Every day our eyes catch the light of our memories – time spent with family, the journey to work, a special holiday, a beautiful sunset or a dark starlit night. Each image captured is a picture drawn in light – a photograph: only to be lost in our minds or forever forgotten. Nearly two hundred years ago a small group of amateur scientists achieved what had eluded mankind for centuries – the ability to capture a permanent record of an image seen by their own eyes – a moment in time frozen onto a surface. They had discovered Photography. They were the ‘Catchers of the Light’.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

COMET ISON C/2012_S1 ANIMATION


Comet Ison C/2012_S1 animation November 9 2013

C/2012 S1, also known as Comet ISON or Comet Nevski–Novichonok, is a sungrazing comet discovered on 21 September 2012 by Vitali Nevski (Виталий Невский, Vitebsk, Belarus) and Artyom Novichonok (Артём Новичонок,Kondopoga, Russia).[5] The discovery was made using the 0.4-meter (16 in) reflector of the International Scientific Optical Network near Kislovodsk, Russia and the automated asteroid-discovery program CoLiTec.[2][6] Precovery images by the Mount Lemmon Survey from 28 December 2011 and by Pan-STARRS from 28 January 2012 were quickly located.[7] Follow-up observations were made on 22 September by a team from Remanzacco Observatory in Italy using the iTelescope network.[2][8] The discovery was announced by the Minor Planet Center on 24 September.[7] Observations by SWIFT suggest that C/2012 S1's nucleus is around 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) in diameter.[9]

C/2012 S1 will come to perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on 28 November 2013 at a distance of 0.0124 AU (1,860,000 km; 1,150,000 mi) from the center point of the Sun.[3] Accounting for the solar radius of 695,500 km (432,200 mi), C/2012 S1 will pass approximately 1,165,000 km (724,000 mi) above the Sun's surface.[10] Its trajectory appears hyperbolic, which suggests that it is a dynamically new comet coming freshly from the Oort cloud.[11][12]On its closest approach, C/2012 S1 passed about 0.07248 AU (10,843,000 km; 6,737,000 mi) from Mars on 1 October 2013, and it will pass about 0.4292 AU (64,210,000 km; 39,900,000 mi) from Earth on 26 December 2013.[13]

Shortly after its discovery, similarities between the orbital elements of C/2012 S1 and the Great Comet of 1680 led to speculation that there might be a connection between them.[14] However, further observations of ISON showed that the two comets are not related.[15]

Earth will pass near the orbit of C/2012 S1 on 14–15 January 2014, well after the comet has passed, at which time micron-sized dust particles blown by the Sun's radiation may cause a meteor shower or noctilucent clouds.[16][17]However, both events are unlikely. Because Earth only passes near C/2012 S1's orbit, not actually through the tail, the chances that a meteor shower will occur are slim.[18] In addition, meteor showers from long period comets that make just one pass into the inner solar system are very rare, if ever recorded.[19] The possibility that small particles left behind on the orbital path—almost one hundred days after the nucleus has passed—could form noctilucent clouds is also slim. No such events are known to have taken place in the past under similar circumstances.[19]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Instruments and exposure data:

12*3min bin1x1

W.O FLT110 with dedicated TMB field flattener
Sky-Watcher EQ6 Pro
FeatherTouch 3'' focuser
Starizona MicroTouch autofocuser
W.O ZS80 ED
SBIG ST10XME CFW9
Meade DSI
Filters: Luminance Astrodon

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Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Thor's Helmet_NGC 2359


This is a 2 hours test shot on a difficult target ,mainly because of a low altitude.

Instruments and exposure data:

W.O FLT110 with dedicated TMB field flattener
Sky-Watcher EQ6 Pro
FeatherTouch 3'' focuser
Starizona MicroTouch autofocuser
W.O ZS80 ED
SBIG ST10XME CFW9
Meade DSI
Filters:5nm Ha Astrodon

12*10min bin1x1 5nm Ha filter


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Monday, November 4, 2013

M33: Triangulum Galaxy

    M33 reprocessed with Registax Wavelets          

    
      Early version                                                                                            


The Triangulum Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 3 million light years (ly) from Earth in the constellation Triangulum. It is catalogued as Messier 33 or NGC 598.

With a diameter of about 50,000 light years, the Triangulum galaxy is the third largest member of the Local Group of galaxies. It may be a gravitationally bound companion of the Andromeda Galaxy. (See below.) Triangulum may be home to 40 billion stars, compared to 400 billion for the Milky Way, and 1 trillion (1000 billion) stars for Andromeda.[6]
As mentioned above, M33 is linked to M31 by several streams of neutral hydrogen[47] and stars,[47] which suggests that a past interaction between these two galaxies took place between 2-8 billion years ago,[48][49] and a more violent encounter will occur 2.5 billion years in the future.[47]

The fate of the Triangulum Galaxy is unclear, but seems to be linked to its larger neighbor the Andromeda Galaxy. Suggested future scenarios for M33 include being torn apart and absorbed by Andromeda, fueling the latter with hydrogen to form new stars; eventually exhausting all of its gas, and thus the ability to form new stars;[50] or participating in the collision between the Milky Way and M31, most likely ending up orbiting the merger product of the latter two galaxies and fusing with it much later. Two other possibilities are a collision with the Milky Way before Andromeda arrives or an ejection out of the Local Group.[51]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Instruments and exposure data:

W.O FLT110 with dedicated TMB field flattener
FeatherTouch 3'' focuser
Starizona MicroTouch autofocuser
W.O ZS80 ED
SBIG ST10XME CFW9
Meade DSI
Filters: LRGB Baader Planetarium, 5nm Ha Astrodon
Sky-Watcher EQ6 Pro

L_(RED+Ha)_Green_Blue
Lum :147*5min bin1x1 (12h 15min)
Red :35*6min bin 1x1(3h 30min)
Green :27*6min (2h 42min)
Blue:46*6min bin1x1(4h 36min)
Ha:23*10min bin1x1(3h 50min)

Total exposure time 26hours 53min
Software : ccdsoft, eqmod, phd guiding, focusmax, ccdstack, aip4win, maximdl, photoshop cs

Vironas Athens Greece

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M33 Triangulum Galaxy in pure Ha light


M33 Triangulum Galaxy in pure Ha light

Using infrared observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope, a total of 515 discrete candidate sources of 24 μm emission within the Triangulum galaxy have been catalogued as of 2007. The brightest sources lie within the central region of the galaxy and along the spiral arms.

Many of the emission sources are associated with HII regions of star formation.[39] The four brightest HII regions are designated NGC 588, NGC 592, NGC 595 and NGC 604. These regions are associated with molecular clouds containing(1.2–4) × 105 solar masses. The brightest of these regions, NGC 604, may have undergone a discrete outburst of star formation about three million years ago.[40] This nebula is the second most luminous HII region within the Local Group of galaxies, at (4.5 ± 1.5) × 107 times the luminosity of the Sun.[37] Other prominent HII regions in Triangulum include IC 132, IC 133 and IK 53.[36]

The northern main spiral arm contains four large HII regions, while the southern arm has greater concentrations of young, hot stars.[36] The estimated rate of supernova explosions in the Triangulum Galaxy is 0.06 Type Ia and 0.62 Type Ib/Type II per century. This is equivalent to a supernova explosion every 147 years, on average.[41] As of 2008, a total of 100 supernova remnants have been identified in the Triangulum Galaxy,[42] and a majority of the remnants lie in the southern half of the spiral galaxy. Similar asymmetries exist for H I and H II regions, plus highly luminous concentrations of massive, O type stars. The center of the distribution of these features is offset about two arc minutes to the southwest.[36] Being a local galaxy, theCentral Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams (CBAT) tracks novae in M33 along with M31 and M81.[43]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Instruments and exposure data:

Ha 23*10min

W.O FLT110 with dedicated TMB field flattener

FeatherTouch 3'' focuser

Starizona MicroTouch autofocuser

W.O ZS80 ED

SBIG ST10XME CFW9

Meade DSI

Sky-Watcher EQ6 Pro

Filters: Ha 5nm Astrodon


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Saturday, September 21, 2013

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Melotte 15 in IC1805 reprocessed


The bright open star cluster, in this image is known as Melotte 15 after its discoverer, Philibert Jacques Melotte (1880-1961). Melotte 15 is embedded within and illuminates the central portion of the much larger glowing nebula identified as IC 1805.

The Heart Nebula, IC 1805, Sh2-190, lies some 7500 light years away from Earth and is located in the Perseus Arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. This is an emission nebula showing glowing gas and darker dust lanes. The nebula is formed by plasma of ionized hydrogen and free electrons.

The interesting structure in the right of the image is a giant area of hydrogen gas that is caused to glow by the intense ultraviolet radiation from the massive stars of the Melotte 15 star cluster.
Dust and gas clouds are eroded by the pressure of the intense radiation.

The Melotte 15 star cluster is estimated to be 7,500 light years away from Earth.

Tricolor Emmision Line image
S[II] 8nm(Red)_Ha 5nm(Green)_O[III] 3nm(Blue)
Modified Hubble Palette

Instruments and exposure data:

S[II] 22*15min_Ha 39*10min_O[III] 26*15min
total exposure time : 1110min (18h 30min)


W.O FLT110 with dedicated TMB field flattener

FeatherTouch 3'' focuser
Starizona MicroTouch autofocuser
W.O ZS80 ED
SBIG ST10XME CFW9
Meade DSI
Sky-Watcher EQ6 Pro
Filters:
Ha 5nm Astrodon

S[II] 8nm Baader
O[III] 3nm Astrodon
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Saturday, August 24, 2013

SH2 132 rework




SH2 132 rework

Modified Hubble Palette Ha_SII Ha OIII (L_RGB)
Ha 46*10min
SII 39 *10min
OIII 60*10min
total exposure time 24h and 10min

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Sharpless (Sh2) 82 The Little Cocoon


Sharpless 82 is a small emission nebula in constellation Sagitta, surrounded by a blue reflection nebula. The two nebulas lie on the background of vast dark cloud of dust.

Instruments and exposure data:

W.O FLT110 with dedicated TMB field flattener
FeatherTouch 3'' focuser
Starizona MicroTouch autofocuser
W.O ZS80 ED
SBIG ST10XME CFW9
Meade DSI
Filters: LRGB Baader Planetarium
Sky-Watcher EQ6 Pro
Lum :108*3min bin1x1 (5h 24min)
Red :76*4min bin 1x1(5h 4min)
Green :49*3min (2h 27min)
Blue:15*4min 50*180 (3h 30min)

Total exposure time 16 hours 25min

Vironas Athens Greece
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Saturday, May 25, 2013

Arasteo Astrophotography: M84 M86 NGC4438 and companions part of Markarian's chain

M84 M86 NGC4438 and companions part of Markarian's chain


M84 M86 NGC4438 and companions part of Markarian's chain

Instruments and exposure data:

W.O FLT110 with dedicated TMB field flattener
FeatherTouch 3'' focuser
Starizona MicroTouch autofocuser
W.O ZS80 ED
SBIG ST10XME CFW9
Meade DSI
Filters: LRGB Baader Planetarium
Sky-Watcher EQ6 Pro
Lum :72*6min bin1x1 (7h 12min)
Red :21*7min bin 1x1(2h 27min)
Green :21*7min (2h 27min)
Blue:28*7min (3h 16min)
Total exposure 15 hours 22min

Vironas Athens Greece
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Tuesday, March 5, 2013

SH2_132 emission nebula


Sh2_132 emission nebula, a new treatment


Modified Hubble Palette  Ha_SII Ha OIII (L_RGB)
Ha   46*10min
SII   39 *10min
OIII 60*10min
total exposure time 24h and 10min....!

Instruments data:
W.O FLT110 with dedicated TMB field flattener
FeatherTouch 3'' focuser
Starizona MicroTouch autofocuser
W.O ZS80 ED
SBIG ST10XME CFW9
Meade DSI
Filters:
Ha 5nm Astrodon
SII 7nm Baader P
OIII 3nm Astrodon
Sky-Watcher EQ6 Pro

Vironas Athens Greece

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