Astronomy pictures thread

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Goldhedge said:
The question is "What is it?" A comet? A celestial rock? Superman?
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Whatever it is, it ain't (imho) getting anywhere near the Sun.

For something to be able to zoom past and get all the way to the Sun in that short amount of time, would require it to be moving approx 500 x the speed of light. (If my math is right, at least. Lol)
....and even if something could go that fast, I'd have question the camera's ability to image such a thing.

It takes light approx 8 minutes to get to the Earth. Whatever that is in vid takes about a second to do what we see. I have to think it is getting nowhere near the Sun, and appears as it does due to perspective.
I could be wrong though, as none of us have anyway to really determine exactly what it was. Just a bright dot of light moving oddly.
 
A UFO. I capture 100's of them with my telescope and camera.
 
Lynd's Dark Nebula 1622 (Boogie Man Nebula)
I was away from imaging since August 2022, the break was good. It's amazing how fast post processing details can be forgotten. The imaging process even threw some curves balls. Wanting to capture this LDN1622 motivated me to get back in the game.
The darker version makes the "Boogie Man" stand out better but I like the dusty details of the lighter version.

Link to full versions and imaging details - https://astrob.in/6l4t6n/D/

 

Absolutely beautiful. I prefer the lighter image too. Really glad you're back at it.

If you want to go down a processing rabbit hole, check out the "BlurXterminator" thread on CN. I have to admit, I purchased it and I am thoroughly impressed with what it can do. It is basically an intelligent de-convolution process with a sharpening routine.

Not that your image needs any of that. It looks absolutely perfect.
 
Thanks Eric I tried it and bought it, it was used on this image. Was so impressed I bought his NoiseXterminator too and recommend it also. I have an Nvidia display adapter but haven't been able to get it to speed up the processing. No big deal.
 
foolsgold said:
Thanks Eric I tried it and bought it, it was used on this image. Was so impressed I bought his NoiseXterminator too and recommend it also. I have an Nvidia display adapter but haven't been able to get it to speed up the processing. No big deal.
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Nice. I also bought NoiseXterminator. Amazing products.

So you're actually using your GPU to do processing?

My main PC right now is a ASUS mini running linux mint. It's not the fastest thing in the world but PixInsight routines seem to run better on it than on my old windows laptop with relatively similar specs.

I just need the skies to open up. I have not had a single usable night since the lunar occultation of mars.
 
BlurXterminator, noiseXterminator and spectroPhotoMetricColor were new tools used on this image. This is the first time that the colors didn't haveto manipulated at all, spectroPhotoMetricColor had them perfect right out of the box. The only inconvenience was the 104gig of space need to store the spectral and star data on the post processing machine.

I haven't been successful getting the GPU to do the processing yet.
 
Looks like a square kerosene lantern in the upper right.
 

I haven't tried spectroPhotoMetricColor yet though I plan to try it when I have time to figure it out. When I remember to I use linear fit to align RGB channels but of course that isn't nearly as accurate and depending on the objects in view it can even make things worse.
 
Eric goto this link - https://pixinsight.com/dist/browser.php

Download the required files and either the large or small set.


Once downloaded, go to the GAIA process and click the "wrench" to install the files. One install for the Gaia DR3 and one more for the Gaia DR3/SP

I really like it.
 
This morning the GPU started to work, see post #32 in this string - https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/...tion-for-starxterminator/page-2#entry12387501

Note an NVIDIA graphics card is needed (maybe window too?). It gives a much needed kick to the RC-Astro processes.
 
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foolsgold said:

The Hidden Galaxy - IC342​

2019 data combined with 12/29/2022 data.
10X600 per RGB channel
CDK17 with FLI16803
View attachment 5237
Click to expand...
Very nice. The emission nebula in the galaxy really show up well.

Looks like I probably won't get a deep space night in until after the next full moon wanes. Though I may go for comet C/2022 E3 ZTF instead at that point.
 
EricTheCat said:
Very nice. The emission nebula in the galaxy really show up well.

Looks like I probably won't get a deep space night in until after the next full moon wanes. Though I may go for comet C/2022 E3 ZTF instead at that point.
Click to expand...
I am with you, next 10 days looks like s___. At least not much percipitation.
 
Just found a pic of a scary nebula:
 
Unca Walt said:
Just found a pic of a scary nebula:
View attachment 5536
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There's a website astronomers use for identifying images of unknown regions of the sky - https://nova.astrometry.net/

I submitted the picture you posted Walt and this is it's response....The Rsosetta Nebula. I happen to have shot the Rosetta nebula a few years back, below is my colorful image. I can see the similarity when I turn it on it's side. I've never seen the Rosetta Nebula presented this way and it appears to me the creator want to achieve this doctored "skull" look.

 

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Well... ya BOTH posted a scary skull nebula. And as usual, I am impressed and blowed away by your amazing work.
 
I always used to see a rose in this object but now I can't unsee the skull.


Date: 1/24/2022
Camera: Canon Rebel T8i (modified)
Telescope: 92mm f/5.5 triplet (Astrotech AT92) with focal reducer
Exposure: 54x160sec (2hr 24min total) at ISO 400
Acquired using BackyardEOS, stacked using DeepSkyStacker and processed using PixInsight
 
Ugly pic of the sun today but it does show how active it is with a lot of sunspot groups.

Was just out in the cold making adjustments to my 10" dobson reflector. Something I have put off doing for years. I moved the mirror forward so that it can achieve focus with a camera now. I didn't bother with perfect focus, just enough to know it covers that range then brought it back in. Focusing on the sun is much harder than it sounds. Anyway now I need to properly re-collimate the scope.
 
Joe King said:
"For something to be able to zoom past and get all the way to the Sun in that short amount of time, would require it to be moving approx 500 x the speed of light."

That good point brings up an interesting circular problem:

If something was moving 500 times the speed of light... How could we see it?

Oh, dear... doppler comes into play also, when I think about it: Red shift pedal to the metal and then balls to the wall on top.

It'd be way past gamma rays to radio waves going left -- it would essentially have no frequency of/for light...
 
I'm just hoping nature's light pollution isn't covered by nature's more sinister trick Wednesday morning, the clouds. When the ISS is expected to transit the moon from my location.

63% cloud cover forecast.

 
I am Psyched. I successfuly tracked Comet C/2022 E3 with my telescope mount,
which has this capability. Comet C/2022 E3 was overhead on this cloudy day (10AM 1/14/2023),

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has information about every know body flying
around in our Solar system. The data can be downloaded here - https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/orbits.html

If a clear night happens I'll be ready to image the comet.

 
Sweet. I hope you get some nice skies. That refractor should bring the comet up close and personal.

I still don't have a good night in my forecast. I spend my nights looking for a property with darker skies and more room for an observatory.
 
I was shopping for land in the late 1990's built this place and moved in 2001. Finally got around to retiring and built the observatory in 2017.

Unfortunately sold my ASI071MC and recently ordered a QHY268MC which arrives on Tuesday. MONO imaging a comet is a PITA. It should be somewhat clear tonight and again tomorrow night. I'll have to make due with the MONO camera until Tuesday.

Check out the video this guy made with a RASA 11 -
Here's his still of it - https://www.astrobin.com/vi1m33/B/

The RASA 11 sucks photons.
 
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Now that is an interesting scope. Only 620mm focal length, f/2.2. What a perfect scope for comets. You could keep sub exposures short to avoid trailing and still pull a lot of detail.

Since a few years back I planned on finding another place and moving in the next 5 years or so but local changes have put the fire on my feet and now my goal is to move by August or much earlier as long as I find the right place. As much as I initially wanted to find pristine skies now I'm focused more on better skies than I have a bit more off the beaten path without the local light issues and closer to family.

I don't think I will build. I just don't have the kind of free time so I'm hoping to find a place I can just about move right in. Life is really complicated right now and I don't expect it to get simpler.
 
I hope you get a good break Eric.
 
That still is huge!
 
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