Daily Archives: February 28, 2014

The Sun Online and solar activity. December 28, 2013

The solar disk remains covered with a large number of sunspot groups, many of them undergoing magnetic reconfigurations and producing non-stop C-class flares. The most noteworthy regions are AR1987-Cat49 (beta-gamma), AR1990-Cat52 (beta-delta), AR1991-Cat59 (Feb 28 M1.1 flare), AR1982-Cat 46
(beta-gamma). As a consequence we expect M-class flaring activity but an isolated X-class flare also remains possible. AR1982-Cat 46 will rotate behind the solar West limb in the coming 48 hours, a sharp drop in the
F10.7 radio flux can thus be expected.We expect continued episodes of K=4 activity during the next 24 hours as a consequence of a fast solar wind stream from a recurrent coronal hole. ACE low energy proton fluxes also
suggest that a new shock might arrive in the coming 12 hours.
SIDC

Equipment: Coronado 90 + Imaging Source DMK + LX75
Processing: Photoshop, Avistack 300 frames
Date: 02/28/14
Time UT: 15:00
Exposure 1/500 sec.

With SPONLI Space is getting closer

Möbius Arch Moonrise

The waning gibbous moon (95% illumination, 2 days past full) is diffused by thin clouds as it rises over the Alabama Hills and the famed Möbius Arch.

Image Credit & Copyright: Laurie Hatch

Only two days past full, February’s moon shines through thin clouds, rising on the left in this fisheye night skyscape. The moonlight illuminates a weathered, rounded foreground in the Alabama Hills, conveniently located east of Mt. Whitney along the Sierra Nevada range in California, USA, planet Earth. Orion the Hunter stands at the right, a familiar northern winter constellation. Bright Jupiter, the solar system’s ruling gas giant, is near center at the top of the frame. Below Jupiter, Sirius, alpha star of the Big Dog, poses above a bowed and twisted landform known as Möbius Arch, its curve reminiscent of the mathematically famoussurface with only one side. Of course, instead of using rock, wind, and weather, a Möbius strip is easier to make with paper, scissors, and tape.

NASA APOD 28-feb-2014

NGC 7293: Eye of God

NGC 7293 , also known as The Helix, The Helix Nebula, is a large planetary nebula (PN) located in the constellation Aquarius. Discovered byKarl Ludwig Harding, probably before 1824, this object is one of the closest to the Earth of all the bright planetary nebulae. The estimated distance is about 215 parsecs or 700 light-years. It is similar in appearance to the Cat’s Eye Nebula and the Ring Nebula, whose size, age, and physical characteristics are similar to the Dumbbell Nebula, varying only in its relative proximity and the appearance from the equatorial viewing angle. The Helix Nebula has sometimes been referred to as the “Eye of God” in pop culture.

The Helix Nebula is an example of a planetary nebula, or ‘planetary’ formed at the end of a star’s evolution. Gases from the star in the surrounding space appear, from our vantage point, as if we are looking down a helix structure. The remnant central stellar core, known as a planetary nebula nucleus or PNN, is destined to become a white dwarf star. The observed glow of the central star is so energetic that it causes the previously expelled gases to brightly fluoresce.

The Helix Nebula in the constellation of Aquarius lies about 700 light-years away, spanning about 0.8 parsec or 2.5 light-years.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Takahashi TOA 150
Imaging cameras: Nikon D800 Mod
Mounts: Takahashi EM-400 Temma2
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Vixen FL70S
Guiding cameras: Fishcamp Starfish
Focal reducers: Takahashi TOA 67 Flattener
Software: DeepSkyStacker, Adobe Photoshop CS5
Dates: Aug. 9, 2013
Locations: Mt. Ho-Huan (Taiwan)
Frames: 40×600″ ISO200
Integration: 6.7 hours

Autor: Wei-Hao Wang

28 February 2014

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

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