Starship Asterisk*

Debris Belt around Fomalhaut
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object ... ctid=50254
Copyright: ESA/Herschel/PACS/Bram Acke, KU Leuven, Belgium
[attachment=4]Fomalhaut_ESApublic_full.jpg[/attachment]

M16: The Eagles Nest
http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/ ... 7/original
Copyright: Michael Sidonio
[attachment=3]m16sidonio.jpg[/attachment]

SH2-30
http://www.sharplesscatalog.com/sharpless/SH2-30BIG.jpg
Copyright: Dean Salman
[attachment=2]salman.jpg[/attachment]

NGC 5426
http://skycenter.arizona.edu/gallery/galaxies/ngc5426
Copyright: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona
[attachment=1]ngc5426Block.jpg[/attachment]

Moonrise and Atmospheric Distortion
http://www.danikxt.com.es/fotografia/inicio.html
Copyright: Dani Caxete
[attachment=0]MoonriseDanikxt.jpg[/attachment]

M 83
http://www.emilivanov.com/CCD%20Images/M83_LRGB.htm
Copyright: Emil Ivanov

M8 M20 and NGC 6559
URL http://astronomiapampeana.com.ar/
Copyright: Leonardo Julio
http://astronomiapampeana.com.ar/foto/8 ... 59_hd.html

M13
http://hardcity.perso.sfr.fr/hardcity/N ... M13_3.html
Copyright:Philippe DURVILLE

IC434
http://hardcity.perso.sfr.fr/hardcity/N ... euses.html
Copyright : Philippe DURVILLE
[attachment=0]hardcityhorsehead.jpg[/attachment]
http://hardcity.perso.sfr.fr/hardcity/a ... rdcity.jpg

M51
http://hardcity.perso.sfr.fr/hardcity/N ... M51_3.html
Copyright : Philippe DURVILLE

Gidday APOd,
Do you accept Helioviewer images and or Movie links for APOD consideration? They have been publicly shared on Youtube already.
I have this interesting Helioviewer movie I remade the other day, Showing an interesting Solar loop evolution.

Info below, Kind regards Alan Watson, Algwat

Alan Watson has shared a video with you on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuiemhMaCbY

AIA 131/171/193 (2011-10-22 09:10:07 - 2011-10-22 15:06:32 UTC)
This movie was produced by Helioviewer.org.
See the original at http://helioviewer.org/?movieId=SqB15
or download a high-quality version from http://helioviewer.org/api/?action=down ... p4&hq=true

Total Lunareclipse 15.6.2011 Austria
http://www.astrofotos.at
Copyright: Robert Pölzl

[attachment=0]lunareclipsepolzl2.jpg[/attachment]
http://astrofotos.at/index.php?view=ima ... Itemid=134


[attachment=1]lunareclipsepozl.jpg[/attachment]
http://astrofotos.at/index.php?view=ima ... Itemid=134

This photo got the name: Astronomy and energy. I stood with my camera in a large cornfield and waited for the fullmoon. After a while – at 22:06 mest - he appears in deep red – total in the shadow of our earth (Photo 1). During the next hours the moon moved over the caloric power plant Mellach. At 00:45 the eclipse was over and the bright moon showed me the way to my car.

Best regards from austria
Robert Pölzl

NGC4755 - The Jewel Box as capured on the 20th of May 2012
Have a look at the red supergiant M star that stands out near the center of the group. It has a luminosity of about 16,000 suns and is similar to Betelgeuse in Orion ...

NGC3293 - The Gem Cluster .. One star is a red-orange supergiant that particularly stands out like kappa Crucis in the Jewel Box ..

Remembering other eclipse

Total eclipse over Baja California, Mexico. December 10, 2011.

Copyright: Luis Moxca Composite ♫

Waning Crescent&Earthshine Moon
May05, 2012
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vegastarca ... otostream/
Copyright : VegaStar Carpentier

Messier 100 in LRGB
http://cntastro.smugmug.com/Astrophotog ... 000_Kjt99P
Copyright: 2012 Craig & Tammy Temple Messier 100 in LRGB - Annotated
http://cntastro.smugmug.com/Astrophotog ... 854_9gp2Xh
Copyright: 2012 Craig & Tammy Temple

Omega Centauri

Copyright: Paul Haese

Click here for larger resolution image.

Last night at about 22:30 I was just heading to bed when it began to thunder. I went upstairs to shut the window and saw a great lightnings. I quickly grabbed the camera and did not even had time to put it on the tripod, so I put it right on the window's ledge and started shooting. Here are two images:
Lightning
http://www.emilivanov.com/Other_Images/ ... htning.htm
Copyright: Emil Ivanov
Thunderstorm
http://www.emilivanov.com/Other_Images/ ... rstorm.htm
Copyright: Emil Ivanov I’m very sorry for the first one, it is quite overexposed, but this was the biggest lightning. Striked less than a kilometer away. In a hurry I didn't have time to check the ISO speed and it was left at 800 . Then I fixed it, but such lightning no longer appeared. No matter, the smaller were countless. I do not remember to have seen so many lightnings for such a small period of time . All that fireworks lasted for about 10-12 minutes and then disappeared completely.

Regards, Emil

Venus and the Moon

Taken this afternoon just after sunset, from the Gold Coast, Qld, Australia. The Moon is only a day past its last eclipse, while Venus is one week away from its own transit of the Sun. As the days pass, the Moon will move farther away from the Sun, while Venus will move closer.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7105/7254 ... ebd6_k.jpg

Stars, Sprites, Gravity Waves and Meteors

Larger image here: http://www.heliotown.com/ASHCRAFT_SPgwM ... 41_9in.png

My primary subject currently is capturing lightning spawned red sprites and other transient luminous events. This near infrared image was a serendipitous capture of mesospheric gravity waves, red sprites, meteors, and the night sky looking eastward from New Mexico over Oklahoma on May 20, 2012 at 04:45:41 UT. The sprites and gravity waves were generated by very strong storm cells over 700 kilometers away from my observatory. I also have a video capture of this sprite cluster with two audio channels of radio emission at VLF-ELF and 2.5 MHz at the link below.
http://www.heliotown.com/Sprite_May_20_ ... 541UT.html
Modified full spectrum Canon XS, 50mm f1.8, ISO 1600, 4 second exposure.

Thomas Ashcraft : Heliotown Observatory : New Mexico

NGC 6188 and NGC 6164
Copyright: Leonardo Julio
http://astronomiapampeana.com.ar
http://astronomiapampeana.com.ar/foto/8 ... -6164.html

The Statue of Liberty Nebula
http://www.glitteringlights.com
[attachment=0]lorenziliberty.jpg[/attachment]
http://www.glitteringlights.com/Images/ ... RGB-X3.jpg

The Planet Venus, The Roman goddess of love and beauty and the closest planet to us especially now just as it gets closest it will transit across the sun soon. This sequence is a five month transition showing its size continuing to grow and its crescent getting thinner as time progresses.
Amazing Astrophoto: The Phases of Venus
Universe Today | Nancy Atkinson | 2012 May 24

Moon and Venus and the Grinzane Cavour Castle
http://stefanoderosa.com/
Copyright: Stefano De Rosa Crescent Moon (showing lovely earthsine) and blazing Venus captured shortly after sunset in the evening of May 23, 2012 as the pair was setting next to the medieval Castle of Grinzane Cavour. The massive castle is located in the Langhe region, famous for its wines, about 50 km southeast of Turin.

Best regards

Stefano

The Moon and Venus displayed very similar phases yesterday (23 May) almost looking like twins, one heading for the Sun, the other having just performed a remarkable transit wich resulted in the annular eclipse 2 days ago.
The Moon (30') is still 2 arc minutes smaller than the Sun (32').
The sizes of the 3 bodies are correct but of course not their relative positions.
Everything is shot in daylight so I have enhanced the contrast for the Moon and Venus.

Link to the original picture: http://spaceweather.com/submissions/pic ... 863621.jpg

/*Peter Rosén

ALMA reach the halfway
http://astrophotography.fr/
Copyright: JL Dauvergne / Ciel et Espace

On 12 may 2012, one more antenna have been add on the plateau of Chajnantor, bringing the total number to 33 for the first time : the half of the total number.
So now ALMA is halfway : http://www.almaobservatory.org/en/annou ... chajnantor

Those 2 picures have been done few weeks before :
Many of the overs antennas are already assebled but not yet tested.
Here is a view of the assembly buildings :

Belt of Venus or Shadow of the Earth.
Copyright: César Cantú

A shadow cast by the Earth on the moon is a lunar eclipse. On the opposite side, a shadow cast by the Moon on Earth is a solar eclipse.
But the Earth also generates its own shadow on its atmosphere, as the sun descends on the opposite side.
This image was made in Bryce National Park (Utah) at 9000 feet, the May 20, 2012, minutes after finishing the Annular Eclipse of the Sun.
Also: http://www.astrophoto.com.mx/picture.ph ... ategory/26

Bryce Canyon Star Trails
Copyright: Chris Paduan
Taken from Sunset Point on the night of May 18, 2012. The glowy areas are caused by nearby communities, which, while small or far away still contribute light pollution even at Bryce Canyon. To see the larger versions, go to the original on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12308893@N ... hotostream