View allAll Photos Tagged Starcluster
Things are quite hectic and stressful at the moment with lots of moving parts. Photography is definitely on a pause, but we are still trying to get as many walks in as we can to maintain balance.
Die Plejaden oberhalb der Wolkendecke am gestrigen Nachthimmel / The Pleiades above the cushion of clouds on yesterday's night sky
The Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex is one of the most colorful areas of the spring and summer night sky.
I imaged the Pleiades about a month ago. I used my 300mm lens. After getting some time on the Dumbbell Nebula, I took off the teleconverter and shot this target again with a longer focal length than I had before. I also used ISO 3200 and f/5.6 to bring out those diffraction spikes, which I think look really cool.
Equipment:
Celestron CGEM Mount
Nikkor 500mm f/4 P Ai-s at f/5.6
Sony a7RIII (unmodified)
Altair 60mm Guide scope
GPCAM2 Mono Camera
Acquisition:
Taos, NM: my backyard - Bortle 3
35 x 90" for 53 min and 5 sec of exposure time.
9 dark frames
15 flats frames
15 bais frames
Guided
Software:
SharpCap
PHD2
DeepSkyStacker
Photoshop
My mount was polar aligned with SharpCap (what an amazing system for aligning). I'm not comfortable using my SCT as my lens yet. My solution is to piggyback my Sony a7RIII and adapted Nikkor 500mm f/4 P Ai-s on a ADM dovetail rail on the top of my optical tube. I used DeepSkyStacker to combine all frames and then processed the TIFF file in Photoshop. I stretched the 32 bit file and used Gradient XT on the image. I then made it a 16 bit file and stretched in level, then curves. I used the color sampler tool and levels to do my best to keep the background space black. I then using my skillset and relyed on Astronomy Tools Action Set, and dodging and burning a bit to give the image the finishing touches.
Longwood Gardens Pa.
Many thanks to all who take the time to view, comment and faved my images. Enjoy the day.
Had to be quick to capture the beautiful sight of a blazing Venus paying a close visit to the Pleiades star cluster this evening.
Thick cloud invaded shortly after this image was taken as the sky was beginning to darken. Neighbour's tree also a problem!
Imaged with a Nikon D5300 and a Skywatcher ED72 refractor on an EQ6 pro mount. A single 20" image unguided.
Taken w/ Skywatcher Evostar Pro 80 ED (w/.85x reducer/corrector & QHYCCD Polemaster), Skywatcher EQM-35, Nikon D7500.
120 lights x 90 s @ ISO 800, ~45 dark, ~45 flat, ~100 bias, stacked in DSS and post-processed in Photoshop
Orange giant star Aldebaran alongside the sparkling gems of the Hyades and Pleiades star clusters that make up part of the constellation Taurus, the Bull.
This is a single 60s exposure taken in slightly hazy skies using a Star Adventurer tracking mount.
Another photo by my son Matthew using his Zwo Seestar S50. This time of the Pleiades an open star cluster aka Seven Sisters and Messier 45. Distance to Earth 444.2 Light Years
A bumblebee is holding on to an Egyptian Starcluster / Une bourdon s'accroche à un Bouquet d'étoiles
My Garden / Mon jardin
Rockland East, Ontario, Canada
La Constellation de Cassiopée est riche en objets célestes: Nébuleuses et Amas principalement.
Région de la Bullet dans Cassiopée / Bubble nebula region in Cassiopeia:
- Nébuleuse de la Bulle / Bubble Nebula (NGC7535, Caldwell11 or Sh2-162)
- Nébuleuse de la Lagune du Nord / Northern Lagoon Nebula (NGC7538 or Sh2-158)
- Nébuleuse de la Pince de homard / Lobster Claw Nebula (Sh2-157)
- Amas ouvert Sel-et-Poivre / Open cluster of stars Messier 52 (M52 or NGC7654)
- Amas de la Pointe de flèche / Open cluster of stars NGC7510
L'image contient également la Nova Cassiopeiae 2021 (V1405 Cas) qui est apparue en mars 2021.
Nikon D5300 Stock + Zenithstar 73
iOptron CEM26 + iPolar
SVBony CLSfilter
ZWO ASI224MC + WO Uniguide 120mm
3 nuits : 25, 26 et 30 juillet 2022
100 x 5min = Exp = 500min => Stack 90% = 450min (7h30min exp.)
ISO400 -- 31 flats No Offset No Dark
AstroM1
(rsi3x1.3)
M52, an open star cluster, and NGC 7635, an emission nebula, lie within about 2 degrees of each other in the constellation, Cassiopeia. This picture combines two image sets captured on consecutive nights, one with a filter designed to enhance the visibility of emission nebulae, and the other without the filter to capture more "natural", vibrant star colors. Captured under dark skies near Goldendale, WA.
Telescope: William Optics ZenithStar 100mm (f/7)
Camera: Canon XSi (450D), H-alpha modified
Mount: Astro-Physics Mach1 GTO
Filter: Optolong LenHance
Integration: 100 mins (20 x 5 mins) for each of the two image sets.
Processing: PixInsight 1.9
Image of a Citrus Swallowtail Butterfly (Papilio demodocus) feeding 'on the wing' on a Pentas lancelata, commonly known as Egyptian Starcluster.
The Pleiades (M45) are an open star cluster in Taurus, easily visible to the naked eye even under moderate light pollution. A long exposure under dark skies reveals the dusty nebulosity that surrounds them.
Telescope: Tele Vue 76mm Refractor with 0.8x Focal Reducer (383mm focal length)
Camera: QSI 683wsg
Mount: iOptron iEQ45 Pro
Integration: 100 minutes each of RGB (20 x 5mins)
Software: PixInsight 1.8.8, Adobe Photoshop
M2 is a large, bright globular cluster in the constellation Aquarius. This image was acquired under dark skies near Goldendale, WA, using a telescope and cooled CCD camera designed for astroimaging.
Telescope: Celestron Edge HD 8
Camera: QSI 683wsg
Mount: Astro-Physics Mach 1 GTO
Integration: 25-30 minutes each of RGB (5 minute subs)
Post Processing Software: PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom
حشد هرقل النجمي هو من اكثر العناقيد النجمية سطوعاً في النصف الشمالي للكرة الارضية. يعتقد علماء الفلك ان هذا الحشد يضم اكثر من نصف مليون نجم في منطقة صغيرة ضمن ١٥٠ سنه ضوئية فقط ويبعد عن الارض ٢٤،٠٠٠ سنه ضوئية. Great Hercules Star Cluster (M13) is the brightest star cluster in the northern hemisphere. It consists of 500,000 stars packed in a 150 lights years only. It is about 24,000 light years from us. Gear setup: Celestron Edge HD 8 w/0.7 Reducer, iOptron GEM45 guided by Celestron OAG and ZWO 174MM, Optolong L-Pro 2”, ZWO 2600MC @-5. Light subs 39 x 60”, Darks 40, Flat 20, No Bias. Total exposure 39 min from Bortle 4 sky. Captured by APT, PHD2, Sharpcap pro. Stacked by APP & Processed by PI (PHCC, STX, BXT, STF, CS, UM for stars image, For background NXT, STF, SCNR, TGV, ACDNR). Pixel Math both image to produce the final image.
All I did was held the lens from my little Canon point & shoot up to the 77x magnification eyepiece on my telescope- Canon Rebel XTI
(Single Image / No Photoshop)
This was shown on WKOW TV 27 News for their 'Photo of the day' segment, July 2011.
This nebula is approx 1500 lightyears away. Its a stellar Nursery where stars are being formed. I took the lens off my Rebel XTi and connected the camera to my telescope which gave me 40x power magnification...ISO 1600 at 30 second exposure.
(Single Image / No Photoshop) **Explore - March 3, 2009... View Large
This was shown on WKOW TV 27 News for their 'Photo of the day' segment, July 2011.
I held my point & shoot camera lens up to the eyepiece of the telescope.
(Single Image / No Photoshop)
** View Large to see the crater detail
The bright star is Jupiter- 90 second exposure with Canon Rebel XTI -lens ontop my telescope with motorized tracker so the stars wouldnt trail.. I used a 4 pointed star filter with caused Jupiter to turn into the 'Star of Bethlehem'
(Single Image / No Photoshop)
I feel like I am still trying to develop my take on the SHO palette. Every astrophotographer who does narrowband imaging has their own preferences. I see a lot of pictures where they choose a blue-to-orange palette to represent the elements present. I went with the usual [S II] mapped to red, hydrogen-alpha mapped to green, and [O III] mapped to blue. However, I wanted to leave a lot of the green in the final image. These regions are rich with hydrogen, so it seemed odd to drain all that color away. The star cluster NGC 1893 gets a bit swallowed by the light of the nebula, but the wispy structure of the Tadpoles in IC 410 stands out nicely.
This was imaged from my light polluted backyard in Long Beach, CA. An Atik 414-EX monochrome CCD was mounted on a Hyperstar on my Celestron Edge HD 925 scope. Atik Camera 7mm narrowband filters were used for the [S II], Hα, and [O III] channels.
[S II]: 36 4 min exposures
Hα: 46 3 min exposures
[O III]: 48 4 min exposures
Preprocessing in Nebulosity; channel combination and initial processing in PixInsight; final touches in Photoshop
Taken though my telescope at 55 x power magnification. All I did was held up my canon elph point n shoot camera lens up to the eyepiece on the telescope-
(Single Image / No Photoshop)
Whenever theres lots of dust in the earths atmosphere, the moon turns orange.
400mm Canon Lens
(Single Image / No photoshop)
The sky was really not so good. Everywhere was this dust.
IMAGE DETAILS
Date: 26.08.16
Lights: 6 x 3 min. ISO320
Total integration: 18 min.
EQUIPMENT
Camera: Canon EOS 60Da
Telescope: TS ONTC 10" f4.7 Newton
Mount: Skywatcher AZ-EQ6
Guiding: Finderscope and
Lacerta MGEN Autoguider
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.
I thought this was a Monarch butterfly at first, but I now realize it's a male Queen butterfly (Danaus gilippus). Zoom for details of several ants at the base of the cluster of flowers. Taken at the Huntsville Botanical Garden in Alabama. I've (finally) IDed the flowers as pentas, probably pentas lanceolota or Egyptian starcluster!
The past couple nights I have left the camera out set to interval shooting. I've been trying to capture some meteors from the annual Perseid shower. The camera took hundreds of photos and perhaps 20 of the frames actually had meteors in them. This one isn't the brightest I captured, but it's one of my favorite shots anyway. It was captured just before dawn this morning and you can see the Pleiades star cluster in the frame as well.
By the way, I recently got a new camera!! A Pentax K-3. I'm really enjoying learning this new tool. The lens used was the Rokinon 14mm.
I hope everyone has a great weekend!
Another shot of a Malachite butterfly (Siproeta stelenes) at the Huntsville Botanical Garden in Alabama. I've (finally) identified the flowers: pentas, probably pentas lanceolota or Egyptian starcluster.
Messier 20 a.k.a Trifid Nebula
……………………………………………
Discovered in the 18th century by Charles Messier, the Trifid Nebula has an apparent diameter of about 25 light years, is located a little over 4000 light years from Earth, and can be observed in the Centaurus Arm of the Milky Way, at the edge of the constellation Sagittarius.
What is special about this deep sky object is that M20 is a combination of an open cluster (in the middle of the red area), an emission nebula (red area), a reflection nebula (blue area) and a dark nebula (those gaps in the star field). Unfortunately, this dark nebula does not stand out very well in the attached image because I had less than 3 hours of “photon collection”.
Equipment and settings:
Mount: SW EQ6R
Telescope: Explore Scientific 102ED + 0.75 APM flattener/reducer
Camera: ASI 533MM Pro
Filters : LRGB Astrodon
Total integration: 2h47’ ( R – 12x3min, B – 15x3min, G – 12x3min, L – 25x2min )
Edit in Pixinsight.
Location: my Bortle 3-4.
I went back and reshot this, framing it to include both objects, where before NGC 288 was a surprise for me.
I've been wanting to shoot this galaxy for awhile and I pulled out my gear last night to do it finally. It is to the south and pretty low, near the horizon. I have to shoot towards the town of Taos to get this galaxy. I was unaware of the star cluster, NGC 288 before I began shooting last night.
Equipment:
Celestron CGEM Mount
Nikkor 500mm f/4 P Ai-s at f/4
Sony a7RIII (unmodified)
Altair 60mm Guide scope
GPCAM2 Mono Camera
Acquisition:
Taos, NM: my backyard - Bortle 3
47 x 120" for 1 hr 34min and 47 sec of exposure time.
11 dark frames
15 flats frames
15 bais frames
Guided
Software:
SharpCap
PHD2
DeepSkyStacker
Photoshop
My mount was polar aligned with SharpCap (what an amazing system for aligning). I'm not comfortable using my SCT as my lens yet. My solution is to piggyback my Sony a7RIII and adapted Nikkor 500mm f/4 P Ai-s on a ADM dovetail rail on the top of my optical tube. I used DeepSkyStacker to combine all frames and then processed the TIFF file in Photoshop. I stretched the 32 bit file and used Gradient XT on the image. I then made it a 16 bit file and stretched in level, then curves. I used the color sampler tool and levels to do my best to keep the background space black. I then using my skillset and relied on Astronomy Tools Action Set, and dodging and burning a bit to give the image the finishing touches.
The Pleiades, aka Messier 45, embedded in the dusty nebulosity the star cluster is passing through in Taurus. The dust clouds are illuminated by light from the hot young blue stars.
This is a stack of just 12 x 4-minute exposures, as incoming Earth clouds spoiled some frames and prevented more exposures. Even so, some high haze hampered some of the images used in the final set.
All were with the Starfield Optics Géar115 f/7 apo refractor taken as part of testing the scope, with its 0.8x Adjustable Reducer for f/5.6 and with the stock 45-megapixel Canon R5 at ISO 800. Autoguided and dithered with the MGEN3 autoguider on the Astro-Physics Mach1 mount. No dark frames or LENR applied on this mild night in November.
I brought out the faint dust clouds with the application of luminosity masks created with Lumenzia extension panel in Photoshop, plus an application of the Nebula Filter action from the Photokemi Star Tools action set on a separate stamped layer and blended into the final image. Noise reduction with RC-Astro Noise XTerminator. All stacking, alignment and processing in Photoshop.
Telescope: William Optics GTF81
Mount: iOptron CEM70G
Cámara ZWO ASI 294 MC PRO -10ºc gain 120
Filter: Optolong L-Enhance
Exposures: 42 x 300 "
Total integration time: 3h30m
Taken with APT
Bortle 5-6
Processed in Pixinsight
Seeing was not very good.
In any case my best M45 of ever.
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) in the constellation of Auriga on the night of Feb 8, 2023. The comet is the small cyan-coloured glow above centre. It was technically in Auriga but heading south into Taurus and in front of the Taurus Dark Clouds here at centre. Mars is the bright orange object right of centre.
At right are the Pleiades and Hyades star clusters, the latter with reddish Aldebaran. Other Messier-catalogue star clusters are in the frame: M36, M37 and M38 in Auriga and M35 in Gemini. The red emission nebulas in this part of the Milky Way also stand out, notably the California Nebula, NGC 1499, at top in Perseus, and the Flaming Star Nebula, IC 405, in Auriga at centre. At bottom is the large faint nebula around Lambda Orionis, or Meissa, in Orion. Capella is at top; Castor and Pollux are at left.
This is a stack of 4 x 1-minute exposures at ISO 1600 with the red-sensitive AstroGear modified Canon R and with the RF28-70mm lens at f/2.8 and 28mm. This is one segment of a Milky Way panorama taken this night, from Dinosaur Provincial Park, using the Star Adventurer tracker.
A framing of the major areas of bright and dark nebulosity in Cygnus, showing pink emission nebulas contrasting with dark dusty regions in the Cygnus arm of the Milky Way. The main area of the bright Cygnus Starcloud is at upper right.
The bright blue star Deneb is above centre. Just below it and left of centre is the North America Nebula, NGC 7000, and its adjacent companion Pelican Nebula, IC 5070. The Gamma Cygni nebulosity complex, IC 1318, is right of centre. The Veil Nebula supernova remnant, NGC 6960 and 6992-5, is at lower right. The small Cocoon Nebula, IC 5146, is at lower left. The Tulip Nebula, Sh2-101, is at upper right.
Two obvious star clusters flank the scene: NGC 7209 in the lower left corner, and NGC 6940 in the lower right corner. The dark nebula Le Gentil 3, aka the Funnel Cloud Nebula, is at upper left. The dark Northern Coal Sack area is at centre. At top is the colourful "Patriotic Triple" stars of Omicron 1 and 2 Cygni.
This is a stack of 8 x 4-minute exposures with the Canon RF28-70mm lens at 70mm and f/2.8, on the Canon EOS Ra camera at ISO 1600. The lens was equipped with the 95mm URTH Night light pollution rejecton filter to help enhance the nebulosity. I shot this from home August 5, 2022 on a very fine dark transparent night with the field straight overhead. The camera was on the Star Adventurer Mini tracker. I rejected about half the frames and used only the best 8 that had no trailing. That was enough to average out the satellites that appeared on some frames.
All stacking and processing done in Photoshop. Curves and color grading applied in part using luminosity masks generated with TK8 Actions and Lumenzia. A mild Orton glow effect added with Luminar AI.
This image, a 2-panel mosaic, shows the bright star Antares, globular star clusters M4 (larger) and NGC 6144 (smaller), and swirling nebulosity at the heart of the constellation Scorpius.
Taken under dark skies near Goldendale, WA.
Telescope: William Optics ZenithStar 110mm f/7 refractor with 0.8x reducer
Camera: Modified Canon 450D (XSi)
Mount: Astro-Physics Mach1 GTO
Integration: 18 mins (6 x 180 sec) per panel
Post-Processing Software: PixInsight 1.8, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom
Looking close... on Friday!
Spring Flora
Egyptian starcluster
Pentas lanceolata, commonly known as Egyptian starcluster, is a species of flowering plant in the madder family, Rubiaceae that is native to much of Africa as well as Yemen. It is known for its wide use as a garden plant where it often accompanies butterfly gardens.
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This is a wide shot encompassing the constellation of Cassiopeia the Queen in the northern autumn sky, showing the variety of colours in the starclouds and nebulas that populate this section of the Milky Way. The colours are brought out by the long exposure used and by contrast enhancements in processing. But yes, they are real! This is not false colour.
The pink emission nebulas of the Heart and Soul Nebulas (IC 1848 and IC 1805 respectively), at left, and the NGC 7822/Ced 214 complex, at top, dominate. The small pink patch at bottom is the Pacman Nebula, NGC 281. At upper right are the faint nebulas around the star cluster M52, including the Bubble Nebula, NGC 7635. The purple glows near the star Gamma Cassiopeiae, aka Navi, at centre are the reflection nebulas IC 59 and IC 63.
Lots of star clusters populate the area, including the Double Cluster in Perseus at lower left, and NGC 7789, Caroline's Rose, at right. NGC 663 and NGC 457 are the star clusters below the left side of the W that marks Cassiopeia.
This is a stack of 14 x 2-minute exposures with the Canon RF 28-70mm lens at 62mm and f/2.5 on the Canon EOS Ra at ISO 1600, and on the Star Adventurer Mini tracker. The lens had a URTH Night filter on it to reduce light pollution and airglow discolouration. Taken from home October 1, 2021 on a night with some loss of transparency due to haze. Nebulosity was brought out with the aid of luminosity and colour range masks created with Lumenzia. An additional exposure through an Alyn Wallace/Kase Starglow filter layered in adds the subtle star glows to make the "W" stars pop.
All stacking, alignment and blending done in Photoshop.
Taken w/ Skywatcher Evostar Pro 80 ED (w/.85x reducer/corrector & QHYCCD Polemaster), Skywatcher EQM-35, Nikon D7500.
130 lights x 60 s @ ISO 800, ~45 dark, ~45 flat, ~100 bias, stacked in DSS and post-processed in Photoshop
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