Starship Asterisk*

Sh2-155

is a diffuse nebula in the constellation Cepheus, within a larger nebula complex containing emission, reflection, and dark nebulosity. Sh2-155 is an ionized HII region with ongoing star formation activity, at an estimated distance of 725 parsecs (2400 light-years) from Earth.
Sh2-155 was first noted as a galactic emission nebula in 1959 in the extended second edition of the Sharpless catalogue, being a part of the much larger Cep OB3 Association. Although Sh2-155 is relatively faint for amateur observation, some of its structure may be seen visually through a moderately sized telescope under dark skies.
Sh2-155 lies at the edge of the Cepheus B cloud (part of the Cepheus molecular cloud), and is ionized by young stars from the Cep OB3 association. It has been suggested that radiation from the hot O-type star HD 217086 is compressing the region, triggering the formation of a new generation of stars. A study of the region’s young stellar objects by the Chandra X-ray Observatory and Spitzer Space Telescope shows a progression of stellar ages in front of the cloud, supporting the hypothesis of triggered star-formation.

Credit :
Thomas LELU
Newton ASA10’'
Paramount MyT
Moravian G2-4000
LHa-RHaGB
Total exposure : 22hrs
FRANCE - Lorraine

Sharpless 2-188, planetary nebula in Cassiopeia
High resolution image and technical data: http://www.javierlaina.es/IMAGENES/SH2_188.html




Javier Gómez Laina (Spain)
http://www.javierlaina.es/indexeng.html

Elephant's Trunk Nebula

Ha - 36x600s at -15ºC
OIII - 30x600s at -15ºC
SII - 30x300s at -20ºC

Equipment:
ASI183MM Pro
Baader Ha, OIII and SII filter
TS80 Triplet Apo with x0.79 reducer
NEQ6 Pro II Modified mount with autoguiding

Processed with AstroPixelProcessor and Photoshop CC.



Elephant Trunk SHO by Alejandro Pertuz, en Flickr

Deep inside the Seven Sisters

Deep inside the Seven Sisters by Kees Scherer, on Flickr

Telescope: Esprit 100 f5.5, Camera: QHY16200 @-15C.
78x300sec Red, 69x300sec Green, 74x300sec Blue (18.4 hrs)

Imaged on 5,6,7,8,9 &10 october 2018.
Processed in AstroPixelProcessor and Pixinsight.
Knight Observatory, Tomar.

Hello,
25 hours of Ha OIII with my Asa 10
The full is here. https://cdn.astrobin.com/thumbs/XrBLc78 ... hqkGbg.jpg

G65.3+5.7 Ha_OIII- bicolor by Andre van der Hoeven, on Flickr

Credits: André van der Hoeven (astro-photo.nl) / MDW Sky Survey (mdwskysurvey.org) Processing: André van der Hoeven


Here is the result of my large summer-2018 project. I have been imaging this region for about 13 nights altogether between July and October 2018. You can call me crazy, using so many nights for just one object, in a region where clear nights are rare But I really wanted to see if I could catch this beautiful Supernova remnant, and I'm glad it succeeded

Supernova remnants (SNR) are formed when a large star ends its life in a supernova explosion. About 300 of these remnants are currently known in our galaxy. One of the most famous remnants, the Veil Nebula, is located in the constellation of Cygnus. Although this is the most famous one in this constellation, it’s not the only SNR. Cygnus contains several obscure SNR’s, among which SNR 65.3+5.7 (also known as SNR 65.2+5.7).
SNR G65.3+5.7 was discovered by Gull et al. (1977) during an OIII survey of the Milky Way. Some parts of this SNR were already catalogued by Stewart Sharpless in his SH2 catalog as SH2-91, SH2-94 and SH2-96, but they were not recognized as being part of a bigger structure at that time. The idea that they could be part of a larger SNR was postulated by Sidney van den Bergh in 1960, but it took until 1977 for this to be confirmed.
This is one of the larger SNR in the sky spanning a region of roughly 4.0x3.3 degrees. Mavromatakis et al. (2002) determined the age of the SNR to be 20.000-25.000 years and the distance about 2.600 – 3.200 lightyears. The shell has a diameter of roughly 230 lightyears! This SNR is a predominantly OIII shell with also some H-alpha signal.

This supernova shell is quite weak and there are hardly any high-resolution images of this region. In the internet maybe 5-10 deep images of this shell can be found and, in most cases, they don’t cover the entire shell or the resolution is quite low because it was done by using photo lenses at short focal lengths. That’s why I decided to see if I could try to image the entire shell using my equipment, a TMB92 refractor in combination with a QSI583ws ccd camera. Because of its large size I needed to make a 3x3 mosaic to cover the whole region.

As so many nights were already necessary to cover the region in OIII I didn’t succeed in grabbing the H-alpha data, but on the internet I found the MDWsurvey (mdwskysurvey.org) initiated by David Mittelman (†), Dennis di Cicco, and Sean Walker (MDW). This is a marvelous project with the goal to image the entire northern sky in H-alpha at a resolution of 3.17”/pixel. I contacted them and told them of my effort to grab imagery of this SNR and they were very kind to provide me with the H-alpha imagery of this region, so that the entire SNR could be brought into view in reasonable high resolution.

This bicolor image shows a combination of about 53h of OIII data (made by myself) and 20 hours of Ha-data (made by the MDW survey) in a single image. In this way the full span of the shell can be seen in all its glory.


Image info:

H-alpha (astrodon 3nm, mdwskysurvey.org):
Telescope: Astro-physics AP130mm starfire
Camera: Fli Proline 16803
5 frames of 12x1200s each

OIII (astrodon 3nm):
Telescope: TMB92SS
Camera: QSI583ws
9 frames, 158 x 1200s total

Bubble Nebula - NGC 7635 - Hubble Palette:
This nebula discovered by William Herschel in 1787 is visible in the constellation of Cassiopeia, and is about 11,000 light years from us.
The shots cover a period that goes from late August to mid-October, but despite the two months used I have totaled "only" 30 hours of integration due to bad weather.

This is the link with the shooting data

M16 Pillars Of Creation

Equipment :
OTA : Celestron C11 XLT
Mount : EQ8
Camera : Atik 460ex
Guiding : OAG via Lodestar X2
Filters : Baader Ha 7nm & Sii 8.5nm - Astronomik Oiii 6nm

SoftWare :
DSS - Pix - Cs

Exposure :
Ha : 3h20min
Oiii : 6h40min
Sii : 4h35min

Location : Thessaloniki Greece

IC5070

Full version can be found here:
http://space-expedition.de/php/objtempl ... 070-haoiii

Copyright: Matthias Pfersdorff

Telescope: Vixen VC200L + QSI583WSG + AP900GTO
Location: Backyard

Total Exposure time: 25,6 hours
Ha: 580min (58x600s)
OIII: 870min (58x900s)
RGB for stars: 30:30:30min (300s subs)

Pickering's Triangle
http://pleiades.hu
Copyright: Lorand Fenyes
full image: https://www.fenyeslorand.hu/galeria/koz ... kering.jpg

Iris Nebula
http://pleiades.hu
Copyright: Lorand Fenyes
full image: https://www.fenyeslorand.hu/galeria/koz ... s_iris.jpg

M106
http://pleiades.hu
Copyright: Lorand Fenyes
full image: https://www.fenyeslorand.hu/galeria/koz ... s_m106.jpg

This is a very mysterious object, weak and difficult to see, but extended, at the same time. It recalls one of the most terrifying sea fantasy monsters: the giant squid. Discovered in the constellation of Cepheus in 2011 by the French astro-imager Nicolas Outters and then named with the acronym OU4.
It is located in a region called Ruby Shapley (SH2-129), also named Flying Bat Nebula.
Details:
H:24x900" astronomik 7nm
OIII:46X900" astronomik 6nm
Cannistra Technique
Moravian g2 8300 fw + Canon 200 f2,8
Pixinsight

Epicycle
Copyright: György Soponyai

This photo depicts the retrograde loop of Mars as seen between 2018-07-11 and 2018-10-16. The foreground was taken near Tarján, Hungary on 5th October.


Foreground details:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II + Canon EF 50/1.4
5sec, F1.8, ISO 3200

The solar granulation at high resolution (0.1"/pixel) in green light, taken from the French Alps at 2930m altitude in August with a 356mm telescope (C14).
A window of (relatively) stable seeing allowed me to make this animation showing the evolution of the solar surface during 16 minutes. The lifetime of the cells is very short, only a few minutes!

Watch it in HD mode full screen

Here is the latest version of my image of the little Veil in Cygnus:


G65.3+5.7 Ha_OIII- bicolor by Andre van der Hoeven, on Flickr

Maunakea Milky Way and Lava Glow
www.mdieterichphoto.com
Copyright: Matt Dieterich When you get a chance, share the night sky with someone you care about. You just don't know how big of an impact you'll have on their life, and those memories are something to cherish.

I wanted to visit Maunakea and experience the night skies. I was fortunate enough to have a watched sunset and then the Milky Way came into view right before the Moon rose above the horizon. In this picture, the lava glow from Kilauea can be seen under the arching Milky Way. The clouds blanketed the valley and made for a spectacular experience.

I was lucky enough to give an impromptu night sky education class to a family visiting from Long Island, NY while shooting this panorama. They were absolutely blown away by how many stars and planets were visible that night.

Deep in the Heart
www.peterkurucz.com
Copyright: Peter Kurucz

A Large Emission Nebula in Cassiopeia

NGC 281 is a H II emission nebula in Cassiopeia containing the open cluster IC 1590, which powers the ionization of the hydrogen gas. Large dust filaments as well as Bok globules, which may be the site of future star formation, can be seen. The image is a total of 5 hrs 20 min exposure in H alpha light. Image taken with a Takahashi CCA250 astrograph and QSI683wsg camera on a Paramount ME on the nights of 13, 15 Dec, 16 Nov 2018 in Mayhill, NM (16 x 1200 sec lights @ -20 degrees C. Astrodon H alpha filter 5 nm bandwidth; 24 darks; 128 bias; 128 flats). Processed with PixInsight 1.8.5.1353 Ripley (x64).

For larger image see: http://astronomersgroup.org/gallery/dis ... fullsize=1

NGC 6769-6770-6771

NGC 6769-6770-6771 form this superb triple system in the southern constellation of Pavo. It is also known as the Devil's Mask. The trio are 190 million light years away, and receding. Both NGC 6769 and NGC 6770 are receding at similar velocities of about 3800 km/s - a redshift just over 0.01, while NGC 6771 is receding at a slightly higher rate of 4200 km/s.

The central bulge in all three galaxies are of similar brightness. NGC 6771 has an interesting boxy shape which is indeed a rare occurrence among galaxies. It is unusual in that it has two comparatively straight dark lanes and a fainter arc that curves towards the third galaxy

Both NGC 6769 and NGC 6770 are spiral galaxies, yet very different. NGC 6769 has very tightly wound spiral arms, while NGC 6770 has two major spiral arms, one of which is fairly straight pointing towards the outer disc of NGC 6769. The blueish colour of the spiral arms indicate the presence of many star forming regions.

IC4845, a Barred Spiral Galaxy. Its angular size is 1.207’ 0.893’ (arcmin). Surprisingly, even with a modest instrument (25 cm), the galaxy presents remarkable fine details.


Exposure Details:

• Lum 37X900 Bin1X1
  Red 22X450 Bin2X2
  Green 18X450 Bin2X2
  Blue 15X450 Bin2X2
  Total time hours

Instruments Used:

• 10 Inch RCOS fl 9.1
  Astro Physics AP-900 Mount
  SBIG STL 11000m
  FLI Filter Wheel
  Astrodon Lum, Red, Green, Blue Filters

Software Used:

• CCDStack (calibration, alignment, data rejection, stacking)
  Photoshop CS 6 (Image processing)

NGC 6769 / 6770 / 6771 by Terry Robison, on Flickr

Thanks for looking

Some of my recent results processed this month:

NGC 7365 and M52



link to high res image: http://delsaert.files.wordpress.com/201 ... ao3rgb.jpg



NGC 772



link to high res image: http://delsaert.files.wordpress.com/201 ... detail.jpg
link to high res widefield image: http://delsaert.files.wordpress.com/201 ... lrgbv2.jpg



CTB1



link to high res image: http://delsaert.files.wordpress.com/201 ... ao3rgb.jpg

http://delsaert.com/

Rolando Ligustri wrote: this is an interesting comet,46P Wirtanen, in this passage it will be very close to the Earth and it is expected a magnitude, a December, inferior to the 4 ^ magnitude , at the bottom there is his current measure af (rho) which in 10 days has increased by 30%

link for high res, https://www.astrobin.com/full/373023/0/

From the flaming star to the spider and the fly
http://www.far-light-photography.at
Copyright: Arno Rottal full resolution:
https://www.astrobin.com/full/373043/0
Done with Skywatcher Esprit 80, Moravian G2-8300 and Astrophotography Tool.
Triple mosaic - 48,5h of exposure time. HaLRGB. Backyard Observatory in Himberg/near Vienna/Austria

location: Malá Fatra in the Slovakia.

in the picture is: Little Fatra should be a place where it is dark at night. Unfortunately it is not, but the light in the landscape can sometimes make special pictures. Light is the picture in many forms.

Processing Information: Panorama of 49 pictures, 2x flat.
Landscape: 9 frames, 3x EBKT, 1x flat. ISO 2000, f / 4.5, 255, 75 and 15s.
Stars: 20 shots + 20 DF. ISO 6400, f / 2, 10s.
Focal point 35mm.
Nikon D500, Sigma 18-35mm
date: 5.10.2018

full resolution http://www.vaclavhyza.cz/galerie/lights%20full.jpg

Sh2-155, the Cave Nebula and LDN 1210
Copyright: Hermann von Eiff October 04 and 05, 2018
Herchenhainer Höhe, Vogelsberg, Germany
Telescope Astro-Physics Starfire EDF 155 mm with focal reducer (825 mm)
Camera Canon 5D Mark II with Baader UV/IR filter
Exposure time 350 minutes total
Image processing with PixInsight and Photoshop CC

The Pacman Nabula with amazing Bok globule
https://www.facebook.com/astrofotografia/
Copyright: Adam Jesionkiewicz Bigger size: https://astropolis.pl/uploads/monthly_2 ... f48716.jpg

The Pacman Nabula with amazing Bok globule.
~20h narrowband exposure, GSO RC12", Moravian G3CCD 16200, on ASA DDM85, with extraordinary seeing condition in Poland (~1,3-1,5 arc sec.).

Barnard 175 - The Space Penguin

I decided on a more appropriate title for this one. I can't get the image of a baby penguin looking up out of my head. Enjoy!

More details and higher resolution image at the link here: https://astrob.in/367879/0/
Image copyright: Jason Guenzel