View allAll Photos Tagged SmallMagellanicCloud
Portrayed in this image from ESA’s Planck satellite are the two Magellanic Clouds, among the nearest companions of our Milky Way galaxy. The Large Magellanic Cloud, about 160 000 light-years away, is the large red and orange blob close to the centre of the image. The Small Magellanic Cloud, some 200 000 light-years from us, is the vaguely triangular-shaped object to the lower left.
At around ten and seven billion times the mass of our Sun, respectively, these are classed as dwarf galaxies. As a comparison, the Milky Way and another of its neighbours, the Andromeda galaxy, boast masses of a few hundred billion solar masses each.
The Magellanic Clouds are not visible from high northern latitudes and were introduced to European astronomy only at the turn of the 16th century. However, they were known long before by many civilisations in the southern hemisphere, as well as by Middle Eastern astronomers.
Planck detected the dust between the stars pervading the Magellanic Clouds while surveying the sky to study the cosmic microwave background – the most ancient light in the Universe – in unprecedented detail. In fact, Planck detected emission from virtually anything that shone between itself and the cosmic background at its sensitive frequencies.
These foreground contributions include many galaxies, near and far, as well as interstellar material in the Milky Way. Astronomers need to remove them in order to access the wealth of cosmic information contained in the ancient light. But, as a bonus, they can use the foreground observations to learn more about how stars form in galaxies, including our own.
Interstellar dust from the diffuse medium that permeates our Galaxy can be seen as the mixture of red, orange and yellow clouds in the upper part of this image, which belong to a large star-forming complex in the southern constellation, Chameleon.
In addition, a filament can also be seen stretching from the dense clouds of Chameleon, in the upper left, towards the opposite corner of the image.
Apparently located between the two Magellanic Clouds as viewed from Planck, this dusty filament is in fact much closer to us, only about 300 light-years away. The image shows how well this structure is aligned with the galaxy’s magnetic field, which is represented as the texture of the image and was estimated from Planck’s measurements.
By comparing the structure of the magnetic field and the distribution of interstellar dust in the Milky Way, scientists can study the relative distribution of interstellar clouds and the ambient magnetic field. While in the case of the filamentary cloud portrayed in this image, the structure is aligned with the direction of the magnetic field, in the denser clouds where stars form filaments tend to be perpendicular to the interstellar magnetic field.
The lower right part of the image is one of the faintest areas of the sky at Planck’s frequencies, with the blue hues indicating very low concentrations of cosmic dust. Similarly, the eddy-like structure of the texture is caused primarily by instrument noise rather than by actual features in the magnetic field.
The emission from dust is computed from a combination of Planck observations at 353, 545 and 857 GHz, whereas the direction of the magnetic field is based on Planck polarisation data at 353 GHz. The image spans about 40º.
Credit: ESA and the Planck Collaboration
This is a NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope image of NGC 346, a massive star cluster in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy that is one of the Milky Way’s nearest neighbors. With its relative lack of elements heavier than helium and hydrogen, the NGC 346 cluster serves as a nearby proxy for studying stellar environments with similar conditions in the early, distant Universe. Ten, small, yellow circles overlaid on the image indicate the positions of the ten stars surveyed in this study.
Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, O. C. Jones (UK ATC), G. De Marchi (ESTEC), M. Meixner (USRA); CC BY 4.0
Chandra is celebrating 10 years of operation. Here's a psychedelic wowser from April 10, 2000.
Color composite of the supernova remnant E0102-72: X-ray (blue), optical (green), and radio (red). E0102-72 is the remnant of a star that exploded in a nearby galaxy known as the Small Magellanic Cloud. The galaxy is approximately 190,000 light years from Earth, so we see the remnant as it was about 190,000 years ago, around a thousand years after the explosion occurred.
The star exploded outward at speeds in excess of 20 million kilometers per hr (12 million mph) and collided with surrounding gas. This collision produced two shock waves, or cosmic sonic booms one traveling outward, and the other rebounding back into the material ejected by the explosion.
The radio image was made using the Australia Telescope Compact Array. The radio waves are due to extremely high-energy electrons spiraling around magnetic field lines in the gas and trace the outward moving shock wave.
The Chandra X-ray image, shown in blue, shows gas that has been heated to millions of degrees Celsius by the rebounding, or reverse shock wave. The X-ray data show that this gas is rich in oxygen and neon. These elements were created by nuclear reactions inside the star and hurled into space by the supernova.
The Hubble Space Telescope optical image shows dense clumps of oxygen gas that have "cooled" to about 30,000 degree Celsius.
Images such as these, taken with different types of telescopes, give astronomers a much more complete picture of supernova explosions. They can map how the elements necessary for life are dispersed, and measure the energy of the matter as it expands into the galaxy.
Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO, Optical: NASA/HST, Radio: CSIRO/ATNF/ATCA
Read more about this image:
www.chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2000/0015multi/
Read more about Chandra:
p.s. You can see all of our Chandra photos in the Chandra Group in Flickr at: www.flickr.com/groups/chandranasa/ We'd love to have you as a member!
Milky Way and Magellanic Clouds above our campsite at Blutkuppe mountain. The light around the Blutkuppe is a result of another campfire behind the Blutkuppe mountain.
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Milchstraße und beide Magellansche Wolken über unserem Nachtlager an der Blutkuppe. Das Licht hinter dem Berg kommt von einer anderen Feustelle auf der anderen Seite der Blutkuppe.
One of the greatest strengths of the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope is its ability to give astronomers detailed views of areas where new stars are being born. The latest example is NGC 346, the brightest and largest star-forming region in the Small Magellanic Cloud, showcased here in a new image from Webb’s innovative Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), half of which was provided by Europe.
The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, visible to the unaided eye in the southern constellation Tucana. This small companion galaxy is more primitive than the Milky Way in that it possesses fewer heavy elements, which are forged in stars through nuclear fusion and supernova explosions, compared to our own galaxy.
Since cosmic dust is formed from heavy elements like silicon and oxygen, scientists expected the SMC to lack significant amounts of dust. However the new MIRI image, as well as a previous image of NGC 346 from Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera released in January, show ample dust within this region.
In this representative-colour image, blue tendrils trace emission from material that includes dusty silicates and sooty chemical molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs. More diffuse red emission shines from warm dust heated by the brightest and most massive stars in the heart of the region. An arc at the centre left may be a reflection of light from the star near the arc’s centre (similar, fainter arcs appear associated with stars at lower left and upper right). Lastly, bright patches and filaments mark areas with abundant numbers of protostars. The research team has detected 1001 pinpoint sources of light, most of them young stars still embedded in their dusty cocoons.
This image includes 7.7-micron light shown in blue, 10 microns in cyan, 11.3 microns in green, 15 microns in yellow, and 21 microns in red (770W, 1000W, 1130W, 1500W, and 2100W filters, respectively).
By combining Webb data in both the near-infrared and mid-infrared, astronomers are able to take a fuller census of the stars and protostars within this dynamic region. The results have implications for our understanding of galaxies that existed billions of years ago, during an era in the universe known as 'cosmic noon', when star formation was at its peak and heavy element concentrations were lower, as seen in the SMC.
This new image taken by Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) complements Webb’s view of NGC 346 as seen by the (NIRCam), released in January 2023.
Image description: The lower half of this image contains arcs of bluish material that form a boat-like shape. One end of these arcs points to the top right of the image, while the other end points toward the bottom left. Another plume of blue filaments expands from the centre to the top left, resembling the mast of a sailboat. Within and extending beyond the boat shape are translucent curtains of pink, which cover most of the image. Stars are noticeably scarce. A couple dozen bright pink patches with six short diffraction spikes are scattered within the blue filaments. Many faint blue dots, or stars, also speckle the background, which is black or dark grey.
Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, N. Habel (JPL), P. Kavanagh (Maynooth University)
One of the greatest strengths of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is its ability to give astronomers detailed views of areas where new stars are being born. The latest example, showcased here in a new image from Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), is NGC 346 – the brightest and largest star-forming region in the Small Magellanic Cloud.
The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, visible to the unaided eye in the southern constellation Tucana. This small companion galaxy is more primeval than the Milky Way in that it possesses fewer heavy elements, which are forged in stars through nuclear fusion and supernova explosions, compared to our own galaxy.
Since cosmic dust is formed from heavy elements like silicon and oxygen, scientists expected the SMC to lack significant amounts of dust. However the new MIRI image, as well as a previous image of NGC 346 from Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera released in January, show ample dust within this region.
In this representative-color image, blue tendrils trace emission from material that includes dusty silicates and sooty chemical molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs. More diffuse red emission shines from warm dust heated by the brightest and most massive stars in the heart of the region. An arc at the center left may be a reflection of light from the star near the arc’s center. (Similar, fainter arcs appear associated with stars at lower left and upper right.) Lastly, bright patches and filaments mark areas with abundant numbers of protostars. The research team looked for the reddest stars, and found 1,001 pinpoint sources of light, most of them young stars still embedded in their dusty cocoons.
Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, N. Habel (JPL). Image Processing: P. Kavanagh (Maynooth University)
#NASA #STScI #jwst #jameswebbspacetelescope #NASAGoddard #NASAMarshall #SmallMagellanicCloud #galaxy
A NASA Hubble Space Telescope "family portrait" of young, ultra-bright stars nested in their embryonic cloud of glowing gases. The celestial maternity ward, called N81, is located 200,000 light-years away in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), a small irregular satellite galaxy of our Milky Way. Hubble's exquisite resolution allows astronomers to pinpoint 50 separate stars tightly packed in the nebula's core within a 10 light- year diameter - slightly more than twice the distance between earth and the nearest star to our sun. The closest pair of stars is only 1/3 of a light-year apart (0.3 arcseconds in the sky). This furious rate of mass loss from these super-hot stars is evident in the Hubble picture that reveals dramatic shapes sculpted in the nebula's wall of glowing gases by violent stellar winds and shock waves. A pair of bright stars in the center of the nebula is pouring out most of the ultraviolet radiation to make the nebula glow. Just above them, a small dark knot is all that is left of the cold cloud of molecular hydrogen and dust the stars were born from. Dark absorption lanes of residual dust trisect the nebula. The nebula offers a unique opportunity for a close-up glimpse at the firestorm' accompanying the birth of extremely massive stars, each blazing with the brilliance of 300,000 of our suns. Such galactic fireworks were much more common billions of years ago in the early universe, when most star formation took place. The "natural- color" view was assembled from separate images taken with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, in ultraviolet light and two narrow emission lines of ionized Hydrogen (H-alpha, H-beta).
Credit: NASA, ESA, and Mohammad Heydari-Malayeri (Paris Observatory, France)
Image Number: PR98-25
Date: September 4, 1997
The dwarf galaxies Small and Large Magellanic Clouds appear as smoke puffs coming out of a chimney in the South African Karoo while the Milky Way crosses the southern skies. South African Astronomical Observatory, Sutherland, South Africa, 20 Mar 2010.
© 2010 José Francisco Salgado, PhD
[ This long exposure image has a companion (relatively) short exposure "night sky" / "point star" image taken just 2 minutes after this photograph - see www.flickr.com/photos/momentsforzen/27092362483/ ]
[ There is also see an equivalent iPhone 6s Plus star trail photograph taken 3 months ago from this same location. The iPhone photograph was taken with an aperture of f/2.2 (fixed), 4.2mm focal length, 29mm equivalent focal length in 35mm format, and the image was 12MP (4032 x 3024 pixels). For the record, in comparison with the image here, there were some brighter stars in the field of view, and I could use a much longer exposure time (i.e., 2 hours versus 30 minutes) with the iPhone - see www.flickr.com/photos/momentsforzen/25515239202/ ]
Now, for this photograph ...
After researching and trialling all manner of actions and procedures that were new to me, I was ready to try a long exposure star trail exposure with my Hasselbald 500C/M camera body, Zeiss 40mm f/4 Distagon CF T* FLE lens, and CFV-50c digital back. Well, as "long" as the digital back would permit. This image was a 30 minute exposure, just shy of the 34 minute maximum exposure time.
Like most photographs that I have taken with this camera, the quality of the result surprised and staggered me. The trails were very sharp and the level of sensor noise was very low. Some dark vignette can be seen in the corners, but this is something that I find to be pleasing in most photographs. After 30 minutes, the trails were just long enough and dense enough to produce a pleasing image. And of course, all of this is despite the elevated ambient light levels of this inner-city location.
In contrast to the sky around the North Celestial Pole, there are few bright stars near the South Celestial Pole. In this field of view, the brightest star, with a Brightness Magnitude of 0.5, was Achernar, in the top left of the image. After that, there was Peacock (Brightness 1.91) in the top right of the image, and Atria (Brightness 1.92) towards the lower right corner of the image, just to the left of the corner of the building facade.
It would be possible to capture some brighter stars from this location sweeping around the pole. The Milky Way would be in the field of view between 18:00 and 03:00. At the time of this photograph, it was hidden from view on the right by the building.
The two smudges on the left hand side of the image are real astronomic objects, not just moisture clouds in the sky here on Earth! They are in fact the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, two galaxies that are amongst the closest galaxies to our Milky Way Galaxy. The elongate, diffuse light cloud near the center left edge of the image, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), is in the region of the open cluster, the Tarantula Nebula (Caldwell Catalogue object C103). The nebula itself is too dim to be readily visible because it's Brightness Magnitude is 8.2. The other light cloud, the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), that is offset towards the upper left from the center of the image, is adjacent to two unnamed globular clusters - Caldwell Catalogue objects C104 (unnamed) and C106 (47 Tucanae).
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Magellanic_Cloud
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Magellanic_Cloud
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caldwell_catalogue
I wasn't sure how a long exposure would impact the camera battery. I started out on the photographic adventure this morning with a fresh battery, and this photograph was the 3rd of three 30 minute exposures. The first two were not "keepers" as it took a it of trial and error to discover appropriate exposure settings. The battery was still going well at the end of this 3rd 30 minute exposure as it had not reached the 20% warning level, indicating that it was good for at least 4 such exposures.
Barton, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
Photography notes ...
The photograph was taken using the following hardware configuration ...
(Year of manufacture indicated in braces where known.)
- Hasselblad 500C/M body (1994).
- Hasselblad CFV-50c Digital Back for Hasselblad V mount camera.
- Hasselblad Focusing Screen for the CFV-50c digital back, with focussing prism and crop markings.
- Hasselblad 45 Degree Viewfinder PME-45 42297 (2001).
- Hasselblad Carl Zeiss lens - Distagon 40mm f4 CF T* FLE - Nr 7952446 - (1996).
- Hasselblad 93mm 1x HZ-0 Filter.
- Hasselblad 093/40 Hood/Filter holder for 40mm CF, CFE, CFi, CFE IF lenses.
I acquired the photograph (8272 x 6200 pixels) with an ISO of 100, exposure time of 30 minutes, and aperture of f/8.
In hindsight, an aperture of f/11 or f/16 would have been preferable since there were parts of the building facade that were overexposed.
Post-processing ...
Finder - Removed the CF card from the camera digital back and placed it in a Lexar 25-in-1 USB card reader. Then used Finder on my MacBook Air to download the raw image file (3FR extension) from the card.
Lightroom - Imported the 3FR image. Used the Map module to add the location details to the EXIF header. Then applied various adjustments in the Develop module, the essence of which is as follows (largely "borrowed" from my Develop Module Preset 20160522-001) ...
- White Balance (Temperature and Tint).
- Tone (Exposure, Contrast - Increased, Highlights and Shadows - Increased, Whites - Increased, Blacks - Decreased).
- Presence (Clarity - Increased, Vibrance - Increased, Saturation - Decreased).
- [HSL adjustments as required for selective color adjustments.]
- [Sharpening and Noise Reduction - Default values.]
- [Lens Corrections as required.]
- Dehaze - Increased.
- [Graduated and Radial filters as required for local adjustments.]
I then exported the image as a JPG file with 8272 x 6200 pixels from the Library module. The Develop Module settings were saved as Preset 20160613-001.
PhotoSync - Copied the JPEG file to my iPad Mini for viewing, enjoyment and posting to social media!
Astronomers have used Chandra tThis artist's illustration shows an enormous halo of hot gas (in blue) around the Milky Way galaxy. Also shown, to the lower left of the Milky Way, are the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds, two small neighboring galaxies. The halo of gas is shown with a radius of about 300,000 light years, although it may extend significantly further.
Data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory was used to estimate [link to press release] that the mass of the halo is comparable to the mass of all the stars in the Milky Way galaxy. If the size and mass of this gas halo is confirmed, it could be the solution to the "missing-baryon" problem for the Galaxy.
In a recent study, a team of five astronomers used data from Chandra, ESA's XMM-Newton, and Japan's Suzaku satellite to set limits on the temperature, extent and mass of the hot gas halo. Chandra observed eight bright X-ray sources located far beyond the Galaxy at distances of hundreds of millions of light years. The data revealed that X-rays from these distant sources are selectively absorbed by oxygen ions in the vicinity of the Galaxy. The nature of the absorption allowed the scientists to determine that the temperature of the absorbing halo is between 1 million and 2.5 million Kelvins.
Other studies have shown that the Milky Way and other galaxies are embedded in warm gas, with temperatures between 100,000 and one million degrees, and there have been indications that a hotter component with a temperature greater than a million degrees is also present. This new research provides evidence that the mass in the hot gas halo enveloping the Milky is much greater than that of the warm gas.
Read entire caption/view more images: www.chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2012/halo/
Image credit: Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss; NASA/CXC/Ohio State/A Gupta et al.
Caption credit: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Read more about Chandra:
p.s. You can see all of our Chandra photos in the Chandra Group in Flickr at: www.flickr.com/groups/chandranasa/ We'd love to have you as a member!
_____________________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
o find evidence that our Milky Way Galaxy is embedded in an enormous halo of hot gas that extends for hundreds of thousands of light years. This artist's illustration shows the halo of hot gas, in blue, around the Milky Way and two small neighboring galaxies. The mass of the halo is estimated to be comparable to the mass of all the stars in the Milky Way galaxy. If the size and mass of this gas halo is confirmed, it could be the solution to the "missing-baryon" problem for the Galaxy.
Located in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), these two objects are designated NGC 346 (upper) and NGC 371 (lower).
The SMC is a nearby small galaxy, 200,000 light years away, visible here in the Southern Hemisphere.
NGC 346
Constellation: Tucana.
Class: nebulous open cluster.
Visual magnitude: +10.3
Apparent diameter: 14 x 11 arc-min. (about 0.45 Lunar Dia.).
Actual diameter: 1150 light years.
Distance: 200,000 light years.
NGC 371
Constellation: Tucana.
Class: nebulous open cluster.
Visual magnitude: unlisted
Apparent diameter: 7.5 arc-min.
Actual diameter: 434 light years.
Distance: 200,000 light years.
Also in the image
NGC 330 9th magnitude open cluster, dia 1.4 arc-min.
NGC 395 open cluster 17.0 arc min dia.
IC 1624 12th magnitude open cluster, 0.7 arc-min dia.
IC 1611, 12th magnitude open cluster, dia 1.0 arc-min.
IC 1612, 12th magnitude open cluster, dia 0.7 arc-min.
Image
Exposure: 31 x 1 min, ISO 4000.
Date: 2017-11-09.
Location: Leumeah, NSW.
Sky: suburban sky, clear.
Moon: no.
Processing: Canon DPP > Deep Sky Stacker > GIMP.
Cropping: yes, 2 x drizzle crop in DSS.
Gear
Imaging telescope: Skywatcher Esprit 120ED Super APO triplet refractor.
Focal length: 840 mm, focal ratio: f/7.
Imaging camera: Canon EOS 60D.
Guiding: off (due to RA corrections failing).
Telescope mount: SkyWatcher EQ6-R.
Polar aligning: QHYCCD PoleMaster.
Field flattener: yes; filter: no.
The Milky Way night sky filled with stars, light cloud and a hint of the Southern Aurora in Blayney, Central West, NSW, Australia.
The Milky Way Starlit Sky with clouds and Small Magellanic Cloud in Blayney, Central West, NSW, Australia.
The disk of our galaxy, The Milky Way, hovers over Yepun (Venus in Mapuche), the fourth VLT Unit Telescope, in this wide-angle 30-sec exposure. The relatively low contrast of the galactic disk is due to the amount of moonlight in the sky at this point in the time-lapse sequence. The irregular galaxy Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is also visible. Paranal Observatory, Atacama Desert, Chile, 24 Aug 2009. © 2009 José Francisco Salgado, PhD
See the resulting video, cumulative video, meteor shot, Magellanic Clouds shot
A 5-minute exposure showing Earth's rotation around the South Celestial Pole (SCP), the Milky Way, and the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO), Sutherland, South Africa, 20 Mar 2010.
© 2010 José Francisco Salgado, PhD
The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC and SMC) at dawn above Yepun (Venus in Mapuche), the fourth VLT Unit Telescope. Paranal Observatory, Atacama Dessert, Chile, 25 Aug 09. © 2009 José Francisco Salgado, PhD
See the resulting video, cumulative video, meteor shot, Milky Way shot
The area is rich in Integrated Flux Nebulae. A part of Gum Nebula is visible red near the left upper corner. Stars trailed near the left lower corner due to differential atmospheric refraction near the horizon.
Integrated Flux Nebulae are visible clearer in inverted frame.
Large Magellanic Cloud and Integrated Flux Nebulae Nearby with Sigma 85mmF1.4 Art December 2016 Inverted Version:
www.flickr.com/photos/hiroc/37527361541
The Magellanic Clouds are connected with stellar streams, the brightest parts of which are known as wing and tail of SMC. The MCs are also accompanied by long Hydrogen-I gas stream extending more than 100 degrees.
equipment: Sigma 40mmF1.4 Art and EOS 6D-SP4, modified by Seo-san on ZWO AM5 equatorial mount on the genuine tripod with counter weight 4.8kg, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, ZWO ASI 120MM-mini, and PHD2 Guiding
exposure: 3 times x 900 seconds, 3 x 240 sec, 5 x 60, and 1 x 15 seconds at ISO 1,600 and f/3.2
site: 2,434m above sea level at lat. 24 39 52 south and long. 70 16 11 west near Cerro Armazones in Sierra Vicuña Mackenna in Coast Range of Chile
Ambient temperature was around 10 degrees Celsius or 34 degrees Fahrenheit. Wind was mild. Sky was dark, and SQML reached 21.83 at the night.
The beautiful country night sky filled with stars and the Small Magellanic Cloud in Blayney, Central West, NSW, Australia.
The diminishing glow of the setting Moon increases the contrast of the disk of our galaxy, The Milky Way, in this 30-sec exposure. Similar to a sunset, scattering in the atmosphere makes the moonlight redder as seen here not only on the Moon itself but on the light reflected off the Very Large Telescope (VLT). Also visible, Jupiter and the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds (SMC and LMC). Paranal Observatory, Atacama Desert, Chile.
© 2009 José Francisco Salgado, PhD
See also:
All-sky video, Cumulative video, Milky Way still, 35-exp stack, VLT at Dawn,
On the last night of my recent stay at the holiday town of Tuross Head, Australia, I set up one of my cameras to automatically take photos to create a star-trails image (that I’m yet to process and post). While that was happening, I was walking around in the dark, looking for other parts of the sky to photograph. I’d visited this bridge during the day time on a previous trip, so went there again on this night to see how I could use it in a composition.
The Magellanic Clouds–satellite galaxies of our own Milky Way–happened to line up just right over the bridge. The stillness of the water in Bumbo Creek provided a great mirror to reflect starlight from, and a little bit of illumination from an LED lamp helped make the bridge more visible. There was a lovely amount of green atmospheric airglow to provide a pleasant background colour to the scene.
I created this photo by shooting ten overlapping images, then stitching those images into a vertical panorama using some software. For each of the ten individual images I used a Canon EOS 6D camera, fitted with a Rokinon 24mm lens set to f/2.4, and an exposure time of 15 seconds per frame @ ISO 6400.
"Bring on the night. I couldn't stand another hour of daylight" - Gordon Sumner (aka Sting)
Nikon D700 + 14-24mm f/2.8 | Paranal Observatory, Atacama Desert, Chile, 23 Aug 2009
© 2009 José Francisco Salgado, PhD
This is one of a pair of photographs that I took of the stars around the South Celestial Pole. The web links (URL's) for the pair are given below. One was a "point star" photograph with an 8 second exposure, whilst this was a "star trail" photograph with a 34 minute exposure.
See the description for the other photograph for more background information etc.
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URL's for this pair of point star and star trail photographs (September 2016) ...
Point star image on Flickr ...
www.flickr.com/photos/momentsforzen/29592098970/
Star trail image on Flickr ...
www.flickr.com/photos/momentsforzen/29886074935/
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[ Location - Barton, Australian Capital Territory, Australia ]
Photography notes ...
The photograph was taken using the following hardware configuration ...
(Year of manufacture indicated in braces where known.)
- Hasselblad 500C/M body (1994).
- Hasselblad CFV-50c Digital Back for Hasselblad V mount camera.
- Hasselblad Focusing Screen for the CFV-50c digital back, with focusing prism and crop markings.
- Hasselblad 45 Degree Viewfinder PME-45 42297 (2001).
- Hasselblad Carl Zeiss lens - Distagon 40mm f/4 CF T* FLE (1996).
- Hasselblad 93mm 1x HZ-0 Filter.
- Hasselblad 093/40 Hood/Filter holder for 40mm CF, CFE, CFi, CFE IF lenses.
I acquired the photograph (8272 x 6200 pixels) with an ISO of 100, exposure time of 34 minutes, and aperture of f/11.0
Post-processing ...
Finder - Removed the CF card from the camera digital back and placed it in a Lexar 25-in-1 USB card reader. Then used Finder on my MacBook Air to download the raw image file (3FR extension) from the card.
Lightroom - Imported the 3FR image.
Lightroom - Used the Map module to add the location details to the EXIF header.
Lightroom - Applied various basic lighting and color adjustments in the Develop module. The general processing objectives / strategy that I use with photographs of the night sky is as follows ...
- Adjust the geometry (e.g., perspective, straighten, crop).
- Adjust the White Balance.
- Increase the definition of features.
- Prevent the whites from becoming overexposed.
Lightroom - Saved the Develop module settings as preset 20160923-003.
Lightroom - Output the image as a JPEG image using the "Maximum" quality option (8272 x 6200 pixels).
PhotoSync - Copied the JPEG file to my iPad Mini for any final processing, review, enjoyment, and posting to social media.
@MomentsForZen #MomentsForZen #MFZ #Hasselblad #500CM #CFV50c #Lightroom #Sky #Night #BlueHour #Stars #StarTrails #SouthCelestialPole #MagellanicCloud #MagellanicClouds #LargeMagellanicCloud #SmallMagellanicCloud #LMC #SMC #Achernar
Not quite halfway, but it was only a week after the midpoint of 2018 when I was out in the cold of an Aussie winter night, capturing the photos that I used to create this vertical panoramic image. Located near the rural city of Lismore in New South Wales, Australia, this old and former church building is blessed with dark skies on a moonless night. The lack of light pollution, as well as the dry and clear air on that evening, provided excellent conditions for revealing the wispy dust lanes and dark nebulae that characterise the core region of our Milky Way galaxy.
As with so many of my photos from this year, Mars is a dominant player in the scene, looking big, bright and orange over at the top-left of the frame. The Large Magellanic Cloud is peeking out from the bottom edge of the church’s roof on the left, with its sibling the Small Magellanic Cloud making a more conspicuous appearance over the tree near the lower corner of the frame. The short tail of a meteor forms a triangle with Mars and the Small Cloud. For all of the interest that these celestial objects give to the scene, it’s our majestic, magic and magnificent Milky Way that my eyes go straight to, every time I look at this photo.
As I mentioned above, this is a vertical panorama which I composited from ten single, overlapping images. For each of those individual frames I used a Canon EOS 6D Mk II camera, a Rokinon 24mm lens @ f/2.4, and a 15-second exposure @ ISO 6400. I had the camera mounted on a Nodal Ninja III panoramic head, tipped at 90 degrees to allow for the vertical orientation.
Taken during my last trip into the country 5 1/2 hrs south west of Sydney. Just another beautiful tree sitting by the side of the road and of course the Milky Way and both Magelllanic Clouds.
This is the superb Small Magellanic Cloud, a member of the Local Group, and a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way.
While not as richly endowed with nebulas and clusters as its nearby companion, the Large Magellanic Cloud, the SMC is still a wonderful region to explore. However, the two most notable objects in this scene do not belong to the SMC, but are closer objects that just happen to lie near it in the sky in the constellation of Tucana. At right is the spectacular globular cluster NGC 104 or 47 Tucanae, perhaps the finest globular in the sky. At top is what is dubbed as the "Mini 47 Tuc," or NGC 362, as through a telescope it looks like a smaller version of 47 Tuc, with a similar compressed core. Above and below 47 Tuc, respectively, are the small globular NGC 121 and large open cluster Kron 3.
The bright cyan nebula in the SMC is NGC 362, with the large star cluster NGC 395 to the left, and the smaller cluster NGC 330 below it. The small cyan nebula below and left of the main region of the SMC is NGC 456. Farther out is the very cyan NGC 602.
The field is 7.5 by 5º.
This is a stack of 14 x 4-minute exposures with the Sharpstar 61mm EDPH III refractor at f/4.4 and the filter-modified (by AstroGear.net) Canon R at ISO 800, on the Astro-Physics AP400 mount autoguided with the MGEN3 autoguider. No filter was employed in the light path.
Taken March 3, 2024 from the Mirrabook Cottage near Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia, on the first night of a successul two-week observing run down under.
Comet Lemmon (C/2012 F6) passing close to 47 Tucanae globular cluster and the Small Magellanic Cloud
galaxy in the southern hemisphere.
Single exposure, ISO 3200, 60secs with Canon 135mm f/2.0L lens at f/2.0 on an Olympus E-M5 camera.
No cropping, minor tonal adjustments and purple defringing
The details of how massive stars explode remains one of the biggest questions in astrophysics. Located in the neighboring galaxy of the Small Magellanic Cloud, this supernova, SNR B0049-73.6, provides astronomers with another excellent example of such an explosion to study. Chandra observations of the dynamics and composition of the debris from the explosion support the view that the explosion was produced by the collapse of the central core of a star. In this image, X-rays from Chandra (purple) are combined with infrared data from the 2MASS survey (red, green, and blue).
Read entire captions/view all images: www.chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2013/archives/more.html
Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Drew Univ/S.Hendrick et al, Infrared: 2MASS/UMass/IPAC-Caltech/NASA/NSFech
Caption credit: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Read more about Chandra:
p.s. You can see all of our Chandra photos in the Chandra Group in Flickr at: www.flickr.com/groups/chandranasa/ We'd love to have you as a member!
_____________________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
Editor's note: Amazing new images from Chandra. I'll be adding these to the stream one at a time over the next week, so stay tuned!
To celebrate American Archive Month 2013 this October, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory released eight never-before-seen images from its archive. The Chandra Data Archive plays a central role in the Chandra mission by enabling the astronomical community - as well as the greater public - access to data collected by the observatory.
Read entire captions/view all images: www.chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2013/archives/more.html
Image credit: NASA/CXC/SAO
Caption credit: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Read more about Chandra:
p.s. You can see all of our Chandra photos in the Chandra Group in Flickr at: www.flickr.com/groups/chandranasa/ We'd love to have you as a member!
_____________________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) lies about 200,000 light-years away in the constellation Tucana, and spans roughly 7,000 light-years across. It’s a dwarf irregular galaxy, gravitationally interacting both with the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and the Milky Way, leading to tidal distortions and bursts of new star formation.
The SMC is part of the Magellanic System, which includes the Magellanic Bridge and Stream, long filaments of gas and dust connecting the two Clouds.
The bright blue region near the upper right is NGC 346, the largest star-forming region in the SMC and one of the most active stellar nurseries in the Local Group. It’s filled with young, massive, hot stars illuminating the surrounding hydrogen clouds.
The pinkish-red areas scattered across the galaxy correspond to H II regions, where ultraviolet radiation from young stars ionizes surrounding hydrogen gas, causing it to glow.
The faint, diffuse star field enveloping the nebular regions shows the stellar population gradient — older, redder stars dominate the periphery, while young, blue clusters mark active star-forming zones near the core.
The intricate web of filaments and bubbles reflects supernova, stellar explosions shaping and enriching the interstellar medium.
In processing this image, I deliberately retained the dense stellar field rather than applying heavy star reduction, to preserve the true nature of the SMC as a galaxy, not just a nebular object, and to reveal its immense stellar population. The result highlights both the intricate web of ionized gas and the sheer number of stars filling this neighboring galaxy.
Data: SkyFlux Team @ Remote Astrophotography With Martin Pugh
Processing & copyright: Leo Shatz
The dark night sky with The Milky Way Galaxy filled with stars from Blayney, Central West, NSW, Australia.
Relics of a by-gone era, this lost valley was once used as a shale mining site. Crumbled buildings and piles of bricks remain scattered across overgrown bush.
"The Commonwealth Oil Corporation, Ltd., (usually referred to as the C.O.C.) was formed in London in December 1905 and started work on a grand scale. They acquired mining leases covering most of the Capertee-Wolgan oil-shale deposit and, based on the Wolgan Valley rather than the Capertee Valley, developed mines, works and associated plant.
A major oil-shale mine with two headings was started on the north side of the river, opposite the works. It was intended to tunnel through the mountain to meet up with some earlier workings in the Capertee Valley as mining conditions in the Capertee were regarded as being much better than in the Wolgan. However, mining difficulties and the generally low quality of the shale in this area meant that mining became concentrated on the No.2 mine and work on the No.1 mine was eventually abandoned. Although construction of a tunnel linking the Wolgan Valley with the Capertee was proposed on numerous subsequent occasions, it was to remain an elusive dream.
The No.2 mine was established on the southern side of the river, east of the works. This mine was to provide most of the oil-shale for the working life of Newnes.
The main works site was established in a sweeping bend on the south bank of the Wolgan River and extending up the adjacent talus hillside. These works consisted of retorts, various distillation areas, oil storage tanks and washers, plant for the refining of the various finished products, a power station, workshops, etc., with provision for future expansion. They were built in a substantial manner, as attested by the extensive ruins that stand to this day. Although construction commenced in 1906, it was not until 1911 that the initial stage was completed and the retorts charged for the first time.
In the meantime, other works were under way. A town, named after Sir George Newnes, the chairman of the C.O.C., was established adjacent to the mining leases. The company built 50km of railway from the main government railway south of Newnes to their works through very difficult country, particularly where the line descended into the Wolgan Valley from the plateau above. The company established brickworks adjacent to the refinery area where most of the large number of "common" bricks used within the plant were made. (All firebricks, however, were made off-site at Torbane and Bulli.) The company also started a coal mine to provide coal for use within the plant, but since this was found to be a good coking coal, coke ovens were built and a trade in metallurgical coke was established.
However, and most importantly for the company, the C.O.C. bought out its only opposition, the New South Wales Shale and Oil Co., Ltd.. With this purchase, the C.O.C. obtained working properties at Hartley Vale and Torbane which were to prove useful for the C.O.C. during the start-up period at Newnes. The purchase price of this going concern was only £50,000 and this valuation should have signalled a warning to the C.O.C. in view of the much larger amounts that they were spending on their as yet untried properties at Newnes.
By late 1911, the C.O.C. had expended some £1.6 million in capital and debentures. But the company was experiencing trouble with their Pumpherston retorts, a Scottish retort that had been designed for treating the relatively poorer grades of oil-shales in that country.
Expensive modifications were needed to correct the problem, but an attempt to raise the necessary funds by another debenture issue failed. The C.O.C. went into receivership and, with industrial unrest complicating matters, work at Newnes stopped in February 1912." users.tpg.com.au/newnes/h/histo.htm
It’s cloud city here again today so this shot is from one 12 months back (4th December, 2015) when I ventured down to the highlands town of Robertson, on the south-east coast of Australia. This cemetery is actually on a hill and it really was very dark and very quiet. I don’t know how old the grave in this photo is but the cemetery dates back to 1870.
Although it looks like I was lucky enough to catch a meteor as it vaporised in the atmosphere, after looking at the shots immediately before and after this one I found that it was in fact a satellite “flare”. This occurs when a satellite is at just the right altitude and angle to catch and reflect the sun’s light back down to the earth. Up to the left and in line with the satellite’s path is the Large Magellanic Cloud, a galaxy of about 30 million stars that’s around 160,000 light-years from us.
Shot with Canon EOS 6D, Samyang 14mm @ f/4.0, 30 sec @ ISO 3200.
While choosing a photo to post today, I spent possibly too much time deciding if I should select this one. I had a feeling that I’d featured these fluffy, floating orbs–the Magellanic Clouds–too many times throughout 2020, and didn’t want to bore anyone. After a quick flick through my published images for the year, I found that this will be only the third time since January that I’ve brought them to you, and I hope that you’ll enjoy another look.
Despite their names, you’re not looking at clouds but two dwarf galaxies that are travelling through space with our Milky Way galaxy, at the relatively close distances of 163,000 light-years and 206,000 light-years from us, respectively. My photo managed to capture them both in the same frame, but that gap between the two irregular dwarf galaxies has been measured at around 75,000 light-years. Southern Hemisphere observers–and some from the lower northern latitudes–can see the Clouds in the night sky, even in light-polluted cities such as the one I live in, Sydney, Australia.
To create this photo, I shot eleven individual images of this part of the sky, then combined (stacked) those in software so that I could reduce the amount of digital signal noise in the scene. For each one of the eleven frames, I used a Canon EOS 6D Mk II camera, a Yongnuo 50mm f/1.4 lens @ f/2.0 using an exposure time of 8.0 seconds @ ISO 6400.
Say hello to one of the Milky Way’s neighbours! Today’s NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Picture of the Week features a scene from one of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way, the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The SMC is a dwarf galaxy located about 200 000 light-years away. Most of the galaxy resides in the constellation Tucana, but a small section crosses over into the neighbouring constellation Hydrus.
Thanks to its proximity, the SMC is one of only a few galaxies that can be seen from Earth without the help of a telescope or binoculars. For viewers in the southern hemisphere and some latitudes in the northern hemisphere, the SMC resembles a piece of the Milky Way that has broken off, though in reality it’s much farther away than any part of our own galaxy.
With its 2.4-metre ‘eye’ and sensitive instruments, Hubble’s view of the SMC is far more detailed and vivid than what humans can see. Researchers used Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 instrument to observe this scene through four different filters. Each filter admits different wavelengths of light, creating a multicoloured view of dust clouds drifting across a field of stars. Hubble’s view, however, is much more zoomed-in than our eyes, the better for it to observe very distant objects. This image captures a small region of the SMC near the centre of NGC 346, a star cluster that is home to dozens of massive young stars.
[Image Description: An area of space that is filled with stars. Most of the stars are small, distant dots in orange colours; closer stars shine with a bright glow and four thin spikes around them. These closer stars appear in both bluish and reddish colours. Clouds from a nebula cover the left half of the scene, giving it a blue-greenish cast. More pieces of cloud drift over the black background of space on the right.]
Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Murray; CC BY 4.0
The Moon illuminates the Very Large Telescope (VLT) as it sets in the West while the disk of our galaxy, The Milky Way, passes overhead in this cumulative time-lapse sequence composed of 927 thirty-second exposures. Paranal Observatory, Atacama Desert, Chile. 24-25 Aug 09. © 2009 José Francisco Salgado, PhD
See also:
All-sky video, Milky Way still, 35-exp stack, Moonset, VLT at Dawn,
Happy Saturday, Flickrites! To celebrate our own version of "March Madness," we'll extend our postings to the weekends this month. To start us off, here's a glowing green beauty from Chandra, taken in 2001...
(From 2001) This Chandra image shows remarkable detail and complexity in the central region of the compact galaxy group known as HCG 62. Such galaxy groups, which contain fewer galaxies than the better-known galaxy clusters, are an important class of objects because they may serve as cosmic building blocks in the large-scale structure of the universe. After galaxies themselves form in the early universe, such groups of galaxies may be the next systems to evolve. Later, it is believed, these groups of galaxies may combine with each other to form the bigger galaxy clusters. Most galaxies in the present-day universe are still in groups or poor clusters. Our own Milky Way Galaxy, along with about two dozen other galaxies, including the Andromeda Nebula (M31) and the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, is part of a galaxy group known as the Local Group.
A team of scientists, led by Jan Vrtilek (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), observed HCG 62 with Chandra for about 50,000 seconds with the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer. The range of X-ray surface brightness is represented in this image by various colors: green depicts the lower-brightness regions while purple and reddish indicate increasing X-ray intensity. The image is about four minutes of arc on a side, with north to the top and east to the left.
Chandra is an excellent tool to study the intragroup gas (the material between the galaxies) since this medium is too hot (roughly ten million degrees Celsius) to emit any significant radiation at optical wavelengths, but instead radiates most strongly in X-rays. Chandra also offers by far the highest angular resolution of any X-ray telescope to date, which is essential for showing the detailed structure of a complex source such as HCG 62. Hence, this X-ray observation provides a unique window for determining the physical characteristics of the galaxy group. Perhaps the most striking features of this X-ray image of HCG 62 are the two cavities that appear nearly symmetrically opposite one another (upper left and lower right) in the hot, X-ray emitting gas. These cavities might be explained by the presence of X-ray absorbing material, but are more likely due to jets of particles recently emitted from the core of NGC 4761, the central elliptical galaxy of HCG 62, although no such jets are visible today.
Full caption/images: chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2001/hcg62/
Image credit: NASA/CfA/J. Vrtilek et al.
Read more about Chandra:
p.s. You can see all of our Chandra photos in the Chandra Group in Flickr at: www.flickr.com/groups/chandranasa/ We'd love to have you as a member!
_____________________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
The beautiful country night sky filled with stars and the Small Magellanic Cloud in Blayney, Central West, NSW, Australia.
By definition this is called a ‘Tor’ – a large, free standing residual mass that rises abruptly from the surrounding smooth and gentle slopes of rounded hill summit or ridge crest. In the South West of England, where the term originated, it is also a word used for the hills themselves. The word Tor is notable for being one of the very few Celtic loanwords to be borrowed into vernacular English before the modern era. Similar words include crag (from the Welsh word craig, meaning “rock”) and avon (from the Welsh word afron, meaning “river”).
The Moon illuminates the Very Large Telescope (VLT) as it sets in the West while the disk of our galaxy, The Milky Way, passes overhead. Also visible, a meteor, the galactic center (west of the zenith), the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds (SMC and LMC), and Jupiter. Paranal Observatory, Atacama Desert, Chile. 24 Aug 09.
© 2009 José Francisco Salgado, PhD
See also:
All-sky video, Cumulative video, Milky Way still, 35-exp stack, Moonset, VLT at Dawn,
Most nights, the northeast facing facade of the Church of St Andrew is lit by powerful floodlights. These are so bright that the stars are completely lost in the glare. But at around 04:00 on this morning, when I was scouting out the darker southwest side of the church, the lights went off. Ambient light levels were still quite high thanks to streetlights and office lights, but I immediately stopped what I was doing to photograph the scene. Once my eyes adjusted to the new darkness, the stripe of the Milky Way, and (from bottom right to top left) the familiar stars of the Constellation of Carina, the Southern Cross, the Coalsack Dark Nebula, the Southern Pointer, and the start of the Great Rift were all revealed. Lurking in the bottom left corner is the smudge of the Small Magellanic Cloud. I set up the camera quite close to the base of the church, producing a somewhat different perspective of this side of the church.
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Links for background information on the church ...
Church of St Andrew Website ...
My thanks to the staff and volunteers for granting access to the church and grounds, and for their kindness in making me feel so very welcome.
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[ Location - Forrest, Australian Capital Territory, Australia ]
Photography notes ...
The photograph was taken using the following hardware configuration ...
(Year of manufacture indicated in braces where known.)
- Hasselblad X1D-50c Medium Format Mirrorless Digital Camera (Silver) - MFR # H-3013900 (2017).
- Hasselblad X1D GPS Module - MFR # H-3054772.
- Hasselblad XCD 30mm f/3.5 Lens - MFR # H-3025030 (2017).
- Really Right Stuff (RRS) TFC-14 Series 1 Carbon Fiber Tripod - MFR # 13996.
- Really Right Stuff (RRS) BH-30 Ball Head with Mini Screw-Knob Clamp - MFR # BH-30 PRO.
- Really Right Stuff BX1D-L Set L-Plate for Hasselblad X1D - MFR # BX1D L-PLATE SET
- Hasselblad X1D Shoulder Strap - MFR # H-3054754.
I acquired 9 input photographs (8272 x 6200 pixels) with an ISO of 1600, exposure time of 16 seconds, and aperture of f/3.5.
Post-processing ...
Finder - Removed the CF card from the camera digital back and placed it in a Lexar 25-in-1 USB card reader. Then used Finder on my MacBook Air to download the raw image files (3FR extension) from the card.
Lightroom - Imported the 3FR images.
Lightroom - Exported the images as 16-bit TIFF files.
StarryLandscapeStacker - Loaded the TIFF files.
StarryLandscapeStacker - Removed the stars that had been incorrectly identified on the foreground region.
StarryLandscapeStacker - Refined the suggested extent of the sky region.
StarryLandscapeStacker - Stacked the images, during which the software made adjustments for the apparent rotation and translation of the stars from one frame to the next. Output the result as a stacked TIFF file. Also saved the Foreground/Sky mask image. The stacking substantially reduced the random noise that forms a background to the stars.
Photoshop - Imported the Lightroom version of the stacked TIFF image into Photoshop.
GradientXTerminator - Selected background portions of the image (e.g., corners and borders of the image). (Filter / RC-Astro / GradientXTerminator) Applied this Photoshop plug-in that uses tension splines to remove gradients from the image, including any vignetting. Specified “Fine” for “Details”, “High” for “Strength”, and left “Balance Background Color” unchecked.
GradientXTerminator - Output the image as a TIFF file.
Lightroom - Imported the TIFF image.
Lightroom - Applied various basic lighting and color adjustments in the Develop module to optimize the lighting of the background / sky region.
Lightroom - Saved the Develop module settings as a preset.
Lightroom - Output this image as a TIFF image (8272 x 6200 pixels).
Lightroom - Applied a different set of basic color and lighting adjustments in the Develop module to optimise the appearance of the foreground region.
Lightroom - Saved the Develop module settings as a preset.
Lightroom - Output this image as a TIFF image (8272 x 6200 pixels).
Photoshop - Opened the sky and foreground TIFF images.
Photoshop - Applied a series of minor adjustments to the sky image.
Photoshop - Created a mask to accurately separate the sky and foreground regions. Used this mask to combine the optimal portions of the sky and foreground images. Saved this as a 16-bit TIFF file.
Photoshop - Returned to the image optimized for the sky region.
Photoshop - Applied a series of functions to make the stars smaller and dimmer.
- Select / Color Range / Highlights >> Adjust the range and fuzziness to highlight the right number and size of bright stars.
- After pressing OK, look at what has been selected on the image.
[ If changes are required - Edit / Step Backward >> Adjust the range and fuzziness as required. ]
- Select / Modify / Expand >> 1 pixel
- Filter / Other / Minimum >> Radius of 1 pixel, with “Preserve Roundness”.
Photoshop - Output the image as a 16-bit TIFF file.
Photoshop - Used the mask that was prepared early to combine the optimal portions of the sky image with muted stars and the foreground images. Saved this as a 16-bit TIFF file.
Photoshop - Blended the two combined images with “Normal” mode and 50% opacity.
Photoshop - Output this image as a 16-bit TIFF file.
Photoshop - Noted that there were thin dark and light lines along the edge of the sky region where it meets the foreground region. Selected the sky region, masking out the foreground region. Contracted the sky region by 3 pixels. This removed the thin dark and light lines. Used content aware fill to produce content that mimicked the sky region in the expanded foreground region. Masked out the original foreground region and combined this with the foreground region. This effectively removed the thin dark and light lines along the two regions.
Photoshop - Saved this image as a 16-bit TIFF image and as a JPEG image.
PhotoSync - Copied the JPEG file to my iPad Mini for any final processing, review, enjoyment, and posting to social media.
@MomentsForZen #MomentsForZen #MFZ #Hasselblad #X1D #Lightroom #StarryLandscapeStacker #Photoshop #PhotoSync #Sky #Night #Dark #Stars #MilkyWay #GreatRift #CoalsackNebula #SouthernCross #SouthernPointers #SmallMagellanicCloud #CarinaConstellation #Church #PresbyterianChurch #StAndrews #StAndrewsChurch #Exterior #Hall #Gothic #GothicArchitecture
Sitting atop Cerro Paranal high above the Atacama Desert in Chile, two of the Very Large Telescope's Unit Telescopes quietly bask in the starlight, observing the Milky Way as it arches over ESO's Paranal Observatory.
More information: www.eso.org/public/images/potw1439a/
Credit:
ESO/Y. Beletsky
The area is rich in Integrated Flux Nebulae. A part of Gum Nebula is visible red near the left upper corner. Stars trailed near the left lower corner due to differential atmospheric refraction near the horizon.
Integrated Flux Nebulae are visible clearer in inverted frame.
Large Magellanic Cloud and Integrated Flux Nebulae Nearby with Sigma 85mmF1.4 Art December 2016 Inverted Version:
www.flickr.com/photos/hiroc/37527361541
The Magellanic Clouds are connected with stellar streams, the brightest parts of which are known as wing and tail of SMC. The MCs are also accompanied by long Hydrogen-I gas stream extending more than 100 degrees.
equipment: Sigma 40mmF1.4 Art and EOS 6D-SP4, modified by Seo-san on ZWO AM5 equatorial mount on the genuine tripod with counter weight 4.8kg, autoguided with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, ZWO ASI 120MM-mini, and PHD2 Guiding
exposure: 3 times x 900 seconds, 3 x 240 sec, 5 x 60, and 1 x 15 seconds at ISO 1,600 and f/3.2
site: 2,434m above sea level at lat. 24 39 52 south and long. 70 16 11 west near Cerro Armazones in Sierra Vicuña Mackenna in Coast Range of Chile
Ambient temperature was around 10 degrees Celsius or 34 degrees Fahrenheit. Wind was mild. Sky was dark, and SQML reached 21.83 at the night.