Starship Asterisk*

Perseids. Romantic watching.

Have you taken the grass as bed
And the space as blanket
Humbled of what’s coming
Forgetting what has passed?

/Jubran Khalil Jubran/

Author's site: http://www.astroadventures.ru/
Copyright: Yuri Zvezndy

Mars through it's approach to Earth in 2016, as seen from Sydney when weather conditions permitted. All season, the north pole (top) has been tipped marginally towards us, and the Martian northern hemisphere has been experiencing late summer, with the Martian equinox occurring in early July. Mars has also been headed towards perihelion (nearest the Sun) in October. The little North polar cap was never prominent (it's visible in the opposition images), but bright clouds of the South Polar Hood were a regular feature, and particularly earlier in the period, bright clouds over the volcanoes were fairly common - apparently a spring/early summer feature as water vapour migrates equatorward. Volcanoes, albedo features and changing Martian weather have been fun to track through the season.

The last image was 8th August, the northern polar hood appears brighter as that pole tips to winter. Polar hood clouds have gradually appeared in the north over the past month or two.

IC 5146 The Cocoon Nebula
copyright:Chuck Manges





IC5146-Cocoon-Neb-Q23HS-12x120lrgb by Chuck Manges, on Flickr

2016 Perseid over Sunset Crater
A brilliant Perseid fireball streaks along the Summer Milky Way as seen from Cinder Hills Overlook at Sunset Crater National Monument, Arizona—12 August 2016 2:40 AM MST (0940 UT). It left a bright, glowing train that was easily visible for about 30 seconds. After that, the camera continued to capture a twisting, orange train that drifted southward over the course of 45 minutes. The attached image shows a sequence of the first 3 minutes of the persistent train. A time lapse video showing the train in motion over the full 45+ minute time span can be found here: https://vimeo.com/perezmedia/perseidfireball Large imge: http://www.perezmedia.net/beltofvenus/a ... 647_xl.jpg
Photo Details: Each shot—Canon T3i/300D • Rokinon 16 mm f/2 • 10 seconds • f/2 • ISO 3200
My site: The Belt of Venus
Copyright: Jeremy Perez

THE LONELY PERSEID



Colors of the night sky seen from Denmark, Hadsund Sogn (August 6th 2016).
Aurora (KP4), airglow and one lonely perseid meteor right beneath the milky way while shooting the panoramic photograph (15 shots, single exposures, nearly 360 degrees).
1Dx, EF 11-24, 11mm, 30sec, f/4, Iso 12.800 (06.08.2016 1:03 - 1:16 a.m.)

Copyright: Marco Rank
http://www.marcorank.de
http://www.facebook.com/weatherscapes

Peak of the 2016 Perseid Shower
https://www.flickr.com/gp/75706432@N02/13C0J7
Copyright: Eric Benedetti https://www.flickr.com/photos/75706432@N02/28839760162/ ...

Shot this last night, took about 7 hours worth of images, almost 1,500 total. Got about 100 meteors, almost 125 shots went into this one image alone, a combination of the my Nikon D600 and Rokinon 24mm f1.4 lens on a Sky Watcher Star Adventurer mount as well as a Nikon D7000 and Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 lens on an iOptron Skytracker mount. Exposures changed over the course of the night as the moon set, several different settings used to maximize the number of exposures and light captured. Shot up at Moosehorn Lake in the Uinta Mountains of Utah (bortle 2 skies), the clouds cleared just after sunset and it was clear all night. The forecast was for up to 200 meteors per hour, I'd say the actual rate was around 50-80 per hour from my vantage point, still a really good show. Once the moon set the airglow really picked up and brightened up the shots.

Perseids Meteor Shower
http://www.gcollier.com
Copyright: Grant Collier


http://www.gcollier.com/PerseidsMeteorShower.jpg

This is a composite of all the meteors I captured during the Perseids Shower on the morning of August 12. I'm not quite sure why the meteor near the radiant on the right has an orange plume extending out from it. I captured the plume over 6 exposures, beginning with the exposure where I captured the meteor. So it took about 3 minutes to extend out that far.

ΤΟWER HOUSES IN MANI by Stavros Hios, on Flickr

Perseids 2016 over the Teide Observatory.



Combination of 25 meteors from the Perseids meteor shower detected in 24 frames. All frames were taken with a CANON EOS 5D Mark III with a Samyang 14mm lens, 30 seconds exposure at f/2.8 and ISO 800. Frames were taken between 0:00 and 2:30 UTC 12 August 2016 from the Teide Observatory (Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain). The central dome is the Carlos Sánchez Telescope (TCS). The building at the right is the Quijote Experiment. The towers at the left belongs to the Solar Telescopes at site. The dome of the MONS Telescope is seen with some orange light.

The frame taken at 0:36 UTC was used for showing the landscape and the star field. The Moon was up, its light painted the landscape and buildings. In the background some light pollution from Santa Cruz de Tenerife and La Laguna can be seen (orange colours). The light pollution was enhanced because of the existence of dust in the atmosphere.

The estimated ZHR (Zenithal Hourly Rate) using these images is ZHR = 31 meteors/hour.

More info and high resolution images in my Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/angelrls/28336861174

Credit: Ángel R. López-Sánchez (Australian Astronomical Observatory / Macquarie University)

Click the images for further information.

Roiling Heart of Cygnus X
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Judy Schmidt


G79.29+0.46
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Judy Schmidt

Amazing, Geck, but please explain! What, if anything, is known about that "red circular object" with a green-looking star inside? (Yes, I understand that these are infrared images.)

And what is that weird-looking white thing to the lower left of it?

Ann

The weird-looking white thing is one of those typical pillars that one sees in star-forming regions, I think, so something like the Cone Nebula, Elephant Trunk, Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula, etc. It also just so happens to be very bright, probably because of stars inside it. G79.29+0.46 is probably a Luminous Blue Variable and the shells around it are ejecta shells. It is interesting to me that they seem very smoothly spherical and regular, which is not something I am used to among the other images of ejecta shells I've seen.

2016 Perseids above Lake Kanas, Xinjiang Province, China.
Associate with comet Swift-Tuttle, Perseids is one of three main meteor showers in north hemisphere, with ZHR~120 usually. This year, with Jupiter Saturn deflection and a bunch of debris of the comet, ZHR would hit 200 in some scientists predictions.
This picture, include 45 meteor trails, was shot at 600m above Lake Kanas, near the borders of China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Russia.

Perseid Meteor Shower Over Tuscany Beach
Copyright: Gang Wang


Device: Canon 6D + 24-70 F4 at 24mm F4,
Exposure Time: 30s*16, ISO3200
Taken Time: August 12th 1am-2am CEST, 2016
Location: Tuscany, Italy

Perseids Meteor Shower
http://www.gcollier.com
Copyright: Grant Collier


http://www.gcollier.com/BrainardLakeMeteors.jpg

This is a composite of all the meteors I captured over Brainard Lake in Colorado on the morning of August 12, 2016.

Perseid Meteor Shower 8/11-12/2016 by Transient Astronomers, on Flickr

Image credit and copyright Tom Masterson

from Crescent Nebula to Gamma Cygni Nebula wildfield by 椰风, 於 Flickr
https://c3.staticflickr.com/9/8854/2869 ... db77_o.jpg

Sh2-114 Flying Dragon, Sh2-113 Higher resolution: http://i.imgur.com/ZZmCjIN.jpg
Equipment: TS102 / 700 APO telescope + Ricardi reducer, ATIK 460, Baader Ha and R,G,B filters, HEQ5 mount
Taken during 3 nights in August 2016, total exposure time 16 hours.
Copyright : Evzen Brunner

Milky way rising over the Caldera de Taburiente in La Palma, Spain
Copyrights: Javier Martinez Morán The Rising Milky Way at the Lake Balaton
Copyrights: György Soponyai Up close in to Milky Way
Copyrights: Martin Marthadinata Gulf of Mexico
Copyrights: Luca Fumagalli Milky Way
Copyrights: Nicola Fenaroli NGC 1316 (Fornax A)
Copyrights: Rolf Olsen
More about: http://www.rolfolsenastrophotography.co ... /i-R5ztjMq Perseids 2015 from Slovakia
Copyrights: Petr Horálek Comparison of solargraphy analemmas
Copyrights: Maciej Zapiór Milky Way from Palm Coast, FL
Copyrights: David Jordan IC 1284
Copyrights: Massimo Tosco Easterbunny Comes to NGC 4725
Copyrights: Robert English http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=160812

The Milky Way, Doochary, Co. Donegal, Ireland
Copyrights: Brendan Alexander Rainbow
Copyrights: Joshua Hollinger Milky Way from Normandy
Copyrights: Mohamed Laaifat A Giant Stellar Void in the Milky Way
Credit: The University of Tokyo
An article: http://www.ras.org.uk/news-and-press/28 ... -milky-way http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=36219

Milky Way Over El Peñon Santander Colombia
Copyrights: Leonardo Villa Alvarez Wide field in Cygnus
Copyrights: Pierre Fauchet Milkyway and red Airglow in Cusco, Peru
Copyrights: Sergio Vindas Horsehead Nebula
Credits and Copyrights: Data: NOAO/AURA/NSF and EABA/UNC; processing: Kfir Simon, Carlos Colazo and Aldo Mottino

Perseida sobre Sant Quirze de Colera ( Girona - Spain )
https://www.flickr.com/photos/astromet/
Copyright: José Jiménez

Mars on June 11th.
Copyrights: Damian Peach Milky Way over Burney Falls, CA
Copyrights: Holly Jauch Two Suns in Merlimont
Copyrights: David Huart M83
Copyrights: Josep Drudis Milky Way over an ancient oak
Copyrights: Javier Martínez Morán NGC 6888 (The Crescent Nebula)
Copyrights: John Hayes Milkyway & fireballs in Glacier point Yosemite NP
Copyrights: Pedro Lozano Perseid, Aurora and Noctilucent Clouds
Copyrights: Göran Strand Red sprites and Milky Way
Copyrights: Stephane Vetter Space debris enters the atmosphere near Mammoth Lakes, California
Copyrights: Jeff Sullivan SwRI space scientists observe Io’s atmospheric collapse during eclipse
Image credits: Southwest Research Institute
An article: http://www.swri.org/9what/releases/2016 ... 7CzE7grJpl http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=36221

Heart and Soul
Copyrights: Albert Barr NGC2170 and associates
Copyrights: Roberto Colombari
An article: http://www.astrobin.com/full/257479/0/ NGC6520 centered Area
Copyrights: Leonardo Orazi Virga over flat Roque del Conde in Tenerife
Copyrights: Roberto Porto NGC 3521
Copyrights: Steve Mazlin
Full size: http://www.fourthdimensionastroimaging. ... master.jpg CG-4
Copyrights: Steve Mazlin M8
Copyrights: John Ebersole Galactic Core and Airglow
Copyrights: Russell Wiltshire IC 1396 - Elephant's Trunk Nebula
Copyrights: Dustin Smith

Startrails over Cazorla National Park in Spain
Copyrights: Paco Bellido Milky Way from Germany
Copyrights: Sebastian Tontsch M20 - The Trifid Nebula
Copyrights: Christopher Gomez Eagle Nebula
Copyrights: Michael Brady Sunset over Frederick House Lake
Copyrights: Mark Clement ISS over Spain
Copyrights: Dani Caxete Perseid
Copyrights: Mohamed Laaifat Milky Way over ALMA
Copyrights: Sergio Otarola Big Dipper
Copyrights: Ashish.K Aggarwal Saturn (June 11th)
Copyrights: Damian Peach Perseid Metoer over Texas (2015)
Copyrights: Trey Cottingham Milky Way over La Guajira
Copyrights: Leonardo Villa Milky Way over Sedona
Copyrights: Mircea Goia Solar Halo from India
Copyrights: Dhiman Nandi IC1396 and meteor
Copyrights: Rolland Balázs A blue ghost over the summer skies
Copyrights: Jesus M. Vargas and Maritxu Poyal

Perseid Meteor Shower 2016 by Jeff Sullivan, on Flickr

I've been chasing every meteor shower that I could see with my camera since 2009. This year's Perseid meteor shower was one of the best I've photographed so far.

This composite with 57 meteors covers 1:40 am - 4:34 am on the morning of August 12, as captured on a 14 mm ultra-wide lens on a Canon EOS 6D DSLR on a fixed position tripod (no sky tracking mount).

Beautiful Vía Lactea (Milky Way) from Menorca
Copyrights: Adolfo Miranda Talayotic Stargate
Copyrights: Adolfo Miranda Milky Way
Copyrights: Róbert Horváth Iris field
Copyrights: Raul Villaverde Fraile
Full size: https://www.flickr.com/photos/113243238 ... 663135762/ Milky Way from Nerpio, Spain
Copyrights: Álvaro Ibáñez Pérez Moon and Mercury
Copyrights: Mohamed Laaifat M31
Copyrights: Thomas Davis Milky Way
Copyrights: Jesus Mendoza NGC 7023, Iris Nebula
Credits and Copyrights: Calar Alto Observatory and César Blanco González Milky Way
Copyrights: Ruibo Chao NGC 5906
Copyrights: Eric Coles Abell 2151
Copyrights: Martin Pugh Field of Dreams
Copyrights: Chris Cook NGC7129 and associates, in Cepheus
Copyrights: R. Colombari / E. Recurt
Larger size: http://www.astrobin.com/full/258200/0/ M31
Copyrights: Domenico De Luca Cygnus Wall
Copyrights: Darryn Lavery IC 5070 (Pelican Nebula)
Copyrights: Darryn Lavery NGC 7000
Copyrights: Darryn Lavery

NGC 7008_ Fetus Nebula
[Ha][OIII] with [RGB] stars

Larger image and info:
http://www.astrobin.com/259976/

Nick Pavelchak
Altamont, NY