Category Archives: About the project

AM 0644-741

AM 0644-741 is an unbarred lenticular galaxy, and a ring galaxy, which is 300 million light-years away in the direction of the southern constellation Volans. The yellowish nucleus was once the center of a normal spiral galaxy, and the ring which currently surrounds the center is 150,000 light-year diameter. The ring is theorized to have formed by a collision with another galaxy, which triggered a gravitational disruption that caused dust in the galaxy to condense and form stars, which forced it to then expand away from the galaxy and create a ring. The ring is a region of rampant star formation dominated by young, massive, hot blue stars. The pink regions along the ring are rarefied clouds of glowing hydrogen gas that is fluorescing as it is bombarded with strong ultraviolet light from the blue stars. Galactic simulation models suggest that the ring of AM 0644-741 will continue to expand for about another 300 million years, after which it will begin to disintegrate.

Author: Joachim_Dietrich

SPONLI is a project about astrophotography, for amateur astronomers.

Become a part of astronomers’ community, register on our web-site and start taking pictures of the Universe:
https://en.sponli.com/registration/

Giant prominence 2015.04.25

A prominence is a large, bright, gaseous feature extending outward from the Sun’s surface, often in a loop shape. Prominences are anchored to the Sun’s surface in the photosphere, and extend outwards into the Sun’s corona. While the corona consists of extremely hotionized gases, known as plasma, which do not emit much visible light, prominences contain much cooler plasma, similar in composition to that of the chromosphere. The prominence plasma is typically a hundred times cooler and denser than the coronal plasma. A prominence forms over timescales of about a day, and prominences may persist in the corona for several weeks or months. Some prominences break apart and may then give rise to coronal mass ejections.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: TS INDIVIDUAL 152/900
Imaging cameras: ZWO ASI174MM
Mounts: Skywatcher EQ6 Pro EQ6 Pro Skyscan
Filters: Daystar Filters Quark H-Alpha Chromosphere filter
Date: April 25, 2015
Focal length: 3860
Locations: Osservatorio a casa, Dolianova , Cagliari, Italy

Author: Alessandro Bianconi

SPONLI is a project about astrophotography, for amateur astronomers.

Become a part of astronomers’ community, register on our web-site and start taking pictures of the Universe:
https://en.sponli.com/registration/

Centaurus A, NGC 5128

Centaurus A or NGC 5128 is a prominent galaxy in the constellation of Centaurus. It was discovered in 1826 by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop from his home in Parramatta, in New South Wales, Australia. There is considerable debate in the literature regarding the galaxy’s fundamental properties such as its Hubble type (lenticular galaxy or a giant elliptical galaxy) and distance (10–16 million light-years). NGC 5128 is one of the closest radio galaxies to Earth, so its active galactic nucleus has been extensively studied by professional astronomers. The galaxy is also the fifth brightest in the sky, making it an ideal amateur astronomy target, although the galaxy is only visible from low northern latitudes and the southern hemisphere.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Bintel (GSO) RC8

Imaging cameras: QHY8L

Mounts: Sky-Watcher HEQ5 PRO Synscan GoTo

Guiding telescopes or lenses: Orion ST 80

Guiding cameras: QHYCCD QHY5

Software: DeepSkyStacker, StarTools

Filters: Baader Planetarium UHC-S Filter

Resolution: 1500×995

Dates: June 15, 2014

Frames: 15×600″

Integration: 2.5 hours

Avg. Moon age: 16.85 days

Avg. Moon phase: 95.16%

RA center: 201.389 degrees

DEC center: -43.018 degrees

Pixel scale: 0.908 arcsec/pixel

Orientation: 88.052 degrees

Field radius: 0.227 degrees

Locations: Basalt Ridge Observatory, Brisbane Australia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Author: Mario Vecchi

SPONLI is a project about astrophotography, for amateur astronomers.

Be the first-one to know about the launch of the project – pass an easy registration on our web-site:
https://en.sponli.com/registration/

M64, The Black Eye Galaxy

The Black Eye Galaxy (also called Evil Eye Galaxy; designated Messier 64, M64, or NGC 4826) 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.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Sky-Watcher BKP2008

Imaging cameras: QHYCCD QHY8 Pro

Mounts: Sky-Watcher NEQ6 Pro

Guiding telescopes or lenses: Deepsky DS 70/500

Guiding cameras: QHY CCD QHY5

Focal reducers: Televue Paracorr PLA-2001

Software: Adobe Photoshop 5 CS, MaxIm DL, Ionov Ivan FitStacker 11, Bob Franke eXcalibrator

Resolution: 1878×1176

Dates: May 10, 2013

Frames: 14×600″

Integration: 2.3 hours

Avg. Moon age: 29.51 days

Avg. Moon phase: 0.00%

RA center: 194.181 degrees

DEC center: 21.683 degrees

Orientation: -1.666 degrees

Field radius: 0.260 degrees

Author: Coff

SPONLI is a project about astrophotography, for amateur astronomers.

Be the first-one to know about the launch of the project – pass an easy registration on our web-site:
https://en.sponli.com/registration/

Galaxy NGC 1097

NGC 1097 is a barred spiral galaxy about 45 million light-years away in the constellation Fornax. It was discovered by William Herschel on 9 October 1790. Three supernovae (SN 1992bd, SN 1999eu, and SN 2003B) have been observed in NGC 1097. NGC 1097 is also a Seyfert galaxy. Deep photographs revealed four narrow optical jets that appear to emanate from the nucleus. These have been interpreted as manifestations of the (currently weak) active nucleus.

RA center: 41.583 degrees

DEC center: -30.275 degrees

Pixel scale: 1.371 arcsec/pixel

Orientation: -166.250 degrees

Field radius: 0.442 degrees

Author: Matthew

SPONLI is a project about astrophotography, for amateur astronomers.

Be the first-one to know about the launch of the project – pass an easy registration on our web-site:
https://en.sponli.com/registration/

The Trifid Nebula (Messier 20, M20, NGC 6514)

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. 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. The image has been made as a mosaic of 3 images, 60 s exposition each.

Place: Observatory SPONLI

Telescope: LX200 122

Camera: STF 8300C

Filter: Clear

Binning: 2

Series of photo: C-1×60 /

Sky temperature: -15,8°C

Temperature: 22,4°C

Humidity: 84%

Cloudiness: Haze

Wind: 6,6 k/h

Dew Point: 19,6°C

Author: Denis@Disev

SPONLI is a project about astrophotography, for amateur astronomers.

Be the first-one to know about the launch of the project – pass an easy registration on our web-site:
https://en.sponli.com/registration/

Testing telescopes of observatory SPONLI

SPONLI provides free access to the observatory telescopes

Conditions of equipment testing :

✓ skills at using MaximDL;
✓ your own portfolio of astrophotography;
✓ at the end of the test you should publish the results in a personal blog from SPONLI;
✓ object for observation – it is up to you;
✓ processed image will be published on the site sponli.com and take part in the competition;

Astrophotografer-winner will receive 5 h of access to telescopes.

Under the terms of testing, we provide:

• two hours of work on the 12-inch telescope (control via TeamViewer).
Opening hours observatory telescopes SPONLI: from 4.00 to 10.00 UT.

• free astroblog named ****. sponli.com (for example ernie.sponli.com)

Send a request to participate in the testing info@sponli.com or mari@sponli.com

Support amateur astronomy with SPONLI

Orion Nebula, M 42, Ha LRGB

The Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) is a diffuse nebula situated in the Milky Way south of Orion’s Belt in the constellation of Orion. It is one of the brightest nebulae, and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky. M42 is located at a distance of 1,344 ± 20 light years and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. The M42 nebula is estimated to be 24 light years across. It has a mass of about 2000 times the mass of the Sun. The Orion Nebula is one of the most scrutinized and photographed objects in the night sky, and is among the most intensely studied celestial features.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: TS 115/800

Imaging cameras: Moravian Instruments G2-8300 with external FW

Mounts: SkyWatcher EQ8

Guiding telescopes or lenses: TS 115/800

Guiding cameras: Lodestar

Focal reducers: Riccardi Reducer 0,75x

Software: Pixinsight, photoshop cs5

Filters: Baader Ha 7nm, Baader LRGB 36mm

Resolution: 2484×3215

Dates: Feb. 23, 2015

Integration: 0.0 hours

Avg. Moon age: 4.56 days

Avg. Moon phase: 21.78%

Author: az-picture.de

SPONLI is a project about astrophotography, for amateur astronomers.

Be the first-one to know about the launch of the project – pass an easy registration on our web-site:
https://en.sponli.com/registration/

Bubble Nebula, NGC 7635

NGC 7635, also called the Bubble Nebula, Sharpless 162, or Caldwell 11, is a H II region emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia. It lies close to the direction of the open cluster Messier 52. The “bubble” is created by the stellar wind from a massive hot, 8.7 magnitude young central star, the 15 ± 5 M_☉ SAO 20575 (BD+60 2522). The nebula is near a giant molecular cloud which contains the expansion of the bubble nebula while itself being excited by the hot central star, causing it to glow. It was discovered in 1787 by William Herschel. The star SAO 20575 or BD+602522 is thought to have a mass of 10-40 Solar masses.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: The Liverpool Telescope

Imaging cameras: IO:O

Software: Photoshop, DeepSkyStacker

Filters: H-Alpha-6566, SDSS-R, Bessell-V

Resolution: 1646×1637

Dates: Sept. 24, 2014

Frames: 45×120″

Integration: 1.5 hours

Avg. Moon age: 29.28 days

Avg. Moon phase: 0.07%

RA center: 350.193 degrees

DEC center: 61.181 degrees

Pixel scale: 0.379 arcsec/pixel

Orientation: -179.949 degrees

Field radius: 0.122 degrees

Locations: Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain

Author: Matthew

SPONLI is a project about astrophotography, for amateur astronomers.

Be the first-one to know about the launch of the project – pass an easy registration on our web-site:
https://en.sponli.com/registration/

Antares and Clouds

Antares, also known by its Bayer designation Alpha Scorpii (abbreviated to α Scorpii or α Sco), is the seventeenth brightest star in the nighttime sky and the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius, and is often referred to as “the heart of the scorpion”. Along with Aldebaran, Regulus, and Fomalhaut, Antares comprises the group known as the ‘Royal stars of Persia’. It is one of the four brightest stars near the ecliptic.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: PENTAX 100SDUF

Imaging cameras: Canon KissDN改

Mounts: Vixen GPD Skysensor 2000PC

Guiding telescopes or lenses: Meade 7×50mm

Guiding cameras: QcamPro4000R

Software: Adobe Photoshop 6 CS Extended, Guidemaster, AstroArts StellaImage7

Resolution: 2048×1363

Dates: March 15, 2008

Frames:
1×60″ ISO800
7×900″ ISO800

Integration: 1.8 hours

Avg. Moon age: 7.96 days

Avg. Moon phase: 56.14%

RA center: 246.254 degrees

DEC center: -26.096 degrees

Pixel scale: 5.605 arcsec/pixel

Orientation: -148.067 degrees

Field radius: 1.916 degrees

Locations: Mt.Gomadanzan site B, Aridagawa town, Wakayama Pref., Japan

The additional image is here to show the Antares position in the night sky, among the other objects, to avoid confusion.

Author: Fuuma-mfuk

SPONLI is a project about astrophotography, for amateur astronomers.

Be the first-one to know about the launch of the project – pass an easy registration on our web-site:
https://en.sponli.com/registration/

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts: