Starship Asterisk*

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Please post your images here for February 4-7.

Please see this thread before posting images; posting images demonstrates your
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Thank you!
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Red Sprite (?) over a distant thunderstorm
http://www.emilivanov.com
Copyright: Emil Ivanov This image was taken on Aug. 5th 2006 at 11:05 pm (Local Time) from Rozhen National Observatory during a heavy thunderstorm approximately 50 miles away.
For more than four years I thought that this is some kind of reflection over the thunder at the left middle, but yesterday a frend of mine suggested, that I might have captured a rare phenomenon of red sprite
The Moon was at about 20° above the horizon and 195°azimuth, which makes impossible this to be a direct Moon reflection.

Best regards

Emil

Rosette Nebula in Narrowband Ha, SII, OIII
http://crilly.org/wp/2011/01/29/ngc-2237-9-redone/
Copyright: Jeff Crilly

Orion's Belt
Copyright: Greg Parker and Noel Carboni
[attachment=0]Orions_Belt_Greg_Parker_and_Noel_Carboni.jpg[/attachment][/i]

Very Young Crescent Moon
http://www.astropix.com
Copyright 2011 Jerry Lodriguss


20 hours 23 minutes old crescent Moon in Ha light.

Click on the image above for a higher resolution version.

Saturn with its magnificent (Serpent) Storm system in which has incircled close to two thirds of northern pole region. Will the two ends meet? time will tell, Hopefully it will be around at opposition for a closer/brighter view. Also on this image two moons are visible they are Rhea and Tethys.

http://www.jaicoa-observatory.com/Sat_3 ... -T-EMo.jpg

WOW, that is some storm on Saturn! Not that Saturn needs a special reason to be interesting and beautiful.

Nicely captured, Efrain.

-Noel

Efrain Morales wrote:Saturn with its magnificent (Serpent) Storm system in which has incircled close to two thirds of northern pole region. Will the two ends meet? time will tell, Hopefully it will be around at opposition for a closer/brighter view. Also on this image two moons are visible they are Rhea and Tethys.

http://www.jaicoa-observatory.com/Sat_3 ... -T-EMo.jpg

Hi Efrain

Hey that really is a fantastic storm ! great work mate.

lodrigj wrote:Very Young Crescent Moon
http://www.astropix.com
Copyright 2011 Jerry Lodriguss


20 hours 23 minutes old crescent Moon in Ha light.

Click on the image above for a higher resolution version.

Jerry...20 hrs ,wow! and the result.... a true work of art!

Emil,Jeff,Greg and Noel.....inspirational work guys!

NGC-1499, shot in Ha, OIII and SII. These were processed in a near-true color process, so the narrow band images look as natural as possible.
Shot over 7 evenings, 11/27, 12/08, 12/13, 12/24, 12/25, 1/1/11, 1/3/11
Total time 18.5 hours

Copyright 2011, Eric Chesak


Click here for a larger image:
http://tinyurl.com/echesak-NGC1499

[quote="atalas"][quote="lodrigj"]Very Young Crescent Moon
http://www.astropix.com

That's a cool image, Jerry

NGC1499 in 2D and 3D
MyWebSite: http://fth.bounceme.net/
Copyright: Fred Herrmann Click here to see the 3D version. Note that this is by no means scientifically accurate... Basically my conception of how it might look! It also requires the use of an ActiveX control in order to work...

http://fth.bounceme.net/calif.html

Thanks,
Fred

IC 1848: Soul Nebula
http://www.skiesbyafrica.com/Nebulae/IC1848.html
Copyright: Eric Africa

Arp 1 and Arp 285 and the Tidal Tail
http://www.starkeeper.it/ARP1.htm
Copyright: Leonardo Orazi (More pics at URL above.)

Thank you, Leonardo Orazi! Oh thank you! You have photographed one of my absolutely hands-down top favorite but so sadly ignored galaxies, the super-majestic, stately NGC 2857, or Arp 1! How incredibly handsome it looks here in its galactic environment!

It was nice to see Arp 285 and its tidal tail too, but as for Arp 1, ohhh....

Ann

Ann wrote:Thank you, Leonardo Orazi! Oh thank you! You have photographed one of my absolutely hands-down top favorite but so sadly ignored galaxies, the super-majestic, stately NGC 2857, or Arp 1! How incredibly handsome it looks here in its galactic environment!

It was nice to see Arp 285 and its tidal tail too, but as for Arp 1, ohhh....

Ann

Ann, thank you so much. Comments like yours give new force to the passion . For this picture I had to do 200 miles, I had to shovel 50 cm of snow and keep at -18 ° C for 7 hours .... but the satisfaction of seeing a photo astronomical rise is too strong. A subject so far only serves to bring reflection on the beauty of the universe in which we live. I take this opportunity to encourage the other astrophotographers like me who are struggling for their passion.

Sorry for philosophizing ...

PS Owlice thanks so much for your precious work

Diamond of the Winter
http://www.danikxt.com.es
Copyright: Daniel Fernández
[attachment=0]5410616811_ea0693d6d5_o.jpg[/attachment][/i]

Fogbow Saucer
Copyright: Tunç Tezel In the past four months that I have spent working here in desert, I have encountered a foggy morning only once. It was the morning of 9th November 2010. I woke up around 0720 hours like I always do, and went to walk the offices 300 meters away. It was foggy but not too dense, the Sun that had risen a few minutes ago was already shining brightly.

I looked around, noticed the nice fogbow and admired it for some brief seconds before resuming my walk. I was not taking many pictures at all. Thankfully I changed my mind after some more seconds and went back to my room to get my camera. The foreground in and around our jobsite camp is not very pretty, but it was looking okay with the fog diminishing the visibility. I positioned the fogbow over the only place with grass, the circular arrangement in the park. With the deflections produced by the fisheye lens I was using, the circle of grass, the fogbow above and my shadow combined into a comical flying saucer look. ~ Tunç Tezel

Crescent Moon Earthshine
http://www.astrosurf.com/astroarte/
Copyright: Miguel Claro
[attachment=0]CrescentMoon_6044-Feijo-net.jpg[/attachment][/i]

M48: Open Cluster in Hydra
http://imagingtheheavens.com/?page_id=101
Copyright: Mike Sherick
[attachment=0]M48_Sherick.jpg[/attachment][/i]

This galaxy is reddened by the large amount of foreground dust and gas as it lies very close to the plane of the Milky Way. Because of this, we see much lower surface brightness and loss of blue color. I have attempted to remove the effects of the dust by a kind of "white point" balance that brings the reds in line with the blues and green signal. If you zoom into the full res version you can see a blue area right around the central core which I believe is the circumnuclear starburst ring.

Here is a link to the zoom and pan image
http://www.imagingdeepsky.com/Galaxies/IC342/IC342.htm

Here is a link to the full size jpg
http://www.imagingdeepsky.com/Galaxies/ ... /IC342.jpg

Kindest Regards,

Ken Crawford
http://www.imagingdeepsky.com

Thanks Noel, It sure is and still looks like its exspanding still. Thanks my friend.

Thanks Louie, Every day is different and very intriguant. Thanks my friend.

IC1050
MyWebSite: http://fth.bounceme.net/
Copyright: Fred Herrmann

Thanks, Ken! Very interesting! Of course IC 342 is much bluer than it looks to us due to strong dust reddening. And due to the large number of HII regions in IC 342, it makes excellent sense that it should have a lot of young blue stars. It is also plausible that it would have a circumnuclear starburst ring, since many spiral galaxies have such rings.

Your picture is very beautiful. Thank you for posting it!

Ann