M17 - Omega Nebula

Another image from back in August.  The Omega Nebula.

M17 - Omega Nebula
EdgeHD11 w/Hyperstar Aug 27, 2016
12x300sec QHY10 Camera

The Omega Nebula, also known as the Swan Nebula, Checkmark Nebula, and the Horseshoe Nebula (catalogued as Messier 17 or M17) is an H II region in the constellation Sagittarius. It was discovered by Philippe Loys de Chéseaux in 1745. Charles Messier catalogued it in 1764. It is located in the rich starfields of the Sagittarius area of the Milky Way.

The Omega Nebula 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.  (Wikipedia)

M11 - The Wild Duck Cluster

Finally got some time to process the remaining images I took back in August. Been busy with work, work around the house, church activities and, of course, rebuilding my telescope mount to see if I can repair the issue that has prevented any new imaging runs.

M11 - Wild Duck Cluster
EdgeHD-11 w/Hyperstar - Aug 26, 2016
10x300sec QHY10 Camera

The Wild Duck Cluster (also known as Messier 11, or NGC 6705) is an open cluster in the constellation Scutum. It was discovered by Gottfried Kirch in 1681. Charles Messier included it in his catalogue in 1764.

The Wild Duck Cluster is one of the richest and most compact of the known open clusters, containing about 2900 stars. Its age has been estimated to about 250 million years. Its name derives from the brighter stars forming a triangle which could resemble a flying flock of ducks (or, from other angles, one swimming duck).

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 

The dense star regions of the Milky Way

Finally! --- The sky conditions improved this weekend and I was blessed with two clear nights of astrophotography.

Got the scope setup on Friday afternoon and it was left up through Saturday evening/early Sunday.  Using the Hyperstar wide field camera I was able to image a few interesting areas in the dense galactic arm in Sagittarius.  Most of us have probably never seen the Milky Way because of light pollution.

First up is the star cluster M11 (NGC 6705), which is right in the midst of a dense star cloud. Known as the Wild Duck Cluster it is an open cluster in the constellation Scutum. It was discovered by Gottfried Kirch in 1681. Charles Messier included it in his catalogue in 1764.  The dark areas scattered about in the image are regions of gas and dust that are between  us and the background stars obscuring the vision.

M11 - EdgeHD11/Hyperstar  10x300sec subs
August 26, 2016

Next is the Sagittarius Star Cloud, M24.  Approximately 600 light years wide, it was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764. The stars, clusters and other objects comprising M24 are part of the Sagittarius or Sagittarius-Carina arms of the Milky Way galaxy. Messier described M24 as a "large nebulosity containing many stars" and gave its dimensions as being some 1.5° across.

M24 - Sagittarius Star Cloud
EdgHD11 w/Hyperstar  13x180sec subs
August 26, 2016

Saturn

It's been over 6 weeks since the night skies here in Maryland have been clear enough to image anything at all.  Finally, tonight I was able to get the scope out for just a little while to capture the planet Saturn before it moves too close to the sun and low in the west.

I acquired a new Barlow lens which is of much better quality than the one I had and magnifies by 2.5x vs. 2x.  The atmosphere was rather turbulent and I had only a little bit of time to capture the image before the planet goes behind my treeline. Not thinking, I decided not to attach the dew heaters and shield, and of course, I ended up with dew on the front corrector plate while imaging the planet.  But by the time I set up for a retake Saturn was already in the trees.  Yet, even with the dew I was able to get a fairly decent image.

Saturn - August 19, 2016
EdgeHD 11 w/2.5x Barlow
ASI120MC Camera - 1000 frames stacked in AutoStakkert and processed in Registax

Next week promises some nice clear nights, so I plan on doing some wide field imaging.

Bottom quarks misbehave in LHC experiment

Data suggest need to revise calculations or reexamine understanding of protons

QUARK QUIRK  New data from the Large Hadron Collider’s higher-energy proton collisions show that particles made of b quarks flew off at angles more often than expected. Scientists from the LHCb experiment, which observes the aftermath of proton collisions in its detector (visualization shown), reported the result August 4.          CERN

Theoretical physicists are scratching their heads after scientists presented surprising new studies of a particle known as the bottom quark.  At the new, higher energies recently reached at the Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator, particles containing bottom quarks flew off at an angle more often than expected. Scientists reported the result August 4 at the International Conference on High Energy Physics.

For the full story see Science News.