Our Beautiful Universe - Photos and Videos

[Stavros Kiri]

(For Aug. 18, 2025)

[td]LAST CHANCE TO SEE TITAN'S SHADOW: On Aug. 19th, Saturn’s largest moon will cast its jet-black shadow onto the planet’s cloudtops--one of the final transits of the current season. The event is visible through backyard telescopes. Don’t miss it: The show won’t return until the 2040s. (...)

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[td] Above: Titan's shadow on Aug. 3rd recorded by amateur astronomer Philip Smith of Manorville, NY​

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For more details, see the second part of part B) in this post:
Post in thread 'Solar Activity and Space Weather Update thread' https://www.physicsforums.com/threa...ace-weather-update-thread.923468/post-7275665
(...)

 

[Andy Resnick]

Since I'm not willing to chop down trees to increase my field of view, the only thing I could image for the past month has been M27 (Dumbbell nebula):

1:1 crop

Nikon D810 + Nikkor 800/5.6 @ f/8, 6s subs, 14.5 hours viewing time on Losmandy GM-8, stacking and post-processing using Astro Pixel Processor.

Not only is the nebula and neighborhood rather boring (all things considered), it's also hard for me to image well because of the low elevation (poor seeing) and nearness to celestial equator (which is why the subframe time is so short). At least the final result looks good.... sigh.

 

[collinsmark]

NGC 2903 captured from my back patio, Feb.-Mar., 2025. NGC 2903 is a barred spiral galaxy found in the constellation Leo. It lies about 30 million light-years away. It presently doesn't have a fancy, common name ("NGC 2903" will have to suffice for now).

Equipment:
Celestron C14 EdgeHD telescope
SkyWatcher EQ8-R Pro mount
Celestron 0.7x Focal reducer (for C14 EdgeHD)
Off-axis guider (OAG) with guide camera
Baader LRGB filter set
Antlia Hα filter
ZWO ASI6200MM-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 2×2
Stacked using drizzle algorithm
L: 300×120 sec = 10.00 hrs
R: 354×120 sec = 11.80 hrs
G: 288×120 sec = 9.60 hrs
B: 343×120 sec = 11.43 hrs
Hα:106×600 sec = 17.67 hrs
Total integration time: 60.50 hours

 

[Andy Resnick]

Finally finished this panorama around Gamma cygni, ready for print:

This covers about a 3 x 3 array of 400mm fields-of-view (14.6k x 12k pixels). All stacking of the original 10s subs and stitching of 43 stacks performed in APP. Zooming in (just) a little: near IC 1311

and my homage to this image:

Lastly, a 1:1 crop of NGC 6910, which Wikipedia calls "Inchworm cluster" but I rather like the alternate, "rocking horse cluster":

One interesting challenge due to the substantial amount of diffuse nebulosity was getting the color balance correct across the whole image. To be frank, for all I know I failed and you are looking at a candy-colored swirl of rainbow hues... Normally, I can get pretty close to what PanSTARRS DR1 imagery looks like on Aladin Lite. For this image, I get much closer to DSS-2 imagery.

 

[DennisN]

Very nice, @Andy Resnick !

ready for print

Which print service do you use, I wonder?

I tried Google Photos print service recently and got quite pleased with the result. Though it was mostly "normal" (non astro) photos, a whole bunch of them. But I also ordered small 10x15 cm photos of mine of the Moon and Andromeda Galaxy, just for fun.

 

[Andy Resnick]

Very nice, @Andy Resnick !



Which print service do you use, I wonder?

I tried Google Photos print service recently and got quite pleased with the result. Though it was mostly "normal" (non astro) photos, a whole bunch of them. But I also ordered small 10x15 cm photos of mine of the Moon and Andromeda Galaxy, just for fun.

I've used a few local groups to make matted prints, this image supports a print size up to 40" on a side so I'll need to price out a frame before moving forward. Not sure how big a print I want- 40" is BIG.

OTOH, have you ever seen wall-sized posters made from smaller panels? In college, someone had a view of the earth from the space shuttle bay that covered an entire wall.... that could be an interesting option.

Edit: these are called 'wall murals'... maybe for the office/lab?