Rework Barnard's Loop Sh2-278

 

Reworking of the Barnard's Loop following protocol:
* Stacking using APP (H-alpha with Sigma 24mm f/1.8 & Optolong L-Pro Nikkor 23mm f/3.5)
* DeNoise AI

* Layer adjust using CS4

* Starnet ++ and adjusting using CS4

* Combines all in CS4

Barnard's Loop SH2-278

 

I used my new (second hand) Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 lens for the first time. It was foreseen with a dew heater as ambient temperature was about -5°C.

Objective was capturing Barnard's loop with H-alpha filter and ASI2600MC.

This was my 6th session so far of which one failed. 

Polar allignment failed with SharpCap, so no polarallignment was done. With a 300s exposure time, the scope was pretty well alligned :)

Setting:

ASI2600MC with Signma 18-35mm f/1.8 and H-alpha filter (12nm)

Software: SharpCap, APP, CS4 and DeNoise AI

Stacking:

* Session 4: Nikkor 10-24mm f/3.8 H-alpha 23x300s

* Session 5: Nikkor 10-24mm f/3.8 Optolong L-Pro 6x300s

* Session 6: Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 H-alpha 24x300s

Barnard's Loop or Sh 2-276) is an emisson nebula in Orion. It is part of the Orion molucelar cloud complex which also contains the Orion Nebula and Horsehead. The stars within the Orion Nebula are believed to be responsible for ionizing the loop.

The Barnard's Loop is about 1,400 ly away and 360 ly long. The loop is the result of a supernova about 2 million years ago.

Visit China - Nanchang and Beijing

The cosmology of imperial China is written into the geometry of the Forbidden City, where architecture functioned as a model of the universe. Aligned precisely along a north–south axis, the palace mirrored the celestial meridian, placing the emperor symbolically at the pivot between Heaven and Earth.
At its southern entrance, the Meridian Gate marked both political and astronomical orientation, acting as the terrestrial counterpart to the sky’s central meridian.

Sunrise between Bejing and Nanchang

Bayi Square Nanchang - Second largest square in China

Tengwang Pavilion Nanchang - One of the three famous historical towers

Skyline in Nanchang

Skyline in Nanchang

Temple of Heaven: Imperial Vault

Forbidden City Meridian Gate

Forbidden City Gate of Supreme Harmony

Court rituals timed to solstices and equinoxes reinforced this alignment, embedding governance within celestial cycles.
Beyond the palace, the ritual landscape extended to the Imperial Vault of Heaven, whose circular form echoed the dome of the sky and housed tablets of divine order.
This structure formed part of the wider Temple of Heaven system, where emperors performed sacrifices to maintain cosmic harmony.
To complete the celestial triad, annex shrines honored solar and lunar forces: the Temple of the Sun (incliuding planets and even the stars of the big dipper) in the east and the Temple of the Moon in the west.
Together, these sites formed a sacred map of the heavens projected onto Beijing’s ground plan.
The emperor’s authority thus depended not only on governance but on precise astronomical alignment with cosmic order.

Forbidden City Sundials

Wanshun Pavilion in Jingshan Parc

Eclipse August 12, 2026

 

All my bookings are completed for the Eclipse of August 12, 2026. I will be staying near Burgos in Carrion de los Condes on the Camino de Santiago. I stayed before in this location back in 2017 when I walked the Camino from Burgos to Santiago de Compostella.

MoonSwatch - Omega Speedmaster Mission to the Sun

Since a couple of years I want to buy the Speedmaster of Omega. The Speedmaster is the only watch qualified by NASA. Just three weeks after receiving NASA’s official qualification, the Speedmaster ST 105.003 made its space debut on March 23, 1965. It was worn by astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom and John Young during the Gemini 3 mission. 

Following Gemini 3, the Speedmaster— and its subsequent evolutions— became an essential piece of equipment for every crewed NASA mission. It gained legendary status when astronaut Ed White wore it during the first American spacewalk later that same year, and again during Apollo 8 in 1968, when its crew became the first humans to witness "the far side of the Moon."As the missions advanced, so did the importance of the Speedmaster. On July 20, 1969, NASA achieved its ultimate goal: Apollo 11 successfully landed on the Moon. As Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended to the lunar surface, the Speedmaster became the first watch worn on the Moon— a milestone in both space exploration and horological history.

From that moment forward, the Speedmaster continued to accompany astronauts on every Moon landing and remained a trusted tool throughout the Apollo program and beyond.

When a couple of year ago the MoonSwatch was launched, it was my chance to buy this historical watch. But it was only recently when I bought one. I choose the MoonSwatch, a Sun Yellow dial "Mission to the Sun" Speedmaster with Dot over 90!

Northern Light above Averbode

As I was still sick and dragging myself towards bed, I checked one more time my iPhone and saw about 50 messages... when opening the first message it was clear... there was northern light visible. I took my iPhone and Nikon and yes... red and green colors in the sky.

Listening to the early Universe - Studium General Marc Klein Wolt

Selfie with Dr. Marc Klein Wolt

I attended the lecture by Dr. Marc Klein Wolt which spoke of his mission to the back side of the Moon and his ideas about installing huge antenna's on the back side of the Moon.

Dr. Marc Klein Wolt, astrophysicist at Radboud University Nijmegen and director of the Radboud Radio Lab, is exploring the origin of the Universe by studying the redshifted 21-centimeter hydrogen line. This signal, emitted by neutral hydrogen, allows scientists to probe the so-called Cosmic Dark Ages, the era after the Big Bang and before the first stars and galaxies ignited.

As the Universe expanded, the original 21-cm signal was stretched, or redshifted, to much longer radio wavelengths (100m and more). Detecting this extremely faint radiation from Earth is nearly impossible due to radio interference and the blocking effects of Earth’s ionosphere. Therefor the idea to install equipment at the back side of the Moon.

In 2019, a radio antenna developed by Klein Wolt’s team flew with the Chinese Chang’e-4 mission, using the Queqiao relay satellite positioned behind the Moon. This location, permanently shielded from Earth’s radio noise, offers one of the quietest environments in the Solar System for radio astronomy.

By observing from lunar orbit, Klein Wolt aims to trace how the first cosmic structures formed from primordial hydrogen. His long-term vision includes building radio antennas on the lunar surface itself. These plans align with future European Space Agency (ESA) lunar initiatives, in which Europe seeks a scientific presence on and around the Moon.

The scientific importance of the 21-cm line is underscored by its inclusion on the Voyager Golden Record, sent into interstellar space as a universal cosmic reference. Together, lunar radio astronomy and international missions may soon reveal how darkness in the early Universe gave way to the first light.

The cosmic microwave background (CMB) was released about 380,000 years after the Big Bang during recombination, when electrons and protons combined to form neutral hydrogen. This was the first light that could travel freely through the universe. After that came the cosmic dark ages (roughly 380,000 to 100 million years), when the universe was mostly neutral hydrogen and no stars had formed yet. During this period, the 21 cm line from neutral hydrogen can be used to trace the distribution of matter. Later, the first stars and galaxies formed (~100–400 million years), emitting ultraviolet light that ionized hydrogen, beginning the reionization process, which was largely complete by about 1 billion years, weakening the 21 cm signal in ionized regions.