Stuff in the Sky

[Canuck from Kansas]

One that got away, yes NGC 4565, commonly referred to as the Needle Galaxy, a rather conspicuous, edge-on spiral galaxy was missed by Charles Messier; thus, no "M" number and not a member of Messier's famous catalogue of stuff in the sky. NGC 4565, in the constellation Coma Berenices, was discovered by William Herschel in 1785. It is approximately 30 to 50 million light years away. You'll notice, this is a very flat, thin-looking galaxy, with a central dust lane that cuts across the central nuclear region (visible in the cropped image) that blocks and reddens the light from the interior. It is thought that our own Milky Way would look very similar if seen from outside its galactic equatorial plane.

NGC 4564: 30 x 240 second light exposures, 30 x 240 second darks:



Same image cropped (NGC 4562 is the little blue "smudge" just below at about 7 o'clock):



cheers

 

[Aufwuchs]

Wow! I just discovered this thread. Amazing stuff.

 

[DanielOcean]

Red giant star is blowing strange smoke rings as it is about to die

Two telescopes charted the structure of a star about to die in unprecedented detail.

www.space.com

 

[Canuck from Kansas]

@DanielOcean, thanks for contributing - very cool

Also discovered, to at least announced this week, the furthest star every detected:

Hubble spots the farthest star ever seen

Astronomers identified Earendel — which almost certainly died in a fiery explosion nearly 13 billion years ago — thanks to a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing.

astronomy.com

Cheers

 

[DanielOcean]

@DanielOcean, thanks for contributing - very cool

Also discovered, to at least announced this week, the furthest star every detected:

Hubble spots the farthest star ever seen

Astronomers identified Earendel — which almost certainly died in a fiery explosion nearly 13 billion years ago — thanks to a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing.

astronomy.com

Cheers

Yeah i saw this as well. I got my scope out and did some freshening up to make sure it survived the move well enough. Im still using the stock eyepieces but plan to get 1 or 2 better quality ones. I have always been infatuated with saturn and thats really as far as my skill goes now.

 

[Canuck from Kansas]

Well, with no moon and a forecast of upcoming cloudy weather, I spent a rather sleepless night Saturday, acquiring 2 targets, including after several failed attempts, Markarian's Chain.

Markarian's Chain is a chain of galaxies at the heart of the Virgo cluster, a cluster of over 2000 galaxies (I didn't count them, information from https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/astrophotography/galaxies/markarians-chain/). The 2 brightest in the chain, M 84 and M 86 were discovered by Charles Messier on 18 March 1781. The others, NGC 4477, NGC 4473, NGC 4461, NGC 4458, NGC 4438, and NGC 4435 were discovered by William Herschel. OK, so, why is it named Markarian's chain if the galaxies were discovered by Messier and Herschel you ask? Markarian's is named after the Armenian astrophysicist Benjamin Markarian, who discovered in the 1960's they share common motion through space.

Markarian's Chain: 30 x 240 second exposures; 30 darks:




Messier 104, commonly known as the Sombrero Galaxy, is also found in the constellation Virgo. It has an exceptionally bright nucleus and a prominent dust ring. With its edge-on view, if you use your imagination, it resembles a Sombrero; thus it's common name. The Sombrero Galaxy was discovered in 1767 by Pierre Mechain. Charles Messier made a note of this object in his personal list of objects, but didn't actually include it in his original published catalogue. In 1912, M 104 became the first galaxy for which a large redshift was found, by Vesto Slipher of Lowell Observatory. M 104's redshift corresponds to a recession velocity of about 1100 km/sec - too fast for it to be an object inside our Milky Way galaxy. Slipher's observations were among the first key pieces of evidence for of the expansion of the universe and the Big Bang Theory.

M 104: Only 5 x 240 second exposures (low in the horizon and trees got in my way); 10 darks:



Information on the Sombrero Galaxy from SkySafari 6.

Edit to correct exposure time for Markarian's chain from 20 seconds to 240.

Cheers

 

[DanielOcean]

Well, with no moon and a forecast of upcoming cloudy weather, I spent a rather sleepless night Saturday, acquiring 2 targets, including after several failed attempts, Markarian's Chain.

Markarian's Chain is a chain of galaxies at the heart of the Virgo cluster, a cluster of over 2000 galaxies (I didn't count them, information from https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/astrophotography/galaxies/markarians-chain/). The 2 brightest in the chain, M 84 and M 86 were discovered by Charles Messier on 18 March 1781. The others, NGC 4477, NGC 4473, NGC 4461, NGC 4458, NGC 4438, and NGC 4435 were discovered by William Herschel. OK, so, why is it named Markarian's chain if the galaxies were discovered by Messier and Herschel you ask? Markarian's is named after the Armenian astrophysicist Benjamin Markarian, who discovered in the 1960's they share common motion through space.

Markarian's Chain: 30 x 20 second exposures; 30 darks:

View attachment 10702


Messier 104, commonly known as the Sombrero Galaxy, is also found in the constellation Virgo. It has an exceptionally bright nucleus and a prominent dust ring. With its edge-on view, if you use your imagination, it resembles a Sombrero; thus it's common name. The Sombrero Galaxy was discovered in 1767 by Pierre Mechain. Charles Messier made a note of this object in his personal list of objects, but didn't actually include it in his original published catalogue. In 1912, M 104 became the first galaxy for which a large redshift was found, by Vesto Slipher of Lowell Observatory. M 104's redshift corresponds to a recession velocity of about 1100 km/sec - too fast for it to be an object inside our Milky Way galaxy. Slipher's observations were among the first key pieces of evidence for of the expansion of the universe and the Big Bang Theory.

M 104: Only 5 x 240 second exposures (low in the horizon and trees got in my way); 10 darks:

View attachment 10704

Information on the Sombrero Galaxy from SkySafari 6.

Cheers

How do you feel about super respectful younger men being in your presence asking you unique questions about the cosmos? This person hypothetically would never get in your way, has a very good supply of beer and loves buying dinner too. I mean would you ever host a friend like this? I am asking as a favor to a friend of a friend. Hypothetically ofcourse.

 

[mark wlker]

I find all this fascinating!
I'm usually up around 3AM. Head outside with my coffee and check out the Arizona sky. No light pollution here. Milky Way is overhead and many rookie easily identified constellations.
Bravo for your efforts!

 

[Canuck from Kansas]

How do you feel about super respectful younger men being in your presence asking you unique questions about the cosmos? This person hypothetically would never get in your way, has a very good supply of beer and loves buying dinner too. I mean would you ever host a friend like this? I am asking as a favor to a friend of a friend. Hypothetically ofcourse.

I have commented in the past, on an unspoken other forum where this thread originated, how this pastime is much like fly fishing. As such, it is often pursued in solo, ... BUT, also like fly fishing, it too can be as enjoyable, or even more enjoyable in the company of other such enthusiasts, and one is always happy to pass on local knowledge and experience. With that said, hypothetically speaking of course, a friend of a friend who is super respectful would always be welcome aboard. Any questions will be answered to the best ability of the host, which is quite limited, as said host is indeed a relative beginner. No need for buying dinner, as said pastime, especially in the summer, is well past the eating hour. Tweed is optional, but, much like as in fly fishing, is known to impress any host.

In other words, hell yeah!!

Cheers

 

[Canuck from Kansas]

I find all this fascinating!
I'm usually up around 3AM. Head outside with my coffee and check out the Arizona sky. No light pollution here. Milky Way is overhead and many rookie easily identified constellations.
Bravo for your efforts!

Skies here in Bend aren't too bad, but certainly there is light pollution (Bortle Index 4). I do often go out to the desert about 15 miles or so to get a "dark sky" - once the snow melts I also have a higher elevation dark sky spot I go to - it is amazing the difference. Even from my dark sky location in the desert, you can see the glow in the west from Bend. There is a blossoming movement here to address the situation.

Cheers

 

[DanielOcean]

'Dead' telescope discovers Jupiter's twin from beyond the grave

This is the most distant exoplanet Kepler ever found.

www.space.com

 

[Canuck from Kansas]

Messier 83 (M 83), sometimes referred to as the "Southern Pinwheel Galaxy", is a face-on spiral Galaxy in the constellation Hydra. As its common name implies, it is in the southern sky and is best viewed from the southern hemisphere. M 83 was disccovered by Nicholas Louis de Lacaille at the Cape of Good Hope in 1752 and Charles Messier added it to his catalogue in 1781. Six supernovae have been observed in M 83, until recently, the most in any galaxy (NGC 6946 now holds the record of 9). M 83 lies 15 million light years away, its true diameter is over 100,000 light years, and its absolute magnitude is -21.6, a luminosity of 36 billion suns. It is receding at 337 km/sec.

M83: 10 x 240 second light exposures and 10 darks. I am actually quite happy with this image, given only 10 exposures - it was very low on the horizon, never rising above 17 degrees; thus I was fighting trees and a lot of atmospheric interference (I may have oversaturated the image just a touch).



Information from SkySafari 6.

Cheers

 

[wanderingrichard]

Some of my favorite shooting memories are from night captures. Its amazing to stand next to your tripod in pitch black moonless night and watch that little red "shutter open" light glow on the camera for 20-30 seconds, then see things on the back screen that your naked eyes could not. But for me I like the wide lens images. Here are my three favorites including the Milky Way from Haleakala that won us a Hawaii Mag grand prize package one year. I still want to shoot Mt Rainier and the Milky Way and possibly Smith Rock & MW too. But like Swimmy, each year I fall asleep earlier and earlier, so who knows?
View attachment 4398View attachment 4397

View attachment 4400

Love that Bixby Bridge shot.

 

[wanderingrichard]

Well, as mentioned, the Moon is filling and it's now just too bright to go to fainter targets, so, when in Rome, might as well shoot the Moon - fun fact, the Moon is not made of green cheese.

View attachment 4987

View attachment 4988

Cheers

No, but it looks like you caught a Blue Moon

 

[Canuck from Kansas]

No, but it looks like you caught a Blue Moon

Speaking of the Moon (that coloring was likely due to the light pollution filter I was using and didn't correct for in my post image processing); I had not realized the far side was so different from the visible side, course, I have never seen the far side.



The reason for the difference has been a long-standing mystery - now a possible explanation:

Differences between the Moon’s near and far sides linked to colossal ancient impact

New research shows how the impact that created the Moon’s South Pole–Aitken basin is linked to the stark contrast in composition and appearance between the two sides of the Moon.

www.brown.edu

Cheers

 

[Canuck from Kansas]

Took advantage of some clear sky and a waning, crescent (42.2% illuminated), late rising moon to visit a distant galaxy. The Black Eye Galaxy (M 64), so called due to the dark band of absorbing dust in front of the galaxy's bright nucleus (more visible in the cropped version) is a classic spiral galaxy. M 64 was first discovered by Edward Pigott in March 1779, and then independently by Johann Elert Bode in April of the same year, as well as by Charles Messier who added it to his catalogue in 1780. The dark dust feature was discovered by William Herschel, who observed M 64 twice in 1785 and 1789. M 64 lies at a distance of is approximately 17 million light years, and is approximately 48,000 light-years across.

Interestingly, the interstellar gas in the outer regions of M 64 rotates in the opposite direction from the gas, dust lanes, and stars in the inner regions; a rather unusual and remarkable finding. Astronomers believe that the oppositely rotating gas arose when M 64 absorbed a satellite galaxy that collided with it, perhaps more than a billion years ago. The small galaxy that impinged on its neighbour has now been almost completely destroyed. Its stars have either merged with the main galaxy or scattered into space, but signs of the collision persist in the backward motion of gas at the outer edge of M 64.

M 64 (Black Eye Galaxy, also sometimes referred to as Sleeping Beauty Galaxy or Evil Eye Galaxy; 35 x 240 second light exposures, 30 darks).



Cropped - note the "black eye"


Information from SkySafari 6 Pro.

Edit: Also, have a look at the link for stunning Hubble images:

Black Eye Galaxy - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Cheers

 

[wanderingrichard]

Gonna resurrect this over here, well because I can and because this is the only social media I'm on and can post stuff.

I'll start with our old friend, the Orion nebula (Running Man at about 10 o'clock), it is just so stunning. You can actually see the this nebula with a good pair of binoculars and get decent photos with a telephoto (anywhere from 200 to 600 mm) and tripod - this was taken with a Zenithstar 81 559 mm refractor scope with 0.8x reducer, so the equivalent of about 450 mm, Sony Alpha 77II (ISO 800; 30 x 180 second exposures):

View attachment 2125

And my latest visit to the Andromeda galaxy, also easily viewable with binoculars.

View attachment 2189

Cheers

Before I go off base, UFO's don't count, right ?

 

[Canuck from Kansas]

Before I go off base, UFO's don't count, right ?

Dunno, they count in my book.

cheers

 

[wanderingrichard]

Dunno, they count in my book.

cheers

Oy !, someone overheard me and took me serious..
These guys are trying to bring back the flying flapjack and use it for solo commuting.

For me, it would wreck any chance of being able to use a telescope in our current urban setting.


KING5.com: Locally designed personal flying saucer could take you from Tacoma to Seattle in 15 minutes.

Locally designed personal flying saucer could take you from Tacoma to Seattle in 15 minutes

ZEVA Aero wants to have one of these in every garage by 2040. #k5evening

www.king5.com

 

[Kenneth Yong]

Was playing with my new phone (Samsung S22 Ultra 5G) the other day. Granted, the moon photo (cropped) is objectively not great, but from a hand-held phone using its 10X periscope zoom lens (230mm equivalent), I'm almost impressed. Didn't think it was possible to actually see the craters and what-not. First photo was taken at 23mm equivalent, primary camera, night mode, view from toilet (so usable in another well-known thread), image size reduced for forum.

Kenneth