Stuff in the Sky

[Canuck from Kansas]

Love how the moons change position in orbit around Jupiter in one Earth day. A near moons eclipse tonight (two just left of the planet)?
View attachment 36223View attachment 36231

Io and Europa also passed behind Jupiter last evening, though it was just around sunset (my time) and just above the horizon, so couldn't view - representation from SkySafari Pro:



For anyone who might be interested, there is a pretty good open-source (free) astronomy program for finding/mapping/tracking stuff in the sky, including satellites - it will also provide a pretty good representation of what you can image with various different camera lens/telescope focal lengths.

Stellarium Astronomy Software

Stellarium is a planetarium software that shows exactly what you see when you look up at the stars. It's easy to use, and free.

stellarium.org

Cheers

 

[Canuck from Kansas]

Tonight (well, tomorrow) at about 3:00 AM my time (Midnight for those fortunate enough to be Pacific - did I mention I hate Eastern time), Ganymede will cross Saturn, though I can't tell from my program whether it is in front or behind - I guess I will have to try and look and see.

cheers

 

[Gyrfalcon22]

Airliner zipping by the moon. It was booking fast ! I have never personally seen this happen before -these are video stills


Getting towards Halloween-creepy out

 

[Kenneth Yong]

Ah, the envy, the envy!

I started browsing for equipment, and after an hour, decided that if I ever wanted to get into astrophotography the way I would like, I'd have to sell my right kidney and left lung, among other things, so the cellphone will have to do. Sigh.

In any case, here are 5 blobs in the sky, presumably Jupiter and 4 of its moons. Sigh.

Kenneth

 

[Tom Butler]

Tonight (well, tomorrow) at about 3:00 AM my time (Midnight for those fortunate enough to be Pacific - did I mention I hate Eastern time), Ganymede will cross Saturn, though I can't tell from my program whether it is in front or behind - I guess I will have to try and look and see.

cheers

I'm trying to model this in my head. If everyting spins counterclockwise looking down from north, then a moon should pass in front from left to right, and behind from right to left? Ah, makes my head hurt this early. I'll enjoy the pics a little, since it's time to go teach fractions anyway.

 

[Canuck from Kansas]

Ah, the envy, the envy!

I started browsing for equipment, and after an hour, decided that if I ever wanted to get into astrophotography the way I would like, I'd have to sell my right kidney and left lung, among other things, so the cellphone will have to do. Sigh.

In any case, here are 5 blobs in the sky, presumably Jupiter and 4 of its moons. Sigh.

Kenneth

Indeed looks like Jupiter and moons - good capture.

It is amazing what you can capture with existing equipment that you might already have, ie, a decent long lens on a digital camera, and apparently with a cell phone - I bet if you pointed it in the right direction, you could possibly get some of the larger bright nebulae such as Orion, the problem would be holding the cellphone steady enough to take longer exposures.

But yeah, I've mentioned how this is a lot like fly fishing, always wanting another rod/telescope and can also be very specialized, ie, planetary/moon, solar system objects have different requirements than deep sky.

cheers

 

[Canuck from Kansas]

Well, we've been here before ( #6 ), but sometimes ya just have to revisit and do things better. I was "Not entirely happy" the first go around with the "Pacman" nebula (NGC 281). Just didn't think I was getting enough light. Thought the OIII: Halpha dual narrow pass filter might've been blocking too much light. At that time, I was using the Sony Alpha 77ii for grabbing images on the back of the Zenithstar 81, 5-minute exposures at ISO 3200. Since, then I upgraded to a dedicated, cooled ZWO ASI294 color camera; very sensitive and very low signal to noise ratio. Below is a stack of 65 x 4 minute exposures with the same filter, uncropped.

NGC 281 is an emission nebula in the Cassiopeiae constellation. Still not sure that I see "Pacman", but overall, much happier with this image.



Approximately 100% crop:



Cheers

 

[Canuck from Kansas]

New from the JWST - the Pillars of Creation, which are embedded within the Eagle Nebula (AKA Star Queen) - My take on the Eagle is in #77, with the Pillars visible in the middle/central region of the Nebula

Go to https://esawebb.org/images/weic2216c/ for more information



Cheers

 

[Kenneth Yong]

I downloaded the full sized TIFF earlier, and have just spent the last 15 minutes or so having my mind blown by the total immensity and intensity of the image. Makes you want to scream at the whole wonder of it, know what I mean?

Kenneth

 

[Canuck from Kansas]

I downloaded the full sized TIFF earlier, and have just spent the last 15 minutes or so having my mind blown by the total immensity and intensity of the image. Makes you want to scream at the whole wonder of it, know what I mean?

Kenneth

Yup!!

 

[Kenneth Yong]

Here's the thing, I was initially looking at the image on a 27" monitor, and it was simply incredible.

Then I thought to myself, and it's astonishing why these thoughts don't occur sooner, "Wonder what this'll look like on a 12' (diagonal) screen?"

Behold, and here's where the mind gets truly bent out of shape:

I heartily recommend this exercise in humility to anyone who's got a projector at home.

Kenneth

 

[DoesItFloat]

Orionids happening - https://www.space.com/orionid-meteor-shower-peak-oct-21-202-what-to-expect

Easy to find where to look. Last year was great.

 

[Canuck from Kansas]

I will really need to revisit this one with darker skies and longer imaging time; the Witch Head Nebula (IC 2118), is a very large but very faint reflection nebula in the constellation Eridanus, about 2.5 degrees east of Rigel, in Orion. The Witch is primarily a light bluish hue with relatively little other color, which I suppose is fitting. She is illuminated by Rigel. Her bluish hue is caused not only by Rigel's color, but also because dust grains in the nebula reflect blue light more efficiently than they do red.

The Witch Head Nebula (IC 2118): 15 x 300 second light exposures, 15 darks with multispectra filter. I also played with some defraction to get "spiky" stars (at least for the largest brightest ones), something you do not normally get with a refractor scope:



Information via SkySafari 6 Pro.

Cheers

 

[SilverFly]

New JWST mid-infrared image of the Pillars of Creation:

 

[Canuck from Kansas]

Uh oh!!

'Planet killer' near-Earth asteroid spotted, the largest in 8 years | CNN

Astronomers have spotted three near-Earth asteroids that were lurking undetected within the glare of the sun. One of the asteroids is the largest potentially hazardous object to Earth to be discovered in the last eight years.

www.cnn.com

Cheers??

 

[Zak]

The sun was ‘smiling’ in a NASA photo. It might be a warning for Earth

Here's why this isn't good: "More so than a smiley face, its eyes are like gleaming laser beams sending particles that can cause severe disruptions to the atmosphere on Earth."

www.seattletimes.com

 

[Canuck from Kansas]

IC 1396 is large beautiful region of nebulosity, lit up by an open-star cluster in the constellation Cepheus. At its heart is the triple Struve 2816 and just below is the Elephant Trunk, the dark dense vein with a bright, fiery rim (IC 1396A).

All things considered, I'm not terribly disappointed with the below. I would certainly like more data (exposures), at least twice as much, darker sky (waxing moon, 87.6% illuminated), and less humidity - lens flogged up with dew half way through (dew shield heater is on the way); but ya make do with the hand dealt ya.

IC 1396: 30 x 300 second light exposures, 30 darks, OIII/H-alpha duo-narrowband filter:



Heavily cropped to highlight the Elephant Trunk:



cheers

 

[VAGABOND]

Great images. These have been morning highlights for a while.
Abnormal local weather lately with higher humidity than usual.
Be prepared for tripod anchors this coming week Monday night thru Thursday. Ocean’s going to get angry.

 

[Canuck from Kansas]

Full lunar eclipse Tuesday AM. Provided clear skies (forecast looks good) I will get the start of it here, and a bit of totality, but then likely too low for the whole thing - Pacific Time should be ideal (have I mentioned I hate Eastern Time, always have, even growing up with it - I'm gonna start a petition).

Clear skies and Cheers

 

[wanderingrichard]

New JWST mid-infrared image of the Pillars of Creation:

View attachment 38695

You sure that's not the Gauntlet of Thanos ?