name from its appearance, with a puffy bulging galactic disk obscured by dark dust lanes. The galaxy's tidal tail (upper left) resulting from interaction with another galaxy may be up to 300,000 light years long.

More than 23 hours of data was collected at the Dark Sky Observatory Collaborative (DSOC) in Ft. Davis, TX using SC Observatory's remote Planewave CDK 17" f/6.8 scope, in collaboration with:

John Kasianowicz, Josh Balsam, Mike Selby, Dhaval Brahmbhatt, Scott Johnson, Mike Bushell, Rich Johnson

Image processing: Andy Chatman and Mike Selby

Posted: **Fri May 25, 2018 3:11 pm**

Abell 2218, nealy 50 hours of exposure time collected by Mr. Morten la Cour!
Copyright: Niels V. Christensen and on behalf of Morten la Cour
https://www.astrobin.com/users/nvcchr1/

: Click to view full size image

Astrobin link to the picture,
https://astrob.in/348364/0/

Posted: **Sat May 26, 2018 11:10 am**

V in the sky
Copyrights: Gallon Weng

NGC 2237
Copyrights: Jose Jimenez and Raul Villaverde

Above Volcan Pacaya
Copyrights: Carlos Archila

Full Moon from Guatemala
Copyrights: Carlos Archila

Milky Way core
Copyrights: Matt Reaves

Chamaeleon Molecular Cloud
Copyrights: Gabriel Rodrigues Santos

Sh2-126
Copyrights: Richard Sweeney

Star trails over Dan River
Copyrights: Bin Tian

Zodiacal Light
Copyrights: Tom Masterson

Milky Way over the Quarry in the U.P. of Michigan
Copyrights: Jim Brannstrom

ISS and Milky Way
Copyrights: Preston Stahly

M46 & M47 + 2 NGC clusters - A 4 pack of Open Star Clusters
Copyrights: John Chumack

Dark Nebula and Emission Nebula of Milky Way
Copyrights: Xiaohan Wang

Rho Ophiuchi Region over Siallan Mountains
Copyrights: Amir Shahcheraghian

Temple of Debod with the Moon and Venus
Copyrights: Juan Luis

Milky Way Core
Copyrights: James Brannstrom

M51 and M101
Copyrights: Raul Villaverde Fraile

Partial Lunar Eclipse 2017
Copyrights: Mauro Patti

Elephant's Trunk region of the IC1396 nebula (i.e., IC1396A)
Copyrights: Ram Samudrala

Milky Way and BD-1
Copyrights: Stanley

Posted: **Sat May 26, 2018 12:41 pm**

M81, M82 and The Integrated Flux Nebula
Copyrights: Terry Hancock

Bluetears Star
Copyrights: Angel

North American and Pelican Nebula
Copyrights: Steven Macdonald

Hercules Cluster and its surroundings
Copyrights: Alfredo Sayalero

Moon and Venus conjunction
Copyrights: Filippo Curti

Meteor over Willard Eccles Observatory
Copyrights: Paul Ricketts

Deneb Alfa Cygni. The spectator
Copyrights: Raul Villaverde, Domingo Pestana and Nicolas Romo

Solar image
Copyrights: Stacey Fox

Earthshine
Copyrights: James Li

Moon and Venus at Sunset
Copyrights: Charles Pfeil

ISS pass and Iridium flare
Copyrights: Verity Stannard

Rosette Nebula
Copyrights: Brian Cummins

Leo Triplet
Copyrights: Clinton Chan

Falcon 9 stage 2 fuel vent
Copyrights: Sandino Pusta

Milky Way from La Palma
Copyrights: Óscar Blanco

Dusty NGC 1333
Copyrights: Craig Prost

M1 - Crab Nebula
Copyrights: Detlef Hartmann

The Elephant's Trunk Nebula in All It's Glory
Copyrights: Ahmed Khan

Galactic Bulge surrounded by red airglow
Copyrights: Guillaume Doyen

Green and Red/Orange airglow and a bright Meteor
Copyrights: Guillaume Doyen

Starship Asterisk*

Submissions: 2018 May

Re: Submissions: 2018 May

Re: Submissions: 2018 May

Re: Submissions: 2018 May

Re: Submissions: 2018 May

IC 1805 - Heart Nebula

Re: Submissions: 2018 May

Re: Submissions: 2018 May

Re: Submissions: 2018 May

Deneb Alfa Cygni. The spectator

Re: Submissions: 2018 May

Re: Submissions: 2018 May

Re: Submissions: 2018 May

Milky Way over the ESO 3.6m telescope

Olbers' paradox revisited

Re: Submissions: 2018 May

Re: Submissions: 2018 May

Re: Submissions: 2018 May

Re: Submissions: 2018 May

Re: Submissions: 2018 May

Re: Submissions: 2018 May

Re: Submissions: 2018 May

NGC 3628 - Hamburger Galaxy

Re: Submissions: 2018 May

Re: Submissions: 2018 May

Re: Submissions: 2018 May