Sam's Astrophtography Thread

[jobberone]

Today's image is actually one of my very own Astrophotography images. (easily the best one I've ever taken)

This is the Andromeda Galaxy. Our sister galaxy. Our galaxy (The Milky Way) will collide with the Andromeda Galaxy in the future, but don't worry. It will be at least 4.5 billion years before it happens and in all likely hood. Our solar system may not even be affected as space is so vast we may just pass right through Andromeda without hitting anything. The Andromeda Galaxy is approximately 150,000 light years across.

Andromeda is estimated to be 1.5x the size of the Milky Way. So, Andromeda is the bigger sibling to the Milky Way.

I took this image from New Mexico. (can't get this good of skies new New York City) The two fuzzy smaller balls near the center are also galaxies (M32 and M110), but they are much much further away than Andromeda. Andromeda is approximately 2.5 million light years away from us.

What scope and camera did you use? Any details further would be great. Sold all my stuff a few years ago.

 

[YosemiteSam]

What scope and camera did you use? Any details further would be great. Sold all my stuff a few years ago.

That was taken with a SBIG STF-8300M camera (LRGB filters) and a Takahashi 106 FSQ that I rented in New Mexico. I never get that great of images with my personal scopes in the NYC area.

I've been looking at buying my own FSQ, but recently I haven't been taking images. I probably haven't shot one in over a year. I definitely want to get back into it. I think I may rent another scope down in NM.

 

[YosemiteSam]

The Great Nebula in Carina
Image Credit & Copyright: Damian Peach/SEN

Explanation: In one of the brightest parts of Milky Way lies a nebula where some of the oddest things occur. NGC 3372, known as the Great Nebula in Carina, is home to massive stars and changing nebulas. The Keyhole Nebula (NGC 3324), the bright structure just above the image center, houses several of these massive stars and has itself changed its appearance. The entire Carina Nebula spans over 300 light years and lies about 7,500 light-years away in the constellation of Carina.Eta Carinae, the most energetic star in the nebula, was one of the brightest stars in the sky in the 1830s, but then faded dramatically. Eta Carinae is the brightest star near the image center, just left of the Keyhole Nebula. While Eta Carinae itself maybe on the verge of a supernova explosion, X-ray images indicate that much of the Great Carina Nebula has been a veritable supernova factory.

 

[jobberone]

That was taken with a SBIG STF-8300M camera (LRGB filters) and a Takahashi 106 FSQ that I rented in New Mexico. I never get that great of images with my personal scopes in the NYC area.

I've been looking at buying my own FSQ, but recently I haven't been taking images. I probably haven't shot one in over a year. I definitely want to get back into it. I think I may rent another scope down in NM.

Well if you do then great. I sold my 6" astrophysics and others. I have one scope left in storage which I gave to my youngest son.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Well if you do then great. I sold my 6" astrophysics and others. I have one scope left in storage which I gave to my youngest son.

I remember you selling it on AstronomyForum.net a couple of years ago. NEAF is coming up next month, but I know I won't be buying one this year. Probably not till after I buy a new home. I'm in an apartment right now since I sold my house last July.

 

[Shunpike]

Since I know Shunpike loves images of Earth from Space. Here is a cool one taken recently from the International Space Station (ISS) along with some text describing what you're seeing. (seeing the active volcanoes is awesome. )

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East Indonesia Island Chain

As an equatorial country, Indonesia is often obscured by cloud cover. An astronaut aboard the International Space Station recently seized the opportunity of a relatively storm-free day to photograph nearly half the length of #Indonesia’s main island chain. Using a short lens and looking to the horizon for a panoramic effect, the astronaut captured this vast view that includes both clear skies and a murky, region-wide smoke pall. The smoke comes from fires caused by lightning strikes and by forest clearing by humans in Indonesia and northern Australia.

In this photograph looking from west to east, #Java is in the foreground, #Bali and #Lombok are near the center, and smaller islands trail off toward the horizon. More distant islands such as Sumba and Timor are almost invisible; each is more than 1600 kilometers (1,000 miles) distant from the spacecraft. The brightest reflection of the Sun off the sea surface occurs silhouettes Surabaya (population 2.8 million), Indonesia’s second-largest city.

Against this background of regional smoke, a line of volcanoes appears in sharp detail. Volcanoes are the backbone of the islands, which have been formed by the collision of the Australian tectonic plate (right) with the Asian plate (left). Note that the name of each volcano is labeled in italics.

White plumes show that at least six volcanoes were emitting steam and smoke during this ISS orbit. Even though the plumes are short (80 kilometers; 50 miles), they are prominent because the volcanoes stand above the smoky air layer near the surface. The plumes are also strikingly parallel, aligned with winds from the northeast. Every day, astronauts are sent memos alerting them to dynamic events—such as volcanic eruptions and fires—so that they might observe them from space.



https://lh3.***BROKEN***/-l5T8MiGvag4/VvARM1vl3dI/AAAAAAAAaYI/edqmR8j95E0nS3NRw4igT7Pbkldndz4VQ/w472-h709-no/iss045e079412.jpg

This is awesome Sam. Thanks my friend.

 

[jobberone]

I remember you selling it on AstronomyForum.net a couple of years ago. NEAF is coming up next month, but I know I won't be buying one this year. Probably not till after I buy a new home. I'm in an apartment right now since I sold my house last July.

That's a great scope. I gave up because the sky is so light polluted in most of the US. I envy your abilities. And thanks for the great thread Sam.

 

[YosemiteSam]

That's a great scope. I gave up because the sky is so light polluted in most of the US. I envy your abilities. And thanks for the great thread Sam.

Having truly dark skies and top notch equiptment make it much much easier to have incredible results. My images from NY skies and my cheaper equiptment make much crappier images. hah.

Here is my Astrobin page with all my Astrophotography images. As you can see, when I'm not in New Mexico and not using an FSQ 106 with a Paramount ME mount hah. It's not quite the same. Though my CCD camera is just as good as the one I used with the FSQ.

 

[panchucko]

Having truly dark skies and top notch equiptment make it much much easier to have incredible results. My images from NY skies and my cheaper equiptment make much crappier images. hah.

Here is my Astrobin page with all my Astrophotography images. As you can see, when I'm not in New Mexico and not using an FSQ 106 with a Paramount ME mount hah. It's not quite the same. Though my CCD camera is just as good as the one I used with the FSQ.

Ththose are some pretty nice shots you have taken, have you ever printed them out and hung them on your wall?

I wish I had the motivation to get back into photography

 

[YosemiteSam]

Nope, as of yet. I haven't printed anything out. Though I've thought about doing that with the Andromeda image.

 

[YosemiteSam]

NGC 2440: Pearl of a New White Dwarf
Image Credit: H. Bond (STScI), R. Ciardullo (PSU), WFPC2, HST, NASA; Processing: Forrest Hamilton

Explanation: Like a pearl, a white dwarf star shines best after being freed from its shell. In this analogy, however, the Sun would be a mollusk and its discarded hull would shine prettiest of all! In the above shell of gas and dust, the planetary nebula designated NGC 2440, contains one of the hottest white dwarf stars known. The glowing stellar pearl can be seen as the bright dot near the image center. The portion of NGC 2440 shown spans about one light year. The center of our Sun will eventually become a white dwarf, but not for another five billion years. The above false color image was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995. NGC 2440 lies about 4,000 light years distant toward the southern constellation Puppis.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Bright Spiral Galaxy M81
Image Credit & Copyright: Ken Crawford (Rancho Del Sol Observatory)

Explanation: One of the brightest galaxies in planet Earth's sky is similar in size to our Milky Way Galaxy: big, beautiful M81. The grand spiral galaxy can be found toward the northern constellation of the Great Bear (Ursa Major). This superbly detailed image reveals M81's bright yellow nucleus, blue spiral arms, tell tale pinkish star forming regions, and sweeping cosmic dust lanes with a scale comparable to the Milky Way. Hinting at a disorderly past, a remarkable dust lane actually runs straight through the disk, to the left of the galactic center, contrary to M81's other prominent spiral features. The errant dust lane may be the lingering result of a close encounter between between M81 and its smaller companion galaxy, M82. Scrutiny of variable stars in M81 has yielded one of the best determined distances for an external galaxy -- 11.8 million light-years. M81's dwarf companion galaxy Holmberg IX can be seen just above the large spiral.

 

[Shunpike]

Bright Spiral Galaxy M81
Image Credit & Copyright: Ken Crawford (Rancho Del Sol Observatory)

Explanation: One of the brightest galaxies in planet Earth's sky is similar in size to our Milky Way Galaxy: big, beautiful M81. The grand spiral galaxy can be found toward the northern constellation of the Great Bear (Ursa Major). This superbly detailed image reveals M81's bright yellow nucleus, blue spiral arms, tell tale pinkish star forming regions, and sweeping cosmic dust lanes with a scale comparable to the Milky Way. Hinting at a disorderly past, a remarkable dust lane actually runs straight through the disk, to the left of the galactic center, contrary to M81's other prominent spiral features. The errant dust lane may be the lingering result of a close encounter between between M81 and its smaller companion galaxy, M82. Scrutiny of variable stars in M81 has yielded one of the best determined distances for an external galaxy -- 11.8 million light-years. M81's dwarf companion galaxy Holmberg IX can be seen just above the large spiral.

I can look at this picture for hours, get drunk and look at it again for hours. I love love love the picture. Thanks Sam for the wonderful pictures.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Hickson 91 in Piscis Austrinus
Image Credit & Copyright: CHART32 Team, Processing - Johannes Schedler

Explanation: Scanning the skies for galaxies, Canadian astronomer Paul Hickson and colleagues identified some 100 compact groups of galaxies, now appropriately called Hickson Compact Groups (HCGs). This sharp telescopic image captures one such galaxy group, HCG 91, in beautiful detail. The group's three colorful spiral galaxies at the center of the field of view are locked in a gravitational tug of war, their interactions producing faint but visible tidal tails over 100,000 light-years long. Their close encounters trigger furious star formation. On a cosmic timescale the result will be a merger into a large single galaxy, a process now understood to be a normal part of the evolution of galaxies, including our own Milky Way. HCG 91 lies about 320 million light-years away in the constellation Piscis Austrinus. But the impressively deep image also catches evidence of fainter tidal tails and galaxy interactions close to 2 billion light-years distant.

 

[YosemiteSam]

https://lh6.***BROKEN***/-h5mngPEVQ0c/VvjHe5L6PkI/AAAAAAADVEk/Iq9JG1K6rK8uzO1jLObSkbDgnXJzdxQRw/w313-h640-no/16%2B-%2B1

 

[YosemiteSam]

Composite images from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope show the hyper-energetic x-ray auroras at Jupiter. The image on the left is of the auroras when the coronal mass ejection reached Jupiter, the image on the right is when the auroras subsided. The auroras were triggered by a coronal mass ejection from the Sun that reached the planet in 2011. Image: X-ray: NASA/CXC/UCL/W.Dunn et al, Optical: NASA/STScI

SOLAR STORMS IGNITE AURORA ON JUPITER
23 Mar , 2016 by Evan Gough

The Earthly Northern Lights are beautiful and astounding, but when it comes to planetary light shows, what happened at Jupiter in 2011 might take the cake. In 2011, a coronal mass ejection (CME) struck Jupiter, producing x-ray auroras 8 times brighter than normal, and hundreds of times more energetic than Earth’s auroras. A paper in the March 22nd, 2016 issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research gave the details.

The Sun emits a ceaseless stream of energetic particles called the solar wind. Sometimes, the Sun ramps up its output, and what is called a coronal mass ejection occurs. A coronal mass ejection is a massive burst of matter and electromagnetic radiation. Though they’re slow compared to other phenomena arising from the Sun, such as solar flares, CMEs are extremely powerful.

When the CME in 2011 reached Jupiter, NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory was watching, the first time that Jupiter’s X-ray auroras were monitored at the same time that a CME arrived. Along with some very interesting images of the event, the team behind the study learned other things. The CME that struck Jupiter actually compressed that planet’s magnetosphere. It forced the boundary between the solar wind and Jupiter’s magnetic field in towards the planet by more than 1.6 million kilometers (1 million miles.)

The scientists behind this study used the data from this event to not only pinpoint the source of the x-rays, but also to identify areas for follow-up investigation. They’ll be using not only Chandra, but also the European Space Agency’s XMM Newton observatory to collect data on Jupiter’s magnetic field, magnetosphere, and aurora.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft will reach Jupiter this summer. One of its primary missions is to map Jupiter’s magnetic fields, and to study the magnetosphere and auroras. Juno’s results will be fascinating to anyone interested in Jupiter’s auroras.

 

[Seven]

NGC 2440: Pearl of a New White Dwarf
Image Credit: H. Bond (STScI), R. Ciardullo (PSU), WFPC2, HST, NASA; Processing: Forrest Hamilton

Explanation: Like a pearl, a white dwarf star shines best after being freed from its shell. In this analogy, however, the Sun would be a mollusk and its discarded hull would shine prettiest of all! In the above shell of gas and dust, the planetary nebula designated NGC 2440, contains one of the hottest white dwarf stars known. The glowing stellar pearl can be seen as the bright dot near the image center. The portion of NGC 2440 shown spans about one light year. The center of our Sun will eventually become a white dwarf, but not for another five billion years. The above false color image was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995. NGC 2440 lies about 4,000 light years distant toward the southern constellation Puppis.

Some of these photos don't even look like outer space.

They look like paintings. Amazing.

Saved this as my desktop.

 

[YosemiteSam]

The Leo Triplets.

Trio Leo
Image Credit & Copyright: Philippe Durville

Explanation: This popular group is famous as the Leo Triplet - a gathering of three magnificent galaxies in one field of view. Crowd pleasers when imaged with even modest telescopes, they can be introduced individually as NGC 3628 (left), M66 (bottom right), and M65 (top). All three are large spiral galaxies but they tend to look dissimilar because their galactic disks are tilted at different angles to our line of sight. NGC 3628 is seen edge-on, with obscuring dust lanes cutting across the plane of the galaxy, while the disks of M66 and M65 are both inclined enough to show off their spiral structure. Gravitational interactions between galaxies in the group have also left telltale signs, including the warped and inflated disk of NGC 3628 and the drawn out spiral arms of M66. This gorgeous view of the region spans about one degree (two full moons) on the sky. The field covers over 500 thousand light-years at the trio's estimated distance of 30 million light-years.

 

[YosemiteSam]

NGC 6188 and NGC 6164
Image Credit & Copyright: Martin Pugh & Rick Stevenson

Explanation: Fantastic shapes lurk in clouds of glowing gas in the giant star forming region NGC 6188. The emission nebula is found about 4,000 light years away near the edge of a large molecular cloud unseen at visible wavelengths, in the southern constellation Ara. Massive, young stars of the embedded Ara OB1 association were formed in that region only a few million years ago, sculpting the dark shapes and powering the nebular glow with stellar winds and intense ultraviolet radiation. The recent star formation itself was likely triggered by winds and supernova explosions, from previous generations of massive stars, that swept up and compressed the molecular gas. Joining NGC 6188 on this cosmic canvas, visible toward the lower right, is rare emission nebula NGC 6164, also created by one of the region's massive O-type stars. Similar in appearance to many planetary nebulae, NGC 6164's striking, symmetric gaseous shroud and faint halo surround its bright central star near the bottom edge. The impressively wide field of view spans over 3 degrees (six full Moons), corresponding to over 200 light years at the estimated distance of NGC 6188. Three image sets have been included in the featured composite.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Across the Sun
Image Credit & Copyright: Göran Strand

Explanation: A long solar filament stretches across the relatively calm surface of the Sun in this telescopic snap shot from April 27. The negative or inverted narrowband image was made in the light of ionized hydrogen atoms. Seen at the upper left, the magnificent curtain of magnetized plasma towers above surface and actually reaches beyond the Sun's edge. How long is the solar filament? About as long as the distance from Earth to Moon, illustrated by the scale insert at the left. Tracking toward the right across the solar disk a day later the long filament erupted, lifting away from the Sun's surface. Monitored by Sun staring satellites, a coronal mass ejection was also blasted from the site but is expected to swing wide of our fair planet.