Our Beautiful Universe - Photos and Videos

[Devin-M]

Our area in Redding, CA uses LED, can’t filter out…

 

[bruha]

Hello, here is my last attempt of Orion Neb. center with trapezium -Bohmerwald, Bortle 6-7 as was full moon, Newton 1000 x 200 mm, Iphone camera with eyepiece adapter (eyepiece 8 mm). Is it clear that without drive is not possible with these condition and system to get better result.

 

[collinsmark]

The Pleiades asterism, open star cluster, and reflection nebula (a.k.a., M45, NGC 1432, the "Seven Sisters," "Subaru," "Matarii," "Yunggarmurra Water Girls," "Seven Rishis," and many other names). Imaged from my back patio in January, 2024. The Pleiades can be seen with the naked eye in the constellation Taurus, and lie about 444 light-years away (give or take, roughly).

I'm guessing that the Pleiades (or by whatever name they were called), may have been used by early humans as the original vision test. "How many individual stars can you discern in the Pleiades?" I imagine people asking each other. As you can see in the image above, there are more than 7 stars in the asterism. But without the aid of a telescope, and without my contact lenses or glasses, I can see exactly zero of them. I'm sure most people fare better. I'm guessing that if you can distinguish six or seven separate stars, it means you have pretty good eyesight.

Equipment:
Explore Scientific 80ED-FCD100
Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro
Orion Field Flattener for Short Refractors
Off-axis guider (OAG) with guide camera
ZWO LRGB filter set
ZWO ASI2600MM-Pro main camera

I took 4871 subframe images total (not counting the bad frames). Each subframe image is 26 megapixels. Together with all the calibration frames and whatnot, this project takes about 1 terabyte of space on my hard drive.

Software:
N.I.N.A.
PHD2 guiding
PixInsight with
o Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch plugin
o RC-Astro plugins

I have a couple of sisters. I can only imagine the joy and chaos of growing up with seven of 'em.

Acquisition/Integration:
Location: San Diego, USA
Bortle class 7 (maybe 8 ) skies.
All subframes binned 1x1, stacked with drizzle algorithm
R: 1364×10s = 3.79 hrs
G: 2148×10s = 5.97 hrs
B: 1359×10s = 3.78 hrs
Total integration time: 13.53 hours.
.

 

[Devin-M]

Here’s an oldie but goodie from 2 years ago…

Its been a while since I’ve done any shooting, hopefully this will motivate me back under the stars again…

This is looking towards the south out over Whiskeytown lake to the west of Redding, California USA. The length of the timelapse is 1 or 2 hours I can’t remember exactly.

 

[Andy Resnick]

A few targets, all acquired during the past month or so:

NGC 2244 (Rosette Nebula):

Nikon D810 + 400/4 lens, Losmandy GM8 mount, unguided. Cropped view, total integration time = 20.7 hours. It's a tricky target- very faint. Over time, my technique has improved enough that individual exposures are now 15s, up from 5s 2 years ago.

M44 (Beehive cluster):

D810 + 800/8 lens, etc. Total integration time 4h. I'm not sure why I spend time on this... I can't seem to reproduce the jewel-tones you can find in other images. Maybe this needs to be shot at 400mm so it doesn't look so empty?

Lastly, M81/M82:

Shot using 800/8, lightly cropped, 10.2 hours integration time. Surprisingly difficult target (for me) to acquire, partly because it is so faint (the brightest stars are 9th magnitude) but it marks the start of "multiple galaxies in my field of view" season, running through Leo and culminating in Virgo/Coma Berenices.

 

[collinsmark]

NGC 3166 (left) and NGC 3169 (right) captured from my back patio Dec. 2023 - Jan. 2024. These spiral galaxies, which can be seen (from Earth) in the constellation Sextans, are spiraling into each other before they ultimately merge into one.

The much smaller galaxy to the upper left is NGC 3165.

This is the last image I plan on taking with the Meade 10" LX200-ACF telescope setup for a while. If you're curious about its replacement, see this thread:
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/documenting-the-setup-of-my-new-telescope.1059921/

Equipment:
Meade 10" LX200-ACF fork mounted on an equatorial wedge.
Off-axis guider (OAG) with guide camera.
Optolong broadband filter set.
Optolong L-Pro filter
Optolong 3 nm Hα filter
ZWO ASI6200MM-Pro main camera.

Software:
Nighttime Imaging 'N' Astronomy (N.I.N.A.)
PHD2 guiding
PixInsight with RC-Astro plugins

Acquisition/Integration:
Location: San Diego, USA
Bortle class 7 (maybe 8 ) skies
All subframes binned 3×3
Stacked using drizzle algorithm
R: 91×5 min = 7.58 hrs
G: 90×5 min = 7.50 hrs
B: 99×5 min = 8.25 hrs
L-Pro: 110×5 min = 9.17 hrs
Hα: 73×10 min = 12.17 hrs
Total integration time: 44.67 hours

 

[Andy Resnick]

Practicing for the eclipse:

A few sunspots, not much solar activity:

Shot through Spectrum Telescope Solar Optical film using a Nikon 800/11 lens, 1/40s ISO 320. Color balance is tricky, I needed to set my camera white balance to 2500K blackbody and then post process for fine tuning.

 

[Borg]

Coming soon to a galaxy near you - T Coronae Borealis Nova.

A star system, located 3,000 light-years away from Earth, is predicted to become visible to the unaided eye soon. This could be a once-in-a-lifetime viewing opportunity as the nova ouburst only occurs about every 80 years. T Coronae Borealis, or T CrB, last exploded in 1946 and astronomers believe it will do so again between February and September 2024.

 

[DennisN]

I stumbled upon a cool image when I was looking for wallpapers.
Now, this is likely rendered (i.e. not real) but I thought the idea was very cool:

Source: https://wallpaperscraft.com/download/silhouette_starry_sky_art_136059/7200x3572

Maybe it would be possible to do this in reality, well, at least as a composite. What I mean is an image with landscape and star trails in the background, and then edit in a photo of a person holding his hand up.

Just a thought.

I have for some reason not tried shooting star trails yet, but I think it would be fun to do so.

 

[Devin-M]

Just a thought.

Reminded me of a photo a took many years ago at Purdon Crossing, Nevada City, California…

PS she’s holding one of these, which is an n’Goni, a type of 11-stringed African harp predating the invention of the guitar as I understand it from Burkina Faso, Western Africa…

 

[DennisN]

Reminded me of a photo a took many years ago at Purdon Crossing, Nevada City, California…

A very cool photo!

 

[Andy Resnick]

I stumbled upon a cool image when I was looking for wallpapers.

[...]
I have for some reason not tried shooting star trails yet, but I think it would be fun to do so.

Interesting artwork. At best, it's a composite of several images- notice how the start trails appear in front of the background along the lower section.

Shooting star trails is about the easiest thing possible- just leave the shutter open- and the post processing is also simple (mostly background subtraction). To get the variable brightness, tho- that takes work. Here's a few tutorials that you may find inspiring:

https://liketheocean.com/night-photography/stacking-up-the-stars-getting-creative/
https://milkywaymike.com/2015/03/02/vortex-star-trails-tutorial/

 

[DennisN]

Shooting star trails is about the easiest thing possible- just leave the shutter open- and the post processing is also simple (mostly background subtraction). To get the variable brightness, tho- that takes work. Here's a few tutorials that you may find inspiring:

https://liketheocean.com/night-photography/stacking-up-the-stars-getting-creative/
https://milkywaymike.com/2015/03/02/vortex-star-trails-tutorial/

Thanks a lot!

 

[phinds]

Interesting pic from NPR (https://www.npr.org/2024/03/28/1241...new-image-magnetic-field?ft=nprml&f=191676894)

pic is captioned below

 

[collinsmark]

Leo Triplet (also known as the M66 Group), captured from back patio, Dec. 2023 through Mar. 2024. The galaxy to the left is NGC 3628 (a.k.a. the Hamburger Galaxy). To the lower right is M66 (a.k.a. NGC 3627) and the one to the upper right is M65 (a.k.a. NGC 3623). These galaxies are found in the constellation Leo.

I've imaged these galaxies before, about 2 years ago (also posted in this thread). Here they are again with a completely fresh set of raw data, taken with a different camera and mount (compared to the setup I used a couple years ago). I'm also hoping my processing skills have improved a little in that time.

The Leo Triplet is one of those targets that amateur astronomers and astrophotographers go back to again and again. This surely won't be the last time I revisit these galaxies.

Equipment:
Explore Scientific 80ED-FCD100
Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro
Orion Field Flattener for Short Refractors
Off-axis guider (OAG) with guide camera
Optolong L-Pro filter
Baader Hα 3.5nm Ultra-Narrowband filter
ZWO LRGB filter set
ZWO ASI2600MM-Pro main camera

Software:
N.I.N.A.
PHD2 guiding
PixInsight with RC-Astro plugins

Acquisition/Integration:
Location: San Diego, USA
Bortle class 7 (maybe 8 ) skies.
All subframes binned 1x1, stacked with drizzle algorithm
L-Pro: 513×90s = 12.83 hrs
Hα: 61×480s = 8.13 hrs
R: 212×90s = 5.30 hrs
G: 375×90s = 9.38 hrs
B: 286×90s = 7.15 hrs
Total integration time: 42.78 hours.

 

[DennisN]

Interesting pic from NPR (https://www.npr.org/2024/03/28/1241...new-image-magnetic-field?ft=nprml&f=191676894)

A stunning image!

 

[neilparker62]

Closer to "home" albeit not much more than a 'holiday snap' , here is a portion of the Milky Way on a clear Highveld night. 2024/03/20 / 03:47:12

 

[Andy Resnick]

Feeling pretty good today- I had a goal to image the chromosphere during the solar eclipse, and this is what I was able to capture:

and some 1:1 crops-

 

[neilparker62]

Feeling pretty good today- I had a goal to image the chromosphere during the solar eclipse, and this is what I was able to capture:

Great pics - did you or anyone out there try taking a pic with a diffraction grating lens ? Should get an excellent solar spectrum!

 

[Andy Resnick]

Great pics - did you or anyone out there try taking a pic with a diffraction grating lens ? Should get an excellent solar spectrum!

Thanks! More to come...

I didn't see anyone with a diffraction grating (and I didn't try, either). Honestly, I was too busy using both hands to snap images (with a shutter cable) and vary the f-stop (to adjust illumination level) the entire time during totality to even think about anything. I did look through the lens a few times at the corona in order to re-center but I knew if I stopped to watch I'd miss taking images.

Got some great images of Bailey's beads and what is purported to be the 'diamond ring'... which doesn't look like much if the image is not overexposed.

Unfortunately, I forgot to switch to mirror-up during the corona phase, so I only got 1 or 2 blur-free images of that.

 

[Andy Resnick]

Here's a montage showing Bailey's beads, taken near "3rd contact":

And a "Diamond Ring", it's a bit of a hack job but you can clearly see the difference in color between photosphere and corona:

 

[DennisN]

Feeling pretty good today- I had a goal to image the chromosphere during the solar eclipse, and this is what I was able to capture:

View attachment 343030

and some 1:1 crops-

View attachment 343031

View attachment 343032

Incredibly nice! Congratulations!

 

[Andy Resnick]

Timelapse of the event: original is 4k x 4k pixels.

 

[DennisN]

Timelapse of the event: original is 4k x 4k pixels.

Gorgeous!

 

[Andy Resnick]

This is my favorite shot of totality:

Whenever I look at it, all I can hear is the monolith scene in Kubrick's '2001'

 

[DennisN]

Haha, I just saw a funny (and informative) video about very unusual lenses, and just had to share two real monsters here... (I'm notifying @Andy Resnick but anyone who likes crazy optics may enjoy it )

"The Sigmonster", Sigma 200-500mm f/2.8 : described in the video at 9m 30s.

Photo by Sven Teschke


"The Canon Cannon", Canon 5200mm f/14 : described in the video at 10m 46s.

Source: https://petapixel.com/2010/01/06/ginormous-5200mm-canon-lens-on-ebay/

Source video: The World wasn't ready for these Crazy Lenses (Cong Thanh)
- interesting in general if you are like me and like weird/vintage optics

 

[Andy Resnick]

Haha, I just saw a funny (and informative) video about very unusual lenses, and just had to share two real monsters here... (I'm notifying @Andy Resnick but anyone who likes crazy optics may enjoy it )

Heh... nice! Don't forget these:

https://petapixel.com/2017/04/27/canon-300mm-f1-8-yes-monster-lens-exists/
https://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/nikkoresources/reflex/2000mm.htm

 

[DennisN]

https://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/nikkoresources/reflex/2000mm.htm

Mir is a site I've visited before when researching lenses.
Another one is Radojuva where there is a lot of info about both common and uncommon lenses (of various brands & mounts).

 

[bruha]

Hello, here is sunimage from saturday on Bohmerwald with 3 sunspots (enhanced in Gimp) (with green filter Baader Planetarium solar continuum 7.5nm)
Lot of succes

 

[collinsmark]

Heh... nice! Don't forget these:

https://petapixel.com/2017/04/27/canon-300mm-f1-8-yes-monster-lens-exists/
https://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/nikkoresources/reflex/2000mm.htm

I think I've got the Nikon beat (2nd link). Both it and my new scope are catadioptric (probably both corrected Schmidt Cassegrains). Although I haven't tested my scope to find what its minimum focus distance is. All as I know for certain that it's less than 384,000 km, and probably a lot less than that.

The Nikon is f/11 with f = 2000 mm
My new scope is f/11* with f = 3857 mm

*(f/10.846, according to Celestron's EdgeHD whitepaper)

 

[Tom.G]

Although I haven't tested my scope to find what its minimum focus distance is.

My new scope is f/11* with f = 3857 mm

IIRC, close focus is at 3.857m, but your camera has to be at infinity.

 

[Andy Resnick]

I think I've got the Nikon beat (2nd link). Both it and my new scope are catadioptric (probably both corrected Schmidt Cassegrains). Although I haven't tested my scope to find what its minimum focus distance is. All as I know for certain that it's less than 384,000 km, and probably a lot less than that.

The Nikon is f/11 with f = 2000 mm
My new scope is f/11* with f = 3857 mm

Interesting... do you know the image circle size of your scope? Does it support a 35mm full frame format image?

 

[Andy Resnick]

IIRC, close focus is at 3.857m, but your camera has to be at infinity.

Although I haven't tested my scope to find what its minimum focus distance is. All as I know for certain that it's less than 384,000 km, and probably a lot less than that.

Now I'm motivated to try putting my M2 extension tube on the 800mm lens and turn it into a bizarro macro lens... :)

 

[collinsmark]

Interesting... do you know the image circle size of your scope? Does it support a 35mm full frame format image?

I found it specified in the EdgeHD whitepaper. Here's a link to the paper below (PDF format):
https://s3.amazonaws.com/celestron-site-support-files/support_files/edgehd_whitepaper_final.pdf

The image circle spec is 42 mm diameter.

For reference, a 35 mm full frame format is 24×36 mm, giving it a diagonal length of $\sqrt{{24}^2 + {36}^2 }$ = 43.27 mm. That's a tad bit longer than the scope's specified image circle.

But there's still image to be had outside the 42 mm image circle; it just means that there's some vignetting toward the corners of the frame. Most of that can be mitigated with flat field calibration (I'm a stickler for flats, by the way), and it just means that the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is a bit lower at the frame's corners, after calibration.

My camera for this scope has a 35 mm full frame sensor and it works fine. (Again, there's a little vignetting, but I calibrate that out with flats.)

Now I'm motivated to try putting my M2 extension tube on the 800mm lens and turn it into a bizarro macro lens... :)

'Couldn't hurt to try!

Seriously though, all humor aside, most photography lenses have lens elements that function as a field flattener (here, "flattener" refers to optical aberrations, not intensity corrections). My EdgeHD telescope also has two lens elements in the baffle tube that function as a field flattener. I'm sure there are similar lens elements are within your 800 mm lens.

And the thing about that is the distance from those flattening lens elements to the sensor plane is pretty critical. Changing this distance can cause the image to become out-of-focus at the frame's edges (compared to the image center) due to field curvature (and possibly coma). But this might not be a problem depending on your subject, so long as you don't overdo it.

 

[Devin-M]

I think the Nikon 105mm could get more detail than the 3857mm on account of its close focus abilities (by putting subject much closer to the lens)

https://www.keh.com/nikon-105mm-f-2...vQEC58Kbp_JF0vKHpydCsY8YaG9bPBgRoC3ycQAvD_BwE