Starship Asterisk*

Moon crescent, Venus and Jupiter...
Picture taken in March 2012

Fireworks Galaxy - NGC6946
http://www.deepskyobjects.com/
Copyright: Behyar Bakhshandeh

Shot on 5th of July, 2013

[attachment=2]gendler.jpg[/attachment]
Copyright: Robert Gendler
Caption: This is a composite mosaic of M101 made from Hubble and Subaru data.
Completing this field required more than 40 panels of data in total.
Full resolution: http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/M101 ... ru-LL.html

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[attachment=1]claro.jpg[/attachment]
Copyright: Miguel Claro
Caption: Cassiopeia and Andromeda Galaxy in the Air Glow
This serene view, captured on the great lake Alqueva, near the “Ermida de São Pedro” in Mourão, one of the regions belonging to the Dark Sky Alqueva Reserve, we find several scientifically interesting things. In the left top corner of the image, we could find the Cassiopeia constellation and below the double cluster NGC 884 and 869. Almost in the center image, is clearly visible the great Andromeda Galaxy M31, in Andromeda constellation, the neighbor of Pegasus. Above the Alqueva Lake, is visible the strong presence of Air Glow (Atmospheric Chemiluminescence) , the further thing I have seen similar to an Aurora, with yellow light, by emissions from sodium atoms in a layer at 92 km. Above it, we could see the green light from oxygen atoms in a layer 90-100 km high. This emission layer is clearly visible from earth orbit.
Canon 60Da – ISO 1600; 35mm lens at f/2; Exp. 15 secs. Mosaic of 7 images, taken in 15/06/2013 at 03:45 AM
Below is the annotated version of the image:
http://www.miguelclaro.com/wp/wp-conten ... EL-net.jpg

[attachment=0]claro2.jpg[/attachment]
Copyright: Miguel Claro
Caption: Big Dipper, Air Glow and Gravity Waves in Mourão Dark Sky
In this picture captured in the great lake Alqueva, near the “Ermida de São Pedro” in Mourão, one of the regions belonging to the Dark Sky Alqueva Reserve, we cloud see the strong presence of Air Glow (Atmospheric Chemiluminescence) involving the Big Dipper constellation (Ursa Major) with the green light from oxygen atoms in a layer 90-100 km high. This emission layer is clearly visible from earth orbit. In the image, is also visible the gravity waves effect. ”These waves (internal gravity or buoyancy waves) abound in the stable density layering of the upper atmosphere. Their effects are visibly manifest in the curls of the stratosphere’s nacreous clouds, in the moving skein-like and billow patterns of the mesosphere’s noctilucent clouds and in the slowly shifting bands of the thermosphere’s airglow, as we could see in this picture and in the annotated version of this same image.
Canon 60Da – ISO 1600; 35mm lens at f/2; Exp. 15 secs. Mosaic of 2 images, taken in 15/06/2013 at 04:04 AM
Below is the annotated version of the image:
http://www.miguelclaro.com/wp/wp-conten ... el-net.jpg

Copyright: Tunç Tezel
Caption: I want to submit these pictures that I took in Uludag National Park near Bursa, Turkey, for APOD.
I was able to reach glacial lakes plateau of Uludag in my third attempt. The two previous trips were unsuccessful, because the road was blocked with snow and ice in May and June. The past winter was warmer than usual with many rainy days, but apparently the mountain was cold enough to have a prodigious amount of snow accumulation.

[attachment=3]tezel1.jpg[/attachment]
After 2 years, I am back at peaks ridge of Uludag. This view is from Karatas Peak, my favourite location on the mountain rising 2539 meters above sea level. To the left are two other peaks, Karatepe (2541 m) and Uludag Peak with its broken dome shape (2543 m). The lower lands to the south are actually hilly forests averaging 1000 meters of elevation with little population, so the lights come from villages and small towns only. The best parts of the summer Milky Way dominate the sky.

[attachment=2]tezel2.jpg[/attachment]
Above 2300 m, little grows in the rocky terrain of Uludag. Barren peaks of the mountain are haunted by the ghosts of glaciers that used to be present until about 5000 years ago. These ghosts are none other than glacial lakes and a few patches of permanent snow and ice. Lake Kilimligöl and smaller Lake Buzlugöl can be seen in the lower left and center respectively.
[attachment=0]tezel4.jpg[/attachment] I shot these pictures later in the night, on the way back down to Bursa. From this location, parts of Scorpius and Sagittarius are lost behind snowy peaks, which reminds a general look of a far northern land.

Copyright: University of Manchester
Caption: Scientists have observed in unprecedented detail the birth of a massive star within a dark cloud core about 10,000 light-years from Earth.
The team used the new ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) telescope in Chile -- the most powerful radio telescope in the world -- to view the stellar womb which, at 500 times the mass of the Sun and many times more luminous, is the largest ever seen in our galaxy.
The researchers say their observations -- to be published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics -- reveal how matter is being dragged into the center of the huge gaseous cloud by the gravitational pull of the forming star -- or stars -- along a number of dense threads or filaments.
Full article: http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/new ... /?id=10369
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=31709

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[attachment=1]kimball2.jpg[/attachment] Copyright: Brian Kimball
Caption: Here are a couple of solar images I took yesterday from my backyard observatory in Longmont, CO. The full disk image is from a Lunt LS100THa telescope with a DMK-41 video camera. The close up image of AR11785, AR11787 and AR11789 was taken with the same setup but with a Televue 2.5x barlow.

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[attachment=0]hunter.jpg[/attachment]
Copyright: Jo Hunter
Caption: an image of the sun going down over Cedar Creek Lake, southeast of Dallas, TX on the 6th July 2013. The sunspot is visible as a dark smudge just left of center. It was also visible with the naked eye.

Copyright: NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope
Caption: Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have, for the first time, determined the true colour of a planet orbiting another star. If seen up close this planet, known as HD 189733b, would be a deep azure blue, reminiscent of Earth’s colour as seen from space.
Full article: http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1312/
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=31711

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[attachment=1]bianconi2.jpg[/attachment] Copyright: Alessandro Bianconi
Caption: Close up AR1785
Celestron C14HD + GM2000QCI by Unitronitalia
AS3.8 + IRPASS
Barlow C.Zeiss 2x (7800 mm)
Basler acA640 mono

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Copyright: José J. Chambó
Caption: The Panstarrs moving away
Object/Date:
C/2011 L4 (PanSTARRS) @ 2013-07-06
Tech data:
GSO 8" f/4 Refractor + Canon EOS 350D camera (3×180 sec. at ISO 1600)
Description:
Although is moving away, the comet Panstarrs with a brightness of 10.5 magnitude still continue showing your changing dust tails: the anti-tail toward north at least 20' long and the normal tail toward east more short and broad.
Link: http://cometografia.es/2013/07/panstarr ... ans(es|en)

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[attachment=0]hardy.jpg[/attachment]
Copyright: David A. Hardy
Caption: Artist's impression of the formation of a massive protostar. The image was done to accompany a press release we have just done. The two related releases are
http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/new ... /?id=10369
and
http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1331/
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=31709

[attachment=1]Heliosphere_redoV3_small.jpg[/attachment] Copyright: NASA/ESA/JPL-Caltech/GSFC/SwRI
Caption: NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, recently mapped the boundaries of the solar system's tail, called the heliotail. By combining observations from the first three years of IBEX imagery, scientists have mapped out a tail that shows a combination of fast and slow moving particles. The entire structure twisted, because it experiences the pushing and pulling of magnetic fields outside the solar system.
The conditions necessary to make the heliosphere, namely the balance of an outward pushing stellar wind and the inward compression of surrounding interstellar gas is so common, that perhaps most stars have analogous structures, called astrospheres. Photographs of three such astrospheres are shown, as taken by various telescopes.
Link: http://www.swri.org/9what/releases/2013 ... d8ewRe9j1o
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php? ... 18#p203118

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Caption: Pluto and Charon: New Horizons LOng Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) composite image showing the detection of Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, cleanly separated from Pluto itself. The frame on the left is an average of six different LORRI images, each taken with an exposure time of 0.1 second. The frame to the right is the same composite image but with Pluto and Charon circled; Pluto is the brighter object near the center and Charon is the fainter object near its 11 o’clock position. The circles also denote the predicted locations of the objects, showing that Charon is where the team expects it to be, relative to Pluto. No other Pluto system objects are seen in these images.
When these images were taken on July 1 and July 3, 2013, the New Horizons spacecraft was still about 550 million miles (880 million kilometers) from Pluto. On July 14, 2015, the spacecraft is scheduled to pass just 7,750 miles (12,500 kilometers) above Pluto’s surface, where LORRI will be able to spot features about the size of a football field.
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute
Link: http://www.pluto.jhuapl.edu/news_center ... 130710.php
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php? ... 15#p203115

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Credit: NASA/STScI
Caption: NGC 2392 is a planetary nebula, a phase that results when a star like the sun becomes a red giant and sheds its outer layers.
X-rays from Chandra (pink) shows superheated gas around the dense, hot core of the star.
Our Sun will become a planetary nebula about 5 billion years from now.
Link: http://www.chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2013/ngc2392/
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=31715

The Iris Nebula:
Copyright Joshua Bury
http://www.astrobin.com/47776/

Hubble's Sharpest View of M-42
http://www.sgastrophotography.com
Copyright: Salvatore Grasso
Data Acquired from the Hubble Legacy Archive
Full scale image is available at ------> http://sgastrophotography.com/Sgastroph ... 42HST.html

Milky Way over green mountains
http://500px.com/rafaeldefavari
Copyright: Rafael Defavari


Click to view full size image

Namibia 2013

Muska Region http://timmk1gmxde.ti.ohost.de/astro/Muska_APOD.jpg
10 x 5min ISO 800 200mm@3.5 Canon EOS 5d Mark III
Kiripotib Namibia

Pipe Nebula with fine datails http://timmk1gmxde.ti.ohost.de/astro/Pipe_APOD.jpg
20 x 5min ISO 1000 200mm@3.5 Canon EOS 5d Mark III
Kiripotib Namibia

Rho Ophiuchi Region http://timmk1gmxde.ti.ohost.de/astro/Rh ... i_APOD.jpg
20 x 5min ISO 800 85mm@3.5 Canon EOS 5d Mark III
Kiripotib Namibia

Timm Kasper
Allgaeu Public Observatory Ottobeuren
http://www.avso.de

PANSTARRS over Ottobeuren Abby

...and they followed the "Star"...
Kind regards
Timm Kasper
Allgaeu Public Observatory Ottobeuren
http://www.avso.de

ESO LAserguidstar at Allgaeu Public Observatory

ESO tested it's new Laser Guide Star at Allgaeu Public Observatory:


http://www.eso.org/public/announcements/ann11039/

Timm Kasper
Allgaeu Public Observatory Ottobeuren
http://www.avso.de

NGC6537 on July 5th, 04:41ut. The Red Spider Nebula (NGC 6537) is a planetary nebula and is located in the Sagittarius constellation. It is about 4,000 light years away. The white dwarf at the center is one of the hottest white dwarfs ever observed. It also produces a hot and very powerful wind at a speed of 300 km/s. Lower image in Ha filter.

Venus & Earth
Copyright: Luiza Whitaker

"Flawless light in a darkening air
Alone... and shining there"
(Simple - k. d. lang & David Piltch)

Vía Láctea de Norte a Sur por calle L, 8, en Flickr
Panorámica de la Vía Láctea de norte a sur.
Overview of the Milky Way from north to south.

En el verano boreal, la Vía Láctea es el actor principal en los cielos nocturnos.
De norte a sur domina los cielos desde cualquier lugar algo alejado de las luces de la ciudad.
En este caso, desde la Campiña Cordobesa (Andalucía, España), en mitad de los olivares, huyendo del calor en la refrescante noche veraniega.
Esta fotografía es una composición de 10 fotografías unidas para formar una panorámica de más de 180 grados.

In the summer, the Milky Way is the main actor in the night skies.
From north to south dominates the heavens from anywhere something away from city lights.
In this case, from the Countryside Cordoba (Andalusia, Spain), in the middle of olive groves, to avoid the heat in the cool summer night.
This photograph is a composite of 10 pictures together to form a panorama of over 180 degrees.

© Juan A. Bafalliu - España - 2013

Triangulo de verano informado por calle L, 8, en Flickr

Triángulo de Verano.
Summer triangle

En el verano boreal, las noches calurosas invitan a salir al aire libre a tomar el fresco. Un buen momento para mirar al cielo y descubrir sus maravillas luminosas.
El Triángulo de Verano en pleno cénit y en mitad de la Vía Láctea, es un buen espectáculo para contemplar.

In the summer, hot nights invite go outside for some fresh air. A good time to look up and discover his wonderful light.
The Summer Triangle and full zenith half of the Milky Way, is a good show to watch.

© Juan A. Bafalliu - España - 2013

The Cave Nebula in Ha, OIII, SII
Aquired with: C11 Hyperstar
Aquired in: Almere Netherlands
Aquired by: Michael van Doorn
Link for high resolution

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4yHKVZlWoiY/U ... finale.jpg

Data and processing Zacchi Giacomo - Paolo Pinciaroli

Copyright: Zacchi-Pinciaroli
e-mail info@paolopinciaroli.com

IC 1318 in HA


Full rez
http://static.squarespace.com/static/50 ... rmat=2000w

Charles Lillo
http://www.theastrogeeks.com

Eta Carinae Nebula



Eta Carinae taken with DSLR

web: http://bosscha.itb.ac.id/en/component/j ... edia&id=54
credit: Muhammad Yusuf

Tekapo
https://www.facebook.com/RobDickinsonPhotography
Copyright: Rob Dickinson
[attachment=0]9266086913_65fcca3dbd_o.jpg[/attachment]
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3829/9266 ... 3dbd_o.jpg

Magellan Clay and the Milky Way galaxy
Copyrights: Igor Chilingarian Magellan Baade, zodiacal light and red airglow
Copyrights: Igor Chilingarian Milky Way galaxy and red airglow (x2)
Copyrights: Igor Chilingarian

NGC 6188, NGC 6164-5, NGC 6200
Copyrights: Harel Boren Analemma of the moon
Copyrights: Juan Carlos Casado Summer Triangle and Milky Way above Monte Bravo
Copyrights: Miguel Claro

Comet Lemmon
[attachment=0]jose.jpg[/attachment]
http://cdn.astrobin.com/images/921653df ... 06096c.jpg
Page link: http://cometografia.es/2013/07/lemmon-p ... ans(es|en)
Copyright: José J. Chambó