Daily Archives: February 13, 2014

Downtown Auriga

2014-01_DowntownAuriga-mbRBA
Image Credit & Copyright: Rogelio Bernal Andreo (Deep Sky Colors)

Rich in star clusters and nebulae, the ancient constellation of Auriga, the Charioteer, rides high in northern winter night skies. Spanning nearly 24 full moons (12 degrees) on the sky, this deep telescopic mosaic view recorded in January shows off some of Auriga’s most popular sights for cosmic tourists. The crowded field sweeps along the plane of our Milky Way galaxy in the direction opposite the galactic center. Need directions? Near the bottom of the frame, at the Charioteer’s boundary with Taurus the Bull, the bright bluish star Elnath is known as both Beta Tauri and Gamma Aurigae. On the far left and almost 300 light-years away, the busy, looping filaments of supernova remnant Simeis 147 cover about 150 light-years. Look toward the right to find emission nebula IC 410, significantly more distant, some 12,000 light-years away. Star forming IC 410 is famous for its embedded young star cluster, NGC 1893, and tadpole-shaped clouds of dust and gas. The Flaming Star Nebula, IC 405, is just a little farther along. Its red, convoluted clouds of glowing hydrogen gas are energized by hot O-type star AE Aurigae. Two of our galaxy’s open star clusters, Charles Messier’s M36 and M38 line up in the starfield above, familiar to many binocular-equipped skygazers.

NASA APOD 13-02-2014

Related posts:

  1. Double Cluster in Perseus
  2. NGC 6188 and NGC 6164
  3. NGC 7293: The Helix Nebula
  4. Alnitak, Alnilam, Mintaka

Rosette Nebula and open cluster NGC 2244

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The Rosette Nebula (also known as Caldwell 49) is a large, circular H II region located near one end of a giant molecular cloud in the Monoceros region of the Milky Way Galaxy. The open cluster NGC 2244 (Caldwell 50) is closely associated with the nebulosity, the starsof the cluster having been formed from the nebula’s matter.
The cluster of stars is visible in binoculars and quite well seen in small telescopes while the nebula itself is more difficult to spot visually and requires a telescope with a low magnification. A dark site is a must to see it. Photographically the Rosette Nebula is easier to record and it is the only way to record the red color which is not seen visually.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Orion ED80
Imaging cameras: SBIG ST-10 XME
Mounts: Mountain Instruments MI-250
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Astro-Tech 8x50mm Finder Guidescope
Guiding cameras: Starlight Xpress Lodestar
Software: Main Sequence Software Sequence Generator Pro, PHD guiding, PixInsight
Filters: Astrodon Ha 5nm, Astrodon SII 5nm
Accessories: Astro-Tech 2″ Field Flattener, Shoestring Astronomy FCUSB, SBIG CFW 10, Moonlite CF 2″ focuser with high resolution stepper
Dates: April 7, 2013
Frames:
Astrodon Ha 5nm: 4×600″ -30C bin 1×1
Astrodon SII 5nm: 4×600″ -30C bin 1×1
Integration: 1.3 hours
Darks: ~20
Flats: ~20
Bias: ~200

Autor: Chris Madson

AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI

13 February 2014

We select the best works of amateur astrophotographers with details of equipment, shooting processing etc.

Related posts:

  1. NGC 2244: Rosette Nebula HaLRGB
  2. NGC 2237: The Rosette Nebula
  3. NGC 1893 is an open cluster in the constellation Auriga
  4. Rosette Nebula