No C-class flares in past 24h. NOAA ARs 2093, 2096 and 2097 could produce C-class flares in the coming hours. Geomagnetic conditions are quiet and expected to remain so until the arrival of an ICME expected on June 24 (corresponding to the CME on June 20), active to minor storm levels are expected.
SIDC
Equipment: Coronado 90 + Imaging Source DMK + LX75
Processing: Photoshop
Date: 06/23/14
Time UT: 16:00
Exposure 1/500 sec.
Observatory Sponli
Are lasers from giant telescopes being used to attack the Galactic center? No. Lasers shot from telescopes are now commonly used to help increase the accuracy of astronomical observations. In some sky locations, Earth atmosphere-induced fluctuations in starlight can indicate how the air mass over a telescope is changing, but many times no bright star exists in the direction where atmospheric information is needed. In these cases, astronomers create an artificial star where they need it — with a laser. Subsequent observations of the artificial laser guide star can reveal information so detailed about the blurring effects of the Earth’s atmosphere that much of this blurring can be removed by rapidly flexing the mirror. Such adaptive optic techniques allow high-resolution ground-based observations of real stars, planets, and nebulae. Pictured above, four telescopes on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, USA are being used simultaneously to study the center of our Galaxy and so all use a laser to create an artificial star nearby.
APOD NASA 23-Jun-14
The Tulip Nebula, or Sharpless 101 (Sh2-101) or the Cygnus Star Cloud is an emission nebula located in the constellation Cygnus. It is so named because it appears to resemble the outline of a tulip when imaged photographically. It was catalogued by astronomer Stewart Sharpless in his 1959 catalog of nebulae. It lies at a distance of about 6,000 light-years (5.7×1016 km; 3.5×1016 mi) from Earth.
The Tulip nebula, at least in the field seen from earth, is in close proximity to microquasar Cygnus X-1, site of one of the first suspected black holes. Cygnus X-1 is the brighter of the two stars (lower star) in close vertical proximity just to the right of the Tulip nebula in the image presented here.
Imaging telescopes or lenses: Orion Optics UK CT8
Imaging cameras: SBIG ST-8300M
Mounts: Losmandy G11
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Orion Optics UK CT8
Guiding cameras: Starlight Xpress Lodestar guide camera
Focal reducers: Baader Planetarium RCC
Software: Maxim DL, photoshop
Filters: Baader Planetarium OIII 8.5nm, Baader Planetarium 7nm H-Alpha
Accessories: Celestron Radial Guider
Dates: June 8, 2014, June 18, 2014
Frames:
Baader Planetarium 7nm H-Alpha: 23×900″ bin 1×1
Baader Planetarium OIII 8.5nm: 15×900″ bin 2×2
Integration: 9.5 hours
Author: Jacek Bobowik
AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI 23 June 2014