View allAll Photos Tagged globularcluster
Antares,globular cluster M4 & (part of) The Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex
20 frames taken 4/28/12
Experimented by creating a 2 pane mosiac
Conditions were poor, evident by all the noise. Planning to add more subs when conditions are better and correct halos and color around each star
Combined 5x300sec frames from previous version with a 2 pane mosiac 5x600sec/each pane-taken with ST-80, T3i and CLS filter
Added 5x600 sec Ha from T3 and 75-200mm lens f/5.6 (200mm)
2 hours 5 minutes
Telescope used: Orion ST-80(my "guide scope") mounted to 8" Meade LX-50 on standard Meade equatorial mount & HD tripod, Canon T3 w/ 75-300mm lens and Ha filter piggybacked on 8" Meade as well
Images aquired using APT
Guided with Starshoot Autoguider and 50mm guide scope
Aligned and stacked with Nebulosity
Post-process with Star Tools, GIMP & Windows Live Photo
Totals:
2 hours:
5x300,5x600 w/T3i (CLS filter) & ST-80
5x600 w/T3 (Ha filter) & 75-300mm lens at 200mm
Questo complesso di nebulose di vario tipo che circondano la gigante rossa Antares, la stella più luminosa della bellissima costellazione dello Scorpione, e di cui fa parte la famosa nebulosità attorno alla stella "Rho Ophiuchi", mi ha sempre affascinato e già da più anni ho tentato di riprenderla.
Ma, complice anche il soggetto non facile e molto evanescente, per cause meteo e/o errori durante l'acquisizione, non avevo mai raggiunto un risultato soddisfacente.
Anche quest'anno ho ritentato in due sessioni distinte.
La prima del 16 giugno 2012 durante la quale a causa della non ottima trasparenza del cielo
l'Inquinamento luminoso (IL) mi ha costretto ad utilizzare l'astronomik CLS unitamente ad una posa di soli 300sec.
Il risultato però è stato rovinato da un mio errore in fase di acquisizione: ho sottostimato il
valore del dithering. Se a questo aggiungiamo la temperatura ambiente di circa 19°che a 1600m slm sono un pò tanti pur essendo in Sicilia, si può immaginare la tipologia e la quantità di rumore presente nella foto.
Fortunatamente si è presentatala l'opportunità di una seconda sessione la sera del 23 giugno.
Questa volta le condizioni meteo erano più favorevoli e pur utilizzando una posa di 300sec a 1600iso ho deciso di non utilizzare filtri anti-IL.
Se da un lato il rumore era molto contenuto, dall'altro il gradiente da IL ha praticamente cancellato la nebulosità rossa presente attorno alla stella "tau Scorpii".
Ho cercato di rimediare mediando con PS le due sessioni.
Il risultato a dire il vero non mi soddisfa del tutto, ma ho ritenuto che il lavoro elaborativo dedicatogli meritasse la pubblicazione.
LA versione a maggior risoluzione >> www.astrobin.com/full/14496/0/?mod=none&real=
___
Lens: Zenit Giove-11A 135mm f/4 (ЗЕНИТ ЮПИТЕР-11A)
Camera Canon EOS 550D (Rebel T2i) mod. Baader BCF
Mount: Sky Watcher HEQ5 Synscan
date 16/06/2012 and 23/06/2012
35x300s 1600iso / 21 dark /21 flat / 21 bias (16/06/2012)
integration 2h 55min
21x300s 1600iso / 21 dark /21 flat / 21 bias (23/06/2012)
integration 1h 45min
Seeing 3 (scala Antoniadi inversa)
temperatura 19°C (16/06) and 14°C (23/06)
Location: Monti Nebrodi (Sicily-Italy) a 1600m slm
Elaborazione DSS + PSCS3
Globular clusters are ancient collections of hundreds of thousands to millions of sparkling stars. Caldwell 86 is one of the nearest globular clusters to Earth. Its closeness, combined with Hubble’s sharp vision, allowed astronomers to measure the cluster’s parallax — or how much it appears to move in the sky as Earth travels from one side of the Sun to another. This had never been achieved for a globular cluster before, and it provided a precise measurement of Caldwell 86’s distance from Earth: 7,800 light-years. Knowing the cluster’s distance and the properties of its stars, astronomers could then determine the cluster’s age, finding that Caldwell 86 is a true cosmic relic at a staggering 13.4 billion years old. The universe itself came into being about 13.8 billion years ago, making the stars in Caldwell 86 some of our galaxy’s first homesteaders.
The old stars that populate Caldwell 86 and other globular clusters tend to be low in elements other than hydrogen and helium. They are not good candidates for stellar systems that could support life, because planets, which are built from rock and metals, are not likely to form in globular clusters. Heavier, planet- and life-building elements are manufactured in the hearts of massive stars and recycled into the cosmos when they die in supernova explosions. Later generations of stars, like our Sun, can then benefit from those recycled materials.
In this Hubble image, which is a composite of exposures acquired by the Advanced Camera for Surveys in 2005 and 2006, the blue stars have high temperatures while the red stars are cooler. The image displays an area that is about 15 light-years across, covering the central part of the cluster.
Also cataloged as NGC 6397, Caldwell 86 has a magnitude of 5.7, making it easy to spot with binoculars. Under dark skies, sharp-eyed observers might even be able to spot it without any aid at all. The view is spectacular through a medium-sized telescope, with the cluster resolving into stars of varying brightnesses. Caldwell 86’s location in the constellation Ara makes it most easily visible from the Southern Hemisphere in the winter, although Northern Hemisphere observers at low latitudes can spot it just above the southern horizon in the summer. The cluster was discovered by French astronomer Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille in 1751 during an expedition to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.
For more information about Hubble’s observations of Caldwell 86, see:
hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2018/news-2018-24.h...
hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2007/news-2007-42.html
Credit: NASA, ESA, and T. Brown and S. Casertano (STScI); Acknowledgment: J. Anderson (STScI)
For Hubble's Caldwell catalog website and information on how to find these objects in the night sky, visit:
This Hubble image features stars at the center of the glittering globular cluster Caldwell 79. Globular clusters are dense, gravitationally bound packs of stars that roam the fringes of the galaxy. Most of the Milky Way’s globular clusters are estimated to be over 10 billion years old — about twice as old as our solar system. They typically contain hundreds of thousands of stars that are thought to have formed at roughly the same time. They also contain some of the most ancient stars in our galaxy, but their role in galactic evolution is still a matter of study.
This image combines visible and ultraviolet observations taken with two of Hubble’s cameras: the Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Wide Field Camera 3. Hubble targeted Caldwell 79 because it has some peculiar qualities that could help astronomers understand how globular clusters form and evolve.
The cluster harbors a dark secret in its core — a black hole that’s indirectly visible through its gravitational effects on a nearby star. The cluster’s orbit is also puzzling because Caldwell 79 whips around the center of the galaxy in the opposite direction than what we would expect. This may indicate that Caldwell 79 didn’t originate in our galaxy at all — it may have formed elsewhere and then been ensnared by the Milky Way’s gravity when the cluster passed close by.
Possibly countering the theory that Caldwell 79 is of extragalactic origin, the cluster is chemically very similar to the galaxy’s other globular clusters. Further observations may reveal whether the cluster originated in our galaxy or formed elsewhere to be later subsumed.
Caldwell 79 was discovered by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop in 1826 and is also cataloged as NGC 3201. The cluster is located relatively nearby — about 16,000 light-years away toward the Vela constellation. With a magnitude of 6.7, it’s just a bit too dim to be seen with the unaided eye. A pair of binoculars is sufficient to view the cluster, though it will be a much more impressive spectacle viewed through a telescope. Unfortunately, Caldwell 79 isn’t easily visible from most northern latitudes, except those close to the equator, where observers can look for it in the springtime. The cluster is best viewed from the Southern Hemisphere during autumn months.
For more information about Hubble’s observations of Caldwell 79, see:
www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2018/hubbles-standout-...
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, Acknowledgement: Sarajedini et al
For Hubble's Caldwell catalog website and information on how to find these objects in the night sky, visit:
Comet Lemmon (C/2012 F6) pasing close to 47 Tucanae globular cluster and the Small Magellanic Cloud
galaxy in the southern hemisphere.
Single exposure, ISO 800, 60secs with Olympus 75mm f/1.8 lens at f/1.8 on an Olympus E-M5 camera
Image cropped ~50% and minor tonal processing
Widefield of the galactic center of the Milky Way.
Taken on the 7/23/11 at Tierra del Sol SDAA site with a Canon 5D Mark II.
ISO 3200
5 x 30 second exposure
Processed in DSS
Clouds and light pollution are obscuring the Milky Way.
After M13 here is another denser packed globular cluster in the Hercules constellation About 300 000 stars are packed in it. It is harder to see than his big brother M13 but can be easy resolved in a 200 mm telescope. The reddish old stars seems more prominent in M92.
C11-HD + 0.7 reduceur , STXL 11002m, G11 mount
20 exposures of 120s binned 1x1: 6 in red, 7 in green and blue.
Image cropped
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope snapped this panoramic view of a colorful assortment of 100,000 stars residing in the crowded core of a giant star cluster. The image reveals a small region inside the massive globular cluster Omega Centauri, which boasts nearly 10 million stars.
Globular clusters, ancient swarms of stars united by gravity, are the homesteaders of our Milky Way Galaxy. The stars in Omega Centauri are between 10 billion and 12 billion years old. The cluster lies about 16,000 light-years from Earth.
The majority of the stars in the image are yellow-white, like our Sun. These are adult stars that are shining by hydrogen fusion. Toward the end of their normal lives, the stars become cooler and larger. These late-life stars are the orange dots in the image.
Even later in their life cycles, the stars continue to cool down and expand in size, becoming red giants. These bright red stars swell to many times larger than our Sun's size and begin to shed their gaseous envelopes.
After ejecting most of their mass and exhausting much of their hydrogen fuel, the stars appear brilliant blue. Only a thin layer of material covers their super-hot cores. These stars are desperately trying to extend their lives by fusing helium in their cores. At this stage, they emit much of their light at ultraviolet wavelengths.
When the helium runs out, the stars reach the end of their lives. Only their burned-out cores remain, and they are called white dwarfs (the faint blue dots in the image). White dwarfs are no longer generating energy through nuclear fusion and have gravitationally contracted to the size of Earth. They will continue to cool and grow dimmer for many billions of years until they become dark cinders.
Other stars that appear in the image are so-called "blue stragglers." They are older stars that acquire a new lease on life when they collide and merge with other stars. The encounters boost the stars' energy-production rate, making them appear bluer.
For more information, visit:
hubblesite.org/image/2609/news_release/2009-25
Credits: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team
This is a collage of the Top 9 globular clusters in the southern hemisphere skies.
Of the group, only Omega Centauri and Messier 22 can be observed from northern latitudes, and then not well as they lie low in the south for many observers. As such, northerners consider the Great Hercules Cluster, Messier 13, a superb target. But it pales in spectacle compared to almost all the globulars here. The best deep-sky objects are in the austral skies!
All the images were taken with the same telescope at the same focal length and with a similar set of exposures, to allow a ready comparison between the clusters' sizes and appearances.
Some, like 47 Tucanae and NGC 2808, are richer than the others with dense bright cores. In the classification scheme devised by Harlow Shapley and refined by Helen Sawyer Hogg and Henrietta Swope, they are Concentration Class III and I respectively, on the scale that runs from Roman Numeral I (most densely packed) to XII (loosely concentrated).
Examples of the other end of the scale shown here are NGC 3201 and NGC 4372, at Class X and XII, respectively. They appear visibly looser to the eye and camera, with fewer stars distributed more evenly across their disks.
The central object in this collage, fittingly so, is in a class by itself. Omega Centauri, aka NGC 5139, is so large and rich it is classified as a dwarf galaxy, or at least the core of an ex-dwarf galaxy. It is the largest globular in angular size in our sky (it is large even in binoculars), but it is also intrinsically the largest Milky Way globular known, at 150 light years across. Within its volume is an estimated 10 million stars — it would never be night on any planet in Omega Cen!
47 Tucanae is second only to Omega for visual spectacle in the eyepiece of any telescope, though many observers consider it the better of the two globulars, with its dense core that can exhibit some color.
NGC 6723, while technically in Sagittarius, lies next to the complex of bright reflection and dark dusty nebulosity in Corona Australis, which adds the blue glow in the frame corner here.
There are certainly other fine globulars down under that I've not included in this collage, such as Messier 4 in Scorpius and NGC 288 in Sculptor. Even NGC 362 right next to 47 Tucanae is a fine target, but is overlooked in the shadow of its glorius companion.
All these globulars lie in the same sector of the sky surrounding the galactic core, as they orbit the center of our galaxy. Indeed, their concentration in that direction in our sky was the clue that led astronomers like Shapley to realize the Sun and Earth do not lie at the center of the Milky Way.
But exactly how and when globulars form is still a matter of debate. They seem to be a by-product of galaxy formation or perhaps galaxy collisions. Our Milky Way is accompanied by about 160 known globulars. These are among the best of the lot!
North is up on all the frames. The objects are presented in order of increasing Right Ascension, i.e. from west to east, across the sky, from the westernmost (47 Tuc) at upper left, to the eastermost (NGC 6752) at lower right.
Technical:
All images taken remotely in 2024 at the iTelescope Observatory at Siding Spring, NSW, Australia, using the T33 telescope, a 12.5-inch f/9 Ritchey-Chretien reflector made by RCOS, on a Paramount ME mount, and equipped with an Apogee Alta U16 CCD camera with 9-micron pixels. All images are from monochrome sub-frames taken through clear Luminance, and Red, Green and Blue filters to create a full-color image in processing in Photoshop. Exposures were 2 minutes for L and 4 minutes each for R, G and B subs.
M62 é conhecido por ser um dos aglomerados globulares de forma mais irregular da nossa galáxia. Isso pode ser porque ele é um dos aglomerados globulares mais próximos do centro de nossa galáxia e é afetado pelas forças das marés galácticas, deslocando muitas das estrelas do aglomerado em direção ao sudeste.
M62 tem um núcleo extremamente denso de 150.000 estrelas. Em 2013, os astrônomos descobriram um buraco negro de massa estelar em M62, um dos primeiros a ser encontrado em um aglomerado globular. De acordo com as observações do Observatório de raios-X Chandra da NASA, o M62 também contém um grande número de binários de raios-X, que se formaram em encontros próximos entre estrelas do aglomerado.
Charles Messier descobriu o M62 em 1771. O aglomerado globular tem quase 12 bilhões de anos. M62 tem uma magnitude de 6,6 e está localizado na constelação de Ophiuchus, a aproximadamente 22.200 anos-luz de distância da Terra. Melhor observado em julho, o aglomerado é facilmente encontrado a sudeste da estrela brilhante Antares e pode ser visto como uma mancha nebulosa com binóculos.
🔹 Sky-watcher 150mm f8
🔹 EQ3-2 OnStep
🔹 35x15seg @ ISO 3200
🔹 DSS + Ps
M5: Star Cluster. A bonus shot from last nights imaging as IC405 dipped below the horizon. Integration of 194 x 30s subs (1hr 37mins)
From Wiki: M5 is, under extremely good conditions, just visible to the naked eye as a faint "star" 0.37 of a degree (22' (arcmin)) north-west of star 5 Serpentis. Binoculars and/or small telescopes resolve the object as non-stellar; larger telescopes will show some individual stars, some of which are as bright as apparent magnitude 10.6. M5 was discovered by German astronomer Gottfried Kirch in 1702 when he was observing a comet. Charles Messier noted it in 1764 and—a studier of comets—cast it as one of his nebulae. William Herschel was the first to resolve individual stars in the cluster in 1791, counting roughly 200.
Hardware: Altair Astro Starwave 102ED-R, Planostar 0.8x reducer, SkyTech L-Pro MAX filter, Altair Astro Hypercam 26C TEC, Pegasus Focuscube V2, Pegasus Powerbox Micro, Altair Astro 60mm Guidescope, Altair Astro GPCAM3 290C, QHYCCD Polemaster, Skywatcher HEQ-5 Pro (Rowen belt mode) & Intel i5 8265U Mini PC.
Software: Imaging: NINA, PHD2. Processing: Astro Pixel Processor, Photoshop, Topaz Labs.
Here is my first picutre of the Great globular Cluster in Hercule constellation taken last night.
The full moon was a bit disturbing and despite the polar alignement was not precisely made, I managed to get a result that I tought worst !
This image is made of 20 frames of 15 seconds each at ISO 1600 with a Canon T3i.
The telescope used is a 200/800 reflector (without coma corrector ^^)
20 x 15 secs (5 min) + 10 darks
ISO 1600
F/4
800 mm
This Hubble image of the globular star cluster Caldwell 106 (47 Tucanae), taken in 1999 with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, shows stars packed tightly near the cluster’s core (upper left) and becoming more spread out farther away from the core.
Credit: NASA and Ron Gilliland (Space Telescope Science Institute)
For Hubble's Caldwell catalog website and information on how to find these objects in the night sky, visit:
Aberkenfig, South Wales
Lat +51.542 Long -3.593
Skywatcher 254mm Newtonian Reflector, Olympus E410 at prime focus. EQ6 Syntrek Mount.
Most frames captured before the moon had risen (between 20:07 & 21:29 UTC).
Out of 30 captured, 24 light frames of 50s exp. at 800 ISO were available for final processing. Also 10 dark frames.
Processed with Deep Sky Stacker and final levels adjusted with G.I.M.P.
There are about 150 globular star clusters that roam the Milky Way’s halo, which encases the galaxy like a giant, diffuse eggshell. But among them, Caldwell 25 is unusual. Unlike most globular clusters, which are huge, spherical clouds of old stars believed to be among the oldest in the galaxy, Caldwell 25 may not be from our galaxy at all. Located about 300,000 light-years from Earth, this cluster is sometimes called “the Intergalactic Wanderer” because it is so far away — even farther than the Milky Way’s largest satellite galaxies, the Small and Large Magellanic clouds, which are about 160,000 light-years away. Scientists have surmised that the cluster may be part of the remains of a small galaxy that was captured and disrupted by the Milky Way.
Caldwell 25 seems to be fairly similar to other large globular clusters, though its extreme distance makes it difficult to study and compare its properties with other globular clusters in the Milky Way. Usually all the stars in a globular cluster are very similar to one another in composition, since they typically form in the same general area from the same materials. However, Hubble’s observations of Caldwell 25 hint that it has a different story.
This interesting cluster hosts two distinct sets of red giant stars that have different amounts of certain elements. Red giants are a type of star that results when a medium-mass star expends the fuel that keeps it burning during most of its lifetime. One of Caldwell 25’s red-giant subsets, found mainly in the central region of the cluster, has a surprisingly high amount of helium. The differences between the two groups has led scientists to question whether the two stellar populations formed together or started out as individual groups that later merged.
Caldwell 25 was discovered by astronomer William Herschel on New Year’s Eve of 1788 and is also cataloged as NGC 2419. The cluster is intrinsically bright, but it appears faint because it is so far away. It has a magnitude of 10.4 and is located in the constellation Lynx. In a typical amateur telescope, Caldwell 25 appears as a soft, hazy, circular glow. Because of the cluster’s distance, individual stars are not readily resolved. Observing under clear, winter skies in the Northern Hemisphere will provide the best opportunity to spot Caldwell 25. Southern Hemisphere observers should search for it in the northern sky during the summer.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, S. Larsen et al.
For more information about Hubble’s observations of Caldwell 25, see:
www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1908a/
For Hubble's Caldwell catalog website and information on how to find these objects in the night sky, visit:
Mi primer intento de fotografia de cielo profundo con DSLR: M 13, el gran cúmulo globular de Hercules. Refractor Vixen A80SS sobre EQ5, Canon EOS 200D a ISO 1600. 9 tomas de 15 segundos. Procesado con Deep Sky Stacker, PI LE y Photoshop. Noche parcialmente nublada, solo se pudieron aprovechar unas pocas imagenes. Notese la galaxia NGC 6207 arriba a la derecha.
My first M 13
My first trial of deep sky photography with a DSLR: M 13, the great Hercules globular cluster. Refractor Vixen A80SS on EQ5 mount, Canon EOS 200D at ISO 1600. 9 shots of 15 second exposure. Processed with Deep Sky Stacker, PI LE and Photoshop. The night was partly cloudy, so very few shots were usable. Note galaxy NGC 6207 at upper right.
Perseus Milky Way region, taken in the morning of September 4th, 2013. Single 60 second exposure using a Samyang 14mm lens, Canon T4i and iOptron StarTracker. Some objects visible in the frame include the Pleiades cluster on the right, the double-cluster between Perseus and Cassiopeia and the many cluster of Auriga in the bottom right corner. Photo processed in Corel Paintshop Pro X5.
The Palomar Globular Clusters are a unique and challenging list of 15 very faint globular clusters. Most of these were only found after scrutinizing plates from the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS). If you look closely at my image, you will see a collection of stars in the center, this is the globular cluster designated Palomar 13.
Magnitude: 13.80
Constellation: Pegasus
RA (J2000): 23h 06m 44.9s
Dec (J2000): +12° 46' 17"
Size (mins): 1.5
Tech Specs: Meade 12” LX-90, Celestron CGEM-DX pier mounted, ZWO ASI071mc-Pro, Antares Focal Reducer, 95 x 60 second at 0C with darks and flats, guided using a ZWO ASI290MC and Orion 60mm guide scope. Captured using ZWO AAP and processed using PixInsight. Image date: July 30, 2021. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).
This wonderful ball of stars, more correctly called a globular cluster, contains about 300,000 stars. Taken today while showing someone how to astro image. The light that formed this image was or is about 25,000 years old!
Canon 350D. Intes MN71 Maksutov Newtonian. EQ6 and autoguider. PHD & APT.
x6, 2 minute exposures with darks and flats.
Was looking through the telescope with a HA filter on the eyepiece and I slewed to NGC6530 (the cluster of stars in the middle of the picture) and saw what appeared to be a dim nebula. I took out the camera and shot a few shots of it. Little did I know at the time it was NGC6530 but also the Lagoon Nebula. That was too funny when I realized what I was looking at because I had should have known I was in that neighborhood.
This shot took a long time for me to process and get right since I'm in a light polluted area and I don't have any filters for the camera yet. I'm pretty happy with the end result.
Cúmulo Globular 47 tucán •
En| The globular star cluster 47 Tucanae is a jewel of the southern sky.
Also known as NGC 104, it roams the halo of our Milky Way along with some 200 more globular stellar clusters.
It is the second brightest globular cluster (after Omega Centauri) seen from planet Earth. It is about 13,000 years old. Light and distance have been seen in a simple view of the small Magellanic Cloud in the constellation El Tucán.
The dense cluster is composed of several million stars in a volume of just 120 light years in diameter.
The giant red stars on the outskirts of the cluster are easy to distinguish as yellow stars in this clear telescopic portrait.
The globular cluster 47 is also home to the exotic binary X-ray star systems.
Es!
El cúmulo estelar globular 47 Tucanae es una joya del cielo del sur.
También conocido como NGC 104, vaga por el halo de nuestra Vía Láctea junto a unos 200 cúmulos estelares globulares más.
Es el segundo cúmulo globular más brillante (tras Omega Centauri) visto desde el planeta Tierra. Se trata de unos 13.000 años. La luz y la distancia se han visto en una vista simple de la pequeña Nube de Magallanes en la constelación de El Tucán.
El denso cúmulo está compuesto por varios millones de estrellas en un volumen de apenas 120 años luz de diámetro.
Las estrellas gigantes rojas de las afueras del cúmulo son fáciles de distinguir como estrellas amarillentas en este nítido retrato telescópico.
El cúmulo globular 47 también es hogar de los exóticos sistemas estelares binarios de rayos X.
Exif: SONY SLT-A77
F/5,6
1830s integration
ISO - 1600
DF: 300MM - Minolta APO 100-300
Captured in the Cajon del maipo on May 12, 2019.
>LAT. 37°38'N< Riprendere il famoso ammasso globulare Omega Centauri (NGC5139) è stata una bella sfida personale.
Questo è il più brillante ammasso globulare osservabile ad occhio nudo e il suo diametro apparente in cielo è pari a quello della luna piena.
La sfida viene dal fatto che esso si trova in cielo con declinazione -47°29', posizione
che dista dal polo SUD celeste circa 42°, quindi è osservabile teoricamente da luoghi a sud della latitudine +42°N (Roma).
Gli astrofili sanno quanto difficile sia riprendere un oggetto così basso a pochi gradi sopra l'orizzonte (Biancavilla 37°38'N), e sopra il quale rimane teoricamente solo 3 ore.
A ciò aggiungiamo il fatto che dal mio sito non riuscivo a scorgerlo ad occhio nudo ne tanto meno con il binocolo a causa dell'inquinamento luminoso (IL) che è massimo vicino l'orizzonte.
Il puntamento automatico della HEQ5 ha funzionato bene, ma non ho potuto utilizzare l'autoguida perchè l'IL copriva le stelle.
Eppure la luce delle stelle è riuscita a raggiungere il sensore della 550D insieme a una grande quantità di IL, che ricordo solo nelle foto analogiche con tempi di posa di 40-60min.
L'immagine è stata croppata al 80% circa.
Visitate qst link per una versione con maggior risoluzione astrob.in/5974/
Ottica: Rifrattore APO Scopos TL805 80mm/f7 + WO 0.8X + filtro Astronomik CLS
Modello fotocamera Canon EOS 550D (Rebel T2i) mod. Baader BCF
Seeing 2 (scala Antoniadi inversa)
42x60s 1600iso / 21 dark /21 flat / 21 bias
Integration 0h 42min
date 18/02/2012
temperatura 4°C (media)
Location Biancavilla -Catania-(Italy) -Classe 7(scala Bortle).
Elaborazione DSS + PSCS3
The great Hercules cluster is one of the skies more precious jewels. It contains approximately 400,000 stars spread across 140 light years, the stars in the center are just a few astronomical units (AU) apart. M13 resides in the constellation of Hercules (The Strongman), 5.8th magnitude and 25,000 light years distant from Earth.
Image Profile:
Location: Lee, IL
Type: LRGB
Frames: LRGB 7x300; 7x180; 7x180; 7x180
Imaging time: 20120727 2308 to 20120728 0021
Hardware:
-Main scope: AT8RC
-Guiding Scope: Orion 80mm Short Tube
-CCD: QHY9M with filter wheel with LRGB Ha
-Orion Atlas Mount
Imaging Applications:
-Acquiring: Nebulosity Ver. 3.0.2
-Guiding: PHD Ver. 1.11.3
Processing Applications:
-CCD Stack
-Photoshop cs3
Comments: Fair Conditions.
NGC 3201 is a globular cluster in the constellation of Vela. The image has its problems. It seems that the flat frames didn't work properly. I don´t know what it is. But I like the result.
32x300s
QHY8L
Sky-Watcher Equinox 80 ED
Sky-Watcher NEQ6-Pro
The globular cluster Messier 79 (M79) is located in the constellation Lepus (below Orion from Northern latitudes). This is a 5-minute total exposure from January 15, 2015 using a Canon 6D and 400mm lens. This object is low in the southern horizon for me, so imaging is tough even on a good night.
A shot I captured of M13 The Great Cluster in Hercules last night at Frosty Drew Observatory in Charlestown, Rhode Island, USA. The M13 globular cluster is about 22,000 light years away and is just barely naked eye visible over Frosty Drew.
This shot also showcases the galaxy NGC 6207 at top left of the image.
Photo Details:
Camera: Canon 60D #MagicLantern
1260mm
f/6.2
ISO: 5000
Exposure: 30 seconds * 20 subs
-Scott MacNeill
Taken with a TMB92L, Canon T3i DSLR, and Celestron CG-4 mount. Consists of 28 light and 22 dark frames, each a 30-second exposure at ISO 800, stacked in DeepSkyStacker and processed in Photoshop.
Imaged & processed using the Bradford Robotic Telescope. Further processing done using Pixelmator 3.0 FX.
Taken with a TMB92L, Canon T3i DSLR, and Celestron CG-4 mount. Consists of 43 light and 32 dark frames, each a 35-second exposure at ISO 800, stacked in DeepSkyStacker and processed in Photoshop.
Source: hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2015/16/
Retouching: Lightroom 5.6
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May 14, 2015: Globular star clusters are isolated star cities, home to hundreds of thousands of stars. And like the fast pace of cities, there's plenty of action in these stellar metropolises. The stars are in constant motion, orbiting around the cluster's center. Past observations have shown that the heavyweight stars live in the crowded downtown, or core, and lightweight stars reside in the less populated suburbs.
But as heavyweight stars age, they rapidly lose mass, cool down, and shut off their nuclear furnaces. After the purge, only the stars' bright, super-hot cores remain, and they are called white dwarfs. This weight-loss program causes the now lighter-weight white dwarfs to be nudged out of the downtown through gravitational interactions with the heftier stars. At each encounter, the white dwarfs' orbits begin to expand outward from the cluster's packed center. Until these Hubble observations, astronomers had never seen the dynamical conveyor belt in action. The new Hubble results reveal young white dwarfs on their slow-paced 40-million-year exodus from the bustling center of the globular cluster 47 Tucanae in our Milky Way galaxy.
35 x 3 minutes ISO 800
Orion f/3.9 Astrograph
Canon t2i, Baader MPCC, Astronomik CLS
Guided with PHD, Dithering in APT
30-sec, ISO 4000 | Nikon D3 + 24mm f/1.4G
An observer shuts down the Lunar Scintillometer used for the 8-m ALPACA telescope seeing tests. Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), East of La Serena, Chile, 13 April 2011
© 2011 José Francisco Salgado, PhD
Edited Hubble Space Telescope image of the globular cluster M4. Color/processing variant.
Image source: www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/messier-4
See also: www.flickr.com/photos/nasahubble/sets/72157687169041265
Original caption: This sparkling picture taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the centre of globular cluster M 4. The power of Hubble has resolved the cluster into a multitude of glowing orbs, each a colossal nuclear furnace. M 4 is relatively close to us, lying 7200 light-years distant, making it a prime object for study. It contains several tens of thousand stars and is noteworthy in being home to many white dwarfs — the cores of ancient, dying stars whose outer layers have drifted away into space. In July 2003, Hubble helped make the astounding discovery of a planet called PSR B1620-26 b, 2.5 times the mass of Jupiter, which is located in this cluster. Its age is estimated to be around 13 billion years — almost three times as old as the Solar System! It is also unusual in that it orbits a binary system of a white dwarf and a pulsar (a type of neutron star). Amateur stargazers may like to track M 4 down in the night sky. Use binoculars or a small telescope to scan the skies near the orange-red star Antares in Scorpius. M 4 is bright for a globular cluster, but it won’t look anything like Hubble’s detailed image: it will appear as a fuzzy ball of light in your eyepiece. On Wednesday 5 September, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) will publish a wide-field image of M 4, showing the full spheroidal shape of the globular cluster. See it at www.eso.org on Wednesday.
Other original caption: M4, located in the constellation Scorpius, is a huge, spherical collection of stars known as a globular cluster. Just 5,500 light-years away, it is the closest globular cluster to Earth. Because of its apparent magnitude of 5.9 and proximity to Antares, one of the brightest stars in the night sky, M4 is relatively easy to find with a small telescope. The cluster is best spotted in July.
M4 was discovered in 1746 by the Swiss astronomer Jean-Philippe Loys de Chéseaux. Home to more than 100,000 stars, the cluster is predicted to contain up to 40,000 white dwarfs — the cores of ancient, dead stars whose outer layers have drifted away into space. As white dwarfs age, they grow cooler, fainter, and more difficult to detect. Therefore, a globular cluster’s age can be inferred from the age of its faintest white dwarf. Because the stars in these clusters are some of the oldest in the universe, up to 13 billion years old, astronomers are able to use them to estimate the age of the universe.
The white dwarfs in M4 are less than one-billionth the apparent brightness of the faintest stars that can be seen with the naked eye. Even the brightest of the detected white dwarfs are no more luminous than a 100-watt light bulb seen at the moon’s distance. The faintest are comparable to a 2.5-watt night-light at the same distance.
The ancient orbs comprising M4 were captured by Hubble in both visible and infrared light. The resulting image offers a view into the center of a cluster that is more than twice the age of our solar system.
The great Hercules cluster is one of the skies more precious jewels. It contains approximately 400,000 stars spread across 140 light years, the stars in the center are just a few astronomical units (AU) apart. M13 resides in the constellation of Hercules (The Strongman), 5.8th magnitude and 25,000 light years distant from Earth.
Image Profile:
Location: Lee, IL
Type: LRGB
Frames: LRGB 20x300; 7x180; 7x180; 7x180
Imaging time: Lum 20120530 - RGB 20120523
Hardware:
-Main scope: AT8RC
-Guiding Scope: Orion 80mm Short Tube
-CCD: QHY9M with filter wheel with LRGB Ha
-Orion Atlas Mount
Imaging Applications:
-Acquiring: Nebulosity Ver. 3.0.2
-Guiding: PHD Ver. 1.11.3
Processing Applications:
-CCD Stack
-Photoshop cs3
Comments: The conditions on 5/30 were poor and deteriorating, the wind was a problem and it cloud up completely around 11. Quit the session at 12:00. The conditions on 5/23 were fair. I wanted to shoot M13 again without the compressor on the AT8RC.
An interesting globular cluster situated toward the galactic core, NGC 6496 shines betwixt many of the stars within our own Milky Way. I would describe the colors here as dubious at best, but bluer stars are roughly brighter in UV light while red stars are brighter in near-infrared. Anywhere away from the center of the image you will notice the colors get weird and in some places are even monochrome. The datasets do not overlap perfectly but that is ok because even some funky Hubble data is still pretty darn good.
This image was possible thanks to proposals 10775 (An ACS Survey of Galactic Globular Clusters) and 13297 (The HST Legacy Survey of Galactic Globular Clusters: Shedding UV Light on Their Populations and Formation)
The following datasets were used roughly in these channels. It's important to note that this is a complete hodge podge and the datasets did not overlap with one another in many places and I had to mix the channels in those places. The F606W data is also used to brighten the blue channel because it wasn't bright and glowy enough to match the other two. Sorry if this explanation is hard to follow.
Red: ACS/WFC F814W
Green: ACS/WFC F606W
Blue: WFC3/UVIS F275W + F336W + F438W
North is NOT up. It is 44.3° clockwise from up.
This is my first serious attempt at a Globular Cluster.
Messier 3 (M3 or NGC 5272) is a globular cluster of stars in the northern constellation of Canes Venatici.
Right ascension 13h 42m 11.62s
Declination+28° 22′ 38.2″
Distance33.9 kly (10.4 kpc)
Apparent magnitude (V)+6.2
Apparent dimensions (V)18′.0
The globular star cluster Caldwell 78, also known as NGC 6541, was first observed in the year 1826. The Italian astronomer Niccolò Cacciatore and the Scottish astronomer James Dunlop discovered the cluster independently within just a few months of each other.
Caldwell 78 is best observed from equatorial latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere during the summer and from the Southern Hemisphere during the winter. The cluster has an apparent magnitude of 6.3 and is located in the constellation Corona Australis, roughly 22,000 light-years from Earth. The cluster can be spotted with binoculars, but will dazzle in a small telescope. A larger telescope will resolve some of the cluster’s individual stars.
Traditionally, astronomers believed that globular clusters were made up of stars that have both similar ages and similar chemical abundances. However, recent studies suggest that this simplistic view is not always true. It seems as though many globular clusters contain stars with different chemical abundances relative to one another (or “multiple populations”), suggesting the stars formed at different times.
This image of Caldwell 78 is a composite of observations taken in visible and ultraviolet light by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3. These observations were made to better characterize the cluster’s stellar populations.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Piotto (Università degli Studi di Padova); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
For Hubble's Caldwell catalog website and information on how to find these objects in the night sky, visit:
This image features the nearly spherical globular star cluster Caldwell 84. It is a composite of observations taken in visible and ultraviolet light by two of Hubble’s science instruments, the Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Wide Field Camera 3. These observations helped astronomers better understand the motions and chemical abundances of stars within the cluster. A relatively bright star, likely closer to us than the cluster is, appears to the upper left of the cluster’s center in Hubble’s image.
Astronomers have hypothesized that this globular cluster is a member of the “Gaia Sausage” — the remnants of a dwarf galaxy that is thought to have collided with the Milky Way between 8 million and 10 million years ago. As the dwarf galaxy merged with our galaxy, it was torn apart by the gravitational interaction, leaving behind several globular clusters and millions of stars with unusual orbits. Thanks to these unusual orbits, an elongated, sausage-like shape emerges when the velocities of these stars are plotted on a chart. Because globular clusters like Caldwell 84 generally form in larger galaxies, astronomers believe the dwarf galaxy that collided with the Milky Way was one of the largest of the Milky Way’s early satellite galaxies.
Also known as NGC 5286, Caldwell 84 was discovered in 1826 by the Scottish astronomer James Dunlop while he was observing in Australia. Located in the constellation Centaurus and boasting an apparent magnitude of 7.6, this globular cluster can be seen with a small telescope. However, scattered light from the nearby 4.6-magnitude star M Centauri can interfere with observing the cluster. It is most easily spotted during the Southern Hemisphere’s autumn. (Those located near the equator in the Northern Hemisphere can look for it in the late spring.) Caldwell 84 lies roughly 35,000 light-years from Earth and is among the oldest globular clusters in our Milky Way galaxy.
Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Sarajedini (Florida Atlantic University), and G. Piotto (Università degli Studi di Padova); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
For Hubble's Caldwell catalog website and information on how to find these objects in the night sky, visit:
This is Messier 13 - a globular cluster of stars in the constellation of Hercules and probably the best globular cluster in the Northern hemisphere. Its often just known as the "Hercules Cluster"
A small galaxy is seen underneath at about 7 o'clock - IC 4617 and a larger spiral galaxy is seen at the lower left edge - NGC 6207.
M13 is a very, very old collection of stars held together by its own gravity that orbits our Milky Way. This was probably a dwarf galaxy core that lost its periphery to our Milky Way galaxy in the distant past.
Many descriptions on the net state that the brightest star in the cluster is a large variable red star, V11, but it took me quite a while to find an image showing exactly which star that is - Ive marked it in the negative inset.
You are looking at a clump of about 300000 stars in a diameter of 145 light years - imagine what the night sky would look like inside the cluster, given our nearest stellar neighbour is 4.2 LY away.
Most of the stars are extremely old and stable red dwarfs, (about 12 billion years old). Don't expect any young massive stars to go supernovae in this locale.
A few youngish "Blue Stragglers" are seen but essentially these are close binary stars where one partner pulls matter off the other to rejuvenate its nuclear processes and appears to be a young massive blue star.
38 x 6 min exposures from T3 in New Mexico. Dithered and drizzled. Post-processed in PixInsight.
Our galaxy has about 100 globular clusters, the Andromeda galaxy about 370.
You will find more about M13 in some of my previous write-ups in the DSO album here - in particular the "propeller" seen towards the top left and how M13 was accurately drawn and described by astronomers working with "the Leviathan" telescope in Birr Castle, Ireland.
Camera: ZWO ASI533MC
Telescope: Explore Scientific ES152 F/8 APO triplet
Mount: AstroPhysics 1600GTO
12X 90s exposures.
For many years, all of the stars in globular clusters were believed to form in the same stellar nursery and grow old together. The most massive stars exhaust their fuel supply in less than a million years and end their lives in spectacular supernova explosions. This process should have left globular clusters like Caldwell 108 (or NGC 4372) with only old, low-mass stars. However, young, blue stars have been spotted amongst the ancient stars in Caldwell 108 and many other clusters like it. Astronomers think that these stars, called blue stragglers, are a result of collisions between stars or other stellar interactions. Such interactions are not uncommon within densely populated globular clusters, in which up to a few million stars are tightly packed together.
This Hubble image shows a portion of Caldwell 108 centered on the cluster’s core. It combines observations taken in visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3. This camera uses two detectors that are near but not exactly next to each other, leaving a thin gap in the exposure. This image of Caldwell 108 was taken to prove that a new method of using Hubble’s gyroscopes (developed to extend their lifetime) would still produce the high-quality science observations Hubble is known for.
Caldwell 108 is located 19,000 light-years away in the constellation Musca. It was discovered in 1826 by the Scottish astronomer James Dunlop from his observation post in Australia. The globular cluster can be seen year-round from most of the Southern Hemisphere, but is highest in the late evening during autumn. With an apparent magnitude of 10, it is visible in a small telescope and appears as a large, faint patch just west of the Dark Doodad Nebula, an opaque lane of gas and dust that obscures a portion of the Milky Way. A relatively bright (magnitude 6.5) star shines close to the cluster.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Reinhart (STScI); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
For Hubble's Caldwell catalog website and information on how to find these objects in the night sky, visit:
Nikon D70 + 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G + Hubble Space Telescope image
Bahá'í Temple, Wilmette, IL, 4 Jun 2006
© José Francisco Salgado, PhD
The showpiece globular cluster in the northern hemisphere.
The data for this image was gathered over 2 nights at the end of May 2011.
This was a shot from a bit earlier this year, with the DSLR. Only just got around to processing it. Always wanted to have a go at this with a barlow to get some extra image scale. Tech details below:
Skywatcher MN190 + Moonfish barlow approx x1.9 (so, approx F9/F10)
Mount - EQ6
Canon 450D (Baader mod) + IDAS LPS
QHY5 PHD guiding, guidesope Celestron ED80
RGB
- ISO400 - 20x4mins
- ISO800 - 8x90s
Calibration, stack and DDP in Images Plus
Curves + all other processing PS CS3
Image contains example(s) of:
galaxy formation
galaxies
galaxy clusters
nebulae
interstellar clouds
stars
quasars
a white dwarf
black hole
supernova
globular clusters
stellar stream
This work is fully licensed for commercial and non-commercial activities. Nothing in this image was taken from work created by any other photographer or entity and is in its totality a work by Rennett Stowe.
Messier 92 (also known as M92, M 92, or NGC 6341) is a globular cluster of stars in the northern constellation of Hercules.
Camera: ZWO ASI533MC
Telescope: Explore Scientific ES152 F/8 APO triplet
Mount: AstroPhysics 1600GTO
12X 90s exposures.
A colorful assortment of 100,000 stars resides in the crowded core of Omega Centauri, a giant globular cluster.
This is one of the first images taken by the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), installed aboard Hubble during Servicing Mission 4 in May 2009. The camera can snap sharp images over a broad range of wavelengths, including near-infrared light, visible light, and near-ultraviolet radiation. The image, differing from previous Hubble images of Omega Centauri, showcases the camera's color versatility by revealing a variety of stars in key stages of their life cycles.
The majority of the stars in the image are yellow-white, like our Sun. These are adult stars that are shining by hydrogen fusion. Toward the end of their normal lives, the stars become cooler and larger. These late-life stars are the orange dots in the image.
Even later in their life cycles, the stars continue to cool down and expand in size, becoming red giants. These bright red stars swell to many times larger than our Sun's size and begin to shed their gaseous envelopes.
After ejecting most of their mass and exhausting much of their hydrogen fuel, the stars appear brilliant blue. Only a thin layer of material covers their super-hot cores. These stars are fusing helium in their cores. At this stage, they emit much of their light at ultraviolet wavelengths.
When the helium runs out, the stars reach the end of their lives. Only their burned-out cores remain, and they are called white dwarfs (the faint blue dots in the image). White dwarfs are no longer generating energy through nuclear fusion and have gravitationally contracted to the size of Earth. They will continue to cool and grow dimmer for many billions of years until they become dark cinders.
Other stars that appear in the image are so-called "blue stragglers." They are older stars that acquire a new lease on life when they collide and merge with other stars. The encounters boost the stars' energy-production rate, making them appear bluer.
The average distance between any two stars in the cluster's crowded core is only about a third of a light-year, roughly 13 times closer than our Sun's nearest stellar neighbor, Alpha Centauri. If anyone lived in this globular cluster, they would behold a star-saturated sky that is roughly 100 times brighter than Earth's sky.
Globular clusters were thought to be assemblages of stars that share the same birth date. Evidence suggests, however, that Omega Centauri has at least two populations of stars with different ages. Some astronomers think that the cluster may be the remnant of a small galaxy that was gravitationally disrupted long ago by the Milky Way.
For more information, visit: hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2009/news-2009-25.html
Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team