Messier M17 Swan Nebula

Messier M17, also known as the Swan Nebula or The Omega Nebula is an emission Nebula located about 6000 light years from Earth. It is an action star forming region, the same as M42. M17 can be observerd in the constellation Sagittarius and is part of the Sagitarrius spiral arm of our own galaxy.
The pictures shows the Swan easily. The picture is the result of 18 exposures, stacked using Deepskystacker and editing using CS4.

Helios - ASH Polaris BBQ

Sterrenclubs Helios (Averbode) en ASH Polaris (Herentals) organiseerden een BBQ ter gelegenheid van de maansverduistering op de vliegterreinen van Schaffen. Met een prachtig uitzicht en de warme temperaturen werd het geweldige BBQ.

Ondertussen bezochten we ook het luchtschip (het "varken") dat onze militairen gebruiken voor opleiding van parachutisten.

Daarna werd het iets stiller want de bewolking zorgde ervoor dat de maansverduistering onzichtbaar bleef. Even was er een opflikkering waarbij de rode maan zich bloot gaf, maar het was maar tijdelijk. Dus hadden we voldoende tijd om wat bij te praten en de overgangen van Iridium flares en ISS te observeren.

Moon 87%

Temperatures during the day went up till 31°C, so nights are perfect to cool down and meanwhile taking pictures of the Moon. The Moon is 87% illuminated and the picture was taken using TAL200K with Nikon D7500. Limited editing using CS4.

M17 The Swan Nebula

The sky is bright due to a waxing moon (85%). So it was difficult to make observations of Deep Sky object. Below is a picture of M17, The Swan or Omega Nebula and M18, a open cluster.
No filters are used and no stacking. The single shot is edited using CS4.

Asterism STAR27 the Toadstool

Last night I took some time to search for asterism STAR27 in Delphinus. East of the Dolphin 13 stars make the asterism mushroom or toadstool.

Moon 71%

The Moon this evening, 71% illuminated and less then one week before the Lunar Eclips.

End of Astronomical Twilight

This weekend, it's the end of the Astronomical Twilight. The night will be dark again as the Sun will be below the horizon for more then 18°. So between 01h05 and 02h30 it should be dark enough to make your observations. Mars is the currently the brightest object of the night sky and can be seen low (14°) above the South-Eastern horizon.

Mars the Red Planet low above the South-Eastern Horizon