AAPOD2 Image Archives
NGC 2841 | A Galaxy Headed For Retirement
Image Description and Details : Having lost most of its star forming hydrogen clouds, NGC 2841 is domintated by mature yellow and red stars. Several encircling rings of dust can just be seen here about doubling the apparant diameter of the otherwise 8' disk. Extreme stretches also show a very faint arm trailing off to the right. This arm might suggest some galacitc interaction, but that seems at odds with such a lack of star formation. Maybe the interaction was a long time ago or very limited? The Ha data I shot confirms the lack of HII emissions.
41 total hours about half in Luminance. A super luminance was used with the RGB masters to try and tease out the outer rings. My Bortle 3 site may be at the limit to capture these. My FHWM cut off was over 3" to keep integration time high. To add sharpness to the galaxy detail I did a second Luminance with a 2.4" cutoff and blended that with a mask.
Planewave CDK14, Planewave L-350, QHY600M
Copyright: Kevin Morefield
47 Tucanae
Image Description:
Location: Rio Hurtado, Chile
Telescope: ASA 500N
Camera: FLI PL16803
Mount: ASA DDM85
Red: 7x10 minutes (binned 1x1)
Green: 6x10 minutes (binned 1x1)
Blue: 7x10 minutes (binned 1x1)
Copyright 2022 Bernard Miller
4 dust monsters
During our stay at the observatory, I had a little bit left at the end of the night after our collaboration, so I took the opportunity to take a walk in this dusty area of the sky that had been watching me for a while. I was able to shoot it properly during this moonless weekend.
I really wanted to highlight this epic fight scene between 4 dust monsters, LDN 1228, LBN 550, LBN 552 and LBN 555, that's why I went with this diagonal framing to make it look like one takes over in this battle.
I also wanted to respect the natural colors which I find really beautiful and which accentuate this duality with the bluish and orange hues like ice and fire.
Shot on February 3, 27 and 28, 2022.
Takahashi FSQ106 EDX4 with 645-QE super reducer
Asi 2600MM Pro
Antlia LRGB filters
Eq6r-pro
Altaïr 60/225 guide + asi 290mm mini
L: 130x300''
R - G -B: 25x300'' per filter
Stars: 90x15'' per filter
Bortle sky 4
Acquired: N.I.N.A + Phd2
Processing: Siril + PixInsight + Photoshop
Copyright: Yann Sty
Bergkirchli
In February, I spent a two week skiing vacation in Arosa, Switzerland. Repeated snowfall made for some of the best snow conditions in years. The drawback was that I only got one clear night for astrophotography during my entire stay.
I decided to spend that night at the Bergkirchli (Mountain Chapel). Built in 1493, one year after Kolumbus discovered America, the chapel is the oldest building of Arosa. I found that it aligns nicely with the Winter Milky Way and Orion.
EXIF
Canon EOS Ra
Sigma 28mm f/1.4
IDAS NBZ filter
iOptron SkyTracker Pro
Sky:
Two panel vertical panorama, each a stack of 20x 30s @ ISO800, f/2, unfiltered + 6 x 120s @ ISO3200, f/1.4, filtered
Foreground:
Stack of 3 x 30s @ ISO400, f/11 during blue hour.
Copyright: Ralf Rohner
Gyulbudaghian nebula
I share with you my last take, it is an area that contains several dark nebulae, LDN1158, LDN1157, LDN1148 and LDN1155 among others, an object also called the Gyulbudaghian nebula, named after the Armenian astronomer Armen Gyuldubaghian who discovered it in 1977.
Acquisitions: 26h
March 7,8,9 and 10
L 207x300 - R 36x300 - V 36x300 - B 36x300
Materials:
Takahashi FSQ 85 EDX Takahashi Flattener 1.01x
ZWO ASI294MM Pro Camera
Mount Ioptron cem70
Astrodon Tru-Balance E-Series Gen 2 LRGB Filters
ZWO OAG Off Axis Guider and ZWO ASI290MM
ZWO asianair pro
Calibration: Siril 1.0.0-rc2
Pre-processing/processing: PixInsight and Photoshop
Copyright: Christophe Vergnes
Thor's Helmet - NGC 2359
Image Description and Details :
Thor's Helmet - NGC 2359 Thor's Helmet, an emission nebula ~11,960 light years away, is in the constellation Canis Major. The central star is the Wolf-Rayet star WR7, a star thought to be in a brief pre-supernova stage of evolution. Acquisition: Location: Queen Creek, AZ Bortle 7 Date: 2022-02-26 - 2022-03-11 Lights (Dithered, Cooled 0°C, Gain 100): 199 x 180s Darks: 25 Flats: 25 Dark Flats: 25Hardware: Camera: ZWO ASI 2600MC PRO Scope: Celestron EdgeHD 11" Focal Reducer: Celestron 0.7x Focuser: Prodigy Microfocuser Guide Camera: Unguided Guide Scope: Unguided Mount: GM2000 HPS II Filter: Optolong L-EnhanceSoftware: SGP Pixinsight PhotoshopProcessing: Stacked in Pixinsight (WBPP, SubframeSelector, DrizzleIntegration) Pixinsight (DCrop, ABE, PhotometricCC, EZDenoise, EZSoftStretch, EZStarReduction, StarNet2)) Gradient removal using GradientXterminator Camera Raw Filter in Photoshop AstroFlat Pro Color/Levels Adjustments
Copyright: James Hawks
The Sun is Boss
Image Description and Details : Captured from Perth Western Australia, using a Skywatcher 127 Maksutov, with an IR/UV Cut filter covering the objective lens,
and a Daystar Quark Chromosphere Solar filter before the camera.
Approx 1500mm F/L.
Composite of two separate exposures.
Lower exposure for the Suns Chromosphere, slightly higher exposure for the Prom.
Incidently, the main prom size reaches out roughly 180,000km. you can see a faint afterburn which continues for approx another 80,000km.
Measurements based on suns diameter and curvature, derived from a full disc image of this event.
Copyright: Copyright: David Gray
Abell 1656 The Coma Cluster
Image Description and Details :
The fantastic Coma Cluster (Abell 56) located 330 millions light-years away in Coma Berenice contains over 1000 identified galaxies. Along with the Leo Cluster (Abell 1367), it is one of the two major clusters comprising the Coma Supercluster.The central region is dominated by two supergiant elliptical galaxies : NGC4874 and NGC4889, and as is usual for clusters of this richness, the galaxies are overwhelmingly elliptical, with only a few spirals of younger age near the outskirts of the cluster.I wanted to capture this object for a long time and I'm glad I could do it from my downtown Bortle 6-7 sky.Newton 250mm f/4 on IOPTRON CEM70 mountCamera ZWO ASI2600mm + Antlia LRGB filters23h50 exposures in February and March 2022 from my backyard.L : 232 x 300sRGB : each 18x300sProcessed with Pixinsight and Photoshop
Copyright: Mathieu Guinot
NGC 5054 “Gem in Virgo”
NGC 5054 is a beautiful spiral galaxy in the Virgo constellation. The galaxy is small in the field of view at an apparent 4×2’. The galaxy has an irregular shape with two of the arms bending back around the galaxy. This small but relatively bright galaxy and allows a reasonable amount of detail and color to come through. This is amazing when you consider that the light from this galaxy has been travelling for 82 million years towards us. The dust lanes are quite evident, as are the star forming areas of the two major spiral arms. These are within the bluish regions of the arms. Its irregular shape suggests a possible interaction in the past.
The background is littered with hundreds of small galaxies. You can go to website to see wider version.
Imaged in LRGB on a Planewave CDK 1000 at El Sauce, Obstech, Chile
Integration Time: 28 hours
Copyright: Mark & Mike
Running Chicken Nebula
The Lambda Centauri Nebula or the λ Centauri Nebula, is an open cluster with an associated emission nebula found in the constellation Centaurus Narrowband image of IC 2948. Data courtesy of Telescope live.
Telescope CHI-1 Planewave CDK-24 Camera FLI ProLine PL9000 Location Location El Sauce Observatory, Rio Hurtado, Chile Date of observation Date of observation 25-12-2021 Filters Filters Astrodon 3nm narrowband
Processing PixInsight & PS
Copyright: Paul Swift
Is this close enough for you?
Image Description and Details : This ultra high resolution of the full moon was constructed using a total of 1530 individual photos captured during all consecutive phases of the moon from new moon to full. The resulting single image measures a whopping 165,000 megapixels, (50,000 x 33.000 pixels).
The assembly of the final images took over 300 hours to stitch together to piece together this one single image.
Imaged from Perth, Western Australia using ...
Skywatcher 12@ Dobsonian Goto Telescope
2x Barlow lens
ZWOasi 183mc Camera
A video presentation with description of several major craters can be found on the above link.
Copyright:: David Gray
The Horn of Monoceros
Image Description and Details : The Horn of Monoceros: 102 hours of exposure over 29 nights.
There is so much nebulosity in this region that I just couldn’t stop piling on data to see what would be revealed.
I hope you enjoy this image as much as I enjoyed creating it!
Details:
Imaging Telescope: TPO Ultrawide 180
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ6R-PRO
Filters:
Astronomik L3 UV-IR Blocking Filter 2"
Optolong L-eXtreme 2"
Accessories:
ZWO AsiAir Pro
Guiding Telescope: ZWO Mini Guide Scope
Guiding Camera: ZWO ASI290MM Mini
Frames:
Astronomik L3 UV-IR Blocking Filter - 2": 350x5" (29' 10") (gain: 100.00) -10C
Optolong L-eXtreme 2": 759x480" (101h 12') (gain: 100.00) -10C
Integration: 101h 41' 10"
Darks: 50
Flats: 50
Flat darks: 50
Copyright: Jeffrey Horne
NGC 2736 The Pencil Nebula in Narrowband HOO
Image Description and Details : NGC 2736 The Pencil Nebula is a gorgeous deep space object in the constellation Vela. Moving at roughly 644,000 kmh it is thought to have been formed from a shock wave of the larger Vela Supernova Remnant. It resides about 815 light-years away.
This target was shot using narrowband filters to create an HOO-palette image. 75 x 600s sub-frames were shot over 4 nights for a total integration time of about 12.5 hrs.
Skywatcher 10" f4 Newtonian 250P
Skywatcher F4 Aplanatic Coma Corrector
Skywatcher NEQ6 Pro Hypertuned by Astronomy Academy Perth
Primaluce Sesto Senso2 Electronic Focuser
ZWO ASI2600MM Pro Cooled Camera
ZWO Off Axis Guider
ZWO ASI290MM Mini Guide Camera
ZWO Electronic Filter Wheel
Antlia 3nm Narrowband Ha and Oiii 36mm unmounted filters
Rollon rolloff modified shed observatory
Bortle 5
Data acquisition software: NINA Astronomy Software
Processing software: PixInsight and Photoshop CC
Copyright: Carlos Taylor
The Rotten Fish Nebula (LDN1251)
Image Description and Details : LDN 1251 is a complex nebula in the constellation Cepheus, containing reflective dust and gas. Its nickname is the Rotten Fish Nebula. The acronym "LDN" refers to Lynd's Catalog of Dark Nebulae.
LDN 1251 is quite close to us, about 1,000 light years away.
When the light (emitted or reflected) of this nebula "left" to hit my photographic sensor, Robert II "the Pious" was king of France. William the Conqueror had just built the Tower of London and the Vikings arrived on Canadian soil.
🔭: ASA Newton 254/950 F3.6
⚙️: Paramount MyT
📷: ZWO ASI2400MC
🕶: IDAS LPS-P3
🎯: Skywatcher Evostar72ED + ASI290MM mini
💻: TheSkyX pro, NINA, PHD2, AstroPixel Processor, PixInsight, Photoshop
⏱: 27h20' (164 x 300”)
🌍: Lorraine, France
📆: Over 3 nights : February 25,26,27 2022
Copyright: Thomas LELU
Polaris, Polarissima Borealis and IFN
Image Description and Details : Polaris is a star in the constellation Ursa Minor. Designated α Ursae Minoris and commonly called the Pole Star. The star's position is less than one degree from the north celestial pole, making it the current north pole star. The entire field is full of Integrated Flux Nebula, high-latitude galactic nebulae in the Milky Way composed primarily of dust particles, hydrogen and carbon monoxide, and are illuminated by stars in the Milky Way. NGC 3172 is located 285 million light years away, known as Polarissima Borealis, being the closest NGC object to the North Celestial Pole.
Copyright: Iñaki Lizaso
M82
The beautiful starburst galaxy M82 is located in the constellation Ursa Major. It was discovered in 1774 by German Astronomer Johann Elert Bode. Bode also discovered nearby M81, also known as Bodes Galaxy.
M82 is undergoing a huge amount of star formation in its core and due to this massive star formation, emits large amounts of hydrogen gas, seen here in red HII light. A possible theory is that gravitational interactions are occurring with the close neighboring galaxy, M81, and are causing this massive star formation to occur.
Also within the image is a bow shock like feature, called the CAP, which is above M82 and near the top of the image. It's a faint red area of HII emission. This feature was discovered in the late 90's and published in 1999. You can find the paper here. A great discussion about this massive amount of material streaming from M82 can be found here: ap130704.html. There are also a bunch of faint background galaxy clusters in the background and if you look at the high res image you can see them in the background.
M82 is approximately 12 million light years distant and about 1/2 the size of our Milky Way galaxy. M82 shines at an apparent magnitude of 8.4.
The image is a LRGB and Ha composite. I started imaging M82 in April of 2021 and finished in January of 2022. It was shot at 1x1 binning at an image scale of .64 arcsec/pixel. To get a high resolution view of M82, click on the image above.
Image Details
Optics : Stellarvue SVX 152T refractor @f8 1200mm FL
Mount: Paramount MYT
Camera: ZWO ASI6200
Filters: Chroma 50mm LRGB, Astrodon 50mm 5nm Ha
Exposure (min): LRGBHa 366:185:200:200:1120 34.5 hrs, 1x1 binning 1/2 frame
Automation Control: The Sky X, Voyager, PrimaluceLab Eagle 4
Guiding: StarlightXpress Lodestar X2
Processing Software: PixInsight, PS CC, Topaz Labs
Location: Stark Bayou Observatory, Ocean Springs, MS
Sky: Typical SQM 19.6-20.1, Bortle 5, Suburban
Date: 25April - 26 May 2021, 14 Nov - 13 Jan 2022
𝗟𝗕𝗡𝟱𝟮𝟴 - 𝗗𝗲𝗛𝘁𝟱 - 𝗩𝗗𝗕𝟭𝟱𝟮 - 𝗟𝗕𝗡𝟱𝟯𝟮 - 𝗦𝗡𝗥 𝟭𝟭𝟬.𝟯 + 𝟭𝟭.𝟯
Image Description and Details : 𝗟𝗕𝗡𝟱𝟮𝟴 - 𝗗𝗲𝗛𝘁𝟱 - 𝗩𝗗𝗕𝟭𝟱𝟮 - 𝗟𝗕𝗡𝟱𝟯𝟮 - 𝗦𝗡𝗥 𝟭𝟭𝟬.𝟯 + 𝟭𝟭.𝟯
🔭 TS-Optics 76EDPH
📷 ZWO ASI2600MM Pro
⚙ SkyWatcher AZEQ6
🔵 Antlia LHaRGB pro 36mm
Antlia B 36mm: 43x180" (2h 9')
Antlia Ha 3.0nm pro 36mm: 43x600" (7h 10')
Antlia L 36mm: 139x180" (6h 57')
Antlia R 36mm: 47x180" (2h 21')
Antlia V 36MM: 48x180" (2h 24')
Intégration:
21h 01'
Copyright: AstrOmac
NGC 3372 Carina Nebula
Image details:
captured a little over 4hrs of data on The Carina Nebula also known as NGC3372 a massive bright nebula located in the constellation Carina. It’s one of the easiest to spot with the naked eye in a dark sky because it’s the size of 4 moons wide - making it a good target to look at through binoculars.
22x 300s Sii
12x 300s Ha
17x 300s Oiii
Total 4hrs 15mins
Equipment
Mount: NEQ6 Hypertuned by Astronomy Academy Perth
Telescope 🔭: Skywatcher 10" Quattro Newt working @F3.62
Coma Corrector: TS-WYNNE 68 (reduces 0.92x confirmed in Nina)
Camera 📷: QHY268M @ Gain 56 Offset 50 on HGM
Filters: ZWO 36mm Filters
Programs: NINA, Pixinsight and Photoshop CC
#aapod2
Copyright: Luke Shepherd