Our Beautiful Universe - Photos and Videos

[Devin-M]

I heard that Jupiter will pass behind the moon on May 17 (occultation)…

 

[Devin-M]

It looks like Jupiter will pop out from behind the moon at about 5:30 AM May 17 Pacific time USA based on Stellarium.

 

[DennisN]

A set of beautiful photos here... some inspiration, perhaps?

36 Awe-Inspiring Sun, Moon, and Milky Way Photos of 2020 (PetaPixel)
https://petapixel.com/2021/02/01/36-awe-inspiring-sun-moon-and-milky-way-photos-of-2020/

Some examples:

Man over the solar eclipse in the Andes (Chile) by Michael Ostaszewski

Man over the Milky Way reflected on the Salar de Uyuni (Bolivia) by Jheison Huerta

Comet Neowise over Stonehenge (Wiltshire, UK) by Declan Deval

 

[Structure seeker]

Very beautiful!

 

[Devin-M]

Wow, magnetic field lines of sun visible??

Man over the solar eclipse in the Andes (Chile) by Michael Ostaszewski

 

[Borg]

You're seeing Earthshine on the moon's surface also.

 

[berkeman]

Man over the Milky Way reflected on the Salar de Uyuni (Bolivia) by Jheison Huerta

Sorry for the dumb question, but why is the Milky Way curved in that picture? I think I've only seen it as a straight line of stars across the night sky when I've been lucky enough to see it (camping, etc.).

 

[Devin-M]

It’s a 360 photo so like a map, it gets stretched because it’s a sphere projected on a flat surface

 

[collinsmark]

Sorry for the dumb question, but why is the Milky Way curved in that picture? I think I've only seen it as a straight line of stars across the night sky when I've been lucky enough to see it (camping, etc.).

I think it's just a matter of the shot taken with a very wide angle lens -- specifically, a full frame sensor (36×24mm) paired with a 16 mm focal length lens.

 

[Devin-M]

I have a 14mm DSLR lens, that shot is wider, it’s a stitched panorama…

https://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/category/360pano/?sort=-release_date

 

[Devin-M]

PS 14-16mm lenses are “rectilnear” so unless labeled “fisheye” they don’t curve straight lines.

 

[Devin-M]

 

[bdrobin519]

Just saw Venus lit up so bright it was the first visible object in the sky.

 

[collinsmark]

I don't think I ever posted a proper photo of my secondary astro-rig. So here's a recent pic:

There's obviously some cable management on the to-do list. But there's some other tweaks, like cone error reduction, that I'm planning to do first. I'm waiting for clear skies with a full moon for that stuff though. In the mean time, it works well enough as it is -- well, if the clouds will just go away.

 

[collinsmark]

Bode's Galaxy (M81), The Cigar Galaxy (M82), and the Garland Galaxy (NGC 3077) gathered from my back patio in March-April, 2023. I was able to sneak this acquisition in during the few clear nights within the last couple of months using my secondary astro-rig.

You might recognize Bode's Galaxy (M81, center) from a recent post (post 2009), and the Cigar Galaxy (M82, lower-left) from a post I made almost a year ago (post 1681), where both of those images were acquired using my primary setup.

The Garland Galaxy (NGC 3077, lower-right) is new to me, however. The galaxy gets its name for the dwarf structure nearby the NGC 3077 galaxy itself. Either that or it gets its name from another group of stars (most in our Milky Way Galaxy) that appears -- at first glance -- as though it's about to be wrapped around NGC 3077 like a string of garland about to be wrapped around a Christmas tree. Anyway, the extra-galactic dwarf structure has been nicknamed, the "Garland." It should be noted that most of the background stars in the image (aside from the galaxies themselves) are not actually in the background at all, but rather they are quite close to us in the foreground of our own Milky Way Galaxy. The Garland, on the other hand, is not in the Milky Way; it really is in the M81 group, near NGC 3077. What appears to be just a handful of dim stars and nebulous knots are actually some exceptionally bright stars in and around star clusters and active regions of star formation in a whole 'nother galaxy system, some 13 million light-years away.

Here's a 1:1 crop of NGC 3077 and its nearby "Garland" structure. (My little 80 mm refractor isn't able to resolve The Garland into individual stars. Anyway, The Garland is the faint area just to the right of the galaxy):

The formation of the Garland is still an area of active study; it presents a few mysteries that haven't been fully solved yet. That said, the conventional wisdom is that the Garland was formed by chaotic, tidal interactions involving a "close call" between M81 and NGC 3077 whipping past each other eons ago.

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

Integration:
Location: San Diego
Bortle class 7 (maybe 8 ) skies.
All subframes binned 1x1
L-Pro: 239×120s = 7.97 hrs
Hα: 59×600s = 9.83 hrs
R: 125×120s = 4.17 hrs
G: 63×120s = 2.10 hrs
B: 100×120s = 3.33 hrs
Total integration time: 27.4 hours.

(Here's a link to more information on The Garland: https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1985MNRAS.217..731K/0000731.000.html)

"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,..." Hold on, the M81 group isn't all that far away from us comparatively. 13 million light-years is actually pretty close in terms of galaxy cluster scales. Let me start over. "A long time ago in a galaxy that isn't really all that too terribly far away, galaxy-wise that is, ..." Hmm. 'Doesn't have the same ring to it. ... I'm just going to stop now.

Here's a crop of the image showing just M82 and M81.

 

[Andy Resnick]

It's been cloudy for nearly an unbroken month, but last week I was able to get some imaging time on M101:

Nikon D810 + 800/8 lens, 13s subs, total integration time of 15 hours. Definitely happy how this is coming along- M101 is nicely framed by NGC 5474, NGC 5422, and NGC 5485, and a lot more are easily visible in the image. Here's a 1:1 crop of the area near NGC 5474, a "peculiar" dwarf galaxy:

The trio of galaxy blobs to the left of NGC 5474. These are, from the leftmost, "Gaia DR3 1609195779046805376", the center one is apparently nameless, and the rightmost is "SDSS J140458.21+534358.3".

 

[timmdeeg]

Testing Optolong L-Ultimate 3 nm dual band

I choose Abell 12 to see how the promised halo suppression of stars works. Abell12, the “Hidden” planetary nebula in the Orion constellation is close Mu Orionis. The halo suppression seems to work but a comparison is missing.

Unfortunately clouds prevented longer exposure, so no colors of the nebula.

Abell 12: size 37", distance ,~ 7000 LJ

Date 21. March 2023
Frames 14x180s ISO 1600
Sony A7III
UNC 200 f/4 Newton on HEQ5 - guiding with StarAid
DSS - Siril - LightZone

 

[DennisN]

I don't think I ever posted a proper photo of my secondary astro-rig. So here's a recent pic:

A very impressive rig!
Lots of cables and technology... where's the flux capacitor located?

 

[TonyStewart]

Flower pot holders?

 

[Devin-M]

I’m only about 120 miles from the 2023 Annular Solar Eclipse. 9:20am Sat Oct. 14, 2023. I hope they test launch Starship from Boca Chica, TX during the eclipse.

 

[timmdeeg]

Bode's Galaxy (M81), The Cigar Galaxy (M82), and the Garland Galaxy (NGC 3077) gathered from my back patio in March-April, 2023. I was able to sneak this acquisition in during the few clear nights within the last couple of months using my secondary astro-rig.

Congratulation to these beautiful images! The colors look very natural. These galaxies belong to my favorites, however I am still waiting for better weather conditions.

 

[collinsmark]

Arguably, this post belongs in one of the jokes threads. But it's so specific to the topic of this thread (if you're at all concerned with telescope optics), I put it here.

Crystal Ball

(Source: https://xkcd.com/2776/)

 

[DennisN]

I was out the other night trying to capture the Milky Way, and this time I succeeded for the first time .
I went out a bit outside of the city at a Bortle 6 site, but the site wasn't particularly good for this job, so another lesson learned. Next time I will probably go to a darker site at a beach and try to shoot over the ocean in order to get less light pollution.

In the meantime, here is one photo which shows three types of "disturbances" in one and the same photo: satellite, airplane and light pollution "dome" in the distance...

(quotes from PF members two years ago)

This kind of light streak, which I have sometimes seen in photos by others, are they satellites? Or could they also be airplanes?

Satellite

Yeah, that's either a satellite or a high-altitude plane. Here, transcontinental/transoceanic flights are high enough that I can't distinguish those from satellites.

Airplane navigation (clearance) lights blink on and off.

Airplanes typically show as dotted lines if the field of view is large enough with an exposure time is a second or so.

Cheers,
Tom

Magnified:

Satellite (probably):

Airplane (probably):

Since the first photo was only one unprocessed frame the Milky Way was very, very dim there.
Here's one processed in Sequator where the Milky Way is at least more present:

I'm far from satisfied with this photo, so I will try to process in other ways and in other software, probably Siril.

And a screenshot from Stellarium for comparison:

 

[Devin-M]

Remember to set your alarm clock for 5:17 AM tomorrow morning pacific time to see Jupiter emerge from behind the moon.

 

[Devin-M]

@DennisN I’d be happy to try and draw out some more clarity if you upload the RAW file here: https://u.pcloud.com/#page=puplink&code=cwlkZxnAbdImDSG8LT1xX8zffYkao7EUX

 

[Devin-M]

Occultation of Jupiter by the Moon
Photo By: Devin M
~5:20am PST 5/17/23, Redding, California
Nikon D800 DSLR on a 6" diameter Meade 2175mm f/14.5 Maksutov Cassegrain reflector telescope, Full Frame

In this frame grab from a video, Jupiter is still partially blocked by the moon:

Video PT 1 of 3:


Video PT 2 of 3:


Video PT 3 of 3:

 

[Devin-M]

Apparently the last occultation of Jupiter visible in the US was 1968.

 

[DennisN]

@ All PF astrophotographers, FYI:

@swampwiz posted a thread about a new, close supernova here:
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/supernova-in-pinwheel-galaxy.1052633/

...and an article here: New supernova! Closest in a decade (EarthSky.org)

A new supernova in the Pinwheel Galaxy, aka M101, is the closest to Earth in a decade.

[...]

It should remain visible to amateur astronomers with backyard telescopes for a few months.

[...]

The supernova – named 2023ixf – lies in the direction of the constellation Ursa Major, near the end of the handle of the Big Dipper.

[...]

And a photo from the article above:

"Our friend Eliot Herman used the Utah Remote Desert Observatories to capture this image of the new supernova in M101 – the Pinwheel Galaxy – just hours after its discovery on May 19, 2023. See the bright spot by the yellow arrowhead? This is the closest supernova to us in more than a decade. [...]"

 

[DennisN]

@DennisN I’d be happy to try and draw out some more clarity if you upload the RAW file here: https://u.pcloud.com/#page=puplink&code=cwlkZxnAbdImDSG8LT1xX8zffYkao7EUX

@Devin-M :

Thank you very much for your kind offer!

I haven't yet tried Siril myself, but if you like to have a go at the RAW files (which are .ARW files), I've just uploaded them as a RAR archive (unencrypted) on the pCloud link you posted.

Name of RAR archive: "Milky Way from DennisN to Devin-M.rar" (ca 1.9 GB)

I hope you can unpack RAR files... the reason I stored them in a RAR archive was because there are three different folders for the different file types:

1 - Light Frames (x25, 6s, f4, ISO 3200), i.e. the actual photos
2 - Dark Frames (x10, 6s, f4, ISO 3200), i.e. the noise signature photos
3 - Calibration Frames (x21, 1-8000s, f4, ISO 3200), i.e. the calibration/bias photos

(note: no flat frames, I haven't yet done flat frames, it's on my to do-list )

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gear & Settings Info:

Camera: Sony A7R
Lens: Sony FE 35mm f/2.8 (Sony Zeiss Sonnar T* FE 35/2,8 ZA)

Settings: (Frame type: exposure time, f-number, ISO)

Light Frames: 6 sec, f/4, ISO 3200
Dark Frames: 6 sec, f/4, ISO 3200
Calibration Frames: 1/8000 sec, f/4, ISO 3200

Cheers!

 

[Devin-M]

I will edit these. PS I think bias only affects the flat frames, but you may want to double check.