Astronomy pictures thread

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Eric you are the Man!! Cloudy out here.
 
Here are a couple images from the peak of last night's partial lunar eclipse.

Single exposure:


HDR image of various exposures to show bright and faint features more like how the eye sees things. This is about how it looked in my 11x70 binoculars.
 
Continuing Spectral analysis of stars. This is Anser or HD183439, it is an M type star. It appears Red or Orange and it is cooler than other star types. The lines indicate Tytanium Oxide, the dips where (near) the lines occur are absorption lines.

 
Captured 2024-09-19 with StarAnalyser-100, ASI533mm and 5.5" refractor. Single 38 second exposure. Data presentation with RSpec software.

Emission lines are characterized by the spikes in the continuum. The absorptions lines seen in my previous post are characterised by the dips in the continuum.

For an explanation of the terminology used see - http://astronomy.nmsu.edu/nicole/teaching/ASTR505/lectures/lecture22/slide02.html
 
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See if you guys can get a pic...




Distant black hole emits unprecedented powerful jets



In a cosmic spectacle unlike any we've seen, scientists have detected the largest-ever jets of energy shooting from a supermassive black hole in a galaxy 7.5 billion light-years from Earth. These extraordinary jets stretch a mind-boggling 23 million light-years, about 140 times the diameter of our own Milky Way galaxy.

This discovery, made using the LOFAR radio telescope, reveals how black holes at the hearts of distant galaxies can project vast streams of energy across space, transforming their surroundings on a colossal scale.

Nicknamed Porphyrion, after a giant from Greek mythology, these jets are composed of subatomic particles and magnetic fields, moving near the speed of light. The incredible length and sustained power of these jets suggest that they have been active for about a billion years, feeding off a steady flow of matter into the black hole. Their energetic output is equivalent to trillions of suns, rivaling the most violent events in the universe, such as the merging of galaxy clusters.

This discovery is a key to unlocking the mysteries of black holes and their influence on the universe. Researchers believe these jets could heat the gas in intergalactic space, stifling star formation and potentially affecting habitable planets.

While the black hole at the center of the Milky Way is currently dormant, Porphyrion shows that under the right conditions, black holes can shape the very structure of the cosmos, extending their influence far beyond their host galaxies.

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The LOFAR radio telescope detects radio waves, which made the discovery. My telescopes only detect electromagnetic radiation in the visible portion of the spectrum (think eyesight).

Note: The Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) is a large radio telescope, with an antenna network located mainly in the Netherlands, and spreading across 7 other European countries as of 2019. It's BIG
 
That was a good chunk of my late spring and summer. Been unbelievably lucky lately. 4 telescope nights last new moon, this new moon is looking about the same, plus clear for the lunar eclipse between that.

Only downside is one of my camera power supplies is acting up. Probably has a break in the wire somewhere but I have been so dang busy lately that it completely escaped my mind. I was intending to go for meteors tonight in addition to deep space but seems like I have to choose one, or plan on swapping batteries on my meteor setup (which I still might do).
 
Mount making me crazy again. This was a new one.

3 star align. First star in view, I center it.

2nd star almost center. Center it.

3rd star almost center at 10x, center it.

Go to target. in tree still (expected), wait a bit, start guiding and imaging once I can.

Not seeing anything but stars. Let it go for a while trying to figure out where in the sky I am. Finally decide to solve a sub image using Astrometry.net (after PixInsight kept failing). to find I was like 15 degrees off.

Okay, so I go out, park the scope, turn the mount off, turn it back on, enter date, time, start star alignment. First star almost center. 2nd star almost center, 3rd star obscured, figure what the heck and try to goto my intended target and there it is perfectly centered.

I have absolutely no idea what happened. If something got bumped or something then my 2nd try wouldn't have gone so smoothly. If I entered the wrong object then there would at least still be an object there. If I had anything else wrong it wouldn't have pointed so accurately leading up to the moment.

Shaved an hour off of my image session for no good reason.

Ah well, if this were easy it wouldn't be so fun now would it?
 
Despite the difficulty I managed to get 5 hours and 45 minutes of data last night.

NGC 7331 (Spiral galaxy in Pegasus) with the Deer Lick group and Stephen's Quintet




Date: 9/26/2024
Camera: Canon Rebel T8i (modified)
Telescope: 92mm f/5.5 triplet (Astrotech AT92) with focal reducer
Exposure: 69x300sec (5hr 45min total) at ISO 400
Processed with PixInsight, BlurXterminator, NoiseXterminator, StarXTerminator
 
M15 Pegasus Cluster - Globular Cluster in Pegasus



Date: 9/27/2024
Camera: Canon Rebel T8i (modified)
Telescope: 92mm f/5.5 triplet (Astrotech AT92) with focal reducer
Exposure: 34x300sec (2hr 50min total) at ISO 400
Processed with PixInsight, BlurXterminator, NoiseXterminator, StarXTerminator
 
Goldhedge said:
Care to explain how space is 'regioned'?? I can read a road map... I know the Sun and it's planets, but 'out there' is a mystery....
Click to expand...
Generally you would use RA and DEC (Right Ascension and Declination) to indicate the location of an object. These are angular units, RA is usually in hours, minutes, seconds, etc, and Declination in degrees. So NGC7331 is at 22h 38m 11.68s and +34 degrees 35 arcminutes, and 58.8 arc seconds.

RA is the angle around the North and South celestial poles, Declination is the angle from the celestial equator, + for North, - for South.

Generally if you look at an object it will be drifting in the direction of RA at 15 degrees per hour from Earth, so 1 hr in terms of angle is 15 degrees.

I found this article that might explain it better than my quick typing (lord knows I don't sleep enough which can affect accuracy ):
https://www.celestron.com/blogs/kno...ReY7Tru0BwQWP5VM_VqyDnKLUYFS-MCtj0T8IEzVKNka-
 
I managed to get 7 hours and 25 minutes of data on an area of the sky last night. I don't have an image to post yet since I am planning to image the same part of the sky again tonight to try to get the fainter details to show better.

If I am really lucky I will get another 7 hours or so on it tonight, which might make it my longest exposure for a single image.
 
Here is my result from the last 2 nights. Even with 14hr 55min total integration time I think this field could have used more time.

Wide view of NGC7640 (Spiral Galaxy) to NGC7662 (Blue Snowball Planetary Nebula) with dust in Andromeda


Crop to show galaxy and dust detail


Crop to show the nebula in the left. Can just start to see the outer shell

Date: 9/28 - 9/29/2024
Camera: Canon Rebel T8i (modified)
Telescope: 92mm f/5.5 triplet (Astrotech AT92) with focal reducer
Exposure: 179x300 (14hr 55min total) at ISO 400
Processed with PixInsight, BlurXterminator, NoiseXterminator, StarXTerminator

Edit: Fixed note about 2nd cropped image
 
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Here is another re-process. 13 years ago I captured this image of the crab nebula.

Original (Processed using DeepSkyStacker and Gimp):




Re-process using modern software

Date: 10/2/2011
Camera: Canon EOS-20D modified
Telescope: 110mm f/7 ED refractor
Exposure: 99x2min (3hr 18min total)
Processed using PixInsight, BlurXterminator, NoiseXterminator and StarXterminator
 
foolsgold said:
Wow big improvement Eric.
Click to expand...
Thanks! I haven't used that 110mm scope for deep space in years since it is only a doublet so has a fair bit of chromatic aberration compared to my 92mm triplet. With the new tools it is really only evident on the brightest of stars.

I might consider running the 110mm again some night for some smaller targets. 770mm FL vs. the 506mm FL of the AT-92. Maybe next galaxy season.
 
Chance of aurora around Friday night. Might get a glancing blow from a CME produced by an X7 flare. I won't be surprised if Friday night turns out amazing. Equally it might be nothing.

I'll stay up as long as I can in case things get good. If I were a betting man I would bet on a good show sometime overnight Friday.
 
Another stronger X8 flare went off today at 12:18 UTC. For the aurora I will run the all-sky camera and sleep. ;-)
 
foolsgold said:
Another stronger X8 flare went off today at 12:18 UTC. For the aurora I will run the all-sky camera and sleep. ;-)
Click to expand...
It got all the way to X9, strongest flare of the current solar cycle. Could be an interesting Friday and Saturday night!
 
Another re-process of an older image.

M16 The Eagle Nebula, emission nebula in Serpens including the famous "Pillars of Creation"

Original:


Re-processed:

Date: 7/30/2011
Camera: Canon EOS-20D modified
Telescope: 110mm f/7 ED refractor (Orion)
Exposure: 94x2min (3hr 8min total) at ISO 800, stacked using Deep Sky Stacker
About: The Eagle Nebula contains pillars of gas which are often associated with star formation. The Eagle Nebula lies about 6,500 light years away in the constellation Serpens.
 
Oddly enough, 20 years ago today a friend and I decided to watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy, all 3 in a row. After the movie when we stepped outside there was aurora.

Here are some film pics I took 10/7/2004.







 
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