Starship Asterisk*

NGC 1672 by William Ostling, on Flickr
Full write up here: https://theastroenthusiast.com/ngc-1672-from-hubble/
NGC 1672 is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Dorado. Its massive spiral arms display clusters of hot young blue stars , and beautiful clouds of pink ionized hydrogen gas. Dust lanes throughout the galaxy obscure and redden the light of the stars behind them. NGC 1672’s dynamic core is emphzised by the ring of hydrogen gas and dark dust lanes around it.

Website: https://theastroenthusiast.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_astronomy_enthusiast/

The parade of the planets, an almost perfect alignment between Venus, Saturn and Jupiter. In the photo it is possible to appreciate the planet Venus (the brightest one) reflected in the sea and diagonally to follow Saturn and then Jupiter.
The photo was taken by Giuseppe Conzo (Gruppo Astrofili Palidoro) in Marina di San Nicola on the Roman coast as a sum of 6 photos of 16 seconds ISO-1200, a magical setting for this astronomical phenomenon.

NGC 253
http://www.skymonsters.net
Copyright: Nicola Montecchiari

MINERAL MOON

BEST DETAILS:
https://www.astrobin.com/full/57fuan/0/

EQUIPMENT:
ZWO ASI 6200MC COLED
Spirit 1500mm
CEM120 ASSEMBLY
12/10/2021
Location: São Paulo - SP - Brazil

Copyright: Fernando Oliveira de Menezes
(Organizing author of the book Astrofotografia Amadora no Brasil
https://clubedeautores.com.br/livro/ast ... -no-brasil )

Here is the beautiful California Nebula from a light polluted bortle 8 city. My biggest project yet with 24+ hours total exposure.

OTA: William Optics Z61
Mount: ioptron CEM-40
Camera: ZWO 1600MM pro
Filters: ZWO 7nm Ha, Sii, R,G,B
Ha: 138 x 6 mins = 13h48min
Sii: 101 x 6 mins = 10h06min
R,G,B: 120s x 15 = 30min
Capture: N.I.N.A
Processing: DSS, PS, PI
Total Integration: 24h24mins
Shot over 15 nights in Oct 2021
Location: Agra, India (Bortle 8)

Chamaeleon I dark clouds

Copyright:Mikel Martinez

Chamaeleon_dark clouds LRGB by Mikel Martínez, en Flickr

Here an image of the Geminides meteor shower as seen from the cockpit at an altitude of 40.000’. It was taken yesterday morning on a flight from Denmark back to The Netherlands. Being high above the clouds meant we wouldn't be bothered by the thick clouds which covered most of Europe during the peak of this year’s shower. The landing light I switched on for a better composition, to lead the eye towards the constellation of Gemini.

The image is a composite of 10 different images, blenden together in Photoshop. Taken with a canon 6D an a Samyang 14mm lens.

Orion Colors
http://observatorioelche.blogspot.com/2 ... orion.html
Copyright: Juan Lozano de Haro

Total Solar Eclipse 2021

Date: 04 December 2021
Location: Union Glacier, Antarctica

We got 37.6 seconds of totality. The sky was so clear that we saw shadowbands 12 minutes before totality

The image is a combination of 24 different images with different exposure times and was processed with Photoshop.

Camera: Nikon Z6
Lens: Nikkor 80-400mm at 400mm



Best regards,
Andreas

Leonard Comet and planets from Marina San Nicola (Rome) on December 15, 2021
4 cameras were needed to achieve this result:
Samsung NX1000: 10 pose da 13 secondi ISO-800. To catch comet;
Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro: 5 pose da 16 secondi ISO-1200. To catch Planets and landscape;
Canon EOS 1200D: 16 pose da 20 secondi ISO-800. To catch stars;
Nikon D90: 6 pose da 10 secondi ISO-1200. To catch comet.
Authors are Gabriele Spaziani Giuseppe Conzo Luciana Guariglia Cristiano Negroni Chiara Elisabetta Tronci
© Gruppo Astrofili Palidoro

California in space

Located in the Perseus constellation, The California Nebula appears to outline the state of California. Also known as NGC 1499, this emission nebula is around 100 light-years long. The star most likely providing the energetic starlight that ionizes much of the nebular gas is the bright, hot, bluish Xi Persei (Menkib) just to the left of the nebula in this image.

Location: Georgetown, Texas
Total exposure: 15 hours 15 minutes

The Sirius Color Wheel

Hi, I’m Davor Orel, from Brescia (Italy) and I would like to show you the photograph I made based on the color circle invented by Johannes Itten, which I learned when I went to school as a child to learn primary colors.
To make it, I used about 4000 shots of Sirio, from the balcony of my house in Brescia (Bortle 7) on the night of December 13, 2021, blurring it to enhance its colors. Each single dot is a photo of Sirius, taken with his original colors.
For the shots I used an Askar FMA180 with QHY163C and L-Pro filter, mounted on AZ-GTi, all connected to a Win 2 GPD converted for astrophotography. Filming was done with SharpCap, set to generate single frames in TIFF, the first processing (crop and debayer) was done in PIPP, converted to JPG with a batch of Photoshop, and then AndreaMosaic for the creation of the mosaic picture.

Thanks for your attention, sure you will like it, I wish you happy holidays and a happy new year!
This is the original Itten color wheel.

Sunset on Copernicus

Copernicus along the sunset terminator by Tom Glenn, on Flickr

This image was taken as sunset was falling on Copernicus crater on the waning crescent Moon. The image was taken November 28, 2021, at 05:55 local time (PST) in San Diego, CA, using a C9.25 Edge HD telescope and ASI183mm camera with a 610nm long pass filter.

Messier 55 - The Summer Rose Star

It is a globular cluster located in the constellation Sagittarius, , M55 is 17,600 light-years away from Earth, has a mass about 269,000 times that of the Sun.

BEST DETAILS:
https://www.astrobin.com/full/hu6295/0/

EQUIPMENT:
ZWO ASI 6200MC COLED
Esprit 1500mm
CEM60 mount
08/09/2021
69x100"

Location: Jales - SP - Brazil
Copyright: Fernando Oliveira de Menezes
(Organizing author of the book Astrofotografia Amadora no Brasil
https://clubedeautores.com.br/livro/ast ... -no-brasil

Another Very brief session through a portal due to rain clouds in Puerto Rico of Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard) on December 16th, 22:39ut.

The Hunter Was Hurt

Orion hurt by a Geminid meteor

Credit and copyright: Pierandrea Folle

Comet C/2021 A1 Leonard moving through Boötes


https://flic.kr/p/2mRcxyD
Copyright: Andres Molina



The comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard) has given us many incredible views in recent weeks, from Colombia we join these captures!
Images of the comet moving during the early mornings of December 4 to 8 when it was passing through the constellation of Boötes,
images taken from the Orion interstellar Camp inside Tatacoa desert.

Desierto de la Tatacoa, Huila, Colombia

Gear:
Canon 6D astromod with clear Astronomik MC clear filter
Lens Tamron 70-200 f/2.8
Tracking with Celestron Nexstar Mount

Images ranging fron 20 to 100 frames, 30s exposure each ISO 3200 normalized and adjusted for brightness, software used: Pixinsght 1.8, Adobe Photoshop CC 2022

here is my attempt to make the crab nebula look as much like the famous hubble image of 2000.
i spent quite a while tweaking on the colors

the real gem is the video where i aligned the images and switched back and forth so you could see the expansion over the past 21 years. you can see that on my facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/8615172 ... 450244961/

i hope the link works

i used an Edge11 SCT
QSI6120 astrodon 3nm Ha and OIII filters

The triple conjunction by Manuel Natale, on Flickr

The triple conjunction

On the morning of August 18 Venus and Jupiter are separated by just one quarter of a degree: their closest conjunction since 2000! This is, without doubt, the most spectacular conjunction of the year.
The following morning, the two planets begans to separate once more, but only 6 day later, in the early morning of August 24, will be possible to admire them to the presence of a third wheel: the Moon, not an any one, but the thinnest crescent Moon before the New Moon of the day after.
So, one hour before the sunrise looking at the horizon in the east-northeast direction, here is its thin lunar crescent joins the two planets providing a magnificent scene in a shape of an isosceles triangle, set against the colours of dawn with the black profile of a refuge , some trees and clouds at the top of the mountain in front of the sea.

Place and date of the shot:
1638 m MSL Fonte Tettone, Abruzzo, Italy - 05:33 24th August 2014.


The triple conjunction of Venus-Jupiter-Moon of the 24th August 2014 is litterally the first image of my career in this magnificent world shooted with a simple Nikon D5100 (using a 55mm at f5.6, 1/10 sec. ISO 100) and barely retouched with PS only in terms of lights.


Credit&Copyright: Manuel Natale
Instagram id: @sir.christmasss


Below is the detail of only the Moon:

The triple Conjunction - Moon by Manuel Natale, on Flickr



(25 year old Italian Astrophysics student at the University of Padua, with a great passion for astrophotography)

La Palma volcano and stars
www.bajmoczy.hu
Copyright: György Bajmóczy
Canon G5x ISO 400 f 5,6 8 sec 2 hours
2021:11:20 06:06
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1epOswj ... sp=sharing

Interstellar Cloud, Bok Globules and Pareidolia in the Rosette Nebula


What do interstellar dust clouds have in common with pareidolia?
The human brain is extraordinary. During his evolution he got used to recognizing familiar structures and forms everywhere, even in abstract scenarios.
Thus observing the molecular clouds present in the Rosette nebula, an emission nebula more than 5200 light years away from our planet, it might seem to us to distinguish forms of animals, faces, objects of common use.
This illusion is the same one we use to characterize the shapes of the clouds or when we have the impression of recognizing a typically human expression on the face of our pets.

To illuminate this wonderful emission nebula (NGC 2244) we also find an open cluster of young stars located in the center (NGC 2237) and, among the columns of dust, we can distinguish several Bok globules. A tribute in the name to Bart Bok, the astronomer who first hypothesized that these small compact dark nebulae could be precursors of the protostars, themselves a version that predates the formation of a new star.

The editing in Hubble Palette SHO (SII: H-Alpha:OIII) is always a very three-dimensional and suggestive representation to appreciate all the small details of the emission nebulae. Although the colors are not realistic, the dynamic rendering always has a very strong impact.

Integration:
Ha 3nm 30x600’’
OIII 3.5nm 20x600’’
SII 3.5nm 18x600’’
Total integration: 11.5h

Location: Maranello (Italy) - From 12/11/2021 to 12/17/2021
With Sky-Watcher 300 f/4, EQ8R-Pro, Ha 3nm, OIII and SII 3.5nm Filters, ZWO ASI 294MM
Developed with PixInsight and Photoshop 2022
Copyright: Luca Fornaciari
IG : luca_fornaciari_photography
Website: www.lucafornaciarifotografia.com
Frames captured from Carl Sagan Observatory in Maranello (Italy).
Bortle 5 / SQM 19.5

IC 410 The Tadpoles nebula
https://www.facebook.com/tommaso.m.stella
Copyright: Tommaso Stella
From: Taranto, Italy
8,2h total integration

Lights: 98x300s @ 250 Gain (-15°C), 51 Dark, 42 Flat
Telescope: TS PhotoLine Apochromatic FPL53 Triplet 102 @ f/5.53
Camera: ZWO ASI 294mc Pro
Mount: Skywatcher AZ-EQ6 GT
Autoguide: ASI 224mc & Ultraguide 60
Filters: Optolong L-Enhance

Cropped 60%

C/2021 A1 (Leonard) & M3 Globular Cluster

Copyright: Nicolas Adriano

Image URL: https://cdn.astrobin.com/images/67318/2 ... b124be.png
Telescope: Dreamscope 16" f/3.7 Astrograph Reflector
Camera: FLI ProLine 16803
Filter: FLI CFW 4-5 (Baader Luminance (Clear/Red/Green/Blue/H-Alpha) Filter Wheel
Mount: Software Bisque Paramount ME
Location: Pie Town, New Mexico, USA

L: 9x60"
R: 9x60"
G: 9x60"
B: 9x60"

Email: nicolasadrianofariasanches@outlook.com

Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard) and Messier 3
Copyright: Brandon Ghany (founder of Horizon Productions SFL)
Website: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ilikerio/albums
Email: horizonproductionssfl1@gmail.com
Image URL: https://flic.kr/p/2mQVv5w

Separated the stars and the comet and processed them individually using PixInsight, then exported for re-combining with layers in Paint.NET. Extra detail for the cluster was blended in from a previous deep-sky project on M3.

Comet/starfield total integration: 1 hour 19 minutes
158 x 30 seconds ISO1600 [Bortle 6 in SC]
-
M3 total integration: 8 hours 48 minutes
446 x 60 seconds ISO800 [Bortle 6 in VA]
41 x 120 seconds ISO200 [Bortle 7 in FL]

Camera: Canon T3i
Average camera temperature: 90 F (32 C)
Telescope: Explore Scientific ED80 f/6.0 Apochromatic Refractor (with ES field flattener)
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G
Guide scope: Svbony 50mm f/4.0 Guide Scope
Guide camera: Orion StarShoot AutoGuider
Software: N.I.N.A. with PlateSolve2 and PHD2
Bortle Class 6 ~19.34 mag/arcsec^2 (Summerville, SC)
Bortle Class 6 ~19.32 mag/arcsec^2 (Charlottesville, VA)
Bortle Class 7 ~18.44 mag/arcsec^2 (Coral Springs, FL)
Processed with PixInsight and Paint.NET

bacsk-final2 (1) by osama Fathi, on Flickr

Comet Leonard over Djoser Named by osama Fathi, on Flickr

Comet Leonard over 5 Centuries ago
18 Dec , Comet Leonard C/2021 A1 was near Venus, it was a very special moment to capture the comet with Venus over the most ancient limestone building (c. 2670–2650 BC) The Pyramid of Djoser or Step Pyramid, Saqqara, Egypt

Even who built this pyramid didn't observe this Comet

Settings :
Camera: Nikon Z6 (Mod)
Lens: Redcat 250 mm
Tracker: Skywatcher sky adventurer



Subs:
Comet and venus : 200*10 Sec, Iso 500 @250 mm
Foreground 10*5 Sec, Iso 800

Credite: Osama Fatehi
Egypt