Starship Asterisk*

Moon, Venus, Meteor and fire all in one frame.

https://static.squarespace.com/static/5 ... rmat=1500w

The Horsehead Nebula
Image credit: Ezequiel Etcheverry & Joaquin Fabrega Polleri (Observatorio Panameño en San Pedro de Atacama) Hubble Traces Subtle Signals of Water on Hazy Worlds (Artist Impression)
Illustration Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Article: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archiv ... 3/54/full/ Massive Black Hole Duo: Possible Sighting by NASA's WISE (Artist Impression)
Image credits: NASA
Article: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-345 The Milkyway and Aurora Borealis
Copyrights: Göran Strand NGC 1491
Copyrights: Bob Fera
Full size: http://www.feraphotography.com/AM14/Ngc1491.html Colours of the full Moon
Copyrights: László Francsics Lightning
Copyrights: Chris Kotsiopoulos

NASA's Cassini Spacecraft Obtains Best Views of Saturn Hexagon
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/Hampton University
More about: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-350 Subaru Telescope's Image Captures the Intricacy of Comet Lovejoy's Tail
Image credits: NAOJ with data processing by Masafumi Yagi (NAOJ)
More about: http://www.naoj.org/Topics/2013/12/05/index.html Bright Possible New Nova in Cen
Copyrights: Ernesto Guido, Nick Howes & Martino Nicolini Nova in Centauri
Copyrights: Luis Argerich Bright Nova Cen 2013
Copyrights: Yuri Beletsky Nova Centauri
Copyrights: Richard Jaworski

Object: M33-Triangulum Galaxy - 14 Nov 2012
Imaging and preprocessing by: David Kopacz

Processing by: Steven Marx Click to view Original FULL scale image (3240x2392)

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Object: NGC 604 - 30 July 1994
FITS data obtained from Hubble Legacy Archive (HLA).

NGC 604 an H-Alpha region inside the Triangulum Galaxy.

Processing by: Steven Marx Click to view Original FULL scale image (1974x2150)

One day in the orbit of seven dwarf planets
Do you remember where or what you were doing last December 5-7?. While each of us live our day to day, there are thousands of small bodies beyond Neptune orbiting the sun tirelessly. This work is about seven of those dwarfs planets.

In the summer of 2012, we began to plan how to capture the maximum number of dwarf planets on two consecutive nights to detect their motion. To achieve this goal we needed very specific conditions that were only met  some days ago:
1. New Moon was needed (because they are extremely faint objects).
2. We needed two consecutive good weather nights, because an isolated night would not allow us to record the TNOs movement with respect to the starry background.
3. The chosen nights should allow us to capture a sufficient amount of those objects.
4. It should be done in winter, when the nights last more than 12 hours. That would give us enough time to locate each object and have enough exposure time.
Only considering the Moon variable limited us to 12 opportunities throughout the year. Adding the other limitations did make it even more difficult to find the right time to do it.
On December 5th, we decided  it was the right time to execute the project . After a careful selection of the available objects, we chose eight dwarf planets which were visible that night. At sunset we found Salacia in Pegasus. It was followed by Eris in Cetus and Sedna and Chaos in Taurus (although the latter was the only one that was not possible to image due to an error in the prediction of its position). At midnight we gotVaruna in Gemini, Orcus in Sextant, Makemake in Coma Berenices and nearly at dawn, we were able to capture Haumea in Bootes . 

You can find the full story here:
http://laazotea.org/TNO_marathon

© 2013: Antonio Román & Zerjillo

IC 1871
Copyrights : Massimo Tosco
http://www.massimotosco.it/IC1871.html

Comet Lovejoy from southern France
Copyrights: Jens Hackmann Comet Lovejoy
Copyrights: Enrico Colzani Comet Lovejoy (07/12 and 08/12)
Copyrights: Jose F. Hdez Lovejoy under Auroras
Copyrights: Stephane Vetter Comet Lovejoy
Copyrights: Vicent Peris Baixauli

Here's a link to a larger version of the image: http://www.astrobin.com/full/67816/0/

Lovejoy near Hercules
http://astrophotography.fr/
Copyright: JL Dauvergne I took this picture this morning from the Pic du Midi observatory (France) with a 60 mm f/2 lens. The exposure time is 4 minutes.

Le comet is getting closer and closer of Hercules. It's gooing to pass in front of the botom of the constellation around december 15 th.

HD : http://www.astrosurf.com/eternity/temp/ ... culeEN.jpg

Zodiacal light, airglow and firsts light of the day
http://astrophotography.fr/
Copyright: JL Dauvergne The zodiacal light this morning from the Pic du Midi. A faint airglow is visible on the right.

HD : http://www.astrosurf.com/eternity/temp/IMG_9903b.jpg

Multi-Wavelength Total Solar Eclipse Animated
Copyrights: Kosmas Gazeas Belt of Venus
Copyrights: Sebastián Guillermaz Sunset Green Flash
Copyrights: Mike Killian International Space Station transits the Moon
Image Credit : Juan Gonzalez-Alicea / Sociedad de Astronomia del Caribe NGC253 closeup
Copyrights: Oliver Czernetz M78 widefield
Copyrights: Oliver Czernetz Cloud atlas reshapes astronomers' views of stellar birthplaces
Image Credit: PAWS team/IRAM/NASA HST/T. A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage)
An article: http://www.mpia.de/Public/menu_q2.php?A ... 12_en.html Comet c/2013R1 (Lovejoy)
Copyrights: Federico Manzini

Geminid meteor shower (2012)
Copyrights: Amirreza Kamkar Horsehead Nebula
Copyrights: Derek J Demeter Jewels of the Large Magellanic Cloud
Copyrights: Ezequiel Bellocchio NASA Curiosity: First Mars Age Measurement and Human Exploration Help
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
An Article: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?r ... 2013-356#1 M78
Copyrights: Albert Barr Winter Triangle and Icefall
Copyrights: Jeff Dai NASA Mars Spacecraft Reveals a More Dynamic Red Planet
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
More about: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-361 NASA's Juno Gives Starship-Like View of Earth Flyby
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
More about: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-360

Copyright: Vladimir Rau
http://www.ried-sternwarte.de/index.html

IC342
The photograph data:
Optics: 12" Newton
Camera: CCD Moravian G2 8300
Exposure time: HaLRGB 32 hours

IC1795
Exposure time: 32 hours (Ha, O3, S2)
Hubble Color Palette Kind regards,
Vladimir Rau

Light Pillars

This image is from December 10th in Oulu, Finland. When I went grocery shopping I noticed light pillars popping up all around me. I quickly went home to grab my camera because these moments usually don't last very long. It was -18C and the light pillars in this photo are from a nearby big parking area flood lights, boosting the pillars intensity. The circumstances were so good, car head lights appeared to have light pillars as well as any outdoor lamp on houses. Even the moon appeared to have pillars going upwards and downwards. Twenty minutes after I took this photo it was all over.

Light pillars are one type of halo and it mostly can be seen when it's cold. The air is filled countless ice crystals which are normally only in very high clouds. The optical phenomenon occurs because all these crystals reflect light.

© Thomas Kast, All Rights Reserved
http://www.salamapaja.fi

Lunar NW cuadrant



Copyright : Antonio Polo ( Clavius )

http://www.astrobin.com/67948/

NGC7830

Copyright: Didier CHAPLAIN & Laurent BOURGON
http://www.felopaul.com



Higher res.: http://www.felopaul.com/galerie/photo39f.jpg
Equipment: CDK 20" Skymeca with CCD Moravian G4-16803, filter astrodon N2 Ha S2 O3 in 3 nano
Processing with PixInsight
Total exposure time: 49h

The Sailboat Cluster : NGC 225, vdB 4

When Caroline Herschel discovered this cluster on September 23, 1783, she added it to her list as No. 11 VdB 4 is a reflection nebula associated with the very young open star cluster NGC 225 which is often called the Sailboat Cluster. The Sailboat name seems to be due to Rod Pommier in an article for a well know astronomical magazine.The nebula may be the remains of the cloud that formed the cluster. Although estimates vary dramatically, open cluster NGC 225 has been estimated to be anywhere from half million to ten millions years old , thus making this widely dispersed cluster one of the youngest open clusters in the Milky Way. Links: http://www.ncra.tifr.res.in/~basi/06.../200634315.pdf



Higher res: http://afesan.es/Deepspace/vdB%204%2CNG ... eia%29.jpg

Clear skies,
Antonio

Geminid Meteor over Mount Whitney
Copyright: Tony Rowell
http://www.AstroTimeLapse.com
A single 5 second exposure of a bright meteor over Mount Whitney captured December 14th 2011 during the Geminid meteor shower with a Nikon D300s using a Nikon telephoto lens set at 135mm at 3:35 AM PST
Mount Whitney is the highest summit in the contiguous United States with an elevation of 14,505 feet (4,421 m)
This image was featured on page 70 in the April 2012 issue of Astronomy Magazine!
Happy Holidays and best wishes to all!

Rosette Nebula (bicolor, Ha and OIII)
Homepage = http://www.ccdsky.eu
Copyright: Christoph Puetz Skywatcher ED80 @ f=600mm
ATIK 383L+ CCD @ -30°C
Baader Ha 7nm Filter 3h exposure time (15min subs)
Baader Oiii 8.5nm 3h exposure time (15min subs)
synthetic green channel (=> 50% Ha + 50% Oiii)

IC 405, Flaming Star Nebula (Ha only)
Homepage = http://www.ccdsky.eu
Copyright: Christoph Puetz Skywatcher ED80 @ f=600mm
ATIK 383L+ CCD @ -30°C
Baader Ha 7nm Filter 2.5h exposure time (15min subs)

The runner Comet Lovejoy!

Milky Way VS Light Pollution
This is not a beautiful sunrise, is the milky way above the light pollution from the city of Seville (Spain). Image taken on May the 11, 2013 at 60 kms from the city.



Jeronimo Losada
Visit my Webblog: http://elcieloaldesnudo.blogspot.com.es/

Arp 80 and IFN
Large version: http://www.astrobin.com/full/68136/0/
Copyright: Samuel Díaz López and Salvatore Iovene

NGC 346
NGC 346 is an open cluster with associated nebula which spans 200 light-years. It is part of the Small Magellanic Cloud and lies approximately 210,000 light-years away in the constellation Tucana.

Three panel mosaic
Hubble Legacy Archive Data set:
HST_10248_01_ACS_WFC_F814W_sci(Red)
HST_10248_02_ACS_WFC_F814W_sci(Red)
HST_10248_a3_ACS_WFC_F814W_sci(Red)
HST_10248_a3_ACS_WFC_F658N_sci(Red)
HST_10248_01_ACS_WFC_F555W_sci(Blue)
HST_10248_02_ACS_WFC_F555W_sci(Blue)
HST_10248_a3_ACS_WFC_F555W_sci(Blue)
ESO VLT/FORS2 Data:
FORS2.1999-11-09T04_27_54.085(Ha)(Red)
Synthetic Green
Link to higher res:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephen63/ ... otostream/

Lovejoy, M13 and Geminid Meteor

Copyright: Marek Marcinkowski
Full image: http://astropokazynieba.pl/lovejoy_m13_geminid.jpg