Starship Asterisk*

Hypersonic superheated rainbow outflows from a dying star - NGC 6302 from Hubble by William Ostling, on Flickr

Full write-up here: https://theastroenthusiast.com/hyperson ... om-hubble/

The spectacular planetary nebula NGC 6302 lies roughly 3,800 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius. More popularly known as the Bug Nebula or the Butterfly Nebula, this celestial object looks like a delicate butterfly. But what resemble dainty wings are actually roiling regions of gas heated to more than 36,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The gas is tearing across space at more than 600,000 miles an hour — fast enough to travel from Earth to the Moon in 24 minutes.

The glowing gas is the star’s outer layers, expelled over about 2,200 years. The “butterfly” stretches for more than two light-years, which is about half the distance from the Sun to the nearest star, Alpha Centauri.

A dying star that was once about five times the mass of the Sun is at the center of this fury. It has ejected its envelope of gases and is now unleashing a stream of ultraviolet radiation that is making the cast-off material glow.

The central star itself cannot be seen, because it is hidden within a doughnut-shaped ring of dust, or torus, which appears as a dark band pinching the nebula in the center. The thick dust belt constricts the star’s outflow, creating the classic “bipolar” or hourglass shape displayed by some planetary nebulae.

The star’s surface temperature is estimated to be about 400,000 degrees Fahrenheit, making it one of the hottest known stars in our galaxy. Spectroscopic observations made with ground-based telescopes show that the gas is roughly 36,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which is unusually hot compared to a typical planetary nebula.

Website: https://theastroenthusiast.com/
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/the_astronomy_enthusiast/

NGC 3699 in Centaurus

NGC 3699 is another gem of the Southern Sky located in the constellation of Centaurus close to the border limit with the Constellation of Carina. It has an irregular shape crossed by a dark fissure in the middle. Ha and OIII narrow bands filters reveals an outer structure. For a long time it was believed that NGC 3699 was an emission nebula but in 1978 it was shown that actually is an oddly shaped planetary nebula. Its central star is a white dwarf and it is very hot indicating a relative young planetary. The irregular shape is the result o multiple stages of mass ejection. Since the distance is unknown, it physical size is also unknown.

The was taken from Buenos Aires suburbs
More information and hight resolution images
http://www.baskies.com.ar/PHOTOS/NGC%20 ... IIIRGB.htm

Wish a nice week to everyone !!
Sergio

Pacman Nebula

Image credit and copyright Mark Hoffman

From Wikipedia:
"NGC 281, IC 11 or Sh2-184 is a bright emission nebula and part of an H II region in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia and is part of the Milky Way's Perseus Spiral Arm. This 20×30 arcmin sized nebulosity is also associated with open cluster IC 1590, several Bok globules and the multiple star, B 1. It collectively forms Sh2-184, spanning over a larger area of 40 arcmin. Colloquially, NGC 281 is also known as the Pacman Nebula for its resemblance to the video game character."

Equipment:
Celestron EdgeHD 8
Celestron OAG
Celestron Autofocuser
ASI 174MM Guide Camera
ASI 1600MM Pro Imaging Camera
ASI 7 position EFW
36 mm Astronomik 6nm Ha, O3, S2 filters
Total Intergration Time = 20 hours
Ha Intergration Time = 76 * 300sec
O3 Intergration Time = 108 * 210sec
S2 Integration Time = 75 * 360sec
Virginia, USA
Bortle 7




Pacman Nebula by mark h

NGC 6992 Cygnus Veil nebula as a 6x5 mosaic in OIII, Ha, r at the 1.20m OHP telescope
A new undergrad summer school from Université Paris-Saclay brought us to the Observatoire de Haute-Provence in south of France for a week to train students to our craft. Dr Jean-CHarles Cuillandre had the
brilliant idea to design a survey over a few nights.
It was great fun organizing a survey effort involving all students to capture a large nearby nebula, the Veil, a supernova remnant (area NGC 6992).

The venerable OHP-T120 (1.2m diameter primary mirror) telescope was first put in operation near Paris in 1877 but is now equipped with modern instrumentation in Haute-Provence. However, its field of view
is quite small (a quarter of the full Moon) and obtaining this large portion of the sky required collecting 30 independent and contiguous positions (6x5).

The nebula was observed through 3 filters, OIII, r, and Halpha to capture the peak brightness of the shock wave (this was done with a fairly bright Moon that was lighting up the sky). Students were introduced to the processing and coloring techniques, DIY style, to go from the raw data they collectively captured over four nights at the telescope to this final color image they can now duplicate.

Exposure time is 6 minutes per pointing in Ha and OIII
(90s x 4 exposures), and 2m40s in r (40s x 4 exposures). It took
4 nights to cover.

- Image was taken during the nights July 7-12 2022 at the 1.2m
telescope of OHP (IAU observatory code 511) Observatoire de
Haute-Provence, south of France.

- Credit: Université Paris-Saclay students (*)
and Dr Jean-Charles Cuillandre, assisted by
Pr Hervé Dole, Dr Frédéric Auchère, Dr John Carter,
Dr Cateline Lantz, Dr Joao Marques, Dr Marc Ollivier

(*) Université Paris-Saclay undergrad students:
Kevin Benetiere, Yannis Benmansour, Anais Besnard,
Aurelien Cintioni, Elisa Deflandre, Antoine Denis,
Raihane Djelouat, Pierre Eberschweiler, Ilian
Ellafi, Pacome Esteve, Lydia Hechiche, Baptiste
Leprovost, Yasmina Moussaoui, Metkham Pravongviengkham

- Image in full resolution at OHP - Observatoire de
Haute-Provence (CNRS, AMU, OSU Pyhteas):
http://www.obs-hp.fr/pictures/cuillandre/index.shtml

- Data available in our public archive:
https://ohp.ias.universite-paris-saclay ... icNGC6992/

Pillars Of Creation by The Space Koala, on Flickr

I aimed to recreate the Iconic Hubble Space Telescope image Pillars of Creation.
It was my first project I did at such a long focal length (2800mm) which definitely required next level precision.

Full writeup + story: Recreating Hubble's Iconic Pillars Of Creation

follow me on IG: @the_space_koala


Celestron C11 EdgeHD
Rainbow Astro RST-135, RST-300
ZWO ASI 1600MM
06-07.2022
Ha: 175 minutes, Sii: 192 minutes, Oiii: 104 minutes

Moon and Venus
Today (July 27) the waning moon was only illuminated by 3.2% in the early morning. At the same time the waning crescent Moon was conjunct Venus. They just rose from Guishan Island in the Pacific Ocean northeast of Taiwan. Guishan Island looks like a turtle, so the Chinese meaning of the island name is Turtle Island. I started shooting when Venus rose, and then the dark part of the moon rose from the turtle's back, it looked like a turtle was carrying the moon on its back! Because of the enhanced exposure, the Earthshine in the dark part of the moon is very obvious, forming a very fascinating scene. Each moon in the photo also has various appearances due to changes in the sky. Many of the highlights on the sea are the fishing boats that get up early for work. Link to time-lapse video of Venus and the Moon rising from Guishan Island: https://youtu.be/-I3850NCsO0.

Equipment Details:Canon EOS 6D with Tamron SP 24-70mm F2.8 Lens
Post-processing Details:The 24 photos were stacked together using the Sequator156 software.
Location : Yilan, Taiwan
Time: 3:42 am to 4:47 am
photographer : Meiying Lee (李美英)

Photo description:
Generally when we say moonrise, we mean that the visible part of the moon rises - that is, the part of the moon that is illuminated by the sun. Have you ever seen the dark part of the moon - the part of the moon that is not illuminated - rise? It's really hard! But the dark part of the moon is not really completely dark. Because the light reflected from the earth makes the dark part of the moon a little brighter, we call it “earthshine”. If you increase the exposure when shooting, you will have the opportunity to see the earthshine, that is, to see the dark part of the moon. On July 27, the waning crescent moon was illuminated by 3.2%, and I was ready to capture the rare rise of the dark part of the moon. After everything was ready, at 3:44 in the morning, when I saw a small red part of the dark part of the moon rising over Guishan Island, I was so happy! About 80 seconds later, the lunar bright area like a crescent appeared, and after another 2 minutes, the entire moon appeared. It's really amazing to be able to capture the rare rise of the dark part of the moon!

Equipment Details:Canon EOS 6D with Tamron SP 24-70mm F2.8 Lens
Post-processing Details:Crop and combine photos with Powerpoint.
Location : Taipei, Taiwan
Time: July 27, 3:44 am to 3:47 am
photographer : Meiying Lee (李美英)

IC1396 Elephant Trunk Nebula

Equipment: ASI183MM Pro, WO Redcat51, SW AZ-GTi, Antlia 3nm filters
Exposure: 17.83 Hours
Processing: Stacked and stretched in Astro Pixel Processor and edited in Photoshop
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Bottle 8-9
Time: July 11,12, 13, 19, 20, 24, 25, 26 2022
Photographer: Robert G. Lyons

Carved and sculpted by the birth of stars, IC1396 provides a gorgeous gaseous backdrop to the dark dust plumes that lie in front of the nebula which give it its nickname, the Elephant Trunk. This was a first light test of my new Antlia 3nm filters and I think they performed well! It is very early season for this target here in Vancouver and it lies just above the light dome of the downtown core of skyscrapers just 5 blocks from my rooftop where I image. Technology is a remarkable thing!

Galactic highway by Joel Klinger, sur Flickr

During the night of last Thursday to Friday I have been shooting at the stars with an astro friend on a bridge above a highway at the south of Tours (France). The aim? Catching nice car trails with the Milky Way above.
The least I can say is that it has been amazing! One single shot has been enough to produce stunning car trails (given the high numbers of cars that night). After the astronomical twilight, the sky was CRAZY : the heart of our galaxy is here very clear, plenty of stars are visible while nebulae (such as Trifid or Lagoon) and star clusters shine bright - and I had the good surprise to see (when developing the picture) that a superb green shooting star has been crossing the heart of the Milky Way!

Nikon D610 + Sigma 35mm Art
Foreground: single shot @ 20s, f/8, ISO100
Sky: stacking of 61 shots @ 8s, f/2, ISO1600
Same gear, same place, shots taken all in a row

COMET C/2012 K2 (PANSTARRS)

BEST DETAILS:
https://www.astrobin.com/full/d6z7y4/0/

EQUIPMENT:
Esprit 150mm triplet
Asi 6200mc
CEM120 mount
LOCATION: Munhoz - MG - Brazil
DATA: 07/22/2022

Copyright: Fernando Oliveira de Menezes
(Organizing author of the book Amateur Astrophotography in Brazil)
https://clubedeautores.com.br/livro/ast ... -no-brasil

Paroxysm of Mt Etna

Mt. Etna by Salvatore Cerruto, su Flickr

In the photo Etna during its first paroxysm of this year under a starry sky. The smoke literally divide the sky and the earth. As you can see from the photos, the lava fountains have reached a height probably close to a kilometer. The photos were taken about 60 kilometers away as the crow flies. The lack of haze made it possible to capture this magnificent spectacle at such a distance. It was truly a thrill for me to witness this event which, moreover, took place on a starry evening with the moon lightly illuminating the landscape.

Technical data: Nikon D800 + Tamron 100-400mm @f/5.6, ISO-800, 15 sec
Date: 2022-02-10
Location: Buccheri, Sicily, Italy
Author: Salvatore Cerruto
IG: salvatore_cerruto FB: astro.cerruto

Mysterious violet flash

This photo taken on July 24, from seashore in Tainan, Taiwan, shows the last moments of sunset. When sunset occurs, sunlight is refracted through Earth's atmosphere, blue and green are more easily captured by people, in rare cases, you can find violet flash.

Equipment Details:
Canon EOS 800D + 60mm Maksutov telescope
Location : Tainan, Taiwan
Time: July 24, 2022 at 6:48 pm
photographer : Chia-Ming Lin (林家名)

Triangulum Galaxy HALRGB (M33)

I took this photograph from my balcony in the province of Siena in Italy and I shot the galaxy when it was between 25 and 45 degrees (I can't go further, I have the roof).
I integrated 3 hours of luminance, 3 hours of color and 6 hours of h-alpha.
Processing with pixinsight and photoshop.
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MM
Ota: Skywatcher Newton 200/1000
Equatorial mount: Ioptron GEM45

Full technical details and resolution > https://www.astrobin.com/x65emb/

WR 140 with JWST/MIRI

I looked at what is available at MAST for the JWST Early Release Science Programs and my favourite so far is the Wolf-Rayet Star WR 140 in the mid-infrared. The Proposal id is ERS 1349 with the principal investigator Ryan Lau. In their proposal they write under observing description: "Although the bright central source of WR 140 and possibly the 1st and 2nd dust arcs will saturate the Imager, we will be able to probe out to 7 or more fossil dust arcs with the Imager sensitivity and field (...)" Well, I see that they got more than 7

There is a little bit information about WR 140 on wikipedia, but nothing about the Wolf-Rayet Nebula: WR 140 is a spectroscopic binary with period of about 8 years and a colliding-wind binary. According to Monnier, Tuthill & Danchi 2002 the colliding-wind binary is responsible for this very regular shaped nebula. The binary forms dust over a few months close to the periastron passage, every 7.94 years, when the two stars are only a few astronomical units apart (read the introduction of the paper for more). See also their Figure 2+3 for a 3D model of the dust-cone.

MIRI filters used:
F770W
F1500W
F2100W

Image Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA JWST MIRI & Ryan Lau et al.
Image Processing: Melina Thévenot
https://i.imgur.com/QIZuihO.png

Milky Way 180° Panorama At Mani Peninsula

During my last visit to the peninsula of Mani, I managed to capture some of my favourite nightscape images. On this trip, I had only one thing left on my bucket list; a milky way arch 180° panorama. I drove till the (almost) southernmost point of mainland Greece, a generally very dark place, the same spot where I captured the milky way rising the last time in order to capture what I imagined. The lights in the distance are coming from some settlements where during summer are becoming very famous. This is also the reason why you see some lights in the far distance, these are ships trying to satisfy the needs of the tourist period of summer. All these downsides weren't enough to prevent the colours of the night sky pop into my image. In order to create a more artistic and ethereal look to it, I decided to use a diffuser filter and that was something that I won't regret!

Two panel panorama of eight images each panel. Sky images were tracked and untracked for the foreground.

Nikon D750
Nikkor 20mm f1.8G
Sky: 8 x 60 sec | @ f2.8 | ISO4000 (tracked + diffuser filter)
Foreground: 8 x 60 sec | @ f2.8 | ISO4000 (untracked)

Milky Way 180° Panorama At Mani Peninsula by Thanos Paraskevopulos, on Flickr

Milky Way Above the Shipwreck Dimitrios

Close to Gythio, there is a beautiful sandy beach called Glyfatha, where it’s “placed” a very famous Greek shipwreck, Dimitrios. Being around this area for a couple of days, I decided to capture the shipwreck under the night sky, although knowing that was close to a suburban area. I arrived at the beach earlier in the day to find a composition, unfortunately, I didn’t manage to stay long due to the massive heat wave of these days, so I left and returned later when the sun was already down. When it got a bit dark, I noticed that the lights from the town of Gythio will destroy the image if I capture the image during the night, so I decided to capture it during the astronomical twilight in order to beathe light in the atmosphere a bit more even.

Nikon D750
Nikkor 20mm f1.8G
2 x 25 sec | @ f2.8 | ISO2000 (tracked with the half speed)

Milky Way Above the Shipwreck Dimitrios by Thanos Paraskevopulos, on Flickr

Hi all,

Here is an image of The Ghost Nebula in the molecular clouds of Cepheus. This reflection nebula is designated as vdB 141 which is its catalog number in Sidney van den Bergh's catalog of reflection nebulae, published in 1966. There are several stars embedded, whose emissions make the nebula shine in brownish colour.

Ghost Nebula (vdB141)
http://astro-sharp.com
Copyright: Ian Sharp I took this LRGB image over several nights in June and July 2002. A total of 33 hours of exposure make up this image.

The equipment used is based in Castilléjar in the province of Granada, Andalucia, Spain.

StellaMira 104mm ED2 Triplet f/6.25 APO Refractor
10Micron GM 1000 HPS mount
Starlight XPress TRIUS PRO 694 mono CCD camera
Starlight Xpress 7 position 1.25" filter wheel
Optolong LRGB, Ha, OIII, SII filters
Starlight XPress OAG
Starlight Xpress LoadStar V2 guide camera

Thank you for your consideration.

Ian Sharp.

ISS OVER CAPBRETON FRANCE by David Duarte, sur Flickr

The Rocher de la Fileuse by Joel Klinger, sur Flickr

This picture is taken from my night at the Rocher de la Fileuse (France) last Sunday. I wanted to go to this place because the sky there is the most amazing of the Loire Valley region!
The Milky Way was indeed stunning to see with the naked eye first. Then on the photo, it shows incredible details in the starry structures as well as in the dust clouds, while a subtle purple/green airglow fills the sky. At the left of the picture, Saturn is surrounded by plenty of stars (yet you can easily find its reflection in the river Creuse).
The lansdcape is superb too, with the old castle of Crozant just facing us, the river turning around and all the hills being covered with trees. In the foreground, you can see a part of the rock I have stayed 4 very nice hours discussing about photography and many other things with an astro friend.

Nikon D610 + Sigma 35mm Art + Manfrotto 190XPROB / 494RC2 + Star Mini Adventurer
- Foreground: panorama of 4 pictures, each being a stack of 5 shots @ 60s, f/2, ISO6400
- Sky: panorama of 2 pictures, each being a stack of 10 shots @ 8s, f/2, ISO6400
Same gear, same place, shots taken all in a row

Our destination is the Rho Ophichi Cloud
The milky way' core and rho Ophichi Cloud over  the Sand dunes of the Egyptian western Desert near El-Fayoum

rho-Ophichi-destination-HD by osama Fathi, on Flickr

Gears:
Nikon z6 Mod, Skywacher staradventurer tracker , samyang 85 mm

Settings :
Sky : tracked 2min ISO 1000, f2.8
Foreground : 4 sec, ISO 400, f2.8

Credits: Osama Fat'hi
https://www.instagram.com/osama.fathi.nswatcher85/
https://www.facebook.com/osama.fathi
Fayoum, Egypt

FULL MOON IN COLORS


BEST DETAILS:
https://www.astrobin.com/full/stpe2y/0/

EQUIPMENT:
Esprit 150mm triplet
asi 6200mc
CEM120 mount

LOCATION: Munhoz - MG - Brazil
DATES: 07/13/2022

Copyright: Fernando Oliveira de Menezes
(Organizing author of the book Amateur Astrophotography in Brazil)
https://clubedeautores.com.br/livro/ast ... -no-brasil

The summer ash moon from the Chestnut tree of the A10 motorway in France

Canon 6d sigma art 135mm f1.8
Single exposure 1''

https://storage.googleapis.com/producti ... df38ad24c7

SH2-150 & VDB 154 07.31.22 emission and reflection nebulae in Cepheus C14 & Hyperstar, CGX-L, ASI1600MM, Baader LGB & HA
Joe Renzetti
http://www.joerenzetti.com/