New Horizons sends back video of Pluto and Charon, it's largest moon

Just 11 weeks left to go until the closest flyby of New Horizons by Pluto. Images, released on April 29, 2015, show Pluto and its largest moon Charon, which is as large as Texas, revolving about their common center of mass.

For the animated video of Pluto and Charon go to Cosmic Pursuits.

Dawn Views Ceres' North Pole

 

After spending more than a month in orbit on the dark side of dwarf planet Ceres, NASA's Dawn spacecraft has captured several views of the sunlit north pole of this intriguing world. These images were taken on April 10 from a distance of 21,000 miles (33,000 kilometers), and they represent the highest-resolution views of Ceres to date.

See NASA for details.

Big Bang theory could be debunked by Large Hadron Collider

Scientists at Cern could prove the controversial theory of ‘rainbow gravity’ which suggests that the universe stretches back into time infinitely, with no Big Bang!

Interesting read - the complete story at The Telegraph.

Dawn closing in on Ceres

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has returned new images captured on approach to its historic orbit insertion at the dwarf planet Ceres. Dawn will be the first mission to successfully visit a dwarf planet when it enters orbit around Ceres on Friday, March 6.

Dawn began its final approach phase toward Ceres in December. The spacecraft has taken several optical navigation images and made two rotation characterizations, allowing Ceres to be observed through its full nine-hour rotation. Since Jan. 25, Dawn has been delivering the highest-resolution images of Ceres ever captured, and they will continue to improve in quality as the spacecraft approaches.

Check out JPL News for the complete story.

M42 - Orion Nebula

Now with PixInsight processing figured out I'm re-processing some of my latest images. So here is the Orion Nebula, again.

M42 - EdgeHD1100 w/Hyperstar
100x30sec ISO800

Updated Horsehead and Flame Nebula

Discovered a problem with the way my software was stacking the images. Once corrected, the shadow artifacts were almost completely removed and the low contrast was fixed. The final image was much improved.  I will be re-doing some earlier images as well to see what improvements I can get. So here is the updated version of the Horsehead and Flame Nebulae.

Improved Horsehead

Interstellar technology throws light on spinning black holes

The team responsible for the Oscar-nominated visual effects at the center of Christopher Nolan’s epic Interstellar have turned science fiction into science fact by providing new insights into the powerful effects of black holes.

Astronomy magazine has the full article.

More Fun with Hyperstar

Still learning how to use the new Hyperstar I acquired this month, and although the use of my Canon 50D causes some problems with using the Hyperstar to its full capabilities I am still able to capture some amazing photos. Spend about 3 hours on February 13th to capture some cool images. When the clouds started to roll in at 10:00 I dismantled the equipment. In retrospect I should have waited about an hour as the skies cleared again. With clear and transparent skies at a premium in Maryland I should have waited and so I missed an opportunity to capture another 2-3 hours of images. Oh well.

First up is comet Lovejoy, which is now very high in the NW sky and getting fainter every day. The Hyperstar made it fairly easy to capture the comet and the tail.

Lovejoy - Feb 13, 2015
80x30sec ISO800 EdgeHD-1100 w/Hyperstar f/2

I also tried to capture the Horsehead nebula in Orion. Had I waited for the skies to clear I could have gotten at least another 50-100 subs to add to the image. This photo suffers from some of the image artifacts due to the 50D's large footprint, but I'll be able to add more subs to the mix and reprocess this wonderful nebula later this month.

Horsehead and Flame Nebula
60x30sec ISO800 EdgeHD-1100 w/Hyperstar f/2

All in all, I'm really pleased with the performance of the Hyperstar. Cuts my imaging time to less than 1/20th of the normal times, and provides a much wider field of view.

Say cheese! Hubble telescope captures extraterrestrial smiley face

Smiley face from deep space - (nasa.gov)

Kinda creepy in a way. This image is the result of gravitational lensing, where an object (in this case a group of massive galaxies) bend the light from objects behind them. In essence the galaxy cluster acts as a lens focusing the light into contorted and stretched images.

See the full article here.

First Light with Hyperstar-III

I've waited 2 full weeks for the weather to clear, the moon to disappear, and the wind to die down. And last night I was finally able to try out my new Hyperstar on the EdgeHD 1100. I picked M42, the Orion Nebula, for the first test and after taking 50 x 20sec subs with an LP filter here's my first result, processed in PI and PSP.

M42 - Orion Nebula
50x20sec ISO800 - EdgeHD 1100 w/Hyperstar

 

Then I targeted the Pleiades star cluster, M45. I’ve always wanted to see if I could get the subtle blue nebulosity to show and with the Hyperstar, success!

M45 - Pleiades
50x20sec ISO800 - EdgeHD 1100 w/Hyperstar

These are only the first test images of the new equipment. Once I get the calibration done and the proper flats applied (should eliminate the light smudgy areas around the image) I should be able to extract more detail and keep the backrgound dark.

 

 

So, What does Rosetta Have to Tell Us?

The Rosetta spacecraft is revealing Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as having a remarkable array of surface features and with many processes contributing to its activity, painting a complex picture of its evolution.Never before have we been able to examine comet terrain with such clarity and detail. In just a few weeks Rosetta has increased our knowledge of comets many times over, and, as most such discoveries do, added to our lack of understanding as well.

Astronomy Magazine has a nice article on the latest from Rosetta. You can read all about it there.