This animation took over 5000 frames to complete, taken over a period of three months. Each frame is a 60 second exposure. Multiple focal lengths were used, from 15mm to 600mm. The images were all registered (aligned) with each other and the zoom was accomplished digitally, dissolving from one focal length into another.
With this method I did my best to emphasize the transient nature of the night sky, showing the changing airglow (green and red color casts washing through the images) and satellites passing through this region of space. The stars will even have a bit of a twinkle to them from different seeing conditions. Everything you see is real.
Additionally I created a starless background image from the same data for each focal length. The timelapse of each frame was overlaid over the starless image using the screen method so it all blended together nicely.
Image processing (calibration, registration, color correction, star extraction) was done in Pixinsight and the animations were created in DaVinci Resolve.
Re: Submissions: 2024 January
Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2024 9:13 pm
by shobhitraj
Title: Celestial Marvels- Thor's Helmet and its Cosmic Companion
Description: Thor's Helmet, officially known as NGC 2359, is a stunning emission nebula located in the constellation Canis Major, approximately 15,000 light-years away from Earth. This celestial marvel earned its nickname due to its striking resemblance to the legendary Norse god's iconic headgear. The nebula is a result of a massive star's energetic winds colliding with surrounding interstellar gas, creating a captivating display of glowing gases and dust.
Nearby, is the lesser-known yet equally fascinating planetary nebula PHR J0719-1222, a final and glorious stage in the lives of Sun-like stars, where the star's outer layers are expelled, forming a colorful shell of ionized gas.
Technical details:
Imaging telescopes: TS Optics CF-APO 90mm + TSCFRED90 0.8x reducer
Imaging cameras: QHY294M
Filters: Astronomik D-RGB, Astronomik 6nm Sii, Astronomik 6nm Ha, Astronomik 6nm Oiii
Mounts: iOptron CEM25P
Software: PixInsight 1.8.9-2 Ripley
Description: My winter holiday in Seoul, South Korea is not complete without a night walk at Lotte World Skyscraper on 11th January 2024. It is the most fascinating lone-activity I made in Seoul. 555m high, it is my sky map in this big city. Combination of modern architecture and coldness of the night. It is my most memorable picture to share to the world.
The Markarian Galaxies are part of the Virgo Cluster, they are also known as the "Markarian Chain" due to the fact that the group is arranged along a curved line, located more or less at the center of the Virgo Cluster at a distance from us of approximately 70 million light years away, the galaxies M84 and M86 are part of the group. They were discovered in the 1960s by B.E. Markarian, from which they take their name.
Technical data and tools
light : Luminance 120x180s. RGB: 90x180s
data acquisition: Asi Air Plus
telescope: Skywatcher 80ED with 0.85x reducer/flattener
main chamber: Asi 2600 MM pro
guide: Oag-L + Asi 290 MM mini
filter wheel: Efw 7x2
focuser: Eaf 5v
mount: Skywatcher EQ6R-pro
Processing: PixInsight and Photoshop
Bortle 6, sqm 19.30
In the constellation Monoceros, west of the Cone Nebula and the Christmas Tree Cluster IC 2169 / IC447 can be found, a true gem of a reflection nebula. Next to IC447, the smaller reflection nebulae IC 446, NGC 2245 & 2247 can also be seen. The entire region belongs to the "Monoceros R1 Complex" (Mon R1), an active star-forming region located approximately 2,500 light-years away. On the left side of the image, the star cluster NGC 2259 and some LDNs and LBNs are also present.
The image is based on 12.5 hours of RGB. To better balance the colors in the image, I enriched the area of the gas nebula with a bit of Ha and OIII signal. In doing so, I was able to use data from my capture of the Christmas Tree Cluster from last year, which fortunately overlapped exactly in this area.
Celestron RASA 8
Celestron Motorfocuser
EQ6-R Pro
ZWO ASI 2600 MC Pro (Gain 100, Offset 18, -10°)
RGB: 731 x 60" (12h 11')
TS 2600 MP Mono (Gain 100, Offset 200, -10°)
Ha (Baader f2 3.5nm): 200 × 60″ (3h 20′)
OIII (Baader f2 4 nm): 130 × 120″ (4h 20′)
Total: 19h 51‘
Darks, Flats, Darkflats, Dithering
N.I.N.A., Guiding: ZWO ASI 120MM & PHD2
Astropixelprocessor, Photoshop, Pixinsight
Date: January 8 & 9, 2024, January 19, 2023, January 17, 2022
I have been waiting for this transit for days. In terms of apparent diameter, it is not perfect, because the ISS was about 750 km away, i.e. the apparent diameter was 38". In an ideal situation, the maximum is around 61" from Hungary. therefore, the day before the photoshoot there would have been a 52", but it was too difficult in the terrain, too far away.
The composition was inspired by the idea that there are a couple of people out in outer space with a space station, and with that they represent almost all of humanity's sciences. It was a grandiose experience to see in articles how the space station was built, to see how they work and the traffic there... and it's all there in the evening, sometimes as a bright "star" in the sky, sometimes in front of some celestial body and we know it from a cake plate to take a photo with carved glass .
Location: Hungary, Zselic Starry Sky Park, Zselic Park of Stars
Veil Nebula, Cygnus Loop
Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2024 10:45 am
by astrocam
Equipment
Imaging Telescopes Or Lenses: Sky-Watcher Evostar 72ED
Imaging Cameras: Omegon veTEC 571 C
Mounts: Losmandy G11
Filters: Optolong L-eXtreme 2"
Accessories: Explore Scientific Telescope Drive Master (TDM), TS-Optics NEWTON Coma Corrector 1.0x (TSGPU)
Dates:
27-29 Jul 2023, 21-23-24 Aug 2023
Frames: Optolong L-eXtreme 2": 166×300″(13h 50′) for each panel
Camerino (MC), Italy
One of the most intense phenomena that can occur in the universe is the explosion of a supernova. It can happen in two ways. The first is when a massive star runs out of "fuel" and begins to collapse on itself due to gravity. The second is when a "white dwarf" accumulates material from a "companion star" and reaches critical mass. In both cases the collapse ends with a huge explosion which totally disintegrates the initial object now made up of degenerate matter. The outer layers of the star are ejected at thousands of kilometers per second, creating a cloud of gas and dust in the interstellar medium. The "diffuse supernova remnant" is born.
The veil nebula is therefore what remains of a supernova that exploded thousands of years ago, creating three groups of waves of diffuse material that are now enormous and destined to disappear in the interstellar medium, three "veils" of gas and dust that describe a ring of about 50 light years in diameter. The main objects that we can observe today are NGC 6960, NGC 6974 and NGC 6979 with the concavities facing east, NGC 6992 and NGC 6995 with the concavities facing west.
Imaging Telescope: William Optics Fluorostar 120 / FLT120
Imaging Cameras: ZWO ASI2600MM Pro
Mounts: Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro
Filters: Antlia 3nm Narrowband H-alpha 36 mm · Antlia 3nm Narrowband Oxygen III 36 mm · Antlia 3nm Narrowband Sulfur II 36 mm
This image is entirely created from 300sec sub-exposures captured on the 9th, 10th, 18th and 19th of January 2024.
Avg. Moon age: 18.06 days
Avg. Moon phase: 31.20%
RA center: 06h19m02s.71
DEC center: +22°38′11″.4
Pixel scale: 1.245 arcsec/pixel
Orientation: -35.140 degrees
Field radius: 1.284 degrees
This Nebula fascinates me. There is so much going on, not only in the main body of the Supernova Remnant which houses the Neutron Star, but also in the structures to the left of the image. Are they part of the Supernova Remnant, created at the same time? Or are they an independent structure created by other forces at a different time. If so, do they interact with the Supernova Remnant now? Are they even close to each other or just on the same line of sight?
This is image is the result of about 4 hours of integration (15x300s Ha, 15x300s Sii, 20x300s Oiii) from a Bortle 7 sky of a little town just outside Varese, in the North of Italy that is one of the worst light polluted region in Europe!
Equipment used:
Artesky 90/500 refractor
Zwo ASI2600MM
Avalon M-Zero mount
Astronomik 6nm Narrow Band filters
The Rim Nebula, also known as NGC 6188 or "The Fighting Dragons of Ara" is an impressive emission nebula located about 4,000 light years away.
The bright open cluster NGC 6193 is responsible for a region of reflection nebulosity within NGC 6188.
Planewave CDK17" - FLI 16803 - 10Microns GM 3000 HPS - Filtres Astrodon SHO 3 nm
Ha : 53 x 1800s
OIII : 60 x 1800s
SII : 64 x 1800s
Total : 88h30
Processing: APP, Pixinsight & Photoshop
This image shows a number of beautiful nebulae in the constellation Cassiopeia: the northern lagoon (NGC7538, top), the lobster claw (NGC7510, bottom) and the bubble (NGC7536, centre left).
A beautiful cosmic and aquatic environment!
There are also other smaller nebulae (SH2-158, SH2-159...), two beautiful open clusters (notably M52) and a few planetary nebulae (one of which is clearly visible at the bottom of the image).
This is a mosaic of 2 images taken during the summer of 2023, using the TSA-102 at 600mm focal length and the Atik16200 CCD, which means that the final result is a wide field without sacrificing resolution.
TSA-102 - AZEQ6 - CCD Atik16200
Filters Baader Ultra-narrowband SHO (3 et 4nm) + RGB.
Ha : 30 x 900s
OIII : 42 x 600s
SII : 42 x 600s
RGB : 3 x (24 x 60s)
Total : 22h42
11-16 august 2023 - Corsica (France)
The California Nebula (NGC 1499). This is an emission nebula located about 1,000 light-years away from us in the constellation Perseus. The name comes, of course, from its resemblance to the outline of the U.S. state of California, a shape that requires a bit of creative interpretation to discern in the nebula's contours. It is among the most important emission nebulae in the boreal sky extending about 5 lunar diameters in length. Because of its extension, it is very difficult to observe through binoculars or a telescope, while it is at its best in photographic shots.Long-exposure, wide-field photography is also able to show the rich field of dark nebulae in which this object is immersed.
Technical data: Samyang 135mm f/3.6 with ZWO ASI 2600MM with Astrodon LRGB filters. 9x120s L, 3x120s R, 3x120s G, 30x120s B.
About the Image:
M 78 is the lesser known nebula in the grand constellation of Orion, and is a superb target for Ha-LRGB imaging in my opinion. I thought it would be a good test for my new PlaneWave CDK14 setup, but the effects on El Nino meant capturing a lot more data than I had anticipated initially as I ended up throwing away several hours of sub-frames due to poor seeing. I do love how it eventually ended up, with particularly the red hues from hydrogen-II regions counterbalancing the blue and white reflection structures.
Instrument and Acquisition:
PlaneWave CDK14 with 0.66x Reducer
PlaneWave L-350 Mount
ZWO ASI6200MM Pro Camera
Chroma LRGB, 5nmHa Filters
~14.5 hours total: 51x300" L, 30x300" R, 34x300" G, 30x300" B, 15x600" Ha
Stacked and processing in PixInsight, Finished in Photoshop
Location and Dates:
Sierra Remote Observatories (SRO)
Auberry, CA
working from home thanks to covid,
I brought my grab and go scope out at lunch and captured this huge prominence during a weekday,
at a time when no one else was lucky enough to see it.
1/10/2024 approximately 1:20 PM pacific
(full scale images at the link above)
EQUIPMENT: ZWO ASI 6200MC COLED
Esprit 150mm
Baader Lunar Filter
Date: 12/25/2023 Location: Munhoz - MG - Brazil
PROCESSING AND CAPTURE: Software: Adobe Photoshop, SharpCap, AutoStakkert AutoStackert and Registax 6.
Copyright: Fernando Oliveira de Menezes
Email: Barretosmed@hotmail.com
(Organizing author of the book Astrofotografia Amadora no Brasil) https://clubedeautores.com.br/livro/ast ... l[img2]URL to image file (which must be to the image itself)[/img2]
EQUIPMENT:
ZWO ASI 6200MC COLED
Esprit 150mm
Baader Lunar Filter
Date: 12/25/2023 Location: Munhoz - MG - Brazil
PROCESSING AND CAPTURE: Software: Adobe Photoshop, SharpCap, AutoStakkert AutoStackert and Registax 6. Copyright: Fernando Oliveira de Menezes Email: Barretosmed@hotmail.com
(Organizing author of the book Astrofotografia Amadora no Brasil) https://clubedeautores.com.br/livro/ast ... l[img2]URL to image file (which must be to the image itself)[/img2]
Re: Submissions: 2024 January
Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2024 10:17 pm
by SantiRoHe
Barnard's Merope IC349, inside Merope NGC1435 in the Pleiades
It is quite a challenge for amateur to obtain Barnard's Merope Nebula as it is a very small object and very close to the star Merope, only 36 arcminutes away.
Esprit 120 at f7 (840 mm focal length)
Asi 2600MC with Optolong L-Pro filter
Sky Bortle 4
99 shots of 180 seconds each (4h 57 minutes)
A theoretical resolution of 0.92 arc seconds per pixel. Image604060fin2_colcalB4_recorte2 by Santi Rodríguez Hernández, en Flickr
Re: Submissions: 2024 January
Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2024 3:44 pm
by daniele.borsari
This image features a deep integration on the California Nebula, NGC 1499, an emission nebula in the constellation of Perseus.
It's located at a distance of about 1000 light years from Earth and it's visible thanks to the ionization of gases by the blue giant star ξ Persei (Menkib).
. 
