M20 - The Trifid Nebula - Wide Angle Hyperstar

Here, for your enjoyment, is the famous Trifid nebula taken with my wide angle HyperStar lens on the EdgeHD11.  This will be one of the last images I will post for awhile as my telescope mount has developed a serious problem in the RA axis that prevents steady tracking.  May be out of service for a couple of months.

M20 - The Trifid Nebula
EdgeHD11 w/HyperStar - August 26,2016
20x120sec QHY10 Camera

The Trifid Nebula (catalogued as Messier 20 or M20 and as NGC 6514) is an H II region located in Sagittarius. It was discovered by Charles Messier on June 5, 1764.^[3] Its name means 'divided into three lobes'. The object is an unusual combination of an open cluster of stars; an emission nebula (the lower, red portion), a reflection nebula (the upper, blue portion) and a dark nebula (the apparent 'gaps' within the emission nebula that cause the trifurcated appearance; these are also designated Barnard 85). Viewed through a small telescope, the Trifid Nebula is a bright and peculiar object, and is thus a perennial favorite of amateur astronomers.  (WikiPedia)

M10 - Globular Cluster

M10 - August 27, 2016
EdgeHD 11 with Hyperstar - 10x180sec QHY10 Camera

Finally got around to processing some of deep space objects (DSOs) I imaged back in August. Here is the globular cluster M10 (with the orange star 30 Oph to the left).  Since I'm having some problems with guiding at larger focal lengths (possibly a defect in my mount motor) I had to use the wide field Hyperstar setup and so the cluster is smaller than I could have gotten at the f/7 focal length.

M10 (also designated NGC 6254) is a globular cluster of stars in the equatorial constellation of Ophiuchus. The object was discovered by the French astronomer Charles Messier on May 29, 1764, who cataloged it as number 10 in his catalogue and described it as a "nebula without stars". In 1774, German astronomer Johann Elert Bode likewise called it a "nebulous patch without stars; very pale". Using larger instrumentation, German-born astronomer William Herschel was able to resolve the cluster into its individual members. He described it as a "beautiful cluster of extremely compressed stars". William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse thought he could distinguish a dark lane through part of the cluster. The first to estimate the distance to the cluster was Harlow Shapley, although his derivation of 33,000 light years was much further than the modern value of 14300 LY.  (Wikipedia)

Astronomers might have just caught a glimpse of a black hole being born

Insspirito/Pixabay

For the first time ever, a team of astronomers might have witnessed the birth of a black hole, roughly 20 million light-years from Earth.

While researchers have long thought that black holes form when supergiant stars collapse, new data from the Hubble Space Telescope might finally confirm this hypothesis.

Full story at:  Science Alert

Cosmic Neutrinos Detected, Confirming The Big Bang's Last Great Prediction

New discovery and analysis finally confirms the elusive prediction of the Big Bang. Last year, a leftover glow unlike any other — of neutrinos — was finally seen.

Complete story at Forbes

Happy Anniversary StarTrek - 50th

Today marks 50 years since the premier of STTOS (Star Trek The Original Series) which aired on NBC, September 8, 1966.  I was 13 and was glued to the B&W TV we had for the whole hour!

See the story at:  NBC News

Hello, old friend ... Philae found!

Philae: Lost comet lander is found

The little robot is visible in new images downloaded from the Rosetta probe in orbit around the icy dirt-ball 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.  European Space Agency (Esa) officials say there is no doubt about the identification - "it's as clear as day", one told the BBC.

ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team

More photos and details about the find can be found at BBC.com