Parker Solar Probe on its way

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman High-Res Image

Hours before the rise of the very star it will study, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe launched from Florida Sunday, Aug. 12 to begin its journey to the Sun, where it will undertake a landmark mission. The spacecraft will transmit its first science observations in December, beginning a revolution in our understanding of the star that makes life on Earth possible.

For the complete story of this remarkable project head on over to APL.

Some New Images

It's been a really poor year for astrophotography - very few clear nights, and when I get them, I'm busy doing other work. In the summer its harder because you only get 5.5 hours of darkness (which starts at 10:30PM making imaging on weeknights tough). But here are a few more photos I've taken recently.

M17 - Omega Nebula - July 9, 2018
EdgeHD11 w/Hyperstar  f/2
QHY10 - 120x90sec at -20C

First up is the Omega nebula. The Omega Nebula, also known as the Swan Nebula, Checkmark Nebula, and the Horseshoe Nebula (catalogued as Messier 17 or M17 or NGC 6618) is an H II region in the constellation Sagittarius. It is between 5,000 and 6,000 light-years from Earth and it spans some 15 light-years in diameter. The cloud of interstellar matter of which this nebula is a part is roughly 40 light-years in diameter and has a mass of 30,000 solar masses. The total mass of the Omega Nebula is an estimated 800 solar masses.

First Quarter Moon - July 19, 2018
William Optics GT102 f/5.6
ASI1600mm Pro - 250 frames stacked

Next is our moon, ol'Luna, at the 1st quarter phase. This one got me "Top Pick" on Astrobin.com where I host all my astrophotos.

Comet 21/P - July 8, 2018
EdgeHD11 w/Hyperstar f/2
QHY10 - 30x90sec at -20C

Last is a periodic comet, 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, which I got just recently. This comet will be brightening in the next few weeks, so as long as the skies cooperate I'll attempt better captures.

Globulars and a Galaxy

Clear nights are hard to come by this year, so when I got a few back in mid June I stayed up late and captured a few DSOs (that's Deep Sky Objects). Luckily the 15th was a Friday, so I could sleep in a bit on Saturday.

First up is M80, a globular cluster in the constellation Scorpius. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1781. With an apparent diameter of about 10' and at an estimated distance of 32,600 light-years, M80's spatial diameter is about 95 light-years. It contains several hundred thousand stars, and is among the more densely populated globular clusters in the Milky Way (Wikipedia).

M80 - EdgeHD-11 w/FR f/7.0
ASI1600mm Pro (RGB filters 20x30 sec each) 0.5 hours integration time
June 15, 2018

Next is M28, a globular cluster in the constellation Sagittarius. It was discovered by French astronomer Charles Messier in 1764. He briefly described it as a "nebula containing no star... round, seen with difficulty in 3½-foot telescope. M28 is at a distance of about 17,900 light-years away from Earth, has a combined 551,000 times the mass of the Sun and is 12 billion years old (Wikipedia).

M28 - EdgeHD-11 w/FR f/7.0

ASI1600mm Pro (RGB filters 20x30 sec each) 0.5 hours integration time

June 16, 2018

Finally, a well known galaxy of amateur astronomers. The Black Eye Galaxy (also called Evil Eye Galaxy; designated Messier 64, M64, or NGC 4826) is a galaxy which was discovered by Edward Pigott in March 1779, and independently by Johann Elert Bode in April of the same year, as well as by Charles Messier in 1780. It has a spectacular dark band of absorbing dust in front of the galaxy's bright nucleus, giving rise to its nicknames of the "Black Eye" or "Evil Eye" galaxy. M64 is well known among amateur astronomers because of its appearance in small telescopes. It is a spiral galaxy in the Coma Berenices constellation (Wikipedia).

M64 The Black-Eye Galaxy - EdgeHD-11 w/FR f/7.0

ASI1600mm Pro (RGB filters 29x60 sec each) 1.4 hours integration time

June 15, 2018

M14 - Globular Cluster in Ophiuchus

Working with the ASI1600mm Pro mono camera is fun, also a chore, but the results are really worth the time and effort.  Although my mount is still pretty finicky at the longer focal lengths of the EdgeHD-11, globular clusters are fairly bright and don't require a lot of exposure to get reasonably good results.

M14 (NGC 6402) May 10, 2018
EdgeHD-11 f/7  ASI1600mm RGB 45 minutes integration

Here is M14, a globular cluster in the constellation of Ophiuchus. At a distance of about 30,000 light-years, M14 contains several hundred thousand stars. At an apparent magnitude of +7.6 it can be easily observed with binoculars. Medium-sized telescopes will show some hint of the individual stars of which the brightest is of magnitude +14.

The total luminosity of M14 is in the order of 400,000 times that of the Sun corresponding to an absolute magnitude of -9.12. The shape of the cluster is decidedly elongated. M14 is about 100 light-years across.  (Wikipedia)

This image of M14 is a combination of 15 subs each of R, G and B, with an individual exposure of 60 seconds for each filter.

Galaxies in Ursa Major and Thor's Helmet in Canis Major

Been spending a lot of time learning the complexities of narrow band (NB) imaging, and after a lot of research and experimentation on PixInsight (the software used to post process the images) I finally arrived at an acceptable final image of the M81-M82 galaxy group in Ursa Major.

Messier 81, the galaxy on the right (also known as NGC 3031 or Bode's Galaxy), is a spiral galaxy about 12 million light-years away, in the constellation Ursa Major. Due to its proximity to Earth, large size, and active galactic nucleus (which harbors a supermassive black hole 70 million times the mass of our sun), Messier 81 has been studied extensively by professional astronomers. The galaxy's large size and relatively high brightness also make it a popular target for amateur astronomers. (Wikipedia)

Messier 82 (also known as NGC 3034, Cigar Galaxy or M82) is a starburst galaxy about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. A member of the M81 Group, it is about five times more luminous than the whole Milky Way and has a center one hundred times more luminous than our galaxy's center. The starburst activity is thought to have been triggered by interaction with neighboring galaxy M81.(Wikipedia)

M81-82 Galaxy Group - March 16 and April 30, 2018
GT102 APO Refractor - ASI1600mm Camera
3.2 hours RGBHa

I had already pretty much determined the process of using my new astro camera with the standard Red, Green, Blue filters, but adding in the narrowband Ha subs has been a challenge. M81 was especially problematic in that the core of the galaxy is so bright. I still need some time to properly set the camera's settings, exposure times and final post processing to improve on the results. In addition, the mount I am using is still exhibiting some oscillations in RA and this is contributing to some softening of the image.

Thor's Helmet was a better success. NGC 2359 (also known as Thor's Helmet) is an emission nebula in the constellation Canis Major. The nebula is approximately 3,670 parsecs (11.96 thousand light years) away and 30 light-years in size. The central star is the Wolf-Rayet star WR7, an extremely hot star thought to be in a brief pre-supernova stage of evolution. It is similar in nature to the Bubble Nebula, but interactions with a nearby large molecular cloud are thought to have contributed to the more complex shape and curved bow-shock structure of Thor's Helmet.

Thor's Helmet - March 16, 17 and 18, 2018
GT102 APO Refractor - ASI1600mm Camera
6.3 hours RGBHaOIII

This object emits mainly in the Ha and OIII spectrum. Capturing this nebula using my previous OSC camera would never have given me the result shown here. This object truly needs NB imaging to get the most it has to offer.

Man made protection around Earth ... Interesting.

NASA

In 2017, NASA space probes detected a massive, human-made 'barrier' surrounding Earth.
And tests have confirmed that it's actually having an effect on space weather far beyond our planet's atmosphere.
That means we're not just changing Earth so severely, scientists are calling for a whole new geological epoch to be named after us - our activities have been changing space too.
But the good news is that unlike our influence on the planet itself, that humongous bubble we created out in space is actually working in our favour.
Check out the complete story at Science Alert

Presentation Cancelled

Due to the weather situation, the presentation on High Powered Amatuer Rockets is cancelled for this evening.  We will reschedule and send out a new announcement at a later date.

Amateur Rocketry Presentation

I will be guest speaker at the Chesapeake Chapter of INCOSE on Mar 21, 2018 (6:00 - 8:00) presenting "The Engineering of High Power Amateur Rockets". This is the same presentation I gave back in 2015 (with a few modifications). With only 1hr for the talk this is just a brief introduction to my hobby in rocketry but covers most everything involved. It will be at APL in Laurel, MD.

There is a cost for the dinner, but attending the presentation is free. Details at:

Chesapeake Chapter of INCOSE

Supernova in Galaxy NGC 3941

On early Saturday morning I was experimenting with my new camera and decided to image a new supernova in galaxy NGC 3941.  This type Ia supernova was discovered on 2/3/2018 by Masaki Tsuboi and is located 4".1 east and 0".8 north of the center of NGC 3941.  At the time of discovery it was Mag 13.0; I estimated mag 14 when I captured it.

SN 2018pv in NGC 3941
EdgeHD11 f/7 - ASI1600mm Luminance only (40x10sec)
February 17, 2018

To give you an idea of how bright supernovae get, consider that NGC 3941 is a barred lenticular galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major at a distance of 40 million light years from Earth. The supernova is almost outshining the center halo of the galaxy - one star - almost brighter than the whole collection of millions of stars in the galaxy!  If a star in our own galaxy were to go supernova it would outshine all other objects in the sky except the sun and would be visible in broad daylight. This actually happened back in 1054 AD.

The Crab Nebula (catalogue designations M1, NGC 1952, Taurus A) is a supernova remnant in the constellation of Taurus. The now-current name is due to William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, who observed the object in 1840 using a 36-inch telescope and produced a drawing that looked somewhat like a crab. Corresponding to a bright supernova recorded by Chinese astronomers in 1054, the nebula was observed later by English astronomer John Bevis in 1731. The nebula was the first astronomical object identified with a historical supernova explosion (wikipedia).

The blue marble

Not the usual post from me but this is just great. Enjoy!!

Falcon Heavy Success!!!

Falcon Heavy Launch - Feb 6, 2018

Congrats to SpaceX for a fantastic test flight of the Falcon Heavy rocket.  What an unbelievable launch. A dream that has eluded NASA was achieved yet again by SpaceX - the launch and landing of reusable rocket boosters. This time, two of them, side by side, simultaneously!

And the stage-2 rocket is sending one of Elon Musk's Tesla Roadsters on a course toward Mars. Yep, you read that right - Mars. He revealed surreal live video feeds of the car cruising around the planet, complete with a “Don’t Panic” dashboard message, a dummy astronaut in the driver’s seat, and David Bowie on the radio.

The only down-side to a picture perfect launch was the unsuccessful landing of the middle core of SpaceX’s huge rocket which missed the drone ship where it was supposed to land. The center core was only able to relight one of the three engines necessary to land, and so it hit the water at 300 miles per hour. Two engines on the drone ship were taken out when it crashed, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a press call after the rocket launch (as reported by The Verge).

Visit YouTube for the video coverage of the launch.