Our Beautiful Universe - Photos and Videos

[DennisN]

A new clip from Babak Tafreshi with music by Ali Raini:

 

[1oldman2]

A new clip from Babak Tafreshi with music by Ali Raini:

That is "MagicalMedia" I loved it. Thanks for the post!

 

[1oldman2]

Not sure how to post this other than a URL but let me know what you think after watching the whole clip.
https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/media-gallery/voyager

 

[DennisN]

Not sure how to post this other than a URL but let me know what you think after watching the whole clip.
https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/media-gallery/voyager

An ambitious project indeed! And a very cool and inspiring one!

 

[Andy Resnick]

Hercules is now coming into view- got this one last night- the whole field of view and a 100% crop (800/5.6, ISO 1250):

My technique is finally good enough that I needed to program periodic error correction (PEC) on the motors; my first attempt wasn't great but I could still nearly double the exposure time (5 s to 8 s). Presumably, as I keep refining the PEC, the performance will continue to improve.

 

[Andy Resnick]

Up to 28 minutes total exposure time- image quality and colorimetrics significantly improved:

 

[1oldman2]

You know, when I came across this image all I could think is, this belongs on the OBU thread. So here are the Spanish peaks in Colorado, along with credit where credit is due.

http://martinpughastrophotography.id.au/

 

[1oldman2]

T-5 minutes
http://www.arianespace.com/mission/ariane-flight-vs15/

 

[Andy Resnick]

For the next few days, (from left to right) saturn, mars, and Jupiter are all visible at night:

And a little zoomed in (the red spot is visible):

Tonight, 9pm- midnight, Europa is transiting Jupiter and the shadow may be visible (midnight - 3am, EST)... fingers crossed for good viewing conditions!

 

[davenn]

Up to 28 minutes total exposure time- image quality and colorimetrics significantly improved:

the image in the previous post was better, colour wise ... you have gone back to a very green hue in this one The star sharpness in this one is much betterD

 

[1oldman2]

You guys sure make me want a nice "Scope" I'm feeling motivated but I have a lot to learn.

 

[DennisN]

You guys sure make me want a nice "Scope" I'm feeling motivated but I have a lot to learn.

I feel exactly the same . I've been thinking about a scope for years now, but I've had other things to do, and if I get a scope I want to put it to good use. I have been very tempted by this entry level scope, which have got some pretty good reviews (e.g. it won the comparison with other scopes here: http://telescopes.toptenreviews.com/telescopes-for-beginners-review/celestron-cosmos-review.html )...
And a clip here:

 

[Andy Resnick]

You guys sure make me want a nice "Scope" I'm feeling motivated but I have a lot to learn.

I can speak from experience- people here are excellent resources for learning this stuff. Go for it!

 

[1oldman2]

Go for it!

I'm going to start getting the ducks in a row, it will take time but I have been accused of having too much patience.
I also find these sites inspirational.
http://www.atscope.com.au/BRO/bardenridgeobs.html
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html

 

[1oldman2]

I feel exactly the same . I've been thinking about a scope for years now, but I've had other things to do, and if I get a scope I want to put it to good use. I have been very tempted by this entry level scope, which have got some pretty good reviews (e.g. it won the comparison with other scopes here: http://telescopes.toptenreviews.com/telescopes-for-beginners-review/celestron-cosmos-review.html)...
And a clip here:

Another investment opportunity missed.
http://www.celestron.com/browse-shop/astronomy/telescopes/cosmos-90gt-wifi-telescope $400.00 US
http://telescopes.toptenreviews.com/telescopes-for-beginners-review/celestron-cosmos-review.html -Discontinued
Amazon $670.47 US

That would be a nice starter.

 

[Andy Resnick]

Now that I have PEC working fairly well, I'm able to acquire many more useful images- here's 40 minutes total integration time, with fairly strict thresholds for image acceptability based on DSS 'score' and 'FWHM':

A small section of the total field, showing NGC 6207:

And a 100% crop, cranking up the saturation ('cuz I can...)

Thanks to davenn for helpful hints...

 

[1oldman2]

 

[DennisN]

Simply s-t-u-n-n-i-n-g...

Hubble’s High-Definition Panoramic View of the Andromeda Galaxy
This sweeping bird's-eye view of a portion of the Andromeda galaxy (M31) is the sharpest image ever taken of our galactic next-door neighbor.
Credits: NASA, ESA, J. Dalcanton, B.F. Williams, and L.C. Johnson (University of Washington), the PHAT team, and R. Gendler

Page source: http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/hubble-s-high-definition-panoramic-view-of-the-andromeda-galaxy
Full size image is here (click twice to zoom in order to see the enormous amount of stars as small pixels...)

 

[1oldman2]

Simply s-t-u-n-n-i-n-g...

Page source: http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/hubble-s-high-definition-panoramic-view-of-the-andromeda-galaxy
Full size image is here (click twice to zoom in order to see the enormous amount of stars as small pixels...)

 

[1oldman2]

 

[1oldman2]

This is pretty cool.
http://www.space.com/33059-massive-coronal-hole-formed-on-sun-zoom-in-video.html

 

[DennisN]

Thought I might post this in this thread; a tool for those who are interested in making visualizations...
Cosmographia Mission Visualization Tool (NASA)
http://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/naif/cosmographia.html

NAIF offers for public use a modified version of the open source visualization tool named Cosmographia. Cosmographia is an interactive tool used to produce 3D visualizations of planet ephemerides, sizes and shapes; spacecraft trajectories and orientations; and instrument field-of-views and footprints. Cosmographia has many user controls, allowing one to manage what is displayed, what vantage point is used, and how fast the animation progresses.

 

[1oldman2]

Thought I might post this in this thread; a tool for those who are interested in making visualizations...
Cosmographia Mission Visualization Tool (NASA)
http://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/naif/cosmographia.html

Thanks ! this looks interesting, have you spent much time working with it ?
Just a quick note, while downloading this my Antivirus pulled a (Trojan-Gen-2) from it. This sometimes happens on certain legitimate software downloads so I'm curious to see if a critical piece will be missing when I try and run the program. I'll comment on that after I look into it further.

 

[Andy Resnick]

First night imaging the Ring Nebula (M57)- seeing was very poor, I was only able to acquire 3 minutes worth of exposure. Full frame:

and 100%

Not enough exposure time to capture IC1296 (yet), but I can already easily see the central white dwarf.

 

[DennisN]

Thanks ! this looks interesting, have you spent much time working with it ?

No, I just got the link from a friend and thought I might share it here.

 

[1oldman2]

No, I just got the link from a friend and thought I might share it here.

I'm still playing with the program to see what all I can do with it, looks pretty cool. About the Trojan.Gen.2, I've decided that most likely came from my Granddaughter playing minecraft through her Steam account and my antivirus just happened to catch it while analyzing the site you posted. No worries

 

[DennisN]

M104: The Sombrero Galaxy
A bigger picture is here.
(from http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150205.html)

 

[1oldman2]

From http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1606/horseheadir_hubble_1225.jpg

 

[davenn]

M104: The Sombrero Galaxy
A bigger picture is here.
(from http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150205.html)

that's one I have yet to imageD

 

[davenn]

From http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1606/horseheadir_hubble_1225.jpg

View attachment 101998

imaged that one recently, but my gear cannot compete with that of the HST

Dave