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This is a re-process of Leo "Doublet" (M65 & M66) from April 25, 2019. I found the re-process to be appeared better in term of color.



Higher resolution at: https://peternagy.smugmug.com/Telescope ... -6LpdjvC/A

RGB + Luminance. 0.84"/pixel image scale.

Astrodon I series Red filter, 12 x 5 minutes, 1x1. 4/24/2019.
Astrodon I series Green filter, 12 x 5 minutes, 1x1. 4/24/2019.
Astrodon I series Blue filter, 12 x 5 minutes, 1x1. 4/24/2019.
Astrodon I series Lum filter, 36x 5 minutes, 1x1. 4/22/2019.

Total 6 hours.

TEC 160FL APO F/7 with TEC Field Flattener, Astro-Physics A-P1100GTO GEM with absolute encoders. QSI660wsg. OAG and Ultrastar autoguider (1.19"/sec), Optec Handy Stepper Motor focuser.

Captured and automated with SGP. Calibration and Post-processed with PixInsight. PHD2 settings: RA Aggressiveness: 60, RA Hysteresis: 10, Max RA/Dec Duration: 2000, Min Move: 0.67 (0.80"), Calibration Steps: 200msec, Auto/Resist Switching, Auto guiding exposure and extreme dithering.

NGC5253
https://melinasworldblog.wordpress.com/
Copyright: Melina Thévenot
https://melinasworldblog.files.wordpres ... _small.png

Full Resolution Image (26.6 MB) https://melinasworldblog.files.wordpres ... credit.png

NGC 5253 is the closest Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxy (about 3.3 Mpc distant to the Milky Way) and belongs to a group of galaxies, which includes Centaurus A and M83 (see more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centaurus_A/M83_Group).

I used data from two proposals. Images from circle 21 (https://archive.stsci.edu/proposal_sear ... t&id=13364) and images from circle 14 (https://archive.stsci.edu/proposal_sear ... t&id=10765). The images from circle 21 are taken with WFC3/UVIS and ultraviolet filters. I used these as the blue and green part of the image. The images from circle 14 are taken with ACS/WFC and visible light filters. I used these as the red part of the image.

In detail:
wfc3 f275w (blue),
wfc3 f336w (green),
ACS f435w (red),
ACS f555w (red)

M1 - Crab Nebula by Brendan Kinch, on Flickr

SN 2019ehk in M100 [DSLR]
Copyright: Paolo Demaria, Ass. Astrofili Bisalta

Telescope: Skywatcher Newton 200/1000 with Baader RCC
Camera: Canon Eos 450D mod. Baader
Mount: Skywatcher Eq6Pro
Guide: QHY5 with TS OAG 9mm
Location: Castelmagno (Cn, Italy)
21x300s @1600 ISO.
Full resolution:
https://i.postimg.cc/1XKfc3sr/M-100-sn-elab-def.jpg

Best regard,
Paolo Demaria
Ass. Astrofili Bisalta (Cn, Italy)

Galaxies in Grus
https://www.flickr.com/photos/astrocamera/
Copyright: Wellerson Lopes For full resolution visit https://www.flickr.com/photos/astrocame ... otostream/

Julian California weather could be a bit "iffy"in April and May. We planned to visit the observatory for 10 days but only stayed 7. Luckily from that 7 we got 3 clear nights with some passing clouds.

Given the unpredictable weather, I had to plan carefully to get something that would be worth publishing. To that end I selected The Eyes (NGC4435 & NGC 4438) as seen here and "The Lost in Space" galaxy (NGC6503) which I'll process next.

I planned to shoot The Eyes from 9 to 1 and NGC6503 from 1 to 5. On the first clear night I got decent L for both (about 3 hours). The second clear night I shot 1 hour of each RGB for both objects. Thinking that may be all I could get this month, I suspected I could get some decent processing, albeit noisy.

Then I got really lucky. 1 more clear night of 8 hours (last night) with less than 2" FWHM seeing on 15-minute subs. I even had several 15-minute subs at 1.4" FWHM. I don't see that too often. I suppose maybe the calm before the storm, which is rolling in today.

I used CCDStack to select the lowest FWHM subs and threw away about 2 hours of L per object as a result (>=2.4" FWHM). Not too bad. I kept all the RGB regardless since I only had an hour in each channel. I usually like to shoot 3 hours in each color channel, so color noise here (i.e., "blotches") is not up to my normal standards.

As always, processing is very minimal. After calibration and stacking in Maxim I used PI for very careful L deconvolution and stretching. I also used PI for RGB gradient removal, Photometric Color Calibration and stretching. Contrast, sharpening, color stretching, noise reduction and combining is all done in PS with very subtle parameters. My goal is to maintain the original natural fidelity from the excellent Planewave optics. This is sometimes difficult to do in PI, at least for me. (-;

I hope you enjoy "The Eyes"...

"...a pair of interacting galaxies about 52 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. The pair are members of the string of galaxies known as Markarian's Chain. While there is evidence to suggest that the environmental damage to the interstellar medium of NGC 4438 may have been caused by an off-center collision with NGC 4435 millions of years ago, a recent discovery of several filaments of ionized gas link NGC 4438 with the large neighboring elliptical galaxy Messier 86, in addition to a discovery of gas and dust within M86 that may have been stripped from NGC 4438 during a past encounter between the two. Given the high density of galaxies in the center of the Virgo galaxy cluster, it is possible that the three galaxies, NGC 4435, NGC 4438, and M86, have had past interactions."

Lost in Space (NGC 6503). KG Observatory, Julian CA.

"...a spiral galaxy NGC 6503 is in a lonely position, at the edge of a strangely empty patch of space called the Local Void. The Local Void is a stretch of space at least 150 million light-years across that seems completely empty of stars or galaxies. Dark dust lanes snake across the galaxy's bright arms and center, giving it a mottled appearance. Bright red patches of gas can be seen scattered through the galaxy's swirling arms, mixed with blue regions that contain newly forming stars.

Astronomers using Hubble discovered that the emptiness of this region has quite an effect on the space around us — the Milky Way is being strongly pulled away from it by the gentle but relentless tug of other nearby galaxies."

I do see a few more galaxies that may be more lost. (-:

Both your images are very beautiful, KuriousGeorge. I find the one of "The Eyes" particularly stunning.

Ann

Vela

SHORGB : full size : http://www.cielboreal.com/galerie/photo99f.jpg

RHaGBo3 : full size : http://www.cielboreal.com/galerie/photo99fb.jpg

done with TEC160, Moravian G4-16000 on Paramount MX+ near Actacama Desert in Chile, El Sauce Observatory

http://www.cielaustral.com
Copyright: Team CielAustral with J.C CANONNE, N.OUTTERS, P. BERNHARD, D. CHAPLAIN & L. BOURGON

Abell 1995

The Abell Catalog of Galaxy Clusters was published in 1957 by American Astronomer George Abell. Abell used plates from the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS) to identify 2,712 galaxy clusters. Of these clusters, 1,351 have been observed by the SDSS Data Release 5.

Copyright: Lluis Romero
Data: HLA- Hubble

M82, a Ha,RGB image
https://astrob.in/404088/0/
Copyright: Morten la Cour/Niels V. Christensen

Dark Tower

SHORGB : full size : http://www.cielboreal.com/galerie/photo100f.jpg

RHaGBo3 : full size : http://www.cielboreal.com/galerie/photo100fb.jpg

done with TEC160, Moravian G4-16000 on Paramount MX+ near Actacama Desert in Chile, El Sauce Observatory

http://www.cielaustral.com
Copyright: Team CielAustral with J.C CANONNE, N.OUTTERS, P. BERNHARD, D. CHAPLAIN & L. BOURGON

King of Clusters
[img3]Omega Centauri NGC 5139 by maicon germiniani, no Flickr[/img3]

Open Cluster Messier 7

[img3]Messier 7 - Ptolomeu Cluster by maicon germiniani, no Flickr[/img3]

NGC 2170
https://observatorioelche.blogspot.com/ ... -2170.html
Copyright: Juan Lozano de Haro

Hola a todos os dejo esta nebulosa, NGC 2174, espero que os guste;
estos son los datos:
NGC 2174
TOMAS:
Ha: 23 Light de 900 segundos, 23 Darks, 26 Flats y 40 Bias
OIII: 13 Light de 900 segundos, 13 Darks, 26 Flats y 40 Bias
SII: 18 Light de 900 segundos, 18 Darks, 26 Flats y 40 Bias
que hacen un total de 13 horas y media.
TEMPERATURA: -10 GRADOS
TUBO: FSQ 106 ED
CCD: SBIG ST-8300M
MONTURA: CGEM
CCD guiar: QHY5 II
LUGAR: LAS INVIERNAS (GUADALAJARA).

un saludo
jose

Saturday night's clear sky forecast coinciding with a new moon meant that it was a perfect night for astrophotography. I headed to the south Pembrokeshire coast of Wales where I bagged quite a few Milky Way images including this one over Elegug Stacks.

M106 Galaxy

Equipment :
OTA : Meade 14 SCT
Mount : Skywatcher EQ8
Camera : Atik 460ex & 460exc
Filters : Idas P2 ,Baader Ha
Guiding : OAG via Lodestar X2

Software : Dss - Pix - Ps

Exposure :
Ha : 1h20min
L : 3h40min
RGB : 1h

Location : Greece

Photographer : George Chatzifrantzis

Copyrights: Raul Villaverde Fraile
The Best Orion by Raul Villaverde, en Flickr

alcarreño wrote: ↑Fri May 10, 2019 3:55 pm Copyrights: Raul Villaverde Fraile
The Best Orion by Raul Villaverde, en Flickr

That's a great picture! Thanks!

Ann

Copyright: Raul Villaverde Fraile
El Losar de Ocentejo by Raul Villaverde, en Flickr

Ann wrote: ↑Fri May 10, 2019 4:03 pm

alcarreño wrote: ↑Fri May 10, 2019 3:55 pm Copyrights: Raul Villaverde Fraile
The Best Orion by Raul Villaverde, en Flickr

That's a great picture! Thanks!

Ann

Thanks¡¡

NGC 3311 -- Brightest galaxy in a Cluster

The dynamically hot stellar halo around NGC 3311: A small cluster-dominated central galaxy

The central region of NGC 3311 is obscured by a dust cloud with an estimated diameter of 1,700 ly (0.53 kpc). It has an amorphous and complex structure and its small size and disturbed morphology suggests that the cloud originated from a merger event with another galaxy that occurred within the past 10 million years. Oddly though, there are no shells or isophote distortions in the outer regions of NGC 3311 that would have been the result of such a recent merger.

The total estimated mass of the dust cloud is 4,600 solar masses (4.6×104 M☉).

In NGC 3311, it has been detected that there is an excess blue population in the central region of the galaxy. The spectrum of the galaxy appears to resemble that of an H II region. This suggests that the excess blue population represents an ongoing formation of young bright stars.

http://astrophotographysirius.com/
Processing: Lluís Romero Ventura
Data: NASA- HLA-ESA