skypointer2000
Contact
Whenever I see the dish of a radio observatory, it reminds me of Carl Sagan's science fiction novel Contact.
This is the 25m Owens Valley dish of the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). The VLBA is a system of ten remotely operated radio telescopes, scattered across the USA. They work together as an array, forming the longest system in the world that uses very long baseline interferometry. The longest baseline available in this interferometer is about 8,611 kilometers (5,351 mi).
The sky above the radio dish is full of winter gems. I hope you do not mind a small tour:
Rosette Nebula, Bernard's Loop, the Orion complex, Angelfish Nebula and California Nebla are the most prominent red Hydrogen emission nebulas.
The famous open clusters Hyades and Pleiades are accompanied by many lesser known cousins, like M34, M36, M38 or M41.
Apart from our home galaxy, the Milky Way, the image shows the Triangulum Galaxy. It is the small smudge at the very top edge of the image.
The Gegenschein is the faint, diffuse brightening to the right of the Pleiades. Thanks to the good sky quality, I was also able to capture part of the zodiacal band, the slight brightening that continues to the right of the Gegenschein. Both are caused by sunlight scattered off interplanetary dust shed by passing comets and rocky splinters left in the wake of asteroid collisions.
Speaking of comets, the tiny greenish blob between Bellatrix and Orion Belt is Comet C/2020 M3 (ATLAS).
Last but not least, a Northern Taurid Meteor decided it was worth ending its life in a flash to balance my composition.
Prints available: ralf-rohner.pixels.com
EXIF
Canon EOS 6D, astro-modified
Samyang 24mm f/1.4 @ f/2
iOptron SkyTracker Pro
Sky:
Panorama of 3 panels, each a stack of 6 x 60s @ ISO1600
Foreground:
Single exposure of 60s @ ISO6400
Contact
Whenever I see the dish of a radio observatory, it reminds me of Carl Sagan's science fiction novel Contact.
This is the 25m Owens Valley dish of the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). The VLBA is a system of ten remotely operated radio telescopes, scattered across the USA. They work together as an array, forming the longest system in the world that uses very long baseline interferometry. The longest baseline available in this interferometer is about 8,611 kilometers (5,351 mi).
The sky above the radio dish is full of winter gems. I hope you do not mind a small tour:
Rosette Nebula, Bernard's Loop, the Orion complex, Angelfish Nebula and California Nebla are the most prominent red Hydrogen emission nebulas.
The famous open clusters Hyades and Pleiades are accompanied by many lesser known cousins, like M34, M36, M38 or M41.
Apart from our home galaxy, the Milky Way, the image shows the Triangulum Galaxy. It is the small smudge at the very top edge of the image.
The Gegenschein is the faint, diffuse brightening to the right of the Pleiades. Thanks to the good sky quality, I was also able to capture part of the zodiacal band, the slight brightening that continues to the right of the Gegenschein. Both are caused by sunlight scattered off interplanetary dust shed by passing comets and rocky splinters left in the wake of asteroid collisions.
Speaking of comets, the tiny greenish blob between Bellatrix and Orion Belt is Comet C/2020 M3 (ATLAS).
Last but not least, a Northern Taurid Meteor decided it was worth ending its life in a flash to balance my composition.
Prints available: ralf-rohner.pixels.com
EXIF
Canon EOS 6D, astro-modified
Samyang 24mm f/1.4 @ f/2
iOptron SkyTracker Pro
Sky:
Panorama of 3 panels, each a stack of 6 x 60s @ ISO1600
Foreground:
Single exposure of 60s @ ISO6400