The Moon and the planets

It's been a while since I last posted something, but the month of June has been one of close encounters on the evening sky and I couldn't help myself. July promises to be just as good :)

This is a time when two of the brightest planets draw closer and closer together. The Moon just happens to join in. That's why, sometimes, there are interesting patterns to be seem high above.


On the 20th of June, the three formed an equilateral triangle:

The Moon, Venus and Jupiter
Nikon D90 @ 25mm
ISO320, f/5.6, 1.3 sec

The Moon, Venus and Jupiter - close-up on the equilateral triangle
Nikon D90 @ 158mm
ISO320, f/5.6, 1.6 sec

Last night, the three celestial bodies teamed up in another formation - a straight line this time. All, under the watchful eye of Leo.



"Straight lines in the sky" starring: The Moon, Regulus, Jupiter and Venus
Nikon D90 @ 25mm
ISO100, f/6.3, 20 sec
 

Looking forward to July!

The constellation of Delphinus

I recently went through some old files, images I've taken last year in August, during the annual astro-camp. That's how I found a few images of constellations - Delphinus among them.

In my opinion, this is one of the easiest constellations to find - its shape is very suggestive of the marine mammal it represents. There's nothing really noteworthy about it, maybe just Gamma Delphini (the tip of the Dolphin's snout) - an optical double star.

The constellation of Delphinus and Altair

What we lack in astronomical details, we can compensate with trivia :)

• The alpha and beta stars are called Sualocin and Rotanev. There was no apparent meaning to the names until reverend Thomas Webb found out that spelled backwards, the two stand for Nicolaus Venator. And that's the Latinized name of Niccolo Cacciatore, the observer who named them. Apparently, it was all a prank, but the star atlas published in 1814 included the two names without comment.

• In the Chinese culture, the body of the Dolphin forms what is known as the "Good Gourd".

• In Romanian star charts, it's known as "The Little Cross".

In the end, a few "technical" data about this image:
- Canon 450D and an 18-55 mm lens @42 mm
- ISO 1600, f/5.6
- 4x240sec
- stacked with DSS, with a bit of post-processing in Photoshop
- Valea Frumoasei, Romania, on August 26th, 2014

My first attempt at processing The Orion Nebula (M42) with Photoshop

In January I spent an astro-weekend in the mountains, the sole purpose of which was to acquire as many "lights" as possible, for as many objects as possible. And I'm still processing and re-processing a bunch of them.

Below is a picture of the Orion Nebula (M42) and The Running Man Nebula (NGC 1973, 1975 and 1977), processed in Photoshop. This is my first time processing something in Photoshop to this degree - I can safely say I've never spent so much time on a photo before. 

The Orion Nebula and The Running Man Nebula
17 min of exposure (30s, 60s and 90s)
Canon 450D and Stellarvue ED80
post-processing: DSS and Photoshop

I'm pretty happy with the result! :)

The Horsehead Nebula

Last weekend I went to the mountains (at Plaiul Lisei, near Sambata de Sus), to spend a few nights under the stars. The weather was bound to be good at the destination and I was finally in posession of almost everything I needed for astrophotography (minus a polar scope - but there's something "magical" about doing a polar alignment by instinct and with the help of more experienced friends).

After 2 nights of stargazing, I left Plaiul Lisei with images of the Orion Nebula, the Horsehead Nebula, the Pleiades, and comet Lovejoy, among other things. 

This is my second attempt at post-processing images with PixInsight (my first attempt was on M42). I think the finished product looks a lot better this time. I also tried not to pull too much on the Saturation curve :)


Alnitak and the Horsehead Nebula
1 exposure of 90 sec, at ISO 1600

Alnitak and the Horsehead Nebula
7x90sec + 5x60sec, at ISO 1600
stacked with DSS and postprocessed with PixInsight

There are several interesting objects to be found in this picture, some of which I've managed to identify by myself. These are:

• Alnitak (Zeta Orionis or 50 Orionis) is one of the three bright stars that make up the asterism known as the Orion's Belt. It's actually a binary system, about 800 light years away from Earth. The primary star is blue-white in colour, proof of the high temperature on the surface (at about 50,000K it is nine times hotter than the Sun). Also, its brightness gives it a magnitude of +1.7, making it one of the most visible stars in the sky.
• The Flame Nebula (NGC 2024) is a gaseous region illuminated by the supergiant Alnitak, with dust lanes that resemble a tree in flames, hence the name. 
• The Horsehead Nebula and IC 434 - at about 1,500 light years away, IC 434 is the bright nebulous region (an emission nebula) near the star Alnitak, pinkish in colour (due to the ionized hydrogen), against which you can see a dark region in the shape of a horse's head. The Horsehead Nebula (B33) is one of the most recognizable objects in the sky. Shaped as a horsehead, this dark nebula is illuminated by the nearby star Sigma Orionis and is a birthplace of stars. 
• The Lump Star (NGC 2023) is improperly named a star, since it is actually a bright reflection nebula, illuminated by a very hot B-type star. 4 light years wide, it is one of the largest such nebulae in the sky. 
• IC 431, 432 and 435 are all reflection nebulae, located around bright stars.

My set-up:

- Canon 450D 

- Stellarvue SV80ED refractor

- EQ 3.2 equitorial mount 

Images taken on January 17th, 2015, at Plaiul Lisei (Romania).

Conjunctions in August 2014 (part 1/2)

As winter sets in, I remember fondly the beautiful and mild summer that has just passed, with its breathtaking sunsets and nice weather... And sometimes conjunctions in the evening sky. :)

Speaking of, here are some photographs I took on August 29th, illustrating the conjunction between the crescent Moon and Spica (the alpha star in the Virgo constellation). All pictures were taken in Bucharest, at dusk.



 

Moon and Spica above Bucharest, at dusk
Canon, ISO400, f/5, 1/20sec, 135mm



Moon and Spica above Bucharest
Canon, ISO800, f/5, 1/3sec, 85mm

 

crescent Moon on Aug 29th, 2014
Canon, ISO400, f/5.6, 1/13sec, 300mm

crescent Moon in Bucharest (with crane :) )
Canon, ISO400, f/5, 1/20sec, 135mm

crescent Moon - Spica - crane
Canon, ISO800, f/5, 1/3sec, 85mm

conjunction between the Moon and Spica
Canon, ISO800, f/5, 1/3sec, 205mm

Orion, the Hunter

The constellation of Orion is one of the most beautiful in the entire sky; and one that is easily recognized, too. Although from the southern hemisphere, the Hunter is upside down and that's a bit weird to see.

The brightest stars are:

• Betelgeuse (on the right shoulder), meaning "the hand of Orion" (Arabic) - is a supergiant red star. So massive in fact, that if this star were at the center of the Solar System, it would extend beyond the orbit of Jupiter. But at its current distance of 640 light years away, it's the ninth brightest star in the sky.
• Rigel (on the left foot) - is actually a triple star system, all of them shining in the blue-white spectrum. Rigel is the seventh brightest star in the sky.
• Bellatrix (left shoulder) and Saiph (right foot) complete the Hunter's body
• Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka create the asterism known as the "Orion's belt" - south of it is the sword - The Orion Nebula (M42). But M42 is the subject of another post.

For now, here is the Hunter rising above Valea Frumoasei, in the early hours of the morning of August 26th, 2014.



Orion, the Hunter, rising in Valea Frumoasei



Technical data
- camera: Canon 450D
- lens: 18-55 mm at 25 mm
- mount: EQ 3.2
- exposure: 2 min (single shot)
- ISO: 1600
- date: Aug 26th, 2014
- location: Valea Frumoasei, Romania

M42

M42 - The Orion Nebula

M42 and Orion's belt - a 2 min exposure at 200 mm

The picture below was obtained by stacking 5 exposures, each 2 minutes,
4 dark frames and 10 bias. I used a Canon 450D with a 75-300 mm lens, at 200 mm, f/5 and ISO1600.
After stacking the image with DeepSkyStacker, I used PixInsight for post-processing - my first try ever.

I might mave exaggerated a bit with the Curves Transformation tool :)

M42 and Orion's belt - 10 min