View allAll Photos Tagged ASTROPHYSICS
--> Full resolution here: astrob.in/xigb64/0/
RGB composition
90:90:90x120"=R:G:BX120"
T:Takahashi FSQ 106ED @f/5.0
M: Astrophysics Mach1 GTO
C: QHY600M-L
G: Lodestar X2
F: Antlia V-Pro - RGB set
Foc: PrimaLuceLab ESATTO 4"
CPU: Eagle-S Primalucelab
Sw: Sequence Generator Pro - PHD2 - Pixinsight 1.8.8-9
Orion nebula, horsehead nebula, witch head nebula, and more rising over a volcanic plug in the Navajo volcanic field in northwestern New Mexico, as seen with an 85mm lens on a full frame camera.
Can you believe this image took only 1 hour of exposures to stack to this level of cleanliness? New Mexico has some of the darkest skies in the United States, and the high altitude allows for even better imaging conditions than you get in many other dark sky national parks.
And being winter with sunset so early in the day, it means you can image something like this, eat dinner, and go to sleep at a reasonable hour! This image was stacked for denoising, but the perspective is unaltered, i.e. if we had extremely sensitive eyes, this is exactly how you would see it.
Astronomers have detected X-rays from Uranus for the first time, using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. This result may help scientists learn more about this enigmatic ice giant planet in our solar system.
Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun and has two sets of rings around its equator. The planet, which has four times the diameter of Earth, rotates on its side, making it different from all other planets in the solar system. Since Voyager 2 was the only spacecraft to ever fly by Uranus, astronomers currently rely on telescopes much closer to Earth, like Chandra and the Hubble Space Telescope, to learn about this distant and cold planet that is made up almost entirely of hydrogen and helium.
In the new study, researchers used Chandra observations taken in Uranus in 2002 and then again in 2017. They saw a clear detection of X-rays from the first observation, just analyzed recently, and a possible flare of X-rays in those obtained fifteen years later. The main graphic shows a Chandra X-ray image of Uranus from 2002 (in pink) superimposed on an optical image from the Keck-I Telescope obtained in a separate study in 2004. The latter shows the planet at approximately the same orientation as it was during the 2002 Chandra observations.
What could cause Uranus to emit X-rays? The answer: mainly the Sun. Astronomers have observed that both Jupiter and Saturn scatter X-ray light given off by the Sun, similar to how Earth’s atmosphere scatters the Sun’s light. While the authors of the new Uranus study initially expected that most of the X-rays detected would also be from scattering, there are tantalizing hints that at least one other source of X-rays is present. If further observations confirm this, it could have intriguing implications for understanding Uranus.
One possibility is that the rings of Uranus are producing X-rays themselves, which is the case for Saturn’s rings. Uranus is surrounded by charged particles such as electrons and protons in its nearby space environment. If these energetic particles collide with the rings, they could cause the rings to glow in X-rays. Another possibility is that at least some of the X-rays come from auroras on Uranus, a phenomenon that has previously been observed on this planet at other wavelengths.
Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXO/University College London/W. Dunn et al; Optical: W.M. Keck Observatory
#NASA #MarshallSpaceFlightCenter #MSFC #Marshall #chandraxrayobservatory #ChandraXRay #cxo #chandra #astronomy #space #astrophysics #nasamarshallspaceflightcenter #solarsystemandbeyond #planet #uranus
Spiral galaxy NGC 3274 is a relatively faint galaxy located over 20 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo (The Lion). This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image comes courtesy of Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), whose multi-color vision allows astronomers to study a wide range of targets, from nearby star formation to galaxies in the most remote regions of the cosmos.
This image combines observations gathered in five different filters, bringing together ultraviolet, visible and infrared light to show off NGC 3274 in all its glory. NGC 3274 was discovered by Wilhelm Herschel in 1783. The galaxy PGC 213714 is also visible on the upper right of the frame, located much farther away from Earth.
Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Calzetti
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
Follow us on Twitter
Like us on Facebook
Find us on Instagram
Tonight in a Galaxy not too far away...
The great conjunction of the Jupiter and Saturn on 21 December 2020, imaged from my backyard.
Click on the image to zoom and view without the name tags.
The planets were imaged closer for a bit more detail and exposure control (using basic planetary imaging techniques), and then composited back into the wider shot. The stars and moons are mainly Luminance data. I don't have a Telescope suited to close-up Planetary imaging, but at this wider scale it worked out fine.
Imaged on my William Optics APO, with a Tele Vue Powermate and QHY163M Camera in LRGB. I used an L-Pro light pollution filter, rather than a standard luminance filter.
Imaged from the Southern Hemisphere (West Rand, South Africa).
Flickr Explore:
Photo usage and Copyright:
Medium-resolution photograph licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Terms (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). For High-resolution Royalty Free (RF) licensing, contact me via my site: Contact.
Martin
-
[Website] [Photography Showcase] [eBook] [Facebook]
HSO composition
20:20:20x1200"= Ha:OIII:SIIx1200"
T:Takahashi FSQ 106ED @f/5.0
M: Astrophysics Mach1 GTO
C: QHY600M-L
G: Lodestar X2
F: Antlia V-Pro - RGB set
Foc: PrimaLuceLab ESATTO 4"
CPU: Eagle-S Primalucelab
Sw: Sequence Generator Pro - PHD2 - Pixinsight 1.8.8-9
>>>>> FULL RES (Astrobin) @ astrob.in/v8o6qz/0/
I could enjoy imaging of the nebulae with a fine apochromatic telescope during residual time of comet chasing. Stars were sharper than before, though data were not enough for deeper view.
Here is a frame taken with 12" Newtonian telescope almost the same amount of time integration. The Newtonian is fast:
www.flickr.com/photos/hiroc/52414399062
equipment: AstroPhysics 130GTX "Granturismo," Field Flattener at f/6.7 focal length 873mm, 22.1mm Spacer, EOS Adapter, Kipon EOS-EOS R adapter, and Canon EOS R-SP4II, modified by Seo-san on Vixen AXD Equatorial Mount, autoguided at a star nearby with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens. `Pentax x2 Extender. ZWO ASI 120MM-mini, and PHD2 Guiding
Exposure: 6 times x 600 seconds, 3 x 240 sec, and 4 x 60 seconds at ISO 6,400 and f/6.8
The exposure started at 15:37:01 UTC June 17, 2023.
site: 1,250m above sea level at lat. 36 50 32 North and long. 139 27 26 East near Yumoto Nikko Tochigi 栃木県 山王林道治山碑
Ambient temperature was around 14 degrees Celsius or 57 degrees Fahrenheit. Wind was mild. SQML reached 21.31 at the night.
NGC 2359 - better known as Thor's Helmet - is an emission nebula located about 12,000 light-years away in the constellation of Canis Major. Also known as Sh2-198 and Gum 4, NGC 2359 is a “bubble” nebula measuring approximately 30 light-years across in size. It has a very complex structure and is powered by its central star, WR7, a Wolf-Rayet star, an extremely hot star that is thought to be in the pre-supernova stage.
This is my first image of 2022 and results from only 2.5 hours of Narrowband data collected on March 9 and March 29, 2022.
This image was shot with my Astro-Physics 130mm F/8.35 Telescope Platform with the IOptron CEM60 and the ASI2600MM-Pro Camera with Astronomiks 6mm narrowband fitters.
This spring's weather has been problematic, and this target is located very low in the sky between trees on my property, which gives me only about 1.5 hours of access on any given night. I only had two nights clear, allowing the capture of photons, and now it is beyond my reach, so I cannot add to it this year.
So with a paltry 2.5 hours of data - what could be done to pull an image out of the noise?
While far from a perfect image, I was a little surprised that it came out as well as it did, given the low integration time!
The story of the image and complete processing details can be seen on my website at:
cosgrovescosmos.com/projects/ngc2359-thors-helmet
Thanks for looking, and let me know if you have any questions!
CS,
Pat
Though I was thinking about astrophysics, general relativity, and the theory of gravity when I shot this, it is really just a nice beach close-up. The water will return.
ODC: Simplistic
Taken from Coral Towers Observatory using a Skynyx 2-0 video camera, a Takahashi Mewlon 250 telescope on a Software Bisque PME mount.
NGC 7635 - The Bubble Nebula and Surrounding Region
Taken between November 11 and November 14, 2022 near Seattle, Washington
Telescope: TEC 180 @ f/5 using Astro-Physics Quad-TCC
Camera: QHY600
Guide Camera: Starlight Xpress Lodestar
Mount: Astro-Physics Mach2 with CP5 and APCC-Pro
Capture Software: NINA
Exposure:
Ha: 7 hours 15 minutes (29 x 15 min, bin 1x1)
OIII: 6 hours 45 minutes (27 x 15 min, bin 1x1)
SII: 4 hours 30 minutes (18 x 15 min, bin 1x1)
Total Integration Time: 18 hours 30 minutes
Processed in PixInsight 1.8
NB Combination:
R = SII
G = 45% Ha + 55% OIII
B = OIII
Almost full at a whopping 98% illuminated. August's Sturgeon SUPERMOON captured in London, England. August 2022.
The largest and brightest region of star formation in the Local Group of galaxies, including the Milky Way, is called 30 Doradus (or, informally, the Tarantula Nebula). Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small neighbor galaxy to the Milky Way, 30 Doradus has long been studied by astronomers who want to better understand how stars like the Sun are born and evolve.
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has frequently looked at 30 Doradus over the lifetime of the mission, often under the direction of Dr. Leisa Townsley who passed away in the summer of 2022. These data will continue to be collected and analyzed, providing opportunities for scientists both now and in the future to learn more about star formation and its related processes.
This new composite image combines the X-ray data from Chandra observations of 30 Doradus with an infrared image from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope that was released in the fall of 2022. The X-rays (royal blue and purple) reveal gas that has been heated to millions of degrees by shock waves — similar to sonic booms from airplanes — generated by the winds from massive stars. The Chandra data also identify the remains of supernova explosions, which will ultimately send important elements such as oxygen and carbon into space where they will become part of the next generation of stars.
The infrared data from JWST (red, orange, green, and light blue) show spectacular canvases of cooler gas that provide the raw ingredients for future stars. JWST’s view also reveals “protostars,” that is, stars in their infancy, just igniting their stellar engines. The chemical composition of 30 Doradus is different from most of the nebulas found in the Milky Way. Instead it represents the conditions in our galaxy that existed several billion years ago when stars were forming at a much faster pace than astronomers see today. This, combined with its relative proximity and brightness, means that 30 Doradus provides scientists with an opportunity to learn more about how stars formed in our galaxy in the distant past.
Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Penn State Univ./L. Townsley et al.; IR: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/JWST ERO Production Team
#NASAMarshall #Chandra #NASAChandra #ChandraXrayObservatory #STScI #ESA #jwst #jameswebbspacetelescope #NASAGoddard #nebula #TarantulaNebula
Read more about the Chandra X-ray Observatory
This unusual lenticular galaxy, which is between a spiral and elliptical shape, has lost almost all the gas and dust from its signature spiral arms, which used to orbit around its center. Known as NGC 1947, this galaxy was discovered almost 200 years ago by James Dunlop, a Scottish-born astronomer who later studied the sky from Australia. NGC 1947 can only be seen from the southern hemisphere, in the constellation Dorado (the Dolphinfish).
Residing around 40 million light-years away from Earth, this galaxy shows off its structure by backlighting its remaining faint gas and dust disk with millions of stars. In this picture, taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, the faint remnants of the galaxy’s spiral arms can still be made out in the stretched thin threads of dark gas encircling it. Without most of its star-forming material, it is unlikely that many new stars will be born within NGC 1947, leaving this galaxy to continue fading with time.
Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Rosario; Acknowledgment: L. Shatz
#NASA #MarshallSpaceFlightCenter #MSFC #Marshall #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #astronomy #space #astrophysics #solarsystemandbeyond #gsfc #Goddard #GoddardSpaceFlightCenter #ESA #EuropeanSpaceAgency #galaxy
Taken from Coral Towers Observatory using a Skynyx 2-2 high speed camera and 16-cm Astrophysics Apochromatic Refractor at F/32 on a software bisque PME mount.
RGB composition
45:45:45x180"=R:G:BX180"
T:Takahashi FSQ 106ED @f/5.0
M: Astrophysics Mach1 GTO
C: SBIG STL 11000
G: Lodestar X2
F: Baader Planetarium RGB set
Foc: PrimaLuceLab ESATTO 4"
CPU: Eagle-S Primalucelab
Sw: Sequence Generator Pro - PHD2 - Pixinsight 1.8.8-6
IC 434 is a bright emission nebula in the constellation Orion. The Horsehead Nebula (also known as Barnard 33) is a dark nebula silhouetted against IC 434.
The red glow originates from Hydrogen gas predominantly behind the nebula, ionized by the nearby bright star Sigma Orionis. Magnetic fields channel the gases leaving the nebula into streams, shown as streaks in the background glow. A glowing strip of hydrogen gas marks the edge of the massive cloud.
The nebula is located just to the south of the star Alnitak, which is farthest east on Orion's Belt, and is part of the much larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. The Horsehead Nebula is approximately 1,500 light-years from Earth. The darkness of the Horsehead is caused mostly by thick dust blocking the light of stars behind it. This stellar nursery contains organic and inorganic gas and dust, including complex organic molecules.
The bright blue stars are still surrounded by nebulosity (gas and dust that they form out of), as they are still "young" energetic hot stars. You will notice that star colors differ from blue to yellow, orange and red. This is an indication of the temperature of a star's Nuclear Fusion process. This is determined by the size and mass of the star, and the stage of its life cycle. In short, the blue stars are hotter, and the red stars are cooler.
The nebula in the bottom left corner is called the Flame Nebula (NGC 2024).
Gear:
William Optics Star 71mm f/4.9 Imaging APO Refractor.
William Optics 50mm Finder Scope.
Celestron SkySync GPS Accessory.
Orion Mini 50mm Guide Scope.
Orion StarShoot Autoguider.
Celestron AVX Mount.
QHYCCD PoleMaster.
Celestron StarSense.
Canon 60Da DSLR.
Astronomik Clip-In CLS Light Pollution Filter.
Tech:
Guiding in Open PHD 2.6.2.
Image acquisition in Sequence Generator Pro.
Lights/Subs:
24 x 180 sec. ISO 3200 RGB (CLA FITS)
Calibration Frames:
40 x Bias/Offset.
25 x Darks.
20 x Flats & Dark Flats.
Pre-Processing and Linear workflow in PixInsight,
and finished in Photoshop.
Astrometry Info:
View the Annotated Sky Chart for this image.
RA, Dec: 85.182, -2.419
RA, hms: 05h 40m 43.606s
Dec, dms: -02° 25' 07.910"
Size: 2.91 x 2.05 deg
Radius: 1.780 deg
Pixel scale: 6.55 arcsec/pixel
Orientation: Up is 94 degrees E of N
In Flickr Explore:
Photo usage and Copyright:
Medium-resolution photograph licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Terms (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). For High-resolution Royalty Free (RF) licensing, contact me via my site: Contact.
Martin
-
[Home Page] [Photography Showcase] [eBook] [Twitter]
Messier 31 - The Andromeda Galaxy
Taken October 27, 29, 30, 31 and November 1 - 4, 2019 near Seattle, Washington
Telescope: Astro-Physics 130 GTX @ f/4.5 using Astro-Physics Quad-TCC
Camera: QHY600
Guide Camera: Starlight Xpress Lodestar
Mount: Astro-Physics 900GTO with CP4 and APCC-Pro
Capture Software: NINA
Exposure:
Red: 4 hours 3 minutes (81 x 3 min, bin 1x1)
Green: 4 hours 27 minutes (89 x 3 min, bin 1x1)
Blue: 4 hours 54 minutes (98 x 3 min, bin 1x1)
Lum: 6 hours 36 minutes (132 x 3 min, bin 1x1)
Total Integration Time: 20 hours
Processed in PixInsight 1.8
Captured in London, England,. September 2021.
(Copyright: Epiphany Appleseed)
Follow me on twitter @funkyappletree
NGC 6910 is an open star cluster set amidst clouds of gas and dust near the bright star Sadr in the constellation Cygnus.
Subframes for this image were accumulated over 4 different nights, some under dark skies near Goldendale, WA and others from within Seattle city limits. RGB data for the stars was combined with narrowband data for the gas and dust, with Ha assigned to R. In an effort to maintain a "natural" appearance, only modest amounts of SII and OIII data were added to the G and B channels, respectively.
Telescope: Celestron EdgeHD 8" with 0.7x Reducer
Camera: QSI 683wsg
Mount: Astro-Physics Mach1 GTO
Integration: 30 min (6 x 5 min) each RGB, binned 1x1 | 300 min (30 x 10 min) Ha, binned 1x1 | 100 min (10 x 10 min) SII, binned 2x2 | 120 min (12 x 10 min) OIII, binned 2x2.
Ha-RGB composition
>>> Click on the Picture to Full Res view <<<
T:Takahashi FSQ 106ED reduced @f3.8
M: Astrophysics Mach1 GTO
C: QSI 690ws-g8
G: Lodestar X2
F: Astronomik RGB; Ha 6nm
Foc: Sesto Senso Primalucelab
CPU: Eagle-2 Primalucelab
Sw: Sequence Generator Pro - PHD2 - Pixinsight 1.8
R:G:BxTv = 27:27:27x180"
HaxTv = 11x900"
Bias: 512
Dark: 64
Flat: 33
******************************************************************************
Photographed at Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, between 21.46 and 22.03 EDT
(285 km by road north of Toronto)
* Temperature 15° C.
* Total exposure time: 6 minutes
* 20 mm lens
___________________________________________
130 degrees of the northern portion of our home galaxy, the Milky Way, and some 80,000 stars, are seen in this wide angle image, running from the constellation Cepheus at left, through Cygnus and Aquila, to Scutum at right. The Milky Way bulges noticeably at the right side, toward the centre of the galaxy in Sagittarius (out of view to the right).
A little left of and below centre is the shocking pink, distinctively-shaped North America Nebula in the constellation Cygnus. For a telephoto view of this nebula made with a 300 mm lens on the same night, click here:
www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/29220929561
Just to the right of the North America Nebula lies a region of glowing red hydrogen gas surrounding the star Gamma Cygni. For a telephoto view of this region, click here:
www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/27845511250
And near the left edge, just below centre, is a fainter circular area of glowing red hydrogen gas, called IC 1396. For a close-in view of this gas cloud, click here:
www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/19929294304
___________________________________________
Sigma 20 mm f/1.4 ART lens on Nikon D810a camera body, mounted on Astrophysics 1100GTO equatorial mount with a Kirk Enterprises ball head
Six stacked frames; each frame:
20 mm focal length; ISO 2500; 60 seconds exposure at f/4
(with LENR - long exposure noise reduction)
Subframes stacked in RegiStar;
Processed in Photoshop CS6 (brightness, contrast, levels, colour balance)
******************************************************************************
The muted red tones of the globular cluster Liller 1 are partially obscured in this image by a dense scattering of piercingly blue stars. In fact, it is thanks to Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) that we are able to see Liller 1 so clearly in this image, because the WFC3 is sensitive to wavelengths of light that the human eye can’t detect. Liller 1 is only 30,000 light-years from Earth – relatively neighborly in astronomical terms – but it lies within the Milky Way’s ‘bulge’, the dense and dusty region at our galaxy’s center. Because of that, Liller 1 is heavily obscured from view by interstellar dust, which scatters visible light (particularly blue light) very effectively. Fortunately, some infrared and red visible light can pass through these dusty regions. WFC3 is sensitive to both visible and near-infrared (infrared that is close to the visible) wavelengths, allowing us to see through the obscuring clouds of dust, and providing this spectacular view of Liller 1.
Liller 1 is a particularly interesting globular cluster, because unlike most of its kind, it contains a mix of very young and very old stars. Globular clusters typically house only old stars, some nearly as old as the universe itself. Liller 1 instead contains at least two distinct stellar populations with remarkably different ages: the oldest one is 12 billion years old, and the youngest component is just 1-2 billion years old. This led astronomers to conclude that this stellar system was able to form stars over an extraordinarily long period of time.
Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, F. Ferraro
#NASA #MarshallSpaceFlightCenter #MSFC #Marshall #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #astrophysics #gsfc #starcluster
This picture was captured on September 1, 2022 at Alpha Ridge Park in Marriottsville, Maryland USA
The Pleiades, also known as The Seven Sisters, Messier 45 and other names by different cultures, is an asterism and an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. At a distance of about 444 light years, it is among the nearest star clusters to Earth. Wikipedia
Radius: 17.5 light years
Distance to Earth: 444.2 light years
Apparent magnitude (V): 1.6
Constellation: Taurus
Coordinates: RA 3h 47m 24s | Dec +24° 7′ 0″
Hemisphere: Northern Hemisphere
Apparent dimensions (V): 110' (arcmin)