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’.
Showing posts with label Star Clusters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Star Clusters. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Emission Nebula NGC6820 with Open Cluster NGC6823


NGC 6820 is an emission nebula that surrounds open cluster NGC 6823 in Vulpecula, near M27, the Dumbbell Nebula. The nebula NGC 6820 is also called Sharpless catalog Sh 2-86.

The most striking feature is the trunk-like pillar of dust and gas protruding from the east side of the nebula towards the open cluster, NGC 6823 in the west. The center of the open cluster is about two million years old and is predominantly represented by many young, bright blue stars. Outer parts of the cluster intimately involving pillars of emission nebula NGC 6820, contain even younger stars. The huge pillars of gas and dust are probably formed when surrounding gas and dust is pushed and eroded away by radiation from nearby stars. Remarkable dark globules of gas and dust are also visible in the nebula, much as is seen in the better known Eagle Nebula in Serpens or the Lagoon Nebula in Sagittarius.
Open star cluster NGC 6823 is about 50 light years across and lies about 6000 light years away
*From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Instruments and exposure data:

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

Lum:39*10min bin1x1
Total exposure time:6h 30min

Location: Vironas,Athens Greece

Sunday, November 9, 2014

NGC 2244


Instruments and exposure data:
W.O FLT110 with dedicated TMB field flattener and FeatherTouch 3'' focuser
Filter Astrodon 5nm
SBIG ST10XME CFW9
Starizona MicroTouch autofocuser
EQ6
Hα:20*5min(bin1x1) total 1h40min

The Rosette Nebula is a large, circular H II region located near one end of a giant molecular cloud in the Monoceros region of the Milky Way Galaxy. The open cluster NGC 2244 is closely associated with the nebulosity, the stars of the cluster having been formed from the nebula's matter.
The cluster and nebula lie at a distance of some 5,200 light years from Earth (although estimates of the distance vary considerably) and measure roughly 130 light years in diameter. The radiation from the young stars excite the atoms in the nebula, causing them to emit radiation themselves producing the emission nebula we see. The mass of the nebula is estimated to be around 10,000 solar masses.
It is believed that stellar winds from a group of O and B stars are exerting pressure on interstellar clouds to cause compression, followed by star formation in the nebula. This star formation is currently still ongoing.
A survey of the nebula with the Chandra X-ray Observatory in 2001 has revealed the presence of very hot, young stars at the core of the Rosette Nebula. These stars have heated the surrounding gas to a temperature in the order of 6 million kelvins causing them to emit copious amounts of X-rays.

Friday, May 9, 2014

M13 GLOBULAR CLUSTER



M13 was discovered by Edmond Halley in 1714, and catalogued by Charles Messier on June 1, 1764.With an apparent magnitude of 5.8, it is barely visible with the naked eye on a very clear night. Its diameter is about 23 arc minutes and it is readily viewable in small telescopes. Nearby is NGC 6207, a 12th magnitude edge-on galaxy that lies 28 arc minutes directly north east. A small galaxy, IC 4617, lies halfway between NGC 6207 and M13, north-northeast of the large globular's center.
M13 is about 145 light-years in diameter, and it is composed of several hundred thousand stars, the brightest of which is the variable starV11 with an apparent magnitude of 11.95. M13 is 25,100 light-years away from Earth.

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

L:60*3min bin1x1
R:15*3min bin1x1
G:15*3min bin1x1
B:15*3min bin1x1
Total exposure time:5h15min

Astrobin Image of the Day 16 May 2014

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Monday, November 21, 2011

Melotte 15 in IC1805

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

Kallithea Athens Hellas

Anacortes Image of the Day 22/11/2011

Monday, May 17, 2010

M13

M13 was discovered by Edmond Halley in 1714, and catalogued by Charles Messier on June 1, 1764.
With an apparent magnitude of 5.8, it is barely visible with the naked eye on a very clear night. Its diameter is about 23 arc minutes and it is readily viewable in small telescopes. Nearby is NGC 6207, a 12th magnitude edge-on galaxy that lies 28 arc minutes directly north east. A small galaxy, IC 4617, lies halfway between NGC 6207 and M13, north-northeast of the large globular's center.
M13 is about 145 light-years in diameter, and it is composed of several hundred thousand stars, the brightest of which is the variable starV11 with an apparent magnitude of 11.95. M13 is 25,100 light-years away from Earth.


W.O FLT110 with dedicated TMB field flattener and Feather Touch 3'' focuser
SBIG ST10XME
CFW9 with Baader LRGB
Starizona MicroTouch autofocuser
EQ6

Lum : 175min
Red : 45min
Green : 45min
Blue : 45min
3min subs
Total exposure 4h20min from Kallithea Athens Greece


Wednesday, August 26, 2009

M15 Globular Cluster

60% of the original size


full resolution


Messier 15 or M15 (also designated NGC 7078) is a globular cluster in the constellation Pegasus. It was discovered by Jean-Dominique Maraldi in 1746 and included in Charles Messier's catalogue of comet-like objects in 1764. At an estimated 13.2 billion years old, it is one of the oldest known globular clusters.

M15 is about 33,600 light-years from Earth. It has an absolute magnitude of -9.2 which translates to a total luminosity of 360,000 times that of the Sun. Messier 15 is one of the most densely packed globulars known in the Milky Way galaxy. Its core has undergone a contraction known as 'core collapse' and it has a central density cusp with an enormous number of stars surrounding what may be a central black hole.[citation needed]

Messier 15 contains 112 variable stars, a rather high number. It also contains at least 8 pulsars, including one double neutron star system, M15 C. Moreover, M15 houses Pease 1, one of only four planetary nebulae known to reside within a globular cluster, which was discovered in 1928.[1]

To the amateur astronomer Messier 15 appears as a fuzzy star in the smallest of telescopes. Mid to large size telescopes (at least 6 in./150 mm diameter) will start to reveal individual stars, the brightest of which are of magnitude +12.6.




To the upper left corner of the image it's also visible a very faint Spiral Galaxy IC5115

FLT110
EQ6 Pro
ST10XME

13*3min Blue
9*3min Green
11*3min Red

Total exposure 1h39min
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Friday, August 15, 2008