Astronomy pictures thread

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Had some fun in the sun today.
Sun-2024-02-11-IMG_4248-P4S.jpg
Camera: Canon Rebel T8i (modified)
Telescope: 110mm f/7 ED refractor
Filter: Baader white light filter
Exposure: 1/4000sec at ISO 200

Closeup of sunspot group 3576
2024-02-11-1756_5-U-RGB-Sun_lapl5_ap1410-P3S.jpg
Camera: ZWO ASI678MC with Televue 2X barlow + ZWO IR cut filter
Telescope: 110mm f/7 ED refractor
Filter: Baader white light filter
 
EricTheCat said:
Had some fun in the sun today.
View attachment 11983
Camera: Canon Rebel T8i (modified)
Telescope: 110mm f/7 ED refractor
Filter: Baader white light filter
Exposure: 1/4000sec at ISO 200

Closeup of sunspot group 3576
View attachment 11984
Camera: ZWO ASI678MC with Televue 2X barlow + ZWO IR cut filter
Telescope: 110mm f/7 ED refractor
Filter: Baader white light filter
Click to expand...
Baader makes damn good white light filters. It looks like you can make out some of the bright calcium plage regions, in the full disc image.
 
foolsgold said:
Baader makes damn good white light filters. It looks like you can make out some of the bright calcium plage regions, in the full disc image.
Click to expand...
Indeed. I was surprised how much better the contrast is compared to my other solar filters. I have 2 Baader filters now. One for that scope and one for my AT92. Planning to use the AT92 for the eclipse this April for a wider view of the corona (of course, filter will be removed for totality).
 
Comet 62P/Tsuchinshan from this morning.

Comet62P-2024-02-12-P1S.jpg
Date: 2/12/2024
Camera: Canon Rebel T8i (modified)
Telescope: 92mm f/5.5 triplet (Astrotech AT92) with focal reducer
Exposure: 50x300 (4hr 10min total) at ISO 400
 
EricTheCat said:
Comet 62P/Tsuchinshan from this morning.

View attachment 11995
Date: 2/12/2024
Camera: Canon Rebel T8i (modified)
Telescope: 92mm f/5.5 triplet (Astrotech AT92) with focal reducer
Exposure: 50x300 (4hr 10min total) at ISO 400
Click to expand...
Interesting comet image. What exposure times were they? Do your stars streak and require special processing?
 
foolsgold said:
Interesting comet image. What exposure times were they? Do your stars streak and require special processing?
Click to expand...
Amazingly it did not require special processing. The comet did not move much at all relative to the background over 4 hours. Very convenient! I was expecting to be in for all the time that kind of processing requires. Exposure was 50x300sec (4hr 10min total) at ISO 400 at f/5.5.
 
EricTheCat said:
Amazingly it did not require special processing. The comet did not move much at all relative to the background over 4 hours. Very convenient! I was expecting to be in for all the time that kind of processing requires. Exposure was 50x300sec (4hr 10min total) at ISO 400 at f/5.5.
Click to expand...
Wow that is unusual.
 
Then I went for M100 (The Blowdryer Galaxy). Only got 3hr 20 min on that one due to clouds.
M100-2024-02-12-SSS-P1S.jpg

Cropped to show detail
M100-2024-02-12-SSS-P1C1S.jpg

Without the stars stretched to make the galaxies stand out.

M100-2024-02-12-NSS-P1S.jpg

M100-2024-02-12-NSS-P1C1S.jpg
Date: 2/12/2024
Camera: Canon Rebel T8i
Telescope: 92mm f/5.5 triplet (Astrotech AT92) with focal reducer
Exposure: 40x300sec (3hr 20min total) at ISO 400
 
Odd question - can you capture/photo the Falcon 9 rocket that just blasted off and is headed to the moon? How does that work with exposure time and such?
 
pmbug said:
Odd question - can you capture/photo the Falcon 9 rocket that just blasted off and is headed to the moon? How does that work with exposure time and such?
Click to expand...
space.stackexchange.com

Satellite Launch Direction

Most rockets hoping to achieve earth orbit are launched West -> East and from near the equator to gain maximum advantage from the spin of the Earth. I know the launches often also are deliberately
space.stackexchange.com space.stackexchange.com

Photos: Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon blast off from pad 39A – Spaceflight Now

spaceflightnow.com

I've seen people within say 100 miles (of the launch pad) post pictures of the contrail and the vehicle before it reaches escape velocity.
Once in orbit very little or no rocket fuel (burning) is used.
 
Fun with the sun today. I am really surprise how much detail I was able to pull on the new sunspot group that is just emerging with my ASI678MC+2X barlow.

Sun-2024-02-18-IMG_4358S.jpg
Camera: Canon Rebel T8i (modified)
Telescope: 110mm f/7 ED refractor
Filter: Baader white light filter

2024-02-18-1819_8-U-RGB-Sun_lapl5_ap4006-NewSunspotGroup-P1.jpg
Camera: ZWO ASI678MC with Televue 2X barlow + ZWO IR cut filter
Telescope: 110mm f/7 ED refractor
Filter: Baader white light filter
 
That second pic shows a large crater that is not flat inside. Is that common?
 
Not sure which one you're talking about. This picture of a water droplet demonstrates how a crater with a high spot in the center could have formed if the surface of the Moon was molten many billions of years ago.

1708384605222.png
 
foolsgold said:
Not sure which one you're talking about.
Click to expand...
I'm thinkin' he means the crater in the upper center portion of the 2nd pic. It has a little mountain peak right in the center of it. None of the others have that.

I know liquid can do that, as shown in your pic, but can that also happen with a large enough object hitting non-liquid?

To me it looks like a newer crater than the other big ones around it, as to my eye, they seem like they are half filled with regolith. The one in question (to me anyways) has a clean-er look to it. It looks rounder, and rocky-er. The bottoms of most of the others look flat and featureless.

As in, is it possible the others had little peaks in the centers at one time, but they are now covered with regolith scattered from newer impacts?
 
My understanding is central peaks in craters happens due to uplifting of material in the center of a crater caused by the explosion of the impact.

There are a couple other craters shown with central peaks in my last post. One near the top right of center in the first pic and a couple in the last pic.

The effect is also somewhat visible at the famous impact crater near Winslow, AZ. Good excuse for me to share my luckiest pic. :)
MeteorCrater-04-12-2005a-crop1S.jpg
 
Another ISS solar transit fail this morning. I was almost ready to go but did not realize the power connection on my tracking mount was loose. By the time I noticed and got back into position I missed the transit by probably less than 20 seconds!

Oh well. Here's a quick and dirty pic of the sun at only 22 degrees above the horizon. Good to be testing these things ahead of the eclipse.
Sun-2024-02-24-IMG_4572S.jpg
 
Last edited:
EricTheCat said:
My understanding is central peaks in craters happens due to uplifting of material in the center of a crater caused by the explosion of the impact.
...
Click to expand...

I guess it could depend upon the nature of the soil at the point of impact, but it struck me how most of the craters I see in moon pictures have very smooth interiors. The crater(s) with the center point debris really stand(s) out. Maybe it's just me not really having a good appreciation of the moon's surface, but that's why I asked the question. :)
 
pmbug said:
I guess it could depend upon the nature of the soil at the point of impact, but it struck me how most of the craters I see in moon pictures have very smooth interiors. The crater(s) with the center point debris really stand(s) out. Maybe it's just me not really having a good appreciation of the moon's surface, but that's why I asked the question. :)
Click to expand...
I think the smooth interiors happen when the material is still melted from the impact when it settles. I would guess there is a lot that can be learned about a crater formation just by looking at it but I'm far from an expert, at anything. :)
 
More fun in the sun today (between clouds). Sunspot group AR3590 is so large that it is obvious just through the filter with no magnification (without using the telescope).


Sun-2024-02-25-IMG_4593S.jpg
Camera: Canon Rebel T8i (modified)
Telescope: 110mm f/7 ED refractor
Filter: Baader white light filter
Exposure: 1/3200sec at ISO 100

Close up of sunspot group AR3590
2024-02-25-1808_1-U-RGB-Sun_lapl5_ap2754.jpg
Camera: ZWO ASI678MC with Televue 2X barlow + ZWO IR cut filter
Telescope: 110mm f/7 ED refractor
Filter: Baader white light filter
 
Joe King said:
Speaking of comets, I've heard something about a comet that might be visible during the upcoming Eclipse? Any truth to that?
Click to expand...

Yes. That is this comet 12P/Pons-Brooks. Comets are unpredictable but there is a chance it will be bright enough to be visible during totality. I plan to attempt to get a wide image with the eclipse and the comet in the same frame.

foolsgold said:
Eric do you use the ZWO ASIAIR for wireless capture?
Click to expand...

No. Currently still using an old laptop with BackyardEOS and a long USB extension. I have begun experimenting with astroberry on a Raspberry PI 4 which I might put to use. My long term plan is to set up a relatively beefy mini PC to keep with the mount to dedicate to image acquisition.

I haven't ruled out ASIAIR but am leaning away from it.
 
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