Starship Asterisk*

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Please post your images here for January 9-12.

If you need instructions on posting images, please see this thread.

Thank you!
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<- Previous submissions


IC 405: Nebula in Auriga
Copyright: Davide Manca
[attachment=5]ic405ddp2deco.jpg[/attachment][/i]

NGC 2237: Rosette Nebula
http://www.skiesburnelectric.com
Copyright: Kevin Rasso Eclipsed Moon and the Belt of Venus over Chile
Copyright: Tom Megeath This picture was taken on the morning of the 12/21/2010 during the recent lunar eclipse from Cerro Tololo Chile. The partially eclipsed moon appears like a quarter moon setting at sunrise. Just above the moon is the belt of Venus. Below the moon are the cosstal range of Chile as well the town of La Serena and the Pacific Ocean covered in fog. I haven't done any processing on the image, this is the jpeg straight off my camera.
~ Tom Megeath M82: Starburst Galaxy
http://www.starkeeper.it/M82.htm
Copyright: Leonardo Orazi Twilight, Setting Moon, Airplane Trails, Meteor, and Star Trails
http://www.sc.eso.org/~gbrammer/starset/index.html
Copyright: Gabriel Brammer One-day-old Moon and Alpha 1 & 2 Capricorni
Copyright: Doug Zubenel
[attachment=3]IMG_0140.jpg[/attachment][/i]

(Annular) Eclipse from Space!
Credit: SAO, NASA, JAXA, NAOJ This image of the Jan 4 2011 eclipse was taken by the X-ray Telescope (http://xrt.cfa.harvard.edu/) on the Hinode spacecraft (http://solarb.msfc.nasa.gov/, http://solar-b.nao.ac.jp/index_e.shtml), and from Hinode's orbit, the eclipse was an annular eclipse.

You can find several movies of this event at the web page (in japanese): http://hinode.nao.ac.jp/news/110104AnnularEclipse/

A 1024x1024 color version of the movie is here:
http://hinode.nao.ac.jp/news/110104Annu ... 0104cl.mpg
~ Dr. Katharine Reeves Crescent Moon between Fisher Towers
Copyright: Todd Caudle
[attachment=1]010211-Fisher-Towers-moon-full-size-72dpi.jpg[/attachment][/i]

Venus Shines above Fog over City Lights
Copyright: Attila Gazdag
[attachment=0]ivanscica20110103_04 venusz space.jpg[/attachment][/i]


<- Previous submissions

The Little Flame: IC 2087
http://www.caelumobservtory.com/gallery/ic2087.shtml
Copyright: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona

NGC 2392 (The Eskimo Nebula)
http://www.emilivanov.com
Copyright: Niki Petrov, Yanko Nikolov, Emil Ivanov The image was taken on November 14th 2010 with 2m RCC telescope at Rozhen National Observatory (Bulgaria)
Image details can be seen here: http://www.emilivanov.com/CCD%20Images/NGC2392_2m.htm

Melotte 15 in Cassiopeia
http://www.andreafer79astro.altervista. ... -2010_.jpg
Copyright: Andrea Ferrari
[attachment=1]MEL15_Ferrari.jpg[/attachment][/i]

Alnitak and NGC 2024: The Flame Nebula
http://www.galacticimages.com
Copyright: John Chumack
[attachment=0]MapleLeafNebula_ZetaOrionis_Chumackhrweb.jpg[/attachment][/i]

IC 10: Irregular Galaxy in Cassiopeia
http://www.astronomie.at/kerschhuber/index.html
Copyright: Günter Kerschhuber
[attachment=1]20100912-ic10gx.jpg[/attachment][/i]

Year of the Solar System
http://www.jwestlake.com
Copyright: Jimmy Westlake NASA has declared this the "Year of the Solar System" (YSS). Stardust, MESSENGER, Dawn, Juno, Curiosity, and other exciting missions will make big news in 2011.

That was the inspiration behind this image of the planet Jupiter over the lights of the sleepy little community of Stagecoach, Colorado. In it, the rotation of the Earth and a carefully-timed gloved hand combined to create a message in Morse code using the light of the the solar system's largest planet. The _._ _ ... ... symbols spell out YSS. The very faint trail just above Jupiter is made by the more distant planet Uranus. The Great Square of Pegasus blinks out the same message through the tree branches at upper right and a single airplane, headed for the west coast, also left its streak across the image.

The image was taken with a Nikon D700 digital camera set on ISO 640 and a 16 mm Nikkor lens at f8. The total exposure time is 27.5 minutes. Dashes are 3 minute exposures, dots are 30 seconds, gaps between symbols are 1 minute, and gaps between letters are 4 minutes. I snow-shoed up onto a ridge overlooking Stagecoach for the tripod-mounted exposure taken on January 6, 2011 between 8:36 and 9:04 PM MST. ~ Jimmy Westlake

Saturn's Dragon Storm and Moon Rhea
http://www.jaicoa-observatory.com
Copyright: Efrain Morales Rivera

M81 and M82 Galaxies with Integrated Flux Nebula
http://www.massimotosco.it/IFN.html
Copyright: Massimo Tosco

Quadruple Conjunction of the Moon, Venus, Mars and Spica
Conjunction Junction!
http://www.luisargerich.com/night/h39fc8582#h39fc8582
Copyright: Luis Argerich
[attachment=0]Conjunction Junction_Argerich.jpg[/attachment][/i]

All those pictures are so beautiful !
I loved "Eclipsed Moon and the Belt of Venus over Chile" of Tom Megeath, because it seems to be another world, another planet! The colors are wonderful, like a painting too much beautiful to be real I also love "Quadruple Conjunction of the Moon, Venus, Mars and Spica" of Luis Argerich, as well as "Crescent Moon between Fisher Towers" of Todd Caudle, thank you!

Céline

PS: there are 2 pictures

owlice wrote:Quadruple Conjunction of the Moon, Venus, Mars and Spica
Conjunction Junction!
http://www.luisargerich.com/night/h39fc8582#h39fc8582
Copyright: Luis Argerich
[attachment=0]Conjunction Junction_Argerich.jpg[/attachment][/i]

That is a very beautiful image, Luis Argerich. As a color freak, I love how you have captured the blue color of the moonlit night sky. And the conjunction is splendid, of course. The Milky Way looks absolutely great next to it!

I was scratching my head trying to identify the stars in the Milky Way, however. Finally I recognized the Southern Cross, standing "sideways", and Alpha and Beta Centauri above it. But what are the three bright stars forming a curved line at top?

Ann

P.S. Céline, I love your "Clouds at sunset". They look like a magical "cityscape of dreams" above the clouds, as it were.

Orion and Running Man Nebulae
http://www.DonegalSkies.com
Copyright: Brendan Alexander
[attachment=0]m42pro2_Alexander.jpg[/attachment][/i]

Starry Eathshine
http://www.DonegalSkies.com
Copyright: Brendan Alexander

Starry Earthshine by Donegal Skies, on Flickr

Ic434 Horsehead Nebula
http://sgastrophotography.zenfolio.com/
Copyright: Salvatore Grasso

Region Surrounding IC405 and IC410 in Auriga
http://www.tvdavisastropics.com/astroim ... 0000de.htm
Copyright: Thomas V. Davis
[attachment=1]ic405_410-mosaic.jpg[/attachment][/i]

Galaxy Garden
http://www.galaxygarden.net
Garden by Jon Lomberg; Kite Aerial Photography by Pierre and Heidy Lesage This Galaxy Garden is the world’s first large-scale, walk-through scale model of the Milky Way, mapped in living plants and flowers. Different plants represent stars, globular star clusters, and nebulae and are placed in their actual galactic locations. At the center of the garden is a fountain representing the black hole at the Milky Way’s heart. All the stars visible without lenses in Earth’s sky are one foot or less away from the Sun’s perch on a single leaf in the Galaxy Garden. Take your own tour of the galaxy at http://www.galaxygarden.net
~ Jon Lomberg

Ann wrote:

owlice wrote:Quadruple Conjunction of the Moon, Venus, Mars and Spica
Conjunction Junction!
http://www.luisargerich.com/night/h39fc8582#h39fc8582
Copyright: Luis Argerich
[attachment=0]Conjunction Junction_Argerich.jpg[/attachment][/i]

That is a very beautiful image, Luis Argerich. As a color freak, I love how you have captured the blue color of the moonlit night sky. And the conjunction is splendid, of course. The Milky Way looks absolutely great next to it!

I was scratching my head trying to identify the stars in the Milky Way, however. Finally I recognized the Southern Cross, standing "sideways", and Alpha and Beta Centauri above it. But what are the three bright stars forming a curved line at top?

Ann

P.S. Céline, I love your "Clouds at sunset". They look like a magical "cityscape of dreams" above the clouds, as it were.

Thanks Ann! I'm really happy you like it.
The stars above are Antares and his sidewinders part of Scorpius. If you live in the North Hemisphere then Scorpius is upside-down.

owlice wrote:Orion and Running Man Nebulae
http://www.DonegalSkies.com
Copyright: Brendan Alexander
[attachment=0]m42pro2_Alexander.jpg[/attachment][/i]

So beautiful !!!
How can it be possible to make such a beautiful picture? Is it necessary to go to the Very Large Telescope, in Chile ?

Céline

There are many fine images here, among them two beautiful images of the earthshine-lit Moon displaying a thin crescent. Interestingly, both Doug Zubenel's and Brendan Alexander's images show the sunlit Moon crescent to be reddish. Does anyone have an idea of what might be the cause of this?

I'm extremely fond of Thomas V. Davis's image of the IC405 and IC 410 regions in Aurigae. What lovely colors!

And I love the galaxy garden, too. It is deligthful that Jon Lomberg went to the trouble of planting a galaxy garden in the first place. One perfect detail of the "galaxy" is the "black hole fountain" in the center of it. It even squirts a jet, I think!

Ann

Thanks Céline and Anne for your very kind words about my images. I am glad you liked them . I have no idea why the moonlite portion of the Moon is reddish though!

Hello,
I would like to present my panorama taken last year in Namibia.
It is NGC 6334 & NGC 6357 with surroundings in constellation Scorpius.
I used FSQ 106N, EM011, STL 6303
Best Regards
Michal Zolnowski

Sharpless 260 in Orion

IC 1805: Heart Nebula in Bicolor, Narrowband
http://digiborg.files.wordpress.com/201 ... icolor.jpg
Copyright: Adam Tedesco
[attachment=8]heart_bicolor_Tedesco.jpg[/attachment][/i]

Orion Mosaic
http://www.astropix.co.uk/ps/pages/Orion%20mosaic.htm
Copyright: Peter Shah
[attachment=7]Orion mosaic_Shah.jpg[/attachment][/i]

Night Sky over Mt. Kinabalu
Copyright: Wei-Loon Chin
[attachment=6]img_8742s.jpg[/attachment][/i]

Central Region of Abell 2254 Cluster of Galaxies
http://www.ing.iac.es
Copyright: Rafael Barrena
[attachment=5]A2254.jpg[/attachment][/i]

M27: Dumbbell Nebula
Copyright: Wlad Onoprienko and Ivan Mhitarov
[attachment=4]M27.jpg[/attachment][/i]

Waxing Moon at Apogee
http://www.galacticimages.com
John Chumack
[attachment=3]Waxingcrescentmon011011Apogee_ChumackwebHRv2.jpg[/attachment][/i]

University of Rochester's Mees Observatory against the Western Sky
http://uofrphoto.smugmug.com/gallery/12 ... mgr96-A-LB
Copyright: J. Adam Fenster
[attachment=0]URochSky.jpg[/attachment][/i]

M78: Nebula in Orion
http://www.imagingtheheavens.com
Copyright: Mike Sherick
[attachment=2]m78-rgb-1-3-11.jpg[/attachment][/i]

Two Halos, Two Sundogs, One Sun
Copyright: Bog Patterson
[attachment=1]halos.jpg[/attachment][/i]

Large and Small Magellanic Clouds
http://astro-cabinet.com/showimage.php? ... m-LRGB.jpg
http://astro-cabinet.com/showimage.php? ... m-LRGB.jpg
Copyright: Dieter Willasch