Tag Archives: Sagittarius

A Sagittarius Starscape

Image Credit & Copyright: Terry Hancock (Down Under Observatory)

This rich starscape spans nearly 7 degrees on the sky, toward the Sagittarius spiral arm and the center of our Milky Way galaxy. A telescopic mosaic, it features well-known bright nebulae and star clusterscataloged by 18th century cosmic tourist Charles Messier. Still popular stops for skygazers M16, the Eagle (far right), and M17, the Swan (near center) nebulae are the brightest star-forming emission regions. With wingspans of 100 light-years or so, they shine with the telltale reddish glow of hydrogen atoms from over 5,000 light-years away. Colorful open star cluster M25 near the upper left edge of the scene is closer, a mere 2,000 light-years distant and about 20 light-years across. M24, also known as the Sagittarius Star Cloud, crowds in just left of center along the bottom of the frame, fainter and more distant Milky Way stars seen through a narrow window in obscuring fields of interstellar dust.

APOD NASA 05-Sep-14

Omega Nebula

The Omega Nebula, also known as the Swan Nebula, Checkmark Nebula, Lobster Nebula, and the Horseshoe Nebula (catalogued as Messier 17 or M17 and as NGC 6618) is an H II region in the constellation Sagittarius.
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 ofinterstellar 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.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Officina Stellare Veloce RH200
Imaging cameras: QSI 683WSG
Mounts: Skywatcher N-EQ6 pro
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Officina Stellare Veloce RH200
Guiding cameras: Starlight Xpress Lodestar
Software: PixInsight, Maxim DL
Filters: Astrodon Ha 3nm Tru-Balance, Astrodon OIII
Accessories: Finger Lake Instruments Atlas Focuser
Dates: Aug. 16, 2014, Aug. 17, 2014
Frames:
Astrodon Ha 3nm Tru-Balance: 14×600″
Astrodon OIII: 6×600″
Integration: 3.3 hours

Author: Davide Manca
AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI 04 Sep 2014

M8, Lagoon Nebula

The Lagoon Nebula was discovered by Giovanni Hodierna before 1654 and is one of only two star-forming nebulae faintly visible to the naked eye from mid-northern latitudes. Seen with binoculars, it appears as a distinct oval cloudlike patch with a definite core. A fragile star cluster appears superimposed on it.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Officina Stellare Veloce RH200
Imaging cameras: QSI 683WSG
Mounts: Skywatcher N-EQ6 pro
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Officina Stellare Veloce RH200
Guiding cameras: Starlight Xpress Lodestar
Software: PixInsight, Maxim DL
Filters: Astrodon Ha 3nm Tru-Balance, Astrodon OIII
Accessories: Finger Lake Instruments Atlas Focuser
Dates: Aug. 26, 2014, Aug. 29, 2014
Locations: Home
Frames:
Astronomik Ha: 4×600″ bin 1×1
Astrodon OIII: 1×600″ bin 1×1
Integration: 0.8 hours

Author: Davide Manca
AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI 02 Sep 2014

Messier 20 and 21

Image Credit & Copyright: Lorand Fenyes

The beautiful Trifid Nebula, also known as Messier 20, is easy to find with a small telescope in the nebula rich constellation Sagittarius. About 5,000 light-years away, the colorful study in cosmic contrastsshares this well-composed, nearly 1 degree wide field with open star cluster Messier 21 (top right). Trisected by dust lanes the Trifid itself is about 40 light-years across and a mere 300,000 years old. That makes it one of the youngest star forming regions in our sky, with newborn and embryonic stars embedded in its natal dust and gas clouds. Estimates of the distance to open star cluster M21 are similar to M20’s, but though they share this gorgeous telescopic skyscape there is no apparent connection between the two. In fact, M21’s stars are much older, about 8 million years old.

APOD NASA 28-Aug-14

Trifid Nebula

The Trifid Nebula (catalogued as Messier 20 or M20 and as NGC 6514) is an H II region located in Sagittarius.
The Trifid Nebula was the subject of an investigation by astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope in 1997, using filters that isolate emission from hydrogen atoms, ionized sulfur atoms, and doubly ionized oxygen atom. The images were combined into a false-color composite picture to suggest how the nebula might look to the eye.
The close-up images show a dense cloud of dust and gas, which is a stellar nursery full of embryonic stars. This cloud is about8 light-years away from the nebula’s central star. A stellar jet protrudes from the head of the cloud and is about 0.75 ly long. The jet’s source is a young stellar object deep within the cloud. Jets are the exhaust gasses of star formation. Radiation from the nebula’s central star makes the jet glow.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: GSO RC 8″ Carbon
Imaging cameras: Artemis Atik 383L+
Mounts: Fornax 51
Guiding telescopes or lenses: GSO RC 8″ Carbon
Guiding cameras: M-Gen Guiding Kamera
Focal reducers: Astro-Physics CCD tele compressor CCDT67 – 0.67x Reducer
Software: Fitswork4, Adobe Photoshop CS 6, Deep Sky Stacker 3.3.3 Beta 51 DSS DeepSkyStacker
Filters: Baader Planetarium 36mm Luminance, Baader Planetarium 36mm Red, Baader Planetarium 36mm Green, Baader Planetarium 36mm Blue
Accessories: Lacerta MGEN2, Teleskop-Service TS OAG 9mm
Dates: July 27, 2014, July 31, 2014
Locations: Namibia
Frames:
Baader Planetarium 36mm Blue: 7×360″ -20C bin 1×1
Baader Planetarium 36mm Green: 5×360″ -20C bin 1×1
Baader Planetarium 36mm Luminance: 16×360″ -20C bin 1×1
Baader Planetarium 36mm Red: 8×360″ -20C bin 1×1
Integration: 3.6 hours
Darks: ~12
Flats: ~48
Bias: ~150

Author: Stefan Westphal
AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI 22 Aug 2014

In the Center of the Lagoon Nebula

Image Credit: Hubble Legacy Archive, NASA, ESA – Processing & Licence: Judy Schmidt

The center of the Lagoon Nebula is a whirlwind of spectacular star formation. Visible near the image center, at least two long funnel-shaped clouds, each roughly half a light-year long, have been formed by extreme stellar winds and intense energetic starlight. The tremendously bright nearby star, Hershel 36, lights the area. Walls of dust hide and redden other hot young stars. As energy from these stars pours into the cool dust and gas, large temperature differences in adjoining regions can be created generating shearing winds which may cause the funnels. This picture, spanning about 5 light years, combines images taken by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. The Lagoon Nebula, also known as M8, lies about 5,000 light years distant toward the constellation of Sagittarius.

APOD NASA 20-Aug-2014

M17 or Omega Nebula

The Omega Nebula, also known as the Swan Nebula, Checkmark Nebula, Lobster Nebula, and the Horseshoe Nebula (catalogued as Messier 17 or M17 and as NGC 6618) 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 ofinterstellar 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. It is considered one of the brightest and most massive star-forming regions of our galaxy. Its local geometry is similar to the Orion Nebula except that it is viewed edge-on rather than face-on.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: William Optics FLT98
Imaging cameras: Atik 383L+
Mounts: Skywatcher EQ8
Guiding telescopes or lenses: William Optics FLT98
Guiding cameras: Starlight Xpress Loadstar
Focal reducers: Riccardi Reducer 0,75x
Software: Fitswork 4.44, Adobe Photoshop CS3 CS3
Filters: Baader S2, Baader Planetarium Ha 7nm 2″, Baader O III 8.5nm O3
Accessories: Starlight Xpress 5×2″ Filter Wheel
Dates: June 8, 2014
Frames: 25×900″
Integration: 6.2 hours

Author: Alexander Sielski
AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI 4 Aug 2014

M8 and M20

The Lagoon (down) and Trifid (up) nebulae are two very famous nebulae in Sagittarius, and both nebulae can be glimpsed with the naked eye (from a dark site), and they are easy to see with binoculars.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Skywatcher 80/400 ESPRIT Triplet-APO
Imaging cameras: Atik 383L+
Mounts: Skywatcher EQ8
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Skywatcher 80/400 ESPRIT Triplet-APO
Guiding cameras: Starlight Xpress Loadstar
Focal reducers: Riccardi Reducer 0,75x
Software: Fitswork 4.44, Adobe Photoshop CS3 CS3
Filters: Baader Planetarium Ha 7nm 2″
Accessories: Starlight Xpress 5×2″ Filter Wheel
Dates: July 23, 2014
Frames: 11×720″
Integration: 2.2 hours

Author: Alexander Sielski
AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI 2 Aug 2014

Barnard’s Galaxy

NGC 6822 (also known as Barnard’s Galaxy, IC 4895, or Caldwell 57) is a barred irregular galaxy approximately 1.6 millionlight-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. Part of the Local Group of galaxies, it was discovered by E. E. Barnard in 1884 (hence its name), with a six-inch refractor telescope. It is one of the closer galaxies to the Milky Way. It is similar in structure and composition to the Small Magellanic Cloud. It is about 7,000 light-years in diameter.
Edwin Hubble wrote the seminal paper N.G.C. 6822, A Remote Stellar System (Hubble 1925) wherein he identified 15 variable stars (11 of which were Cepheids). He also surveyed the galaxy’s stars distribution down to magnitude 19.4. He provided spectral characteristics, luminosities and dimensions for the five brightest “diffuse nebulae” (giant H II regions) that included the Bubble Nebula and the Ring Nebula. He also computed the absolute magnitude of the entire galaxy.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Geoptik “Formula25″ Newton 10” 1250mm
Imaging cameras: Home made 450D Cmos Cooled – Baader
Mounts: Sky-Watcher NEQ6
Guiding telescopes or lenses: 60/228
Guiding cameras: Shoestring Astronomy USB Guide Port Interface, Xbox LiveWebcam
Software: Pleiades Astrophoto, S.L. PixInsinght 1.8 RC7
Filters: Hutech IDAS LPS V4
Accessories: Baader MPCC mpcc coma correcteur
Dates: Aug. 6, 2013, Aug. 7, 2013, Aug. 8, 2013
Frames: Hutech IDAS LPS V4: 72×300″
Integration: 6.0 hours

Author: Giosi Amante
AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI 31 July 2014

Lagoon Nebula

The Lagoon Nebula (catalogued as Messier 8 or M8, and as NGC 6523) is a giant interstellar cloud in the constellation Sagittarius. It is classified as an emission nebula and as a H II region.
The Lagoon Nebula is estimated to be between 4,000-6,000 light years from the Earth. In the sky of Earth, it spans 90′ by 40′, translates to an actual dimension of 110 by 50 light years. Like many nebulas, it appears pink in time-exposure color photos but is gray to the eye peering through binoculars or a telescope, human vision having poor color sensitivity at low light levels. The nebula contains a number of Bok globules (dark, collapsing clouds of protostellar material).

Imaging telescopes or lenses: GSO Newton 12″ f/4
Imaging cameras: ATIK 11000m
Mounts: Skywatcher EQ8
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Orion 50 mm mini guider
Guiding cameras: Orion Star Shoot Planetary Imager & Autoguider
Focal reducers: ASA Wynne 3″ Corrector 0.95x
Software: photoshop, CCDStack, Maxim DL
Filters: Orion 2” LRGB filter set, Baader Ha 2″
Dates: April 4, 2014
Frames: 19×300″
Integration: 1.6 hours

Author: Paul Storey
AstroPhotography of the day by SPONLI 20 July 2014

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts: